{a first wedding}

We're back from our weekend of wedding fun in Oklahoma, with great memories and new confidence in Tilly's ability to survive on little sleep. We're thinking of changing her middle name to "Party Animal". 

Luckily, her party dress was finished just in time, and Miss Rufflebottom even had a chance to practice her dance moves in it before we took off. (Good job I snapped a few pics then, as I forgot my memory card for the trip, and so am sadly lacking in photos of the actual wedding!)

What you can't see, concealed by layer upon layer of ruffle, is that I skipped out on using buttons altogether. Instead, we've got snaps. Yes, maybe poor Fiona Bell (the pattern designer) is preemptively rolling over in her grave. And yes, maybe we did have to hastily resnap poor Tilly up a few times during the wedding when she popped open. But it worked in a pinch. 

Much eating, dancing and meeting of family was had. Tilly even tried the wedding cake -- which, it turned out, was an excellent way to give a tired baby a boost of energy at 10pm!

Hope you had a great weekend, too. And that you got a little more rest than our little Party Animal!

{make it work}

I have new respect for Project Runway contestants.

A whole day to make a dress? That doesn't sound too hard, I'd always thought. It's not like they need to feed the kids, do the washing, and clean their fabric off the kitchen table afterwards.

But, this one little baby dress has had me up at night poring over the instructions, has had me in tears of frustration when I thought I'd sewn the armholes closed, and in tears of joy when I realised I'd actually done it right and wouldn't have to chop Tilly's arms off to fit her into it.

So far, the top of the dress is done, complete with ruffles, and I'm just trying to work out how to sew buttonholes so I can proceed with the undergarments. Any tips?

(No, unfortunately, my machine won't just do it...)

On second thought, maybe it's good as it is -- it can be her belly-dancing shirt.

In case you're wondering, the pattern is by Fiona Bell, of British kids' label Their Nibs. Here is the same dress in a lovely rose print in their online shop, (going for 28 pounds, if I might add). Beautiful.

{kid's clothes week}

If you've been following along with kid's clothes week over at elsie marley this week, you'll be aware that it's already day seven. As in, finish up. Scissors down. The end. I would love to have a beautiful finished something to show you. Or even an ugly, badly-sewn finished something to show you. 

But no. Instead, this is my progress, after a week:

The book has been opened. The pattern has been printed. The pieces have been cut. The end. Not one stitch has been sewn, so far, on the designer baby bubble dress that is to be Tilly's party outfit. But all eight -- yes, eight -- of the ruffles have been cut out, and I have a feeling this will either be the most impressive thing I've ever created, or the most impressive thing I never create...