My new minis :D

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but most of what I make is either repurposed or upcycled. I'll take fabric from a huge t-shirt and turn it into a dress for one of my girls or a cute skirt, or completely take apart an item of clothing and use the pieces to make something much better with them. Repurposing and upcycling!

My newest creations are an upcycle from a vintage Dior sweatshirt jacket from the 80s! Lol it was actually one that I considered keeping intact and settling as vintage, but the zipper pull was completely broken and some the seam finishings were already looking a but pitiful.

So after a good wash and dry, I turned something that might have otherwise between thrown out into a new cute item for lovers of bows!

I know, pretty "green"of me right? Lol not only is this ecofriendly, but there are a lot of ways to wear these miniature beauties.

 

My favorite is wearing 2 at once under a high bun, so so cute and fashion forward! (sorry, forgot to take a picture of this one)

Can you tell I really love these? I've got a surprise too...are you ready? Too bad, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. I won't be cruel though, my post will be early and you'll like what I to say so that'll make it even better.


~ Allison

Playing Catch Up

I was doing the Kids Clothes Week Challenge last week and actually fulfilled the challenge of sewing children's clothing for at least 1hr per day the entire week. Posting, unfortunately, didn't happen every day though :/. I ended up hosting family at the last minute, so I was too busy to post. Them coming did, however, help me finish the challenge because their three little girls got three pretty new skirts out of being in the right place on the right week! Plus, I just really wanted to make their precious faces some new skirts.

This week I've been playing a bit of catch up. I've had some half finished projects I've been putting off for awhile because at some point or another I either got stuck or put out on them. Now that I've been sewing kids clothes for an entire week, everything else look extremely appealing; well for right now at least.

I'm so bad there are projects that have been neglected from as far back as Christmas, Yikes! There are a few things that I'll be posting about that I'm adding to With Sunshine, my shop on Etsy, that are new and very cute!

Sorry phone pics, my camera is getting cleaned!

As I finish these poor put aside projects, I'll post them for everyone to see :).

~Allison

Kids Clothes Week Challenge Post 2

Jumping for joy :)

Tuesday, I showed you all how to refashion a stained shirt using simple polka dot stamping. Today, I don't have a tutorial, BUT I did make another garment yesterday that matches Tuesday's shirt!

Sorry about all the wrinkles, I had the skirt all nice and pressed, but

 this little gal was being CRAZY and had it entirely creased in 2mins.

This is just a simple little high waisted skirt, with a teal accent zipper in the back. I ended up having to put in a couple little darts, because I didn't measure my daughter and made the skirt a tiny bit big.

Love the little bit of baby fat still on her little body!

Again, sorry for the wrinkles.

She was very happy to hear that she had a new skirt after I got her up from her nap, so it shouldn't be a struggle getting her ready for church this Sunday.

This is what she was really wanting to do, instead of taking pictures!

This angel face is fully in the terrible 2's.

Tomorrow, I'll be showing you something for my little man that I made today :) you're going to love this one!

~Allison

Kids Clothes Week Challenge & Refashion tutorial!

Source: http://www.elsiemarley.com/kids-clothes-week-spring-2013.html

If you've visited my blog before, you know that I LOVE sewing for little people! Their clothing is just a joy to sew and they're much sweeter and easier critics (most of the time). Since it's Kids Clothes Week in the mommy blogging community, I thought I'd put out a few post of my own with some things created specifically for this week!

Today, I refashioned this little ruffled shirt for my little redheaded princess!

She's had this shirt (from Target) for a little while now and it got nail polish in random spots on the front (ahem, grandma). I couldn't bring myself to throw it out because I love the way it looks on her and she's overwhelmed all the time with pink and purple, so grey is always a nice break from the norm.

I knew I wanted to paint something on her shirt to cover the stains, but since there were stains on the ruffles AND the main body of the shirt I ended up doing tiny mint colored polka dots.

Want to do this for your little one? Here's how I did this shirt:

I wanted a nice mint color(as mentioned above), so I mixed white, green and dark teal to create my paint color. Make sure to slip a piece of cardboard, or thick paper between your layers, then start painting!

I wasn't worried about it being perfect, so I just eyeballed the distance between the dots and then when I got to the next row I just shifted my dot placement to match on the diagonal of the previous row. It's sounds complicated, but it's really simple and very easy.

 My secret weapon to making this as quick as possible, my hair dryer! It drys my paint really fast so I don't accidentally smudge anything when I want to move onto another section and who wants to wait an entire day for a project to dry? Not me. The only drawback is that, if you're using puffy paint(which I dislike to begin with), it makes your paint look weirdly spongy when it's dry.

After your shirt is fully polka dotted, make sure you heat seal your paint by running an iron over it through a pressing cloth. This will ensure your paint doesn't peel off in the wash, or during playtime.

Model Moment :)

It worked perfectly and looks ridiculously adorable, plus still a good calm color with the mint dots on the soft grey.

She looks fabulous and completely approved of her "new" shirt.

~Allison

P.S. The fabric in the first picture is part of another project this week, so come back to see what it turns into!

Happy National Grilled Cheese Day!!

image source: ilovegrilledcheese.com

Did you realize that today is national grilled cheese day?! It's definitely worth celebration, in my personal opinion :). If you're not in the mood for the classic cheese and bread combo you should try these variations to join in the fun!

Try a grilled cheese pizza!

 

Or the 5-Minute Fancy Grilled Cheese, with red peppers and swiss!

 

Yum, BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese

A more grown up, Spinach & Prosciutto Stuffed Grilled Cheese.

Lastly, for a little southwestern flair, a Chipotle Avocado Grilled cheese.

I hope everyone has a delicious national grilled cheese day!

~Allison

Zig Zag Tunic Pattern Test :)

I've been busy lately being a pattern tester for See Kate Sew; WHAT?! She always has the cutest things on her blog and I feel completely honored to have been able to test her Zig Zag Tunic that she created for the adorable Project Run & Play series!

Anyways, the pattern is easy to piece, follow and turned out completely flippin' cute. I've already decided that I have to make some more of these beauties for the other little ladies in my life. By the way, Kate is just as nice as she seems through her writing, she was truly a dream to test for and I would love to do it again.

The one that I made was for my beautiful princess girl, Ally, and she was a perfect model (probably because she knew as soon as we were done she would get to play on the playground).

The tunic is supposed to be a bit loose for plenty of play room, and for Ally it was about knee length because she's on the petite side; for average height girls it would hit above the knee. This is meant to worn with leggings and I've got to tell you that it looks beautiful, with or without leggings.

I hope you all get a chance to stop by See Kate Sew and Project Run & Play, they're wonderful sites for mom's to check out cute new children's fashions.

One more thing, this pattern will be released, very soon, for sale in Kate's pattern shop, so if you sew like me, you can pick this up for some special little girl in your life.

~Allison

Introducing Shirley!

The newest member of the With Sunshine family of cuties; the "Shirley" ruffle bum sunsuit! This particular one is 12-18 months and has strawberry applique on the faux dress front, and has a combo of green cheveron and pink polka dots.

Perfectly girly for warmer weather and fun in the sun!

I just love the combination of pink and green, it reminds me of strawberry shortcake.

It has a snap crotch for ease of access for diaper changes. And don't you just love those fabric covered buttons? They just pop against the pink!

If you like it you can purchase this beauty right here.

~Allison