New dresses

So the past few days I have been sewing, serging dresses for Hazel. I have used Butterick B4176 for a pattern. Hazel has been very into dresses this summer which is good with the warm weather we are having. But not always good for the knees (she keeps scraping them). The first is view D and the second is view B, but I used the view D length. I have to say I love this pattern. It is very easy and quick to do and comes out great. Having the serger made it much faster. I'm also working on some pants for her. Hopefully by the fall she will be wearing them again. 

Our main focus right now is on potty training. We had some success today and some accidents. Hopefully it will keep improving.

Enjoy! Please share what you are working on!

You've Got Mail

 I am almost finished with Hazel's mailboxes and envelopes. I used an old diaper box for the Post Office Box with lots of blue construction paper. To make the mail door, I cut a flap off and attached it with yarn. I took my engineer husband's advice and attached it to the top so it opens up instead of the way the real ones do. I also searched for the USPS logo on line. Not very easy to get a clean copy of it, but I printed it on clear sticker pages and attached them. So far Hazel has mailed her books.

Side View of Post Office Mailbox

Post Office Mailbox

 From a shoe box, I made her a mailbox. I added her name and our house number. I still need to make a flag for it which I will attach with a brad so it can rotate and I need to attach something to keep the box closed. I am thinking I will use either a button or bead and an elastic. (I will probably do the same thing for the post office box back where I left an opening to get things out.

Hazel's mailbox

Her envelopes

I searched for images of envelope templates. Here are a few I found: A2 envelope, Custom square card envelope,card envelope. Then I added stamp images to them and some with post marks. Here are some: Forever Stamp Liberty bell, Statue of Liberty First Class, Cat in the Hat, Sleeping Beauty. Postmarks: Washington DC, Saugus, MA (our hometown). Then I printed them out on different colored paper. Some of them I used legal size and changed the size of the envelopes. Then I covered the paper with clear contact paper and cut them out. I glued the envelopes together without closing the flap. I still have many more to make her and I also bought some postcards which I will put the contact paper on. Today I bought her a set of 4 overhead pens. If she uses these on the clear contact paper, it washes off. So she can "address" her envelopes however she wants and we can erase it later and re do it. I love the idea! As you can see she does as well since she already drew on all of the envelopes I finished. I made the envelopes so she can put papers in them if she wants. I think this should provide hours of fun for her.

Enjoy!

Time for Mail Update

Hazel and I got back to painting the boxes for her mailboxes. I realized that I think we are going to need to cover them with paper instead because after two coats, the boxes are still showing through. Oh, well. I did pick up some post cards to cover and have looked at some envelope templates. Just need to print them out and try covering them.

I will post more when we do more. Today was really spent with Fluffy. The good news is she seems to really like Hazel.

Help inspire me and tell me what you have been working on. Any new ideas?

Doll Carriage Re-do

So today, I tackled Hazel's doll carriage. It went from:  

to:

Hazel has a habit of sitting in it herself, so the cheap fabric it came with did not last long. I used the original as a pattern and then doubled up decorator fabric to give it more sturdiness. I reused the clasp but bought on clearance some new webbing--also stronger than the original. Hopefully this one will last.

Some books Hazel and I have been enjoying from the library:
The Sunflower Sword by Mark Speering
The Little Squeegy Bug by Bill Martin, Jr. and Mark Sampson
Moonstruck: the True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon by Gennifer Choldenko
Press Here by Herve Tullet