The Grayson Leigh Dress

Ya'll know something has to be EXTRA special to name it after your children. This little dress is so classy, classic, and lovely, that only one name came to mind.... The Grayson Leigh. You can read about creating this pattern HERE.

The Grayson Leigh dress pattern is available in sizes 12 months - girls 8. 

It's a classic silhouette that will never go out of style. A simple, A-line shift dress, with a button back closure. 

The dress is fully lined, and all seams are hidden, making a professional and comfortable-to-wear finish. 

And...there are NO buttonholes! 

Button-top jumpers are cute, but little girls will love the grown-up style of this big girl dress!

 

Comfortable enough for an afternoon of play, and classy enough to wear your favorite pearls.

The dress is perfect for a monogram, pockets, bows or bling. Whatever you want to embellish with!

(by the way, WHY does my baby look so grown here???)

The Grayson Leigh is an easy-to sew dress. A confident beginner can sew this dress in an afternoon. An intermediate sewist can knock one out in a naptime! Goldilocks loves waking up to a new dress in her closet. She thinks it's magic. 

You can purchase the pattern for instant download 

at Etsy or Craftsy

I hope you have as much fun sewing this sweet and classy pattern as I do. Nothing makes a little girl feel prettier than a new, beautiful dress!

Coming Soon: New Pattern

It's been a little while since I released a new sewing pattern for a dress. Goldilocks loves dresses by Lilly Pulitzer (who doesn't), but spending over $50 a piece on a toddler dress isn't something a lot of us can do every day!

So I worked to make my baby girl a shift dress as CLOSE to a Lilly-style toddler shift dress as possible...and I'm over the moon happy with it!

I let her pick her fabrics for these two, and she did a great job picking classy and sweet prints.

This little shift dress is a classic, never to go out of style.  And no button-top shoulders, so it looks like a grown-up dress, perfect for classy little girls. 

She of course wanted her monogram on ALL of the dresses, and I was happy to oblige. Besides, it's not really hers until it's monogrammed!

The pattern is oh-so-close to being finished. Hopefully by the end of the week it will be available for YOU to sew too!

 How many will you sew for your classy southern girl?

Clemson Garden Flag

It's no secret that we are hardcore Clemson Tiger fans. Our house is decorated appropriately during football season, and our cars are decorated year-round. But we needed something extra. A sweet little pop of orange.

I updated our garden flag.

Using my embroidery machine, and some leftover burlap, I got to sewing. 

I left the edges of the burlap raw, stitching around the edges to keep it from fraying too much. I like the distressed look of burlap outside.

To keep the flag neat, I sewed another piece of burlap to the back, to add weight and hide the stitching from all sides. I think it gives it a more finished look, and the wind doesn't flip it over so easily.

Sweet and perfect. Always saying "Go Tigers!"

Summer Sewing

Have you done a lot of summer sewing yet? I know, it's too pretty outside to be inside behind a sewing machine. But sometimes the sewing "itch" comes and you want to work on something fun and new!

Here are some of my favorite summertime tutorials and projects.

The Orange Crush Shirt

Little Girls' Swim Cover Up

Mommy's Swim Cover Up

Sweet August Sundress

Reversible Sport Shorts

And of course, visit my Pattern Shop for ALL of your summer sewing needs for your little ones!!

Secret Sale....

My Facebook Fans learned about a fun secret a few days ago.

Did YOU??

Click HERE to find out more!!

3 Krispy Treats: an afternoon snack

Sometimes I just want to make a little snack. Something special for the kids and me for good behavior, or a special day, or a Tuesday. If I make a giant batch of cookies, or a whole pan of rice krispy treats, more than likely some will be thrown out, because we just can't eat them all.

While eating breakfast a while back with Hubby (eating fruity pebbles), I was reminded of how we used to make krispy treats with them in college. Yummmmm! I told him I was going to try to make just three for a mid-morning snack. And it worked!!

Ingredients:

1 cup krispy cereal

3 large marshmallows (the roasting size)

1 tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted, then add marshmallows. 

Stir around until the marshmallows are completely melted. 

Stir in cereal, coating it well with the sticky mixture. 

Pour mixture into a glass dish, and form into a rectangle. Just use your fingers, or a spatula. 

Cut into 3 (or 4 smaller) squares of krispy treats!

A 5 minute afternoon snack, perfect for celebrating a good day, or a Tuesday. 

And no piles of snacks leftover!

Happy Snacking!

Flying Geese

It was time for a new table runner. I'm still cleaning out my scrap bin and refusing to  buy new fabric this year for small projects. We have a lot of teal in our living room, so I wanted to use some of those scraps to make us a new runner for our TV stand. 

This was my first attempt at making "flying geese" blocks. After doing the math and cutting of the fabric, the piecing was actually much easier than expected. I don't think I'd want to do a whole quilt this way, but it made a nice border.

I arranged them to be "flying" around the border of my table runner. I made sure to throw a few orange geese in there too for a pop of color.

Most of the middle is covered by the TV base, but I quilted it with rows of straight lines, close together. I also quilted in the ditch of a few of the geese to hold everything together for when it gets washed.

The backing was another large scrap piece, from my Modern Herringbone Quilt. I love it, so I hate that it's now hiding on the back.

The orange and white striped binding added that last pop of color I needed. Sometimes having lots of patchwork and quilted items can make a house feel "old"... but if you make them in a modern color palette, with clean lines and patterns, they can look great in a modern home!

It's now happily resting under my TV!

Elf Box: How To...

Sometimes I look through "Elf on a Shelf" ideas and think "Nobody's got time for that", or at least I don't. Last year I wanted to make sure that our Elf's adventures were both toddler friendly, and easy to accomplish after bedtime. Because let's face it...sometimes you are ready to pass out at the first sign that your babies are in bed, and you don't want to spend another half hour getting an elf ready. 

Here are some simple tips to making a bigger elf impact, with just a few little details, and a little time. 

I did mine in advance, and keep them in a little box stored where the kids can't find it. Then it's always accessible from year to year, and everything is pre-made.

How to make items for your "Elf Box"....

For Micah's letters to his elf friends, I cut a piece of white paper into a small rectangle, and tri-folded it like a business letter. Then to add some color, and to hold it folded together, I added some stickers to the edges.

A golf pencil makes a great elf-sized pencil.

One item I used a lot was a pair of scissors from a travel sewing kit! They not too sharp, so pretty safe to be around the kids, but tiny enough for an elf.

Fold up some paper and make tiny snowflakes by cutting little holes out. Open them up to see your beautiful snowflakes! (I used regular scissors for this because they needed to be sharp.)

Lay out a cookbook and a few ingredients to make cookies for Santa! The fun, elf-sized piece here...some tiny measuring spoons. You can find measuring spoons for a "dash" "pinch" and others at some stores. These are the perfect size.

Use some scraps of fleece to make a scarf. Just cut a rectangle, then cut some fringe. No sewing required. I cut out two hat shapes from the same fleece, and sewed a couple of stitches around the edge to look like he was sewing. The tiny scissors came in handy here too.

I actually had a lot of fun with his present-wrapping. I used the tiny scissors and some ribbon to add to his pile of presents.

I wrapped a Milk Duds box and a single Starburst candy to get my tiny presents. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but look so cute!

All of these little props and helpers are now in my "Elf Box" ready to use next year. I'll hopefully add a few more items this year to mix it up a bit, but it's nice to have these on standby.