This week, joining in with Soule Mama, we had to include THREE moments from the past few days that we wanted to remember and to savor. Sibling love. There’s nothing like it.
Happy Weekend, Yummies! Hope yours is bright and beautiful!
I remember cutting out this pattern, the Sunday Brunch Jacket by Oliver + S, back in late August just when my morning sickness from Baby G had started to kick in. Cutting, I made a beginner’s mistake and did not match up the beautiful princesses on the fabric to the pattern being cut, so guess what? There are two princesses right there at the top. Usually, I would have noticed right away and recut that piece of the pattern to match the overlapping piece, but it wasn’t until I was partway through making the jacket that I even noticed what had happened. I went ahead and finished most of the jacket but then put it aside for months thinking, well, that was a bust!
While cleaning the apartment for a big birthday celebration coming up soon, I came across this jacket again, abandoned on the project pile. The fabric is so beautiful. Purple and pink without inciting a gag reflex that will be familiar to most of us with daughters who are still in the throes of the pink and purple phase.
What the heck? It has been so cold around here still, this late in May. I took it back out, faced the glaring mistake, and decided that Mira would love it anyway. I attached a fake-out big button that we found at the Sheep and Wool Festival up in Rhinebeck in the Fall, sewed on some snaps, and finished the top stitching.
The pattern (not the fabric) is out of print now, but I have a feeling that you could find it if you did some searching. Even if ours does not quite do the fabric justice, the lines and fit of the jacket are so pretty and so cute all at once.
Sometimes Mommy is not perfect. Sometimes it will have to be the good enough good. But, really? I’m not even sure that Mira noticed at all. She was just happy with her new jacket adorned with Sleeping Beauties, in Heather Ross‘s fabulous Far Far Away 2 by the way, a swath of deep purple and little pops of pink and green.
Here’s the thing, the moral to this story: The lining is lavender, Mira’s favorite shade of purple, naturally, and it’s what is inside that really matters. Right, Princesses?
Did I mention that my husband and I and ALL of the grandparents thought that this baby was a boy? We chose not to find out the sex when we had our ultrasound, yet I, for one, was completely and totally convinced that we were having a boy.
We did not go so far as to actually go out and buy boy’s newborn clothing, but when I look at the little things we collected from friends and family, since we had passed all of Mira’s and Liev’s baby things to other babies, there is a clear slant toward the boy end of the spectrum.
Imagine our surprise when Miss Genevieve was born, I lifted the umbilical cord up, and found that we had a tiny daughter. We LOVE a surprise! And, even more than a surprise, I have to admit that I love a little trick on myself every once in a while. This included dreams from the grandparents, from friends, and Sean’s and my own dreams always, without exception, foretelling a boy. My mother-in-law, usually very intuitive about these things, was sure by the time she saw me last Christmas time that it was going to be a boy from the way I carrying.
We should have known that we knew nothing….
Because Baby G is indeed a girl, the most wonderful surprise ever, and such a chill baby, I have managed to work out some time to sew some things for her, starting with this little dress from Anna Maria Horner‘s book, Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby. It was super simple to make, has blessedly few steps, and is very sweet looking. I added a little red sash and a tiny red bow to further highlight the ladybug fabric my mom brought back from Tokyo a couple of years ago.
Speaking of my very sensible mother, she recommends leaving bows like this unattached from the dress you’re making and just safety pinning them on when the child wears the dress so that the garment can be easily laundered. We found this to be a very good idea seeing as Genevieve spit up all over the shoulder about 15 seconds after having the dress on and then pooped 2 minutes later. Such are the perils of sewing for a newborn!
Right now, the dress is swallowing Genevieve a bit. Soon, though, she will chunk up and grow and will be wearing the dress instead of the dress wearing her… her first lesson in fashion.