The Handmade Dress

My boy has been so funny the last few weeks! He is such a little man. I have a few funny stories to tell, these conversations REALLY happened! This is what Timothy asked my cousin who just got braces: Charlie, why do you gots earwings (earings) on your teeth? Timothy and Ben had this conversation the other morning before church when we were running a little late. Ben was getting him ready and couldn't find any socks, so he ran to the girls room and grabbed a pair of plain white socks (OK they had a very small scallop, but seriously NOT NOTICEABLE, Ben didn't even see it when he grabbed them). Ben: Here buddy, put these socks on. Tim: I can't wear dose (those) daddy. Ben: Why not? They are just plain white socks, put'em on, we're in a hurry buddy. Tim: But daddy dose (those) are for girws (girls). Ben: No they're not buddy just put'em on. Tim: Uhh huh Daddy, wook, they hab (have) ......(ok he now has this puzzled look on his face trying to d...

I think that this little dress will be next, I love it! Maddie thinks that she is "a-rella" (Cinderella) in it. I guess it's the apron? I think she looks like a little milk maid. Ohhh....it's just precious. I started cutting out the pattern at 12:30 pm and I was done taking these pictures by 1:40 pm, this one is quick! Like "Miss Molly" there are no buttonholes or plackets so that helps a lot. I am so addicted to these "quick sew" dresses. If the girls have nothing to wear to church I just crank one of these out! I'm not sure what sizes this pattern will be in yet. I will keep ya posted. To all of you sweet people who prayed for Maddie after my last post, THANK YOU! She was better within hours! I nearly cried when I thought of the hundreds of mamas who lifted my baby up in prayer that night. We both slept like babies and she has been her sassy little self ever since. In Matthew 18 it says: For where two or three are gathered together in...

My poor little Madeline is sick. She is acting fine during the day and I get my hopes up thinking I will actually get some sleep and she won't be miserable, but then somewhere between 1:30-2:30 am she wakes up. It's not pretty. It's really not. Then I have to give her a bath, and by then she is awake enough to ask for "a-rella" (Cinderella). So somewhere between 4:00- 5:00 am we fall asleep on the couch- I think I'm too old for the couch- and then Tim is ready to go around 7:30, if I'm luck he will last until 8:30. The good news is that since she feels great during the day I've been getting a lot done! Today we didn't go to church. So when I peeled myself off of the couch around 9am I started with 6 loads of laundry, got those folded and put away. Then I waded through my inbox (that thing scares me!) and got every last email in it's rightful folder. Oh, that felt so good! Next I cleaned up some, started lunch and dinner and cleaned that mess u...

The pattern is now available in the shop for pre-order. I will have all the orders mailed out by by mid June. I'm thinking it will be ready before that, but to be on the safe side I say mid June. To order click HERE or click on books and patterns at the top of the page. YAY! These dresses are from my testers! These guys are pretty fast. This first one was made by my sweet friend Karen of The Big Trade-Off. I love her choice of fabrics, it made for a cute funky version of "Miss Molly". This one is sweet too! Cheryl M. sewed this version of "Miss Molly". The ladybug button just makes the dress! Isn't it the sweetest! I have more exciting news. Creative Smocking is going to distribute this pattern for me! They already carry my book and crochet patterns, but now I will have a sewing pattern out! I am so excited! I want you all to know that I probably wouldn't have had the guts to take it this far, had I not had so much encouragement from my wond...

...that make it all worth it. Maddie showing her new dress to Daddy. "Wook Daddy, Mama mae-dit". "You wike it Daddy?" Molly's little notes make me smile every time! This one says don't come in my room OK- Molly. Spelled: Dot coom in mi room ca- Molly. The big pot of veggie soup we have been eating off of. Molly started begging for some the minute she smelled it. It was hard for us to wait! This little table, full of their little on going crafts and projects. This beautiful dirt! I can't wait to see our veggies popping up! The kids are so excited, they just watch the dirt. Molly can't wait to eat the hot tomatoes straight out of the garden, that's her favorite. Our first summer fishing trip . Tim's first fish. Our flooded trail. This made for a fun adventure! It was so much fun. Dirty feet. You know I have a thing for little feet! Dirty little feet are e...

Hey! How have you all been doing? I have been working like a mad woman on this computer (and on my sewing machine) getting "Miss Molly" my new pattern ready for my testers. I hope to have it ready for them by Tuesday. This is one of the dresses I have made from the pattern "Miss Molly". I added a sweet little whale applique that will be available for free download later this week. Isn't my model a cutie pie! I hate to run but I will be back for the free download soon! ~xoxox, Samantha

Guys! Thanks so much. I had over 150 offers today! I was gone all day and I had my iPhone so I could see the emails pouring in, but I couldn't read them because we were so busy (organizing the twins room) until I got home. Boy was I surprised! I definitely have enough at this point. LOL! I am going to go through my inbox and pick 2 testers per size. I will also pick 2 people to look over the instructions for me. I don't really know any other way of doing it. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! What a great community! I was so touched that so many people were willing to help me out. You are awesome! I wish we could all get together, drink coffee, and get the rest of this pattern finished. Wouldn't that be fun. Oh and some cake.....sour cream pound cake........and we could have some hazelnut creamer for the coffee. OK I'm going to stop and go eat now. LOL! I will let you know by email if you are a tester. I have church tonight so I will probably have to get with you sometime tomorrow....

Hey bloggy friends! I have been working hard on my new pattern but I still have a good bit of work left. I have the pattern drafted out in sizes 18mo- 6yrs. I'm working on the instructions now. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to test the pattern for me? You will get the pattern for all sizes with instructions (it will be the rough draft) and when I have a final draft I will mail all the testers a final copy (you know... the pretty finished version). What I need from testers? Any suggestions for wording or better instructions. Chest and length for the child and size that worked best. A picture would be great, but is not required. I would really like to have a couple of testers for each size. So if you are interested chime in. I would like to know what size you would be making and your skill level. I am hoping to have beginners up to advanced sewers volunteer. I should be ready to send the first drafts in the next week or so (don't hold me to it LOL!). I LOVE ...

Happy Mothers Day mamas! I wanted to share my favorite picture of the precious children who made me a mama. I hope you all have a wonderful day! Just like I told ya, I woke the morning after that last post feeling much better. Thank you for all of your kind comments. ~xoxox, Samantha

Hey friends, I'm spillin it. I am so overwhelmed the last couple of weeks! I feel like I can't keep my head above water. I was up until 6 am two nights ago trying to get the house clean and working on my new pattern, now I feel like a zombie. It's 12 am and I'm blogging! I just feel so spread thin. I normally do school with Molly, cook, clean, and play with the kids during the day and then I work and blog at night, but lately I have had so much work to do there hasn't been much time for sleep. No sleep makes me grumpy. I was grumpy with my kids today, and now I feel like crap. Yep.....I said it .......the mama curse word......c-r-a-p. I felt like the worst mom in the world today. I felt like telling my kids when I apologised for being ugly "Mama don't even deserve a Mother's day. That's for sweet mamas.", but I didn't. I felt like such a loser. Even the blog makes me feel behind. I have so many tutorials that I would like to post, b...

I did a lot of sewing last week - thank you Jesus! I am working on a new pattern so I have made four dresses to get it just right. I will share the others later this week. This is Molly's strawberry dress. She loves the strawberry applique! The dress ties over the shoulders and has a little curved bodice. The ruffle you see at the bottom is her little slip - just too cute! I really love how it turned out. This will make the perfect summer dress for the girls. Oh, and guess what! You can get the strawberry design for free! I am hoping to have this dress pattern in my shop as a download in a couple of weeks (let's just see if that really happens in the given time frame). I will try to have sizes 1-7 available. To get your freebie strawberry click HERE (or on the word tutorials at the top of the page), click add to cart (pattern is free), follow the prompts to download. I put this on a T-shirt too and it was super cute. I think it would be great on a bag too, or a skirt! We ...

(THIS IS A VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY SYMBOL TO WATCH) At our small church we don't have a choir, or not an adult choir I should say. We have very good music and a couple of singers, and then we have our precious children. Every Sunday they come to the front and sing along. They are seriously the highlight of the service! What is so funny about this is that they don't know any kids songs, they like hymns! This Sunday we were missing a few musicians and singers so Pastor (30 minutes before service) requested that the children take over. Our two guitar players decided that they would play children songs instead of our normal hymns. We didn't have time to practice any of the songs but we were sure that if they knew all those old hymns so well that they would surely know "This Little Light of Mine" and "Jesus Loves Me", well, not the case. This turned out to be the most precious mistake ever! I laughed so hard that I had tears pouring down my face. And Just s...

My mom's best friend Michelle, and her daughter in law Candace, have just opened their Etsy shop! Michelle is seriously like my other mama. She is the one who made my (and my sister's) wedding dress! Their shop is called Kelston's Closet . They will be selling boutique style clothing for little boys. Just click on the pictures and they will take you there. I also wanted to let you all know that I now have 3/8" entredeux available in my shop. This is the size that I use with size 10 crochet thread. I love this entredeux because it is big enough that when you crochet in it you can still see the holes, but small enough to use on baby clothing. To see more just click HERE.