Naughty Little Monkey

Georgia is cute. She is also mischevious, has tons of energy, chatters the ear off anyone who will listen, and loves to climb. In many ways, she has always reminded us of a little monkey.
So what better fabric to choose for a cute summer outfit than a monkey print? I found this fabric at Joann's on clearance for $1.50 a yard:

And decided to make this romper from this pattern:

Rompers, of course, are better for climbing and jumping and running and all of those things that little monkey girls love to do.

The finished product really doesn't resemble the pattern much, but that's ok. I like the 70's jumpsuit vibe that mine has going on.

I liked the improvisations I made, and Georgia loved wearing it... there was only one problem. I forgot how long she is in the torso, and the romper was undoubtedly tight length-wise in that area. She actually ripped a little hole in the waist section after playing on the playground for an hour.

So, I did what most novice sewers have to get used to doing, I suppose... I pulled out my handy-dandy seam ripper and separated the top portion from the pant portion. I then made what resembled a hot pink cumberbund and sewed it in between the 2 portions. And you know what?  I-- and my little monkey--actually like how the modified romper/jumpsuit looks even better!

 

Mad for Mermaids!

Georgia, my 4-year old, has gone mad for mermaids! She loves Ariel and "The Little Mermaid", of course, but she loves stories and songs and poems and pictures of all kinds of mermaids.

And she spends lots of time trying to convince her 6 and 8 year old siblings that mermaids are real.

When I found the "Sea Beauties" fabric by Michael Miller, I knew it was a must have for Georgia. I bought it months ago, but because it looks summery, I thought it would be best to save it for a sundress. However, I just couldn't wait any longer-- as Seattleites know, we are sometimes wearing puffy coats and pom pom hats in June, for goodness sake--so I came up with an alternate plan.

I had some sweaters I found at Value Village for about $1 each and they happened to match the colors in the fabric perfectly. I especially liked how the orange one looked with the fabric. And while I was matching the fabric and sweaters, Harper went to her closet and found an old aqua t-shirt with anchors on it that matched as well:

I messed around with the scissors and fabric and here is what I came up with:

And after an hour and a half of gathering and sewing and hemming, here is what we have-- a bright, cheerful, perfect-for-the-chilly-springs-in-Seattle dress!

And hooray-- Georgia felt like modeling and having her picture taken today!