Say Hello to My Little Friend

Two topic post today.

First thing to talk about: my latest acquisition! My good friend Carmen went to her local Disney Store a couple of weeks ago. They were going out of business and selling everything....even the store mannequins. She called me to see if I wanted one. They were asking $40 each for them, and I told her, "see if they'll take $25." And they did! So the next time Carmen came over, she brought it to me. And here she is!

This will come in handy when the things I make are too big/small for my daughter to model, or when she is just being uncooperative (the most likely scenario!) The funniest thing about this: my daughter calls it her "friend" and has named her Maggie (as in "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast"). She'll come in my sewing room and talk to it, bring it toys, put her dress-up clothes and jewelry on it...it's like the embodiment of her imaginary friend.

Topic 2:

I finished my first "real" project with the ruffler attachment. My latest venture is into the world of twirl skirts. There are many, many, many versions of the twirl skirt out there with various combinations of ruffles, tulle, and the like. I found one that I really like and one that allows me to play around with fabric combinations. This one has an elastic drop waist and two tiers, each with a double-ruffle bottom, separated by layers of tulle.

Of course the first one I made was for my daughter and she wore it for her birthday party. One of the girls at the party saw it and had to have one. I had just gotten these great coordinating fabrics in a pretty blue/brown combination with checks, dots, and daisies. Here's the finished project....

These skirts are so cute and fun to make. I have enough of these fabrics to make one more just like this one, and then I'm looking forward to experimenting with other fun fabrics for more skirts for my etsy shop!

Oh, and one more thing: I am offering free shipping on all my items on etsy through the month of July!