Matching Outfits for the Birthday Twins

Tori has wanted me to make her twins matching outfits for quite a while, and we finally decided to target their third birthday. Are they really three years old, already?!?  It doesn't seem that long ago when I attended Tori's baby shower and she got these gifts.
I used Martha Pullen's reversible patterns, modifying them somewhat. Noa is tall for her age, so I used a size three, but made it the same length as a size 4. Since we are headed into cooler months, I extended the shortall to a longall for Julian. I'll be honest, I just winged it (on a sample first) and I'm pretty impressed that it worked! :)
Side One: Plaid with three-letter monograms

This corduroy is courtesy of Sandy, who recently gave me tons of fabric left from her days of making clothes for her kids. I think it looks great for winter! I used the Circle Monogram Set 3 from Embroidery Arts.

Side two was a bit more challenging, but in the end I think it turned out fantastic! I had purchased some brown fabric with dots that I thought was cute.  But as I cut it out, I realized Tori's kids have slightly different skin tone than my kids and probably don't wear all brown. :)  So Tori and I met at JoAnns and looked around. It is IMPOSSIBLE to find a print that works for both a boy and a girl! We finally settled on a solid corduroy for Julian and an adorable print corduroy for Noa.

For the embroidery, I stitched an applique "3" using Chubby Wubby Applique Numbers from GG Designs, and stitched their names across it using the Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

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Whew, I'm glad these are done. And now that they are, I'm going to make a declaration:
I'm never making an A-line or JonJon again. :)
I have loved the outcome of every single one I have made, but the reality is I am not getting any faster at this. I wouldn't feel comfortable charging my friends what I need to in order to make it worth my time. So I'm sticking to embroidery on ready-to-wear items, and my new found love for reversible pillowcase dresses. Sorry boys, you are out of luck.

Happy Easter!

This project has been quite an undertaking! I've wanted to make Annaliese and Dashiell matching reversible outfits using Martha Pullen's patterns for a long time. In the fall, I embellished pre-made items Kathy sent me, and at Christmas Annaliese's dress from the previous year still fit, so she didn't really need another. It was my goal to finally make a pair for spring/summer this year, and I achieved that! I worked off an on for four days and got them done in time for Easter Sunday.

Here is the spring side:

I purchased the material at JoAnns. It took me forever to find a print that worked well for both a boy and girl. Annaliese requested a bunny, and I just adore Lynnie Pinnie's Hopping Bunny, so that decision was pretty easy. I used the 5x7 size for A and the 4x4 size for D. I added their names with the Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw.


Lynnie Pinnie also had a mini bunny design, so I decided to try embroidered covered buttons for Annaliese's dress. I reduced the design to 80% and used a 1.5" button. They turned out so cute!!


And the summer side:

This material was a gift from Sandy at Dashiell's baby shower, and I'm finally using it! I spent a long time trying to decide what design to put on it. Asking Annaliese for her opinion made the process take even longer, but eventually we settled on Lynnie Pinnie's zig-zag applique crab. It comes in three sizes, I used the biggest size for Annaliese:

Dashiell's is the smallest:

LP also has a mini crab design, so this side has embroidered monogram buttons, too!

I was inspired by a dress I saw posted on Sew Forum, so I placed the crabs on the bottom, and stitched their monograms on the top. Again, I spent a lot of time finding a font that wasn't too feminine or masculine, and settled on the Bingham font for 8 Claws and a Paw. These resized well; I enlarged A's and reduced D's so they would be more proportional to the size of their outfit.


Whew, what a lot of work! We'll see if I can muster up enough strength to try this again for fall/winter. :)

Update: Here are my cuties in the crab side of their outfits!

My Little Pumpkins

Happy Fall Y'all! Here are my two little pumpkins all ready for the harvest season:

These outfits have a bit of a story. Kathy ordered the a-line dress and jon-jon online. I'm not going to share her source because receiving the items was a nightmare. Her money was quickly accepted :) but she didn't hear back from the seller for a long time. It was looking like she'd never get the order, nor her money back. She did eventually get them, but not in the color she ordered (orange instead of red gingham). Upon receiving them (like 2 months later) she wasn't sure how they were going to fit the kids, so instead of embellishing them herself, she sent them to me.

If we still lived in IL, orange outfits would be a no-brainer -- GO ILLINI!! I was tempted to do something orange and blue. BUT we live in FL, and I certainly don't want people to see my kids and think we are Gator fans, especially now that Carlin is officially a Seminole. So I opted to go with a fall theme.

The applique design is from Designs by Juju's Harvest Patchwork Applique set. I love her stuff! It's especially helpful that her designs usually come in both 4x4 and 5x7 sizes because I had a small one for Dashiell and a large one for Annaliese. I added their names with the Bingham font from 8 Claws and a Paw. It resized well for Annaliese, and stitched beautifully (as usual).


The A-line was just a bit too short for my taste, so to lengthen it a bit I added a ruffle. This was my very first ruffle. I did quite a bit of brainstorming with both Kathy and my mom. In the end, I went with Mom's suggestion of making a totally finished loop of material, gathering it 1/2" down from the top, and top-stitching it to the dress. I'm pretty pleased with the results. It adds about 2 inches to the dress, and the weight of it keeps the dress down. Plus Annaliese loves it.

I'm so glad the outfits turned out cute, especially after all the trouble Kathy had. Thanks for persevering!! I think it was worth it. I'm sure they will wear these several Sundays in October and November, and today was Dashiell's first trip to the pumpkin patch. Here are a few more pictures:




(Stay tuned... Dashiell is now big enough for the Martha Pullen reversible JonJon, so I'm anxious to make D and A matching Christmas outfits!!!)