Tiny clothes

I know how to sew curtains, pillows are no problem, I have made quilts with straight lines, but lately I've been learning how to sew garments from patterns, a small feat for me.  They actually have to fit something, a body with curves and stuff.  Granted, I've limited myself to clothes for Olivia and my mom has helped get me going, deciphering the cutting layout maps.  Pattern sizes don't correspond to storebought clothing sizes, so when in doubt I make it bigger.  Case in point, I made this shirt in size 2, according to Olivia's stats at her last checkup.  (Note: turkey baster + funnel = most awesome toy ever.)

It looks okay in the picture, but it falls off her shoulders in a sort of too-sexy-for-toddlers/Flashdance type of way.  I'm guessing she'll grow into it by next pink & green season.  (I'm having flashbacks of my grandmother sending me homemade clothes with deep hems to be let out when I got bigger.  I appreciate the amount of work that goes into a handmade garment, but I'm still afraid of becoming that kind of seamstress, the one who tries to make a piece fit from 18 months until kindergarten. 

My latest finished piece is a corduroy jumper, largely because I have a history of losing interest halfway through a project, so I thought planning a fall outfit would be a reasonable timeframe.  BUT, I am also instituting a rule (that I will probably break) that I finish one sewing project before moving onto the next.

I am happy to report that I finally finished sewing the (second set of) slipcovers for our porch furniture, this time with Velcro closures and a more practical print.

I have a bit of a fabric-collecting habit.  I get it from my mother.  We buy fabric with a specific project in mind, then either don't do the project or forget what it was, and here I am with shelves full of 1-yard lengths of pretty fabrics.  (It was all purchased on sale and none of it is going bad yet!  Packrats unite!)  I've seen my friend Trice at the fabric store twice in the last month, and our other friend Heather has seen her there another time by chance.  So I'm not the only one who goes to JoAnn Fabrics on a weekly basis with hopes of making cute stuff for our little ones.  Either we need to stage an intervention or we need to get a sitter and have a sewing party.  Or a field trip to a quilt shop that carries (ahem) better-quality fabric(as I am a bit of a fabric snob).  I'm just glad to have local friends who sew!