Sewing: Little Deer Wrap Skirt

In the midst of my fun with the apron wrap dresses (I'm almost finished with the pattern) I decided to try a skirt. I love it! I have to say this is an example of "necessity is the mother of invention" as Audrey wanted a wrap dress out of this Cosmo Textiles little deer fabric but I didn't have enough yardage for the dress. I was able to squeeze out a skirt however.

Same a-line as the dress and I added some belt loops and a pocket. The loops help keep the tie from riding up and the whole thing from falling apart on those little girl hips! The pocket is just for fun. I like the opportunity for additional top stitching.

 

This is reversible, and on the reverse is more red gingham. The same I used on the Ruffler Blouses for Audrey and Scarlett.

I like both sides of this skirt and Audrey does too. I was working on a different ensemble for her to wear but I think I'll suggest this skirt deer-side-out for Scarlett's Woodland Picnic party. It's a lot of pattern but I think she can pull it off!

Another sewing project finished for KCWC. This means there is another pattern in the works just when I thought I was catching up. I may need to try one in my size too. Something for me...that would be different!

Winner: Waverly Modern Essentials Fabric Giveaway

And, we have a winner! To pick a winner for the Waverly Modern Essentials Fabric Giveaway I used Random.org to pick a number between 1 and 277, the total of the comments on this post, and this service picked:

Comment #38!

I scrolled through all your comments and #38, in a rare coincidence, has a name very similar to mine! I promise there was no funny business here. It's legitimate: our lucky winner is Annelies (guessing she pronounces it "Ah-na-lise", while mine has an additional syllable, "Ah-na-li-sa").

So now Annelies has the fun task of picking a combination of ten yards of this gorgeous fabric. I see from her profile that she is a quilting teacher so I can only imagine what she'll come up with for it!

Congratulations, Annelies! Thank you, Waverly.

I wish there could be more winners! I just learned about another great giveaway, so if you like this type of randomness, look for something towards the end of the month.

Thanks.

Sewing: Red Gingham Ruffler Blouses

It is nice that Kids Clothes Week Challenge coincides with my need to crank out some sewing! I love the little boost of a challenge. Just dare me. I seem to do it! I have birthday outfits to sew, but I am so excited about this red gingham that I have Christmas outfits in the works too. How would it be to have them finished before November? Blissful is how it would be. So I'm going to give it a shot.

But a little back and forth, and so back to the birthday outfits. As you may know from the invitation, I've got a "Woodland Picnic" in the works for Miss Scarlett and it is going to have its fair share of gingham! Why not? I love the graphic look of this red and white check and nothing else is more classic "picnic." So the birthday outfits start with gingham Ruffler Blouses. (Here's the link to the store selling this pattern but it appears it is closed--not sure for how long...)

I love the simple lines, elbow length sleeves, and ruffled neck on this pattern from Whole Grain Baby. In fact, I used the same pattern for a dress for Audrey, and a very similar one for Scarlett, on Scarlett's first birthday. Funny how I repeat myself sometimes.

I was able to finish these two blouses in a day an a half with a little help from my mother-in-law. So nice to be able to work steadily on something for a bit. There is definitely a nip of Fall in the air so we'll see what happens with the picnic plans! Weather or not, the girls seem to be having fun with the gingham!

Invites: Woodland Picnic Birthday Invitation

Oh, I had fun with these! It's probably accurate to say that my current project is always my favorite project, but these truly may be my favorite birthday invitations to date. I think the envelopes that did it for me!

Call me a control freak (also probably true) but I love being able to design every bit of the invitation. I used a bit of DIY paper tape to close the back flap. I haven't gotten to stamps yet though, you may have noticed.

This is the invitation for Scarlett's third birthday party. Seems I've done little else but plan and put on birthday parties this year, which has been a lot of fun and creatively re-charging. But, I realize I'm going to need to tone some of this down going forward now that it's all times three (girls that is). So I thought I would repurpose a bit from Scarlett's first birthday, which had a woodland friends kind of theme.

Well, I'm reusing the faux bois tablecloth at least! That counts for something I hope. It spun out a bit from there. I have been Pinning woodland picnic ideas, which you can see here, and getting excited about a mix of faux bois and red and white gingham and some graphic flora elements (including what I think of as "German dot flowers" though I don't know why). No fauna this year (except for a surprise visitor we're working on).

My favorite part of this invitation is the inner envelope with rsvp "note." It was inspired by this darling picnic invitation.  It was also lots of fun printing double sided. I need to do it more often. I love the gingham lined outer envelope and the invitation card has a mini gingham on the back.

Now if the weather will just please hold for our picnic! We've had such a warm few weeks but now it is threatening to get seriously Fall. We'll see...

The invitation, and entire party printables set, is available in my Etsy shop.



Giveaway: New Waverly Modern Essentials Fabric (CLOSED)

This is a first! I'm hosting a giveaway. I've been reluctant for a number of reasons, but most importantly, I've wanted to be sure that brands I feature on Aesthetic Nest are those I genuinely care about and believe that my readers will too. When Waverly contacted me about this I just thought: "yes!"

It's a great coincidence too because I am about to pull out a bolt of Waverly fabric I bought at Joann about three years ago, when I was working on Scarlett's crib bedding, to start her "big girl" bedding! So I've been thinking fondly about Waverly. I didn't know they have a new line of home dec fabrics called Waverly Modern Essentials. It's available exclusively at Joann. It seems to combine all the tradition and quality of Waverly with a fresh modern vibe.

I love what I've seen of their new Fall collection: a bit graphic, a bit pop, some organic imagery thrown in there and even some ethnic motifs. A very fun, contemporary, combination. A little preppy, a little funky. Somehow I'm a sucker for the red, white and blue Americana mix. But I also love the Coral Citrus and Sterling Chartreuse (in the picture below)--I've always loved chartreuse and how often do you see it in fabric? I don't anyway--and with a touch of lilac!? And I really love that there are solids. I can't tell you how many times I've gone hunting, often unsuccessfully, to find a solid to coordinate with a print.

Waverly is offering a generous 10 yards of fabric from their new Modern Essentials line to one Aesthetic Nest reader! That's a $200 value. That's enough to start a room makeover or create a space for a new addition, or remodel an Airstream, or create a stash for some fun new apparel! I've often used home decorator fabric for clothing. Wouldn't a simple shift dress be cute in one of these prints?

You have the week to enter! Just leave me ONE comment and let me know which are your favorite prints (the "Tail Spin" mini blooms? the "Network" graphic, wrought iron motif?) or colorways in this new modern Essentials collection. I'll pick a random number and announce the winner on Monday, October 10th. Then the hard part: you'll have to decide how to compose your free ten yards. It's up to you as long as the minimum cut is 1 yard. So many possibilities!

I'm told the fabric collection is arriving in stores now. You can also take a look at the swatches:

And, for another chance to win, visit the Waverly Facebook page, and enter their giveaway! (You'll need to "Like" the page first.)

Good luck!

UPDATE: I realize I wasn't clear enough in my original post about the comments. Please just leave one comment here and if you'd like another chance at the giveaway you can enter via Waverly's Facebook page. I've deleted the duplicate, FB-oriented, comments below to keep it fair. One entry per person here. Thanks.