All the Leaves are Brown

(and yellow).



These are the pictures I've been really excited to share(!) but decided to catch up in mostly chronologic order for clarity's sake. :)



A little bit ago I picked up a pattern bundle that included the darling Sally Dress pattern by luvinthemommyhood. Ansley changed her mind about her Halloween costume again and started telling people she was going to be Little Red Riding Hood again, which is fabulous because the coat still fits! (ohmygosh she's so little and cute in those pictures!). She also decided she was getting a new dress so I had her sketch one out and then drew her the version I had in mind (the Sally Dress hahaha) and she was satisfied.

(The alternate costume idea was Ansley would be Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove. She wanted Tyrone to be Kronk, I think so he could carry her in a tent like contraption on his shoulders and she wanted me to be either Pacha or the llama.)



The most time consuming part of the dress was hand sewing the lining of the bodice to the sleeves. It took as long as the rest of the dress! I am so slow. Also, one sleeve looks lots better than the other but I didn't redo it. Next time I'll just be more careful. The bodice is a size five, since it's designed to be semi fitted and I wanted it to fit well now. Most of the clothes I've been sewing for Ansley are size six. The skirt is extra twirly and the length is between a size five and a size six and Ansley loves the giant pockets.



She's my favorite! Here's her star dance. She made it up and it's the cutest thing ever.











































Fishy Face.



More Star Dance.







Love the little point formed by the bodice.

A Quick Visit

Cynthia came to see us. Ansley couldn't've been more excited. She has been asking for weeks when Cynthia was coming. Now she just asks when she's coming back.

We went to the Wild Adventure Corn Maze again.











Gorgeous sunset! (not edited or touched up)





Barrel train ride to the pumpkin patch.



And yummy Mexican Corn!





Cynthia also got to see Ansley's Primary program and her sadness/frustration that the sunbeams didn't get to stay up front for the whole program. And we took more silly pictures.

Ansley's "Fluffy Coat"

Somehow I got the idea to make a reversible minkee coat and mentioned it to Ansley. She wasn't going to let me forget either! For future reference, this was not the wisest idea b/c there is some bunching in the armholes. Linings are thinner than the outer coat for a reason and it seems that lighter fabrics work better for reversibility, at least in child size.



She wanted it to be purple on one side and white on the other. I used McCall's 6641, which is for a lined coat. I used view A because the minkee is pretty thick already. I omitted the facing and chose to use the purple minkee instead of fur. The purple side has pockets but the white side doesn't to minimize some bulk.



I forgot how it's nearly impossible to unpick stitches in minkee even with contrasting thread! The coat doesn't hang as nicely as I like but I couldn't fix it. I opted for an elastic loop closure because the coat is reversible and I haven't learned how to install a reversible separating zipper (which I also couldn't find and didn't want to wait to order). Buttonholes would've been kind of messy with the minkee shredding. It's supposed to have a button sewn on it but I haven't done it yet.



I tried to sew the sleeves like this coat but the fabrics were too thick. I ended up sewing on a band bias tape style with a lot of basting and my walking foot. This time the fluffiness of the minkee worked to my advantage as you can't really see the stitches on the purple side. :) (she's calling to a "butterfly"- a moth).



She loves it!