(iCandy) "Lucky" Spring Dress

 {Dress: Jen} 

{Music & Lyrics: Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat}
{Photography: KC Petersen}

Do you hear me? I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying

Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

 I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend

Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

 

I am calling this my Lucky dress, because I LOVE this song, and my dress reminds me of it.  This song (if you haven't heard it, google it and listen) really transports me to another world.  I picture a tropical island, or lounging on a yacht.  Wish I was either place right now.....

Anyway, back to reality.  As the basis for this dress, I used a pattern. This pattern was great.  It was McCalls 5927. 

When it comes to sewing womens' clothes, I think the most intimidating part is fitting.  This pattern has different bodice pieces, according to bust size.  Therefore, cutting out the right size and having it fit better, is much easier.  I recommend this pattern very highly.  Because it is so basic, it can be used as a base for so many different dress designs.

I used the cap sleeve version, and changed my neckline to a rounded V.  Then I made my own trim, just by cutting a strip of the blue fabric and sewing white trim to each edge.  Then, using Steam-A-Seam (My best friend), I hand pleated the strip around the neckline, starting at the back zipper on each side.

I folded a pleat, ironed it in place (on the Steam-A-Seam) and then folded another, and so forth.  Then I sewed them down on the edges.  I added a couple of rows of the white trim to the bottom of the dress, and the edge of the sleeve.

For my sleeves, I added three vertical seams near the shoulder for an additional design detail (which you can't really see very well)

I was really happy with the way this dress turned out.  Now whenever I wear it, I can pretend I am in another world....

Have you checked out these cute blogs that I linked this post to?

Fancy Nancy Dress Tutorial - Part 3

For those of you just joining us, this is the 3rd and last installment of the Fancy Nancy Dress tutorial. 

To see more photos, and to start making your own version, click here. 

Also, don't forget to enter the 

Fancy Nancy Book Set Giveaway!  

Only one week left!

Lets finish the dress, already!

(Sponsor Spotlight) KC Petersen Photography

We are honored to introduce to you KC Petersen, the amazing photographer behind the Quilt photo shoot.  More of her photography will also be featured tomorrow, when I show you a new spring dress that I made!

We asked KC to share a little bit about herself, and a few more of her beautiful photographs!

KC Petersen (aka Kathleen C., Casey, Kasie, or any other spelling you might come up with) has been photographing the universe since the 50's (Brownie Camera), as a girl growing up in the LA area.   In 1973 she got her first SLR camera- a metal-bodied, manual film camera that taught her, the hard way(!) all the essentials, such as exposure, aperture, focal lengths, etc.  A month after learning to use this new camera, she sold a photograph to a magazine and suddenly found herself with a new career as a busy photographer, taking pictures of families, kids, kids, babies, and more kids.  She photographed for private clients, magazines, newspapers, and books.

KC has degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts, which aid her when photographing people.  Due to her experience working with newspapers and magazines, her style is largely photojournalistic, but her years studying fine arts at BYU, (which included drawing, painting, and sculpting), have affected her photography as well, giving it an artistic flair.

Currently, KC spends her time doing people photography, commercial photography and stock photography (she has contracts with iStock and Getty Images).  She is also producing original watercolor portraits, using her photos as reference.

Her photos have appeared in documentary films, magazines, news websites, and even the Yahoo home page.  Photography is a huge passion for KC; she has been doing it professionally for nearly 38 years and is constantly and happily learning.

Check out her website to see more of her work!

(mini-tut) Spring Chick Skirt

I don't enjoy going in to Wal-mart, but when duty calls, I go.  

I'm glad I went last week, because as I walked by the kids section, I found a cheap-cheap little ruffled skirt (with the attached little shorts underneath), that I thought I could add a little Spring to.  

 i love it!

Do you want to make one, too!

Here's how I did it!

(Craft with Me) Easter Faux Tie

Remember this tie from Valentines Day?

Remember how I promised you I'd give you a tutorial on how to make it?

Here's an opportunity, if your local (Orange County), to make one with me!

If you're not local, don't worry, I'll still post the tutorial in well-enough time for you to make one for Easter.  (is 3 weeks good enough)?)

Introducing iCandy's 

Craft With Me Night!

We would love to meet some of our readers and thought what better way to do that than to host a project every once in a while that you guys might like to do with us!

This month, we thought we'd start with the Easter Faux Tie.

Craft with Me: Easter Faux Tie edition will be held:

April 7, 2011

from 7-9PM

Cost is $0

If you'd like participate in our first Craft with Me, all you have to do is leave a comment.  The first 10 people to comment will be invited to come via email, and will be provided with all the other details including what materials they need to bring!  

If you're the 12th person to comment...still sign up, if someone ahead of you cancels, we'll call you!

Please leave your email address in your comment if you'd like to come!  (you can do it this way: madebyautie (at) gmail (dot) com if you want!)

Can't wait to meet you!

ready, set, go!

(giveaway) Ivy's it's a hoot quilt

Jen and I had a fabulous photographer to help us with our posts this week!  We know you'll enjoy the images she captured for us and we look forward to introducing you to KC on Wednesday!

I've been coveting a quilt that our friend Lauren made a year or more ago.  She used a pattern by Pieces from my Heart called fields of flowers which calls for 1 Jelly Roll of fabric.  The quilt looked so complex, I never thought I could do it, but when I took a look at the pattern, it laid it out so nicely and basically, it was a piece of cake!  And after cutting the jelly roll into the right size strips, I was able to lay out and piece the entire quilt top in 1 nap time (that's not very long, people!)

Today, we are excited to offer to giveaway (sorry, not the quilt!) a copy of this pattern for you!  Please become a follower, and just leave a comment to enter for your chance to win!

We'll announce the winner on April 8th!

I used a Jelly Roll from Moda called "It's a hoot."  It's derived from the owl theme, obviously, but there are not overly-obvious & obnoxious owls in it.  There are trees, and polka-dots and branches.  It's whimsical and girl-y and bright and absolutely darling!

I added a couple of border's to Amy's pattern just to make sure that it was big enough to fit a twin-sized bed.

I love the look of a pieced back.  So, I bought yardage of the It's a Hoot line of fabric and pieced two different designs together to spice up my life a little bit.  And then I had a good long practice session on my quilting skills..I'm still a rookie!

While trying to decide on a binding fabric, I decided that I couldn't go wrong with any of the fabrics.  The entire line is darling.  So, rather than worry about which one would be best, I used my scraps and random fat quarters that I had, and pieced them together (all different lengths).  The binding is totally random and I love it.

 Even before the quilt was completed, I was scheming up ideas for how I'd like a photo shoot to go.  I pictured a giant grassy field with a tiny silver tea service on it.  And then Jen and I thought how darling it would be to have a little girl  actually playing with the tea set and her dolls.

KC from kcpeterson photography is the mastermind behind this shoot and she was assisted by Jennifer Romero.  I emailed her my idea, and she captured on camera exactly what I had in my head!  I was so impressed with the images she sent me!

And this is Shelby.  She's my good friend's daughter...and she is darling inside and out.  I want my little Ivy to be like her!  Isn't she beautiful!?!  She was THE perfect little model.

I made this quilt for my Ivy's bed.  For Christmas, Santa brought her a tiny metal doll bed with a mattress, tiny pillow and a mini-version of her quilt made from a Moda charm pack they all perfectly match her big girl quilt.

 

To go along with her new bedroom motif, I also whipped up a little ruched throw pillow for her bed.  The tutorial for that will be next week, so get excited!  I'm anxious to share it with you!

(i linked this project to a couple of these fun linky parties!)

Fancy Nancy Dress Tutorial - Part 2

For those of you who are making your own Fancy Nancy Dress, 

it is time to begin sewing!

(eyeCandy) Recovering an Umbrella!

Spring is in the air around here; it's been a little rainy and a little bit nice, but I have whipped out my good ole' umbrella a few times this week.  So, while I was cruising the Linky Parties this week, this little Beaut' caught my eye

I've never seen someone re-cover an Umbrella before! How fun to have a FUN, springy umbrella, rather than the usual, drab black and white ones that we always see!

Jessica at Me Sew Crazy shows us how to make our own classy and fun umbrella here!

love it, thanks for sharing the fun project, Jessica!

(tutorial & giveaway) Fancy Nancy Dress

Have you all been rendezvousing (that's French for hangin' out)

over at No Big Dill?  She has the most fabulous (that's fancy for great) theme going
on this month.  

It is called Once Upon a Thread, and it is a month of projects inspired by
Children's Books.  

Well, I thought this was such a stupendous (that's a fancy way of saying good) idea
that I decided to join in the fun

here on iCandy! 

My little girl adores (that's like loves, but more fancy) Fancy Nancy books.  So I
decided to create a Fancy Nancy dress for her, with a tutorial and giveaway for you!

So are you absolutely dying to know what we are giving away?? Well, get excited!  Childrensbookstore.com has offered to give away a Fancy Nancy book pack! The lucky winner
will receive 3 hardback Fancy Nancy books: (Click on them to see the books are about)

1. Fancy Nancy
2. Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly
3. Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique

You can enter the giveaway by doing one or more of the following:

1. Become a follower and leave a comment
2. Post about the giveaway on your blog and comment with the link
3. Facebook or twitter about the giveaway and leave a comment

We will accept entries until April 7th.

Good Luck!

Also, for the duration of the giveaway, Childrensbookstore.com has offered to give iCandy 
followers a 20% discount at their site!  Just use ICANDY promo code at checkout.

And, if you are interested in making your own Fancy Nancy dress, I have a 3-part
tutorial.  Part 1 is posted today, Part 2 over the weekend, and Part 3 next week.

Check out these great blogs that I linked up to!

(tutorial) Bunny Pots with Jillonnie

I told you we had awesome friends...You've seen it with Michelle at Michelle Photography, Kim at Tickled Pink Studios and Busbsie Designs, and today we have another friend to share with you: Jillonnie (get excited!)

I haven't known Jillonnie for very long, but it seems like we've been friends for years.  She's one of those people that you just instantly like, get along with perfectly, and totally admire.  She's so fun, so real and, I'm so glad she's one of my friends.  She had such a fun idea to do for Spring/Easter decorating.  I immediately wanted to do it, and asked her if she'd be willing to share it with you...

take it away, Jillonnie!

I fell in love with these topiary bunnies from Pier 1! I love it when I can find things at Pier 1 that I want to afford.  (that's different than being able to afford!)  $2.95 for these cute bunnies didn't seem that bad!  I envisioned them as my kids, so I bought 1 for each kid (4).  At first I thought I would put them all in one vase together, but that didn't look good, so then I thought of this...

here are the bunnies: 

I went to Michaels and bought the clay pots for anything from $0.89 to $1.00. (There are different sizes)

Went home and went to work.
Read more to make your own!

(iCandy) sweater to cardi refashion (autie style)

If you haven't noticed yet, Jen is a whiz when it comes to refashioning and making clothes for herself.  I want to be like her because I can't do that stuff!  Anyway, after mui encouragement from her that I actually COULD refashion something, a little coaching and some trial and error, I tried it...and I'm kind of excited about it!  

Darn thing is, that it's too warm here in the OC to walk around with a cardi on!

Here's my version of the sweater to cardigan refashion...I had an old sweater from Forever 21 that I got forever ago.  I love the color of it!  and I had yards of my favorite lace that I never use because I don't want to use it up!  a few buttons and some stitch-witchery and this is what I got:

how'd I do?
i linked this project to some of these fun blogs!

(mini-tut x2) Gossip Girl Inspired Lace Tee

So I'm gonna let you in on a dirty little secret. I love Gossip Girl. It is totally trashy television, but the characters, acting and wardrobes are so great!

Recently, on this cool blog that I just came across, called Uber Chic for Cheap, she posted an answer to a reader's question on where to find an item worn by the character Serena, played by Blake Lively, on Gossip Girl.  You can read the post here.

Here is what her reader was looking for:

The funny thing, is I had already been thinking about embellishing some tees with lace for my seriously challenged spring everyday-wardrobe.  I had lots of ideas, but straight down the middle wasn't one of them until I saw how cute this was.  So I grabbed a couple of plain tees from my stash and went to work. 

I made one like the inspiration, and for the second, decided to switch it up a little bit.

The lace I used was vintage, and not stretchable, so if you want to know how I made these tees, I have two little mini-tuts for you. 

For those of you who are looking for a super quick project, this is for you!

Linked up to these awesome blogs!

(eyeCandy) Jewelry Board

As I was perusing Somewhat Simple's Linky Party, I came across a really fun idea.  For anyone with multiple necklaces, and no real place to put them, this is so fabulous!

A Jewelry Board! 

Sage and Cocoa created this beautiful example, and posts a tutorial here. 


She was inpired by I Create It, who made some beautiful ones out of framed mirrors:

You can find her tutorial here.

(tutorial) framed bow board

Since we have babies on the mind this week, I thought I would show you my baby shower gift staple.


I made this particular bow board a couple of months ago for a baby shower that I hosted.  If you happen to host a baby shower, it is fun to have a bow board out as a decoration. Ahead of time, ask your guests to bring a bow/hair accessory as part of their gift.  During present-opening, you clip all the cute bows on the board for the new mom to take home.

Even if you are just attending a shower for a baby girl, this board also makes a great gift.  I usually ask the mom what their nursery colors are, and what type of wood they are using, and make one to match.  You can use any type or thickness of ribbon you want, and you can do more horizontal rows, too.  The possibilities are endless.

Want to make one? Here's how:
(If you talented ladies don't already know how)

(mini-tut) Rainbow Brite's Belt

I wanted to do this project last minute for my daughter for her to spruce up her St Patty's day attire.  AND I planned on making one for my little boy...but the green options available at Joanns were not my favorite.  So, I'll make one for him when I find a manly piece of webbing!

So, this project is so old-school, I used to wear these belts when I was little.  My mom used to make them for us and my dad to wear, and I'm pretty sure I had a rainbow one myself, and mom might still have it!  

There are a few differences, one being the metal D rings(mom used climbing rope)...the other being that I added velcro to keep the end from flapping around, or sticking out!

So, thanks mom, for the inspiration!

Doesn't it remind you of good 'ole Rainbow Brite herself?

like I said, this happens to be for St. Pat's day...but you could just make one for a normal day!

If you want to make one for your cuties...it takes 5 minutes!

Here's how you do it!