shirred spring dress

I have been wanting to make a sweet little shirred (aka smocked) dress for more than a year now for Henry's girlfriend, Adalyn. Shirring is a technique that uses elastic thread and turns any fabric into a cute, ruffly, stretchy fabric that is just perfect for dresses and skirts.

Here's the problem. I tried umpteen tutorials and could never get the hang of it. My fabric just would not bunch. I eventually gave up in a super graceful way that definitely didn't involve pounding my fists on the sewing table or uttering curse words.

Fast forward a year and it's Adalyn's 4th birthday. I am bound and freaking determined to shirr her a dress, so I look for more tutorials. I eventually see a little note at the bottom of one that says in big red letters something like "if you have a Brother sewing machine, you're going to have a really hard time with shirring."

Oh, fantastic. Well that explains it.

Turns out that Brother machines don't shirr well due to the fact that they have a drop-in bobbin with no bobbin tension adjustment. There is a work around though. It sounds totally scary, but I promise it's not. You just tighten one little screw with a tiny Flathead screwdriver and VOILA! You can shirr! Here's a link to the video that will show you how to shirr on your Brother machine. Don't be afraid. It's worth it.

If you don't have a Brother, congratulations, because life just got a whole lot easier for you.

Now that my machine was shirr-ready, I followed this tutorial from Pretty Prudent to whip up this adorable springy dress for Adalyn out of some vintage fabric. Pink and purple paisley. Doesn't get much cuter than that.

Check out that shirring. And those pom poms. Come on.

I even had Henry model it to be sure it would fit Adalyn, since they're the same size. Yes, I have photos. No, I will not be sharing them. You're welcome, future 15 year old Henry.

Here's Adalyn modeling her dress. My future daughter-in-law, ladies and gentlemen. Those who can't seem to produce girl babies can sew for the girl babies of others.

This would be a great technique to use on grown up skirts too. Could you imagine a shirred comfy waistline on a cotton skirt when you're pregnant? I'm not (thank goodness), but this would definitely have been nice to have when my belly was the size of a beer keg.

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muu muu summer dress tutorial

easy elastic waist skirt tutorial

super hero cape tutorial

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done in a weekend(ish): boys' bathroom refresh

The boys' bathroom is the final frontier of our house as far as redecoration goes. Not that there aren't a million and one things we (I) still want to change, but it is the only room that's gone completely untouched since we moved in. I mean completely. Same gross green walls. Same nail holes from the old homeowners. Same 80's towel bars. You get the picture.

I shared my design plan with you guys about a year ago. A year. By anyone's standard that's a freakishly long time between planning and execution. But here's the thing...it didn't feel right. There was nothing wrong with my plan per se, but I just wasn't feeling it. So I stalled. And I don't think that's a terrible thing. Better to sit on it and come up with a better plan (or, rather, wait a year for a new plan to magically materialize in your mind while you're supposed to be working on something else) rather than force it and spend money on something you ultimately won't like.

Or at least that's what I'm choosing to tell myself.

Last week I woke up after a late night Pinteresting session (I should not be allowed to Pinterest after 9 PM) and decided it was THE DAY to do something about that bathroom. So I grabbed a can of paint from the garage and got busy. It was kind of fortunate that I had the exact color that I wanted leftover from another project and ready to go. It was meant to be.

I call this a weekend-ish refresh because it totally could be accomplished in a weekend, I just chose to stretch it out over about 5 days. Painted day 1, nothing day 2. hung stuff day 3, plumbing nightmare days 4-5. But more on that in a moment.

Here's the room before. Ugh, it's so ugly it hurts my eyes. So embarrassing. Do you like how I didn't even bother to take the potty seat off the throne before the photo? Keeping it real.

The only things this space really had going for it were the white tile which is in good shape, and a skylight that brings in mucho natural daylight. This is most certainly not the tile I would pick out today if I were doing a total remodel, but since we aren't going to drop the money right now for an overhaul, it's totally non-offensive, and that's good enough for me.

how I cranked up the wow factor in my kitchen

Last week I shared the Kitchen Mood Board I created for my in-laws with you guys. There was a lot of Pinteresting going on, and while I intended to be totally focused on their project, I couldn't help but think about updates to our place. The curse of the designer. It's a heavy burden to bear.

One thing I noticed - and I truly don't know how I didn't see this before - like 80% of the kitchens I've ever pinned (completely unscientific and likely inaccurate estimate) had one thing in common: an oriental rug. I mean, look at this.

sources : one | two | three | four | five | six

Classic + Bright Kitchen

If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed the insane spike of pinning activity this last week. My in-laws decided to build a house and asked for my help. YAAAAAY! The home was already under construction to be a spec house, but was still in the framing stage, so they had the chance to customize the inside. So I got busy designing.

Then....life happened. The deal ended up falling through. Kind of sad but they probably also dodged a bullet. These things happen for a reason.

So what to do with all of those mood boards and design ideas? Share them with you, of course! Mood boards come in all types. The 4 that I'll share with you in the coming weeks are about overall style and atmosphere. They include inspiration images and a few products that show how you want the space to feel. If the project would have moved forward, this would have evolved to show the actual selections for all of the hardware, cabinets, lighting, etc.

This kitchen is bright and cheerful. Casual and classic. Painted white cabinets, oil rubbed bronze fixtures, warm wood furniture, and timeless lighting and rugs. It has a bit of a farmhouse vibe, but it's subtle.

You can find even more kitchen inspiration with images that didn't make the final board my Pinterest board. Enjoy!

Sources (from top left): kitchen 1 | kitchen 2 | kitchen 3 | kitchen 4 |library pulls | sink | barstool |  faucet | light | rug |  kitchen 5| fridge | kitchen 6

MAY I INTEREST YOU IN…

eclectic breakfast nook

long live chesterfield

bright farmhouse master bath

refined rustic master bath

Henry's Knight Birthday Party

My sweet Henry man turned 4 this weekend. He requested a Knight birthday party (not to be confused with a night birthday party. Very different things) and I was happy to oblige. This was a fun one to put together. Pretty photos now; details at the end.

dig, plant, repeat

Helloooooooooooooooooo!

Yes, we are still alive. I haven't blogged in about 400 years (just over a month). We've been "boring busy" as my friend Elizabeth would say. Day to day life with kids and part time work and all that jazz. And, if I'm being super-honest, I took 3 months off to read the entire Outlander series. 8 books. Something like 6,500 pages. Took up quite a bit of my free time. WORTH IT.

But I finished all that and now it's time to do something productive. Since it's spring, that means growing stuff.

Landscaping is something that was lacking in this house when we bought it 2 years ago. It had some mature (read: scraggly and dated) 1980s shrubs and monkey grass littering basically every flower bed. We did exactly zero landscaping our first year here. I was pregnant and nesting indoors and just not feeling it. Last year we planted just a couple of things in the front beds and at the mailbox, then just stuck with containers on the patio. Thankfully (miraculously) it all lived.

I have a notoriously brown thumb, but last year I discovered the secret to keeping plants alive in the Texas summers.

You ready for it?

Brace yourselves.