Sewing projects

For my birthday this year, my in-laws very generously gave me a basic sewing machine.  I've been thinking about getting one for a while, but I really haven't sewn anything...no, really, like in my whole life!  My poor mom, she tried with me & she is an excellent seamstress, but I think that gene must skip a generation because I've always avoided sewing at all costs.  I guess my fear & dislike of sewing started when I was in high school & we had to sew a sweatshirt for our senior home economics project.  Mine was awful!  The cuffs fell off & it just was not good.  Because of my unnatural love of all things Pinterest, I'd been thinking & looking at sewing tutorials online for about a year & with us now planning a Disney trip in  April, I was more seriously looking at tutorials for DIY Disney shirts for the girls.  I have to say that as I've discovered with sewing (I grant you my 1st 2 projects) it is very precise; but also, somewhat forgiving as there is usually a way to fix things.....thank goodness or else I would have wasted a lot of fabric :)   For my 1st project, I decided to start with an extremely simple skirt for Ella.  Originally I had thought pillow cases, but she picked the Frozen Fever fabric & that was it, she wanted a skirt.  On Pinterest, this little skirt didn't look that much harder than a pillow case, so I gave it a shot.  I did the skirt 1st with elastic, but then I remembered they had Frozen Fever capes that they never wear, so I decided to add a little ruffle to the end of the skirt.  That was the hardest part because the fabric was very thin, but once added I do like the effect & Ella loves it, which is what matters.

Once Jessica got home from Kindergarten, she was just not having it that Ella had a skirt & she did not, but in true Jessica fashion, she did not want a skirt.....she wanted a dress!  Oh boy!  Of course, I had only bought 1 yard of this butterfly fabric (I actually really like this fabric also, I'm thinking about making myself a skirt with it), which she expected me to make into a dress & she didn't want sleeves, so very little room for error.  I took a deep breath & found a fairly simple pattern for this little dress.  I managed to mess up the seam to attach the bottom to the top, but was able to add the little belt to cover it.  Certainly not perfect & I really wouldn't want her to wear it out, but not too bad for my 2nd sewing project & 1st dress ever.  I'll keep working on it & hopefully improve. The hardest part of the whole thing was the button holes (P.S. Mom, I did finish the edges of the belt, I promise I didn't leave it like it is in the pictures :).

That owl in the background, that's the Christmas Owl, he's like our elf on the shelf, he visits Santa nightly to give him a report on the girls' behavior & also causes mischief...last night he made himself a cape, after we sewed all day