Birthday Gift and a Bonus

We went to a birthday party today, so I spent some time at the sewing machine this weekend.  I wanted to do these gifts up last week, but I was too depressed by the utter disaster area of my sewing room.   I think one night I went in to clean it and just curled up in a ball and napped.  Just the thought of tackling it made me sleepy.

Anyway, the first gift was a pillow.  My kid loves pillows and I think it is adorable when she puts her little head on one.  The birthday girl's room is animal themed and her initials are G and E and since I had these furry animal appliques (courtesy of my mom), I decided to make up a coordinating pillow for her.  One is side is an elephant and the other side is a giraffe.  

I debated for a while on the background fabric.  I wanted to do a dark blue brocade for the elephant, but in the end I went with the pajama fabric and just used one pillow for both animals.

As for constructing the pillow itself...that caused me a bit of sewing anxiety.  Why?  Measuring!  I hate measuring things sometimes.  It was a 12" pillow form, so I had to decide what size square to cut.  I read all these things and they kept saying I needed an 11" square, but that absolutely baffled my brain, so I cut the square at 13", I think.  Obviously it is not taut on the form, but I think it is still okay.

Next up, I used a vintage (possibly 1980s...is that considered vintage now?) pattern from Butterick.  It only came in size large, which is supposed to fit a 22 to 26 pound kid.  My fifteen month old is about 26 pounds, so I figured it would fit her and the one year old would grow into it.  

I made the little yellow dress, though they call it a jumper.  I skipped the little panties, because I'm afraid of elastic.  I'm also afraid of buttonholes and I had to tackle that.  Yikes.

I revisited the prairie bonnet and created a little matching hat.  It's a pretty sweet little dress.  I worry that the buttons are a little heavy.  I followed the pattern directions and added two buttons to each strap so that it can be adjusted.  I lined it with the sweetest little print.  

I've had the lining in my stash for ages and I was so happy to find the perfect project for it.  It's so soft and snuggly.  

And I made a little card.  Nothing fancy.

Oh...did I say there was a bonus?  There is!  I made another little dress and bonnet to keep!

The main print was purchased when I first started sewing and was convinced that every single fabric I saw should be turned into an apron.  This never met that fate and, instead, sat in my closet for five years.  I lined it with a little calico.

And here's me in the car frantically trying to install the snaps on our way to the party.

One of the holes got ripped when I tried to pry up the incorrectly installed snap.  I did two females instead of a male and a female, so I had to fix that in the car.