An Easter Elodie and a Zakka Style Bag

We spent our Spring Break in Illinois, visiting my family. The trip was fantastic, but rather exhausting! Our kids are finally old enough to enjoy all the wonderful museums in Chicago, so we spent a couple days touring the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry.

The trip also coincided with Easter, which happened to be my daughter's 7th birthday (April is a very busy month for us!). I have been dying to make an Elodie since the pattern was first released, but something about the dress intimidated me. I think it was the zipper - I couldn't quite figure out how a zipper would work in a peasant-style dress. But, armed with a Google translation of the German instructions, I set out to conquer this thing. It was nowhere near as difficult as I had imagined it would be - quite simple, actually. I'm positive I did not do the zipper the way the designer intended, but no matter - it works and it looks fine.

The Elodie is fantastic for twirling.

Pattern: Farbenmix Elodie

Fabric: Robert Kaufman

My mother had a birthday a few days before we arrived, and I didn't want to show up empty handed. I made her this little bag from the Zakka Style book, which I just adore. This was so much fun to make! I used a piece of vintage 60s fabric, on top of which I stitched on a twill tag, stamped with a flower (I used heat set ink). Inside the bag, I put some birthday cards that the kids had made for her.

 

In a previous blog post, I had mentioned that my nephew's wife had a baby boy recently, and I made a little outfit for him (which you can see here). The little guy has a big sister (who, incidentally, is the cutest thing in pigtails), so of course I had to make her something as well. I chose the Modkids Isabel pattern, which I've made a couple times before as it's a great, easy pattern. I'm having a little remorse about putting the dark green ribbon on the pocket - the color was not exactly right, but it has hedgehogs on it! I was torn, but decided the more hedgehogs the better.

Pattern: Modkids Isabel

Close up of hedgehogs and offending, non-color-coordinating ribbon:

As I said, our trip was a little manic, but wonderful all the same. Now I'm madly sewing for our next trip: Kauai! I finally get to use all the Hawaiian themed fabric I've been hording for years! Plus, it's a great opportunity to sew up some of the new fabrics I've been stocking lately. I've already sewn several dresses and a top; I just need to take some pictures. New blog post coming soon!