Handmade Wardrobe // Rosebud Ruffles
Both dresses : mashed up/self drafted
fabric: rosebud cotton poplin from Measure Fabric
Penny’s sunglasses: Mini Made Co
Penny’s sneakers: June and January
my purse: thrifted Free People
——————————————————————
i am so so so soooo in love with how these dresses turned out!
I have actually had this idea for this squared neck ruffle dress in my head for YEARS. literally years. I think I saved an inspiration photo in 2016. I don’t know why I waited so long to make it happen, but I’m glad I did wait for this fabric. When I first laid eyes on this little mini rosebud print from Measure Fabric, I immediately started thinking of this dress again. It just couldn’t be more perfect! It’s a cotton poplin, so more of a shirting fabric. It is a little bit translucent in direct light, so I lined the whole thing.
As far as the pattern, I started with the Tessuti Fabrics Romy top just to get a starting point for the shape of the top (but altered it a bit) and then kind of just self drafted the rest. And then I kind of just eyed/self drafted Penny’s mini version. I was a little worried just winging all of it, but it was actually pretty simple and came out just as I was imagining!
Penny thinks the little rosebuds are strawberries and keeps calling them our strawberry dresses 😂.
Penelope Flora is 3 years old!
Penny turned 3 years a couple weeks ago, and I realized I never posted any photos from her party here! She requested a rainbow and kitty cat party. Actually, she’s been telling me that that’s the kind of birthday that she wanted for months. And she never waivered.
Zach made her pretty rainbow cake, and I made the kitty cookies. I found a contact paper rainbow craft on Pinterest for the girls to do, and for extra decorations, I hung up a bunch of the rainbow paintings and drawings that Penny has done over the past few months. I’ll link as many of the other supplies as I can!
Penny’s rainbow dress: Old Navy
Penny’s cat ears: Target
Penny’s sunglasses: Gymboree
cat plates, rainbow cups, 3 and cat candles: Meri Meri
rainbow napkins, rainbow wrapping paper, pom Pom garland, rainbow balloon, 3 balloon (dollar section) - all from Target
letterboard: oak & made
cat cookie cut outs: Amazon
Handmade Wardrobe // flower child
dress: Megan Nielsen Patterns Floreat dress
penny’s cropped tee: self drafted
fabric: double brushed jersey knit from Girl Charlee
my belt bag: Target
my shoes: sooooo old
penny’s pants: Target
penny’s sunnies: Amazon
————————————————————
I originally had this post scheduled for later in the week, but I was so excited about this set that I rearranged posts and moved this up to Monday haha.
I’ve been holding onto this fabric for awhile (it’s no longer available, unfortunately), but I honestly knew I wanted to make a knit Floreat dress with it from the second it arrived in the mail. This is the 5th Floreat version I’ve made, and as usual, I’ve had to make zero mods to the pattern. The loose fitting shape is forgiving, and it makes it quite an easy sew. Yes, even with the angled hem! Once you get the hang of it (I mean I have made 5 now haha), it’s a breeze. I did also make the matching tie belt for it, but last minute decided to wear my new belt bag with it instead (which I’m obsessed with!).
My original vision was to make a cute gathered dress for P, too. Or at least a peplum tee. But I had so little fabric left, the most I could squeeze out was this little cropped tee. That little belly sticking out a bit kiiiiills me.
Handmade Wardrobe // Snapshots // Ruska dress at Wicked Tulips
dress: Named Clothing Breaking the Pattern Ruska knot dress a rib knit from Harts Fabric
scissors hair clip: Turtle Story
Penny’s dress: Gymboree
both our boots: Hunter boots
——————————————————————
We may be kind of crazy, but the day after returning from vacation, we jumped right back in the car and drove over an hour down to Wicked Tulips farm in Rhode Island. I’ve been wanting to visit the last couple years, but they are only open for a short couple of week period each year, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity again!
It was the perfect opportunity to wear my new Ruska dress that I finished right before leaving for Florida. It’s my first make form the Breaking The Pattern book, which I’ve been holding onto since November. I knew the Ruska knot dress would be my first make because it is sooooo my style. Probably the main reason I wanted the book, ha. For having such an interesting detail, it was actually a surprisingly quick sew. I was able to finish it ,from start to finish, in one Penny nap time, which doesn’t happen often. And I also didn’t have to make any modifications! Perfect for me, straight form the pattern. My only regret is not having enough fabric left to make a matching outfit for Penny, of course haha.
Now back to Wicked Tulips. For those of you in the New England area that want to visit next year (I don’t think they are open past this weekend), here are my two tips:
Wear rain boots, or hiking boots, or any boots or shoes you don’t mind getting muddy. Definitely don’t wear fancy shoes. The parking lot, the flower fields - its all muddy. Even in rainboots, Penny slipped and fell right on her butt in the mud…in her cream colored dress.
Expect A LOT of people. My photos are deceiving. The crowd is INTENSE. We went right at opening on a Wednesday morning, and it was still insane. I knew this going in, so I fully expected a lot of people, and a lot of people in the background of my photos. So it wasn’t upsetting. The reason you can’t tell in my photos is because I decided, after the fact, to try out some of my photoshop skills and try removing as many background people as I could! They’re not perfect, but I’m pretty proud of what I did. It was good editing practice.
Apples & Sunflowers
After having to cancel our second camping trip last weekend, we decided to turn the day around and get our fall activities started early with a trip to Applecrest Farms in NH. There was apple picking, frolicking through sunflowers, way too many cider donuts consumed, and bags of fresh corn and other veggies packed in our car for the ride home.
P was an apple picking champ! We seriously only had to show her once what it was all about. She immediately understood that she was supposed to pull them off the tree and put them in the bag. We were actually pretty amazed about how fast she picked it up. She pretty much filled our bag all by herself!
P.S - see that little turban she's wearing? It's one of my new items from my new shop, Nelly Lou! The shop is still in progress, but I'll have more on that later.
Bookroo
Subscription box c/o Bookroo, but thoughts are all my own.
You know all of your beauty and food subscription boxes that you're obsessed with? Admit it, you are ;). Well did you know that there is a subscription box for your little ones too? If you haven't heard of it, it's called Bookroo, and they sends you a curated monthly collection of 2-3 books. You can choose board books or picture books, depending on what level your child is at (they even just added a junior box for ages 7-10!). We all know reading with your babies is important, and Bookroo is making it so easy and simple to build their library.
Not to mention, they go one step further and gift wrap each individual book. Because you know how much kids loose wrapping paper. Plus, it makes it more of a special event, having a gift arrive for them. Penny ripped these things open like it was her job. I'm pretty sure she'll light up when she sees the next box arrive.
P.S - her favorite one from this month is the 'I Can Dance' book. She loves the little holes for her fingers. I can't wait to see what comes next month!
Penny's OOTD
I feature Penny's outfits on Instagram all the time, but I just had to show you this one here, too. Lulu & Roo sent us over this freakin' adorable matching sweatsuit, and omg you guys, I jus't CAN'T. EVEN. Probably my favorite outfit on her ever. And the comfiest looking. You know how you always say, 'I wish they made that in my size' when looking at kids clothes? Yeah, well, Lulu and Roo does. And I think I'm going to need that now, too.
Also, I don't think I've ever shared pictures of her nursery on here, so here's a peek. You can see some more on Instagram under #seepennysroom.
