Sixteen years ago today, God blessed Michael and I with this spectacular child... our last little baby!  She has truly been a blessing.  I know a lot of parents are biased, but this beautiful little girl has yet to give us a moments trouble or worry.  She's not a perfect child, by ANY means.  She still has her moments as a pouty-faced, brooding teenage girl.   But she is truly a joy!

Per usual, I made her a birthday outfit.

The top is McCall's 6751.  And it literally took under an hour from cutting table to final pressing!  Three pieces is all.  I cut the smallest size -- the extra small.  She told to me leave off the pocket.  And instead of bias binding, I just serged the raw edges and used a 5/8" hem.  The hemming was really easy, because once you start, the entire thing is continuous.  I used a lightweight 100% cotton chambray from my stash.  

I thought the back was so cute.  Almost like an adult version of the little crossover tops that baby girls wear. And the way the straps are set, it's bra friendly.  If I had made this for myself, I'd probably tack the back to make sure it stayed in place. 

And once again, I pulled out her "TNT" shorts pattern, McCall's 6756 and used a shortened version of view B.  I used this lovely fuchsia brocade from Mood Fabrics.com.  

And since it has absolutely no stretch, I cut the size 8 instead of a size 6.  

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Sixteen Year Old!

This time of year, I tend to grow weary of sewing summer clothes.  The magazines with all of the "pre-fall" fashion are starting to pour in and I'm longing to sew wools, tweeds, darker colors and rich jewel tones -- for myself.  And that was the opening that Mikaela was obviously waiting on, so that she could finally get me to sew non-formal clothes for her!

We decided to revisit McCall's 6756 again.  This is such a great pattern that fits her so well, I knew I'd be making this one over and over.

For this version, we went with lace.  This aqua blue (or mint) lace from Mood Fabrics.com fit the bill perfectly.

I eliminated the pockets this time.  And I underlined them with poly lining fabric leftover from her homecoming dress.  And to add interest to the hemline, I cut around the lace motif to create a scalloped edge.

Wearing:  Top: Forever 21 (similar to this one); shorts:  McCall's 6756; shoes: Target.

Mikaela made the special request for a crop top and high waisted shorts.  

She specifically said she wanted the shorts to be stripped and I said, why not make a matching top.  Suit dressing is popular this season.

I remembered the perfect fabric from Mood Fabrics and I knew it would be what she wanted.  This fabric is Nautical Double-Faced Cotton-blend Jersey.  The fabric is really easy to work with.  It doesn't have a lot of stretch, so I would probably use it for garments that don't require a lot of recovery... preferably things that could also be made in a woven.

The pattern for the top is McCall's 6754.  I cut the smallest size and just left off the peplum.  Stripes this size are so easy to match, so this went together really easily.  

And for the shorts, I used McCall's 6756.  I cut the smallest size in these and I still needed to pull them in at the CB... just a smidgen because she's so narrow.  They went together really easy and this is going to be her go-to shorts pattern that I plan to make a few more pairs.

This is such a cute, young-girl look   And I can't wait to make these shorts for her again!