Over the Holidays
During the month of December I usually take a break from the Irish Dance work to focus on family and the holidays. Sometimes that includes some sewing projects as gifts or other requests from customers. This winter so far I’ve done a few really fun projects. The first was right after Thanksgiving.
Tara was asked to dance in one of the local Nutcracker productions. She was a doll that Herr Drosselmeyer presents during the party scene in the first act. Now they wanted her to Irish Dance during this section as something different. The music that she danced to is the soldier’s music which is very fast and dramatic. Now we know it would be kind of inappropriate for her to Irish Dance as a soldier, so thats where having her be another doll was decided. I got to make her costume, which was pretty simple, but so much fun. Here are some pics….not great cause she hates when I take her picture in these kinds of situations, and we’ve already determined that at best I take terrible photos!
The skirt is short black, and has a red silk underlayer. The back has a beautiful embroidered patch with some tulle sewn underneath that hangs down. The embroidery on her sash was adapted from her most recent Irish solo costume that was designed by Taoknitter Arts. Ann let me make this costume piece with the embroidery I already had!! I made the ruffles for her neck and hands to finish out the “doll look.” She was thrilled with her costume and had a great time doing the production.
This picture is really dark but you can kind of see the tulle in the back, and how she wore ballet pink tights with her ghillies!!! What a look!!!!
Then of course we had Christmas here at home. We love our small family tradition of the kids receiving new pajamas on Christmas Eve and taking pictures of them both. It’s one of the ways we mark the passage of time and how much they’ve grown each year. I have fun trying to find coordination pajamas…..nearly impossible as they are teenagers! I find the smallest detail and if there is something they both have……then Viola! They match!!!
Pretty sure this year there was the color black somewhere in each of their sets. Perfect match!!!!! I of course love making them do this….I think they secretly think they love it as well! So this is our official Christmas 2011 photo!
Once the big holiday was over I needed a little boost to get back into sewing mode. I had been to a lovely Christmas Party at a friends house and got to meet the Mom of a little girl whom I’d been seeing pictures of for a year or two. Our mutual friend who was the hostess of the party would have the little girl occasionally, and as she is adorable in all ways, she would send me cell phone pictures to make me jealous!!! So I asked the Mom if she would mind if I made a few dresses for the child. I already had the patterns as I had used them for my neice, they were cut to the right size, and as all good sewers I had the perfect fabric waiting! So here are my random act of kindness dresses…..
This is a classic pillowcase dress, although I don’t use an actual pillowcase! I love this retro ice cream cone fabric paired with the primary color dots! What little girl would not be excited to wear this to the ice cream parlor for her special treat!
This is the front and back of the Flower Picking Dress. This one is a nice sweet girly dress as from the description I was given would suit this little one perfectly! The back of the dress has a hidden snap under one of the button to make putting it on nice and simple. If Mom has any sewing skills or the inclination she can move these buttons to make the dress fit for a long time to come! I hope I get pictures of this little doll when she is wearing the dresses. If so, I’ll post them here!!!
Now it is time to get back to work. I have a nice pile of Irish Dance dresses waiting for me. I have gotten my sewing karma back and am ready to go full swing!! Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday Season! Thanks for checking out my site!!
