86 days til Halloween... are you ready?

I know most of you are thinking Back to School right now, but I've got to think ahead to Halloween. It's my busiest time of year when people are shopping for costumes!

And since my studio is nice & clean (okay, not *quite* as clean as it was a few weeks ago, but still very workable!) I had some time to make a few new Halloween outfits: this fun Halloween skirt made with my Peek-a-Boo Pleats pattern, and also a vibrantly decorated Vida jumper. You can find them, and more to come, in the Spooky Wear 4 Halloween section of my etsy shop.

Also, check out the new Destash category in my shop- I'm loading it up, slowly but surely, with a wide variety of fabric, patterns, beads and more at great prices. Let's get it out of my sewing room and into yours!

I encourage you to order your costume(s) early because I am only committing to 3 costumes every 2 weeks thru October 11. That means only 15 lucky customers will have a Monkey Doodle original costume this year (and I just got my first order before I could even post this, so I'm down to 14)! I can do just about anything you can dream up, so don't be limited by what you see listed in my Costume Shoppe category. Convo me with your ideas, and I'll quote you a price. No word yet on what the Monkey Doodle boys are planning to be this year, but I'll share pictures once they decide.

Designer ADD and the April Challenge

I've been having a bit of designer ADD of late. I have tons of fabric and ideas, and every time I wander into my studio I seem to get overwhelmed. I'll pick up a random fabric and cut 3 pieces of a pattern before I get distracted and move on to something else. Obviously, this does not result in many finished projects. Add to that the fact that I just got back from a week and a half road trip with my boys and was rushing to finish up customer orders before that, and, well it's been a LONG time since I've added anything to my etsy stores.

The guilt set in today, and I cut out the rest of the pieces to go with 3 that I cut out 2 days ago, and found that in a matter of hours, I had a completed item. I was so pleased with my little jumper and embarassed at my laziness that I issued myself

THE APRIL CHALLENGE

For the month of April, I plan to list at least one new item in either my Monkey Doodle (kids clothing and costumes) or Bibidi (all things baby) stores on etsy. This is a HUGE challenge for me. I am optimistic, but not positive I will succeed. I'd love for you to cheer me on as I sew- leave comments if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see me work on! Also, since most of my listings will be OOAK's, I have to ask you to bear with my not-so-great photography skills. Believe me, all of my effort is poured into sewing your outfit, not photographing and photo editing :o)

So without futher ado, here is the entry for April 1 (no foolin!), a fun little dog and cat themed Farbenmix Vida jumper, size 3T. You can find it here.

Now arriving in California...

This trio of dresses, for the same customer who commissioned me to make these Lobster Luau dresses. This one has black and white variations on the front and back




















And I love the idea for the dog bone straps on this one

















She will be appliqueing a groovy guitar on the front of this one

Boo! on etsy

I just listed this set (size 5/6) on etsy. I love the fun & vibrant colors :o) Find it here.

There's lots of sewing going on in my studio right now; it's a wonder I can keep it all straight. I am working on 3 Vida dresses for one customer, a new Studio Tantrum/Fledge Feliz dress just because I want to :o), a halloween dress inspired by this summer's Narnia movie, and I have an alchemy order waiting on construction! It's nice to have a different project to move on to if the current one isn't going so well! New pictures when (if!) I finish something :o)

Lobster Luau

A few weeks ago, I had a fabulous customer ask me if I would make some Vida dresses for her daughters. She sent me a box full of fabrics and her ideas... and the result was this Lobster Luau! Here are a few quick pictures I snapped before I sent them on their way.

Enchantment

I was given some smaller pieces of this mosaic print fabric by a dear older lady and I have been mesmerized by it ever since! There are so many amazing colors and patterns in it! I finally found a use for it as the focal point for my latest Vida dress, which is one of a kind & ready to ship, size 3T. I have it listed here on eBay for the Summer Soiree launch sponsored by my design group, Adagio Bleu Studios. On Monday, I'll have 2 coordinating sets listed, including one with fabrics from my most favorite fabric line ever, Full Moon Forest by Tula Pink. I can't believe how well it coordinates with my mosaic fabric!

Gumball

I've got another new listing up for Faeryhill's spotlight launch. This one is another one of a kind (aka, using up my stash) dress made with the Farbenmix Vida pattern. I just love how versatile it is! The dots reminded me of gumballs :o) It will fit sizes 3-5; the measurements are in my listing, which you can find here.

Where have I been the past 2 weeks?

I've been busy on the homefront with what seems like an endless stream of soccer games and baseball practices, but I have managed to squeeze some sewing in, because--Hallelujah!!!--my machine is home!

I completely forgot to share this little ready to ship gem with you when I listed it on Friday. I came across this Disney princess fabric in my stash and it just screamed at me to make something with it. Screaming fabric is not a nice thing, so I gave in and whipped up this little Farbenmix Vida dress, size 4/5. It would be perfect for a Magic Kingdom vacation trip(can you tell how badly I wish I was there?!?!?) You can see it here Several of my groupmates made coordinating pieces; you can find them all by searching ABSD

Remember this pile of fabrics? Here is what they became!
Next, I get to work on a suit for a 6' 4.5" guy! Yikes!