PUMPKIN PICKING

Since we arrived to Texas (it will be a year soon) we have been determined to get to know the traditions around here. Halloween is no big deal in Portugal. In fact, while I was growing up, there was no such think as Halloween. Recently (I would say 15 years ago), stores started selling Halloween stuff and the kids went along with it, but it is really noting like here. Anyway, last weekend we went to pick up a pumpkin to decorate our house for Halloween.

A couple of months ago I made a dress for Teresa and a matching shirt for Manel in a red/orange polka dots fabric and I though that these would be the perfect outfits for pumpkin picking.

The fabric is Amy Butler and the patterns are once again the A Dress from Yoshiko Tsukiori's Girls Style Book and the Balthasar shirt from Citronille. I made some modifications to Manel's shirt: took off the collar and used bias tape instead and made short sleeves.

It was super fun, they really enjoyed their day and so did we!

THE HEMLOCK TOP

I am not a big fan of dressing by girl with sweatshirts… I prefer tunics and dresses, even for her to take to pre-school. She is very girly and is always asking me to dress her with dresses, so we're happy like this. But when I first saw the Hemlock Top I completely fell for it. It can be a sweatshirt but it has ruffles... so, it is not just a sweatshirt, it is “The” sweatshirt! I love E&E patterns! I have sewed a couple of Bohemian babydoll dress that I adore (I will be making a post about these in a few days ;-)).

Anyway when I saw the pattern, I instantly knew what I wanted to sew: a tiny floral knit print with the ruffles in white cotton... but I was not able to find the knit I wanted in my local shop :-( so I had to stick with stripes. Here it is:

I really like how it turned out! The top is very easy to put together and since this was my second time working with knits (you can see my version of the Aster Cardigan here), I think it was a good decision. The fit was ok (not perfect in the collar...) and I think Teresa likes it.

I managed to find two beautiful (I hope... with online shopping you never really know) floral knit prints and I and definitely going to try more versions of this top. This is definitely a pattern to repeat in my quest to dominate knits! :-)