Sweet, sweet Gail. I remember discovering her blog probablyactually many months ago and I could.NOT.tear.myself.away. Her gorgeous projects (she sews clothes and holders of things! she embroiders! she makes felt food and furniture!), her lovely photography, and her engaging narratives that leave you wanting more – I was instantly smitten. I’ve only marveled at her sewing creations from afar, but I imagine that if I were to actually see them in person, they would be perfectly stitched with nary a stray thread or crooked seam. And Gail knows how to throw a party and make crafts like nobody’s business. Martha Stewart could learn a thing or two from her. I think little L and O are so lucky and if I could be reborn, I’d want to be Gail’s kid. I hope she’ll sew more for herself because this Tova and this one are beautiful. With great effort, I’m stopping myself from linking to everything in her archives, and these are a few of my fave things by Gail:

[1] [2] [3]

I have such a weakness for colorful running stitches, bold prints and cloud details…and what about Gail? Read on to find out about her favorite-est creation…I love her post so much.

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So how do you go about picking a favorite from all the things you’ve ever made? The truth is that something came to mind immediately when Sanae asked me to participate in the series. But then I second-guessed myself and went through my entire blog archive to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.

It was an emotional couple hours, I’ll tell you that. I have such an attachment to the things I’ve sewn. There are so many memories that go along with seeing Lila in those clothes, so many of which are now outgrown and packed away. I remember sewing each garment, and that little rush that came with completing each one. The feeling of waiting for her to wake up the next morning so I could see her in it for the first time, halfway wishing I could just wake her up at 1am to try it on NOW. And I remember each photo shoot, the cajoling, the marshmallows that exchanged hands. Looking at the old stuff makes me so nostalgic. It’s little bits and pieces of Lila’s childhood, of our days spent together.

But I digress.

After going through every single thing, I stuck with my gut, and it wasn’t an article of clothing at all: the baby doll carrier, August 2011.

Sometime around the age of two Lila really latched on to her little 12-inch baby dolls. I know it’s not uncommon for little girls to gravitate toward doll play, but I loved watching it develop and it inspired a lot of sewing. There were tiny doll clothes and diapers, mini sleeping bags and swaddlers, you name it. But the favorite by far was the Oliver + S Bear Carrier (from Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson), sewn just before she turned 2.5.

There are the obvious reasons why I loved it: Because she loved it. Because it was useful! Because seeing my daughter wear her beloved baby doll strapped to her chest, the same way I wore her for so long, was almost unbearably sweet. Because people turned their heads everywhere we went. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I fielded a question or acknowledged a kind comment from a stranger about this carrier, I’d be sewing on a Bernina! The reactions were such fun to watch, and I imagine I did a lot of beaming. I’m telling you, this thing was just a constant source of joy.

But more than that, she wore it so much that it became her uniform, a part of her. So to me it represents that time in our lives together, and it was such a sweet time. My memories of her at 2.5 are some of my favorites. There’s this strange thing that happens between the ages of two and three, where your child becomes this real person, you know? It was so magical, watching this amazing and ridiculous and lovely little human being unfold, with her own opinions, her imaginary friends (Hinky & Wonky, who lived “down the street in California”), her perpetually mismatched shoes. There’s no way to pinpoint just when the whole transition-to-person thing takes place, but for Lila, I’m fairly certain it happened while wearing her baby doll in a little denim carrier.

I remember wishing I could freeze time right here, forever, and at the same time being so full of anticipation for who she was becoming. Trying so hard to just live in the moment and enjoy it all. Feeling overwhelmed with good fortune that I’d been present for every single day of her life. And there’s something about the baby carrier that takes me right back to that time, and to all of those feelings. And I suppose that’s enough to elevate it to “favorite” status.

Anyway, she went on to wear this thing on and off (mostly on!) for almost a year after I made it, and it still comes out to play on occasion. By far the most well-loved item I’ve made for her to date.

Thanks so much for hosting this fun series, Sanae, and for inviting me to join! I loved writing this post 🙂

Day two of the fave series is yet another sewing super star. Cherie of you & mie is the sort of person who instantly makes you feel comfortable. Which might sound funny because I haven’t actually met her in person yet, but I have a strong sense she’s the kind of friend who will always have your back. My fabric dealer Keli of Drygoods (yes, I’m addicted) has met Cherie and raved about her sweetness and happy spirit. Her blog is full of amazing creations and the BEST tutorials, but more than anything, you fall in love with her easy-going and down-to-earth, chatty style when talking about her many (many!) delightful creations like cute clothes and quilts and costumes. She also sews up lovely clothes for herself like here and here and here, and they’re so inspiring!

And can we take a moment to talk about her daughter Yuki? I can’t get over her squeezable cheeks and rockstar presence. Cherie, which by the way rhymes with “merry” — something I just recently discovered after pronouncing it the French way in my mind for months –is expecting baby #2, and we all know he/she is going to give Yuki a run for her money. I love everything she makes, but these are a few of my fave things from Cherie’s vast archive:

[1] [2] [3]

That third image is a dress that Cherie made for K for the incomparable clothing swap, and I had to include it. I need to mention that K was WAY more excited about the clothes Cherie made than the ones I slave over for her. Alright, let’s find out what Cherie’s favorites are…

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Hi! It’s Cherie from you & mie and I’m so happy to be here on Sanae’s blog today! I’m such a HUGE fan of hers and basically adore everything that she creates. Plus, I’ve gotten to know her a bit more over the last few months through her posts and through email and she is just an honestly awesome gal.

When she asked me to talk about my most favorite thing I’ve made, I thought it’d be hard, but I didn’t realize just how hard. And it’s not because I’ve made so many fabulous things that it’s just so hard to pick. But over the years I’ve made so many different types of things, and gone through different phases and styles and made things for so many different reasons, that to choose just one that captures “me” is really quite daunting! It’s a great exercise though, so if you are a creator of any kind, I highly suggest you try it!

Anyways, I went back through months and months of blog posts looking for “the one.” And honestly, when I saw it, I immediately knew that I had found it. It is the creation that I am the most proud of, the one I consider to be my most original project, and one I had put A LOT of love and effort into. So what was it?

It’s the Fabric Photo Book that I made for Yuki when she was a baby with pictures of her family. You can check out my original post for all the details, but basically I had seen some other fabric books for babies around the internet with colors or appliquéd shapes. I loved the idea of a book made out of fabric for babies and toddlers – something sturdy and durable (unlike paper), but soft to the touch. I thought I’d try using iron on transfers to print photos onto cotton fabric and then sew into a book. I made it up as I went along and it surprisingly turned out just the way I had imagined it.

It was so sweet watching Yuki stare at the pictures and slowly start to recognize the faces, and eventually be able to say each of their names as she pointed to their faces. Sometimes she’d kiss the pictures too.

I really feel like this was a truly original idea – and not that I was necessarily the first person to ever do it – but unlike a lot of my other projects, I didn’t come up with the idea after seeing someone else’s version. I really created this idea on my own. I searched online for similar photo books and really didn’t find anything like it though (at the time), so I decided to start selling them. I discovered better ways to make the book – to make them sturdier, look better and last longer – using heavier weight fabric and printable cotton instead of iron on transfers.

I enjoyed making these for both friends and total strangers. I worked with each customer discussing the photos and who each person was in relation to the child and what kind of fabric they wanted for the book.

I sold a handful of these on Etsy, but then I realized that the amount of time it took me to make each one compared to how much I was comfortable charging for it ended up not being worth it. So I stopped. I just had too many other projects that were getting neglected and I needed more time to get things done. I still think about making these to sell and get regular requests for them, but I honestly don’t see that happening any time soon (sorry!). Maybe someday . . .

Yuki’s original book is getting a bit floppy and faded (which is why I stopped using the iron on transfers), but it’s well loved and still the project I’m most proud of.

But if you were to ask Yuki which mama-made item is her favorite, she’d probably pick this pink dinosaur t-shirt.

This one was much easier to think of because Yuki has only recently started having opinions about what she wears. Unfortunately, those opinions are very strong and consist of only t-shirts and sweat pants. I recently made her a bunch of t-shirts and they are by far the most worn of all the things I’ve made her. She’s also really into dinos right now, this shirt is super soft, AND hot pink, so what is not to love?

And, in case you’re wondering what the readers’ favorite project of mine is (based on the post with the most views) . . .

It is BY FAR, the Totoro costume I made for Halloween 2011, bringing in more hits than the next 11 most popular posts combined! Oh, the power of Totoro!!

So those are a few of the favorites from you & mie. Hope you’ll come by and say “hi” some time.

Thanks so much for having me, Sanae!

Before I discuss my own favorites, I’d like to discuss those of my daughter Norah.

The first dress is a bubble dress from a Japanese pattern book made in an amazing fabric: Nani Iro lawn cotton. Such a pity that Naomi Ito doesn’t work with this type of fabric more often. I was really happy with this dress. In fact, I was so happy with it that Norah never wore it after the photoshoot. I wanted to save it for a special occasion, but that occasion never came before Norah outgrew the dress…
The second dress is my current favorite. I made it with Elephants & Elegance amazing Ruffle Top pattern, and it suits Norah so well. She looks incredibly grown up in it, and somehow, really different from when she wears other dresses. It’s like magic. And she also likes wearing it – she calls it her LiLing-dress, after the Asian character in Belgium’s most annoying and ugly children’s tv show, Bumba. (Just to be clear: she really likes LiLing, so it’s a compliment for the dress).
The third item is a coat I made her a few months ago. It was a little experiment, and I was so happy when it turned out the way I wanted it to. It’s warm, it fits well, and I think she looks really cute in it. What else do you need?

Thanks for having me in this cool series, Sanae! This was a really fun trip down memory lane for me 🙂