Flutterby

As I anticipated, little Rosa has provided me many excuses to sit down at my sewing machine. Baby dresses are so sweet, so rewarding, and so inexpensive. When you only need roughly a yard of fabric, it's easy to get those creative juices flowing!

This dress, for instance, cost only a dollar -- it used to be a linen skirt, but I had other plans for it when I rescued it from the thrift store.

I love babies in linen. It's such a pure, natural, soft (when washed) fabric. I had some white covered buttons in my stash which matched perfectly and saved me both time and money (hurrah for salvaged butons!). And a linen tie from the skirt was easily fashioned into a little bow.

I had to do a bit of creative piecing, since the skirt was straight, long, and divided into four panels. Also, I decided I wanted to try my Bubble Jet Set, a product that allows you to wash inkjet printed fabric without risk of bleeding ink. It was easy enough to use (you pre-soak the fabric in the solution and let it air dry), though I don't yet know if it worked, since I haven't washed the dress yet. The printing worked quite well, once I figured out a technique for printing on fabric that worked (I'll have to share those tips in another post).

The butterflies were all free images from The Graphics Fairy. I love the simplicity of the black and white, and I was surprised by how detailed they came out. I can't wait to try some other projects with printed fabric! 

The pattern is my own concoction, using Simplicity 3656 as a very loose base for the bodice. The skirt is divided into six panels. I was afraid my piecing had left the skirt too short, but luckily I had enough fabric left to create an extra band of fabric along the bottom. I tend to like long dresses for babies -- not for modesty, but because I like to have enough fabric to cover my little one's diaper when I'm holding her! Granted, cloth diapers make that a little harder. 

Now, to figure out how to refashion the rest of the linen in my stash...


Update: After washing the dress on delicate and line drying, the butterflies have faded slightly -- but I'm still very happy with the result! I'll have to try printing something in color to see what happens...

Newport

Pablo attended three months of Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island -- our first real separation. He actually got the call from the Navy just a few hours after Rosa was born. Being apart was agonizing, but also a good "test run" for me of what life will be like while he's on deployments. He excelled at OCS, which was no surprise to me! The littles and I flew up to Newport for his graduation, and it was such a delight to re-visit the Northeast (though it couldn't hold a candle to the excitement of seeing Pablo again!).

My dad had six weeks of training in Newport when I was six years old, so I have distant but fond memories. I couldn't go back without visiting the Breakers!

Luckily for me, Newport overflows with Colonial and Gilded Age history -- which happen to be my two favorite America historical periods. Walking streets once paced by founding fathers is an experience that those of us confined to the South are unfamiliar with.

While the beauty of The Breakers was overwhelming, both Pablo and I found it rather excessive and gaudy -- we much preferred the "downstairs" kitchen and butler's pantry.

Here's a gratuitous shot of my handsome Ensign (with six week of growth on his noggin; candidates' heads are kept closely buzzed for the first seven weeks). Obviously, it's taken me a while to post these, as I doubt it's snowed in Newport recently. I couldn't believe that I got exactly what I wanted in terms of weather -- several inches of snow fell while we were there, but none of it stayed on the roads! Snowy roads sound terrifying to me...

I just couldn't go to Newport without getting lobster, which I'd been craving for a while. His name is Ralph, by the way. Please don't ask my why I named him before consuming him...

Sadly, we didn't get to do much sightseeing, since we were all exhausted (especially Pablo) and the wind was insane almost the entire time. But we did have a walk-about or two, and did a bit of driving. Here's the famed Trinity church:

Newport took my breath away with street after street of gorgeous homes -- tree-lined avenues in the "mansion district", endless streets of Victorians and Queen Annes, and stately rows of Colonial dames. I'd love to go back with more time and more energy.

 I'm always glad for an excuse to do a bit of globe-trotting! And now that we're in the Navy, I'm going to venture a guess that there's quite a bit more of it in our future.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I mentioned in my last post that change was afoot in our family. 

Change that involves this:

Yes, my handsome husband recently commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy! After much prayer, research, and consideration, he gave up engineering to pursue a career in the Navy. For me, it was an unexpected but welcome concept when Pablo first brought it up -- I grew up as a Navy "brat," and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to travel to new places. I never expected that adventure to continue after my marriage!

God has opened many doors thus far, as there have been so many tiny details that had to be in place for this to happen. I can't wait to see what the future holds in store!