I love having the ball contained in the bag and just pulling the yarn out little by little...
It is just big enough for a small project, an instruction sheet and my little pouch of supplies. Great for travel or just keeping little fingers out. I loved mine so much I made one for my Grandma Kitch as well.
When I realized they used elastic thread to create the gathered look, I was off to my machine to recreate one. I had an extra-small shirt in my closet just waiting for a refashion. 
I wish I had made it toddler-size before I had done the stitching around the neck. That made it kinda hard to set the sleeves, so they ended up with a lot of gathering. I left the original neck intact and just took the sides in, set the sleeves and hemmed with the serger leaving the edge exposed. The stitching around the neck is done with elastic thread in the bobbin and regular in the top, in a tiny 'stippling' pattern. I will be using this technique again for sure!
Here is where the sanity check comes in. Both of my kids seem to want to drag the naked dolls around town with us. In an effort not to waste the leftover fabric and clothe a doll, I decided to make a matching outfit for a naked groovy girls doll. I just eyeballed the pattern and measured the doll and went for it. It turned out cute, but was a total pain in the butt and took just as long and making the toddler top. 
I do love the look of casual rolled-up jeans, but this look is more out of necessity than fashion. She has grown into her sister's 3T jeans and I just haven't gotten around to hemming them yet. 
The fit is a really modest almost boy-cut, and I love it! After I made a couple of pairs, Bug came up and said VERY proudly "Mom, my butt is just getting bigger every day, I need some new panties!" So she is next on my list for panties.
I bought several nice baskets to keep the diapers in, but one by one the girl's friends ruined every.single.one. of them. So, I gave up and went to a sturdier cardboard - wish it hadn't taken me this long to cover it, I love it!
Today she came up to me and said
"Mom, are you ready? Let's go to 'Carty's house, ok?"
yup. the whole thing.
I love how much she talks. 
Cute, no? So, inspired by this top, I came up with this: 
Here's how I did it. 
Unfold it and cut one arm off at a slope, like so:
Cut a second piece and sew them right sides together along the side seams.
On the left side of the shirt (it will have the strap) use your bias tape to finish the armhole.
Serge the edge of the 2 1/2" strip, then fold it over and sew at 1/4" .
I used my ruffling foot, but use whatever method you like. With right side of solid to wrong side of main fabric inside the neck hole, sew together, ruffling the solid fabric. 
Serge seam together when you get back to starting point.
It will now look something like this:
Pin ruffle down (as a side note, this is where I realized I picked the wrong pink. Bummer. Live and learn...).
To make a casing for the elastic, I found my smallest safety pin and it would fir through a 1/4" seam, so that is the size of my seam. Topstitch all the way around, leaving a 1" opening for threading elastic through. 
Measure the top of the garment, mine is about 26" around, and I opted to make my elastic at 75% of this measurement, so 19".
Thread through opening. 
Sew elastic together - my machine likes to have fabric to hold on to, so I sew them together on top of a scrap then trim the excess. Topstitch opening.
Serge bottom edge and fold towards inside to hem at 1/4". 
Done!
For the baby, I opted to add another strap - I simply serged both sides of a 2" piece of fabric, topstitch the serging to the inside. With the tank on the toddler, I figured out where the strap should go and topstitched along the elastic casing line. 
Happy toddler and happy mom! 
I loooooooove this picture. Can't you just feel her excitement over her Daddy saying something to her?
{please ignore the drab background... we don't have spring, we have "mud season" here in Teton Valley}
She loved to craft. Unfortunately, she was generally too sick to do much. Two years ago, she got a Bernina (Activa 220) and barely used it. I bought it from her husband to help pay for funeral costs. Wow, those things are pricey. I also snuck out a two yard piece of batik fabric from her stash, something she loved. So, in an effort to give back a little, I made it into this baby quilt for her 4 month old, Audrey. It's not traditional little girl fabric, but her mom would have loved it. 
Although I am not a batik lover, there are some really neat prints in here.
So, when it started snowing today {and my sister sent me pictures from her beach trip yesterday} I made a "California Dreaming" dress for Moo. Same pattern, different day. I think I have made close to twenty of these now. She was digging the photo shoot until she dropped her toothbrush...
and then decided to go on strike. Still cute to me. Mullet and all.