makin'it in the mommyhood - beach robe & an oopsie!

this is a post about what happens when a sewing project goes wrong.  we all know it's happened to each of us, c'mon...admit it...lol, we all have our oopsies!  also my daughter is adamant that hers is a bath robe, not a beach robe and wants to wear it when she get's out of the bath.  when i told her it was a beach robe she laughed her cute little butt off at me and said "mom, kids don't wear robes at the beach they wear bathing suits!".  oh my.  no point arguing with a 4 year old right :P

i recently got to pattern test for the lovely dana of made for her new pattern for an adorable beach robe made from super cute beach towels and bias tape.  i was sooooo excited to be asked by my pal dana and even more excited to make some for the girls.



dana's pattern is awesome!  a great project for beginners and if you're looking to get some experience with bias tape this is it!  her patterns include lots of great instructions, helpful tips, pattern pieces and colorful and bright photos to help you through the process of sewing your own beach robe masterpiece.  there are a ton of sizes included and also, true to dana's other patterns, lots of room for options and customizations that she shows and gives instructions for!  i love that about her!  she did a great job and i know i'll be making more of these in the future. 



so why did i have an oopsie?  well, let's just say that a specific store in the city i live in that sells tons of fabric that i DETEST shopping at that starts with an F (the same one that tried to sell me fabric with 2 large holes in it!!!)  did not have the size bias tape i needed in the perfect shade of pink that my daughter so desperately wanted.  so being a silly sewing mama i bought the smaller size anyways thinking i could make it work.  well tim gunn, i couldn't.  i should have gone back to the store and bought another color or gone to a different store and looked for more pink but with 2 kids shopping in fabric stores is not fun and very stressful so i was determined to push on as i had already dragged them all over town trying to find beach towels.  you know the nice soft thin ones?  think i could find any of those either?  nope.  i ended up buying some thinner towels from zellers of all places and let me just say - don't buy towels there...not a good investment of your moula..lol.  i'm glad these are just for beach robes and not for towels cause i would be a mad about that too.



once i got my pieces cut out i started sewing, let's just say the "old" sewing machine i had basically said some not so nice words at me and then spit everything out refusing to sew it.  did i stop?  heck no, i wanted my beach robes!  so i pressed on, making my machine angrier and angrier but eventually she gave in and stitched away.  i mean hello shannon.....i think the towels were too thick for the machine??? duh!  anyways, once the robe was done i had to add the bias tape.  muahahahaha!  what a nightmare.  this should have been the easiest part and poor dana, i kept writing her saying it's coming,  i'll be done soon i promise, but then every time i tried getting that darn bias tape on the machine spit it out, ripped it up, chewed it up, ripped out the bobbin, and many other messes that i had to unpick and fix.  note to self...always use the size of bias tape suggested for the pattern or you'll end up in a situation like mine.  small bias tape and thick towel are not friends.  they don't like each other :P



it's finally done though.  not perfectly.  there are rough spots, ugly little bias tape spots but we can ignore them :)  i have to do a bit of hand stitching at the top of the bias tape at the bottom of the hood still as i didn't have enough bias tape to do the whole hood.  i instead top stitched mine and i think it's cute like that too.

i still have plans to make harper's.  it's got the same lining fabric, but the towel is light baby blue.  i'm not making it though until i have the right size bias tape.  oh and just in case you all ask me, i didn't have enough of the lining fabric or a coordinating one at home to make my own bias tape.  i order most of my fabrics online so i keep a small stash and usually buy fabric as i need it to cut down on costs.  sacrifice i have to make when living on a sewing budget :)



so if you can ignore my oopsies and instead look at the cute robe and the fun design go grab the pattern and make some of your own over here on made.  you won't be disappointed!  i give this pattern a two thumbs up!  i give my silly sewing stubbornness two thumbs down..haha.  and dana, please forgive me for my oopsies...i hope you will have me as a pattern tester again...i promise to buy the right stuff next time..wink wink!  luv ya!



have you made dana's beach robe yet?  how fun are they!  i love the way you can coordinate all sorts of colors, prints, short sleeves, long sleeves, long tie, short tie and the list goes on!  go brighten up your summer folks!  what sewing oopsies have you made lately?  i can't be the only one......

*edited to add: that is not makeup on my kidlets eye.  i haven't gone all toddlers & tiaras on ya..lol, she hit her head at the playground on the weekend and gave herself a black eye.  yep...she's clumsy like her momma :P