Announcing SquigglyTwigs Designs

In the past couple of weeks, I've learned that other moms are interested in knowing how I make the clothing for my children. I don't use commercial patterns. I make my own.
My goal is to create a design and pattern with as few pieces as possible so that it can be assembled simply and quickly, yet still be fun and stylish.
Who knew that these patterns could be described as Boutique. Not me. However, over the past couple of weeks, many friends, friends of friends, and online acquaintances have asked. "Can you make a pattern for me?" Well making a pattern and the corresponding directions takes a good amount of time, so I can't really give it away. But I can start a business and offer the patterns and directions at a reasonable price. I learned that the patterns can be placed in PDF files and thereby purchased electronically.
I'm so excited about sharing what I know and the gift the Lord has given me with others, while making a little extra to help our family budget.
I bet you're wondering, what is "Squigglytwigs". Well, I spent quite a lot of time pondering a name. It had to be fun, intriging, and original. I also wanted it to refer back to my daughter. She is the reason I'm designing now anyway. She's too tall and thin for the clothing at the store, so I have to make all her bottoms and dresses, anyway. The "twigs" part refers to her tall and thin shape. The squiggly part refers to her hair (extremely curly) and her personality. She's not even still when she sleeps. :) God made her exactly as she is and we are so thankful. Had He not created her with these qualities and given her to us, this business would have never come about. I wouldn't be sharing my gift with other moms.
It always amazes me how He orchestrates every detail and brings glory out of difficulty.
What was the difficulty?
The first one was the journey of adoption. The second one was learning to parent a squiggly child. The third was taming curly hair. The fourth was clothing a twig like child. Who knows how many more challenges there will be. But with each of these challenges, has come amazing blessing. The latest of which is a design business that, Lord willing, will become one run by mother and daughter. For now, she's my inspiration and my assistant.
Her favorite store is the cloth store, in our little home town. The fact that our small town has a fabric shop is amazing on it's own. Our Lord orchestrated all of this and brought me to this point.
Why is it so amazing...
In high school I aspired to be a clothing designer. It was in me. I spent study hall time drawing dresses. I sewed in 4-H, and designed my first dress for my senior prom. That is if you don't count all the Barbie clothes made of scraps. I won best of day at the Ohio State Fair with that prom dress. From there I made many formals and wedding dresses, for myself and others. I also made a lot of my clothes and clothing for babies. I never got to design. I ended up following the Lord's lead to teach and taught Kindergarten for 13 years. It's as though He's saying, you did want I ask of you (teach), now you can follow your dream with your daughter. Working on this with my children is the best gift of all. It's way better than working in a design house out of college.
The Lord is to be Praised. We'll see where He takes this next. I'm looking forward to the next part of the journey.

More Sewing

I had the idea (God idea, I think) to have my daughter try on her spring and summer bottoms on Monday. I know it's only the beginning of Feb. That's why I'm thinking it was a God idea. We tried size 4 and 5. Hardly any bottom items (shorts, skirts, capris) fit. We ended up with 4 pair of shorts, only one pair is long enough to be used in public, and three pair of Khaki capris. Oh, and one skort that's also on the short side.
After the realization that mama has a significant amount of sewing to do, I understood why I was having Allison try on Spring and Summer clothing in the middle of winter.
So I started through my fabric stash for ideas of what I could make bottoms with. I came up with a reasonable number of useful pieces.
Thankfully the shirts fit. We did make one new shirt to go with one of the capri pants.
All of that to say, I've added some pictures of things we've already made to our "We Made This" file. The pink with hearts dress is new and will be used from Valentine's (with a sweater) through summer. I've got a dollie dress cut to match.
I hope you enjoy our new sewing items and maybe even get inspired.
Most of the items I make can be put together within an hour (except the church dresses), by even a beginner. Just don't try to use a pattern from the store. :)