Disboutiquers Part 29 Kids Disney Boutique / Customs Clothes psst..we sew ;-)

[DisNorth]

QUESTION!!!!!

Ok ladies, I am considering upgrading my el cheapo walmart special machine. I am looking for something better and keeping my cheepo as a back up, in case something happens. At this point my moms old Kenmore needs to go in for service and she's using mine so I really realize that it would be good as well as to find something that can do more.

I'm from Canada, there are loads of options of course, I should buy in canada, but they're just so darn expensive! I would like to look at Joannes (we are heading to Michigan next month) in the event that I see something come up on sale or whatever that is a good deal and warrants buying in the US (since I wouldn't then have a warranty) I honestly don't know what I would be prepared to pay but I would aim to stay under $300.

I'd love to get a vintage machine, I'm so jealous of those that have them, but I know that fixing and learning, really just is not in the cards for me.

Any recommendations on machines to look at OR to avoid completely.

THANK YOU

I live in the NWT, so I ordered my machine from sears. I have this machine:
http://www.sears.ca/product/kenmore-md-limited-edition-17-stitch-sewing-machine/620-000018598-16765

I've had it for about a year and a half. About half of my quilting guild has it too and we're all happy with it.

 

[goteamwood]

Since they posted that they received them, I thought I would share the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts I made for Jacobs WDW MAW trip big give. Things 1 and 2 are near and dear to me since I feel like I live with them every day in my twin boys. (I truly believe those characters must have been modeled after twin toddlers, no other creatures are quite as destructive!)



I loved how they turned out, and I have added them to my ever-growing list of two-dos for my boys. (To-dos x2.)

On a different and exciting note, we get to have a very smallish WDW fix in a couple weeks! Driving from Chicago to Florida to visit my father-in-law for the week, he lives near Ft. Meyers. Mostly it is just a visit-Grandpa trip, we do have one small outing planned on a pirate ship cruise out of Ft. Meyers I think my boys will love. BUT... I have a friend from College who lives in the Orlando area, so we are going to visit her on Friday and have breakfast at 'Ohana before we hit the road. It's not in the budget money- or time-wise to go to WDW parks, and it's spring break so it will be super busy, but we figured a little splurge on a character meal that the kids will love, maybe a RT on the monorail before we hit the road and then plan for our next trip back. (Breakfast at 'Ohana was one of our favorites when we were there before. OMG the potatoes were amazing!)

 

[PurpleEars]

Here is an apron skirt I made that goes over a pink petticoat dress. I actually copied it off of something I saw on Etsy (sorry)... but I was like... "I can make it cheaper." It is not finished in these pics.

After these photos were taken, I made two large pink rosettes and attached them in such a way to keep the top layer of tulle from riding up. I am going to make a matching hair piece. Not on the top of my list of things to do at the moment though...

I DID just buy a very well made dress off of Etsy recently. It had such a beautifully embroidered/appliqued Cinderella on it, I could not resist.

Beautiful dress and a cute model! Great job!

Flora, I'm so sorry to hear about your Aunt's sudden passing. It can be so draining to go through all of that, plus having family to entertain. I'm sure it was a comfort to have everyone close though. I hope things get back to normal for you soon.

Thanks Lois. Unfortunately the death was a rather high profile event in the community so we have been laying low to avoid the media. I have been cooking for my family quite a bit. Today I made 12 calzones, 1 batch of tomato sauce for the calzones, 4 servings of beef noodle soup, 3 servings of fish, veggies, rice, and salad. Thankfully I don't have to cook for the masses again until Sunday. Most of them are departing on Monday so I will get a chance to rest after.

PurpleEars~Condolences on the loss of your aunt. Love Genie!!! The Star Wars dresses are super cute, are they Simply Sweet? I plan on doing hand appliques when I get to that level and maybe some day invest in an embroidery machine.

Thank you. The Star Wars dresses are the Grace Ruffle dress from Lisa W. I did hand applique, and a 4x4 embroidery machine for quite some time before finally being able to upgrade to Genie.

I can't wait to see pictures of your machiine and the projects you create with it!

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. It is quite strenuous to have to entertain during a time when things are sad too.

Thank you Diane. I feel like I am running a bed, breakfast, and dinner these days (though I would consider opening a bed and breakfast in my retirement, but that will be many, many years from now).

Our December trip will be our first one without a stroller. Mr D has gotten too big for the Special Needs Stroller, so we are having to rent a wheel chair. I am not looking forward to this... he still naps every day (his meds cause that) and the stroller gave him a place to hide. I foresee lots of melt downs this year.

Nini

I hope you can find something suitable for Mr D and the trip will go more smoothly than predicted.

and I am debating 2 strollers one for J and one for the new one. Actually I am trying to find an umbrella stroller for running through the airport with the baby since we make J walk now. I am scared of a double for this first trip with the baby and J in one stroller.

I hope you can find something suitable for your family's needs too.

QUESTION!!!!!

Ok ladies, I am considering upgrading my el cheapo walmart special machine. I am looking for something better and keeping my cheepo as a back up, in case something happens. At this point my moms old Kenmore needs to go in for service and she's using mine so I really realize that it would be good as well as to find something that can do more.

I'm from Canada, there are loads of options of course, I should buy in canada, but they're just so darn expensive! I would like to look at Joannes (we are heading to Michigan next month) in the event that I see something come up on sale or whatever that is a good deal and warrants buying in the US (since I wouldn't then have a warranty) I honestly don't know what I would be prepared to pay but I would aim to stay under $300.

I'd love to get a vintage machine, I'm so jealous of those that have them, but I know that fixing and learning, really just is not in the cards for me.

Any recommendations on machines to look at OR to avoid completely.

THANK YOU

One option you may want to look into is Amazon. I got my 270D off Amazon.com for under $300 new (that was about 5 years ago). They may have something on the .ca side as well. Perhaps you want to look at Costco (both in store and online) as well. They have some reasonable options too.

I have also bought from Sears outlet in the past. It was my first Brother machine.

 

[nannye]

Oh we are renting for J and I happen town a city elite but won't fly with it anymore, since I had to replace it when the airline destroyed it. The baby will be 3.5 months but with Js issues I am not sure about a double right now, also need to see if they have something besides the citi mini since I don't like that stroller.



I have a Janome and really like it. You should really check out the pattern review board there are a lot of great reviews there.

Thanks. I know Kingdom has city elites and bobs. I got an elite for V last summer. she is so ticked about no stroller this time, but I think we'll end up renting a couple days.

 

[nannye]

Thanks for any suggestions and opinions, keep them coming!
Does anyone have experience with this machine? http://www.joann.com/singer-confidence-stylist-7467s-electronic-sewing-machine/zprd_02458305a/ it's a singer stylist?

 

[goteamwood]

Thanks for any suggestions and opinions, keep them coming!
Does anyone have experience with this machine? http://www.joann.com/singer-confidence-stylist-7467s-electronic-sewing-machine/zprd_02458305a/ it's a singer stylist?

I have this machine: http://www.joann.com/singer-curvytm-8763-sewing-machine/zprd_02458347a/
I like it, and it is definitely a step up from the machine I had before, which was a terrible starter machine that I think was $50 and had almost no ability to do anything...

When I got this new machine, a year ago this past Christmas, I did some research and asked friends what they used. One friend had this and raved about it. The reviews were mixed. Overall, I like it, but I do think it is likely I will replace it sometime this year. There are a couple of things that just aren't great. It doesn't have an option to leave the needle in the down position, which is pretty essential in quilting. And the stitch adjustments are wacky. They seem to reset no matter where the slider is, and are finicky to get the same setting twice, I wish I could just leave it where I like it and not have to futz with it as much as I do. And another thing that makes me crazy, and I don't know if this is just this machine or the sewing machine world in general, the faster I sew, like the more I press down the presser foot, the closer the stitches get together. So if I start out slower and speed up the stitches are different lengths, which I don't like. I think that isn't normal. They say Singer isn't what it used to be. I will probably replace it with a Janome or Brother.

 

[babynala]

Andrea - I hope the closing goes smoothly and the RI house has a new owner VERY soon.

I haven't had much time to play with Genie lately as I lost my aunt very suddenly 3 days after getting Genie home. My parents, aunts, uncles, sister, and cousin were in town for the funeral. I am still doing quite a bit of entertaining this week so I don't have much energy to sew. Maybe next week...

Oh Flora, I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt. I hope you are not working too hard keeping everyone fed and well rested.

Here is an apron skirt I made that goes over a pink petticoat dress. I actually copied it off of something I saw on Etsy (sorry)... but I was like... "I can make it cheaper." It is not finished in these pics.

After these photos were taken, I made two large pink rosettes and attached them in such a way to keep the top layer of tulle from riding up. I am going to make a matching hair piece. Not on the top of my list of things to do at the moment though...

I DID just buy a very well made dress off of Etsy recently. It had such a beautifully embroidered/appliqued Cinderella on it, I could not resist.

What a cute skirt. You did a great job.

QUESTION!!!!!

Ok ladies, I am considering upgrading my el cheapo walmart special machine. I am looking for something better and keeping my cheepo as a back up, in case something happens. At this point my moms old Kenmore needs to go in for service and she's using mine so I really realize that it would be good as well as to find something that can do more.

I'm from Canada, there are loads of options of course, I should buy in canada, but they're just so darn expensive! I would like to look at Joannes (we are heading to Michigan next month) in the event that I see something come up on sale or whatever that is a good deal and warrants buying in the US (since I wouldn't then have a warranty) I honestly don't know what I would be prepared to pay but I would aim to stay under $300.

I'd love to get a vintage machine, I'm so jealous of those that have them, but I know that fixing and learning, really just is not in the cards for me.

Any recommendations on machines to look at OR to avoid completely.

THANK YOU

I have a Kenmore that I bought at Sears a few years ago but I remember someone posting that they didn't carry their own brand of machines any more. I know lots of people have the Brother that you can purchase at Walmart. You might want to check on-line at Meijer, they might carry sewing machines and they have lots of locations in MI where you could shop.

Since they posted that they received them, I thought I would share the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts I made for Jacobs WDW MAW trip big give. Things 1 and 2 are near and dear to me since I feel like I live with them every day in my twin boys. (I truly believe those characters must have been modeled after twin toddlers, no other creatures are quite as destructive!)

I loved how they turned out, and I have added them to my ever-growing list of two-dos for my boys. (To-dos x2.)

On a different and exciting note, we get to have a very smallish WDW fix in a couple weeks! Driving from Chicago to Florida to visit my father-in-law for the week, he lives near Ft. Meyers. Mostly it is just a visit-Grandpa trip, we do have one small outing planned on a pirate ship cruise out of Ft. Meyers I think my boys will love. BUT... I have a friend from College who lives in the Orlando area, so we are going to visit her on Friday and have breakfast at 'Ohana before we hit the road. It's not in the budget money- or time-wise to go to WDW parks, and it's spring break so it will be super busy, but we figured a little splurge on a character meal that the kids will love, maybe a RT on the monorail before we hit the road and then plan for our next trip back. (Breakfast at 'Ohana was one of our favorites when we were there before. OMG the potatoes were amazing!)

The Thing 1 & 2 shirts are super cute, love how you added the names. A side trip to WDW for breakfast sounds like a great way to get a "taste" of WDW.

I apologize if I snubbed anyone but I think I might have lost some quotes and I'm getting too sleepy to try and figure out which ones.

 

[nannye]

I thought of another question, is there an advantage to computerized machines over non? more functions I'm sure, but more tendancy for things to go wrong?

 

[NiniMorris]

Jimmy is autistic so I need for him to have a safe place so I am dealing with different issues, I personally have mixed feelings about maclarens. j also doesn't like the park strollers. We have time to figure it out.

I am not sure how big Jimmy is...but we loved the Liberty Special Needs from Orlando Stroller rental! Holds up to 100 lbs, and does everything I needed except for recline. Although Mr D is an expert at sleeping anywhere! The cover came down low enough that he could hide and was super easy to push. (he can't deal well with crowds and noises...but he LOVES Disney!)

It is rather large, so the folding is not going to be helpful when you take a tram or bus (although we never take either... we drive and park in the handicapped section) But it does fold up to fit in practically any car's trunk.

Nini

 

[cogero]

I am not sure how big Jimmy is...but we loved the Liberty Special Needs from Orlando Stroller rental! Holds up to 100 lbs, and does everything I needed except for recline. Although Mr D is an expert at sleeping anywhere! The cover came down low enough that he could hide and was super easy to push. (he can't deal well with crowds and noises...but he LOVES Disney!)

It is rather large, so the folding is not going to be helpful when you take a tram or bus (although we never take either... we drive and park in the handicapped section) But it does fold up to fit in practically any car's trunk.

Nini

Jimmy is the easy one LOL He still fits in the Baby Jogger City Elite he is still only about 40lbs but getting tall. Part of the reason I bought a City elite was the weight limit of a 75lbs. I do know eventually we may switch to the Liberty. I am seriously just playing wait and see at this point.

I may be acting like a nervous nellie for no reason.

 

[babynala]

Chiara - I think your upcoming trip will be a good test to see what stroller will work best for J. I always suggest a double stroller but I think in your case two singles would be best, as you have already decided. I'm not familiar with lots of the different strollers now. Maybe have C test out the strollers since I know she is a big helper.

 

[nannye]

Where do you order your polkadots from? I need red with white polkadots and black with white polka dots. My local store unfortuntely does not have matching sizes. They have Teeny ones and HUGE ones. The little ones are maybe 1/8th-1/4 of an inch and the huge ones are around 1.5 inches maybe? I need inbetween for panels for a simply sweet size 6. can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm hoping to order from somewhere someone else has so I know for sure I am getting the right size of dots. I am thinking the size I want is around 3/4 inch?
Thanks
Erin

 

[babynala]

Where do you order your polkadots from? I need red with white polkadots and black with white polka dots. My local store unfortuntely does not have matching sizes. They have Teeny ones and HUGE ones. The little ones are maybe 1/8th-1/4 of an inch and the huge ones are around 1.5 inches maybe? I need inbetween for panels for a simply sweet size 6. can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm hoping to order from somewhere someone else has so I know for sure I am getting the right size of dots. I am thinking the size I want is around 3/4 inch?
Thanks
Erin

I have gotten mine from Joann's in the past but they don't always have it. I know one of the designers makes some and it is referred to as "Quarter Dot" because the dots are the size of an American quarter.

 

[cogero]

Where do you order your polkadots from? I need red with white polkadots and black with white polka dots. My local store unfortuntely does not have matching sizes. They have Teeny ones and HUGE ones. The little ones are maybe 1/8th-1/4 of an inch and the huge ones are around 1.5 inches maybe? I need inbetween for panels for a simply sweet size 6. can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm hoping to order from somewhere someone else has so I know for sure I am getting the right size of dots. I am thinking the size I want is around 3/4 inch?
Thanks
Erin

I belong to a buy group on FB and we just closed a buy of Riley Blake dots. I also love Michael Miller dots. I honestly am not a huge fan of joanns fabric

You can check out etsy or fabric.com.

 

[strega7]

Since they posted that they received them, I thought I would share the Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts I made for Jacobs WDW MAW trip big give. Things 1 and 2 are near and dear to me since I feel like I live with them every day in my twin boys. (I truly believe those characters must have been modeled after twin toddlers, no other creatures are quite as destructive!)



I loved how they turned out, and I have added them to my ever-growing list of two-dos for my boys. (To-dos x2.)

On a different and exciting note, we get to have a very smallish WDW fix in a couple weeks! Driving from Chicago to Florida to visit my father-in-law for the week, he lives near Ft. Meyers. Mostly it is just a visit-Grandpa trip, we do have one small outing planned on a pirate ship cruise out of Ft. Meyers I think my boys will love. BUT... I have a friend from College who lives in the Orlando area, so we are going to visit her on Friday and have breakfast at 'Ohana before we hit the road. It's not in the budget money- or time-wise to go to WDW parks, and it's spring break so it will be super busy, but we figured a little splurge on a character meal that the kids will love, maybe a RT on the monorail before we hit the road and then plan for our next trip back. (Breakfast at 'Ohana was one of our favorites when we were there before. OMG the potatoes were amazing!)

Love those shirts! We just had Dr. Suess week at school, if I had seen these earlier I probably would have copied the idea for my boss and I, maybe next year. So cute!

 

[billwendy]

They were thrilled with the Thing shirts!!!! Thanks so much for making them for that family - mom was especially happy!!!

I was wondering if anyone else would like to join us on the Big Gives - you dont have to sign up for every give. Just when you can. Right now we could still use a few more things. Angel would LOVE to have a tie die mickey shirt!!!!!!

THanks for considering!!

 

[OhStuffandFluff]

Here is an apron skirt I made that goes over a pink petticoat dress. I actually copied it off of something I saw on Etsy (sorry)... but I was like... "I can make it cheaper." It is not finished in these pics.

After these photos were taken, I made two large pink rosettes and attached them in such a way to keep the top layer of tulle from riding up. I am going to make a matching hair piece. Not on the top of my list of things to do at the moment though...

I DID just buy a very well made dress off of Etsy recently. It had such a beautifully embroidered/appliqued Cinderella on it, I could not resist.

Love this dress! It is beautiful! Great job!

 

[dianemom2]

I loved how they turned out, and I have added them to my ever-growing list of two-dos for my boys. (To-dos x2.)

On a different and exciting note, we get to have a very smallish WDW fix in a couple weeks! Driving from Chicago to Florida to visit my father-in-law for the week, he lives near Ft. Meyers. Mostly it is just a visit-Grandpa trip, we do have one small outing planned on a pirate ship cruise out of Ft. Meyers I think my boys will love. BUT... I have a friend from College who lives in the Orlando area, so we are going to visit her on Friday and have breakfast at 'Ohana before we hit the road. It's not in the budget money- or time-wise to go to WDW parks, and it's spring break so it will be super busy, but we figured a little splurge on a character meal that the kids will love, maybe a RT on the monorail before we hit the road and then plan for our next trip back. (Breakfast at 'Ohana was one of our favorites when we were there before. OMG the potatoes were amazing!)

Thing 1 and Thing 2 would be great Halloween costumes for your boys next fall. And so easy!

Have you signed up for groupons down in Ft. Myers? We signed up for the ones in Tampa so that we could find fun stuff to do when we visit the grandparents in Sarasota. We have found lots and lots of fun stuff at good prices. Breakfast at O'hana will be a lot of fun. We are there once also and we really liked it.

Thank you Diane. I feel like I am running a bed, breakfast, and dinner these days (though I would consider opening a bed and breakfast in my retirement, but that will be many, many years from now).

Well, I do hope that things settle down for you after everybody goes home. I always feel like I'm running a bed and breakfast at my house! I get my vacation when the kids go to summer camp.

I have this machine: http://www.joann.com/singer-curvytm-8763-sewing-machine/zprd_02458347a/


When I got this new machine, a year ago this past Christmas, I did some research and asked friends what they used. One friend had this and raved about it. The reviews were mixed. Overall, I like it, but I do think it is likely I will replace it sometime this year. There are a couple of things that just aren't great. It doesn't have an option to leave the needle in the down position, which is pretty essential in quilting. And the stitch adjustments are wacky. They seem to reset no matter where the slider is, and are finicky to get the same setting twice, I wish I could just leave it where I like it and not have to futz with it as much as I do. And another thing that makes me crazy, and I don't know if this is just this machine or the sewing machine world in general, the faster I sew, like the more I press down the presser foot, the closer the stitches get together. So if I start out slower and speed up the stitches are different lengths, which I don't like. I think that isn't normal. They say Singer isn't what it used to be. I will probably replace it with a Janome or Brother.

I'm glad that you mostly like your machine. I've heard from numerous places that Singers just aren't what they used to be. And the embroidery machines are supposed to be terrible! I have a Brother 270d that I mostly like. The only thing that I dislike about it is that it has a thread cartridge which is a pain and it means that I can't use larger spools of thread easily. My mom has a vintage machine that I hope to get some day.

 

[brooke789]

I want to make something (easy) for my 2 year old b/g twins. The extent of my abilities is pretty much the iron on sticky stuff for fabric. So, with that in mind anyone have any ideas?

I was thinking the standard Mickey / Minnie silhouette with fabric cut to their heads (maybe a bow of another fabric on minnie?)

I'd also like to do a Donald / Daisy set but not sure how to do that. Not sure a silhouette would be recognizable!

Maybe one more set. Any ideas? I have a sewing machine but I'm not very experienced!

 

[goteamwood]

I want to make something (easy) for my 2 year old b/g twins. The extent of my abilities is pretty much the iron on sticky stuff for fabric. So, with that in mind anyone have any ideas?

I was thinking the standard Mickey / Minnie silhouette with fabric cut to their heads (maybe a bow of another fabric on minnie?)

I'd also like to do a Donald / Daisy set but not sure how to do that. Not sure a silhouette would be recognizable!

Maybe one more set. Any ideas? I have a sewing machine but I'm not very experienced!

Woody and Jessie would be cute for b/g twins. I have twin boys so we are a buzz/woody family. You could do a pillowcase dress in yellow/white and cow print and a matching yellow t-shirt w/ cow print "vest"

I think you could find iron-on appliqué patches. Before I had an embroidery machine I did add some pre-made patches. Also there are tons of possibilities on etsy.