The Swingy Leaf Shirt (That I Now Like)

Some how in my quest to sew most of my World Race wardrobe I sewed a few to many things. Once I  was all done sewing and started packing (less than 12 hours before leaving home. I need to get better at time management!) I realized that all the shirts I'd sewn just wouldn't fit in my packing cube. Something would have to be left behind.

So, I unpacked all my shirts, considered which ones I'd wear the most, and then packed just those shirts. A couple really cute shirts didn't make the cut. Like this one:

I made this fun, swingy, top using Kwik Sew 4157 and some cotton/lycra jersey I'd picked up over a year earlier for a project that never happened.

Once I finished sewing the shirt I tried it on then worried that maybe it was a little too swingy. I felt like it was baggy and made me look shapeless. Thus, when I needed to pick shirts to leave home this one got booted out of my pack pretty quick.

Fast forward 7 months and my mom was coming to Romania to see me. I'd begun to grow a little tired of the clothes I packed at the beginning of the year. So, I decided to have my mom bring me some "new" clothes - such as this shirt.

The first time I wore the shirt after my mom brought it to me I wondered what I'd been thinking in January. The shirt wasn't baggy at all! Rather I found it to be just the right amount of "swingy"

Yes, just in case you were wondering, this shirt "twirls" well

Now this is one of my favorite shirts! It gets worn a couple times a week!

I already plan on making a couple more from this pattern when I go home!

But before I start compiling too much of a project list, I still have 6 more weeks to go on World Race. To keep up with what I'm up to during this last month and a half check out my World Race blog!

I'm looking forward to being back home with my family (and my sewing machine!), but right now I'm really excited to see what God has in store for me these last 6 weeks! He's taught me so much over the past 10 months, and I know He's gonna continue to do more in my life - both on the Race, and after it!

All the fabulous photos courtesy of my teammate, Kelsay Singleton 

The African-Romanian Birthday Dress Refashion

A month and a half ago my baby sister officially became a teenager.

Now, I'm sure most people would agree that 13 is a rather monumental birthday. 

A monumental birthday that a big sister would prefer to be around for. Well, due to the fact I'm on the World Race this year, I was in Romania on this girl's birthday. And I wasn't the only one. No, my little sister's birthday fell during the one week of the year where parents of World Racers are invited to come out to the field and join their kids for a week of 'Life on the Race'. Thus, my mom was in Romania with me, and the two of us missed my little sister's birthday together. 

Of course, my little sister was rather disappointed and frustrated that both my mom and I would be out of the country for her 13th birthday, and she would be left at home with just Dad and the brothers. I tried to ease this disappointment as much as possible by making a birthday surprise for my mom to take home to this nearly grown-up sister of mine - a new dress!!

A couple weeks before my mom came to see me I was blessed with a sewing machine for a weekend. So, I had my mom send me my little sister's measurements and I went rummaging around in my pack for material to refashion into a dress for my sister.

I decided the maroon dress I acquired while in Africa would be just the thing for this birthday present project. 

So out of my pack and onto the cutting table the dress went. The bottom of the dress would become the skirt of the new dress. I cut it so that the new dress would have a fun hi-low hemline.

The bodice and yoke portion of the original dress would become the bodice, sleeves, and cuffs of the new dress.

And the original elastic shoulder straps became a new elastic waistband!

I finished the dress in one afternoon, wrapped it up, and put it away to send home with my mom, just hoping it would fit my little sister!

Well, a few weeks later I had my answer! The morning after my mom returned home from Romania she sent me a video of my little sister unwrapping the dress. This was soon followed by a skype call verifying that the dress did indeed fit! 

I really wish I could have been there for my little sister's 13th birthday, but since that was impossible I'm so glad I got to make her a birthday present and send it home to her with my mom! Less than two months to go now until I get to see this girl in person!

To keep up with what I'm doing over these last two months check out my World Race blog!