Almost immediately after I finished my first Archer shirt, I began a second. I tried my hand at view B, and I lengthened the sleeves by 3/4", and the shirt body by 2.5". I love the fabric. My first go at using Liberty of London threads, even if it is the lifestyle branding. I'm happy with how this shirt turned out, although I'll change a few things for the next go around. I would spread out the lengthening of 2.5" between the body section and the ruffled section. I think the top of the ruffle should meet the waist. Mine's a little low for my taste. This view isn't as practical as the other one I made, but I love the romance of it. This shirt came together much faster than the first because I was more familiar with the techniques and order. I'm excited to get my hands on more fabric for more shirts!

One of my weird quirks has to do with clothing. I love wearing a t-shirt with jeans, but I dream of being a bit more stylish. Problem is, I have this fear that if I wear something nice, it'll get ruined. Or that it won't be available for when I really want it because it'll be dirty. Totally crazy.

May was a big sewing month for me. I made a peasant dress from menswear for Holly, a dress for Greta (haven't blogged about it, but I will), a dress for a friend, a quilt (again haven't blogged, but will!), an archer shirt and I cross stitched a family portrait. I'm in an awesome sewing groove these days. I love it! 

After Greta went down for her nap, Holly and I got cracking on some paper making. We had a kit with everything we needed for it and it was so much easier and so much less messy than I imagined. I remember making paper in the later years of elementary school and it was fun! Holly was super interested in the first two gos of making papers and then her enthusiasm fizzled. But she was still excited to carry the plates outdoors so that the paper would quickly dry in the sunshine and she was happy to see her paper all done and ready for use! Our kit came with our April subsription of Kiwi Crate. It was very hands-on for me, but really fun.

After reading this talk by Tom Perry, I realized that the reason why I feel happier and successful as a mother when I'm crafting with them regularly is because I'm teaching them. And to teach children is a primary purpose of motherhood.

PS: these photos were taken all on the same day. Holly just loves her outfit changes!

My darling husband has lost weight this year. A really impressive amount of weight. And I'm so proud of him. The only downside is that a lot of his clothes don't fit right anymore. He's cleaned out his closet many times over the last few months. 

When he went to toss his orange gingham shirt, I cringed. Yes it had a small stain, yes it didn't fit quite right anymore, but.... So I repurposed it into a dress for Holly. I used the Leila and Ben Peasant Dress pattern (I've made many of these dresses). I cut it so the buttons would be centered and still useable. I left the pocket on and had to cut into it just a little bit. I added the band around the middle to cover up the tiny stain that was right below the pocket and I elastacized the waistband. I didn't put elastic in the sleeves. I'm really happy with how the dress turned out. When I finally finished it and clipped all the threads from it, I laid it out on my bed with a couple other dresses I had finished. Before I knew it, Holly had hung it in her closet and was eager to wear it the following day. 

Conor has tossed a few t-shirts that are now too big, but still in great condition. I'm going to purchase this Anywhere Dress pattern and try to repurpose the t-shirts into tees/tunis/dresses for the girls. Repurposing is so much more exciting than I realized!

Our new favorite cookies are gluten-free, are vegan (so long as vegan chocolate chips are used) and have no "bad fats" or refined sugar. They don't have honey or maple syrup either! They're an oatmeal base with mashed bananas and apple sauce and of course, chocolate chips. And I love them! It's a good thing they're so "healthy" because everytime I make them, I can't stop eating them! Conor says that he likes them even better than the butter and sugar cookies I used to make. That's kind of a big deal. 

Recently I had the girls help me make a batch. I'm typically a control freak about food and the kitchen and I don't care for help (except from my Mom), but I did my best to let go and step out of my comfort zone (do I sound crazy?). And I had to tell my girls many times to stop licking the spoons and tasting the batter. When Greta had a turn mashing bananas, she took a big taste of the banana and when I told her to stop tasting, she spit the banana back into the bowl. I still baked them up, but we definitely did not take any to our neighbors! 

The hardest thing about these cookies, is having ripe enough bananas lying around to make them with! 

You can find the recipe for these Oatmeal Banana Chip Cookies here. I bake them for 20 minutes at 375°F. If you make them, I'd love to hear what you think!

I'm really, really excited about this shirt. 

I have a hard time buying button-downs. They're usually a little bit short for my liking and they often fit my bust area weird. The Archer Shirt from Grainline Studio is perfection. It has a boyfriend-esque fit and does not have darts. I feel really good in this shirt and I love the fit.

Jen did a thorough sew-along on her blog which helped me to confidently and successfully make my shirt. She has a few nifty tricks that I would've never come up with on my own.

I sewed up this view A Archer in a size 0, which was perfect for fit. I lengthened it by a whopping 2.5". And when I finished it, I wished I had lengthened the sleeves. They're a tad short, hence them being rolled up in the pictures. I lengthened them by 3/4" for my second shirt. I used Anna Marie Horner Field Study voile which I absolutely love. 

I want to make a dozen more of these shirts!