Back to Montessori

Today is Leith's first day back to Montessori! She's wearing a new mama-made top and using a new mama-made bag for school. The top is a little large. She's grown so much that the 86/92 is too small, and the 98/104 is just a little big. I really like making these as tops, instead of dresses. She seems to get a lot more wear from them.

This is made with the IKEA fabric we bought in Scotland, and some rescued fabric purchased from a thrift store sometime in the last year (I have six more yards of it!). The blue really sets off the red, and vice versa.





Okay, so you can't actually *see* the IKEA fabric. It's there. Trust me. It's the back of the dress, and the applique on the front.

John thought I'd lost my mind, buying 'so much' of the same fabric -- six (6) metres each of red and green. But I sold some to a friend and am using the rest for things like this adorable Anna (farbenmix) and some will be used for toddler placemat and napkin sets for etsy and craft fairs.


The new tote bag is super cute, too, and uses the green hippo fabric for lining. The corduroy is Sandra Boynton "pigs in space" -- okay, I don't know if that's the name of the print, but there are pigs on it, and they are in space. Just for fun, I have the cords running East/West, instead of North/South, so that I could utilize the selvedges -- the white. Unfortunately they weren't the same height, but the bag is cute anyway.






This thing is huge -- about 14" wide by 18" tall, plus handles and the gussets (making it about 2" deep). There's a package of disposable training pants, a gallon ziploc with a change of clothes, three diapers and a to-go packet of wipes in that bag, and it's not even close to being full!

I still need/want to move the handles. They're too far apart on each side, since I set them in from the edges instead of measuring between them. (insert eyeroll here) All in all it's a terribly cute bag and I'm very happy with it. Trying to move a little out of my comfort zone, as far as colors/styles. Normally wouldn't have used the bright green interior fabric with the deeper tones on the front, but the hippos tie it all together!

Yay for practical creativeness! and YAY for back to Montessori!

k