Project Run & Play Sew A-long: Sew Your Stash!

Winnie the Pooh for Honey Bee

The following is an excerpt that I wrote in a letter recently to my heart sister, Jana, describing the mental dialogue I had with myself over the recent Project Run & Play sew-along contest for The Circus Theme.  (See my entry HERE.) It details how this little Winnie the Pooh outfit came about for the adorable Honey Bee (AKA:  Rosalie).  All fabrics, floss, patterns, and buttons are from my stash.  

         I am sewing a lot.  There are more ideas in my head and more fabric in the sewing room than I can put together in the time I have!!!  There is a new Project Run and Play Contest starting next week and I have ideas for the first week.  The theme is “Circus”.  (Me, stream of thought:  “Circus!  Oh!  Elephants!  Baby Dumbo!  Disney Inspired.  Marnie takes Rosalie all the time with annual pass.  Rosalie, age 2 = Dumbo!  Gray fabric trimmed in red and yellow, yellow hat, ruffle at neckline.  Oh!  Needs to be hot weather proof.  Baggy bloomers and halter top!  Hat needs to be a sun hat!”  Now heart is racing.  “Must go through patterns! Draw sketches!”) Lengthy pattern search. (Me cutting fabric:  Ah, I bought the perfect gray!  Now for the accents.  Look in stash. Which yellow?  Bright!  Good!  Which red? Yes! Christmas red!  Oh, but wait!  Rosalie’s last name is _____.  What about this red with the tiny bees?  Bespoke!  Just for her! Perfect!  Hmmmmmmmmmm……  Now what to do with the rest of this red and bee fabric?  Not much here.  Well….  Make another ‘Go With’ outfit for Rosalie that she can wear the sunhat with.  Oh!  Use the same yellow for the lining of an open back a-line pinafore dress!  Use yellow for bloomers that can be used with Dumbo top in case of accidents! “ ) Rosebud comes in and I show/tell her about the second outfit.  She says, “Oh, it looks like a Winnie the Pooh outfit, Mama!”  Now I am off on another mental tear. (What?!!  Yes!!! Disney has a whole Pooh area for little kids!  Hat is nod to Christopher Robin’s rain hat!  Yellow Pooh, red shirt = yellow bloomers and red with tiny bees dress.  Hmmmmmmm…..  tie it in more to Pooh……  Pocket with embroidered skep and tiny bees and the word ‘honey’!)  Heart is  pounding and hands are shaking! Now the outfit has taken on a life of its own and has two tops/dresses and two bloomers and a hat!  I sure hope these measurements that Marnie has taken are accurate! 

        I know, I am crazy.

But just look at her!!!

I had such fun making this outfit!  The hat was blogged about in the Dumbo blog HERE.  The lines sewn around the brim are a nod to Christopher Robin's rain hat.

I have actually wanted to make one of these wrap back pinafore sun dresses for a long time.  There are several patterns for this style in the stash that were purchased when my own twenty-four year old daughter was little.  I was so intent on making heirloom and smocked clothing for her that I never got around to making one of these.  So darling and relatively quick.  I did increase the time involved by hand embroidering the pockets and edge-stitching the entire dress.  One thing that I learned, though, was that the straps need to be interfaced in the buttonhole area.  Next time...and there will be a next time.

Fabrics:  tiny yellow cotton print from JoAnn's and the red bee mystery fabric both from my stash

Pattern:  McCall's #6303, XL  Note:  Pattern runs very large.  
This size is for a a maximum 24 lbs. child.  Honey Bee is 30 pounds and it is roomy on her.

Honey Bee loved the pockets!

Photos taken of Honey Bee with the yellow headband were taken by her mommy at Disney! 

 I was so excited to see these!

Honey Bee and her Mama

I love this action shot of the back of the dress showing those puffy bloomers!

The little Honey Bee has zoomed off!  I hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts and the cutie pie wearing my latest creation!  Check out the wonderful creations made by the official contestants HERE and by the sew a-long contestants HERE.