Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

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  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

a renaissance dress for Ellie

We go to the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur every year.  Last year I made this quilt for watching the joust, and this year on my to do list was a period appropriate outfit for Ellie.  I used the Children’s Workshop Tab Front Jumper ‘instructions’ for the outer piece and the Sweet Little Dress pattern (extending the length) for the under piece.

The tab front jumper was probably a little bit beyond my skills–you’re left to your own devices to figure it out, including how you will handle facing/lining/the order to piece it together/seam allowance/sizing/etc.  I had some sizing issues (at first I thought it would be too big, then too small, and then it ended up being a tad bit big) but figured I could add a ruffle and send her to the fair again in it next year–bonus!  Sadly she tore a giant hole in the floral piece (for which I almost killed her–I adore that fabric and had wanted her to use it as a nightgown).  I’ve patched it and we’ll see if it can make another appearance next year.