Bella Jean Menswear and Family Wear!

A couple of months ago a man we know gave us the idea of making men's suit jackets. He wanted to get a custom, snazzy jacket for a wedding he was attending. Our first thought was "good idea, but it seems really, really hard." Well, we began looking into them and found some patterns and material. The pattern we found made making the suit jacket much simpler than we thought but just like store-bought ones.  Seeing it come together was very inspiring, and in the end it was definitely worth it! Now we have Bella Jean Menswear! Just send us an email if you want a custom suit jacket!

Here's the link to the pattern we used!

Here it is! The red piping adds a great accent color!


Two days before the wedding he asked us what it would take to get his wife a coordinating dress. We said "no problem, we will do it!" She picked the style she wanted and we created a custom dress that she loved!

We made matching vests for their boys too! 

A Weekend with our Aunt

Last weekend my aunt and uncle were in town visiting. My aunt has been longing to see our shop, so finally she got to! She loves to make quilts and bags but she hasn't made dresses for a long, long time. She looked through our material and found one that matched a quilt she had just made! Perfect! Victoria and I made skirts for ourselves while she made a little knot dress. It turned out so cute!


Here is the pattern we used for the knot dress!

It only took 2 hours to make the whole dress!

Instructional Videos...

Lately we have been making some video's that teach different things about sewing. We will be trying to do this weekly, so if your someone who love to sew but still needs some help these videos will be a great source for you! Also, we will be making some crafty videos too- like our latest one "how to make a tissue paper flower"
Well, here is the latest video, and they are also on youtube under "bellajeanboutique"

An Outfit a Month for a Sweet Little One!

About a year ago a couple we know told us they loved the clothing we made and wanted us to make an outfit the first 12 months for their child that was on the way. Soon they had a little girl named Lucy so we got to work. For the first month we put together a gift basket with a little dress bloomers, bath scrubbie and hat. (I posted the picture of it below). Now it has been four months and she has got quite a variety of very cute outfits. One of them was a soft knit jacket with pants and a onesie. In the picture below is an outfit we did for her that is cotton pants, a knit onesie, and a sun hat! (isn't she so cute?) 

Let us know if you have any ideas for Lucy's next outfit! (we've got 8 months to go and need some ideas)

Here's the first gift we gave Lucy!

 This was her 2nd month outfit!

 I love her smile!

I thought I'd add this because this is the quilt my mom made for Lucy (we used it as a backdrop for our pictures). My mom makes some really nice baby quilts!


Oh, and you can let us know if you might know someone who would be interested in doing a 12 month outfit plan for their child!

An Extreme Shop Makeover!

Last night after recovering the little chair, we decided that our shop needed a little makeover. It was starting to get cluttered and very uncomfortable to work in from day to day.  We started by rearranging the front shop a little to open it up to make it not look so crowded. In our work-room area we wanted our beautiful mirror to be a focal point so we removed the dress from the mirror, the chairs on the side and the table in the middle (so basically everything). To give it some character we put the flower girl dress on our girl and another coordinating dress on the dress form. It already started to look so much better! I love it-

Awhile ago we found a video on youtube on how to make tissue paper flowers (which are really quite simple) and decided to spruce up the shop with them. Here's the link with the video instructions.  Anyways, here are a couple before and after pictures that show the extreme makeover of our boutique.

Let us know if you have any other great ideas for our shop!

Here's a close up of the artwork we bought from an antique store the other day!

New Life to an Old Chair...

Tonight we spent the evening finishing up remaking the old chair we had bought at the garage sale. (earlier post) It was so much fun to see it be transformed into something decorative for our space.  I stapled the material around the foam to the chair, then just hot glued the lower piping and ruffle in place. I love it when you can find great buys and give them new life! Here is the progress and finished  pictures.

Something Old...Something New

Last week I went to a garage sale and found this little chair for $3. It didn't look like much but I thought I'd try my hand at remaking it into something beautiful for our shop. My friend lent me some Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic books and it inspired me to do this project. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it with the cushion (I disassembled it all and then remembered to take a picture for my blog :( I already had a fabric in mind that I loved and decided to splurge on that since the chair was a great deal! Today I started with spray painting the frame a cream color. 

Veronica decided to get creative with the camera while I was painting.

Tuesday Morning Sewing Class

This morning one of our excited sewing class students decided she want to make a stuffed animal scottie dog. Her goal was to make the entire dog in one class - and she did it! After sewing the dog altogether we add some red polka dotted ribbon, some blue button eyes and a big button nose. It looked just like a 4th of July dog so she named her Liberty. I thought it was just the perfect name for such a cute little dog. Well, here is a picture of Liberty.

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July! Here is a picture of the 4th of July dress we sold this year. Don't you love it when the fireworks are all booming and bursting with color, as you listen to Sousa Marches? It makes me get chills down my spine...oooh.... Well, enjoy your evening and remember freedom doesn't come free.

Guess the animal tail!!!

Remember the owl costume? Well, now we sewed some custom animal tails for the same customer, so she can easily teach children about the different types of tails and what they are used for. See if you can guess which animals these tails belong too. Send us an email to toddlerclothes@comcast.net with your guess. If you score 100% you will receive a 15% off discount to Bella Jean Boutique!

Think of this one quite a bit smaller than we show (we exaggerated so children could wear it)