Fell Off The Wagon...

The Kids Clothes Week wagon that is :). I was feeling under the weather on Friday and barely left my sofa. And of course, that means Saturday was spent catching up... and spending time with family.

Here's where the Josephine dress is so far...

I've done all the fun stuff-- the ruffles and pin tucks  but I still have the sleeves, collar and finishing to go. I'm in love with how the ruffles contrast with the pin tucks texture-wise.

I'm a bit apprehensive about the buttons at the front. Because of the ruffles, the fabric is pretty thick under the button band. I'm thinking of using hook and eyes instead. Any opinions or suggestions?

We have a few more projects going on at home, so this little number is probably going to take a backseat for a while. Starting with picking up!

Finally Sewing....

I was feeling a little discouraged by the end of yesterday at not having gotten any sewing done yet, but we are there now!

I'm doing a bit before dinner, and the rest of the hour after bedtime.

Kids Clothes Week Day 3

decisions, decisions... I was choosing between these 3 fabrics for the dress... but then I realized that I didn't have enough of any of them to do the full dress with flutter sleeves and the ruffle band :(.

An hour later... I was finally done cutting out the dress in this grey cotton shirting. Man! Those tin cans are dead useful!

I know that many of you all won't believe that I spent over an hour cutting the fabric for this little dress, but it's true.

Why? I have to confess... I'm a fretter. I fuss and worry about grainlines, markings, trying to use the least amount of fabric etc. All of that is doubled when I'm working with a new pattern. I think that's why I prefer making things without a pattern most of the time. What did you all work on today?

Kids Clothes Week Day 2

My littlest one took a nap today so I was able to get some 'sewing' done. I say 'sewing' because this was all just prep work.

After a bit of back and forth I finally settled on the Josephine pattern. Since I have a the paper pattern, I traced out a size 3 for my little girl. (I also ended up tracing out the Fiona pattern before I changed my mind)!

I'm getting excited! I still haven't decided on a fabric but I'm glad to be getting started, and grateful to the KCW challenge for the motivation!

Kids Clothes Week!

I've been following Elsie Marely's Kids Clothes Week Challenge for what seems like forever-- but this is the first year I"m going to get my butt in gear and join up. I normally skip it because I dislike sewing on a deadline (although I seem to be doing more of that lately), and an hour a day is sometimes even too much for me :).

But this year I"m making an exception. Here's why:

1. After my little detour into obsessive knitting this winter, I feel like I haven't sewn anything for the kids in ages.
2. My daughter is growing like a weed and has finally outgrown most of last year's spring/summer wardrobe.
3. I accidentally sewed for my kiddos for an hour today without realizing it was the first day of KCW! Yay! Here's a sneak peek:

I'm going to share all about it later!

As I was saying... I normally gravitate towards projects that can be finished up fairly quickly... like this, this, this, and this. This week I was thinking I'd do something different. Since I know I'll be devoting more time this week to a project, I think I"ll choose to do something a bit more complicated.

Last year I was lucky enough to win a pattern giveaway from Violette Field Threads from the fabulous Adventures in Dressmaking blog.


I'm spending the rest of my sewing time today pulling choosing between one of these patterns and pulling fabric from my stash.

I"m going to spend the week sewing up one of these lovelies without rushing or cutting corners (I swear). Right now I'm leaning towards Josephine... or Juliette, although Fiona is just gorgeous as well! I need help ladies-- which should I choose? Any fabric suggestions?

An Apron For Little Sis...

Even though there are quite a few pictures of my son in his Christmas apron, I hadn't been able to get any of my daughter... until now....

These dishtowel aprons get used all the time-- for crafts, cooking, and sometimes even eating (hangs head in shame). Since the apron is a bit long, I know she'll get quite a bit of use out of it.

I had some questions about how the ties work-- hopefully you can see how the ties are doubled in this picture. This way I never have to worry about the ends being 'sucked in' to the apron.

The best part-- we are headed inside, and I'll use the apron to sop up all the mess and toss it in the wash!

Check out the tutorial for the dishtowel aprons-- you can whip some up before the kiddos get home from school.. Have a wonderful Friday you all!

Crushed Tomatoes

Do you ever have the feeling that you are being guided by the unseen hand of destiny? That your path forward is already paved, but only being revealed to you one step at a time?

That's how I feel  about this pencil cup.

First-- You all know how much I love the blog MADE, right? Well, earlier this week she posted a tin can project-- that didn't use spray paint. Spray paint is right after hot glue in my list of arch enemies! Then, the very next day, I used a can of crushed tomatoes in some soup. And we have broken nearly all of our mugs that we use for our daily tea habit, and it would be so nice to recover the mug that currently holds our pens and pencils.

See... the universe made me do it!

It's a pretty simple craft. First I washed and dried the can. I also sanded the sharp edges a bit. Following the MADE's tutorial, I mixed my acrylic paint with mod podge.

I also made sure to coat the inside of the can with a thick coat of paint. By the time it was dry, it was smooth to the touch-- no sharp edges!

I did quite a few coats, using a hair dryer to dry in between coats.

I knew I wanted to cover the middle lines of the can, but burlap didn't look right.

So I auditioned some scrap paper.

The paper was a bit too short for such a wide can...

So I patched it with some tape.

All done! Thank you, universe!

Has anyone else ever felt compelled to do a certain craft? What are your favorite upcycling crafts?

Quickly Un-Hemming Sheets-- Without Wasting Fabric!

Today's tutorial is more of a quick tip. I love using Wal-Mart sheets for when I need quite a bit of yardage in a very small budget.

Remember these super hero capes? Yup, Wal-Mart twin sheet (still have a bunch left, too!) 

Although it's not finished, I also used a sheet for the backing of this scrap quilt. 

And the remainder of that sheet became this pillow case.

Normally, I'd just cut off the hem of a sheet, but this time I was running short of fabric. To have enough fabric for the pillow case, I had to cannibalize the wide hem of the sheet. 

And that's when I learned the best thing about using Wal-mart sheets. Not the price, but the hems! 

The hems are chain stitched on. One side of the hem will look like straight stitching:

 But the other side will look like a crochet chain-- teensy little loops.

Simply snip one of the loops and  pull out the thread! You'll be done in 30 seconds--no seam ripper and no wasted fabric!

The loops will only 'unzip' in one direction. I like to just snip in the middle of the seam to find out which direction to pull the thread. 

I know this seems like a simple thing-- but I was positively giddy when I realized that ripping out that seam would take 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes! Next time I was out shopping, I didn't hesitate to pick up a sky blue king sheet on sale (ahem, even though I don't have a plan for it!).  

Anyone else get uber-excited over small time saving tips? Less importantly, what would you do with a king sized flat sheet just waiting to be cut up?

Excuses, Excuses...

So... you might have been noticing I haven't been posting as much lately... I wish I could say I had a good excuse--  that I've been doing more housework, or that we've taken up a home remodeling project or that we're fighting off alien invaders, etc.

The truth is that we've been doing a lot of baking......

and a little bit of painting...

a little gardening...

and spending quite a bit of time outside.

I love making things and sharing them with you all, so I"ll still be doing a tutorial on Wednesdays!!!  But other posts might be a little slow around here for a bit. Just know that I'm fine-- just enjoying myself a little too much :).

How was your weekend? Anyone having 'too much' fun with the family lately?

The Cake Clutch

Remember that sneak peek I posted earlier this week? Well.... the Cake Clutch tutorial is here! I intended these to be bridesmaids gifts, but how sweet would they be for birthday party favors or baby shower thank you gifts? The best part is that after all fabric and notions, these clutches come out to be about 5 dollars each (if you make 10 or more).

Since all the clutches are made with the same layer cake, they coordinate without being exactly the same.

 I had a hard time choosing a favorite layer cake to use. I also love the bold colors in the V and Co Line.

 Visit the Free Cake Clutch Pattern and Tutorial for all the details on making your own!

This tutorial first appeared on the Moda Bakeshop.

The Magic Pillowcase

Yay... it feels so great to be sharing a sewing tutorial after a few weeks of knit and crochet! This tutorial first appeared on the fun home dec blog-- What's Ur Home Story! If you haven't visited-- I recommend checking it out!

When Vidya What's Ur Home Story from asked me to share an easy beginner sewing home dec project I was a bit stumped-- I normally recommend skirts as first sewing projects. But then this magic pillowcase popped into my head. This pillowcase is such a simple and satisfying project to make-- I might just change my recommendation for beginners!

This pillowcase is sized to fit a standard pillow. This is a simple project with only straight line sewing. If you know how to thread your machine, you'll be able to make this pillow. In fact-- the hardest part of this project is the pinning and ironing. I'll give tips along the way for what to do if you make a mistake. I'm using fabric and a sheet leftover from a quilt I'm making. Once I'm finished, I'll have a matching set that is completely unique and handmade at no extra cost!

Materials:

• 1 rectangle of fabric 27" by 45" (pillow body)
• 1 rectangle of fabric 9 " by 45" (pillow cuff)
• 1 rectangle of fabric 2" by 45 (this is the optional accent piece)

In addition to the fabric, you will also need scissors, pins, sewing machine and access to a hot iron.

I recommend using quilting cotton and avoiding any slippery fabrics if you are a beginner. Another frugal option is to use a portion of a 'flat sheet' from any big box store for the body of the pillow, which is what I did here. You should easily be able to get two pillowcases (and perhaps even a curtain) from a flat sheet that will match your bedding perfectly.

Pillowcase Cuff and Accent:

Start by ironing both the cuff and the accent (if you have it) in half wrong sides together as shown. 

Next, find a large space, and lay your fabrics down, taking care to match up the long, 45 inch raw edge as follows:

Note: You'll notice that I cut my cuff and accent piece slightly larger than my pillow body to better show how to layer the fabric. All of your fabric layers will be the same length (45"). 

Cuff fabric, right (pretty) side up
Pillow body fabric, right side up
Accent fabric, right side up



Now here is the fun part! Roll up the pillow body...

Until you can see the cuff piece and flip it up to the top.

Making sure all the raw edges are together and lined up pin along the edge. Then sew with with a .5 inch seam allowance removing pins as you go.

Now you should have a long tube with the pillowcase body and accent piece tucked inside. Pull on the pillowcase body until everything is turned out.

Tada! Once you've pulled your pillowcase out, you'll see that all the seams for the accent, cuff and pillowcase body are magically hidden inside the cuff. Iron your pillow, taking care to make sure the cuff is flat and even.  If the side and bottom seams don't match up perfectly, you can give them a small trim at this point.

French Seams

Now all we have to do is sew up the sides and bottom of the pillow! Although you can do this with a regular seam, we are going to do a french seam, which is a simple way of hiding all the raw edges.

First, fold the pillowcase so the wrong sides together, pin and sew along the bottom and side using a very small seam allowance (around 1/4 of an inch.) An easy way to get a small seam allowance is to move your needle to the furthest right position.

Turn the pillowcase inside out and iron the bottom and side seams very well. Move your needle over to the left and sew with a large seam allowance (5/8 of an inch or larger) down the bottom and side seams again. This will 'trap' the raw edges between the two seams.

Now your pillowcase is ready to use and enjoy! For bonus points, send me a picture-- I'd love to see it! Here's mine on the matching quilt.

I'm going to start doing more home dec sewing. It's wonderful to make something I know is going to fit and will be enjoyed by my family for years to come.

A Sneak Peek... with Bunny Hill's Jubilee!

Last week I promised a sneak peek of what I've been sewing (um, besides my fingers!)

 Well... I found out today, that the tutorial is going to be up earlier than I thought (This week!), so I thought I'd share just a few pictures of the fabric I've been working with.

 It's Bunny Hill's Jubilee. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that these light pastels are kind of outside of my usual range; baby hats nonwithstanding.

 ...but I absolutely fell in love with the damask and these tiny whimsical bunnies. You can see them in the picture above if you look very, very, closely. And there are quite a few geometric prints that are not cutesy at all, like the fun one below.

 I can't wait to show you what I made in a few days!