Sewing - Small Creations

The book work has stalled, but I do feel the energy returning! In the meantime, I've been working on a little flannel blanket for Isabel, from the tutorial by Dana. Very small scale, but that suits me right now!

Speaking of small scale, I'm interested in signing up for Betz White's felted bird house course - I love those sweet little houses!

Sewing - Fabric! Books! Bliss!

My dear, kind husband surprised me with some early Christmas presents... It's funny because this is probably the BEST present I've ever received from him, and he's given me a lot of thoughtful things over the years (not to mention the never ending love and emotional support!).

I know these books are 'older' in the world of seamstresses and crafters, but they're newer to me, and I couldn't be happier to own them now. I was checking the first two out of the library often, but now they're sitting next to me on my own shelf. And now I won't feel compelled to trace all of the patterns either!

Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy

Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones

Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol

Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross

I was so surprised when I opened the package and found not just one book, but all four books that were on my wish list! I've been reading them constantly and making little (big) lists of all the things I want to make and what fabric I'll use.

I was also very excited to pick up a freecycle drop this week - a woman gave me a box of fabrics (some stretchy knits that I might use for a baby sling...) and a huge bag of yarn. Many project possibilities... If you haven't freecycled yet, I highly recommend it!

Happy Christmas Eve for now - we're away from school and work for another week, so I'll be back to share more soon!

Sewing - I'm a little biased..

about some of my finished projects! Pardon the pun, but I finally got it together and made my own 'French' bias tape, for the little kimono project I was working on. It's not perfect, but I got past my mental block about it, and just did it. I know you can buy a little gadget to make tape, but I was glad to learn how to do it from scratch too. The pattern for the kimono is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones.

I used a thrifted table cloth for the main fabric, and some of the vintage Indonesian fabric from my Aunt Dorothy for the bias tape and borders.

I used that same Indonesian fabric for a special project for Sam - his own apron - for art projects and cooking projects. There's no bias tape on the apron, but it is reversible! The other side is made from one of Michael's old dress shirts - I used the collar to create the neck strap on the apron, and I used both sides of the button placket to create the tie around his waist.

Sewing - The little shirt dress!

As I've heard from others, I learned a lot from making this dress..

These were the biggest things I learned:

1. Next time, I'll use a sturdier shirt! The fabric on my thrift store find was pretty thin and threadbare.
2. I'll use the expanded pattern from Dana next time - the armpits are pretty tight on this one.
3. It would help to have a real child in mind for the dress, so that I could use actual measurements!

The waistband is from a pillow case that my Grandma Reese embroidered. Because it's her embroidery, I'm kind of reluctant to give the dress away. No remedy but having a baby girl of my own :)

Sewing/Toys - We Love Crowns!

I've finally finished the yo-yo reggio give-away crown that I started for Fiona in Denver so many weeks back! There are so many cool crowns that you can see on-line and in a variety of books out there. Amanda Blake Soule shows a nice version in The Creative Family. I got my original inspiration from the tutorial at Juicy Bits and the blog posting at Koala Brains.

I somewhat followed the Juicy Bits tutorial, but as usual I changed it up according the materials I had on hand. In some versions of the crowns that I've made so far, I've used cardboard or a thicker felt inside the crown body, instead of interfacing material. The pictures you see here show several layers of felt to make a sturdier crown body. I've also played with machine stitching and hand stitching. Fiona's crown is primarily hand-stitched, just because I liked the way it looked and I felt like hand stitching. For better or worse, I think I'll always be an improvisor! You might want to follow the more formal tutorial, or just follow along with my improvisational photo essay.


Playing with the initial layout. I just didn't like the look of those yellow stars...


These colors worked better!


I used a simple running stitch to sew her initial onto a felt diamond.


I stitched the square to the front of the crown body and added some embroidered spirals. Because I really like spirals.


I sewed a strip of the butterfly fabric to the bottom of the crown body. I made a fabric sleeve from the same fabric, to make the back elastic holder. These are the seams that I machine stitched.


This shows the fabric sleeve with the elastic inside of it. I machine stitched both ends, to make sure that the elastic would stay in. You can see on the crown body that I added gold/brass buttons.




After I sewed the elastic onto the crown body, Sam graciously modeled.

I don't have a picture of the wand, but I made it with the same butterfly fabric that's on the crown. I cut out two free-form stars (because I like free-form stars!) and sewed them together. I stuffed the star with quilt batting, then attached it to a wooden dowel. Finally I tied on a variety of ribbons and finished it with some glue. I hope Buffy will share some photos when Fiona gets the package in the mail!

Sewing - Pillow case from baby t-shirts

The title says it all :) Oh, except there are two 'secret' pockets incorporated in, cut from a pair of Sam's little shorts. And I was going to make it as a quilt/blanket, but before I stitched up the fourth side, I realized that he might enjoy it more as a pillow case and bag. I was right!