Oldie but Goodie

The last few days here have been COLD.  I'm not sure I should really be complaining because we've had a really mild winter this year, but I can always use an excuse to whip up some cute accessories to help keep us warm.

This one is an oldie, but I still love how they turned out and am going to make up another batch with some cute girlie embellishments today.  PLUS, they are perfect for kiddos who hate keeping hats on.

I've also made these the opposite way; with the thin part hitting behind the ears and the thick part of the band in the front.  I think they are cute both ways.  It just depends on how you want to wear them.  You just want the seam to be in the back so make sure you cut your fabric out accordingly.


In other, non-related news:

I made it to 38 weeks and no baby yet....which is fine because my husband has MBA finals all week  (no small task).  We're hoping for an after Christmas baby but we'll take her whenever she's ready.

In other news, we moved this weekend.  And in less than 3 days are almost completely unpacked.  We had a ton of help from family and really good friends cleaning and moving the big stuff.  We have about 10 boxes left and they all happen to be my sewing/crafting supplies.  It's sickening how much I have acquired in a short amount of time.  I just need to decide the best place to keep it all....it's a hard decision.

Happy sewing!  I hope you have a productive week!

Ellie

Happy Monday

So I did it.  I have been wanting to participate in a Boutique for quite some time and finally got around to sewing up enough stuff to do it.  I wish this could explain my long absence from blogging, but in reality, I made everything I took to the boutique in the one week previous to it.  CRAZY.  I know.  Last week was a lot of late nights (which is fine because my 37 week pregnant body hates sleep anyways) and lots of house neglect.  My poor, poor family.  It's ok.  They still love me too.  It was actually quite a bit more successful than I thought it would be and I would do it again ( I just need to find another venue that doesn't charge for the booth and other overage fees...that part was nice).

I saw a few blogging friends, including Amy from Naptime Crafters who stopped by to say hi.  Thanks Amy.

Other than that, things are great.  I'm considering putting together a tutorial for a skirt I designed last week.  I actually posted a picture of it on the last post.  It's a cute little skirt with pockets and lace and perhaps my favorite design as of yet.  It looks so cute on little bodies, but I'm pretty sure it would look good on me-sized people too.  So far, I have only made the pattern pieces for sizes 6-12 months and 12-18 months.  I would like to expand the options and then I'll have it ready for you.  I may need some pattern testing done in the next little while.  Probably after the holidays.

Other than that, I am feeling ready for baby #2.  Not sure if she is ready yet, which is fine (she can bake as long as she needs) but my skin is not loving the stretching out and my stomach is getting tired of the heartburn.  Anyone have suggestions for really bad heartburn?  I already take the max amount of pepcid and tums and it really doesn't help.....I would love to know what works for you.

We are also in the middle of moving (will hopefully be done before the baby arrives) and getting ready for a family wedding (also hopefully before baby arrives).  Busy busy.  Christmas seems hours away and I am not at all ready.

Hope your Christmas season is rolling in with lots of Joy and lots of Fun and lots of yummy treats.

Happy Monday!

Mrs. Clause Boutique

Here's where I'll be on Saturday:

The first person to come and find me (and mention this post) can chose any item 10$ or less from my booth free of charge!  Family and friends excluded....sorry.  Think of it as a little thanks to those of you who have stuck out my long absence or just an early Christmas present!

What will be at my booth, you ask?  Here's a sneak peak:

and there's a lot more where that came from...

A cape, a hat, and a skirt.

I can't seem to do much on time these days, but I thought I'd share our little one's Halloween costume anyways.

The inspiration for this little costume was this hat I found via Pinterest.  I didn't have enough felt on hand to make the hat following the tutorial exactly so I used the pattern pieces (adjusted slightly to fit a smaller head).  I cut out 2 of each pattern piece from an old black skirt and one of each pattern piece from interfacing to make it slightly stiffer.  I ironed the interfacing onto one of the rim pieces and one of the hat pieces then sewed same pieces together with right sides together.  I clipped around the curves of the rim and turned each piece so the right sides were facing out.  Once I got here,  I was able to follow the rest of this tutorial to finish it up.  I love how it turned out.

The cape was made from 1/2 yard each of two contrasting fabrics.  I sewed the two pieces right sides together around three of the sides with 1/2 inch seams leaving one of the long edges completely un-sewn.  Then I clipped the corners and turned it right side out.  With a gathering stitch (longest stitch length, highest tension) I sewed along the long end that was left un-sewn and then gathered the cape to the desired length by pulling the bobbin thread.  It was about 21 inches long for my 17 month old.  I made some thick black bias tape (about 1 yard in length) and pinned the cape inside of the bias tape right in the middle so there were two tails on either side of the cape of the same length.  To finish the cape I sewed the bias tape together along the open end to enclose the cape inside.  

To make the tulle skirt I used 4 yards of tulle (I got it on sale at Joanne's so it only cost me about 4 dollars).  Rather than cut strips and tie around a waist band as I've seen almost everywhere else, I made mine similar to the way I made this three tiered skirt.  To keep it super easy I folded the tulle evenly until it was 1 yard in length and then cut the three tiers out of the folded tulle.  This gave me 3 tiers that were actually 4 pieces of tulle (folded over) each.  Then I sewed my gathering stitch along the top end of each stack of 4 layers to get each tier.  Once I had gathered the 3 sections, I pinned and sewed each section onto the skirt piece really close together.  I wanted the tulle to add volume more than I wanted the tiers to be distinguishable.  It worked exactly as I planned and made a super cute skirt with tons of volume.  I made the whole skirt in about 30 minutes.  

We took most of the pictures in the dark, but htis one is a good shot of the skirt and cape.  I'm excited because each of these pieces make really great dress up's and the'll fit her for quite a while too!


For kicks, here are our last years Halloween Costumes:


I got my inspiration from this little stop light I saw on MADE and went from there.  The two street signs are made of felt.  I free handed the shapes and traced the letters, cut them out and sewed them on. The traffic signal jumper is made of fleece with felt circles sewn on top.  Super easy.  Sorry i'm late in posting....you can always pin it for next year :)

Ruffled Cards

I can find a way to add a ruffle to just about anything.  Currently, I am loving these ruffled cards.  I originally sent them out as part of my gift for the Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange this summer (which I only sent over a month late....what is wrong with me people?)

They are super simple to make.  All you need is a stack of precut cards (I bought a box of 200 from target about a year ago for 10$...they even came with envelopes) and scraps of fabric.

Cut a 2 inch strip of fabric that is double the length of your card.  Ruffle it on your machine with a ruffling foot (if you are lucky enough to have one) or the old fashioned way (like me) using your longest stitch length and highest tension.  Pull the bobbin thread to finish gathering to the exact length of the card.  Pin the fabric to your card at the desired location and then sew the fabric to the card directly on top of the gathering stitch you already made.  I used contrasting thread for the purple card and love how it turned out.  There are tons of variations you could do with this.  I think some ruffled flowers would be cute (strips sewn in circles), or multiple rows?  Options are endless.

To hide the ugly stitching on the back, I sewed another card to the back of the first.  Be sure to switch your machine back to it's normal setting or you will not have pretty stitching.

Done!  you can easily whip up a stack of these in under 10 minutes.  Not kidding.  So easy and so cute.  They would make great neighbor gifts this holiday season, or a great addition to your handmade gift....there's another exchange coming up next week I believe!

Here are some other cards I've made with felt.  They usually turn out pretty well too, but I still love the ruffles the most.

Back with some NEWS.

Hello friends.  Well, it's been a good two months since I've posted.  And while I feel like I have good reasons, I also feel like I've been missing my friends in the blogging world and letting you guys down for some reason.

First, I received a Jury summons at the end of August and was selected for the Jury Duty on a 4 week trial.  It was a really interesting experience (one that I'm sure would have been just as interesting had it lasted only 2 days....but you do what you have to do).  Our legal system is incredible (not without flaw, i'm sure) but I have experienced first hand just what it can do for people and I'm grateful in a weird way for the experience.

Second, for the last several months, I've been keeping secrets around here.  In about 8 weeks, we are adding another little girl to the family!  We can.not.wait.  Really.  We are so excited.

Here is me 3 weeks ago (at about  29 weeks)

I don't feel like that's an excuse for my lack of blogging....because I have felt pretty good this time around, but I have lost all sorts of motivation when it comes to doing the essentials (like housework, making dinner, and crafting....you know, the important stuff...haha).

So there you have it.  I have actually been sewing and making things, but they usually end up being for someone else and I keep forgetting to take pictures before sending them away.  I do have some things to show you guys, including a tutorial if I can get it up this week, so stay tuned if you are still around and I'll try to get back on the horse.

In other news, I've been using Pinterest for the last few months and would definitely call my love for it an addiction.  You can see my boards by clicking the button at the left or below.  Don't be surprised when you see that a lot of them are food related.....I think about food a lot these days (actually, that's normal for me even when I'm not pregnant).

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Thanks for sticking around.

Ellie

Toddler Vest

So auditions are over for SYTYC and although I didn't make it into the competition, I still wanted to share my project with you.  Some of the other audition pieces were great, so I'm not at all surprised.  Especially since my project caters to such a small audience.  But since you read my blog and know what I'm about (which happens to be 50% girls clothing) I figured you might want to see it and know how I made it.  

Toddler Vest, 2 Ways

  

This project is super easy.  It took about 30 minutes to make both of them (probably another reason why I didn't move on in the competition....but that's how I roll people....simple and fast)

And it comes with easy variations.  There's the slightly-less-fast ruffled collar vest.  The pictures are crazy because the model is crazy.  The hem is not wonky like it looks in the pictures, it's just because she won't stand still for 2 seconds for me to take a pictures.

  

And the 'plane jane' white vest.

  

I didn't take pictures along the way, but it's so simple, I promise you won't need them.

Here's what you need to do:

1.  Measure.  

A: The distance between shoulders (armpit to armpit).  Mine- 7.5"

B:  From the top of the shoulder to the bottom of the armpit.  Mine- 3.5"

C: from shoulder to where you want the vest to fall.  I chose below the waist about half way down the leg, but it's up to you and the style you want to achieve.  Mine-17"

**Write all of these down so you don't get half way through and have to chase down your model to get them a second time.  

2.  Cut your rectangle.  Start with a rectangle of cotton jersey.  Use measurement A to calculate how long by tripling the distance.  Use measurement C to determine how long.  Since we're using jersey there is no need to account for seams unless you don't like the raw edges.  Mine ended up being 22" x 17".

3.  Cut your armholes.  Fold your vest in half and place a few pins to keep it in place.  Use measurement A to determine how far in from the fold to cut the armhole.  To determine how far from the top, use 3.5" for small children and adjust up to 6" for larger children.  This all depends on how large you want your collar to be.  Use measurement B to determine how long to cut the hole.  When you cut, you will be cutting both armholes at once so there is no need to repeat this process a second time.  No need to finish armholes because they won't fray.  My hole was 3 3/4 inches in from the side (7/2), 3.5" from the top, and 3.5" long.  

4.  If you wish to have a 'plane jane' vest like the white one, you can stop now.  If you want ruffles like the red one you'll first need to round off your corners.  I did this by tracing the lid of our clothes hamper onto the vest and cutting off the excess.  Then I cut a 2" piece of the same fabric (I had to sew a few scraps together to get it long enough) and ruffled it by sewing a gathering stitch (longest stitch length, highest tension, walking foot if you have one) and pulling the bobbin thread to get desired ruffles.  Then I pinned the ruffled strip around the entire vest on the outer edge and sewed directly over the gathering stitch to secure it to the vest. 

If you have any questions just ask!  Sorry for lack of pictures.  Hope it makes sense.  

Want to do something nice...

...then go over to So You Think You're Crafty and vote for your favorite Season 9 Audition project.  That would be very nice.

 Sometimes it's good to have a reason to sew.  It might help me get back in the swing of things.  So hopefully you all like my project as much as I do.

On a side note...I made my first set of curtains this past week for my sister's house.  They turned out great.  I'm definitely not putting up a tutorial because there are soooo many floating around out there, but I am compiling a list of tips and things that I learned for you guys.

Keep enjoying your last little bit of summer (if you still have any) and we'll be in touch.  Very shortly.  I'm off to the pool.

Excuses.

I thought about telling you guys why I haven't been blogging.  I came up with a pretty long list of excuses too.  Which are all pretty good ones, but the truth is I just wanted a break.  I know I've only been doing this for less than a year, but for some reason all I wanted to do this summer was hang out with my family and play at the pool.  So that's exactly what I did.  ALL.SUMMER.LONG.

See....

(Running away from Dad.  She's fast.)

Who can blame me?

I broke out the machines a few times to whip up a few projects, but mostly I've been catching up on some other parts of my life that needed attention.  So....please forgive me and please come back.  I love creating and knowing that someone else cares and I'm sad to have lost some of you.  I've noticed that I've lost quite a few readers this summer.  No biggie.  I understand.  When blogs I read take long breaks I tend to lose track of them too.  But I will be back...with projects.  Even if the machines haven't been turning, I have been sketching ideas all summer and I'm currently working on my audition piece for SYTYC.  I'll keep you updated.

Hope you are having a wonderful summer as well.

Little Daisy's Auction

Little Daisy's Boutique is having another auction that lasts until the end of today.  It's a great way to get cute bows at a discounted price.

These are some of my favorites offered in the auction right now:

 Emma bow (actually in yellow at the auction).

The Jane Bow.  

The auction is hosted on facebook.  All you have to do is log into facebook and go to the Little Daisy's main page and look through the most recent pictures.  Place a bid on the bows you like by leaving a comment on the corresponding photo.  It's easy and fun.  Don't miss out.  You only have until this evening to bid!

Checker Board Picnic Quilt (the cheater way)

I honestly don't know if I can even call this a quilt because I cheated in every way possible.  Seriously.  Just wait till you see how.  To me, a quilt has batting, squares, and a backing, so I call it a quilt.  If you are a quilter, hide your eyes.  They may burn after you read this post.

Ok.  I started with a sketch of the a checker board.  I wanted it to be very large, so my pattern looked like this.  

1.  Since these are my final measurements I cut my squares to 9" x 9".  You'll need 32 squares of each color to make the checker board.  

2.  Once you get them cut, sew them together like you would any quilt using 1/2" seams.  Just be sure to keep the rows in order.  I layed the entire quilt out on the floor and sewed together the squares of one line at a time before sewing each row together.  

3.  Ok, here's where I cheated the first time.  I used Rae's method for her Cheater Quilt Binding (scroll down past the crayon quilt part and you'll see it).  To do this, I cut my batting slightly larger than my quilt front (about 65"x 65").  Then I cut my backing about 66" x 66" because my backing was too thick to fold over only 1/2" like Rae suggested.  I folded and ironed over the backing with the whole quilt spread out on the floor (my carpet was fine, but I would be careful when you first start).  Then I pinned it in place a sewed around the whole binding as close as I could get to the binding edge.  Since my backing was a heavy weight denim, I used jean colored thread so that it would not show and a jeans needle.

4.  Here's the second- much worse than the first- cheat.      

If you click on the picture above and look really closely at the corners, you will see some invisible thread.  I realized when I finished sewing the quilt together that it would be much to big/time consuming for me to machine quilt and I didn't want colored thread to show by hand quilting, so I decided to compromise.  On all four corners of each square, I sewed a button hole stitch to keep the front from coming apart from the backing.  I used invisible thread on the front and jean colored thread on the back.  It is nearly invisible when you look at it but does the job well.   

Here's another view:

And thats all I did.  Completely cheated, but I love how it turned out.  And I finished the whole thing in a few hours.  I think it could have dragged on much longer had I used traditional methods, but would probably look better.  I'm ok with this method though, since I'm not a 'purist'. 

It's already been put to good use...checkers and picnics.

Plus I'm loving how big it is.  Big enough to fit our growing family and big enough for us to lay on at the park.  Love it.

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I'm Back...

I took a vacation.  From blogging, sewing, pretty much everything.  I went to visit my family for about a week and a half.  Just got home last night.   Usually today would be spent cleaning and getting things back to normal, but while I was away, my husband took care of everything.  The house is cleaner/more organized than it has been in months.  He is the greatest.  You have no idea.  I hate going on vacation without him....but when I come back to a home like this...I seriously consider doing it again.

So, I think i'm going to sew today instead of clean.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll have something to show you later before the week is over.  I have some things I've been dying to try since I've been away.  Plus, I only entered "blog land" once while I was away, so I have a lot of catching up to do around here as well.

Also, I had to drop out of the Extreme Makeover contest.  A few weeks ago I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and I just couldn't keep up with the sewing...mainly because I couldn't hold my arm up long enough to sew a 6 inch straight line.  It's feeling lots better now.  I just have a knot in my shoulder the size of a grapefruit, but that's going away too.  BUT, they have a wildcard for the last round, so maybe I'll be back for the last week if I can get my act together and get some things done.

Hope you are having a lovely week.  I'm slightly disappointed to come home to such horrible weather, especially when I was vacationing in a very sunny and warm place, but no matter how much fun I have when I'm gone, I always love being home again.

Late notice, Please Vote!

Extreme Makeover projects are up so go over and vote!  
There are some really great ones this week...it's going to be tough to choose.   You can also head over to Wildflowers and Whimsy to enter this weeks giveaway, which you won't want to miss.  I know I'm late getting this up, but please don't forget to head over to Extreme Makeover Fabric Edition and vote, it ends Sunday night!

Picnic Basket

I love this basket.  It was so easy to make and so fun to use.  It's something I've always wanted to have and actually having one now makes me want to go it the park in pretty dresses, eat watermelon and pb&j and watch the clouds go by.

Ok, no watermelon this time, but a nice apple and homemade jam will do just fine.

Want to do that too?

It's easy and you probably have most of this stuff lying around your house.

Materials:

Large basket

Cardboard (I used a small office file sized one, but it will depend on how big your basket is)

1/2-3/4 yard fabric

1/2-3/4 yard quilt batting

Fabric scraps for front/back and side ties

hot glue

ric-rac (optional)

Construction:

1.  Put your basket face down on top of your cardboard and trace.  If your basket has a handle like mine, do have at a time on the edge of a table so the handle can hang off.  You want this piece to be slightly smaller than the basket, so that it rests right inside the ridge when closed.

2.  Cut out the traced shape and lay on a slightly larger piece of cardboard.  Tape two markers or pencils together and trace onto the larger piece.  This is so that the top of the lid will hang over the basket ridge like a lip.  The ridges on the side of mine are for the handles because the handles on my basket jut inwards on the inside of the basket, so I needed to accommodate for them.  

 

3.  Use a ruler and pencil to mark a 2 inch section out of the middle of the smaller cardboard lid piece.  Cut it out so that you now have 3 pieces.  Two smaller half lids and one large lid.  On the large lid, take and exacto kinfe and very carefully perforate  the middle so that it bends on either side of the handles.  If you look carefully at the photo, on the larger piece of cardboard there is a green line towards the middle.  This is where I made my cut and directly opposite of that as well (2 perforations total). 

4.  Take each piece of cardbaord and lay it on the wrong side of a batting and fabric piece (trimmed to be about 2 inches larger on every side).   

5.  Starting with the batting, glue to the cardboard to cover completely.  Repeat the same steps with the fabric.  I used the same method as I did in the Rosette Letters.  Repeat this step on all 3 cardboard pieces.  On the large top piece, be sure you pull the fabric around the cardboard very tightly to ensure it doesn't pucker strangely when you open and close the lid.  

 

**I had more pictures of these next steps but they are MIA.  I can't find them on my computer anywhere.

6. Sew two long strips (mine were about 30" each) of fabric to create your two front and back ties to keep the basket open or closed.  You could also use ribbon.  

7.  Take the fabric strips and fold in half.  Glue the middle (folded part) to the curved edge of one of the smaller cardboard pieces on the wrong side, or the side where the fabric is not covering it completely.  Repeat for the other tie and other small cardboard piece.

8.  Take the larger cardboard piece and lay right side down so that you are looking at the side with all of the glue.  Lay a smaller piece of cardboard on top covering the glue mess with the right side facing outwards.  Be sure it lines up with the perforations and that it doesn't cover them.  We want the lid to bend.  You can see what it will look like in the picture below.  With the tie coming out the middle and the fabric covered sides showing when the basket is open and when it is closed.  

8.  I glued on the ric-rac about 1/2 inch from the edges on the inside and outside of the lid.

To create the lining, I used a similar method as the one in my Vintage Inspired Easter Basket.  

1.  I traced the bottom of the basket.

2.  Cut it out and made sure it fit in the inside. 

3.  I added about 1/2 inch when I cut out the fabric to account for seams.  I measure the height and added 5 inches so that the fabric would come over the edges.  Like the Vintage Easter Basket, I cut out two strips of fabric for the sides.  BUT...before sewing any of the lining together serge around all edges or zig-zag and cut.  

4.  When you sew the short ends of the side pieces together, leave about 7 inches un-sewn at the top to fit around the handles.  

5.  I added ribbon to each end to tie around the handles. 

6.  Then attach it to the bottom piece.  

 

Now you have you beautiful picnic basket with a functional lid!  Take it to the park and bask in the sun. 

 If you're lucky, you'll have a lot of cleaning up to do after your little one destroys the lunch you  brought. 

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