Homestitched

Sneak Peak

2012-01-29T15:22:00.003-07:00

Here's a peak at one of the projectes I've been working on lately....more details to come!

Charlotte

2012-01-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

We've been busy snuggling this little girl all week....

BUT...my mother-in-law has been helping me decorate our new apartment and I'll be back with ideas and pictures soon!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday.

Oldie but Goodie

2011-12-12T10:15:00.001-07:00

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

2011-12-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

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

2011-12-01T10:49:00.001-07:00

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.

2011-11-02T14:26:00.000-06:00

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

2011-10-25T12:37:00.001-06:00

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.

2011-10-24T12:54:00.001-06:00

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

2011-08-24T12:52:00.002-06:00

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...

2011-08-15T09:11:00.000-06:00

...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.

2011-08-10T11:18:00.001-06:00

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

2011-06-14T08:21:00.000-06:00

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)

2011-05-24T16:16:00.001-06:00

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.

This post was sponsored by:

I'm Back...

2011-05-19T10:00:00.001-06:00

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!

2011-05-07T11:45:00.000-06:00

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

2011-05-05T22:41:00.003-06:00

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.

This post was sponsored by:

Tiered and Bubbled

2011-05-02T15:21:00.003-06:00

First, thanks for all of you who voted this weekend! My "Extra Ordinary Day at the Park" creations won this weeks vote over at Extreme Makeover Fabric Edition. Yay! I'll be posting the tutorials this week so you can have an 'Extraordinary Day at the Park' too. Sophie and I will be using our picnic blanket and basket this week...multiple times.

Second...my injured cutie got her cast off today! Can you believe a month has already gone by? Me either. It's still a little sore and she has the worst rash I have ever seen, but nothing a little coconut oil and fresh air can't take care of.

Tutorial Time...sort of.

Tiered Bubble Skirt

from EMFE week 2

This may be a little overboard for some of you, but I love how big this skirt is and think it's extra cute with the bubbled layers.

It is an extremely simple version of the "Be Mine" three tiered skirt. In fact, I even had consult my tutorial a couple of times to remember how I made the original.

This version was super easy and came together in about 20 minutes tops. Not kidding.

Here are the changes:

1. Cutting. You'll want to follow the Be Mine tutorial for the most part, but double the width of each tier. Each tier will actually end up being the length you want the skirt to be in the end minus one inch. This is so you can fold each tier in half to create the bubble.

2. Gathering stitch. Before you gather, fold the tiers in half and pin lengthwise with wrong sides together so that you have a very long double layered piece. Then sew your gathering stitch across the top of both layers to gather them at the same time.

3. Just like in the original tutorial, you want to finish gathering by hand, making each tier the same length as the skirt lining (hips plus 3 or 4 inches).

This is what my sewing space most often looks like when I sew. 3 or 4 projects out all at once and a little munchkin spreading her books and toys across the floor and crawling around in places she shouldn't.

4. Once all your pieces are ready, draw the lines on your skirt lining piece and finish off the skirt as you would with the Be Mine version. Just no hemming this time!

This is what happens when you take a toy away from an annoyed 11 month old.

This post was sponsored by:

Go vote please!

2011-04-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

Extreme Makeover projects are up so go over and vote! I'm loving this competition because I've been able to try so many different things and use up a ton of my stash too! My comfort zone has tripled in size if thats possible.

I wish I could tell you which one was mine because I love it, but you'll have to wait till Monday to find out. I have some tutorials for you next week to show you how/what I made. In the meantime head over to Extreme Makeover Fabric Edition and vote!

Gathered Jersey Dress

2011-04-28T07:10:00.002-06:00

Originally posted at Nap Time Crafters.

Today I have a quick/easy tutorial for you. You can make it from materials you have on hand, and it only takes 45 minutes to complete (or less if you are more awesome than me and actually do things right the first time)! I love quick projects that can be finished while my daughter is napping!

I'm going to show you how to turn these:

into a comfy gathered jersey dress:

(yes, my sweet little one is in a cast...if you want details you'll have to read about it here)

Who doesn't love comfy and cute?

Materials:

Mens T-shirt

Baby Onesie

Measuring Tape

Yup, thats all folks!

Before you start:

Measure the hips and length of the baby/toddler that the dress is for. If your onesie fits well, you shouldn't need to measure the waist. Don't forget to write them down. I hate re-measureing.

**Adjust the following measurements to fit your model. My dress was for a small 10 month old.

Construction:

1. Lay your T-shirt on your cutting board so that the bottom hem is lined up. Then cut 3 strips that are 4" wide starting from the hem so that one piece utilizes the hem from the old T-shirt. I used XL but you could definitely get away with a smaller one. My dress ended up very gathered.

2. Using your sewing machine, gather the top and bottom of the two un-hemmed (now a word) strips. Do the same for the hemmed piece, but only gather the edge without the hem. I do this by setting my machine to its highest tension and longest thread length.

3. Lay out your pieces and finish gathering them by pulling the bobbin threads on the top and bottom of each strip. You want to gather the pieces until they are 3-4 inches longer than the widest part of the hips, because every little girl needs some wiggle room.

4. Pin the top two pieces right sides together.

5. Serge or zig-zag together using a 1/2 inch seam (no need to trim because t-shirt jersey doesn't fray). Repeat the last two steps for the bottom skirt piece.

6. Try the onesie on your model and mark where you want the skirt to go. When I took it off, I drew a line around the whole thing to makes sure I pinned correctly later ( you can see it if you look really hard).

7. Stuff your onesie inside your skirt piece so you can see how it matches up.

8. Flip your skirt piece up over the top half of the onesie so that right sides are touching and pin it in place along the line you drew earlier. Or wing it if you didn't feel like drawing a line. I won't judge you.

9. Zig zag in place if you wish to keep the bottom half of the onesie in tact, or serge it and cut off the bottom completely! I originally left the bottom on but think the dress lays better without it, so I ended up cutting it off.

Now you have this:

You can stop now, or take a few jersey strips...

Sew them onto the front with a little rosette...

And end up with this:

All done!

This is where she decides the grass is gross and won't put her legs down in it...for like 10 minutes.

This is when she finally started giving in...but she still thinks it's gross.

And this is complete submission. I win.

Yes, we like to coordinate our hair accessories with our cast. Much cuter that way.

This post was sponsored by:

Ruffled Bumper Pads

2011-04-27T09:56:00.002-06:00

The second part of my Extreme Makeover project.

I have an Ikea crib, and if you have one you know that the sizing is just a little off that of other standard cribs...It drives me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I love our crib...the style and color especially. Sort of old-school and modern at the same time, but it is hard to find fitting bumper pads. The ones we had previously were super cute hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law. I liked them a lot but they didn't quite fit on our crib and always looked a little strange.

My solution was to make bumper pads that were not connected to help them fit better around the crib, which I think they do nicely now. I mostly used this bumper pad tutorial from Sew4Home but made a bunch of changes.

I used their dimensions for the sizing, but took away about an inch for my crib. If you have a normal crib you could probably use it as is.

For the ruffled outer pieces, I doubled the length of the fabric, ran a gathering stitch about 4 inches from the top, and then gathered the piece to the correct length.

I cut out a piece of interfacing the size I wanted my bumper pads to end up and ironed the ruffles onto this to hold it securely. Then I pinned it and sewed around all the edges. I would definitely recommend using interfacing if you decided to ruffle your front panel. It will really help your ruffles stay in place when you get the whole thing sewn together.

Then I followed the rest of the instructions skipping the cording (I thought it would look funky with the ruffles...now I think it would have worked) and I didn't curve the edges, but left them square instead.

I don't know how I didn't notice it was crooked when we took the pictures....grrrrr.

Yes, she really does only get a corner because the other half of her room is filled with my sewing stuff and our office space. You are pretty much seeing the whole thing except for part of the changing table and the glider. Covered bins are next on my to-do list, along with some wall decals and a new mobile.

This post was sponsored by:

Flickr?

2011-04-26T09:11:00.004-06:00

I recently created a Flickr account for this blog. I'm not sure if any of you have used any of my tutorials, but I hope that eventually you will find some of them useful and try them out. If you do (or already have), I would love to see what you made/make. I would love to see how you have improved my ideas, I would love to see your fabric choices, your cute models, your creativity...the list goes on. If you have or are planning to use a tutorial or idea please take a moment and upload a picture or two showing what you've done. You can click the link above or on the left sidebar. It really would mean a lot to me!

If there is some interest and some of you actually add to the pool I would love to feature your creations on my blog. I'm thinking a monthly (or twice monthly) "Flickr Feature" where I spotlight creations from the Homestitched Flickr pool. With links back to your blog if you have one, of course.

Other news...it is quite possible that the name of this blog will change in the near future. When I created this blog I searched 'Homestitched' on every search engine imaginable and nothing came up. BUT we all know how these things go and now it seems that there is a homestitched.com out there. It probably won't ever be a problem but I want to keep my options open in case I ever decide to expand this blog into something more (like making/selling patterns). I have no idea what I will change it to or if I even will, but just wanted to give you the heads up.
On to the real question of the day....
Is it safe to use thread after something like this happens? I honestly don't know.

Before I caught her, she managed to tangle just about every thread in my drawer. Nice.

Happy Tuesday!

This post was sponsored by:

Rosette Letters

2011-04-25T10:41:00.003-06:00

Since voting is up over at Extreme Makeover, I thought I'd post the how-to for the rosette letters I made for my daughters name. Did you know which one was mine? I'm sort of in love with that tent that was made. Man it's cute. I can't wait to find out who made it.

Yup her name is Sophie. I don't think I've ever told you that before. I think I was nervous to share too much info on the web....but it's getting a little annoying to refer to her as "my little one." So yeah...now you know.

Materials:

About 1/2 yard of 2 different fabrics for the rosettes (or 1 yard of the same color)

Another 1/2 yard to cover the cardboard letters

Mod Podge

Glue Gun

Cardboard

Scissors

Marker

Construction:

1. First, you need to cut out your letters. I drew them on paper first and then traced them onto my cardboard. I found it was easiest to cut them out using an exacto knife, but scissors would probably work as well.

2. Take your cardboard letter and lay it on top of your fabric (you actually want to do this so that you trace the reverse image onto your fabric, so put the front of your letter face down-I messed up the first time).

3. Trace your letter with a marker.

4. Clip around all the curves almost to the outline.

5. Using a brush, apply mod podge to front of the cardboard letter and press onto your fabric exactly in the outline drawn before.

6. With your hot glue gun, fold the clipped fabric under and glue to the back of the letter. Originally I thought I would use mod podge for this but it did not work well. Trust me and use the glue gun.

It looks a little scary because it's still wet from the mod podge and has hot glue, but you get the idea.

Now you have this:

7. Make your rosettes. I used a mix of tutorials till I found one I liked. I didn't like the look of raw edges poking out all over, so I kept the raw edges down as I wrapped. You are going to need a whole bunch of 1" strips of fabric for your rosettes. I think I made about 178 rosettes of all different sizes for about 10 inch letters. My 'S' is about 10 inches the 'o' and 'e' were about 7 1/2 inches tall.

I don't have any more pictures of the rest of the process, but It's easy and quick once your rosettes are done.

8. Divide your rosettes into similar sized piles (I made 3 piles for small, medium, and large rosettes).

9. Start with the larger rosettes and glue them onto the letter by putting glue on the bottom of the rosette and then placing them where they look good visually. If you are using more than one color, make sure you use some of both.

10. Fill in the gaps with the medium sized rosettes. When you fill in the gaps you want to make sure to put glue on the sides that are touching other rosettes as well as the bottom.

11. Use the smallest rosettes to fill in any leftover gaps.

A couple tips:

-The key is to really squeeze them together. Don't distort the rosettes, but make sure you can't see the cardboard peeking through.

-When it came to the edges, I did my best to conform the rosettes to the shape of the cardboard. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

My husband helped my hang them. We inserted a nail between two if the rosettes and nailed it directly to the wall.

Good luck! If you try this, please send me pictures. I want to see them.

This post was sponsored by:

Giveaway and a little something extra...

2011-04-25T00:08:00.001-06:00

The winner of the Benzie Felt Giveaway is....

Congratulations Emily! I'll be emailing you. Start picking colors....30 of 'em.

ALSO----

If you helped me out a little over a week ago by filling out the survey from this Please Help! post, stay tuned.

I want you all to know how much I appreciated the help...my does husband too. It was amazing that so many of you took the survey. To show my appreciation, I am sending one of you some Benzie Felt as my way of saying thanks. I wish I could send some to everyone that helped us out, but I am still the wife of a grad student and that is definitely not in our budget this month or any month for the next 2 years. Maybe when we make it big.

The fairest way I could think to do this was to pick another random number (from the Please Help comments). Sooo....

Thank you Amy! I'll be emailing you shortly. In the meantime, go pick out your colors because you're gonna get some felt too!

Projects are up!

2011-04-22T14:58:00.000-06:00

Don't forget to head over and vote for your favorite project! Voting ends Sunday, so don't wait too long!

Thanks!

Benzie Discount!

2011-04-21T21:24:00.004-06:00

**image from Benzie here.

Only a few more days to enter the the Benzie Felt Giveaway and win 30 sheets of felt! Head over there and leave me a comment.

DISCOUNT ALERT!

If giveaway's are not your thing or you just want to buy some awesome felt, The Benzie Shop is offering a 10% discount to all Homestitched readers through Sunday, April 24th! Just enter HOMESTITCHED at check out. YAY!

Thanks and Apology

2011-04-20T08:56:00.001-06:00

The Thanks:

I just have to say you guys are so kind/wonderful. When I posted about helping my husband with one of his classes we were hoping 10 or 15 of you would donate a few minutes and take the survey! We had a much bigger response that we could have hoped for. You guys are so awesome! I have the best readers. Don't worry, I'll make good on my promise...if you know what I mean. And you probably only do if you took the survey and left me a comment. He got enough results for the survey, so no need to take it anymore.

The Apology:

I'm so sorry for the lack of posting. I have tutorials coming. Last week was sort of horrible. I had to take care of some things that have arisen due to the broken leg and it took up quite a bit of my time. Thank goodness it is over and we can finally move on. Less than 2 weeks with the cast! Phew.

BUT....

I am sewing and have quite a few tutorials in the works. I have been busy busy busy working on my project for Extreme Makeover Fabric Edition (EMFE)! I can't wait to show it to you guys. It's been great to work on things that are a little out of my comfort zone. If you don't know about the competition go read up on it HERE. It's hosted by two fabulous ladies (here, and here). It's all about using fabric from your stash. It's been great for me, because I have quite the collection (proof here). We'll have new projects every week and the contestant that uses the most fabric automatically moves on. Then it's up to the readers to vote on the rest.

I have another tutorial for you this week, but it won't be up till Friday (sooner if I finish EMFE stuff early). If you missed my tutorial yesterday, be sure to head over to Naptime Crafters HERE to check it out. It's a cute and easy Jersey Dress you can make out of things you probably already have on hand.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the Benzie Felt giveaway! It is amazing felt and lots of it too.

You guys are great!

This post was sponsored by :

create, trade, be happy

Blog Swap with Nap Time Crafters

2011-04-19T00:00:00.046-06:00

I'm so happy to be blog swapping with Amy! When you are done here, be sure to hop over and check out my tutorial at Nap Time Crafters! Her tutorial is too cute to keep you from reading it any longer- so take it away Amy!

------------------------------------------

I'm Amy and I blog over at Nap Time Crafters. Hurry on over- auditions for American Crafter started yesterday! I fell in LOVE with Homestitched as soon as I stumbled across it- so many darling little girl outfits!

Since I have a little girl too I thought I'd share one of the latest additions to the spring wardrobe with all of you:)

I fell in love with the Florbella Dress from crewcuts

But it's $46, which is a bit steep for a play dress. And I'm really loving the stripes I used in my version!

The perfect little dress for playing around!

Ready to make your own???

Materials:

Old Tee: I used a small to make a 12-18 mos. size and it work for smaller sizes too. For much bigger I'd get a bigger tee
Elastic
Sewing Supplies

1. Lay a dress that fits well on top of the tee and trim it down- you can make it wider for a more gathered look (that was the full width of my tee). Save the scraps for later

2. If your neck hole seems too big you can take it in at the shoulders. With right sides together sew up the side seams.

3. Use the sleeves you cut off to make your new, smaller sleeves. Keep the original hem. With right sides together sew up the side seam.

4. Right sides together attach the sleeves to the dress

You could be done now if you want:)

5. Use a scrap from the bottom to make a casing for the elastic. Just cut it a bit wider than the elastic and sew it to the inside of the dress along the top and bottom edge. Go all the way around, but leave an opening at the side seam. Thread the elastic through and secure the ends together.

6. Fold the bottom edge over twice and hem.

7. Add a little flower to the top of the dress. I made mine by cutting 3 small triangles and 3 large. I gathered the bottom edges, layered them and sewed it straight to the shirt.

8. Sew little ribbon ties to each side to create the drawstring look- since knits don't fray I just used a strip of fabric and left the edges raw.

Have fun playing!

1 Shirt saved from the donation pile, 1 stylin' tot, & 1 happy momma!

Thanks so much Ellie!

Don't you LOVE this dress? I think my little one needs about 4 of them and I have quite a few old t-shirts to choose from!

I'm sure you have, but in case you haven't, be sure to check out Amy's blog.

I'm in love with these baby cowboy boots...

and these paint poppin pillows are really great too!

Go check it out, and while you're there, audition for American Crafter! I'm getting to link up any day now.

Thanks again Amy!

Giveaway with Benzie Felt Fanfare

2011-04-18T00:00:00.002-06:00

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Benzie is back baby!

Thats right! Since it was so successful the first time, Benzie is back to giveaway another awesome felt package as our newest sponsor.

Benzie has a high quality felt you can use for just about anything. They have an amazing color selection too!

**images from Benzie here.

Take it from Valerie (the winner last time around) who said:

"This is some of the best felt - I have loved working with it and will definitely be getting some more!"

You do not want to miss out of this one.

Since our last giveaway, Benzie has opened up a new shop called Benzie Handmade where they sell these amazing felt garlands.

I seriously can not get over how beautiful these colors are. They also have a Benzie Blog and a Facebook Page. Check them all out. You won't be disappointed.

Back to today's giveaway:

Today, Benzie is giving away 30 6 x 9" sheets, your choice of colors! Yes, you get to choose 30 sheets of your favorite felt colors for any of your favorite felt projects. And, if you choose 2 of the same color, they'll leave it uncut so you have larger pieces. So great!

Giveaway NOW CLOSED

30 6 x 9" sheets, your choice of colors.

Mandatory entry:

Become a follower of my blog (current or new) and leave a comment telling me you did so.

Extra Entries For:

Visiting the Benzie Shop or Benzie Handmade and telling me your favorite thing or felt color in either shop.
"like"-ing Benzie on Facebook.
Blogging, Tweeting, or posting on Facebook to spread the word about this giveaway. Leave a separate comment for each to receive an extra entry for each.

*Be sure I have a way to contact you, either through your blog, profile, or by leaving your email address in the comment. If I can't contact you I will chose a new winner. For real.

Giveaway ends Sunday, April 24th at 12:00am. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced Monday morning.

If you don't want to wait for a winner, you can purchase some felt directly from the Benzie etsy shop.

Giveaway Winner!

2011-04-14T08:21:00.002-06:00

The winner of the Boogaboo Handmade Giveaway is number 54!!!

Congratulation Beth!

I will be contacting you shortly.

For all of you who did not win the giveaway, don't worry! The 15% discount for the Boogaboo Shop is available till the end of April!

Last Chance!

2011-04-13T19:33:00.000-06:00

I wasn't home to give fair warning, so I am extending the giveaway until midnight tonight! Only a few more hours to enter the Giveaway! Click HERE to enter. It will only take a second for you to win some of these beauties...

20 Minute Bubble Skirt

2011-04-13T09:45:00.001-06:00

I finally got a tutorial up!

But before you look at the pictures and check out this super easy/fast bubble skirt, would you first take a minute and read this short post! It would really help my husband out and we would really appreciate it! Thanks.

Ok...now you can look.

I love this skirt for lots of reasons but the mostly because it took me less than 20 minutes to make once the fabric was cut and second, and it has a lot of bounce because it was made with a lot of light weight fabric. It feels really springy to me. I want to make another one in a more spring appropriate print.

Also, I love how the stripes look up here at the gathered section.

Want to make one? Here we go...

Materials:

About 2 Yards of light weight fabric

2 inch elastic for waistband

Coordinating thread

**I used a some kind of vintage silk that I've had from my grandpa's collection.

I apologize for lack of pictures-it was difficult to take pictures with all the fabric I used. But trust me, it was so easy you won't even need them.

Construction:

1. Measure around your waist and then decide how long you want the skirt to be.

2. Cut the elastic to 1" larger than your waist measurement and then sew the ends together to create your waistband. I used the same method shown in the Ruffled Headband Tutorial.

3. Cut the material into two rectangles that are your double your waist measurement by double your length measurement. When sewn together it will be 4X's your waist measurement.

HOWEVER, next time I make this skirt I will probably cut the width down to 1 1/2 the waist measurement (making it 3X my waist measurement when the two pieces are sewn together)because it was difficult to sew onto the waistband with sooo much fabric. If you are using a cotton and not a lightweight silk, I would definitely recommend cutting down the width to at least 1 1/2 of your waist measurement or else you will get some funny looking bulging around your waistband.

4. With right sides together, sew the two rectangles together down each side (length). You will end up with one very large tube of fabric. Serge off raw edges and iron down seam.

5. Open your skirt up and pull the bottom of the skirt up through the middle of the skirt so that the raw waistline edges line up together on top (your seams created in step 4 should be inside the fold and not visible). In the following picture i'm separating the two layers so you can see the seams from step 4 are actually touching.

6. Pin the two layers together and sew a gathering stitch all the way around the top of the skirt catching both layers. I actually did this in sections so that I wouldn't have to re-gather the whole thing if a thread broke. Next time I'm going to try the method Disney describes in her Easy Skirt Refashion to make a better "bubble" by offsetting the two layers a bit before pinning and gathering. If you try it, tell me how it goes.

7. Pull the bobbin threads and gather the two layers together until the entire skirt is about and inch larger than your hips (you want to be able to fit it on later....trust me).

8. Serge off the raw edges.

9. Pin to elastic waistband in 4-8 spots around the skirt. I do this by folding the skirt in half and putting pins at each fold. I do the same with the elastic, line up the pins and then pin the elastic to the fabric. I then do the same thing folding in half the opposite way to get 4 pins around the band.

10. Sew the fabric to your elastic by stretching between pins as you sew to catch all the material.

And your done!

Please ignore the fact that I haven't showered or brushed my hair today...I'm about to take care of that now.

Oh, and did I mention that I would LOVE your help today by reading this short post and filling out the survey? My husband and I would be forever indebted. Thanks!

This post was sponsored by:

Please Help!

2011-04-13T00:19:00.002-06:00

My husband is a graduate student at Brigham Young University working on a degree in product development. He needs as many people as possible to take this survey to further some research he's doing for a class. It takes less than a minute....seven super short questions about a KitchenAid Mixer. You don't need to own one to take it. If you take this survey, you can have an extra entry for the giveaway by leaving another comment here.

Take the Survey Here

If you take the survey will you tell me you did so in the comments section below? There may be a special prize for one of you who does...

You guys are great!

Extreme Makeover: Fabric Edition

2011-04-12T12:12:00.000-06:00

SO...I just found out that I get to be a contestant on Extreme Makeover Fabric Edition hosted by The Extra Ordinary Bree and Wildflowers and Whimsy!

I'm excited.

My stash needs some serious de-stashing, but now I'm kind of nervous and realized I have no idea what I'm going to make...send me some inspiration vibes will ya? Go check out the other contestants....including Mandy at SugarBee Crafts (yeah...she's as incredible as you think).

Also, you only have a little more than a day to enter the Boogaboo Handmade Giveaway. Please don't miss out! She has a great shop and blog. She's been posting some killer projects lately including this Burlap Coffee Sack tote. Go check out her blog and enter the giveaway!

In other news, I'm working on a few tutorials right now. One was supposed to be up this morning, but I had a few unexpected visitors yesterday and didn't get the chance to finish it up. Hopefully tomorrow.

The little one's leg is doing pretty well and we're all moving forward....including myself. She has re-learned to crawl up the stairs and use our furniture to walk around our living room again. She's pretty awesome. Seriously...kids can adapt to anything.

Thank you again to all of you who took time to leave kind and supportive words...I was having kind of a bad week and reading your comments made me feel loads better. I have the best readers! You guys are great.

Getting Back in the Groove

2011-04-08T14:29:00.002-06:00

(Taken the same day she got the cast. She's growling and clapping. Her two favorite things to do.)

As mentioned earlier, we had a little accident this week. Basically, it involved me having a dumb mom moment and allowing my 10 month old to fall off the changing table. It was horrible. By far the worst day we've had so far. We made it 10 months without really having any accidents, but this one sure made up for that. It took a while to figure out her leg was hurting and not her head. When a baby falls I automatically think head injury, so we spent the day checking for signs of a concussion and didn't really think anything of the fact that she didn't want to crawl, stand, or do anything but be held. Once we figured it out we were able to get her some help. X-ray's showed that she had a fractured femur and they were able to splint the bone before we saw the specialist that afternoon for a cast.

The cast made everything a lot better because it only really hurts when her leg was bumped or moved. Now it's stuck in one place and she has gone back to basically being her normal self. Getting into trouble...

Crawling around....I'm sure you know the drill.

It hasn't seemed to slow her down too much. Kids adapt so easily. But we're trying to keep her off her leg as much as possible. We were originally told she would need a half body cast (up her left leg, above the belly button, and half way down the other leg), but they opted to try this one because it would be easier and more sanitary for a baby (to change diapers and such) and the fracture was low enough on the femur that it would be able to heal.

So we are being very careful. She spends most of her days laying on the ground, playing with toys and watching more TV than I would like to admit.

Any ideas for activities not involving her legs would be much appreciated. She's getting really restless and bored.

Well that was pretty close to a novel, but I just wanted to say thanks for all the sweet comments earlier this week. It's been a little hard to deal with. More for her than for me, I'm sure, but I can't help but feel embarrassed/guilty/sad that I let this happen. It's hard to go anywhere without getting comments and stares....it's not every day that you see a baby this small with a cast. And the doctors made it very clear that it doesn't happen very often and asked me a million questions about how it DID happen (they were just doing their jobs and looking out for my child so I am grateful they cared, but it still hurt. I try to be a good mom and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt my little girl).

But we're moving on. One month until we return to normal. One month till she can start trying to walk again (she was getting so close before), one month before I can spend my days crawling after her instead of laying next to her. We can do it. Far worse things could happen.

Anyways, I am sorry for the lack of craftiness this week. I have hardly touched the machines but I did manage to make a cute little dress by using this tutorial from Shwin and Shwin.

I did the collar and buttons a little different, and I put the elastic casing on the outside instead of the inside. I also hemmed the sleeves by folding twice outward so that the hem ended up on the outside. Thats my favorite part.

Oh and I added the pleated pocket. I love gray and yellow. Especially if it involves polka dots and florals. It looks better on the model, but I didn't want to torture her with a photo shoot today. Sorry. Maybe I'll snag some pictures when she actually wears it.

Happy weekend everyone! Don't forget to enter the Boogaboo Handmade Giveaway! It ends in a couple of days and all you have to do is leave a comment. Doesn't get easier than that! If your not into giveaways, you can take advantage of the %15 discount offered all of the month of April. Go check out our awesome sponsor.

Boogaboo Handmade Giveaway and Discount!

2011-04-05T22:47:00.003-06:00

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. DISCOUNT AVAILABLE UNTILL THE END OF APRIL.

A couple of days ago, I received this is the mail:

a beautiful flower clip made by Valerie from Boogaboo Handmade who happens to be our newest sponsor!

Valerie has a shop and a new blog and I am in love with all of the things she creates. Everything she makes is gorgeous and extremely well made.

To make it all even more awesome she is offering a BIG discount and giving away $15 for her shop to one of you lucky readers (see details at the bottom of the post).

Here are some of my favorite things from the boogaboo shop:

Puff flowers.

Pretty felt accessories made of high quality felt.

I love the ones with pearl centers too.

These Spring Wristlets were recently added to her shop and I really think I must have one.

From the boogagoo blog:

I love burlap and think this bag would be perfect for spring/summer.

I definitely need one of these spring wreaths too.

DISCOUNT ALERT:

Right now until the end of April all Homestitched readers can receive a 15% discount on any of the items in her shop. Just enter the code Homestitched15 when you check out.

GIVEAWAY:

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

One lucky read will win $15 to the Boogaboo shop.

To Enter:

Felt Playhouse Giveaway

2011-04-05T00:00:00.003-06:00

This week over at She Wears Flowers you can enter to win one of the amazing felt playhouses from

Miss Pretty Pretty's Etsy Shop! Seriously, this is an amazing giveaway and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell you about it even though I'm not hosting.

I love this Princess Castle Playhouse.

We make homemade pizza every Friday so this Pizza Parlor Playhouse speaks to my heart.

So head on over by to She Wears Flowers and enter to win one of these amazing playhouses (a $200 value). You can find all of the other details for this giveaway by following the link.

Quick Update

2011-04-04T12:14:00.000-06:00

I had a few posts and tutorials scheduled for this week, but we had an accident this weekend involving my 10 month old (still too fresh to talk about) and things are a little hectic/more stressful than usual. Don't worry, she's going to be fine, she just needs a little more of my attention than usual so I can't make any promises for this week. However, there are a few things that I managed to get done before all this happened, so I won't be MIA all week.

While she was napping, I did happen to look at a new online magazine called Styled.

You should definitely take a look if you have the chance. If you follow the link HERE and then click on the magazine picture it will enlarge and you can scroll through with your mouse or your arrow keys. I am in love. It is so beautifully put together. I loved one quote in particular:

"I think that, as creatives (and really, Americans in general), we all too often see each other as competitors and fail to see the greater cause. When we raise each other up, we're shedding light on the creative community as a whole. We're teaching the world how to love together, live together and create together. And that is a beautiful thing."

-Erin Loechner, design for Mankind

I just want to say that so far, I have been overwhelmed with the kindness and support I have felt from the people I have met through blogging. I know it can be hard sometimes to push aside the competitve urge, but I appreciate all the support and kindness from my readers and those that have helped me in the past two months. I hope that in some way I am able to repay the kindness to others.

Happy Monday! I hope yours is better than ours.

Ellie

Vintage Inspired Easter Basket

2011-04-01T00:00:00.003-06:00

Today's post is a re-post of what I did for my guest tutorial over at She Wears Flowers.

Since then I've added the fabric band you see above and the rosettes you see below. I love the band around the middle, but I'm still on the fence about the rosettes. I didn't make them permanent, so we'll see.

Now here's the original post:

My grandpa passed away over a year ago and I inherited a whole lot of sewing supplies from him. Amidst the collection of vintage buttons, fabric, lace, and trims, there was this:

The cutest little fabric covered basket.

SO, when I was at the thrift store a while ago I found this basket and knew just what I wanted to do with it.

Want to make one? It's easy peasy.

Materials:

Basket (any size will do)

Spray paint (optional)

Fabric (I used just under a yard)

Two handles (I actually bought 2 letter "O's" because they were the color I wanted and 2 for 1$)

Flexible tape measure

Fabric pen/pencil

Glue gun

Take measurements:

To measure the circumference I used a flexible tape measure around the outside of the basket for both the top and bottom.

My measurements came out like this:

Top Circumference: 26 inches

Bottom Circumference: 21 inches

Height: 6.5 inches

Add 2 inches to each (seam allowance) and record:

**these are the measurements you will use during the tutorial.

Top Circumference: 28 inches

Bottom Circumference: 23 inches

Height: 8.5 inches

You will also want to record the following measures:

1/2 top circumference: 14 inches

1/2 bottom circumference: 11.5 inches

***I spray painted the basket before I started the rest of this tutorial...sorry, no pictures.

Cut two rectangles height x 1/2 top circumference. Mine turned out to be 8.5 x 14 (ignore the photo measurements, the yellow turned out to be too small and I had to correct it later).

Fold both rectangles in half. Be sure your corners line up exactly.

Take your ruler and line it up with the top corner and half the length of your 1/2 bottom circumference (1/4 of your full circumference). My 1/2 bottom circumference (which I wrote down earlier) was 11.5. Half of that is 5.25, so that is where the bottom of my ruler is lined up.

Cut.

You should have two trapezoids that look something like this:

With right sides together, pin the trapezoids and sew with 1/2 inch seams down the slanted edges only.

Now you have this:

Take the basket and trace it onto a piece of fabric.

To account for seams I made marks 1/2 inch away from the traced basket and used them to draw a new circle. Then I cut along the new line. **It's really hard to tell in the picture, so I highlighted the marks.

Now you have this.

Pin with right sides together to the short end of the tube.

Sew together with 1/2 inch seam.

Now you have this.

Set it aside.

Take your fabric and cut 4 rectangles 10.5 inches by 1/2 top circumference. Mine turned out to be 10.5x14. You can adjust the 10.5 and make the handle longer or shorter if you would like.

Fold the rectangles in half and cut the corners. I cut a triangle that took off 3 inches from the top and 4 inches from the sides.

If your confused...here's the break down:

Fold cut edges over 1/4 inch and iron down on each of the pieces.

Top stitch along folded edge only.

Pin two trapezoids right sides together.

Sew with 1/4 inch seam along top (short end) only.

Iron seams.

Fold in half with right sides together and the seam at the top. Pull fabric through handle so it looks like this:

Pin both sides of the fabric around the handle.

Sew with a 1/4 inch seems.

When you reach the top stitched section (previously sewn) sew directly over previous stitches instead of the 1/4 inch seam.

Stop when your foot hits the handle.

Iron flat.

Repeat the above steps for the other handle.

Using your glue gun, glue the handles to the outside of the basket (raw edges lined up with the top of the basket). I used the rim of the basket as my guide.

That way, when you pull up the handles it will look even. If you do not have a rim, draw a line on your basket to keep it even as you glue.

Take the piece you set aside earlier. I tossed the yellow and remade it in pink. Sorry for the change up. Iron down the top edge 1 inch (more or less depending on how much you want showing).

Top stitch to keep in place.

Stuff inside the basket with right side facing out.

Glue the edge down directly over the rim to cover where you glued the handles before.

And thats it! Now you have a vintage inspired Basket to use for whatever you please.

Easter eggs anyone?

A perfect hiding place for my favorite Easter treat. Sick, I know, but I love them.

Little Daisy's Boutique

2011-03-29T15:43:00.004-06:00

We have another fabulous sponsor:

Little Daisy's is my favorite place to get accessories for my mini me.

Little Daisy's Boutique makes bows and gifts for girls of all ages. All items are made for you when you order. You have the option of choosing from the designs and colors shown on the site, or requesting your own custom designs.

I think 90% of our bows and headbands come from Little Daisy's.

You can order similar bows here and here.

I really believe babies and little girls are cute in their own right and don't need their heads covered up too much by huge accessories. Little Daisy's has the perfect collection of bows and headbands that don't detract from the cuteness of your small one. They are the perfect compliment for any little girl.

How cute are these Bumblee Bee and Lady Bug Clips for spring time?

This Angie Bow would look great with a spring or summer dress.

These are the most precious cloth roses I've ever seen.

I want one of these Emma Bows for me.

The colors in the Rainbow Mia are perfect!

AND...they are the only place I can find my favorite headband for babies and little girls. This stretchy lace....so delicate and cute. It comes in multiple sizes and thicknesses and looks great on every little head.

If you'd like to see more, click here to go directly to the site. They have a large collection and I'm sure you'll have a "to-buy" list by the time your done looking around.

The Deal:

For one day only, Little Daisy's is hosting an auction on Facebook available to ANYONE who wants to get their hands on some of these cute accessories. All you need to do is log into Facebook, go to the Little Daisy's page HERE and join their page (don't forget to join or you won't be able to post a comment on the items you want). Then bid on your favorite bows by leaving a comment on the item you would like. This is a great chance to get BIG discounts on your favorite items from the shop. If you want more details, view the complete invitation HERE. The auction starts at 8:00 pm tonight (March 29th) and ends at 8:00pm tomorrow night! The shop is based in New York, so be sure to account for the time difference. Don't miss out on some great deals.

I hope you enjoy our new sponsor Little Daisy's Boutique as much as we have.

Maybe we'll run into each other at the Facebook auction!

Denim Part 2: Paper Bag Shorts/Pants

2011-03-28T15:27:00.006-06:00

Like I mentioned before, I LOVE denim. So naturally, I couldn't resist making another paper bag style bottom. You can see the skirt version HERE.

I've seen this style (hidden elastic gathered waist) in a few places. I made a skirt for myself based on an Anthropologie skirt I saw a few months ago...unfortunately they no longer sell it online so I don't have a picture for you, but I will post about mine soon. More recently, I have seen this style at GapKids.

I copied the name because I'm not really sure what to call them.

And they do kind of resemble a paper bag with the gathering at the top. Almost as if you picked up a paper bag and squeezed it around the top to close it.

I don't have a tutorial for these because it would be copying and pasting most of the Paper Bag Skirt tutorial, but I will explain how I made them in case you'd like to try to.

Instructions for Paper Bag Shorts/Pants:

1. Similar to how Dana at Made makes her pants, I traced a pair of good-fitting shorts. If you are making shorts, your pieces will turn out somewhat "L" shaped (to accommodate for crotch space). For pants, follow MADE's instructions for cutting out and sewing the fabric.

2. Once you have cut and sewn together your pieces, you will want to hem the pants similar to how we hemmed the skirt here. Serge off 1/4 inch along the top edge (waistline) and iron it over 3/4 of an inch. For the leg opening, serge off 1/4 inch and then fold over 1/2 inch and iron down. If you are not serging fold over 1/4 inch in place of serging to hide raw edges.

3. Attach 1/2 inch elastic inside the pants just below the folded edge of the waistline just as we did with the skirt. I recently added an update that looks nicer on the inside. Be sure to check it out if you want a cleaner looking inner. Do the same for the leg openings.

4. Make and attach belt loops. I figured out a super easy way to make and attach belt loops, way easier/better looking than the ones I made for the skirt. For the full tutorial, click HERE.

5. Make the belt the same way we did for the skirt (or use the same one....they can't wear them at the same time anyways). Be sure your belt loops are wide enough to fit the belt you wish to use.

YAY! You're done. We're really in to clapping these days...

These shorts took me 30 minutes to make (I didn't remake the belt...but I'm considering making one out of printed fabric for contrast). I think they would look cute with pockets too. I'll probably add them next time.

Once again, we have bad weather for pictures (it's snowing again) so we opted to stay indoors for photos.

I had to bribe her with her water bottle to get her to go up the stairs so you could see the back....smart.

And when I wanted her to sit, she kept sliding off the stairs. One of these days I'll have a more cooperative model.

Oh, and if your wondering where I got the adorable bow and headband...it's from our sponsor, Little Daisy's Boutique. You'll hear more about them later, but I just wanted you to know how awesome they were in advance.

AND, I was featured over at Knock Off Decor today. Go check it out, and while you're there look around for awhile. Becky has a really awesome compilation of great DIY knock-off's to try.

This post was sponsored by The Trading Post.

Create. Trade. Be happy.

Easy Belt Loops

2011-03-28T13:28:00.001-06:00

This is the easiest/ cleanest looking way to make belt loops that I have found.

Materials:

coordinating fabric scraps

Construction:

1. Start with a fabric rectangle. Mine is 2 1/2"x 3". This size rectangle will accommodate a 1" wide belt when finished. Increase the length (and width if desired) to accommodate the style of belt you plan to use with the belt loops.

2. If you are using a serger, serge off 1/4" from both short ends of the rectangle. If you are not using a serger, fold over each short edges 1/4" and iron flat. I did one of each to demonstrate both.

3. Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Serge off 1/4" down the long end. Or sew with 1/4" seam, zig-zag and trim.

4. Iron flat so that the seam is in the middle of the belt loop. It will look like this on the back:

and this in the front:

5. Top stitch along both long edges to hold in place.

6. Pin the belt loop onto your clothing with one of the serged (or folded) edges down. The right sides of the belt loop and the clothing should be touching. Your belt loop will stick up like this:

**Above: You are looking at the right side of my fabric and the wrong side of the belt loop.

7. Sew the belt loop on with 1/4" seam.

8. Fold the belt loop over and iron flat against your clothing piece. Pin in place.

**Once folded, you are looking at the right side of the clothing and the belt loop.

9. Top stitch (1/8" seam) along the top and bottom of the belt loop to hold in place. I went over the seam 2 or 3 times to secure.

Now you have hassle free, beautiful looking belt loops.

Enjoy!

Denim Part 1: Paper Bag Skirt

2011-03-24T06:00:00.002-06:00

I love denim. I think it is the most versatile part of any wardrobe...so easy to dress up or down and goes with just about everything. Baby S needed some cute denim in her spring/summer wear, so this skirt was born. I think it's my favorite skirt to date. If I make it again I might tweak it a little, but overall, I like it a lot.

Ok, so I need to clarify...I actually used a chambray for this skirt. It's lighter and easier to gather than denim, but if you have an old worn out skirt or pair of jeans you want to recycle, you could probably still pull it off.

The numbers in red are those used to make a skirt that fits my small 9 month old (like she still fits in her 3-6 month clothes with room, small). Adjust numbers as necessary.

Materials:

1/2 yard fabric (more for larger skirts)

1/2" wide elastic

coordinating thread

Construction:

1. Measure.

A. Measure around the fullest part of the hips. Mine was 21".

B. Measure from the waist to desired length. Mine was 10" for a high waisted skirt.

C. Measure around the waist. Mine was 16".

2. Calculate and Cut. Stay with me. I have it written in what looks like a lot of steps, but it's just a few rectangles and actually really easy.

You will end up with 5 pieces for this skirt.

The picture above shows pieces 1- 4. However, I had to trim a few inches off of pieces 1 and 2 after taking this picture. The directions below are more accurate than the photo.

Piece 1 and 2:

Take measurement A and add 5 inches (4 for roominess and 1 inch for seems). Then divide that length in half. This will be the width. You could skip this step and keep it as one long piece for a single seem skirt.

Example:

21" + 5" = 26"

26"/2 = 13"

For the length, take your measurement B and add 1 1/2" (seams and top hem). Then subtract 4 inches (for the ruffle bottom).

Example:

10"+ 1 1/2" = 11 1/2"

11 1/2" - 4" = 6 1/2"

My first two pieces will be 13" x 6 1/2"

Pieces 3 and 4:

Take measurement A and add 5 inches.

Example:

21" + 5" = 26"

Cut 2 pieces that are (A + 5") by 5".

My pieces are 26" x 5".

Piece 5:

The last piece is for the bow that ties in front. Take Measurement C and add 15".

Example

16" + 15" = 31"

Cut a piece that is (C + 15") by 2 1/2" (larger if you want a thicker belt).

My piece is 31" x 2 1/2".

**I also added 4 belt loops to the skirt at the end. If you would like to add this, cut 4 rectangles that are 2 1/2" x 2". If you made the bow larger, you will need to lengthen the belt loops to accommodate a larger belt.

3. Prepare the ruffled bottom of the skirt.

Take the two longest pieces (3 and 4). For the bottom hem, fold over 1/4" and iron. Then fold over 1/4"again and iron.

With right sides together, sew a 1/2" seam down the short edges of these pieces to create a tube with two seams. Serge off seams or zig sag and trim. When I sewed my pieces together I opened up the hem (as seen below) then re-folded it after it was sewn to hide the seam inside the hem.

Ignore the serged edge above. It is unnecessary when making a double fold hem.

Set your machine to a gathering stitch (longest thread length, highest tension) and sew across the top of the piece with a 1/4" seam. Pull the bobbin thread to gather to desired length, or the length of your main skirt piece which should be measurement A + 5". Mine is 26".

4. Prepare the skirt.

Some of the pictures for step 4 turned out too blurry to post. We're still dealing with horrible weather/no sunlight some days.

Sew main skirt pieces (1 and 2) together along short edges, right sides together, with 1/2" seam to create a tube. Serge off seams or zig zag and trim. I also serged the top of my skirt at this point (no pictures).

Fold down the top of the skirt 3/4 inch and iron down. If you did not serge you will need to fold over 1/4" then 3/4" again and iron flat. (I did this after attaching the ruffle, but I recommend doing it before.) It is important to follow these measurements exactly in order to attach the elastic properly later on.

Top stitch with a 1/2" seam to finish the top of the skirt.

5. Attach the ruffle.

With right sides together, line up the seams of the ruffle with the seams of the skirt and pin.

Sew ruffle onto skirt with 1/2" seam. Serge off seams or zig zag and trim.

Now you should have a piece that looks like this (except your top will already be hemmed and finished).

6. Creating the elasticated waist.

Sew your elastic together to create the waistband (See the ruffled headband tutorial here if you don't know how).

Take your elastic waistband and pin in 4 spots (evenly spaced) right below the top hem inside the skirt. To be sure your pins are evenly spaced, I pin at the side seams first and then find the mid point between the side seams on the elastic and the skirt piece and pin there as well.

The next one is kind of blurry, but may be more helpful.

Then, using one hand as your guide and the other to stretch the elastic as you go, sew your elastic onto your skirt by sewing a 1" seam on top of your skirt. Stretch and sew from pin to pin.

You skirt is finished!

***UPDATE: I recently made another version of this skirt with a casing for the elastic. Looks very similar on the outside, but quite a bit nicer on the inside if that matters to you at all. All I did was cut a strip of fabric 2 1/2 inches wide. I ironed in the long ends 1/2" on each side and sewed it to the inside of the skirt leaving an opening for the elastic to be inserted, closing it up afterwards.

7. Make the bow.

Take your long bow piece. Fold in half lengthwise with right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam. I attached a safety pin to the inside of the fold before sewing to help turn it right side out after I sewed.

Trim edges on a 45 degree angle.

Clip corners (like the triangle below. Then tuck in edges in and iron flat.

Top stitch around the entire belt piece to secure edges.

8. Belt loops. ***UPDATE: For an easier/better/prettier looking belt loop, go to my tutorial HERE. You will be sad if you don't because the method below is not so fun.

This was the most annoying part, but worth it. Fold your pieces in half right sides together and sew along two edges leaving one short end open. Again, I attached a safety pin inside the fold to help turn them right side out after sewing.

Clip corners.

Push safety pin out open end to turn. Push out corners.

Top stitch around entire belt loop.

Pin belt loops to skirt. I attached them about 3 inches about in the middle of the front and the middle of the back. I made sure the top of the belt loop was 1/4" above the thread that attached the elastic waistband. To make sure the belt loops are on evenly, stretch out the waistband.

Attach belt loops by to skirt by sewing 1/4" from the top of the belt loop (in line with the waistband seam) and 1/4" from the bottom of the belt loop.

Thread your belt through the loops and tie a bow in the front (I think it looks cute with the bow in back too)!

And you are done! It took me about 1 hour to finish this skirt (that was with taking pictures and re-adjusting measurements). In all, a pretty fast completion. Love that!

Yes, the skirt is on crooked, but it's the only front shot I took so I'm trying to deal with it.

Sorry about the middle finger. I didn't notice till after I took it but I still kind of love this picture....not sure what that says about me.

Yes, we're crooked again. I made the skirt about 1/2" too big so that it will fit longer. I'm now paying for that decision.

I've linked this up to these lovely places.

This post was sponsored by whoopdwhoop; the currency free, creative marketplace.

The Trading Post

2011-03-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

There is a cool new site called The Trading Post.

The site was created to help women promote their businesses/shops/blogs through trading their creative talents. Who doesn't need help doing that? And, to make it even better, it is free! Perfect for anyone needing a little boost to their blog or business.

Here's how it works:

You send Jessie an email telling her that you would like to trade something you have made; either from your blog, business or shop. You send her the product (so she can write you a great review) and she will set you up with your own feature post and advertise for you....for free (have I mentioned that already?).

On the day you are featured, others (this could be anyone, including you if it's not your product) can offer things they have made as trades for your item by leaving a comment on the post featuring your product. At the end of the day, YOU get to choose who you would like to trade with out of those who have offered trades. A sure way to get something you will like.

Once the trader and tradee have sent their products, the trade is complete! Then you'll probably have to sign up for another round because you'll have so much fun trading and choosing who to trade with. For more information and details on how to get started, click here.

Jessie has other great things on her site including live auctions on Fridays where products are donated and then bid on. When the auction ends, you keep the products you win and Jessie donates 100% of the profit to a family in need or a non-profit organization. To read more about these auctions click here.

Whether you are looking to promote your business/blog/shop or just looking to get some cool handmade items, this is the place for you.

Here are some items that have been traded in the past:

Owl rattle by endee made.

Your favorite print from Sugar Fresh.

Coasters from Squackdoodle.

You are going to love our new sponsor The Trading Post. I hope you check them out!

***AND I have two tutorials coming this week....stay with me. We've had family in town, been battling the sickies, and the small one is teething. It's been a rough week for the craftiness but there has been some; don't you worry. Until tomorrow!

Giveaway Winner!

2011-03-21T09:53:00.000-06:00

The winner of the Benzie Felt Fanfare giveaway is...

Congratulations Valerie! I hope you enjoy choosing your favorite felt colors to add to your stash.

I'll be contacting you to get you your prize. Thanks for entering!

Last Day To Enter

2011-03-19T08:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Saturday everyone!

First, today is the last day to enter the Benzie Felt Fanfare giveaway. Click here to take a look.

Second, I've had a lot of interest through comments and emails about making a tutorial for the smocked bubble dress. I'll get working on it this week. You can expect to see a tutorial soon along with a few other projects I have in the works for this week.

Thanks for reading! I have such great readers and I LOVE hearing from you.

Anthro-Inspired Knotted Headband

2011-03-17T21:27:00.000-06:00

I love this knotted headband from Anthropologie...

but I had a problem similar to the one that forced me to make these Anthropologie Inspired Pillow Cases. Who really wants to spend $28.00 on a headband? Not me! So I made it instead.

It was easy and free because I used supplies I already had on hand.

Here's how:

Materials:

4 scraps of material
1" wide plastic headband (mine is 1"in the middle and gets slightly smaller at each end)
glue and glue gun
fray check (optional)

Construction:

1. Cut your pieces.

a. 3" x 16"

b. 2" x 3" (cut out two)

c. 5" x 11" (this is generous in length)

2. Iron.

Take your longest piece (a) and mark the center with a fabric marker on the wrong side of the fabric (my finger is marking this spot on my strip). Iron over a 1/4 inch seam starting at the mark and gradually increase to a 1/2" seam at the end of the piece. **If your headband is 1" all the way to the ends, iron it over 1/4 all the way down the strip.

Do the same for the other end of the same side. Repeat for the opposite long edge on same fabric piece. You will have something that looks like this:

Iron the two small pieces (b) by folding both sides in toward the center like strip on the left.

Fold it again so all the raw edges are hidden in the center.

Take the last piece (c) and fold both edges in toward the center.

3. Tie a loose knot in the center of the same strip (c).

Twist the ends so the raw edges are facing down and the knot is facing up toward you. It will look almost like a bow.

Set the knot aside.

4. Cover the headband.

Take the long piece of fabric. Place one end of the headband on the end of the fabric strip. Put glue directly on the headband close to the edge nearest you. Fold the edge nearest you over the the headband and press.

I found that my material stretched as I glued. If your material is stretchy I would recommend starting in the middle of the headband and fabric so the middle of the fabric (where it is largest) will line up with the middle of the headband. This is only important if your headband gets smaller at each end.

Put glue directly on the headband next to the fabric you just glued down and fold over the other side of the fabric and press down to glue. Be sure you pull the fabric tight so that it is not loose but instead fits snuggly around the headband.

Continue doing this, one side after the other, until the entire headband is covered. Keep pulling the material tight as you glue so there are no wrinkles or bubbles when you look at the front of the headband. Since my material stretched, I had excess fabric which I trimmed before the next step.

5. Cover the ends.

Put glue on the front and back of the end of the headband and sandwich one of the small pieces (b) around the headband end. Press the fabric into the glue to hold.

Wrap one end of the fabric around to the back and glue in place. Wrap the other end around and glue on top of the first end. Use the fray check on the exposed raw edge to keep from fraying. Repeat with the end.

Now you have a completely fabric covered headband that looks pretty cute on it's own. You can stop here if you'd like. See?

**ignore the slightly greasy, unwashed hair.... I had no where to be yesterday.

6. Attach the knot.

Try the headband on to figure out where you want the knot to attach. Usually slightly off centered. Mark it with a fabric marker or with your finger. Place glue over the marked spot and put the center of the knot over the glue.

Wrap one end of the fabric under and glue on the inside of the headband.

Wrap the other end of the fabric under and glue on top of the first end. Trim excess fabric and use fray check to seal exposed edges.

You are done! Easy peasy.

Now excuse me while I clean up the fabric scraps my daughter chewed on while I worked because she was being ignored. So much for folding and organizing those scrap drawers last week.

Happy Friday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I know I will.

Oh and don't forget; only two more days to enter the Benzie Felt Giveaway! Don't miss out!

New Sponsor- WhoopdWhoop

2011-03-16T01:00:00.000-06:00

Have you heard of the new site whoopdwhoop?

Whoopdwhoop is a unique, currency free marketplace where individuals can list their handmade creations and 'shop' for other's handmade creations- all without the use of money. Points, or whoops, are earned by listing and swapping your handiwork. Then you use your "whoops" to buy handmade items from others by shopping within the whoopdwhoop community.

In the words of it's creators, "It's the perfect way to partake in some retail therapy and not feel guilty! It's free, it's easy, and it's fun."

Who's husband is not going to love them for buying on whoopdwhoop instead of other stores? Seriously! You won't even have to tell them about your "purchases" because you won't be spending any money!

Here are some things I found on the whoopdwhoop site that I am dying to get my hands:

(if you sign up for whoopdwhoop you can click directly on the links below to get to the item)

This Polka Dot and Sunshine Headband by Nichole.

These Susie Earings in Salmon by diy kinda girl.

Or one of these Crocheted Owl Hats by Lindsay.

Needless to say, I'm already signed up. Guess you'll have to sign up too if you want to see what I am going to post on the site!

Ruffle Skirt Tutorial

2011-03-14T11:08:00.000-06:00

First of all, hello to all of you who just joined us this weekend...I can't believe how many of you came over from Ucreate! I'm so excited to have you and hope you stick around. I'm working on a lot of projects right now and hopefully some of them will interest you.

I visited most, if not all, of your blogs to say hi (if you had one). I'm sorry if I missed you. I'll try to catch you this week. I'm amazed at all of your talent. Geesh. I need to step things up a notch.

Second...If you haven't entered the giveaway yet, be sure you do. It's a good one and I'll be showing some ways I am going to use my felt if you happen to win it!

Ok, onto the tutorial.

I haven't been sewing too much lately. My sewing space is in the corner of my daughters bedroom and she is finally too big/active to sleep on my bed for her naps. We need a pack n' play or something. Until then, I'm sewing while she is awake, which is difficult. She's into everything. Thank goodness for Sesame Street (I know! I'm horrible, don't judge me).

I saw this ruffled skirt at OldNavy.com and thought it was pretty cute and seemed simple enough to finish quickly.

*image source here

I had some white jersey on hand and decided to give it a try. It turned out really cute and was very simple to make.

She's was actually saying "mom" when I took this. LOVE.

Materials:

1/2 yard Jersey and matching thread (more for larger skirts)

3/4" wide elastic for waistband

Construction:

Start with a piece of jersey knit that is 1 1/2 times your waist measure by your length measure + 2 inches.

My waist measure was 17 inches and my height was 8" so my rectangle should be about 26" x 10".

*I actually doubled my waist measurement and think it ended up with too much material. I think it would look better with less, but it's up to you. It may depend on the size you are making. For little skirts I would definitely go with less, for larger you may need more.

Make a casing. Fold the top of your skirt down 1 inch and iron.

Sew with 3/4 inch seem. I moved my needle to the left to be certain my elastic would fit. Leave a 1 inch gap to allow for the elastic to be inserted later.

No you should have this. Mine is wrinkly because I inserted the elastic and then realized it would be hard to sew on the ruffles with a gathered skirt and had to unpick and take it out. Grrr...

Do some math. You want at least 4 rows of ruffles, more for larger skirts. I wanted my skirt to have small ruffles, so I decided on 1 1/2" wide ruffles. Then I calculated the length of my skirt starting below the casing to the bottom. It is about 7 inches. I figured I would need about 5 ruffles that were 1 1/2 inches wide to cover the area. You want your last ruffle to hang off the edge a bit.

Cut out ruffles to your desired width by double the your skirt width (4x's your waist measure). Mine turned out to be 68" x 1 1/2". **Remember, my skirt is too wide.

Sew a gathering stitch 1/3 of the way down from the top of each ruffle piece (longest thread length, highest tension).

Gather your ruffles a little more by pulling on the bobbin thread and spreading the ruffles out until they are even. Line them up to make sure they measure the same length as your skirt piece.

Then sew your ruffles together along their short ends. Right sides together with a 1/4 inch seem. Now you should have this.

Pin your ruffles to your skirt piece. I started about 1/4" below the casing with my first one and just eye balled it to make sure it was even. If I had used a color other than white, I would have used my ruler and fabric pen to draw lines where the top of each ruffle should go and then pined on the lines.

Each ruffle below that should line up exactly under the ruffle above it. Almost touching. It's hard to tell in the picture because of the ruffles, but it is even and they are almost touching.

Once all of your ruffles are pinned on, sew each ruffle to your skirt. I sewed directly over my gathering stitch.

No you have this. It really doesn't pull in the middle like that, I just didn't lay it down very flat.

Insert your elastic through, sew ends together and then sew the casing shut.

I think it will look even better after it is washed. The edges of the ruffles will roll up a bit. Should have done that before I took pictures.

I like how it turned out, but somehow hate the color now that it's done. It's tooooo white. It makes everything else she wears look brown (I swear they are not!) I'm thinking of dying it teal? Maybe like this ombre style onesie from V and CO. What do you think?

Giveaway with Benzie Felt Fanfare

2011-03-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

This giveaway is now closed.

One thing I ALWAYS want to buy is felt. Something about the vibrant colors or the texture just calls to me. AND it is so versatile. I have about 50 projects I want to make with felt all the time but it's hard to find the good stuff at reasonable prices. I came across Benzie while perusing etsy the other day and knew I had to have some.

**images from Benzie here.

Are you as impressed with these colors as I am? Cue sigh.

The best part is you can have some too because I'm giving away 30 6 x 9" sheets, your choice of colors! Yes...you heard me correctly. You get to choose 30 sheets of your favorite felt colors for any projects you please. And, if you choose 2 of the same color, they'll leave it uncut so you have larger pieces. So great!

Some info from the shop:

"Our felt is a natural, eco-friendly blend of 35% wool/65% rayon to 20% wool/80% rayon and is approximately 1mm thick. Unlike its synthetic counterparts this felt is resistant to pilling and pulling, is beautiful to look at and so much fun to work with; providing an excellent start to your crafting adventures."

Basically...it's going to make some super cute crafts and I can't wait to get my hands on some of this pretty felt.

Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.

30 6 x 9" sheets, your choice of colors.

Mandatory entry:

Become a follower of my blog (current or new) and leave a comment telling me you did so.

Extra Entries For:

Telling me what you are going to make with the felt. Leave a separate comment.
Bloging, Tweeting, or posting on Facebook to spread the word about this giveaway. Leave a separate comment for each to receive an extra entry for each.

*Be sure I have a way to contact you, either through your blog, profile, or by leaving your email address in the comment. If I can't contact you I will chose a new winner. For real.

Giveaway ends Saturday, March 19th, 2011 at 12:00am. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced Monday morning.

If you don't want to wait to find out, you can purchase some HERE on the Benzie etsy shop.

Oh, and you can find me today over at UCREATE! Thank you Kari for featuring my blog today!!! If you are stopping by from her site, welcome to Homestitched!