Amy Butler Giveaway!!

I LOVE Tea Rose Home and Sachiko is running an awesome giveaway for Amy Butler patterns!!  Go on over and check it out!!

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Rag Quilt

I sometimes need a kick in the pants to get back into sewing, and visiting a friends newborn little girl gave me that kick this week.  I went straight to the fabric store for some inspiration, and found the cutest flannels and decided on a rag quilt.  It turned out so cute and was pretty easy to make.  Here are the dirctions I used:

Rag Quilt Directions:

DO NOT PRE-WASH FLANNEL OR BATTING

Read through all directions before beginning.

1. Cut 8” squares out of all your prints.

2. Take two squares of the same print (wrong sides together) and stitch together with a 1/2" seam. (Optional – put 8” square of batting between the 2 pieces before stitching. After stitching a 1/2" seam around the edge, open the seam and trim away batting close to the seam without cutting seam. Top stitch an “X” over the block going from corner to corner.)

3. Lay your sewn squares out to create your design (this quilt is 5 squares by 5 squares.).

4. Sew the blocks together in strips. Do this by sewing the squares together with a 1/2" seam placing the backs of each square together and stitching. (I pinned my squares into strips and then sewed them together.)

5. Once the strips are sewn together, sew the strips to one another with 1/2" seams and backsides together. Pin strips together being sure to match seams. (When matching seams pin first strip with seams pressed down and second strip seams pressed up.)

6. Snip each seam and entire outer perimeter of quilt edge. Snip at 1/2” intervals and to within 1/8” of all seams. Be careful not to cut into the stitching.

7. Now wash your rag quilt in warm water and detergent. Use no fabric softener (yet).

8. Shake quilt well before drying (no dryer sheets). Clean lint trap once or twice during drying.

10.Repeat wash and dry only this time, use fabric softener or dryer sheets. Clean lint trap half way thru.

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Mia's New Blankie

I've been doing a few projects, but haven't posted in a while, so here you go :)

I was at the fabric store a while ago and found some cute coordinating fabric for half off, and realized I never made Mia her own quilt blanket like I made for her brother when he was a baby.  My sons blankie has lasted the last 6 years and he still carries it everywhere and is one of the only things that helps him feel better.

So here are a few pics of Mia's blankie project:

She loves her blankie just as much as her brother.  Plus it matches her bedroom perfectly and the Owl pillow I made for her :o)

Tulle Heaven!

This year I am in charge of our annual entry for the local parade for my daughter's preschool.  I took on this task 2 years ago and while it is tons of work, it is fun and exciting to see all the little kiddies in their costumes.  The theme for the parade is Rose Pedals (as in bike pedals).  The theme of our entry is "Rose Bud Racers".  We are going to have kids on bikes and kids walking dressed in rose outfits.  The girls are going to wear tulle skirts and all kids will have a rose bud hat.  I am trying to make it easy for everyone to help out, so I have simplified the directions on how to make a tulle skirt and thought I would share it here :o) 

First, measure your child's waist and cut 1" elastic to that length.  Sew the elastic into a loop using the zig zag stitch (I went across mine twice).  

Measure 24" and cut 46 pieces of 6" tulle (you may need more or less depending on how large your elastic is).  It takes almost 2 rolls of the 25 yard length tulle that can be found in the wedding section of the fabric store.

Wrap the elastic band around a small pillow or your leg.  This makes it much easier to tie the tulle on.

Fold the tulle in half and working from the left, push the folded end under the elastic.

Push the cut end of the tulle through the loop and pull tight to the right.

Keep tying the tulle on making sure you keep the knots tight together so there are no gaps.

And Twirl!!

Owl Pillow

I am totally obsessed with Owls as decorations for kids rooms.  I designed a baby shower invitation with the cutest little owl guy on it and the mommy to be loves it.  I'm not sure what it is, I just love the idea of using a more non-baby type decoration.  Here is the invitation I did:

 I thought he was so cute I wanted to use him somewhere else, and decided to make my first applique pillow for Mia's room.  She has a new comforter that is more bold than her usual light pink & green one.  It has magenta, bright green and some black.  For this pillow I just used a bunch of scrap pieces I had laying around.  He turned out so adorable I want to make more! 

So adorable and he matches perfectly :o)

A skirt for mommy!

I found this fabric that I fell in love with and found a remnant of it for $2!  I decided to finally make something for myself since, as you can see everything I make is for my daughter.  I was inspired by my favorite blogger Disney at Ruffles & Stuff and combined a couple skirts she just made into my new creation.  Here is a quick tutorial of how I made this quick and easy skirt.

 Here is the fabric I found, totally cute and funky :)

First thing I did was measure my hips and calculated 1.5x the width.  With my fabric I created 2 panels that equaled that waist measurement.  Next I found an old T-shirt that didn't quite fit any longer and cut 6" off the bottom.  This is going to be the waist band.  Since this shirt was a bit snug on my tummy, I just used it as is, but if yours is loose, pin and sew it so it is tight.

Next I sewed the right sides together of the skirt panels up the sides.  Then folded the bottom twice to create the hem.

 

Next sew a gathering stitch at the waist.  Since my skirt had 2 panels, I sewed a gathering stitch on each side.

(Of course I didn't take a pic of the difficult part!)  Next turn the skirt to right side and pull gather to match the width of the waist band.  Slip the band over the top of the skirt with the raw edge meeting the raw edge of the skirt.  Pin into place and sew. 

Then all done!  You can wear it with the band up high or fold it over for a smaller waist band. 

Twirly Ruffled Shirred Dress!

I found this fabric a while back and was a bit hesitant to use it because I've never sewed on jersey before. The original turned out cute, but I made the top band a bit wide and was going to just tailor it smaller, but then decided to experiment some more :o) I got a spool of elastic thread and shirred the top, another first for me. The end product is adorable and Mia loves to twirl around the yard in it!

Lemony Fresh

I am so ready for spring, so when I saw this adorable lemon fabric, I knew I had to make something for Mia to wear. This project actually started out as a dress. I bought a pattern, which I never do, and followed it exactly, only to find out their size 4 was more like a size 2! I was going to make it into a cute swing top, but as I was fitting it on my daughter, I saw that it would make an adorable skirt, and I was right! I absolutely LOVE this skirt, and of course, as soon as I finished it, she insisted baby Emma get one too :o)

Inspiration

The other day, my daughter and I went window shopping at the mall to get out of the rain. She fell in love with a cute fairy skirt at Gymboree, which of course cost $30. Looking at the skirt, I got inspired to make my own. Here is a pic of the Gymboree fairy skirt:

And Mia in her new mommy made skirt. It cost a total of $6 for fabric and elastic.

Rainy day craft

Well, our power went out yesterday and the kids were having fun re-discovering their toys so I had some time to actually do something. I have always wanted to crochet a hat, and had tried once before, but it didn't work out so well. I was able to get online with my iPod touch and watch a few tutorials on youtube. I started out with one, then decided to freehand the rest because I had a hard time following the directions exactly. I was so excited when it actually came out looking like a hat! It was pretty boring being brown, so I crocheted a pink flower and I think it looks pretty cute. I'm not sure if I can pull it off though...




I am in the process of making a pink one for Mia, but am not sure how it is turning out. I'll post pics later :o)

Snuggle: Better than a snuggie!

A while back I really wanted a snuggie, but when I came across one, it seemed thin and not very warm with the back open. I was browsing at my local fabric store and came across the no-sew fleece blankets on 50% off and decided to make my own. The snuggle is easy to make and cheaper than a snuggie. Plus you can choose your own fabric patterns. I got a request from my 6 yo nephew for a snuggle for his birthday and I decided to make a tutorial to show how easy it is.



I got a small no-sew blanket that has 2 48x60" pieces of fleece for $9.99. I am using the printed piece for this snuggle, but have enough to make an orange one as well. This is for a size 5T.




I folded the fabric in half long ways and cut it (you can also just leave it folded and not sew along the top edge and just cut a neck hole). Then I cut 8" off one side making giving me 2 pieces 30"x40" Keep your scraps! A fleece hat tutorial will follow soon :o)


With the fabric right sides together, I measured 8" down...


And 10" in to create the sleeve area.



Then I just freehand cut in from the bottom corner up to the cut I just made.



Repeat on the other side.



I sewed the top edge from the sleeve until 3.5" from center and repeated on the other top edge leaving a 7" neck hole. Then I sewed in from the bottom edge of the sleeve along the sleeve and down to the bottom. Very easy and already done! If you want, you can add length with the second piece of fabric and still have enough for 2.