Apron for Mom

Here is another Christmas gift.  My mom is starting up a personal chef/catering gig and I thought she could use a fresh new apron.

I found the fabric at a quilt store while looking for something else and it just jumped into my cart.  I knew Mom would like it.  

The camera makes it a little too 'olivey' green - its a bit different/brighter in person.  I used a Terry Atkinson pattern I have used before and that works well.  

All for now - this one's a quickie post.  Drafting and Christmas dresses coming up next. 

Superhero Capes and Kid-Made Dolls

Whew - the Christmas crunch is over!  (Insert deep sigh here.)

All my homemade gifts are now (as of yesterday) sewn and given (or ready for delivery).  There has been pretty intense work in the sewing department for the last month or so.  I have plenty to share but I'll start with this one because its really fun.  :)

My two girls drew the names of two relatives for a kids exchange.  These gifts won't actually be physically gifted until New Years Day but as the recipients are ages 5, 3, and 1 its a pretty safe bet that they won't be reading this blog.  Any parents who see this will just have to act surprised on New Years Day for the sake of the kiddos.

I had a few different ideas for kid gifts floating around long before Christmas but had settled on making superhero capes.  Fun, huh?  What kid wouldn't love a superhero cape?!  My girls each have one in the dress up bin and they get a fair amount of use.   So I was all set on making capes and Little Miss Leah says, "But Mom, the gifts are supposed to be from me and Grace, not from you.  Can't I make something myself?"  Talk about making me proud - not only is it not on her radar screen that we could go out and buy something at a store, but she wants to make the gift herself.  So, we kicked around a few ideas and she decided she wanted to make her exchange recipient (a 5 year old girl) a doll.

Leah and Grace have these, which they really like (click on the link to see a previous version of the doll).  I have made a few improvements on them over time (most notably they got fresh and better hair after all the hair in those old photos fell out, and the dolls are no longer naked - we've made them a few dresses each) and this time around I figured out how to make one a girl.  So, without further ado, here are Leah and Grace's homemade dolls:

On the left is a 'boy policeman doll' from Grace to a 3 year old boy.  On the right is a 'princess doll' from Leah to a 5 year old girl.  

Obviously, I sewed the dolls and the hair and drew the faces.  The girls helped with stuffing, chose the hair colors/styles, and closely supervised everything I did while making them, handing me pins and whatnot.  I forgot to take a picture of the naked dolls before I turned the girls loose with the fabric markers.  I think they did a mighty nice job.  Leah's princess even has a necklace with a clasp on the back and buttons all down the back of her dress.  The girls are proud of their dolls and I am proud that they wanted to gift handmade.  

However, I still wanted to make superhero capes.  How dare the girls rob me of my opportunity to make superhero capes?  :)  So, I made them anyway.  I had planned to embellish them with names (SuperName on the back) but I let that go in the interest of simplicity, time available to sew, and its supposed to be a smallish non-extravagent gift exchange and I didn't want to go too over the top.  

Five year old girl gets gold (chosen by Leah):

Three year old boy get green (chosen by Grace from my stash - old Christmas dress fabric):

And because the 5 year old girl and the 3 year old boy happen to be siblings, and happen to have a 1 year old brother who may feel left out once they get home and start playing superheroes (poor guy), we made a red one too, slightly smaller and also made from old Christmas dress leftovers :  

Now that you've seen how cute they are, here are a couple of things I'd like to point out.  One serious and a few hilarious (to me anyway).  

First, the pattern for the superhero capes originally came from somewhere online.  I made my girls capes from that pattern.  It worked alright.  However, I was never really happy with the shoulder/wrap around/velcro part of that pattern.  So for these, I reworked the pattern using skills that I have learned in the last month or so from my adventures in pattern drafting for clothing.  Since I haven't blogged about those adventures yet, I will spare you the details but the upshot is that I love the new knowledge/skills and I think they will come in really handy in lots of different ways.  (I am trying to learn about drafting clothes patterns from scratch so that I can sew myself modest clothes - and one of the first times I apply that knowledge turns out to be in superhero capes for kids.  Who would have thought?! )  For now, just please take note of how nicely the shoulder part of the capes fits their shoulders and lays nicely.  If I remember later, I'll contrast the old capes with the new ones so you can see what I mean.  

Now for the funny stuff.  I might as well start off by saying that the girls spend lots of time at our house in varying states of dress-up-ness.  Grace spends at least half her time these days in a Hello Kitty leotard with a ballerina tutu on top.  This particular day we had been playing out in the snow earlier in the day, so Leah was still wearing some of my big tall boot socks around the house.  We've been playing outside a lot lately so she's been wearing them a lot indoors and I never noticed when we were taking the superhero cape pictures.  However, now that I see them in the photos I can't keep from laughing out loud because I think it looks like she was trying to have SuperHero Socks on.  SuperGrover's Utility Sock, anyone?  :)  They are even all slumped down and goofy looking like Grover's.  Sheesh.  And then in photo number three, our Clown-Otherwise-Known-As-Grace started doing 'up up and away' actions to go with the capes.  (Note the ballerina slippers on that one...)  

So, thats part of the fun thats been happening around here!  Stay tuned for more homemade gifts and the start of my adventures in pattern drafting coming soon...

Teacher Gift

Here is a non-sewing craft, a gift for Leah's teacher.

I got the idea from Pinterest and I have to say I think I like the Pinterest ones better than mine.  It was supposed to be a really simple thing - put some scrapbook paper on a clipboard with ModPodge, add a few ribbons and stickers, and wha-lah!  In reality it was only so-so.  I've decided ModPodge is a bit of a strange beast.  It looks easy when other people do it but its just not my thing.  I had trouble with the paper bubbling up and also with getting the edges to look nice.  Maybe I'm just too picky (highly likely, I know).  The overall effect is cute but it was not as quick-and-easy as I had intended.

To look on the bright side, we now have some pretty snazzy clipboards to use around the house.  I guess trial and error isn't so bad.  I've noticed the little purple one has already mysteriously ended up in Leah's art bucket.  Here are the 'practice ones'.  

And now, back to sewing.  It is the week before Christmas you know...   :)  

Christmas Blankets

Plenty of sewing going on here... just not much time to write about it. :)

I made these last week to be donated.  My moms group has adopted a family from the pregnancy resource center this year.  Its a single mom with four little kids in need of a little extra help at Christmas.    Other moms in the group are buying gifts for the mom and the kids so I thought I would make the kids cozy blankets, with their initials on them for a little more personalization.

Three boys and one girl - cars, frogs, fairies, and plaid.  It was fun to pick out brand new fresh flannel and they are super snuggly.  Hope they like them!

Yeah for accuracy...

...drumroll please...

Presenting the most accurately pieced quilt block of my quilting adventures thus far:

See how the points of all those triangles are not haphazardly lopped off as usual?  :)

And the backside of the block, which I find fascinating for some reason:

The best part is... its not a one-hit-wonder.   I did it six times!

I can't say too much about the finished product because its destined to be a gift.  Just wanted to share the happy results that come from carefully pressing seams open.  I wished I'd have figured that out a long time ago because while its much slower than my previous method (ramming tricky intersections through under the needle, mashing it with a hot iron, and hoping for the best) its gives far superior results.

Around here I will soon be switching gears from some quilting projects to clothes making.  I have spent evenings lately pouring over books and blogs to learn about  drafting slopers.  I'll be attempting that process when making the girl's Christmas dresses.  With any luck we'll have nicely fitted bodices (maybe sleeves, maybe not, depends on how it goes) with full-circle or at least semi-circular skirts for maximum twirl factor.  If the experiment works I'll be thrilled and post about it.  If not, we'll be running to the local second hand store for fancy dresses on Dec 23rd!   :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Crayon Roll and Matchbox Car Roll

I have been plugging away at a quilt project lately.  This particular quilt has had its ups and downs and will be a good story to tell when its finished.

However, last week I needed a break from the quilt.  I needed to do something that would be fun and quick and instantly gratifying.  :)  A friend of mine mentioned a while ago that she wanted to get one of those 'crayon rolls thingys' to keep in her purse.  She'd seen them on Etsy and said something to the effect of ''I'm sure I could figure it out but don't have the time or inclination so I'll either buy them on Etsy or commission you to make them for me.''

Dangerous words to utter when I need a sewing fix.  :)

A few fat quarters of overtly kiddy fabric and a few days worth of putzing in the sewing room and here is what we have to show for it:

It came together very nicely.  My own girls use the small notebooks (3'' by 4'' or so) for drawing in church or the car so I figured something that could hold the notebook(s) and a few crayons would serve a good purpose.  

They were so easy and fun that I made a few more....

And then I remembered that the friend also mentioned a similar thing to hold matchbox cars.  (My girls would find that idea just plain silly, but she has two boys....)  After a little googling to get ideas this was created:  

I am very pleased with how this one turned out.  Cute, isn't it?  Even the non-car girls thought it was pretty cool.  The track is black felt (the rest is cotton) and the stripes on the road are a satin stitch with yellow thread.  I have a feeling this will come in very handy while those two boys are waiting for their food at a restaurant, waiting in the doctors office, etc. 

I did not tell anyone I was making these - I just showed up at the next playgroup with gifts to share all around.  Surprise homemade gifts are the most gratifying to give!  The friend who was the inspiration got the car roll and a crayon roll and then three other people got crayon rolls as well (much to the girl's relief I saved one for my purse).  

So, I got that little burst of creativity out of my system and am now refreshed and ready to go back to work on the quilt.  

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One little note for next time... the slots on the crayon roll are about 1''.  Almost too big.  Two crayons fit easily in each slot.  The slots could be thinner to hold the crayons tighter and/or it might need a flap that covers the crayons before you fold it up.  We had a few crayons slide out the top when it was folded up.  

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Silly Little Things and Why I Do Them...

Last night was one of the Open Sew Nights at the local quilt shop.   I don't go often, but was able to go last night.  I accomplished a goal (sewing a border on a quilt, more on that later) and then moved on to this silly little thing...

A month or so ago, six year old Leah made this dress for her beloved Dolly.  She had some help from me but did plenty of it by herself.  Its made from green velour left over from a previous year's Christmas dress with some lace scraps for 'sleeve caps'.

So, of course, Grace immediately wanted a dress for her little snuggle Meow.  

(And, yes, we know Meow is actually a dog.  Grace has always loved cats.  She refused to acknowledge the difference when she was 2 and its been Meow ever since.  Even today, she'll tell you that 'she knows he looks like a dog but he's really a cat'.)

She's been pestering me for weeks to make Meow a dress.  I kept putting her off for various reasons (Meow is pretty small thus requiring small armholes, not sure he'd actually ever wear the thing, etc).  Earlier this week I relented and promised I would take Meow to the Sewing Night and come home with a dress. 

For fabric, I used two of her favorite skirts that she has now outgrown.  It adds a nice touch (and makes up for the quick-and-dirty sewing skills).  Elastic casing neckholes, open holes for the arms - nothing fancy here at all.  But they are rather cute and she likes them.  I made two dresses and a skirt.  Probably took 45 minutes total.  

The best part, however, was the thank you card that Grace scurried off to make this morning.  She disappeared after breakfast and then reappeared with this for me:  

She said, "Hey Mom, this is me hugging you to say thanks for making Meow's dress."  

And that, my friends, is why I do silly little things like sew dresses for snuggles.  :)  

Sewing Bag

Here is a quick little 'one day wonder' I whipped up last weekend.

A bag that is shaped like a cross between a cosmetic bag and a pencil case, I guess.  I needed something that I could carry a hand-stitching project in when I go places.  I keep my hand sewing projects in a nice wooden box at home, but the box is a bit clunky to take along places.  So, while trolling Etsy looking for ideas I came across a bunch of cute cosmetic bags.  I've made them many times before as gifts, it just never occurred to me that I could use one as a sewing kit.

Off to the sewing room I went and an hour or so later, wa-lah!

Nice zipper inserted with my favorite Terry Arkinson method.  Lightly quilted sides (probably could have done a little more there, but oh well), boxed bottom, and it fits my needle/scissors case just right with room for a quilt block or two.  Added some ribbon and beads to the zipper pull for fun.  Don't tell the girls I stole beads from 'their' stash.  :)

*****

My quilt project last blogged about is coming along nicely.  I think the hardest part may be keeping it a secret from the recipient if I get it done too far in advance of her birthday.  It'll probably take all my effort to not show her the finished top, but I'll try.  :)

Brand New Fresh Quilt Project

I am celebrating the end of summer and start of fall with a brand new fresh quilt project.  Yeah!

Here's a sneak peak at the colors...

I had planned on piecing this quilt over the summer but it never quite happened.  It doesn't have to be finished until April so I still have lots of time.  As long as I start hand-quilting by January I should be fine as this one is not going to be huge (just couch snuggling size).

It will be a birthday present for a dear, dear, friend who will be celebrating a milestone birthday next year.  I've made her small things over the last few years but this upcoming birthday is the perfect excuse to make her a full-blown quilt.  She chose the colors/focus fabric and I am filling in the rest of the fabric and designing the quilt.  I absolutely love what I've got planned and can't wait to see it come together.  It'll have some nice personalized hand embroidery work (which I've been enjoying working on in the evenings) and some simple piecing.  I guess that's all I can say until it done!

Oh, and another good friend just bought her first house so I feel a housewarming gift coming on...  :)  Hope my friends keep having exciting events so I can keep making gifts!

Kiddy Kitty Pillow (say that three times fast!)

This is on here simply to brag.  Look what my six year old made.  All by herself.

She came to me with the dreaded b-o-r-e-d word (I've told her I don't want to hear that she's bored, so now she does it in sign language.  Smarty pants.)  I handed her a big square of white cotton and told her to draw a nice picture on it with crayons.  She disappeared and returned twenty minutes later with a pretty good likeness of her stuffed cat.  She had already planned the buttons for eyes and everything.  First she heat-set the crayon (with supervision, of course).  Then she got out her little sewing kit and embroidered the nose all by herself too.  The only thing I did was knot the thread once it was on the needle - she did the threading, stitching, and tied it off herself when she was done.  Pretty good, hey?  How many six year olds do you now that can 'satin stitch' a kitty nose on their own?  She's got buttons down pat too.

I suggested a pillow as a final product and she was off and running again.  Picked out crazy bright pink for the back.  Cut it herself, even remembering to measure first.  :)  Then, I rocked her world by letting her sew it together on my machine.  She even got to use the 'gas pedal'.  She has guided the fabric through the presser foot before while on my lap but I've never let her use the foot pedal.  I thought she enjoyed it, but I didn't know what a big deal it was until later that day when Daddy came home from work and both girls tore off to the back door to tell him that 'Mommy let Leah DRIVE the sewing machine ALL BY HERSELF'.

Then she stuffed it and whipstitched the opening closed on her own.  Not bad!  At this rate she'll be passing me up in sewing skills by the time she reaches high school!

More on what I'm up to later this week.

VBS Craft Craziness

I have not been working on ANY sewing project for a solid month or so and here is why!  Last week was our church's vacation bible school program.  I was in charge of crafts for 200 kids for five days.  Very exhausting.  Since it took up all my free time (that would have otherwise been spent sewing), I thought I might as well show them off!

Day 1 - The theme was about looking at God's creation so we took empty toilet paper tubes and turned them into binoculars.  Actually, my friends and I hot glued the binoculars all together ahead of time and the kids just decorated them and added the string.

Day 2 - The theme was about baptism and how Jesus washes our sins away and makes us clean.  Stamping on washcloths with acrylic paint.  Stamps cut from kitchen sponges.  I wrote the words on the washcloths ahead of time.  

Day 3 - The theme was about following God's directions and walking in His ways.  We made a tile keepsake.  Tiles are from the Habitat ReStore (45 cents each!).  I originally planned on painting the bottom of the kids' feet and stamping it onto the tile.  However, that day was rainy so we couldn't do it outside.  Not wanting to tackle painted feet in the church fellowship hall (!)  I adapted it at the last minute to be making a foot shape with your hand.  You make a fist, paint the pinky side of your fist from your pinky down to your wrist, stamp that on the tile, and then dip your finger in paint to make five little toes.  Looks amazingly like a foot!  I sprayed them with acrylic sealer when the kids were done. (Side note: spraying 150 tiles will give you a cramp in your upper arm for three days - who would have thought that pushing down the button on an aerosol can could give you a sore arm!)  

This one is Leah's hand/foot that she made at VBS.  

Some of the older kid's looked a little better but you get the idea.  

And here is my prototype craft of the actual foot.  (Apparently we have such high arches that there is 'air' between the heel and the ball of the foot.  Leah's were the same way.)  

Day 4 - The theme was Jesus being living water.  Thanks to a Milwaukee Brewers jersey cozy for the idea/shape.  These are the tiny little water bottles, 8 oz maybe.  Made from craft foam and stapled on the 'side seams'.  

Day 5 - The theme of the whole week was 'Walking with the Spirit' and Gal 5:25 was the theme verse.  Friday's craft was meant to be super simple because I knew we'd all be exhausted by then.  I printed the bookmarks and had them laminated ahead of time.  The kids just had to punch a hole and string the beads.  

And that, my friends, is that!  

It all went smoothly. The adults and kids alike seemed to like the crafts.  I'm glad its over and I can have a bit of free time back!  

I am taking a week or so to organize some stuff in the sewing room due to some new custom shelving (more on that later) and then I'll be MORE THAN READY to start working on a fun quilt.  

Happy crafting.  

Another adult swimsuit

I just finished a modest swimdress for a friend at church.  After a somewhat long and frustrating search for swimwear fabric that wouldn't be considered 'matronly', the rest of the project went amazingly well.  Took the friends measurements, adapted my pattern to fit her, sewed it up in a couple of hours, and then she came for a final fitting of the bust.  The construction of the suit went smoother and nicer than anything else to date and it looked great on her!

Garage Sale FIx-er-ups

Here are a couple of things we rescued from garage sale piles, both for Leah.

Nice church dress for $2 that was a bit low cut so I added a modesty panel.  Five minute project for a dress that I'm sure will get tons of wear between the two girls.

And then a skirt that was just too cute to leave behind, but was a bit big in the waist.  Thirty seconds to sew a seam to create a casing between the skirt and the lining.  Another thirty seconds to insert elastic to fit Leah's waist.  Fifty cents for the skirt, one minute of work, and we have a cute skirt for either church or school.  Again, I'm sure it will be worn lots by both girls.  

Three cheers for being thrifty...  :)  

Apron fun

Here is a little housewarming gift I gave a week or so ago.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy pattern from Terry Atkinson with a little handstitched extra on the top lapel.