Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Friday, March 22, 2013
Stuffed Friends for Little Friends
I made these stuffed friends for some very special little people....
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Lavender Rice Bags
This winter I've been making lavender rice bags as gifts for friends. I've just been using whatever flannel fabric I have, making a rectangular-ish shape, and adding rice and lavender. For the first one I made that I gave to the boyfriend, I used dried lavender. But when I went back to the co-op, they were out, so I went with lavender essential oil. I decided to do top stitching on the bags as well, to reinforce them as well as to give them a more polished look. I really love the way they have turned out! I have about two more bags of rice left out of the 25lbs I bought, which made 7 bags. Not bad!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Halloween 2012
This past halloween I decided to go as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Mostly because I wanted to wear a ginormous tulle skirt. I pretty much DIY'd the entire costume, except for the undershirt.
The vest was a pattern purchased from Joanns. Do you know how difficult it was to find a vest pattern? I thought the late 80s and early 90s were back in style? My mom helped me with the vest, getting it sized. Although, neither of us were very good at it and it was much too large for me in the end. But since it was a one day deal, a little pinning was all I needed to make it wearable. This was also my first time with grommets! Very exciting.
The skirt was a beast. I think in the end it came out to over 150 yards of tulle. it was amazing. it weighed down the elastic waistbad of the skirt so much, that I kept having to pull it up!
I added the red felt heart with pins and made the crown out of construction paper. Used some lipstick for makeup and away I went for Halloween storytime at the library! Little girls just LOVED the skirt. We did a lot of twirling.
The vest was a pattern purchased from Joanns. Do you know how difficult it was to find a vest pattern? I thought the late 80s and early 90s were back in style? My mom helped me with the vest, getting it sized. Although, neither of us were very good at it and it was much too large for me in the end. But since it was a one day deal, a little pinning was all I needed to make it wearable. This was also my first time with grommets! Very exciting.
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| Mom helping me with the vest - used interfacing and everything! |
The skirt was a beast. I think in the end it came out to over 150 yards of tulle. it was amazing. it weighed down the elastic waistbad of the skirt so much, that I kept having to pull it up!
 |
| Starting to work on the skirt |
I added the red felt heart with pins and made the crown out of construction paper. Used some lipstick for makeup and away I went for Halloween storytime at the library! Little girls just LOVED the skirt. We did a lot of twirling.
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| Before we pinned the vest to make it more wearable |
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Sewing! (machine, 101, 102)
Did I tell you I bought a new sewing machine? No? I did! And it is awesome. My sister from another mister Kim recommended the one she got several months back. I'm so glad I did. It is amazing using a machine that is so simple and intuitive. I only got it last Friday and I've already used it three times. What machine you ask?
This machine!
Ah, so beautiful. I love it. Ok, enough Sewing Machine lust.
On Sunday I took a Sewing 101 class at JoAnn's. I basically learned how to use my new machine - winding the bobbin, threading the needle, tension, stitches, straight lines, etc. We didn't produce anything, but it was a great two hours of playing with the different functions of the machine.
Tonight I took a follow up class, Sewing 102. Our goal - to make a pillow. From a pattern. I had never used a pattern before, so I was excited to rip into it. We first cut out all the pieces of the pattern. We had to do two squares for the front and back of the pillow sham. We had to slightly enlarge the pattern - the pattern was for a 15 inch pillow, which don't exist. So we increased the size of the pillow by a half inch on either side to accommodate at 16 inch pillow, hence the larger fabric than pattern.
For the back of the sham, we went with the overlapping pieces for closure, rather than sewing it call closed together. I'll show later.
The other pieces were for the embellished part of the pillow - 7 circles in gradually smaller sizes.
Then it was a matter of sewing our circles on the front piece of the sham, starting with the largest. Sewing, sewing, sewing....
After all the circles were sewed on, we removed the fabric markings with a damp paper towel. Next was the back of the sham. We took our back piece, which we cut larger than the front piece and then cut that piece in half. We hemmed one side of each of those pieces. After those were hemmed we pinned the back piece and front piece together. Now it was time for the last go, making straight stitches and pivots around the corners of the pillow.
Then BAM! We were done! We turned our shams right side out, stuffed with the pillow form, and admired our hard work.
Brought home my prize project and put it on the couch.
This is the back of the pillow - you can see how the two overlapping seams cover the pillow. Not sure what the technical name for it is.
And closed up tight, looking nice and sleek.
I'm so excited my first project was such a brilliant success. I can't wait to try something else!
This machine!
Ah, so beautiful. I love it. Ok, enough Sewing Machine lust.
On Sunday I took a Sewing 101 class at JoAnn's. I basically learned how to use my new machine - winding the bobbin, threading the needle, tension, stitches, straight lines, etc. We didn't produce anything, but it was a great two hours of playing with the different functions of the machine.
Tonight I took a follow up class, Sewing 102. Our goal - to make a pillow. From a pattern. I had never used a pattern before, so I was excited to rip into it. We first cut out all the pieces of the pattern. We had to do two squares for the front and back of the pillow sham. We had to slightly enlarge the pattern - the pattern was for a 15 inch pillow, which don't exist. So we increased the size of the pillow by a half inch on either side to accommodate at 16 inch pillow, hence the larger fabric than pattern.
For the back of the sham, we went with the overlapping pieces for closure, rather than sewing it call closed together. I'll show later.
The other pieces were for the embellished part of the pillow - 7 circles in gradually smaller sizes.
Then it was a matter of sewing our circles on the front piece of the sham, starting with the largest. Sewing, sewing, sewing....
After all the circles were sewed on, we removed the fabric markings with a damp paper towel. Next was the back of the sham. We took our back piece, which we cut larger than the front piece and then cut that piece in half. We hemmed one side of each of those pieces. After those were hemmed we pinned the back piece and front piece together. Now it was time for the last go, making straight stitches and pivots around the corners of the pillow.
Then BAM! We were done! We turned our shams right side out, stuffed with the pillow form, and admired our hard work.
Brought home my prize project and put it on the couch.
This is the back of the pillow - you can see how the two overlapping seams cover the pillow. Not sure what the technical name for it is.
And closed up tight, looking nice and sleek.
I'm so excited my first project was such a brilliant success. I can't wait to try something else!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Stuffed Owl
Pillow or Doll?
You choose. I free handed the pattern...just took some elements of different stuffed owls I liked and tried it out on my own. I like the result...I think next time I'll try for more owl shape in the fabric, instead of just relying on the felt.
Materials:
Two pieces of smallish-rectanglish fabric
Purple, blue, white, orangey-brown felt
Purple, orangey-brown and white embroidery floss (I used the white floss to close the bottom)
You choose. I free handed the pattern...just took some elements of different stuffed owls I liked and tried it out on my own. I like the result...I think next time I'll try for more owl shape in the fabric, instead of just relying on the felt.
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| Stuffed Owl |
Two pieces of smallish-rectanglish fabric
Purple, blue, white, orangey-brown felt
Purple, orangey-brown and white embroidery floss (I used the white floss to close the bottom)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Cloth Doll
After seeing all sorts of cute cloth dolls around pinterest and the blogosphere, I decided to have a go at it after randomly paging through this book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel.
It looked easy enough....so I picked up some soft flannel fabric at Joanns along with some felt and gave it the old college try. I based the doll a bit off the pattern in the book, but did stray out on my own.
This project was so fast and fun - the end result is cute, but not cute enough for the cutest baby in the world.
Cloth Doll:
Materials:
Soft flannel yellow polka dot fabric
Purple, green, orangey-brown, and pastey white girl felt
Green, red, orangey-brown, and yellow floss
I LOVE the way the hair turned out, especially the bangs. I have ideas for revamping the next ones I make...wait for it....wait for it....No seriously, wait for it. I've got two other projects in the hopper right now.
It looked easy enough....so I picked up some soft flannel fabric at Joanns along with some felt and gave it the old college try. I based the doll a bit off the pattern in the book, but did stray out on my own.
This project was so fast and fun - the end result is cute, but not cute enough for the cutest baby in the world.
Cloth Doll:
Materials:
Soft flannel yellow polka dot fabric
Purple, green, orangey-brown, and pastey white girl felt
Green, red, orangey-brown, and yellow floss
I LOVE the way the hair turned out, especially the bangs. I have ideas for revamping the next ones I make...wait for it....wait for it....No seriously, wait for it. I've got two other projects in the hopper right now.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Upcoming Projects
Just to let you know I haven't quit on the blog...I just haven't had a Finished Object (FO) in a while!
My upcoming projects are:
Commissioned birthday apron
Birthday apron for Molly
Birthday present for Rachel
Tutu for Rita (so she can run in style)
Embroidered gift for Rita
My upcoming projects are:
Commissioned birthday apron
Birthday apron for Molly
Birthday present for Rachel
Tutu for Rita (so she can run in style)
Embroidered gift for Rita
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Christmas for the Girls
And by girls, I mean my besties Iris, Lele, Emily and my sister from another mister, Kim.
The girls were the first intended recipients of my embroidery work. I found a pattern for a t-shirt tote bag in the first embroidery book I found. In hindsight, I wish I would've found the normal canvas totes first, but of course, Joanns didn't carry them, but Michaels did. So annoying to chase around materials. ANYWAYS. The plan continued - t-shirt tote bags for the girls. I ordered patterns from Sublime Stitching
Iris! Iris loves owls. Girl is nuts for them. So owls was a wise choice. I used the Forest Friends Transfer
Emily has stacking dolls...and since I didn't have any other brilliant ideas, she better love it! haha. I used the Dutch-Russian Transfer
For Lele, I went with Scooter Babes. Let's be honest, she's a hottie who should probably tool around on a scooter :)
Kim, I had originally planned on using the Bon Voyage transfer. Unfortch, they were out of stock when I went to order so I needed a new plan. Plan B was another scooter tote, since Kim loves Europe and Europe loves scooters. But then I felt bad doing two scooter designs. So I moved onto Plan C. Plan C I found a Aunt Martha's travel transfer at Joann's. I also deviated from the t-shirt tote bag pattern and used a pre-made tote. What can I say, I love my sister from another mister! The end result was also another one of my favorite finished projects.
Here they are, ready to be wrapped, boxed and shipped in time for Christmas!
The girls were the first intended recipients of my embroidery work. I found a pattern for a t-shirt tote bag in the first embroidery book I found. In hindsight, I wish I would've found the normal canvas totes first, but of course, Joanns didn't carry them, but Michaels did. So annoying to chase around materials. ANYWAYS. The plan continued - t-shirt tote bags for the girls. I ordered patterns from Sublime Stitching
Iris! Iris loves owls. Girl is nuts for them. So owls was a wise choice. I used the Forest Friends Transfer
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| Iris' pattern |
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| Finished! |
 |
| Not finished, but better view |
For Lele, I went with Scooter Babes. Let's be honest, she's a hottie who should probably tool around on a scooter :)
 |
| Lele's finished tote |
Kim, I had originally planned on using the Bon Voyage transfer. Unfortch, they were out of stock when I went to order so I needed a new plan. Plan B was another scooter tote, since Kim loves Europe and Europe loves scooters. But then I felt bad doing two scooter designs. So I moved onto Plan C. Plan C I found a Aunt Martha's travel transfer at Joann's. I also deviated from the t-shirt tote bag pattern and used a pre-made tote. What can I say, I love my sister from another mister! The end result was also another one of my favorite finished projects.
 |
| Close up of Kim's tote |
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| France tote |
Here they are, ready to be wrapped, boxed and shipped in time for Christmas!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
There's a Wide Eyed Owl....
The last couple of years I've gotten a bit crafty for my halloween costumes. Last year, I was super girl. First, because Super Girl is awesome and second, because I was Super Girl back when I was about four. Who wouldn't want to relive those memories?
Super Girl, circa 1985/6
Super Girl, circa 2010
This costume was fairly simple - I got a Super Girl t-shirt and sewed sparkly fabric to the shoulders to create the cape. I made a simple pull on elastic waist skirt with some plain non-stretchy red fabric, that I trimmed with the red sparkly fabric (same as the cape). Since I had some left over sparkly fabric, I also made some simple arm warmers, just by sewing it into a tube and cutting out an opening for my thumb.
This year I was a little more ambitious. I saw a couple owl costumes on pinterest that were just ADORABLE.
and
This costume required much more time, effort and supplies than last years. I picked out 5 different fabrics - a tweedy brown, a herringbone brown, silky brown, silky gold, and fleecey blaze orange. I originally planned to create two separate pieces - a skirt using an old fold over skirt from Old Navy and a brown t-shirt I bought while I was buying my fabrics. Then I figured it would be easier (duh) to do a single piece. I just so happened to have a very old cotton knit dress with maroon fabric. It was too small, so it wasn't such a waste. Since it was too small, I cut up the the sides of the dress and figured I'd just wear leggings underneath.
To make the feathers, I made a triangular (with some curves) pattern out of cardboard and then I got to cutting. I picked up the pizza cutter type fabric cutter. Which is quite a dangerous tool, if you haven't used it before. I manged to slice my finger pretty good. The slicer let me do several feathers at a time and saved my fingers from scissor cramps. I spent a lot of time cutting and watching TV.
Once I got the feathers cut, I fused them together in rows of about 8. I used fabric fuse that you iron on. I thought it would be the easiest way of quickly zipping it through the sewing machine onto the dress. I think I could have probably just stuck with pinning it all - I don't know if I necessarily saved any time.
So, iron and fuse, iron and fuse. Once I got my mom to help me figure out the sewing machine (a couple times, of course) I started zipping through it. Once I figured out what was going on I was able to get through the rows of feathers pretty quickly.
Rather than trying to figure out how to do the top with the v-neck, I used the superfluous brown t-shirt and created a capelet. To make the capelet, I just cut open the sleeves and cut the shirt at the same length of the sleeves. This essentially created a rectangle with the neck opening in the middle. Much easier to sew on rows of feathers in a rectangle than on a v-neck pattern.
The capelet went really quickly - just took an evening more of work. The costume was essentially done...but what use is a costume without a mask? Probably none at all.
I picked up a white mask with the elastic band at Joann's. White would completely clash with the costume so I also bought some fabric spray paint in a brown/copper color. BTW, do you realize how MUCH I love spray painting? I do. It went way too fast though. Enter feathers and a glue gun and a girl has a mask appropriate for halloween costumes (or masqurade balls - once I added some gold glitter spray).
Here's the complete look.
And the complete look in action. It was a giant hit at storytime the week before Halloween, won me first prize in a costume contest on Friday night (I think they took pity on my homemade costume), Sunday brunch and then at work on Halloween.
Sewing success! I might wear it again next year....although, I do have my eye on a few other ideas...
Mrs. Frizzle
Pippi
Snow White
Super Girl, circa 1985/6
Super Girl, circa 2010
This costume was fairly simple - I got a Super Girl t-shirt and sewed sparkly fabric to the shoulders to create the cape. I made a simple pull on elastic waist skirt with some plain non-stretchy red fabric, that I trimmed with the red sparkly fabric (same as the cape). Since I had some left over sparkly fabric, I also made some simple arm warmers, just by sewing it into a tube and cutting out an opening for my thumb.
This year I was a little more ambitious. I saw a couple owl costumes on pinterest that were just ADORABLE.
and
This costume required much more time, effort and supplies than last years. I picked out 5 different fabrics - a tweedy brown, a herringbone brown, silky brown, silky gold, and fleecey blaze orange. I originally planned to create two separate pieces - a skirt using an old fold over skirt from Old Navy and a brown t-shirt I bought while I was buying my fabrics. Then I figured it would be easier (duh) to do a single piece. I just so happened to have a very old cotton knit dress with maroon fabric. It was too small, so it wasn't such a waste. Since it was too small, I cut up the the sides of the dress and figured I'd just wear leggings underneath.
To make the feathers, I made a triangular (with some curves) pattern out of cardboard and then I got to cutting. I picked up the pizza cutter type fabric cutter. Which is quite a dangerous tool, if you haven't used it before. I manged to slice my finger pretty good. The slicer let me do several feathers at a time and saved my fingers from scissor cramps. I spent a lot of time cutting and watching TV.
Once I got the feathers cut, I fused them together in rows of about 8. I used fabric fuse that you iron on. I thought it would be the easiest way of quickly zipping it through the sewing machine onto the dress. I think I could have probably just stuck with pinning it all - I don't know if I necessarily saved any time.
So, iron and fuse, iron and fuse. Once I got my mom to help me figure out the sewing machine (a couple times, of course) I started zipping through it. Once I figured out what was going on I was able to get through the rows of feathers pretty quickly.
Rather than trying to figure out how to do the top with the v-neck, I used the superfluous brown t-shirt and created a capelet. To make the capelet, I just cut open the sleeves and cut the shirt at the same length of the sleeves. This essentially created a rectangle with the neck opening in the middle. Much easier to sew on rows of feathers in a rectangle than on a v-neck pattern.
The capelet went really quickly - just took an evening more of work. The costume was essentially done...but what use is a costume without a mask? Probably none at all.
I picked up a white mask with the elastic band at Joann's. White would completely clash with the costume so I also bought some fabric spray paint in a brown/copper color. BTW, do you realize how MUCH I love spray painting? I do. It went way too fast though. Enter feathers and a glue gun and a girl has a mask appropriate for halloween costumes (or masqurade balls - once I added some gold glitter spray).
Here's the complete look.
And the complete look in action. It was a giant hit at storytime the week before Halloween, won me first prize in a costume contest on Friday night (I think they took pity on my homemade costume), Sunday brunch and then at work on Halloween.
Sewing success! I might wear it again next year....although, I do have my eye on a few other ideas...
Mrs. Frizzle
Pippi
Snow White
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