Lazy Days Skirt

I found this fabric on clearance several months ago and thought it would make a cute skirt for the girls. I finally decided it was time to cross this project off of my list. So a few nights ago, I sat down and made one for Amelia, one for Elsa, and had enough fabric left to make one for a friend. I decided to go with the "lazy days skirt" which is super easy to make.

You can find the instructions here.

Handmade Gifts

I recently made a few more One Hour Bags as seen at Ric-Rac to give as gifts. These are very simple to make. I usually spend most of my time trying to decide what fabric to use. You can find the tutorial here.





Another Black Apple doll for a friend who loves to bake:

You can find the tutorial for the doll here.

The Shirt Dress

When my mom was in town I had to pick a sewing project to work on. I saw this cute dress idea over at Made and had to experiment with it.

My mom did most of the work on this one and I observed.

Before:


After:




The next day I tried making one myself, under the supervision of my mom.

Before:


After:






We followed most of the directions on the tutorial, but altered the neck and sleeves. We used elastic thread instead of making an elastic casing. It seemed much easier and I like the look. Ben was not ready to part with any of his dress shirts, so I had fun combing through the racks at the thrift store picking out some patterns I liked. I have another shirt that is waiting to be cut up. I have some ideas about changing up the buttons or possibly adding a contrasting fabric along the bottom...

Sew fabulous!

My mom made the most beautiful dresses for the girls. Awhile ago I bought a dress pattern and some fabric to make Amelia a dress. I finally pulled out the pattern and panicked and did what I usually do...I handed it over to my mom. She did an amazing job and even got fancy and used her serger. She also managed to squeeze out a dress for Elsa with the left over fabric.

Thanks mom!

(Amelia was not happy that I made her go outside for a photo shoot)

Inaugural Crafting...

I decided I would use the Monday and Tuesday holidays to attempt some projects I have wanted to do for awhile. I have found myself spending all my time looking at craft blogs and websites and bookmarking about a hundred projects, but not actually making anything. It is amazing how many crafty things you can find on the internet now. I remember when Etsy was first started and I could actually browse through an entire category in a reasonable amount of time. Now it seems like everyone and their dog has an Etsy shop and a search for "diaper bag" will give you over 7,000 products. Exhausting! But it's great for people to have an outlet to showcase and sell their handmade work, and it's especially fun to share ideas with others.

So a little while ago, Etsy posted a "top 100 tutorials of the year" list from another craft blog, which had compiled the list from several other craft blogs (see, it's exhausting), and I just decided to pick a few projects from the list and get to work.


The 1-hour bag from Ric Rac. This took me much longer than 1 hour for my first attempt, but it was pretty simple.


The Black Apple doll by Emily Martin. Emily Martin is one of the top sellers on Etsy, and rightly so. I have some of her prints hanging in Amelia's room and they are beautiful. She demonstrated how to make these dolls on Martha Stewart awhile ago so the video makes it very easy to follow along. My cousin Brooke made some of these incredible dolls and when Amelia saw them on her blog, she became obsessed with them and really wanted to make one that matched her bedroom. She refers to them as hair dolls because she is fascinated by the felt hair. She had fun helping me stuff the arms and legs. They are so fun to accessorize that I think we might have to make some more.


Amelia named this one Sally and she enjoys a lovely perch on her shelf.


The Matyroshka doll tooth fairy pillow. This was super easy to make. It's a fun little pillow with a front pocket to store your lost tooth. Bring it to bed with you and hopefully the tooth fairy will leave a lovely surprise for you in the pocket!


The crayon roll. This is super simple and perfect for any extra felt you have laying around.




I made this felt book for Amelia for Christmas. It keeps her entertained for a long time so I cut out more pieces for it during the Lost premiere last night, including the entire alphabet. Not so easy to cut small letters out of felt.




And finally, I must showcase my mom's delicious creation! My mom made these cupcakes over Christmas after I purchased the pattern, hoping to learn to crochet. I never got around to learning...maybe next time. It is obvious that I get my love of creating things by hand from my mom and my Grandmas.

Sew crazy.

Sewing machines come with a certain intimidation factor. I have to admit that for nearly a year, I sewed everything with purple thread because I was afraid to change the bobbin or thread my machine, fearing that it would never work again if I touched anything. In the past, my sewing machine would only come out of the closet when my mom was in town. So during her latest visit a few weeks ago, I was prepared with a few patterns and lots of material. I had an apron pattern that had been sitting on the shelf for months, staring me down with its pretentious "anyone can make this" attitude. I knew I could attempt it with the assistance of my mom. She gave me lots of tips and explained the basics of following a pattern. After she left, I was an expert at threading my machine, winding a bobbin, changing a bobbin, and now realize that it's actually quite easy. Of course, I am also an expert at picking out incorrect stitches.


It's reversible!


A friend gave me an easy skirt pattern and I tackled this project by myself and discovered that sewing can even be a little rewarding, and addictive. I've made 5 skirts so far, which is good since Amelia refuses to wear pants. She models a few...




When I break out my sewing machine and crafting supplies, I go crazy. Partly because I have nowhere to set up shop permanently so the dining room turns into a crazy mess and I want to get as much done while everything is out. So in addition to the sewing, I experimented with some custom freezer paper stencils. My brother and his wife made us fantastic shirts last year using this method and I wanted to try it out for myself. I went a little crazy with this as well, attempting to spruce up any fabric in sight.

The result:






I couldn't resist combining the two...I stenciled some plain fabric and then made a skirt with it.

Hoopla.

My most recent project has been creating wall hangings using embroidery hoops, fabric scraps, and my sewing machine. I stole the idea from someone else and played around with it. After I made a few wall hangings, I decided to experiment a bit more. I have a tendency to turn various items into clocks and the hoops were no exception.