Saturday, September 22, 2012
Cheering up a rainy day
It's absolutely dreary here today! What better to do on a rainy, icky day than dream of an upcoming vacation to sunny Arizona!? Since our granddaughter will be joining us, I thought it would be fun to make her a little something for the plane ride. I had pinned a cute tutorial on making a coloring pad and crayon tote a while back which can be seen here. I took a look through my fabric stash, which is getting totally out of control, and found some cute sock monkey fabric and some coordinating alphabet fabric. The tutorial was very easy to follow. The only changes I made were to increase the size just a bit to accommodate the notebook I had. The tutorial showed a 4x6 inch tablet, and I had purchased some 5x7 journal books at Michaels for 50 cents that I wanted to use so I just increased it an inch in width and height. I think it turned out pretty cute. Who doesn't love sock monkeys?!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Weekend sewing fun
I sure love weekends! Especially when I get to spend them sewing. I learned to sew in high school, starting with "Introduction to Sewing" in 7th or 8th grade, continuing on through "Advanced Tailoring" in 12th grade. I wonder...do kids today still have that same opportunity? I sure hope so!
Back then, I wasn't preparing for college, because it just wasn't something I thought could happen. Luckily though, I did end up going to college and getting my four year accounting degree. That degree allowed me to have a very rewarding career that I'm looking forward to retiring from next summer. While my college degree made my life easier financially, my sewing skills are what's really brought me joy in life. I'm so thankful to those teachers who taught me so well.
I haven't taken a sewing class since then (40 years ago...yikes!) but this coming week, I'm going to my first quilting class with my boss. She promises it will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it. When thinking about preparing for class, it occurred to me that I didn't really have a tote bag to carry quilting class supplies in. So this weekend I made myself one using a pattern that I had pinned a while back on Pinterest. You can see it here. I altered the pattern to make the finished bag 12" x 14" because the 8" by 10" size just wasn't going to suit my needs. I liked the style though and the project was easy....start to finish in one afternoon. Here's the finished result - hope the quilt i make in quilting class turns out as pretty as the bag :)
I also spent some time this weekend creating a baby girl gift set. Anyone who has been following my blog over the past six months knows that I've made a whole lot of boy gifts, and it sure felt good to get back to "girly" things today. There's just something irresistible about baby girl things! Here's the newest inventory item for my future Etsy shop. It's a burp cloth made of 100% cotton in a darling chevron print, backed with absorbent 100% cotton terry cloth, with a sweet, sleepy owl centered on a matching patch. I've also included a 3-6 month 100% combed cotton onesie made in the USA by American Apparel with a matching applique; and what gift set would be complete without a matching pacifier clip! I love it! Hope you do too!
Back then, I wasn't preparing for college, because it just wasn't something I thought could happen. Luckily though, I did end up going to college and getting my four year accounting degree. That degree allowed me to have a very rewarding career that I'm looking forward to retiring from next summer. While my college degree made my life easier financially, my sewing skills are what's really brought me joy in life. I'm so thankful to those teachers who taught me so well.
I haven't taken a sewing class since then (40 years ago...yikes!) but this coming week, I'm going to my first quilting class with my boss. She promises it will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it. When thinking about preparing for class, it occurred to me that I didn't really have a tote bag to carry quilting class supplies in. So this weekend I made myself one using a pattern that I had pinned a while back on Pinterest. You can see it here. I altered the pattern to make the finished bag 12" x 14" because the 8" by 10" size just wasn't going to suit my needs. I liked the style though and the project was easy....start to finish in one afternoon. Here's the finished result - hope the quilt i make in quilting class turns out as pretty as the bag :)
I also spent some time this weekend creating a baby girl gift set. Anyone who has been following my blog over the past six months knows that I've made a whole lot of boy gifts, and it sure felt good to get back to "girly" things today. There's just something irresistible about baby girl things! Here's the newest inventory item for my future Etsy shop. It's a burp cloth made of 100% cotton in a darling chevron print, backed with absorbent 100% cotton terry cloth, with a sweet, sleepy owl centered on a matching patch. I've also included a 3-6 month 100% combed cotton onesie made in the USA by American Apparel with a matching applique; and what gift set would be complete without a matching pacifier clip! I love it! Hope you do too!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Pacifier clip gift set
Now that I've made several pacifier clips, I thought it would be nice to have them included in a gift set. So I made this burp cloth and baby bib. They are made of 100% cotton, and backed with 100% cotton terry cloth. So soft against baby's delicate skin. Perfect for a new little baseball fan! For someone who never liked making "boy gifts", I think I've finally got the hang of it. Baby gifts don't necessarily have to be pink and frilly to be cute! Hope you like it too.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Pacifier Clips Tutorial
Happy Labor Day Weekend! It's so nice to have a three day weekend. I'm thinking life would be more fun if every weekend was a three day one. I mean really, don't we all waste about a day a week at work anyway? Wouldn't we all be more productive if we knew we had a three day weekend to look forward to? Maybe not, but hey, it's worth thinking about! But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to show you my newest creation...pacifier clips, and let you know how easy they are to make. Because all of the supplies come in larger than you need quantities, it's easy to make several at once.
Step One - gather supplies - you'll need:
7/8 inch wide ribbon - cut to 16 inches long
1/8 inch wide ribbon - cut to 5 inches long
1 - 1 inch pacifier clip (also sold as mitten clips or suspender clips)
Glue gun
Decorative patch
Sewing machine
I purchased all of my supplies except the pacifier clip at Micheals or JoAnn Fabrics. JoAnn Fabrics didn't have the pacifier clips, nor did Michaels, so I found mine here on Amazon. I purchased a package of 25 for $7.95 plus shipping. Just make sure that they are labeled "lead free" so you stay in compliance with CPSIA. Also, make sure you don't make the finished pacifier clip any longer than around 7 inches. You don't want it long enough to get tangled around baby's little neck!
Step two:
Loop the 7/8 ribbon through the pacifier clip and match up the raw edges. Turn under 1/4 inch on each raw edge:
Step 3:
Fold the 5 inch piece of 1/8 wide ribbon in half and pin between folded raw edges of 7/8 inch ribbon:
Step 4:
Sew all edges securely, especially the end where the red ribbon is attached. When making things for baby, you can't be too careful to make sure there is nothing that can fall apart.
Step 5:
At this point, the pacifier clip is basically complete. However, if you want to add a little fun, hot glue a decorative patch onto the metal pacifier clip. I used my Brother PE-770 Embroidery machine to make mine, but you could just as easily purchase one already made. Here a few that I've completed using different ribbons and matching patches. These happen to be geared toward a baby boy, but the possibilities are endless, and you can be sure I have plenty of "girly" ribbon on hand to make up the next batch. I'll post those pictures when they are done. But for now, hope this little tutorial helped!
Step One - gather supplies - you'll need:
7/8 inch wide ribbon - cut to 16 inches long
1/8 inch wide ribbon - cut to 5 inches long
1 - 1 inch pacifier clip (also sold as mitten clips or suspender clips)
Glue gun
Decorative patch
Sewing machine
I purchased all of my supplies except the pacifier clip at Micheals or JoAnn Fabrics. JoAnn Fabrics didn't have the pacifier clips, nor did Michaels, so I found mine here on Amazon. I purchased a package of 25 for $7.95 plus shipping. Just make sure that they are labeled "lead free" so you stay in compliance with CPSIA. Also, make sure you don't make the finished pacifier clip any longer than around 7 inches. You don't want it long enough to get tangled around baby's little neck!
Step two:
Loop the 7/8 ribbon through the pacifier clip and match up the raw edges. Turn under 1/4 inch on each raw edge:
Step 3:
Fold the 5 inch piece of 1/8 wide ribbon in half and pin between folded raw edges of 7/8 inch ribbon:
Step 4:
Sew all edges securely, especially the end where the red ribbon is attached. When making things for baby, you can't be too careful to make sure there is nothing that can fall apart.
At this point, the pacifier clip is basically complete. However, if you want to add a little fun, hot glue a decorative patch onto the metal pacifier clip. I used my Brother PE-770 Embroidery machine to make mine, but you could just as easily purchase one already made. Here a few that I've completed using different ribbons and matching patches. These happen to be geared toward a baby boy, but the possibilities are endless, and you can be sure I have plenty of "girly" ribbon on hand to make up the next batch. I'll post those pictures when they are done. But for now, hope this little tutorial helped!
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