Birthday Banner

My daughter turned 11 last week, while she was at school I decided to make a banner to have hanging in the living room for when she got home.






The project used up stuff I had at my home, if you have a lot of left over fabric, this is the perfect de-stasher!

Each 'flower' of the banner is made of three scallop circles. I have a Big Shot and scallop circle die, so this was super fast and easy (especially since you can cut through 8 layers of fabric at once!)







I placed two circles back to back so that the right side of the fabric was facing out, the third circle, I added a little fold vertically and horizontally then sewed them to my other two circles. The made a nice poufy flower looking thing.

I made tons of these!

Then I took all my flower poufs and sewed them to some ribbon (the ribbon I even got for free during sale-a-bration from Stampin' Up). Once I was all done I realized I had a lot more garland then I thought I had...I mean a lot more! So I kind of did a double loopy thing on the wall.








It's so bright and springy though that I cant quite bring myself to take it down yet!

Kids pillowcases

It's time for my weekly kids craft and sewing class.



We have our first sewing project. A new monogrammed pillowcase for their beds!

Two weeks ago we went over sewing machine safety and I also printed out a bunch of sewing sheets for them to practice on. (click on the link, then go to sewing sheets) The sewing sheets featured straight lines. circles. wavy lines, boxes etc. The kids are supposed to sew each paper for practice, before tackling their first real sewing project. The site that I downloaded the sewing sheets from suggests attaching a piece of material to the back of each paper for them to sew on. I did NOT do that though. I took the tread out of my machine, and the kids just practiced sewing on the papers...so that it would punch holes in the papers. Then I went over the papers with them and explained where they may be having problems. Though truth be told they were all GREAT at sewing these patterns, and they would point out to me where the 'dots (from the needle) didnt go exactly on the lines'

First off the kids picked two fabrics that they loved.



We put that aside and then worked on our monograms. Each monogram was made from felt (it's just more durable). The made a scallop circle, circle and the first letter of their name. Each piece of felt had wonder-under on the back side. That way they could be ironed together, then they sewed around the edge of the circle. Of course I made it easier on us, by having them cut the felt with the Stampin' Up Big Shot and dies.

I have a great pillowcase pattern, but for the kids I went with the super easy pillowcase pattern found here. It was very KID friendly!

Love,

how to make casings

This is the post I have today on Pickup some Creativity, for the sewing 101 series.

What's a casing?
And how in the world to I make one?




I've totally asked myself these very questions when I started sewing....don't you just love when you are reading a tutorial and you think to yourself "I'd really like to make that, but I don't even understand the terminology?"

Hopefully, this little post can help you out with that.

First off.....What IS a casing?

Well, a casing is a channel made in a piece of fabric for inserting elastic or a drawstring. A casing can be made by turning the edge of the fabric over and sewing it down at a specific distance from the edge or by applying another piece of fabric such as bias tape to the desired location. Casings are frequently used at garment waistbands and cuffs.

The first time I used a casing (that I can think of) was to make simple pillowcase dresses....You need a casing at the top of the dress to thread elastic through.

I've also used casings every time I make a waistband in a skirt or pair of pants.

.....SO.....how do you make a casing?

Simple.

This can be altered to fit any size 'tube' you need. (You know, so a cuff can be smaller, and a waistband can be wider)

1. Determine how wide you need your tube to be. If I was adding a 1/2 inch or ribbon or elastic through my casing I would need to make sure my 'tube' was just a little bit bigger then that. By having it a little bigger the ribbon or elastic can lay flat in the tube....Bunchy elastic is NOT so good ;-)....That being said if the 'tube' is too big the elastic or ribbon can turn and twist in the 'tube'.

2. Start by folding the fabric over one time. The first fold can be a little less then the desired amount....For example, if Im still adding my 1/2 inch elastic, then my first fold would be about a 1/3 inch.



3. Iron down....Why? because it just makes things easier! Trust me.

4. Fold over again. This time fold down about 3/4 inch over. (This fold needs to be bigger then the elastic or ribbon). Why did I fold it over twice? because now the raw edge (or edge that frays) will be nicely inside the tube, and you wont have to worry about your material fraying when you wash it!





5. Iron down...again!





6. Now you need to sew down close to the folded line. Keep it close to the fold, and keep it even.






7. CONGRATS YOU ARE DONE!
Now add your ribbon or elastic through the tube






hmmm....not so sure how you are going to get that piece of elastic through that little teeny tube? Add a safety pin to one end of the elastic, it makes it a lot easier to thread the elastic through.

Splish Splash Dress

Today I am guest posting at Brown Paper Packages. Leisel has a great blog, if you haven't had a chance to check it out...well I'd suggest you go look...TODAY ;-) Here is the project I made. I think it turned out pretty cute...read the end and see what happened when I was making it though! The Project was part of Leisel's month of Pattern make overs

When asked to re-do a pattern, I started to think of what I wanted to make....well, with summer on it's way, we spend a lot of time at the splash pads around our house. So I thought I would work with a pillowcase dress pattern, and turn it into a swimsuit cover dress for my daughter.




With the pillowcase dress pattern, I decided to change it by using a different type of fabric and adding appliques.

Instead of a typical cotton fabric used in a pillowcase dress I used a knit material. (As a confession I have actually never used knit before, and it was much easier then I thought it would be!)

The bottom edge and armhole were a ribbed knit fabric (in the turquoise color). Both the bottom hem and the armholes where made by taking the ribbed knit material and making a bias tape. Need help making bias tape? Check here for help.




Doing something as simple as changing the type of fabric can make a huge difference.

The other change I mentioned was using appliques. The pattern for an applique can be found anywhere, clip art, a free hand drawing, I used my die cut machine to create what I wanted.



The key to using any applique is to remember to use Wonder-Under, especially on knit! The material shifts far too much, you need the Wonder-Under to help stabilize the design, then you can go around and satin stitch around the design......Changing your thread to match each piece of material will give you a much cleaner look.




I loved how easy and cute this simple dress turned out to be. I think that when you have a pattern you love, perhaps you don't need to look at making a major change to it, start simple by changing things like the fabric and adding appliques to your dress!



Summer here we come!

You know, I just cant seem to ever make a project with out something going wrong...and lo and behold this time was no exception.
When I was almost done with the project, I was multi-tasking (always a bad idea) I wrote something with a pen....not realizing it was leaking all over my hand and then picked up the dress...the WHITE dress, and the ink got all over the dress!




AHHH!



I quickly tried to remove the ink (Is that even possible?) All it did was make it seep through to the backside...

So I added some little circle appliques to cover the before mentioned pesky ink stains!

Problem solved!

Love,

Parlee's Easter dress

Here is Parlee's Easter dress.

If I could make a pretty 'picture bow' I would have tied the back into a bow

The dress was completely lined. I think lining a dress is actually easier.
Im going to have to make a lined Gidget dress I think it would turn out even better.

I close up of the fabric. I used the same fabric on Joelys jacket and dress, it's a soft toile pattern, perfect for a spring church dress.

The tie is actually sewn on asymetrically, it looks pretty cool when it's on.
And yes, I will take a picture of the kids wearing there new outfits on Sunday.

Can be seen linked to some of these spots

Love,

Joely's Easter Jacket

Here is the Easter Jacket I sewed for Joely

It goes with a cute little dress that I will post soon.





I loves the ruffly sleeves.




The cute fitted dart's.




I found these buttons a while back, and was excited to use them on the jacket.





This can be see linked up to some of these spots

Love,

Server aprons

Time for another family wedding

....and time for another set of server girl aprons and hair accessories.

My cousin Chanta was married over the weekend, her wedding colors included red and white. So these were the cute little aprons the server girls were wearing.

I planned on taking pictures of the girls wearing them...especially since my daughter WAS a server....but did I take any pictures?

No

Not even one!

What a slacker mom I am!



Here they are all folded up waiting to be packed..




The front and back of the hair clip...I found that adding a bit of felt helps secure the clip, so that the hot glue doesn't seperate off the clip. (sorry fuzzy pictures here)

...and it wouldn't be complete with out a cute pea pod label.




Love,

Switch it up pillow

Which Pillow to Choose?

Ever asked yourself that same question?

The 'Switch It Up' Pillow gives you several different looks..... so your home can have it all this year.




The pillow features several 'panels' that can be interchanged, as fast as your mood changes.

I love love love how I did the crazy lines around the edges of the panels...I seems more like a doodle then sewing if you ask me!




Store the additional 'panels' in the zipper compartment in the back.

*note* this was my first zipper back pillow....I was surprised that it really was super easy to do and was nice to have a place to store the other parts of the pillow



Take one out, and attach it to the front.






The front has been stitched with the word "SPRINGTIME"





Now you can have the fun 'Switch It Up' pillow too. My Panels include a flower, a bumble bee (with a 'flappy' wing) and an Easter egg. You can use my patterns or make your own panels for your pillow. Your sure to make a statement with your original pillow.

Love,