Modest Maven

Tea and Crumpets Apron

2012-01-13T08:00:00.003-06:00

I love Anthro's Tea and Crumpets apron. So much so that I based last year's Easter dresses on its beautiful and timeless style. This is an apron that I recently made as a wedding gift. I'll admit that I was tempted to keep it for myself. But I know it went to a good home, so I was content giving it away.

I think the first real thing I sewed was an apron... they truly are the perfect "first sewing project" for those wanting to learn basic sewing. They introduce gathering, pockets, ruffles, and piecing patterns all on a basic level. If you'd like to sew this apron, you can easily adapt my ruffle apron tutorial (link) to add the tuxedo ruffles. Happy sewing!

♥♥♥♥♥

Cedar Chest Bench Seat

2012-01-11T18:20:00.008-06:00

Introducing my grandmother's cedar chest. It's old and worn, but smells oh-so-heavenly every time I open it. I decided to move it into my sewing space to pull double duty as extra craft storage and a bench seat. So I sewed a new cushion and two pillows to doll it up.

Have you heard Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's song Home? It makes me so happy every time I listen to it :) These pillows have a similar effect... one says home and the neighboring pillow has my state appliqued on it. Oh for the love of cuteness!

And I embroidered a tiny ♥heart♥ where Boise is:

♥♥♥♥♥

Custom Built Desk

2012-01-09T17:16:00.011-06:00

Has anyone else been inspired by Ana White 's building plans website? She's a DIY goddess. Never in a million years did I think I'd be capable of building furniture. Yet, Ana is an inspiration to DIY women across the world, with the message:

I'm not a trained carpenter.

I am a mom.
I am a girly girl.
I am what my brothers would call a chicken.

But I build furniture.

I use saws.

I use nailers.

Guess what? It's really not that difficult.

And if I can do it, so can you.

-Ana White

Doesn't she rock?! My first project was a toy shelf, which turned out slightly lopsided with caulk-filled gaps in it, but it's functional. Lessons learned: 1) MDF sucks to work with and 2) it's important to square your project.

My second project was a shorter version of the same shelf, with the intention of using as a shoe shelf. Not perfect, but there were definitely less gaps and I did remember to square my project this time so it didn't look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

My next building attempt was a copycat of Pottery Barn's Bedford desk system. I took everything I learned from my first builds, drew up the plans and built it in my head a hundred times before even buying the lumber (No nasty MDF this time). I was pretty dang meticulous and it really paid off. I invested in a new drill, which is my new little best friend. I took Ana's advice and purchased some clamps to act as extra sets of hands. And I relied heavily on this sander as well to make sure all my pieces were perfect. I'm not going to brag about the cheapo circular saw that I used, because it's mediocre to say the least and will be replaced with a more reliable saw someday.

Cost to built was around $200 (not including the paint). The hardware is probably half the cost. (Drawer pulls from Pottery Barn.)

Paint is Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo (oil-based) in White Dove. This was back in May before I discovered Ace Cabinet and Trim paint that I used to paint my kitchen cabinets. The Impervo is nice, but it's oil based which equals looooooooooooong dry time and stiiiiiiiiiiiiiinky. Highly recommend the Ace paint:

I used heavy duty ball bearing drawer slides for my file cabinet drawers (great drawer slides but there's not a lot of room for error, so beware).

I made my cabinets extra deep to fit our beast of a computer tower. If I had bought the PB desk, ours wouldn't have fit:

♥ Thank you, Ana! ♥

White Kitchen Cabinets

2012-01-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, "update my blog more frequently" didn't make it on my New Year's resolution list. However, I would like to share a few 2011 projects that I completed, which guarantee you a few descent blog posts this month.

First up is my most dramatic and favorite... painted kitchen cabinets. Oh my... it's been seven months since the transformation, and I must say that I'm still giddy over the results.

We started out with orangey oak cabinets. Fortunately, the previous owners did a fabulous job putting in granite countertops and changing out the cabinet hardware. My husband wanted to refinish the cabinets in a darker color, and when I told him I wanted to paint them white, I got a "hell no" response. Long story short, I bought the paint and did it all by myself. I love my husband, but I just knew I was right about this one... better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? Don't worry, we're still happily married, and he does love the white :)

Here's the before:

Here are all the drawers and cabinet doors, hardware removed:

And the lovely after pics:

Details:
De-glossed cabinets with TSP
Primer: oil based is best (two coats)
Paint: Ace Cabinet, Door and Trim Enamel (two coats). This stuff is AWESOME. Self-leveling, can be tinted in ANY color, even black (I tinted it Benjamin Moore's White Dove), and it's WATER cleanup!
Method of application: brush and foam roller
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp

And, no, my kitchen is not always this clean. Stay tuned for the next post!

2011-12-24T13:31:00.002-06:00

Free 2012 Calendar Download - Silk & Lace

2011-12-22T12:44:00.002-06:00

I am completely lost without a write-in calendar hanging on my wall. Usually, I download a free one that some other creative person was generous enough to share, but this year I decide to make my own... I hope you enjoy this lovely silk and lace calendar I made!

Note: Each page measures approximately 6.25" x 8.5" (printed on standard 8.5"x 11" white cardstock). Use the faint cross guides in each corner to cut to size. Shown mounted to black cardstock.

CLICK HERE FOR PDF FILE

Tooth Fairy Pillow Toothorial

2011-09-01T07:00:00.005-05:00

Once upon a time there was a mother who stunk at remembering important, sentimental events of her loved ones (including her 10 year wedding anniversary last week, but that's a different story). So on the morning that her first born child lost his very first baby tooth, she made a mental note to send the tooth fairy that night while he slept. She got her sweet child all pumped up and excited about the tooth fairy's visit and even taught him how to neatly wrap his tooth and place it under his pillow. The next morning that dear child came to his mother and said that the tooth fairy didn't come. Worst. Mother. EVER. So she told her son that the tooth fairy must have gotten lost on her way, but she would surely come that night. And so she did, leaving more than fair market value for a first tooth due to her extreme tardiness. Therapy not included.

Gosh, I wish I would have had this tooth fairy pillow then. You simply hang it on your kid's door knob (a very VISIBLE reminder as I'm headed to bed). No creeping in their bedroom in the dark, digging blindly under their pillow.

These make great little gifts for 4 to 6 year olds... I made these last Christmas for Denny to give to each of his classmates. I'm sure none of those mothers forgot their first born child's tooth fairy visit, but I thought I'd make it easier on them nonetheless.

Each pillow features a pocket for the child to safely place their lost tooth. The sewing instructions are pretty straight forward... it's just a 5"x5" pillow with a handle on top (I used coordinating fabric for the handle, but ribbon would be even easier).

First, you'll want to make the pocket. Cut/form/iron a 3" pocket using white cotton muslin. Then iron the image directly onto your finished pocket using iron-on transfer paper (can be purchased a craft and fabric stores). You must flip/reflect/mirror the image before printing... I've attached the pdf file of the mirrored images in a link at the very end of this post). Here are the original images as well in case you wanted to print them directly on your fabric (here's a tutorial if you choose to go that route).

Center and sew the pocket on the front piece of your pillow. Once you have the pocket on, sew and stuff your pillow. Easy peasy.

*Note: If using iron-on transfer method, be careful not to iron the actual image when pressing your pocket... it will melt your image and leave you with a gunky iron. Place a scrap piece of cotton over the image if you must iron it further.

Click here for ready-to-print, mirrored iron-on images

My Mid-Century Modern Dining Chairs

2011-08-30T13:04:00.010-05:00

When we first moved to Boise in January, we commissioned our talented friend, Shayne to build us a new kitchen table. For the first ten years of our marriage, we ate our meals at a tiny 2'x4' computer desk... functional but very cramped. So we indulged ourselves and hired Shayne to build us the table of our dreams. Solid walnut, clean lines, modern flair... we LOVE it. For months I searched for the perfect chairs to compliment it. Finally, I came across a set of six mid-century modern teak chairs on craigslist... $250 for the set. I seriously thought I had died and gone to heaven! I showed them to Denzil and he thought they were the ugliest things in the world, but I told him to trust me, and he finally gave in with a whatever.

So I pulled off the 50-year old upholstery and crusty foam and sanded the chair frames down to their bare wood. This took me many weeks and provided me with a high-fiber diet of sawdust. Then I restained them a dark walnut color and gave them three coats of satin lacquer. Even Denzil agrees that they do our new table some serious justice :)

As for the the upholstery, I was torn on whether to cover the seats with vinyl. I knew the chairs would see a lot of abuse from my kids, and finally came to terms that my beautiful chairs needed to be covered with some ghetto vinyl... I used a frosted clear vinyl over my fabric, which I think was a tad less tacky with its less-shiny glare. This is a picture of day two after finishing my chairs:

Spilled cereal? Nothing my waterproof vinyl can't handle ;) Yep, totally glad I went with the vinyl.

Easter Dresses

2011-08-24T21:36:00.006-05:00

Oh boy... I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I guess I enjoy reading blogs much more than posting to them :) I've been working on a ton of projects... not just sewing either. I've built a few pieces of furniture for my new home (thanks Ana White) and have done lots of painting of walls and kitchen cabinets (I'm so in love with my white kitchen cabinets!). But none of that in this post... I'm way behind so I'll start with the Easter dresses I made this past spring. They're inspired by this apron I fell in love with from Anthro. Enjoy!

Vintage Blossom Wingback Chair

2011-04-17T21:30:00.003-05:00

Last month I became obsessed with finding a nice upholstered chair to put in my new home. Long story short... I couldn't find one I loved within my price range, so I decided to rescue a junkyard wingback chair and reupholster it myself. I must confess, if I had fully realized all the time, blisters and expense that goes into reupholstering, I would not have taken on such a huge project. That being said, I'm glad I did it and I love, love, ♥ LOVE ♥ my new chair.

Here is the chair I rescued. It was once owned by a old granny and her many cats. My husband is allergic to cats, which meant I had to strip this chair down to its bare wooden frame and replace all the foam and batting as well. Take note, new foam doubled the cost of this project. So, if you decide to rescue your own chair, it would be a bonus if the foam was still in good shape.

Believe it or not, taking apart the chair is the most tedious, dirtiest, time-consuming part of reupholstering. You will most definitely ruin your manicure, and will potentially need to get a tetanus booster shot in the process (you may want to figure that into the cost). Using a flat-head screwdriver and needlenose pliers, you have to pull out thousands of staples, removing your fabric pieces layer by layer. I wish I would have timed this part, but I'd estimate it took me about 15 hours to get the chair down to its frame:

Molly,the creative maven, gives an excellent tutorial that compares the chair pieces to layers of an onion. It's important to take notes on the order of your layers. She recommends numbering each piece as you remove it so you'll remember how to put it back together. And keep your old yucky pieces intact, so you can use them as your pattern. Here is my pile of pieces:

I fell in love with the dove fabric on Crate and Barrel's Carly Chair shown here:

This particular fabric is called Vintage Blossom, and was designed by Dwell Studio for Robert Allen Home Fabric. Although I loved the gray used in Crate and Barrel's chair, I decided to go with the jade because I think it'll survive the wrath of my children better.

Since I am no expert on reupholstering, I'm not going to make this a full tutorial. However, let me steer you to some excellent tutorials that helped me:

How to Reupholster a Wingback Chair by the creative maven

Back of Chair Video by diyupholsterysupply

Curve Ease Video by diyupholsterysupply

Foam Video by diyupholsterysupply

Cording Tutorial by Autum

Additional notes that you may find helpful:

♥ Fabric: I used 6.5 yards of home decor fabric (fyi, fabric.com carries Dwell Studio home fabric)

♥ Batting: 6 yards of 8 oz poly batting (about 1 inch thick)

♥ Cording: 12 yards

♥ Metal Tack Strips: 3 (1 cut to size for the outside of arm sides, 2 for back of chair)

♥ Cardboard Tack Strip: 3 yards

♥ Curve Ease: 4 feet (for outside of wings)

♥ Staples: a lot, a lot, a lot

♥ Medium or High Density Foam: 1 3/4 yard of 4-inch thick foam (24 inch wide) and 2 yards of 1-inch thick foam (24 inches wide)

♥ Paint for the chair legs: Valspar high gloss latex enamel paint (Black)

If you're smarter than me, you would have found a chair with the foam intact and this would be your starting point (not to mention, saving yourself $100). OH! and springs... make sure none of the springs are broken. Bad springs or bad foam... just walk away. This picture also shows the new seat bottom and front. I cushioned the front with 1" foam and a layer of batting before putting on the front piece as shown. The seat cover sits directly on the springs and is composed of a layer of wool felt, a layer of batting, and the gray wool you see on top. Why did I use wool? Because that's what I happened to have in my fabric stash. Muslin would work equally as well.

*Note: The inside wings, inside arm and bottom front got 1" foam and the chair back and seat cushion got 4" foam.

Even if your foam is good, I recommend replacing your batting. The batting will add about $25 to your costs, but it gives your foam a nicer finished look and adds a flattering loft to your chair. At this stage, I put the batting everywhere except the back. Do not staple the batting on the outside arm piece to the bottom of your chair yet.

Here is my seat cushion, layered with batting on each side. Have you ever tried cutting 4-inch foam? Do yourself a favor and use an electric knife (yes, the one you use to carve the Thanksgiving Turkey).

After layering the batting on each side, I wrapped my cushion with another layer of batting. There is a special adhesive that you can use to apply the batting to the foam, but since this is my first and last reupholstering project, I decided to save the $10 and do a quick hand-stitching along the edges. Voila:

Next I prepped my cording using this fantastic tutorial. I almost had an aneurysm trying to wrap my brain around this concept, but once I figured it out, it changed my life forever. It takes the tediousness out of making bias tape and I'm very excited about that. Please refer to the same tutorial for guidance on making your seat cushion cover.

Each chair is a little different, but on my chair, the inside wing piece was sewed to the inside arm piece. The original chair covered the front of the arm as a separate piece, which was nailed in place. I opted to sew my arm front to my inside arm piece beforehand because I liked the look of it better. Use your old pieces as a pattern (you'll have to seam rip them apart first in this case). Once you have your new inside arm/wing pieces sewn together, center the arm/wing seam (mine has cording there) and start attaching from that point.

If you look at the wooden frame picture above, then you'll notice openings at the back, bottom and sides of the frame. This is where everything slides through. Tuck your excess fabric through those openings and those will be pulled taunt and stapled last. First do the inside arm/wing sides and next do the chair back.

See all the excess fabric hanging out the back and side? Pull the heck out of it and staple them in place after you've stapled around everywhere else as shown.

After you've stapled the fabric to the back, bottom and sides of the frame, feel free to trim away the excess.

Next I stapled on my cording in one continuous strip along the sides and back.

And more cording along the front:

Next, watch this Curve Ease tutorial and use this technique to put on the outside wings. Staple your curve ease snug against your cording. I applied more batting as shown in the video (so my outside wings had double batting), crimped the curve ease along the wing, then stapled the sides to the back of the chair taunt.

I didn't take a picture of applying the outside arm piece because at this point I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I was too dang excited to take pictures. I used cardboard tack strip along the top of the outside arm (snug against the underarm rest). Then watch this video and use the same principle to apply a metal tack strip to the front arm side and staple along bottom and chair back. I had to cut my metal tack strip to size for this part.

Refer to the same video to put on your chair back. Turn your chair upside down and staple on a dust cover (really, you can use any fabric for this... muslin would work fine).

And there you have it... my total cost of reupholstering this wingback chair was about $225, plus 25 hours of hard labor (my poor blistered hands... it's a miracle they're not marred by staple holes). If I were to take this in to be professionally done, it would have cost at least $400 PLUS cost of fabric ($100) so $500 total. Before taking on this project, I would have thought that price was ridiculously high. Now it seems a bit low. Kudos to professional upholsterers.

Happy birthday, Baby Tess!

2011-02-16T17:22:00.003-06:00

My baby turned one year old last week! We had a small family party at our new home, and I made Tess a new dress, a party hat, and a name banner for the occasion. And of course cake. I hate making cakes. Love to eat them; hate to make them. My sister is an amazing cake decorator, but she lives 2,000 miles away (boooooo!!!). However, I am very grateful to have her as my personal 24-hour cake-help hotline. That's my sisterly right :) Thanks, Janell!

This must be my reward for wearing this stupid hat.

What the??? Get that camera out of my face so I can eat my cake in peace!

Sticking my tongue out helps me balance.

♥ Happy birthday, baby girl! I love you very much, but don't expect me to make you a cake every year... being cute can only get you so far. ♥

Free "Little Fawn" Digital Art Print

2011-02-09T12:03:00.005-06:00

Last month we made our big move to Boise, Idaho. I love, love, LOVE it here! I've missed the mountains so much while living in Texas. Snowboarding, hiking, and backpacking here I come! Except we need some serious snow... ironically Texas has more than we do right now. Go figure.

Ok, I am going to attempt to revive my poor neglected blog. Don't get your hopes too high... one post per month would be a step up for me... baby steps. So here is a little treat for you. It's a woodlands print I made to hang in my half bath. Something lovely for the house guests to ponder on while taking care of their business. I almost drew in some little deer droppings, but thought the better of it. I'm trying hard to class up my act and become more ladylike. Besides, the teacher at my kid's school taught him that "poo, crap and butt" are bad words. So now I'm forced to change my entire vocabulary.

I printed my Little Fawn as a 5"x7" print, but I made the jpeg larger so you could size it accordingly. All you need is a color printer and some white cardstock and you're good to go!

♥ Enjoy ♥

*special thanks to pattern cooler for the background patterns.

TeacherMom Lunch Bag Giveaway

2011-01-31T12:55:00.003-06:00

Hey, interested in totally cute lunch bag made by my best friend? Check out her new blog... giveaway ends tonight!

http://sewinbetween.blogspot.com/

♥ Good Luck! ♥

2010-12-23T14:38:00.000-06:00

Silhouette Ornament Tutorial

2010-11-16T14:39:00.023-06:00

I know, I know... I bet you thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. I assure you that despite my poor neglected blog, I am doing well. When life gets busy (when is it not, right?) the blog goes on the back burner. I've put together a little tutorial to try and make it up to you. Christmas is coming up and I'm always antsy to make ornaments. These are similar to my other silhouettes, except I use a digital silhouette printed on iron-on transfers instead of cutting... I know there are people that can cut a silhouette the size of a quarter, but I am not one of those people, so there you have it. Hope you enjoy!

Materials:

♥ wooden plaque (small 3" to 5" size, any shape, unfinished)

♥ acrylic paint

♥ Iron-on transfer sheet for LIGHT fabrics

♥ small piece of cotton fabric, light color and pattern

♥ Mod Podge

♥ ribbon

Step One: Prep your wooden plaque. Smooth with fine grain sand paper if desired. You can purchase these small wooden plaques at most craft store for 50 cents each. I purchased mine from my local Hobby Lobby, but they also sell them online here.

Step Two: Paint the plaque. I just used classic black acrylic paint, but feel free to go wild and use any color of your choice. I only painted the sides and the back, leaving the top unfinished, since the top will be covered by the silhouette.

Step Three: Create your digital silhouette. This is the most tedious part of this project, but it's worth it to make digital silhouettes of your children because then you can use them to make a countless different projects. The best way to draw your digital silhouette is by creating a vector image in a program such as Adobe Illustrator. Vector images are created using "paths" such as points and curves that connect. Like this:

This means that your image will retain its same high quality whether you enlarge it to the size of a house or shrink it to the size of a peanut. Very cool indeed. Drawing vector files takes practice, but it's definitely a handy thing to know. I taught myself by watching this excellent tutorial on YouTube. I will not attempt to teach vector drawing in this brief tutorial. If you are familiar with creating vectors, great, but if not then here is an alternative method to creating your silhouette:

Take a profile picture of your child. Good luck trying to get them to NOT look at the camera. Take at least 10 pictures and use the best one out of the lot.
Upload the photo onto your computer and print the head/shoulder profile picture as large as possible onto an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. Print as is, in color.
Lay a plain white sheet of paper on top of your printed picture. Tape at sides to hold sheets together.
Tape to a window with lots of natural light. Use a pencil to trace the silhouette. Free-form draw the shoulder bust as desired.
Remove silhouette from window and using a fine-tip permanent black marker, carefully trace the silhouette over the pencil lines. Since you used a permanent marker, you can now go back and erase your pencil lines without the black marker smudging.
Scan the silhouette image into your computer and use a paint or photo editing program to fill the silhouette in black. Also, clean up your image by tweaking the brightness, contrast levels. Crop and save as a jpeg.

A third alternative is to hire someone to draw your vector image for you (not me). There are a lot of sellers on Etsy that will do this :)

Step Four: Size your silhouette and add text. Determine the size your silhouette should be based on the size and shape wooden plaque you are using. Size silhouette accordingly, add text. Once you are happy with your layout, you will need to REFLECT/MIRROR/HORIZONTALLY FLIP the image so the text is mirrored. Now print a test page and lay it over your plaque to make sure it lines up nicely.

Step Five: Create your iron transfer. It is important that you buy the iron-on transfer sheets for LIGHT fabric (not dark). The iron-on transfers for light fabric are transparent, and will allow your cute fabric to show through, as well as laminate it nicely and prevent fraying. Follow the instructions for printing your silhouette.

Step Six: Apply your transfer. Cut your fabric piece to roughly the size your need to cover your plaque. Your transfer should be laying on the RIGHT side of your fabric. Tip: Before you iron your transfers, run a lint brush over your fabric to remove any unsightly fuzzies that will be come forever trapped beneath the transfer.

Now use your superwoman strength to firmly iron your transfer, using the highest heat setting, and NO STEAM. Iron in circular motion.

Cool completely and peel away paper.

Step Seven: Mount your silhouette. Cut your iron-on transfer to the shape of the wooden plaque. A good way of doing this is making a template first. Lay a sheet of paper over your plaque and use your finger to trace and crease. Cut out paper template, center it over your iron transfer, and cut out your image.

Tip: To center your template over your iron-on transfer, hold up to a window with a lot of natural light.

Apply a coat of Mod Podge and adhere your silhouette. Hot glue a ribbon loop to the back to finish.

Now go make a bunch... the grandparents are going to love these!

♥♥♥Happy crafting♥♥♥

Summer Projects

2010-06-24T16:27:00.009-05:00

I've been having a ton of fun sewing this summer. Here are just a few of the projects I've recently finished:

Throw pillows! I've fallen in love with English paper piecing. Trust me, these hexagons are way easier than they look to make. Ashley at Film in the Fridge has posted some great tutorial links for hexi-quilting. Oh, how I would love to make an entire quilt out of these fun little hexis, but that would be a 50-year feat for me.

More throw pillows. Great way to use up scraps :)

Gathered cap sleeve A-line dress out of stretch cotton sateen. My gorgeous friend Rachel and I got together and sewed this fabulous dress for her to wear to her sister-in-law's wedding. We made a shrug to go with it... I'm thinking of doing a shrug tutorial sometime. I'll put it on my mile-long to-do list for ya'll. If you don't see it by 2012, shoot me an email and I'll get on the ball.

Here it is without the shrug. Rachel, you're a babe.

Swimsuit for Ashlyn. I love sewing swimsuits for me and my girls. Cute modest swimsuits are hard to come by. Really, the cost to sew them is pretty dang low. I considered offering them in my etsy shop...for like 2 seconds, until I woke up and realized that it would be impossible to sell swimsuits and maintain a high customer satisfaction reputation. Seriously, even most skinny-mini toothpick women hate the way they look in a bathing suit. Some ventures are better left alone.

Little birds framed. I finally got around to cutting the mat for these pretty little bird ACEOs I got from Natasha at LuxArt. (Vinyl decal in background is from my sis-in-law at JaneyMacPress).

Crazy balls, bibs and burb cloths. If you work with my husband and you have a baby, this is what you'll likely get as a gift from us. I wish people at Denzil work would stop reproducing so fast, because I feel like I have to make one of these sets every few weeks. My friend Janna makes the best crazy balls in the world, so if you decide your baby absolutely needs one (she does), check out her shop.

I'm way overdue for a tutorial. Any special requests?

Pack n' Play Sheet Tutorial

2010-05-18T11:15:00.014-05:00

It's time for another tutorial! This one is for a pack n' play crib sheet... such a simple thing, yet immensely practical and valuable to anyone with a baby. They are surprisingly easy to make... once you get the hang of it and know what you're doing, you'll be whipping these puppies out in 15 minutes*! I think these things are all made in a standard size (38" x 26"), but you'll have to measure your pack n' play mat to make sure. Deep breath and here we go...

*Disclaimer: In order to accomplish this in 15 minutes, use the "snip and rip" method to cut your pieces and also use a serger. If you don't have a serger, then you can use an overlock stitch on your sewing machine.

Materials:

♥ 1 1/2 yards cotton, pre-washed

Seam Allowance: 1/4 inch (serged or overlock stitch)

Instructions:

Step One: Quite the long materials list, eh? That's why I love this pattern... you don't have to mess with elastic! Ok, it is important to pre-wash your fabric. Otherwise, when your baby poos, pees and spits up on his/her nice new sheet and you go to wash it, it will SHRINK. It would be an utter waste of your 15 minutes. On the other hand, you don't want to sew your sheet too big, because nobody wants a saggy sheet... particularly the American Baby Association. So, do whatever tweaking you need to do in order to get your sheet fitting perfectly snug :)

Cut out your pieces. My preferred fast, and accurate way is the snip and rip method (see video for demonstration in my Ruffle Apron Tutorial). Rip out the large 49"x26.5" piece first. Then rip out two 29"x5.5" pieces for the side panels. I set my pack n' play mat in the back so you can see for comparison.

Step Two: Take your two side panels and serge along one of the long sides on each. The serged end of the side panel will face inward on the back side of your sheet.

Step Three: Line up the tail ends of the side panels and pin them to one short end of your sheet body right sides together. Make sure the serged sides of the side panels face inward. The ends of the side panels are just hanging down, unfinished.

Here is the serged end. It's hard to see the wrong and right sides of the this particular fabric, so I apologize. Make sure to sew everything "right sides" together.

Step Four: Pull the unfinished tail ends of the side panels until they meet with the opposite end of the sheet body that you just serged... this will cause the end to fold in order for those side panels to reach the opposite end. Now pin the side panel ends in place and serge down that side like you did the other side.

Now measure the length to make sure it is 38 inches. Take it in if you need to.

Step Five: Center the side panels. This should create about a 5-inch fold on each side. Pin along the long sides and serge.

Once again, measure to ensure that the width is 26 inches. If not, adjust accordingly.

Step Six: Sike! There is no step six... you're finished! Now turn the sheet right-side out and slip it over you mat. This is the reversed side:

And here is my happy, chubby baby with a ridiculously huge and frilly headband testing it out:

♥ ♥ ♥ This one's for you, Jacqui ♥ ♥ ♥

(cute baby not included)

Lego Star Wars Quilt

2010-05-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with quilting. I am in complete awe of the art of quilting and love to look at quilts. Truly, I could stare at quilts all day, especially ones by Ashley of Film in the Fridge. Check them out... they're like eye candy. Unfortunately, I hate sewing quilts. I lack the patience, and take shortcuts that would make a true quilter cringe (I'll spare you my long list of quilting sins). I prefer projects that I can finish in under 4 hours, and quilting definitely does not fall under that category.

When I made quilts for my girls (here), my son asked me when I was going to make his quilt. His favorite thing in the whole wide world is Lego Star Wars, so behold, "THE LEGO STAR WARS" Quilt. Please don't sue me, George... it would break my 6 year old's heart.

I told Denny that he could choose 3 characters for me to applique on his quilt. He chose an Imperial Guard, Darth Vader, and Jango Fett. Yep, all from the "dark side". This concerned me at first, but if you think about it, all the cool looking characters are bad guys. Take Luke for example... what a pansy. I like how Jango Fett turned out the best... what a stud :)

All I've gotta say is he better like Lego Star Wars until he goes to college, because I don't plan on sewing him another quilt anytime soon. But just in case he grows out of it, he can flip it over.

And matching pillowcases.

♥♥♥ Nicest mom ever, I am. ♥♥♥

Spring Top Week

2010-04-25T22:25:00.008-05:00

Ok folks, you have less than one week left to submit your entries for Made by Rae's Spring Top Week contest! Here are the three tops I entered.

I call this one the Pintuck Peasant Top. Original design by me, inspired by my maternity moomoo, which I still love, love, love to wear. Cotton/Linen blend fabric (from Joann's).

I made a floor length linen skirt to go with it... and of course I'm a sucker for matching mother/daughter outfits, so Ashlyn got an outfit as well.

Let's simply call this one the Sky Top. It's blue, it's frilly and I'm really not in the mood to rack my brain for a better name. Original design by me. Cotton/Lycra blend fabric in aqua with grey contrast stitching. Thinking of offering this style in my shop... we'll see.

And finally, the Darling Top in black linen, featuring a peter pan collar, linen rose and gathered empire waist. Another original design by me, inspired by my friend's grandma's moomoo. You must think I'm obsessed with moomoos. Well I am. Have you ever worn one? Heaven.

♥♥♥Happy Sewing♥♥♥

Easter Pics

2010-04-11T20:49:00.006-05:00

I've been getting requests for some updated pictures of the kids, particularly baby Tess. Sadly, it seems I take less pictures the more kids I have. We have a ton of baby pictures of Denny, a decent amount of Ashlyn, but hardly any of Tess. It's too bad because Tess is a stinkin' cute chubster of a baby.

Word of advice... don't show up late to an Easter egg hunt... not even two minutes. I know this, but I just keep underestimating how much longer it takes to pack up 3 kids to go on an outing. Hence, we were late for our neighborhood egg hunt and Denny didn't get any eggs. I was proud of him though... being a good sport, he just shrugged it off. Anyhoo, so we went home and did a little egg hunt in our backyard.

I'm so proud of Denny and Ashlyn... they adore their little sister and are so sweet and gentle with her. It's so cute how delicate they are with her... they always ask me beforehand if they can give her a hug. Then when they do, they give her an "air hug" barely touching her. Where did they learn that from? I don't know, but it's so cute and make me smile :)

Tess is such a good baby and a rock star eater. She weighed in at 14 lbs 3 oz at her 2-month check-up. I'm loving all those rolls!

SweetPod Baby Carrier

2010-03-21T22:00:00.010-05:00

Ever since I saw Jessica's pattern for her SweetPod Baby Carrier, I've been dying to make one. Denzil was friends with Jessica and her hubby in his college days, so we know firsthand how incredibly talented she is. This rockin' woman can seriously do it all and I admire her greatly.

The SweetPod pattern is beautifully laid out and easy to follow. I must admit, I was intimidated to get started because this is different that anything else that I've sewn before. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I did print the pattern... the pattern pieces line up perfectly and the instructions and diagrams are very detailed. It is obvious that a lot of time and expertise went into creating this fabulous pattern. I had a ton of fun making my SweetPod, and can honestly say that I didn't get frustrated once during this project.

I'm so giddy over my new SweetPod... I love, love, LOVE it! Baby Tess is still a bit too young for it (it's for 15 to 35 pounds), but she seemed happy enough while I was using her to model it. Jessica even has videos on how to wear it here.

See, now you want one too, huh!?

If you're interested in making one, I ordered my hardware, webbing and closed-cell foam from Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics. Shipping was about $10. For ease of ordering, here is the breakdown of my order (This is the hardware needed to make one SweetPod Carrier):

*I just ordered another heavy duty buckle in place of a streamline buckle.

I purchased my open cell foam from my local Joann's store.

♥♥♥Thank you, Jessica! You are an amazingly talented woman! ♥♥♥

Baby Tess

2010-02-09T10:07:00.002-06:00

Announcing the safe and chubby arrival of...

Tess Velein Rogers

9 lbs. 14 oz.

20 1/4 inches long

Born Monday, February 8, 2010

... I told you I had big babies ;) Epidurals are a beautiful thing!

My Maternity MooMoo

2010-02-06T13:40:00.004-06:00

And here it is folks... me in a moomoo with 60 lbs of of maternity weight gain. No worries, this is my third pregnancy and every single one I gained the same 60 lbs. I'm schedule to be induced on Monday. Any bets on how big this baby's going to be? I fed her a lot of of ice cream and hot cocoa these past nice months ;)

I intend to live in this moomoo for the next two weeks. It's super comfy, and the shoulders come completely unsnapped for convenient nursing.

I fell in love with this fabric at Joann's. Usually I'm a bit of a fabric snob, but I totally give this non-designer print a huge thumbs up. Check out those adorable little bees!

♥♥♥ Wish me luck! ♥♥♥

Valentine's Cheese

2010-02-01T11:27:00.006-06:00

While sewing a mother/daughter top and dress set for a friend, Ashlyn asked me if I could make her a dress too. With Valentine's Day around the corner, I figured I'd make it red and pink with a ruffle heart embellishment. Cheesy, I know.... these pregnancy hormones make me do crazy things.

Oh, and here is the mother daughter set:

And here's a pic of Denny and Ashlyn... I thought it was so cute that Ashlyn slung her arm around Denny while he was reading to her. He rolled his eyes, but let her keep her arm there. Such a good big brother :)

ps... I sewed myself the cutest moomoo the other day. Truly, it's pretty rockin' as far as moomoos go... picture to come.

Free Printable Valentines

2010-01-28T22:06:00.005-06:00

Here are some cutesy little valentines I created. Click below for easy printing in pdf format.

♥♥♥ Enjoy ♥♥♥

Cootie Boy Valentine

Sugar Girl Valentine

Pleated Purse Tutorial

2010-01-19T07:00:00.008-06:00

Ok ladies... one more tutorial before I pop out baby#3. This one is for an oh-so-darling pleated purse. I usually recreate the wheel every time I make these, so this forced me to actually drawn up a pattern for your enjoyment. Scroll down to download the pdf file of the pattern pieces.

Materials:

♥ 1 Purse Snap Magnet
♥ 1/3 yard cotton fabric for purse body
♥ 1/3 yard coordinating or solid cotton for top of purse and strap
♥ 1/3 yard fabric for lining: may be polyester lining, cotton muslin or print fabric
♥ 1 yard Fusible Interfacing
♥ Optional: any embellishments you want to add to your purse

Seam Allowance: 1/2 inch

Instructions:

Step One: Cut your pattern pieces (Note that most of them are on a FOLD). Fuse interfacing to backside of the 2 purse body pieces and 2 purse top pieces.

Step Two: On the purse body pattern (A) I used notches to indicate where you should make your pleats. I was naughty and didn't cut mine out, but I recommend you do cut them and use them as a guide when pressing your pleats. Press pleats as shown below. The center pleat is pressed the entire length of the purse body, but the side pleats gradually fade midway.

Step Three: Stay stitch your pleats in place close to the edge so they don't come undone while you're working on your purse.

Step Four: Those dainty little side pleats are going to make your purse top bend up... Trim the corners as shown below to level out the top.

Step Five: Make your pocket. Press sides and bottom once. Then fold the top in twice and press. Stitch across top only.

Step Six: Position your pocket on one of the lining pieces, about 2 inches from top of lining.

Step Seven: Top stitch close to edge on sides and bottom. Leave the top open.

You can divide your pocket into compartments if you like. That last one is suppose to be a pen compartment, but I'm more interested in candy at this stage of my pregnancy.

Step Eight: Make your purse strap. You should have cut a 24" x 6" piece of fabric. Fold and press it longways. Open it up and fold in the sides (one at a time) to match the center pressed seam. Press. Refold on the center seam and press again. This will give you a 4-layer thickness, therefore, you need not worry about interfacing the strap. Finally, topstitch along both sides of strap.

Here are all your pieces prepped up to this point. Now it's time for the fun part of putting them all together!

*Notice that the interfaced purse top pieces are matched with the interfaced purse body pieces and the NON-interfaced top pieces are matched with the NON-interfaced lining pieces.

Step Nine: Place purse top and bottom pieces right sides together. Pin and stitch along top.

Here's how it should look:

Step Ten: Press those pieces and topstitch the purse shell. (You can topstitch the lining as well, but I usually don't bother.)

Step Eleven: Match up purse shell to a purse lining, right-sides together. Repeat for other side.

Step Twelve: Stitch along top nook as shown below. Then snip along curves so it'll press nicely when you turn it right-side out.

Step Thirteen: Now your going to stitch you purse shell together. It is important to match up the seam where the purse top and body meet up. So start your pinning there, then adjust the rest accordingly. I don't worry too much if the bottom of my pleats don't match up with the other side.

Now you're going to stitch around the entire purse shell, starting at the top (where the strap will eventually go) all around. You're going to repeat this for the LINING side as well, except be sure to leave a nice 5-inch opening at the bottom of the lining.

It was hard to take a picture of it, but you should have 3 openings. One at the bottom of the lining and one where each of end of the strap goes.

Turn right-side out through the lining opening. See those openings where the purse strap will go?

Step Fourteen: Tuck in the lining and press the purse top well. It should press smooth if you remembered to snip your corners in Step 12. Press the rest of the purse shell.

Step Fifteen: Now it's time to attach the purse strap. Tuck in those purse top ends about 1/2 inch and press.

Center and pin the strap in place on each side. Double check that you don't twist the strap!

Now topstitch close to the edge around the entire purse top (straps and nook). It may be a good idea to double stitch over the straps to reinforce them... you know, in case you decide to carry bricks in your purse.

Step Sixteen: You're almost done! It's time to put on the magnetic snap. You'll want to cut a little piece of heavy fabric to reinforce your snap. Don't worry, it'll be between layers and nobody will see it. I just used wool felt.

Pull out your lining... that's where you'll be attaching your snap. Use the snap back to mark your snap placement. I used a white-out pen. Chalk or pencil is good too.

Repeat for other side.

Using a seam ripper, CAREFULLY make a tiny opening so your snap prongs can go through the fabric. The holes don't need to be as big at the prongs... they just need a little give so they can work their way through nice and snug. Do this to the felt pieces too.

Work your snap piece through the holes. Now dig through your opening at the bottom of the lining so you can work on the inside. Feed the felt onto the prongs, then the snap backing. Now bend the prongs (in or out) to secure the snap in place. Repeat for the other side.

Stitch the lining opening closed. Tuck lining back into purse and give your purse one last pressing.

♥ Viola! ♥

ps... I went in for my ultrasound yesterday and the baby is measuring at 7 1/2 pounds. Yikes, people... I am still FOUR weeks from my due date! Looks like I'm on track to have another monster-sized chubster :) I'm soooo getting induced early.

Print Pleated Purse Pattern

Quilt Happy

2010-01-02T13:02:00.007-06:00

Just look at all the quilting one can get done when they close their etsy shop for two weeks! First up is a baby quilt for baby#3 due in a month. It's just a basic stacked coin design... I just used the fabric I had on hand and made it totally random. I really love how it turned out. Fast and simple... my kind of quilt.

This is the quilt back:

Washed, puckered and ready to go!

Here is a twin sized quilt I made for Ashlyn. She's in a big girl bed now and needed an upgrade from her toddler sized quilt.

♥ I heart pinwheels ♥

ps... Just so you know, I defied the laws of physics to make these quilts over a three day period, being HUMONGOUS pregnant and all.

♥♥♥

2009-12-20T15:34:00.007-06:00

I'll have to post a more current picture of Denny soon... This was taken before he got glasses, a short haircut and lost his two front teeth... quite the contrast :)

*Special thanks to Christa from Sherrard Photography for taking the adorable photo.

Plump Partridge Ornament Tutorial

2009-12-12T08:00:00.007-06:00

You're going to love these. They're fast and simple to make and so dang cute! Our church had a Christmas dinner for the ladies, and I made an assortment of ornaments so each lady could take one home with them that night. I mostly did wool felt heart ornaments and only did a dozen of these birds, but they were by far the quickest to be swiped up. Who knew? So here you go!

Materials:

♥Scraps of cotton fabric
♥Polyfil stuffing
♥Ribbon, jute or lace

Instructions:

Step One: Use the pdf template below to cut your pieces (2 bird sides and 1 underbelly piece). You'll want your two bird sides to be opposites, so layer that fabric right sides together and cut it out at the same time so they mirror each other. Use fun coordinating fabrics.

Step Two: Cut an 8 to 10 inch piece of ribbon, jute or lace and fold in half. (I used jute and tied my ends together, but I don't recommend knotting jute... it was a pain to sew over.) This will be the hanger for your ornament. Just ignore that knot... I'm too lazy to retake the picture.

Step Three: Put the 2 bird sides right side together and place the hanger as pictured in between the layers. Pin it in place if you must.

Step Four: Using a 1/4 inch stitch, sew along the entire top of the bird sides from beak to tail. Always sew beak to tail.

Step Five: Open up and match the underbelly piece right sides together. Pin if you must. Sew down each side being careful not to catch your ribbon hanger. You'll always want to sew from beak to tail in case the pieces don't match up perfectly... don't worry about it, you'll be trimming down the tail later.

This is how it looks after it's sewn (wrong sides out).

Step Six: Snip along the bird's neck and back so the seam will lay nice when it's turned right side out.

Step Seven: Turn right side out from the tail and stuff well with polyfil. Be sure to stuff the head really good first so it gives the head and beak a nice shape. These take a surprising amount of stuffing, but they definitely look best when well stuffed.

Step Eight: Use ribbon or lace to tie off tail. Make a cute little bow.

Step Nine: Use pinking shears to trim tail even. Or if you don't have pinking shears, just tuck end and sew closed.

♥♥♥Enjoy♥♥♥

Plump Partridge Template

Converted Maternity Pants Tutorial

2009-11-18T14:31:00.006-06:00

Here I took an $8 pair of clearance trousers and converted them into maternity pants. I've done this in the past with jeans as well... not an extremely difficult alteration but most definitely a PERMANENT one. Keep that in mind before deciding to convert your $200 designer jeans into maternity. There's no going back... they will be maternity FOREVER. Below is my tutorial for converting regular pants into maternity with a demi panel. A demi panel is the stretch panel that sits low or under your belly. Why do I like demi panel? Because for me it's the most comfortable and hip option (as opposed to the traditional granny maternity pants that you hike up to your boobs... like I need another reason to feel ugo while I'm pregnant!).

Materials:

♥ 1/4 yard cotton/lycra knit fabric (*medium weight, make sure it's 4-way stretch knit fabric). Where do you buy cotton/lycra knit? Check out SewZanne's Fabrics.
♥ enough 2" wide elastic to go around your hips (*you'll need to measure under your preggo belly (around the pelvic bone to get the exact measurement.)

Step One: Measure your underbelly.

Use a measuring tape to measure under your preggo tummy. If you're not quite sure where that is, or aren't far enough along, then feel around for your front pelvic bones and go around those and your low waist in back.

Once you have your underbelly measurement, you can cut your elastic and cotton/lycra pieces. These are standard size 8 trousers, with my underbelly measurement of 35 1/2 inches.

So, I cut my 2" elastic 35 1/2 inches long. As for my cotton/lycra knit, I cut a 35 1/2" x 8" inch rectangle.

Step Two: Serge the short sides of the cotton/lycra knit together.

*Note: If you do not have a serger, don't worry. You can use an overcast stitch on your sewing machine. Or use a straight stitch if your machine doesn't have an overcast stitch, but be sure to "stretch the fabric a little white you sew. It might also be a good idea to do a second straight stitch row that runs parallel to your first one for reinforcement.

Step Three: Fold in half longways as shown below and center the seam in the middle.

Step Four: Cut your waistband off. You'll have to seam rip the belt loops to detach them as you go.

My trousers had pleats, which came undone when I cut away the waistband. I re-pleated them and stay-stitched them back in place:

Step Five: Remove the zipper. This is a very important step, not to be skipped. ESPECIALLY if you're converting jeans, which use METAL zippers. Ever try serging/sewing through metal? I don't recommend it :)

Use a seam ripper... this was a cinch to do on my trousers, but I remember how tedious it was when I was converting my denim jeans years ago. But hang in there and do it... it's important.

Step Six: Topstitch the fly closed:

Step Seven: Pin your cotton/lycra waistband to the top of your pants as shown below (raw edge to raw edge). Make sure you center your waistband seam to your BACK center pant seam.

If your waistband is too big, you'll have to go back to Step Two and take in the cotton/lycra a bit more. However, it's ok if it's a little too small... just stretch it to fit your pants.

Here's the front view:

Step Eight: Start in back and serge around, leaving a few inches open in the back so you can slip in your elastic. Use a big safety pin to help thread your elastic into the waistband casing.

Be sure not to twist your elastic! Now overlap your elastic about an inch and sew it together as shown:

Give your waistband a good stretch to evenly distribute the elastic. Try on your pants to make sure the fit is ok. If so, then finish sewing the back closed.

Step Nine: Make sure the elastic sits up top of the waistband casing. Now you're going to stitch both sides to help keep the elastic in place and prevent it from rolling. Don't stitch past the elastic. If you do, then over time, the cotton lycra will likely snag a little hole because it will want to stretch, but the straight stitch doesn't want it to.

If you like, you can go one step further and top stitch just above the pant line on the waistband side. I didn't because I'm confident that my serged stitching will hold, but if you used a sewing machine to attach the waistband then I recommend topstitching.

ps... This should go without saying, but please test this out on some cheap, secondhand pants the first time you try it :)

♥ Enjoy ♥

Pinwheel Cupcake Toppers Template

2009-11-16T10:18:00.008-06:00

I made cupcakes for Denny's school carnival this past weekend and decided to make pinwheel toppers to distract from my lousy frosting job. They're very easy and fun to make... I've attached the template and basic instructions for you to enjoy:

Materials:

♥ Double-sided scrapbooking cardstock
♥ lollipop sticks (found in cake decorating isle of craft stores)

Instructions:

Print pinwheels onto cardstock and cut out squares. Snip the four corners of each square on dotted lines.

Using a hot glue gun, apply a small pin-sized dab in the very center of the square and bend the left corner of one side to center of glue. Repeat for the remaining three sides.

Use a hole punch to make circles or flowers (I used a flower hole punch) and glue to the center of your pinwheel.

Apply more hot glue to the back of the pinwheel and secure the lollipop stick.

Note: I used a hot glue gun because it holds and dries fast, as well as doesn't leave an odor (a bit more food safe). Use itty-bitty dabs to avoid scorching your fingers too bad... it doesn't take more than a pin drop. Also, make sure to remove all the stringy hot glue "webs" afterward.

Print Pinwheel Template

Mommy and Me

2009-11-12T11:04:00.004-06:00

I was feeling particularly cheesy yesterday when I was dressing Ashlyn and myself for the day. We attracted a little too much attention to my liking... lots of "Oh wow! Ya'll match!" and "Are you headed to get your pictures taken?", as well as "It's amazing that you could find outfits that match so well!" (teehee, I liked that last one, but didn't inform the stranger it was because I sewed them).

Fully Lined Ruffle Apron Tutorial

2009-11-03T16:00:00.006-06:00

♥ Consider this tutorial my early Christmas present to you ♥

Aprons make fabulous Christmas gifts and I wanted you to have plenty of time to sew them before December. Aren't I nice? I'll even go one step further by adding this disclaimer:

I do not mind if you use this pattern for personal use, or even to sew and sell the aprons. However, please do not sell the actual pattern for profit... it is for everyone to enjoy free of charge.

Materials:
1 1/4 yard patterned quilting cotton
1 yard solid cotton (or fun coordinating fabric)
3/4 yard muslin

Seam Allowance: 1/2 inch
*Note: This pattern is very versatile so feel free to adjust the measurements as you see fit (shorter apron bottom, longer/shorter ties, etc).

Before I begin with the steps, I want to share one big tip for "cutting" this pattern. SNIP & RIP your fabric pieces (I see you quilters cringing!). Almost all of the pieces are rectangle. It's fast. It's easy. And it keeps your pieces on the grain of the fabric and nice and symmetrical. Don't boohoo over the loose strings and damaged raw edges of your pieces... it's nothing that a 1/2 inch seam allowance won't hide. Well worth it! Here's the quick "how to" on snipping and ripping your cotton fabric:

You're going to want to start with a nice edge that's on the grain, so snip and rip the cut ends of your fabric. Snip about an inch in then pull apart using a steady ripping motion.

When ripping your actual pieces, you'll need to make sure the ripped corners of your rectangle pieces meet up without doing too much ripping into the rest of your fabric. Do this by measuring and sniping the width and length of your fabric piece. Then do a gradual ripping from each side until they meet at the corner (shown below).

Step One: Snip and rip (or cut if you tediously wish) your pieces

- ruffled hem: 4"x44" rectangle (solid cotton)
- apron bottom: 25"x17" rectangle (patterned cotton)
- apron lining: 25"x17" rectangle (muslin)
- waistband front: 24"x4 1/2" rectangle (solid cotton)
- waistband back: 24"x4 1/2" rectangle (muslin)
- apron ties: two 38"x4 1/2" rectangles (patterned cotton)
- neck strap: 22"x4 1/2" (patterned cotton)
- top trim of the bib: 18"x5" rectangle (solid cotton)
- bottom of the bib: 18"x6" rectangle (patterned cotton)
- muslin bib back: sized to front bib piece after it is sewn and cut
- pocket (optional): You can do any pocket you like (plain, pleated, or gathered)... I usually just cut out a random pocket on the fold.

Step Two: Prep the bib pieces

Ok, I said almost all your pieces are rectangle... the bib is the exception because although you rip it as a rectangle, you'll need to trim it to a trapezoid.

So, sew the solid and patterned front bib pieces together along the long edges. Press and top stitch along the solid side.

Now you're going to cut/angle the bib so it's smaller up top (trapezoid). To do this fold this piece in half and measure 3 inches in along the solid side. From this point, your going to cut diagonally to the corner of the bottom patterned piece, so when you open it up, you have a symmetrical bib that is 12 inches on top and 18 inches on bottom.

Use this piece as a guide to cut your muslin backing:

Now you have all your apron pieces prepped. Here's what all your pieces should look like:

Step Three: Make the bottom ruffle

I like to start with the bottom half of the apron. To make the ruffle, fold your 4"x44" ruffle piece longways right sides together and stitch both short ends. Turn, crisp corners and press in half. Use a baste stitch to gather along raw opening. Adjust the gather to 24".

Step Four: Make the apron bottom

Sandwich the muslin and pattern rectangles ride sides together, with the ruffle in the middle facing in so the raw edges of all three pieces are lined up along the bottom (pin layers well). You'll want the ruffle ends 1/2 inch inside the 25" width of the apron bottom on both sides. Sew along the bottom of the apron.

*Note: You may want to break this step down by first pinning and sewing the ruffle to the apron front only, THEN going back and sewing the muslin lining on top of that:

Or if you're comfortable with sewing through that many sandwiched layers all at once, it'll look this this:

*Optional: At this point, you may want to sew on the pocket on the patterned side.

Next, tuck or pin away the corners of the ruffle, then sew down the two 17" sides of the apron. Turn right side out and press. Top stitch if desired.

Tuck away that ruffle corner. Notice the 1/2 inch allotted for your side seam allowance :

Sew around bottom and sides:

Turned right side out:

Top stitch along bottom:

Use a baste stitch to gather the top opening as desired (or you can add a couple of fun pleats instead).

Now that your apron bottom is finished, you can work on the apron top (bib and neck strap).

Step Five: Sew the neck strap

For the neck strap, fold in half longways right sides together and sew along two edges. Turn right side out, press and top stitch strap. Set aside.

Step Six: Sew the bib.

Pin the neck strap on one side of the bib top as shown (keep it 1/2 inch away from side to account for your seam allowance). I angle it in so it is consistent with the trapezoid angle when turned right side out.

Sandwich the bib pieces right sides together (with the neck strap pinned in between). Sew around three sides, leaving bottom of bib open.

Turn right side out, crisp corners and press. Top stitch along the three sides.

Now that the bib and bottom are finished, next you're going to bring it all together at the waistband.

Step Seven: Sew the Waist Ties

For the ties, fold, press and top stitch three edges of the tie rectangles (tiny... about 1/4 inch double fold).

Step Eight: Attach waistband to apron bottom

Center the waistband on the top gathered side of the apron bottom (you'll have about 2 to 4 inches of extended waistband on each side of the apron bottom). Sandwich/pin the waistband muslin, apron bottom, and waistband solid (in that order) right sides together. Stitch waistband solid and muslin to apron bottom across the entire length of the waistband.

Step Nine: Attach the ties

Sandwich each tie inside the ends of the waistband solid and muslin pieces (so that the right sides of the ties and waistband solid are right sides together... the tie tails will be facing inside the apron while you do this). Sew both ends of the waistband to secure the ties on. Turn and press.

Step Ten: Attach the bib

Flip your apron to the muslin side. Center the bib with the waistband. Pin right sides together (muslin bib to muslin waistband) and stitch along bottom of bib (you'll only be stitching through the bib layers and muslin waistband... NOT the solid waistband piece).

Now turn apron to right side and press the top of the solid waistband in on itself, so the top edge of the waistband pieces match up (pin well, making sure that your pressed edge covers your stitching from the bottom half of the bib.) Top stitch along length of the top waistband through all layers.

Top stitched waistband:

Step Eleven: Finishing

For the neck strap fasteners, I use an industrial snap press, but you can do a button and buttonhole to attach it to the bib. I like to make the neck strap adjustable, so I space out three snaps.

I do love my snap press and justified buying it because I make cloth diapers for my babies and also use the press for my baby bibs and other projects. It's super fun :) Here's where I got mine if that's something you think you'll want to invest in someday:

I bought mine from here years ago and use the industrial size 20 dies and polyresin snaps, and my friend got hers from here and uses the standard size 20 dies and polyresin snaps.

♥♥♥♥♥

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T07:39:00.007-06:00

I've been wanting to do a Sally costume (Nightmare Before Christmas) for a couple years now, and this year I finally did it! It was such a fun costume to make. I know it looks like a raggedy thrown together outfit, but in reality, there is a lot of systematic cutting and piecing involved.

Here is Denny's Darth Vader costume I sewed. We bought him a Darth mask for his birthday but he took it off to run around the Trunk-or-Treat party with his best bud Evan (on left).

And of course Ashlyn made the prettiest little princess. She loved getting to wear makeup and I loved putting it on her.

And here is me at 26 weeks. This is my "Oh, she's so cute and pregnant" stage. Next month I'll transition into the "HOLY COW! You're huge!" stage. (Yes, believe it or not I get that exact phrase at least once a day in the last THREE months of my pregnancy.)

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Ok, I'm off to help my kids eat their candy for breakfast now.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Pop Garden Peonies Apron Set

2009-10-29T13:39:00.007-05:00

Here is an apron set that I donated for the silent auction at Denny's school carnival. Includes ruffle apron, potholder, microfiber kitchen towel set and recipe cards.

I'm posting this as a sneak preview for a tutorial I'm currently drafting for ya'll. I've had a lot of requests for instructions on making the ruffle apron, so while I was sewing this one, I took the needed tut pics. Stay tuned... it's set to launch next Tuesday!

♥♥♥♥♥

Birthdays

2009-10-27T22:30:00.005-05:00

We recently celebrated the kids' birthdays (Ashlyn turned 3 and Denny turned 6). My parents drove out for each kid's big day and my dad took some fabulous pictures as usual.

Our local Pottery Barn Kids was having a Star Wars event on the weekend of Denny's birthday. Denny kinda likes Star Wars (kinda, as in a lot, a lot, a lot).

Denny's cake. I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 4 days straight until it was gone. Cake is one of my many weaknesses.

I think every single one of Denny's presents was something Star Wars related... why does he look so surprised?

Denny and Ashlyn sippin' the root beer.

Ashlyn opening presents in her lovely princess dress (which was a gift from Mrs. Kathi... this totally saved me from having to sew her a Halloween costume this year... YOU ROCK, MRS. KATHI!!!)

Ashlyn tells me about 20 times a day that her favorite color is pink. Does she really think I'll forget something so obvious?

Ashlyn loves her baby dolls.

And Denny and Ashlyn adore their Nana and PawPaw!

Easy Knitting Needles Tutorial

2009-10-06T14:52:00.007-05:00

Ok, I know knitting needles aren't terribly expensive in the first place, but here is an uber cheap way of making your own for under 50 cents a set. Last year, the 8-year old girls at church begged me to teach them how to knit. Supplying needles for ten girls was a difference between $50 for 10 sets of store-bought needles, or only $5 (plus one hour of my labor) to make them. Well worth it to make them in my opinion. Well, this Saturday our church is doing a knitting class for the women, so I decided to make some sets to encourage more people to give it a try (and of course they get to keep the knitting needles as a perk).

Materials:

♥ 12" Wooden craft dowels of desired thickness (Hobby Lobby carries these for $1.99 for a pack. The 1/4 inch thickness comes in a pack of 12 dowels)
♥ dowel caps for your chosen size of dowel or polymer clay to make your own caps

You'll also need the following for this project:

♥ pencil sharpener
♥ fine grain sandpaper
♥ soft dry cloth
♥ wax (I used a tea light)
♥ wood glue
♥ acrylic paint (optional)

For this tutorial I used 1/4 inch dowels, which is equivalent to needle size 10 US. I think this is great size for beginners to learn on.

Step One:
Using the pencil sharpener, sharpen one end of each dowel.

Step Two:
Sand the dowels. Start by dulling the sharpened point into a nice blunt tip. Sand the entire dowel from tip to end.

Step Three:
Using a clean, dry cloth, wipe down the dowels to remove the wood dust.

Nice blunt tips and smooth dowels.

Step Four:
Wax the needles generously from tip to end. I used a cheapo tea light for convenience purposes.

Step Five:
Use a clean, dry cloth to smooth and wipe away excess wax. Rub until the cloth glides smoothly. You don't want sticky needles. The purpose of the wax is to condition the wood so it is nice and smooth.

Step Six:
Paint the dowel caps if desired.

*Note: If you can't find dowel caps to fit your dowels, then use polymer clay to form little balls. Press the balls of clay onto the flat end of the dowel to mold the dowel end. Remove clay cap from dowel and bake in oven as directed to set clay.

I wrote the needle size on the end with a fine point permanent marker.

Step Seven:
Glue the caps to the ends of the needles. Use wood glue for the wooden caps or E6000 for the polymer clay caps (just use a small dab).

Let them dry and start knitting!

I took them for a test drive to knit these hats for my 3 year old and baby girl on the way.

♥ Enjoy ♥

Girly Baby Gifts

2009-10-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

My awesome sister-in-law is having her first baby girl next month, which she's extremely excited about (she already has two of the cutest boys in the world). Anyhoo, here are some goods I'm sending her way:

Bambino Blocks (Set of 5)

The reverse side has shapes.

We did an etsy trade for this little newborn dress (I'm getting some of her fabulous vinyl decals).

I love baby gowns with the little fold-over mitts built in the sleeves, so I was sure to include those!

Sewing Vintage Slips

2009-10-02T13:20:00.005-05:00

I have a friend who has the tall, slender body of a goddess (poor girl). Consequently, a lot of dresses that would fall knee length on most of us, are much shorter on her. She asked me to make some vintage slips for her to wear with her dresses so they'd add some length to them. The cute vintage style hems are meant to peek out at the bottom of her dress when she wears them, adding a fun and feminine touch.

I love how they turned out! Check out this shop to buy really cute slips that are sure to dress up your wardrobe!

Wedding Garter "Keep" and "Toss" Tutorial

2009-09-25T17:15:00.001-05:00

I honestly did not know about these things when I got hitched. They're called "Keep" and "Toss" Wedding Garters and as the name implies, the bride "keeps" one as a wedding day keepsake and the groom "tosses" the other one to the woman-hungry bachelors at the reception. If you're too embarrassed to gift kinky lingerie at the bridal shower, then this is a classy and fun alternative. Both times I've made them, I used the bride's wedding colors and embellished them with little touches that suited the personality of the bride. Of course, if you're not sure about the bride's wedding colors, white or ivory is a safe bet (and throw in a touch of blue to fulfill the "something blue" tradition.)

Ok, let's briefly talk fabric options for this project. Charmeuse satin is the way to go. It comes in silk or synthetic (polyester). Charmeuse is different than regular satin in that it's thinner and more delicate. It's the stuff they use to make lingerie, ladies. Of course real silk is nicer, but more expensive. Granted, it doesn't take a lot of fabric to make a garter, so even if you used real silk, the project cost would stay low. As for polyester charmeuse, I have come across some pretty good qualities, all from this place here. They only have a few colors listed online, but if you go to their Houston location they have over a hundred different colors of both higher quality polyester and heavenly silk charmeuse. LOVE that store.

Materials:

30"x5" rectangle of charmeuse for outer trim of "keep" garter
30"x4" rectangle of charmeuse for outer trim of ""toss" garter
2 cuts of 30"x 1 3/4" rectangle of charmeuse for center of each garter
* 2 pieces of 3/4" wide non-roll elastic: 15" long
Embellishments (bows, charms, beads, flowers, etc) - optional

*Note on sizing: a good rule of thumb on just how much elastic to use is to measure the thigh and take away one inch. You'll use TWICE that length in you charmeuse pieces. This pattern is for "one size fits most" but I wanted you to know how to calculate for customizing plus or stick figures.

For this tutorial, I'm only going to make the "keep" garter. The instructions for the "toss" are pretty much the same. I've used two different colors 1) because I love the fun contrast and 2) it's easier for ya'll to follow along in the tutorial.

Step One:
With right sides together, sew the long sides of the 30"x 5" cut of outer trim (blue) to the 30"x1 3/4" center fabric (black) using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

(Note: It is important that you use a small 1/4 inch seam allowance and tiny millimeter top stitch (in below step), otherwise your elastic will not fit in its casing.)

Step Two:
Repeat for other side.

Step Three:
Turn right side out so you have a tube. Using low to medium heated iron, center the tube of charmeuse as desired. For the "keep" garter, I pressed it so the ruffle on bottom is longer than the top. For the "toss" garter, I press it dead centered.

(WARNING: polyester melts... no high heat or steaming unless you want to risk a shriveled plastic mess. Silk is a natural fiber and does not melt, but rather burns and should be pressed at a low heat as well.)

Step Four:
At one end of the tube, tuck and press in approximately 1/2 inch.

Step Five:
Top stitch about a millimeter in along each side of the center part of the tube. On the end that you tucked and pressed, DON'T top stitch.

Step Six:
Insert elastic. An easy way to do this is put a safety pin on one end of the elastic and work it through the tube. Push the charmeuse tube well into the center so you have both ends of the elastic hanging out for ease of sewing together.

Step Seven:
Sew the elastic. Make sure you don't have your elastic twisted. Overlap the elastic approximately one inch and sew a nice square and diagonal to to secure it.

Step Eight:
Tuck the raw end of the tube into the nice pressed end. Hand blind stitch closed or machine stitch close to the edge. This will be the back of the garter. Now give it a good stretch to distribute the gathers evenly.

Step Nine:
Leave as is or embellish as you see fit with a bow, flower, lace or beads. Oh, and add a "Keep" and "Toss" tag so the bride knows what the heck you're giving her. If you don't, she may just think you gave her a fancy baby headband ;)

The Toe Test

2009-09-18T16:31:00.010-05:00

What is the toe test, you ask? When you're preggo, you stand up and try to peek over your belly to see your toes. I passed the toe test... this time.

Bridal Gifts

2009-09-16T08:28:00.003-05:00

I recently sent these things off as a gift for a bride. I love things that match. I'm way overdue for a tutorial, so this is just a heads up on the next one I'll be posting. It'll be my pattern and instructions for making a Wedding Garter "Keep" and "Toss" set (see pics below). Stay tuned.

Ruffle Apron in Amy Butler Sage Lacework

Microterry Kitchen Towel Set, Apron, Recipe Cards, and Potholder

Keep and Toss Wedding Garter Set

Poppy Pins

Happy Patriots' Day...

2009-09-11T11:58:00.004-05:00

And may the force be with you.

As a parent of a first-time kindergartner, I'm expected to follow the school memos to the T. So when I got the memo instructing the children to wear red, white and blue, this is the t-shirt I whipped up for Denny ;)

Later tonight, I plan on talking to my kids about our nation's truly inspired Constitution and the first ten amendments. These are good things to know and understand even at a young age (particularly in this day and age).

Have a great weekend!

Sweet Jane Dress

2009-09-09T13:24:00.004-05:00

Here's a new dress that I finally got around to posting in my etsy shop. I love pleated ruffles, don't you?

Ok, this may not seem like a big deal, but it took a lot to suck in a 17 week tummy. I'm going to need to find a new model, dangit (I liked being my own shop model mostly because it was FREE).

I get really huge when I'm pregnant... huge as in with each of my two kids I gained over 60 lbs. True story. What can I say? I love ice cream. And cream. And chocolate milk spiked with cream. Oh, and I've never been able to give up my whole milk (I honestly have tried downgrading to skim and 1% many times over the years without success.). In fact, that reminds me... when the weather cools down, I'll post my totally awesome hot cocoa recipe. It uses cream and whole milk... divine indeed. Oh great, now I'm craving hot cocoa in 90 degree weather.

Summer Vaca

2009-08-15T21:51:00.007-05:00

Ahhh... summer vacation ended weeks ago, but I'm just barely starting to get my mojo back. Boise was beautiful, OF COURSE, and not nearly as hot as the locals complained it was (they should try spending a summer's day in Houston heat and humidity). The whole fam damily was great. All the siblings except one were able to make it up to Boise. (That's pretty dang good considing that Denzil comes from a family of 12 kids). We had a blast! Here are a few pics from vaca. Enjoy!

Denzil, Denny and Ashlyn (Do you like Ashlyn's swimsuit? I made it! I made myself a swimsuit too, but you'll never catch me posting THAT picture online ;)

Winners of the Handbag Giveaway!

2009-07-10T20:49:00.012-05:00

The winner of the Pleated Purse is comment #7 ♥ ♥ ♥ Amanda ♥ ♥ ♥

The winner of the Pleated Wristlet is comment #41 ♥ ♥ ♥Stacy M.♥ ♥ ♥

♥ ♥ ♥ CONGRATULATIONS!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

Please email me with your shipping address and I'll send you your hard earned prize!

Thanks so much for all the excellent comments! This was fun... even though I'm really bad about posting to my blog, I'll be sure and do another giveaway in the future :)

Oh, and I did figure out the whole random number picker thingy... piece of cake. Here is the screenshot of the results courtesy of random.org:

Handbag Giveaway

2009-06-26T15:09:00.014-05:00

I've been on a purse making kick and thought I'd share the love by doing a little giveaway. I'm putting one purse and one wristlet into the pool, so there are two chances to win. All you have to do it to enter is post a comment (one per person please). The winners will be randomly chosen by a computer generated random number picker thingie. It's very high tech... don't ask me how it works. If it gets too complicated for me, I'll just close my eyes and plop my finger on my computer monitor to pick a name. Either way, I only have two blog followers so your chances of winning are pretty dang good.

*US residents only please. Ok fine... and Canada, Europe, Australia and other countries with semi- reliable postal services :)

**Contest ends Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:00pm CDT (way past my bedtime).

First up is this adorable, Pleated Purse with Alexander Henry Kleo Print fabric. Fully lined, magnetic closure, and satin poppy accent:

Next up is this Pleated Wristlet. Fully lined, zip closure, and satin poppy accent:

The following is NOT in the giveaway, just the motivation behind it. I have been meaning to make my sister a new handbag to replace the old one I made her, so I sewed three and let her have dibs. This is the one she picked. The Pintuck Purse:

After Janell picked her purse, I called second dibs on the Ruffle Purse. Mine. (Yes, so really this giveaway is all about the leftovers... cute high quality leftovers, but leftovers none the less.)

These are 30 zipper change purses and key fobs my friend and I made for girls youth camp this summer. It's a surprise, so if you have any little sisters going to girls camp, DON'T spoil the surprise or I'll send out the leg breakers. No really... I've got mafia blood in me :)

This is a cute wristlet I made for my friend.

And this is another mine, mine, MINE one.

GOOD LUCK!

Reusable Bags

2009-06-20T16:52:00.005-05:00

Here's a simple gift idea for your eco-friendly friends. Reusable bags are super fast and easy to sew. I used nylon fabric for the bulk foods bags because it's lightweight and will hold finer grains.
For the drawstring produce bags I used mesh fabric (polyester), which allows the produce to breath. The lady at the cutting table at Joann's was so excited when I told her what I was making. She's planning on making one as well to hang up her onions.

I've been on a purse making kick lately, so I'll post some pics in the next few days. Stay tuned... there may be a giveaway ;)

Family Silhouettes

2009-06-15T12:38:00.007-05:00

Many of you know that I'm not much of a decorator, but I really, really wanted to display some cool silhouette portraits in our home. These are super easy to make... truly, the most difficult part was getting the kids to NOT look at the camera so I could get a good profile picture of them.

I had a hard time finding oval frames that I liked, so I used just plain old oval wood cutouts found in the wood craft section of Hobby Lobby ($2.99 each). I slapped a couple of coats of black acrylic paint on them and let them dry. After taking the silhouette pictures, I sized and printed them off in black and white, taped it to a black piece of cardstock and cut them out. I'm sure there are a lot of different application options, but I used Perfect Paper Adhesive because it acts as a glue, sealant and offers UV protection.

Cut out an oval from printed scrapbook cardstock and have it and your silhouette cutout handy. Quickly apply a thin, even coat of the adhesive all over the top of the wooden oval. Center and press the oval paper onto the wood. Repeat, applying more adhesive over the entire oval paper and center and press on your silhouette cutout. If you apply your adhesive too thick, it will wrinkle and pucker your silhouette, so keep it thin! Allow to dry and apply another coat all over the frame, including the wooden sides. Allow to dry and apply more coats of adhesive as desired (I only did one because I'm lazy like that). For hanging, I just hammered in some frame "teeth" on the back.

I decided to hang them in the stairway. This concludes my decorating project for the year.

This is how Denny and Ashlyn entertain themselves while I'm crafting.

Ashlyn loves her big brother so much. I'm so grateful that they play so well together.

Sew a Quiet Book!

2009-05-29T08:44:00.021-05:00

Quiet Book \ˈkwī-ət 'book\ n. a set of fabric activity pages bound together with the intent of instilling calmness and restful playtime for babies and toddlers in the event of the numberless boring adult occasions that require a hushed atmosphere.

I've always wanted to sew a quiet book, but never wanted to invest the long, tedious hours it takes to make one. However, the ladies at church expressed an interest in making them for next big sewing project. We decided to meet once a month and work on two activity pages at a time.

To prepare for our first class, I sewed the mock up quiet book you see here, compiled a 13-page list of instructions and patterns (available for free download below), and purchased all the materials needed for a "Quiet Book Kit". I decided that we would have a better turn out if we made ready-made kits available for purchase. Not to mention it saves on cost. I admit that making the kits was a ton of work, but well worth it... I know that making them available lowered the intimidation factor for the ladies, and we did have a better turnout as a result. Fortunately, with Memorial Day sales and Joann's coupons, I was able to keep the kits under $10.

We met for the first time last night and everyone was able to complete the first two pages in about two hours. Last night my home was buzzing with 10 women and their sewing machines. We had so much fun!

Here are the 12 pages :

"Match My Colors"

"Snap Me on My Shapes" and "Feely Fingers"

"Call Me" and "Put Your Hand in My Mitten"

"Dress Me" and "Tuck Me into Bed"

"Traffic Light" and "Lace the Football"

"Zip the Tee Pee" and "What Time is It?"

"Button on My Flowers"

Here is a quiet book kit

Compiled, written and illustrated by me. Feel free to make as many quiet books for personal use or to sell, but please do not sell the actual pattern. It is intended for use by everyone free of charge. Thank you!

♥,

Jodell

Click here to download Quiet Book pattern
(this will open the pdf through google docs... click "file" in the top left corner for the option to download or print)

♥ Happy Sewing! ♥

Mother's Day Treats

2009-05-12T19:22:00.014-05:00

My church passes out little Mother's Day gifts each year to all the women. This year my friend Kira was asked to make her fabulous cake truffles, and I was recruited to help with the packaging of them. These are pyramid favor boxes and they were just the right size to hold two cake truffles. My mom helped me cut and fold 75 of these mothas.

Here is the template:

Instructions

♥ Trace or print pattern on scrapbooking cardstock

♥ Use a bone folder to score along each dotted line and fold the cardstock into the box

♥ Punch small hole at the top of each of the four points

♥ Thread ribbon through the holes and tie into bow

Happy crafting!

Oh, and here is a pic of the kiddos passed out on the floor after coming home from Denny's soccer game. How cute ♥

Custom Bridesmaid Dress

2009-05-03T09:35:00.008-05:00

My friend was asked to be a bridesmaid, but needed a gown with sleeves. There are some great modest dress sites that offer a wide variety of dresses with sleeves, however, my friend needed the dress made in the exact same material as the other bridesmaid gowns. The formal wear store where the other girls purchased their dresses, also allows you to buy the fabric in 2 yard increments. (They don't advertise this, so you'll have to specifically ask them).

My friend and I sketched out the design she wanted, then I drew up the pattern and sewed away. In order to add a subtle elegant touch, I added cording around the neckline, bust and waist. The neckline is pleated with the intention of helping those of us who are less endowed up top. The skirt is just a simple A-line, but I cut it on the bias to give it a nice drape. Oh, and the dress is fully lined.

So here is the completed dress, modeled by yours truly (please forgive the bathroom backdrop... taking pictures of myself is very tricky). The dress looks a lot better on my friend who is two inches taller, and has a bigger bust that me (ha! who doesn't?). Other than that, we have the same waist and hip measurements.

Little Mod Man Gift Set

2009-05-02T22:21:00.005-05:00

I centered this baby gift set on Alexander Henry's Hollywood print. Totally mod, yo. Set includes a Business Bib, Puzzle Ball, and Lounge Set. I no longer list Business Bibs in my shop, but will gladly accept custom requests.

This is a puzzle ball, and I find that adults enjoy playing with it as much as babies do. It comes apart in three sections... tricky, tricky. These are really fun to make, but a bit time consuming. My friend Janna makes the best puzzle balls in the world and sells them in her etsy shop, so check them out. She offers them at a steal of a deal for only $25. If you ask me to make you one, I'll charge you $50. I've been trying to talk Janna into raising her price on them, so get one now before I convince her ;)

Enchanted Rock

2009-04-28T22:09:00.006-05:00

This past weekend we went on our annual backpackpacking trip to Enchanted Rock. Forth year in a row, baby! I think this is the first year I didn't have to hike while being big and pregnant or carrying a baby. Both of my kids hiked the entire way. I'm so proud of my little campers. It's only a flat, one mile hike into the primitive sites, so it's perfect for families who want to take their little ones on a low-key backpacking trip. We only stay one night, so it's easy to pack light. We still use our 2-man tent for the four of us. Cozy.

Denny and his friend Hallei
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Denzil and Ashlyn filtering water

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Beautiful Ashlyn. She loves her hat. I need to make her a new one... this is the one I made last summer, so it's pretty beat up.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Ashlyn and Hallei catching tadpoles

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

The fam damily

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Denny's such a pimp

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Tags and Ta-tas

2009-04-22T15:20:00.008-05:00

First up are some tags I made for my etsy goods. I also made some for my friends Melissa and Janna. Check out their shops... way cool stuff. So here's the deal... 300 tags for under $10... that's only 3 cents a tag, right? I love my business cards from overnightprints, so I did a business card layout in photoshop of the three different shop tags, submitted the order, cut them with a paper cutter and hole-punched them. (Be sure to google a coupon code... I used "BC100" for 100 free business cards plus $9.50 shipping). I think they turned out mighty fine!

This is how they looked before I sliced them. I could cut about 3 at a time on the paper cutter.

Sorry for the tease... not real ta-tas... this is a nursing cover I made for a friend who just had a baby. I've heard them called "hooter hiders" as well. How disturbingly clever :) A special thanks to Janna for the instructions. If you would like your own custom nursing cover, convo Janna. The girl's got some mad sewing skills. They're not currently listed in her shop, but I'm sure she'd be happy to whip one up for you. Heaven knows, the world needs less boobs being flashed around.

This is the bottom inside corner of the nursing cover... a built in wipee. I used some ultra soft and absorbant 100% cotton sherpa. Drool away, baby.

New Dress - Stella Noir

2009-04-19T23:14:00.006-05:00

My dear friend Janna gave me a blackapple stetchbook for Christmas, so I've been using it to stetch out my ideas. I have quite a few other designs on the cutting table, but it's hard to find time to create new things. If it weren't for my stetchbook, I know I'd forget half my ideas. Thanks, Janna for such an extremely practical gift!

Here is a design I've been sitting on for a while and finally got around to sewing. I call it the Stella Noir Dress, and it is now available for purchase from my etsy shop. I wore it to church today with some aqua blue poppy pins. I'm happy to report that it passed the climbing, drooling toddler test with flying colors :)

Pressed Flower Tutorial

2009-04-15T21:01:00.023-05:00

When my brother passed away last month, so many thoughtful people sent gorgeous flower arrangements to the funeral home and my parent's house. Jared's girlfriend mentioned to me that it might be nice if some of the flowers were preserved and framed as a special keepsake. Never in a million years would I have thought of such good idea... Thanks, Aimee! You're definitely getting one : )

One would think that picking up a new hobby under such sad circumstances is insane, but I found it a very therapeutic distraction from all the sadness. Yet, when it comes to flower pressing, there's no putting it off... the flowers must be pressed while they are fresh and alive. That leaves a very small window of opportunity.

I've tried to give you a brief "how to" on microwave flower pressing. Yes, I said MICROWAVE. The benefits of the microwave method are 1) time... hours in comparison to the weeks it takes for the old book pressing method and 2) it captures and preserves the petal colors better.

Supplies:
-fresh flowers and foliage
-4 layers of cardboard (I used 2 priority mail boxes cut in half... that might be a federal offense... shhh... don't tell.)
-2 tissues/Kleenex
-6 layers printer paper
-2 to 4 thick rubber bands
-Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte (I found it in Michael's Craft store in the same section as the ModPodge)
-Krylon UV Resistant Clear (optional... I found this in the art/paint section)
-flat brush
-cardstock or cold pressed watercolor paper (140 lb)

*Please Note: I am a complete novice when it comes to flower pressing. I'm just sharing what I researched on the web and what worked for me. I have a pretty bad track record with plants. I can say that I have a reliable black thumb... that is, if I so much as look at a plant, it will most definately die under my care :) Enjoy!

Layer the boxes, tissue and printer paper as shown below. The petals will be sandwiched in between.

I like to disassemble the flower for pressing, then reassemble it after they are dried. This helps to ensure that the petals get pressed nice and flat and don't curl in the microwave.

It's a good idea to press the thicker pieces of the flower separately... otherwise they'll cause a space in the press, which will cause the other flatter petals to curl and wilt while "cooking" in the microwave. In the picture below, I was lazy and just put the thick daisy center in a corner away from my petals.

You'll have to experiment with the microwaving. Some flowers dry quicker than others. You'll need to repeat the process (zap, cool, zap, cool) 2 to 4 times until the flowers are completely dry and papery. Most of the petals I did only had to be zapped twice.

Don't peek while the press is still hot! After it cools, carefully undo your press and peel back the paper to see if your flowers are dry. If they're still wet, repeat process.

Here are the adhesives, so you know what to look for in the store.

Now is the fun part! Decide how you want your flowers arranged and start gluing. When it's dry, apply a coat of either the Perfect Paper Adhesive or the Krylon UV Resistant Spray. This will help protect your flower from fading in the sun. You can also have your art framed using a special UV resistant glass.

Easter Dolls

2009-04-13T08:13:00.011-05:00

Aren't they cute together? Seriously, it looks like Darth has a soft side when he's cuddling up to a cute little blond dolly. These are the dolls I made as the kids' easter gift. Denny had seen me making Ashlyn's doll, so he knew I was going to sew him something, too. All week he kept trying to guess... is it a bunny? A dog? Finally, I told him that I was making him a blue princess doll (because blue is his favorite color, of course). He's use to my teasing, but I think part of him wondered if I was telling the truth. It was a quick and sloppy sewing job; I didn't even draw out the pattern first... just started cutting. Oh well, Denny could tell it who it was and loves him, so that's all that matters, right?

For Ashlyn's doll, I used The Black Apple doll pattern here. I made another black apple doll for Ashlyn last year with a painted face, but I guess my daughter drools too much in her sleep, because it's starting to bleed out. So for this doll, I played it safe and embroidered her facial features.

My brother Jared

2009-03-31T11:10:00.005-05:00

My youngest brother, Jared passed away Sunday, March 22, 2009. He was only 22 years old, and he died of a drug overdose from accumulated oxycontin. My mom called me with the news the same day it happened, and I drove the 5 hours from my home in Houston to Baton Rouge the next morning. Ironically, I had just returned from a leisurely visit from Baton Rouge only the day before Jared died. I am so grateful that I had those last good memories with him. We had a family dinner together for my birthday on March 16th, and we all just sat around the table laughing and enjoying each other’s company. My kids loved their uncle, and he was always good about playing and wrestling with them.

We all knew about Jared’s addiction… he was open about it and expressed to us his desire to quit. I remember him telling me that oxycontin was “better than heroine”. Everyone tried to help him, but he was just so deep and had become a slave to the drug. He was scheduled to check into rehab again the very next day, and wanted one last high. So many emotions and questions have run through me this past week. Did he want to die? Could he have quit drugs if he tried? Where did he stand in his faith and did he truly want to change? Surprisingly, a lot of the answers came the same week that he passed, which brought me an immense amount of comfort and understanding. I know that he is in good hands. He will be my brother forever and I know that our family ties are eternal.

I’d like to share a memory of Jared. He and my other two brothers were little “Tom Sawyers”. Someone would do well to write a book about all their crazy adventures growing up… falling out of 50 foot trees, biking accidents, getting run over by a car, and eating their pet iguana. Yes, the emergency room knew my brothers on a first name basis. When I was 18 years old my parents left my older sister and me to care for my younger brothers while they were out of town for a few days. One morning, my sister and I woke up to an empty house… no sign of any of my three brothers. We just thought the punks were taking advantage of our parents being out of town and snuck out to play with their friends. A few hours later we got a call from our brother John (17) that they were all at the hospital. Apparently, Jesse (14) and Jared (11) had captured a highly poisonous cottonmouth snake. These clever boys decided that they were going to MILK the snake for its venom to sell. Jared, of course, got bitten in his “milking” attempt. I guess they woke up my brother, John to drive them to the hospital instead of us because he wouldn’t yell at them as much. Luckily, Jared was fine… his finger turned black, stopped growing and lost all feeling for the rest of his life, but he was alive. My parents were pretty upset to say the least. It’s a fun story to tell because it illustrates Jared’s carefree and fun spirit so well.

I miss him so much. This past week has been so heartbreaking for my entire family, but I am so touched by the amazing outpouring of love from church members, friends, and neighbors. Thank you for all the kindnesses you have shown to my family.

Pinwheels make me giddy

2009-03-07T08:53:00.009-06:00

♥♥♥

Pinwheels on your shoulder

Pinwheels in your hair
Pinwheels on baby and me

Pinwheels everywhere!

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That was about the extent of my poetic abilities. Don't ask me to try to rhyme anymore or I'll hurt my brain, go insane and end up flying a plane to Spain in the rain or some silliness. Anyhoo, these are some fabulous mother/daughter shirt and dress sets that I made for a custom order. I use to offer these in my Etsy shop, but there didn't seem to be a big interest for them so I discontinued them. I never understood why more women didn't go nutso over them... mommies and their daughters wearing matching outfits is the cutest thing ever!

These fabric pinwheels are so fun to make. They button onto the shirt so they can be removed before washing.

As a bonus for this order, I included matching pinwheel hair bobby sets. Once again, cutest. thing. EVER!

2009-02-26T12:03:00.008-06:00

I really stink at this blogging thing. I'm not even going to try and pretend to have something enlightening to share with the world today. Instead, I'll keep it short and sweet, baby... look at this stuff I made, yo.

Pink Tutu and Leotard (this is going to be a birthday gift for Ashlyn's friend who's turning 2 years old.)

Ruffle apron. Custom order for my rad sis-in-law. I did an etsy trade with her for some of her awesome decals.

Matching Poltholder.

MY apron. For me. All mine. Finally! I'm going to wear it all day to make up for lost time. I'll probably sleep in it too.

Leather Coptic handbound books I made for my brother and bro-in-law for belated Christmas gifts.

Free Reversible Hostess Apron Pattern

2009-02-11T20:44:00.009-06:00

I was asked to teach a sewing class at church, so I thought it would be fun for the ladies to make an apron. Aprons are great for all levels of sewing, plus it gives a beginner sewer the opportunity to venture into ruffles, pockets and pleats in a non-intimidating way.

I created the apron pattern below for your enjoyment. Please forgive me for the lack of detail, but for the purpose of my class, I tried squeezing all the instructions onto one page. I do not mind if you use this pattern for personal use, or even to sew and sell the aprons. However, please do not sell the actual pattern for profit... it is for everyone to enjoy free of charge.

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Materials List:
- ½ yard each of two coordinating Cotton Fabrics (It is recommended that you wash and iron your fabric prior to sewing)
- ½ yard solid cotton fabric or muslin
- Matching thread
- OPTIONAL: Any trims, ribbons or buttons you would like to use to customize your apron

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Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-To Guides & DIY free pattern

Cooking like a cutie

2009-01-15T15:37:00.010-06:00

Here is a gift that is sure to please the bride-to-be. It's a fabulously feminine and chic apron with matching potholders. This particular set is intended as a bridal shower gift that I'll be attending tonight. I love how cute it turned out with its dainty ruffles and bow, and desperately want to make one for myself to keep. As most of you crafters already know, it is a rarity to find time to actually sew something for yourself. I've been meaning to sew myself an apron for well over a year, but have always had other pressing projects to finish. One of my new year's resolutions is to save as many of my shirts from grease stains as possible by FINALLY treating myself to an apron that makes me giddy every time I put it on to cook. My own apron will be patterned after this one (which I didn't use a pattern to make), so I better hurry up and make mine before I forget how I put this one together :)

I also made some darling recipe cards to top off this gift. They fold into standard 3 x 5 inch recipe cards. I've included a pdf file for your enjoyment. The below link will send you to scribd.com so you can download it for free. (Designs and graphics created by me) When you print, be sure to print it with no scaling so it maintains its 5 x 6 inch dimensions. Happy cooking!

Mod Poppy Recipe CD

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Cooking & Menus recipe card template