Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Hats and a Belt




Photobucket

I finished!!! I had almost forgotten about this months sew-along over at Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Crafts, but the last 2 days I made up for it.
The actual thing to sew was a pair of suspender shorts, but because I'm not a real suspender fan, and because my kids really needed some sun hats, I chose the option of sewing up the 'Let's Go Fishing Hat' and the 'Hold 'em Up Belt.' I got a little sew-happy and whipped up three hats:


I wish there was a smaller size--say 3-6 months. I'd love to sew up a fourth for my baby because I love how they turned out!


My kids had worn through a bunch of pants, so I cut off the legs to make shorts out of them. I cut up the cut-off pieces to make these hats. I have to admit, for my little girl's hat, I ended up using the whole pair of pants--leaving no shorts for her.



On the cuff of my daughter's pants there was this design embroidered, and I knew that I wanted that to be the focal point of her hat--nice and girly!


I had a lot of fun incorporating the existing seams and buttons into the hats. It added a lot of details to the hats that made them as fun as they are.


Oh, and to make things even better: they are reversible!
The contrast fabric I used was, for the boys' hats a quilting cotton that I found at Fabricland when I first started sewing. I actualy made curtains out of that fabric for the baby room. For my daughter's hat, I had some leftover fabric from this dress. I bought that from Fabric.com. It is another quilting cotton and it matched perfectly with the embroidery on top.

I also sewed up a belt for my daughter this evening, quickly. It's the 'Hold 'em Up Belt,' also from the Sewing for Boys book.


I used a fun quilting cotton that I received from a friend a couple of months ago. I'm not sure where it's from. I'll have to see if it fits her properly yet--I didn't measure her, but a pair of her pants as she was sleeping. But, either way, I like how it turned out. A very simple pattern or tutorial, since it guides you through the steps to make it rather than providing an actual pattern.

I've come to the conclusion that I really like this book. There are a lot of basic, fun patterns in here and I would definitely recommend it if you have boys, and even if you have girls!


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

New winner....

So, the first winner of the pattern didn't respond--it's been around 4 days. I am picking a new winner, and if this winner doesn't respond in 48 hours, I will again pick a new one.
The new winner according to Random Number Generator is # 20: rebekah: I'm in Nebraska. rebekahricker (at) yahoo (dot) com. Congratulations!!!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Spring!

Ah, how I love Spring!
This weather is perfect for the dandelions to come up:


Perfect for our apple tree to blossom:


Perfect for the asparagus to peak through:


Perfect to have planted my garden:

(and yes, we have to mow our lawn...)

Perfect for the strawberry plants to come out:


Perfect for hanging the laundry on the line:


 Perfect for the chives to start to bud:


Enjoy your spring--summer is soon to come!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Another Raw-Edged Raglan Tee

I really like this pattern! The Raw-Edged Raglan Tee from the Sewing For Boys book. It's great--easy to whip up and very versatile. Perfect for baby gifts.


It was a bit too windy to take decent pictures outside--the camel started looking much less like a camel than it really does so I headed back inside to take some less proper colored pictures. This was the only one that looked like a camel...the others looked like this:


Yep, not like it should be--kind of wonky.

The desert color (kind of a greenish-yellow) fabric is a knit from the second hand store and the turquoise a ribbed sweater knit from Fabric.com.

I found the camel picture that I used for the applique here. Very cute picture--perfect for the somewhat desert color of the shirt (minus the turquoise color of course!)  


I should sew some of these up for my own kids--I keep giving them all away!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Rag Blanket

So, I have done a bit of sewing the past week--not a ton, but I whipped this together to add to my stock of rag blankets for sale on my Facebook page. I realized I was a little low on the girly rag blankets, so I need to restock. Plus, fresh stock is always great!



A bit of a windy day, but I'm working on my photography skills, heh. It is amazing how the sunlight makes much nicer pictures than inside a darkish house.


 


And, a close-up to see the lovely fabric this is made of:


Purple checked flannel with some lovely white flannel that has variegated dots scattered on it. I believe it's from Fabricland--I bought it off a lady from our local Swap and Buy site. I love a good deal!
Now, to get behind my sewing machine again and whip up some more lovely projects!!!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!


  *giveaway closed*
The winner is #15: AnnaPK Congratulations! I've emailed you.
I used the random # thing but I'm not sure how to stick it on here!
**UPDATE**
New winner picked! See this post.


Alrighty, I am joining in! I hemmed and hawed about this but finally decided to give it a shot!
And, the prize is:


A lovely vintage pattern from Burda. It is even still in the plastic wrap! It came in a box of sewing supplies I had bought, but the sizes were just not for me! (sizes 36, 38, 40 or approximately 10, 12, 14)


Nice eh?! And, I may just throw in some vintage buttons to round out the deal a little.
To join in this giveaway, just leave a comment--yep International readers as well. I'd love if you followed my blog but it's not mandatory. In your comment, I'd love to hear where you're from--I'm curious where in the world you are!
To start things rolling, I'm in Alberta, Canada!
The giveaway closes May 25th at 5PM PST--so that should be 6PM my time.
To view the full list of Sew Mama Sew giveaways, click here.
*A reminder to the no-reply commentors that I will need your email address to contact you if you win!*







Monday, May 21, 2012

Some Baby Sewing

My sister-in-law is expecting a baby soon and asked me to do some sewing for her. I couldn't say no to that! Some receiving blankets which were pretty straight forward and a nursing cover which took a bit more effort.


I love this fabric--I'm not sure where it's from (I got it as a gift from a friend) but they're flannel. I also used it here. I managed to squeeze two more washcloths out of this fabric, and that's it. Now, just to find out where this lovely stuff came from so I can go get myself some more.


I basically cut four 21"x 30" rectangles and then coverstitched (I think that's the name of the stitch?) the edges. Pretty simple.


The nursing cover, on the other hand was a little more work. Because I didn't have any large enough pieces, we decided to piece these three together. So, I did some French Seams to make the back look nice and tidy yet. That is my first attempt at French Seams and I'm pretty pleased how it turned out.
I basically took three 28" x 13" pieces and sewed those together. For the strap, I took two pieces--a piece approximately 30" x 3" and one shorter one--I think about 8" x 3" to attach the D-rings to the nursing cover. Inside the casing is a 15" piece of boning.
I referred a bit to this tutorial but adjusted it to use D-rings instead of a coverall clip plus, the hems and casing were done with different measurements just because I have some 'favorite' measurements to use for that.  
The fabric is Sunny Daze and I bought it at Fabric.com. It's a very cheery fabric--I bought it in both the blue and the pink colors.


Perfect for nursing!


And, all packaged up to be handed over to my Sister-in-law as she awaits the birth of their first born!!!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Upcycled Dress

Some time ago, I bought this at Value Village:


Quite an unflattering style, but the print looked like something I could use for my daughter's clothes. It's a knit fabric--a polyester and spandex mix.
I had found a pattern in my book, Fabric by Fabric One-Yard Wonders--the Sassy Dress--perfect for my little girl.
And, here is the outcome of a bunch of seam ripping the orginal dress, cutting, and the fun part--sewing:


The front. I'm not sure I like how heavy the pocket seems on this fabric--it pulls down a bit too much.


And, the back--I used a fabric-covered button. The seam in the back is the original back seam in the original dress. I couldn't squeeze both front and back from the front, unfortunately. 
The pink fabric is an interlock knit from Michael Miller in Raspberry. I've had this laying around for quite some time now--around a year and a half. I have used it for other projects before but I'm not thrilled with the quality of this fabric. Usually Michael Miller fabric is lovely, but this batch of interlock for some reason doesn't retain it's shape--it stretches out and doesn't really bounce back very well. But, as binding it doesn't do too bad. Adds a nice pop of color to an already brightly colored dress. Now, the weather just has to warm up and my daughter can wear this as a play dress--I'm looking forward to summer!

And, I'm linking up: