More new fabric for me!

Or should I say, more old fabric for me!

From my sweet sweet generous sister. I... just...couldn't.... say... no.

Working today on school stuff, so no sewing for me!

Toodles,

We both have new skirts!

Liv and I both have new skirts! Hers is the one I made earlier this week out of the striped quilted cotton.

And the action shots.

Mine is refashioned from an UGLY wool dress my mother gave me. Check the before pics:

U-G-L-Y.

It's a lined dress and it has a zipper that goes all the way up the back. I realized I could keep the zipper if I unzipped it before cutting across it at the waist. That way, the zipper pull would be down at the bottom.

When I cut across the dress at the waist, I ended up with an outer skirt and a lining that were joined at the zipper. I took the edges in on both of them, flaring from the waist out to the full width at the bottom to create an A-line shape.

I finished the waist off with bias tape. I extended the bias tape across the zipper to create a stop for the zipper pull.

And now, the results of the refashion:

It was just me and the little girl this afternoon, so she got to use mommy's big camera. Hence the funny faces - apparently my poses were "boring".

Toodles,

Mix-n-match Valentine's napkin rings

Last weekend I worked up these mix-n-match Valentine's napkin rings. It's essentially a band that buttons around a napkin, with a series of other embellishments buttoned on. Layer as many or as few as you like to get the look you want.

Want to make one? I've got the tutorial for you out on Craft Gossip. It's a quick little project with just some fused fabric and some buttonholes. Oh, and a button too! Check it out!




Toodles,

Turning it on its side

Last week I showed you some of the fabrics and patterns from my stepmother. One of the fabrics not shown was this one - it was already in my sewing room getting cut up into a project.

It's a pretty print, no?



The colors and the cute little motifs remind me of some of today's Japanese imports. Traditional, but with flair. And it's quilted. *sigh*



But look what magic happens when you turn the striped fabric on its bias and make a bias-cut skirt.



The A-line shape was easy to draft, starting with a rectangle and then slashing and spreading to get the flared bottom. It took some creativity to get the pattern pieces placed and cut out of my small bit of fabric, but the quilted lines helped by marking the bias grain for me. Then it was just a matter of sewing side seams, using bias binding for the hem and waistline, and installing an invisible zipper.

The challenge for me on this project was getting the invisible zipper in right. I had never installed an invisible zipper before and the instructions from the zipper foot package were less than helpful. And the stupid plastic foot wouldn't fit any of the sewing machines in the house. There was much cursing after my first attempt ended up with the zipper in backwards.

In the end I emerged victorious and made a few "Woo! Woo!" victory laps around the house, skirt in hand, feeling the sewing power. "I don't need no stinkin' plastic crappy foot!"

It fits Liv to a tee and looks far cuter on my little model than it does hanging from a clotheshanger. I'll take pictures of her wearing it tomorrow when we've got good light.


Toodles,

It's a losing battle...

...and let me show you why.

Last week I made a patchwork hat for Liv. With all of the piecing and the lining and the pompom, I think I used up say.... 24" x 40" area of fabric?

And then the next day I had dinner with the family, and my stepmother hands me a bag of fabric and patterns left over from when she was making her granddaughter (Liv's step-cousin?) some American Girl doll clothes.

She gave me a pile of fleece. (The blue on top is actually craft felt.)


Some vintage prints. There's also a quilted stripe but I had already started a project with that when I took the pic.


And some patterns. There are three more Simplicity patterns that aren't pictured.


And also some small D-rings and about 18" of velcro.

Oh, and my sister gave me an assortment of old buttons she scored at an estate sale.


Let's put this side by side, shall we? The pile on the left is all my new fabric. That small folded up thing on the right is the fabric that left the studio in the form of a completed project.


The good news is that I've found a home for the fleece. The mama of one of Liv's friends was saying that she loved sewing with polar fleece. "Oh, fleece? You want some more?" Hehehe.

Toodles,

Tutorial: Deli meat & cheese mini-kabobs

Today I included these meat & cheese mini-kabobs in Liv's bento lunchbox. These are super easy to make, so I thought I'd create a little tutorial showing how to it. I used mozarella and roast beef, but you can use any deli-style meat and cheese.



Here's how I did it:

1. I started with two slices of roast beef and two sticks of mozarella approx 1/2 inch thick.



2. I folded the slices of roast beef in half lengthwise. This made them the same height as the cheese sticks. Depending on the size of your meat slices and length of your cheese sticks you may need to fold more or less.



3. Place the cheese sticks on top of the sliced roast beef and roll up.

4. Cut across the rolled up meat & cheese.

5. Now you've got a lot of little meat-wrapped cheese squares.



6. Just stab them on some pretty toothpicks and put them in the lunchbox! Less than 3 minutes start to finish.



This was the first time I've made these for her, so I'll have to wait until school is over to gauge her reaction. I made some for myself for lunch, though, and they've got my seal of approval.

Toodles,

Oh, I'll just...

Have you noticed that the projects that begin with the words, "Oh, I'll just..." have a way of becoming far more time-consuming that originally thought? It's the ones that start with the words, "Oooh, I wonder if..." that are gold. I need to remember this.

This patchwork hat is my latest "Oh, I'll just..." project. As in, "Oh, I'll just cut up a lot of my scrap t-shirt knit and patchwork it together to make a hat for Liv. It'll clean out my scrap bin and make a rockin' hat!"

Yeaaaahhhh...



Serger issues created wonky seams that I was too lazy to resew. That's fine. And I came nowhere near using up all of my scraps. Though I did get rid of of small handful. And some of the infernal gray fleece that I bought years ago thinking I'd make a bathrobe for my dad.

But most importantly, Liv loved the hat. Because she loves anything that mama makes for her.

Liv was totally in the mood to ham for the camera, too.

Toodles,