My Inner Need to Create...

McCalls 5838- Easter Dresses

2013-05-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

I made my girls Easter Dresses this year using McCall's Pattern 5838.

I went with dress option B.

Instead of using a zipper I choose to do 3 buttons instead--- I made the dresses a little big so that the girls can wear the dresses all through the summer and buttons make it easy to "let the dresses out" as they get a little bigger the next couple months.

The pattern was easy to understand and I finished both dresses in one night. I do have to say where I have found woman McCall's patterns to run small, this girl pattern was right on. The girls are wearing size 5 right now so I made them size 6 dresses and they are true to this size.

I really like the gathered details on the top of the bodice (the lining underneath is flat), it adds a little interesting detail.

In a weird coincidence I had both an orange and blue cardigan that matched the dresses perfectly.

I love it when things work out like this! The girls have been able to wear these dresses several times to church because the cardigans made them weather appropriate.

~Jessica

KNOCK it OFF!!! Flower Girl Dresses

2013-05-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I am so excited to be asked to participate in the "Knock It Off" series over at Elegance & Elephants. I have been a super fan of Heidi's since her days of partcipating in Project Run and Play!

I often "Knock Off" cute outfits for my kids that I can't afford but for this post, the outfit I copied was chosen for me. My brother-in-law is getting married in July and since the flower girls are going to be my children I offered to make the dresses and save myself a little cash. The future bride emailed me the photo of the dresses she wanted and I got to work....

The dress is found here at GirlsDressLine.com. The uniqueness of this dress lies in the bow-like pick-up pleats and the bubble hem.

The bodice is really basic so I found a pattern to that had a similar style. I used McCall's sewing pattern M6496, option A.

For the skirt I made a circle skirt using the measurements and portions from Dana at MADE's tutorial. I increased the length by 5 inches- 1.5" for each pleat (2 per column) and 2" extra inches for the bubble hem. I also made a lining from this pattern but 5 inches shorter.

After sewing the sides of the skirt and the lining attach them to each other by sewing around the bottom (when right sides are together) then turn it inside out, making the bubble hem.

For each of the pleats I pulled up about .25" of fabric 3 times, offsetting them by making each one slightly lower, resulting in a bow like pleat. I then hand stitched each one to the lining.

I offset the pleats in this pattern: X X X

X X X

I thought that the dress needed some interest on the back of the dress, to be seen as the girls walk down the aisle, so I made an over sized bow with a long tail.

But of course I didn't just make one dress.... I had to make two!

The second one came together quickly since I had already found the solutions to all the problems I had with the first one (the first skirt I made was way too short and the petticoat hung out below the dress by about 2 inches!)

Thanks so much for having me, Heidi. I'm so glad I was able to join in on this series and I got two items checked off my to-do list!
~Jessica

KNOCK IT OFF---- Spring Series at Elegance & Elephants

2013-04-29T19:03:00.000-05:00

I am participating in Elegance & Elephants' series- "Knock it OFF!" It starts on May 1st and I am up on May 2nd!

Make sure to check in all month to see what creations that these fantastic bloggers have chosen to knock-off... and be sure to check back here on Thursday to see what I've made!!

Jessica

Oliver + S After School Shirt Dresses

2013-04-27T23:05:00.000-05:00

I love Oliver + S patterns. They are really expensive or I think I would own all of them. I do own this After School Shirt & Pants Pattern.

I have made the shirt pattern into a dress this winter for some versatile dresses that my girls got A LOT of use out of (you can check it out here).

So I thought that a couple spring dresses would be worn just as much.

I love the pattern, it is simple and comes together quickly. I changed the sleeves to 3/4 length and increased the length of the shirt (using one of their existing dresses as a guide) into the length of a dress.

The dresses are perfect for play because they are lightweight and non constricting. And they are perfect for spring with a bold color on the yoke and sleeves and a fun stripe print with contrasting bright and subdued colors on the skirt.

It was chilly the day of these photos but the dresses look cute with no leggings and sandals also.

~ Jessica

Colorful Birthday Dress (Simplicity 1949)

2013-04-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

I like to make my kids something special to wear in their birthday photos every year (it is getting more and more difficult to do with my son, who just turned 9).

This March my youngest turned 4 and here is her birthday dress for this year....

I used Simplicity Pattern 1949 with the 3/4 length sleeves.

This isn't the first time I did this pattern (Hand painted Earth Day Dress )...

But it is the first time I did the 3/4 length sleeve.

The pattern is easy to follow and came together quickly. The unique way the pleats cris-cross across the front are my favorite part of the pattern (it is easier to see the pleats in the solid color earth day dress above).

I like the solid color top and sleeves with the print on the bottom, it keeps the dress from getting too busy. I also sewed a large ric-rac ribbon across the bottom of the top yoke because I thought it needed "something" to add visual interest to the top half of the dress.

The back closure is 3 buttons, instead of a zipper, which I find easier to do. So the dress didn't take long at all and turned out to be a great dress for spring.

~Jessica

Just Monkeying Around!

2013-04-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

My youngest daughter's room I am slowly in the process of completing her transition into big girl room. I found myself really busy this year with a lot of volunteer opportunities and going to get my teaching certificate that I haven't had much time to spend blogging or completing the 50 tasks I have planned out for home improvement and decorating projects around the house. I finally finished the art work for her walls though.... Monkeys!

I just painted them with acrylic paint on canvas, 11 X 17.

They add a nice whimsical touch to the room and with some art on the walls the room already looks more complete.... now to refinish her chest of drawers.

Jessica

Casual Princesses

2013-04-22T22:31:00.000-05:00

My two girls, 4 and 5, are in love with Disney Princesses, especially my youngest who has all the baby dolls and barbie dolls of each and every princess. Rapunzel and Merida are her favorite, where my eldest likes the older more traditional Snow White and Cinderella.

So my darling little princesses got a special night out with their dad to see Disney on Ice, Rockin' Ever After. They wanted to wear their Halloween costumes..... but I thought that a more casual outfit was more appropriate.

I decided to go with Snow White and Rapunzel since their outfits were more recognizable by the color palette than say Merida or Cinderella.
I used Simplicity Pattern 3511, the tunic with sleeve variation F.

For the red and blue sleeves, I just sewed stripes of red fabric (used ironable interfacing) onto the blue sleeves before attaching to the shirt.

I did the same for the Rapunzel sleeves. For the front faux tie I used interfacing to iron on the pink fabric with the rolled over edge, then stitched around the edges. Then hand stitched on a bow.... done!

The pattern is easy and came together quickly and I finished both shirts in a couple hours the night before the event.

They are perfect tops for the casual princess!

Jessica

Adventure Time Wallet

2013-01-21T16:55:00.000-06:00

So if you have looked around my blog you already know that my son loves Adventure Time (Birthday, Shoes, crocheted figures and Shirt ). So it was an easy decision on what to put on a wallet I was making him, Finn.

You will need:

7 inch zipper

9.5 by 5.25 interfacing

9.5 by 5.25 white felt

9.25 by 5.25 white cotton

3.5 interfacing

2 pieces of 3.5 by 5.25 white cotton

5 inch piece of white Velcro

oval piece of flesh colored felt, iron on interfacing ironed on the back

Iron and sew the face on first- on to the felt, between 2.5 inches from the top and 3.5 inches up from the bottom. Then sew the felt to the long piece of cotton, right sides together, leave an opening so you can flip. Also sew the two smalled pieces of white cotton together.

Ok- now this is where I discovered my mistake. I was making this wallet for my son to store his "Monkey Money" from the orthodontist in. "Monkey Money" aren't small coins, the are large wooden coins and the coin section I was making was only going to be 3.5 inches high and couldn't store the already 10 coins he had, not to mention any more he was going to get.

So if you are making a small pocket and zippered pouch, continue on with the small piece of white cotton fabric. Sew one side of the zipper to the side with the face and sew the other side of the zipper to the small cotton piece. Next sew a piece of white Velcro onto the bottom of the felt piece with the face.

So here it is with the bigger piece. Still sew the pieces together with the zipper in between.

Fold the cotton piece over. Sew up the two sides and cut the zipper.

Also sew the other piece of Velcro onto the top of the longer piece.

When sewing with the smaller piece leave the top unsewn so you can put bills or ID cards in the unzippered pocket this created.

And you are done! Mine has a pocket big enough for all those wooden coins.

But is still small enough to fit in his pocket.

And has a cute little Finn face!

~Jessica

Little Liam's Lion

2013-01-13T13:16:00.001-06:00

This is my nephew Liam. It seems like just yesterday we welcomed him into this world (shirts we wore to the hospital). But in reality it's been almost 5 months and like 5 month olds- he chews on everything and loves bold contrasting toys.

I kept this in mind while I picked an animal to crochet him for Christmas. Looking through a file I have on my ipad of images I saved from the Internet (back before Pinterest) and I found this photo of a crocheted stuffed lion...

he is so cute! Since I saved the file I don't have the link to see who's photo or pattern this belongs to(I can't find it on a google images search either?) so if you know please leave me a comment and I will place the link to this original lion.

It was a pretty easy pattern to figure out, I just made the body a rectangle and the arms/legs tear drop shaped. Really it is the face and mane that make him so unique and lovable.

I made him about 12 inches tall and the body about 5 inches wide. This turned out to be the perfect size for him to hold and use for a pillow.

Liam really loves the lion and rolled over just to reach for him a couple weeks ago... it's nice to be appreciated =)

~Jessica

Soccer Dolls

2013-01-08T13:49:00.000-06:00

I am the coach of a 4-5 year old girls soccer team, named the Jaybirds. Our team has been together for 4 seasons and so we have become a really close knit group. We all appreciate the fact that all the kids and all the parents get along so well.

Well, I wanted make my girls some rag dolls for a while and while designing them out I thought I would dress the dolls in soccer uniforms... then it occurred to me that all the Jaybirds would love a doll for Christmas.

I tried to make each doll as unique as the girl they represented. Each with a different hair style and hair color, but with the same blue uniform and black shorts. The soccer balls on their shirts are painted on.

I also painted each one with their name and number on the back of the jerseys.

The faces are painted with black fabric paint.

The girls loved them!

Want to make a couple of your own? Here's how:

Cut out the base body parts out of flesh colored fabric.

Cut out 4 sleeve pieces and 2 shirt pieces out of what color you want to make the shirt. Hem the bottom of all 4 of the sleeve pieces and the neckline and bottom of the shirt, front and back pieces.

Cut out 4 leg pieces of the shorts and 2 short pieces from the black. Hem the top of the shorts and the bottoms of the leg pieces.

Cut the desired hairstyle out of felt. Doubling any pigtails or ponytails and sewing them together, wrong sides together and don't flip.

Sew the hairstyle onto the head- stitching nicely around the bangs that frame the face and by the neck on the back of the head.

Next, sandwich two pieces of the shirt sleeve between 2 of the arm pieces (all right sides together) and sew around leaving an opening at the top. Then turn inside out and stuff.

Do the same for the legs (the seam on the legs will be at the top of the thigh so make sure the hems of the short match up or it will look funny).

Baste the shirts, shorts and pigtails onto the front and back of the main body pieces. Then bast the arms onto the body.

Put the right sides together and sew around the body leaving the bottom of the doll open. Flip the doll inside out and stuff.

Fold the bottom of the inward and pin the legs and the bottom closed. Stitch straight across with black thread- and you're done!

I tied the bows and hand stitched them on tight.

My little soccer players are as cute as their dolls =)

~Jessica

Peppermint Christmas Gifts

2013-01-07T22:15:00.003-06:00

Browsing around Pinterest before Christmas I found a couple cute ideas that I made for teachers and girlfriends. And it all starts with peppermint essential oil...

Up first is the Peppermint Sugar Scrubs.

You can find a million recipes on the Internet, I just did mine really simple mixing 2 cups sugar with 1 cup oil and adding 1 tsp of peppermint essential oil. To make the red just add a little food color and stir well.

I found the jars 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby, which was really good since I made 8 of these.

The left overs that didn't fit in the jars I gave to my girls and I have to say these feel really good on dry winter skin!

Next I made some Peppermint Rice Heating Pads.

I found this tutorial on UCreate's 28 Last Minute Handmade Gifts from the Green Wife.

All you need is flannel, rice and peppermint essential oil.

Sew along the outside of the rectangle with right sides together, leaving an opening to pour in the rice. Flip inside out, pour in desired amount of rice and then pin all the way across to keep the rice in place while you sew. Continue making the desired size pockets.

I made one for myself also =) and I can attest to the rice holding the heat for quite a while and the peppermint oil adding a smoothing/calming effect.

Hope you all had a great holiday season!

~ Jessica

Oliver + S After School "Shirt"

2012-12-21T20:25:00.000-06:00

Oops, before the Christmas gifts post I have Oliver + S winter dresses!

I used the "After School Shirt + Pants" pattern but made the shirt into a dress by increasing the length.

The pattern, like I have found with other Oliver + S patterns, was really easy to follow, came together perfectly and looks very professional.

Because the dresses were so close in size (size 4 and 5) I couldn't tell them apart, so I embroidered their names on the front of the dresses.

I used a blue and brown fabric for the skirt portion that has little reindeer and snow flakes on it. It is winter themed without being too "in your face" about it.

The back of the dresses have the same 2 button yoke.

They turned out really cute, so cute that they wore them in our family photo this year...

to a Christmas church musical...

In school Christmas Choir performances....

And even family reunions!

I love these dresses.... probably would love it as a shirt too. I will put that on to my to-do next list :)

~Jessica

Freezer Paper Stenciling

2012-12-21T19:29:00.001-06:00

Ok- so I have been super busy lately and neglected my blog. So I am going to quickly post as many of the projects I finished in the last two months in the next couple posts.

First up is my Elemeno Shirts. Aren't they so cute, espically on a preschooler.... guess it is preschooler humor anyways.

I found this idea on Pinterest. And entered in the lettering in my Sure Cuts Alot program and cut it out of freezer paper using my Cricut.

Up next is the shirts I made for my Jaybird soccer team:

For this shirt I just used an Exacto knife and cut out my design.

When I began my project I was just going to make coach shirts for myself and my friend Janie,

but then I went on to make some Jaybird FAN shirts for the parents,

and then I made all the girls team shirts. For the girls' shirts I used the cricut to cut out their names from freezer paper and painted it on to the back of the shirts.

When it was all said and done I made 18 shirts!!!

And last but not least is the "I Know I Play Like a Girl" shirt:

I designed the shirt using the Sure-Cuts Alot program and cut them out with my Cricut.

Iron it on and sponge paint onto the stencil.

And *voila* you have a professional looking t-shirt!

Ok- those are the shirts I made, up next are some of the christmas gifts....

Jessica

Quilted Autumn Rainbow Dress

2012-10-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

So this week's challenge for Project Run and Play is Fall Holiday Wear.... my favorite fall holiday? My eldest daughter's birthday!

Her 5th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and every year I take my kids birthday photo. I like to make them something special to wear for this photo op.
Here are the last year's: Jaden, Julia and Jace.

So for this year I thought I would kill 2 birds and use this week's challenge to get Jaden's birthday dress finished.

And thus the Quilted Autumn Rainbow Dress was made.

After cutting all the diamonds I sewed them together into strips, then sewed the strips together.

I ironed all the seams flat then sewed around all the diamonds onto a thin lining material.

I used Simplicity Pattern 3511 but "thinned" it out a little bit. I have made the pattern several times before and it is always so big and loose (Bias Pattern Remix and Simplicity 3511) so I made this dress a size smaller and then took off about 3 inches in the width of both the bodice and the skirt part.

I am throwing Jaden a rainbow / art party so this dress fits in perfectly with my plan.

This is my first attempt at quilting, not too hard, but defiantly time consuming. I couldn't imagine making a quilt to fit on a bed- but this rainbow pattern would really look good in a little girl's room.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Check out the other Fall Holiday Outfits in the Flickr group.

~Jessica

Boy's Week

2012-10-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

This week's sew along challenge for Project Run & Play was creating an outfit for a boy. I love making stuff for my son, but as he gets older I have to check and recheck that I am not doing something that will cause the outfit/bag/etc to be unused and labeled uncool.

So my challenge this week so to create an outfit for my 8 year old son....

I used the Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop's pattern for skinny jeans, thinking they are cool now right? Well, he is 8 but I made a size 10 so that they would be not so skin tight and I a giggling now thinking of his look when I had him try them on =) They were SO tight, an 8 would of never even been pulled on!

So my fix? I added a tuxedo strip down the side. They increased each of the legs 1.5" and the but/crotch area 3". Now they look more like straight leg pants instead but I got the thumbs up from him and he was able to sit down without busting a seam.

I freezer paper stenciled an understated, over sized Mushroom from Mario onto his shirt.

His jacket I made by refashioning an old shirt of mine. The hardest part was making the shirts darts into less of a woman's shape and more boxy like a cargo jacket. I fully lined the shirt and added pockets and button flaps onto the shoulders.

I wanted to paint or applique something onto the back of the jacket, but like the yellow shirt, my idea was shot down.

Check out other Sew-Along participates at the Flickr site.

Have a great day!

~Jessica

White Trench Coat with Silver Painted Doodles

2012-09-27T14:47:00.002-05:00

This week's theme for Project Run & Play is the White Sheet challenge. Luckily I had this thick, beautiful, expensive white sheet that my sister had given me when she took her full bed out of the nursery.

I decided to make a trench coat of sorts. Something with a modern twist, making it white.

The entire jacket is lined and the zipper is hidden. This was a very exciting project for me. Not only did I make up the whole pattern but I had to figure out what needed to be done first, next etc.

I hand drew some doodles/stars and painted them with silver fabric paint.

Added a Mandarin collar and a silver button.

I have about a million things on my to-do list today so I have to get moving. Check out the Flickr group to see what every one else did with their white sheets!

~Jessica

Project Run & Play: Fashion Icon Week

2012-09-20T11:34:00.001-05:00

It's Week 2 of Project Run & Play Sew Along! This weeks challenge/theme was Fashion Icon. I thought I would go retro and choose Twiggy & her 1960's style to base my run and play outfit off of.

Twiggy is best know for her short hair, androgynous looks, skinny frame and thickly mascaraed eye lashes. But in terms of her style, Twiggy popularized the shift dress in the '60s- a dress that had a firmly rectangular tilt, guiding rather than conforming to a woman's body. Also widely popular at this time was bright psychedelic patterns and colors.

So here is my interpretation:

The dress is made with a thick gray cotton and the geometric design is appliqued asymmetrically onto the side of the dress.

The 3/4 sleeves and the boat neck collar also are fashion trends of the 60's.

I drafted this pattern myself. I don't have a really have a good tutorial for it because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

The neck scared me a little but it turned out exactly how I planned it so I couldn't be happier!

Jaden likes it too, so it will at least get worn =)

And it will work perfectly for our Texas winter!

Always my go-to model, Jaden is really stepping up her game by posing while jumping... I might be creating a diva!

~Jessica

Project Run & Play: Bias Pattern Remix

2012-09-13T00:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been missing from my blog for like a MONTH! I have been busy with non-craft stuff, like cleaning closets, coaching soccer....

But now it is time for Project Run & Play- time to dust off the sewing machine and get those competitive juices flowing.

The first challenge is to remake Katy from No Big Dill's idea of using opened up bias tape to add detail and texture to an item of clothing.

I thought that I would remake the idea by using the bias tape to make a chevron pattern instead of horizontal stripes.

I also added a little hand embellished applique to the bodice to make the dress a little more "me."

I started with Simplicity Pattern 3511.

I cut the back and front skirt pieces into four instead of two.

Then added all the strips of bias tape diagonally across the pieces.

Here are the four pieces before I sewed them together.

For the dragonfly applique I cut out the shape from a sliver piece of fabric.

The wings and body pieces from other scraps of fabric

Ironed them altogether...

I used the sewing machine to zig-zag stitch around all the pieces before going back and hand embellishing.

I choose to make the dress with the 3/4 sleeve option so my daughter can wear it a little later into the season and again in the spring with the mornings are cooler.

I have made this pattern several times, it is really easy with 2 buttons on the back instead of a zipper.

So I am off to get a jump on next week since it seems like lately I have been behind on everything!! Hope you all have a good weekend!

Jessica

Welcome Baby to the World Shirts

2012-08-12T11:30:00.001-05:00

So my little sister had her baby, a little boy =)

Thinking ahead I came up with this idea to make my whole family shirts to wear to the hospital to welcome the newest addition to the family (I also thought it would make cute photos).

I headed over to the dollar store and the only color of shirts that ranged in sizes from XS Child to Large Adult were black- but since the sex of the baby was a surprise I thought that black was pretty gender neutral!

I designed the shirts to not be so cutesy that my husband and Dad wouldn't wear them, and so that we could wear them again.

Here is what I came up with:

Now because I didn't know when the baby would be born or his name, I split the design into 2 pieces. The part that I could do ahead of time was the Welcome, the baby and the placards on both sides.

I used the freezer paper technique to do the painting, if you don't know about this technique you can check it out here and here. I printed out the pattern in the size I needed and used it to cut out my pieces.

I ironed it on and painted. I left out the eyes and mouth on the baby and just painted them on to the face in black after the white had dried.

Here is what it looked like after 3 coats of white paint:

And this is how they sat for weeks waiting on my sister....

As soon as I got the call about the baby arrival (and his name!) I used my cricut to cut out the date and name from the freezer paper and ironed it on.

I was in a hurry so I used a blow dryer and spread it on thick to try and hurry things along.

They came out fine and the photographs when we met the new little guy turned out great!

I made Liam a shirt also. I bought an extra shirt and used Dana's 90 min shirt tutorial. I forgot to take a photo of his shirt, so this is the best I have:

His only has the baby and his name.

I love how they turned out and how everyone who saw our group wandering through the hospital knew why we were there and how excited we were.

Hope y'all are having a great weekend!

Project Run & Play Open Auditions

2012-08-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it is that time again, open auditions to Project Run and Play. Season 5 is going to start on September 10 and the designers have been chosen, except the last 2, they are chosen through this open audition. So here is my entry:

I made the bodice by basket weaving strips of gray and white fabric (folded like bias tape and sewed on both sides).

I sewed the top and bottom of the strips together but left the middles unattached, I like the way they move when my daughter moves.

I followed the white horizontal strips to the back where I used buttons to close the dress and allow the dress to be less boxy and more a natural shape.

For the skirt I used a gray and white striped light cotton fabric.

Here is my sew along entries from last season...

I had so much fun creating all of them I can't wait for this season, even if it is only in the sew along again.

I am off to Galveston to take the kids to the beach, I hope you all have a good week!

Detailed Freezer Paper Stenciling

2012-08-01T15:56:00.000-05:00

So I, and I know you have also, seen a million freezer paper t-shirts/designs. I have only used the technique on some fabric favor bags for my sons' birthday party. But I got this really great idea to make t-shirts for my family to wear to the hospital to welcome my sister's baby (she had the baby by the way, a boy, Liam a couple days ago) and so I wanted to practice with the paper and see just how detailed the technique would allow me to go.

So I used a couple dollar store tee shirts and got to cutting...

The robot turned out the best, I think because the silver paint was thicker... or maybe because it was the 3rd shirt I had done and I was just better at it?

In case you didn't know, here's how I did it:

Draw out, or print out, the image you want on the shirt in the size you want. Black out the areas that you are cutting out (they will be the parts that will be painted) so these black areas on the mermaid princess will actually be white from the paint.

Trace it on to the freezer paper, not the waxy side.

Cut out the areas that you are going to paint. I tried to leave most of the image connected so I didn't have a lot of little pieces floating around but I did have a few in the hair.

I decided not to cut out any pieces from her face and just drew them in with a small paint brush after I pulled off all the paper.

Next, iron. I think it worked the best with a really hot dry iron. Do not pull it up to reposition, this is a one shot thing. The wax will melt a little into the fabric and hold it in place but once removed it won't work again.

A couple of my edges didn't stick well but when I was sponging on the paint I just made sure to sponge only on top of the paper to lay it down and the paint held it there pretty good.

I sponged on 3 layers of the white paint since I was painting a light color onto a darker shirt. For the robot shirt I only did 2 layers.

After the shrits are dry, pull the paper away and you are done!

The kids are happy with the way they turned out.... mostly because they were what they asked for.

Julia loves mermaids and princesses, in fact she wants to be a mermaid when she grows up.

Jaden thinks she is already a princess, so I made hers a fairy tale princess.

I really like my son's, it really makes a plain shirt special.

I also really like the silver paint, need to come up with an idea for a shirt for me =)

The technique worked out really good for small detailed designs, so I did end up using it for the shirts I made for my family... that is my next post!

I Made Swimsuits!

2012-07-26T15:21:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this post is a little picture heavy but I am so proud of these swimsuits!

I was really apprehensive about making a swimsuit for a whole platitude of reasons... the biggest was sewing on the swimsuit/spandex material. I imagined the warping seams from being stretched when I sewed, I couldn't gasp how the fabric would still stretch when the thread itself wasn't stretchy and frankly the swim elastic intimidated me because it looks like you only have one shot at sewing on it and the holes are there, weakening the elastic, forever. But I read and reread a ton of swimsuit tutorials and after getting all the supplies I tried it out.

And here is how they came out:

I absolutly love them! I got the top material on the clearance aisle at Joanne's (didn't want to spend too much in case this didn't work out!) and the bottom material for $1 a yard at walmart last year (that is how long it took me to get up the nerve to try this).

I decided on tankinis because of bathroom reasons and at the last minute I thought of this pattern, Simplicity 4203.

I have made the top before for both the girls and thought that it would work for the tankinis if the bottom part of the top wasn't so full and more a-line with no gathering.

I worked out great! The back has the elastic pulling through the casting and so it was really to get a good fit.

I cut up an old pair of their underwear to use as a pattern for the bottoms. By using the underwear as the pattern the swimsuit has a wider bottom so it has better coverage than other swimsuits they own.

I also made the tops a little longer because 1. I don't like it when their little tummies are peaking out from under their shirts and 2. I am hoping that they will be able to wear these next year since summer is half over now.

I fully lined the bottoms but only lined the top bodice piece on the tankini (just like the pattern called for).

For the leg and waist holes on the bottoms I wrapped the elastic and sewed with the largest zig zag stitch I could while stretching the elastic to match the lenght of the fabric. Confused? Here is a illustration:

The pattern worked great as a swim top, it is tight enough to stay where it suppose to in the water and has great coverage in the bodice area.

The size is pretty true to store sizes but I increased the length of the top over 2 inches on both suits. i would suggest to anyone making this top to use an existing shirt in the size you are making to insure that you aren't cutting it too short.

Now, with my confidence renewed I am ready to make a self designed swimsuit I have had on my mind for a while, so stay tuned!

Linking here:

Owl Party Favors

2012-07-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

So I can't take credit for this idea, I found these cute owl favor boxes on this blog: http://loriannmuse.blogspot.com and figured out how to make them.

I designed the little boxes in my Sure Cuts Alot program for my Cricut. The program isn't the best or most user friendly but after messing with it for a bit I got the lines to "weld" which means if the lines intersect they wont cut. The circle at the bottom I only have there so that the front of the bags will have an arch to the top for the ears.

I made the bags/boxes from a thick piece of teal card stock and the other pieces from regular construction paper. I glued the ears, beaks, chests and drew on the black eyes before assembling the bags.

I recruited a few family members to help me put it all together, we did it in like an assembly line and we were done in no time!

I didn't take a photo of what we put into the owls, but we decided on brown malt balls, round pretzel cookies, (see example below, except not in Christmas colors, in blue and brown) and a couple pretzel sticks.

Owl Cake for a Babyshower

2012-07-15T16:19:00.001-05:00

Here is the owl cake that I made for my sister's baby shower. I love the way it turned out and it was really easy to do. Here's how I did it:

I used 2 boxes of cake mix, I used spice cake, I thought it would be a nice change from the normal white or chocolate. Bake the mix in two- 13" round pans and two- 9" round pans.

The two 9" round cakes are the eyes and one of the 13" round cakes are the body. The other 13" round cake you cut into your wings, feet, and top of head. Here is what it looks like before iced.

Next, decorate! I used 2 jugs of icing, making these shades of brown and a little yellow for the beak and feet.

I think this would be cute for any party! Hope you all had a good weekend.

Pleated Ruffle Blanket

2012-07-11T18:10:00.003-05:00

Up next is a baby blanket I made for my sister. I paired it with the Owl Messenger Bag from the last post for her baby gift.

Her nursery theme is owl/woodland creatures, so when I found this fleece at Jo Anne's I was so excited!

I paired it up with the super soft velor fabric in brown. But how to put them together... I could just make a bias tape border around the raw edges of both blankets, but I thought I would try something different.

I made 5 inch wide strips of brown satin fabric- I measured around the blanket and then made the length of the strip measure almost double the circumference of the blanket (sew together the strips and iron like you would if you were making bias tape to get it to reach the length you need). I folded over the strip so that the edge of the ruffle is going to be the folded side and the raw edge will be between the 2 pieces of the blanket.

Now, I am sure there is a more precise way to make the pleats, but I just eye-balled the spacing and it turned out fine. It does take a little time to pin all these down but it is pretty easy. Pin the border around one piece of the fleece with the raw edges of the border matching the raw edges of the fleece.

I rounded the corners making the pleating tapper to compensate for the turn (it will look fine once you flip it to the other side) After you are done pinning, sew these two pieces together. Trim the corners of the fleece.

Next lay the second piece of fabric, right sides together, on top, sandwiching the ruffle in between the 2 pieces of fabric.

Sew around the border leaving a hole so you can turn the blanket inside-out.

After you turn it inside-out, stitch the hole closed and you are done.

Adds a little something extra, doesn't it?