Running With Scissors

Clearance Skinny Jeans Refashion

2013-05-20T23:34:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I bought some skinny kick jeans at the Gap outlet for $8.00.

The skinny kick style is weird, a skinny jean with a sudden flare at the bottom.

These were especially weird on me because with the flare-- the long size is still too short.

So I basically took out the flare to have regular skinny jeans for only $9.00.

The steps are pretty much the same as these, except I had to take out both sides due to minimizing a flare.

I also had to take darts out of the waistband (under the belt-loops) on the back so I don't get the gap in the back.

These still may need a little tweaking, seeing them in pictures makes me think they could still come in a little at the ankle.

Anyway, ome times it's nice to sew so you can salvage clearance finds!

Father's Day Gift: Rolling Couch Cart

2013-05-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

This is my dad.

(and my little sister Lynette)

About a year ago I bought my dad a little TV dinner wood table.

On our last visit I noticed it's trashed.

So I thought for Father's Day next month I'd build him a rolling couch cart.

The basic plan came from Ana White.

I didn't follow her dimensions or the plan really, as I was using scraps I had already.

Basically you can pull it up to eat on, slide it under the couch to hold snacks or a laptop, or next to the couch as a side table.

I used scraps from other projects to make the cart.

I chose to use ball casters to help it roll better on carpet.

Because each piece was a different material, I knew I had to paint it and just went with basic white.

1 coat primer, 2 coats semi gloss latex paint.

I thought I'd stock the shelves with containers of straws, napkins, mints, toothpicks, etc since I think it will be where he eats while he watches baseball this summer.

Happy Father's Day next month Dad!

Blessing Dress for Izzie

2013-05-14T17:19:00.002-05:00

Isabella was blessed in our church recently.

I'm feeling the difference for the third child and second girl.

I had a quilt and blessing/ christening dress already made before I had Ellie.

But this time around I started and finished Isabella's dress the 2 days before the big day.

But making it last minute means I get to post photos of her wearing it!

This was my favorite of Isabella, kind of a pirate smile:

I had a meeting before church so my husband had to get all three kids ready, and not only did they all look pretty good, he was there 10 minutes early.

I kind of hate when he's a better mom than me!

I used eyelet again, as I did with Ellie's.

But this was more of an embroidery than the regular eyelet with holes in it.
The base fabric was actually a men's dress shirt from dad I upcycled.

Lots of times I've seen where they'll use fabric or the mother's wedding gown to make the baby's dress, but this girl's getting her dress from dad!

The embroidery was designed in circles, so I took the opportunity to hem the dress in scallops.

The bodice is in the embroidery as well with little tulip sleeves.

I should have encased the zipper between the lining and embroidery but was in a hurry and sewing lazy and a little sloppy, so excuse that crappy zipper top!

I figured Izzie wouldn't know or care.

I can't believe she's already 4 months old.

Time seems to fly faster and faster with each baby.

She's been such a good baby and we're hoping the peacemaker to our family.

Every family needs a peacemaker, and I'm feeling we could really use one in the third child!

Japanese Fabric First: Girls Lamp Shade

2013-05-04T11:02:00.000-05:00

I was pretty excited to receive some fabric from ModeS4u.com to review.
They are a Hong Kong based company that specializes in selling Japanese arts and crafts, bento boxes, stationary, and of course what I was most excited about--fabric!
Just because I thought it was cool, you can see inside their warehouse on their about us page, they have a lot of fabric!

I've never actually used Japanese fabric, but have read a bunch of other bloggers rave about the quality and so I was pretty excited to try it out.

This lamp is right between the crib and twin bed, so most nights RJ likes to stay up a few minutes to read books, but the lamp was too bright, keeping Ellie awake. So I thought I could cover the shade to dim the light a little (in addition to the lower wattage bulb) and make it cute.

I chose a cute woodland print from their Japanese Kokka line, Beige Kokka Oxford Fabric with Toadstools.
The Oxford fabric is a light canvas, (100% cotton) which I thought would be durable enough for the lamp shade, but still allow some light through.

It's really easy to recover a lamp shade.
Drawing on the wrong side of the fabric, I start on the seam of the shade and trace the top and bottom curves as I roll it across.
You can add a little at each end to allow it to overlap.
I cut out the shade with a rotary cutter, and chose to leave the edges along the top and bottom raw.
Because it's a lamp it shouldn't see and wear or tear to fray.
To attach the fabric, I chose to use double stick tape to make a smooth contact.
(I've used hot glue in the past which bubbled and was too thick under the fabric)

I normally wouldn't think of canvas for clothing, but once I got this Oxford cotton, I thought how awesome it would be for kids clothes.
It has the durability of the stronger canvas weave, but is still pretty soft and not stiff.
I'm hoping to squeeze out a pair of shorts from the scraps I have left of this toadstool print!

I was also really impressed with all their unique laminated fabrics and have another project to share soon!

Jute Suit

2013-04-30T22:31:00.000-05:00

RJ turned five recently and we've somehow lost all his dress pants (hoping they're at Grandma's or something) so I thought I'd make him a new summer suit.

Getting clothes for your birthday as a little boy is as exciting as getting toilet paper, so obviously he didn't love the gift, but I guess it was something he needed and gave me a deadline to get it made.

I had planned a blazer, as I made him the corduroy and Real McCoy ones in the past which he grew out of.

But for the heat of the summer, I thought maybe just a vest would be good.

So I guess when I say "suit" it's just pants and a coordinating vest.

I used a jute colored pin stripe, thinking the lighter color would be a good spring/ summer option.

It's a basic vest and for the trouser--the pants being another pair of Grandpa pants.

I'm so glad I actually cut a paper pattern when I drafted the first ones, because this is the third pair I've made for him.

Those original gray pants have received far more compliments and other moms asking where I bought them than any other article of clothing I've ever sewn.

Grandpa pants are definitely my "go to" pants for this kid.

When we go out of town I always bring them for double duty from play to church and everything in between.

I'm shocked his original pair have worn so well and don't have holes in the knees like most of his jeans.

We both like them so much he needed another pair.

But the vest first of all:

I drafted the vest from his measurements, which was weird to discover his chest is now 1" wider than his waist.

He's morphing from toddler into this boy body!

I didn't do anything interesting on the best.

I thought about adding a collar or making the hem straight, but just went with traditional points.

Most vests have the back piece from the lining silk fabric, but I like to do it in the same fabric.

No real reason, just my preference.

I did add welt pockets to the waist like usual and a smaller chest pocket.

Occasionally he'll put his dad's pocket watch in there, but most of the time he thinks it's for candy to eat during church.

I also drafted the front to meet what seemed higher than other vests.

I like room for more than usual 2 to 3 buttons.

I know vests and suits should always be worn with the bottom button undone, but I have to say it kind of never feels right.

On to the pants!

Some changes from the first Grandpa pants are the addition of belt loops, and the welt back pockets instead of patch pockets.

Other than that, these have the zip fly, front pockets, and elastic waistband.

I always ask him whether he wants a button, snap or hook/eye on the waistband closure, and he seems to prefer the hook.

His belt is a little small, but it's my husband's childhood belt so we're wearing it as long as possible.

The back belt loops cross and I encased the tops in the seam to make them stronger on top with this lighter non-denim fabric.

Hope your Spring is going well!
This would have been good for Easter, but I'm behind schedule on my "need to make" list it seems!

Finneus Sweater and Pants Baby Gift

2013-04-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

I have two friends that recently had baby boys.

So I thought it would be fun to make each of them a little outfit for this fall/winter.

A charcoal and mustard sweater with little baby dress pants.

I've been wanting to sew my idea for this little sweater with the two-tone collar for a while.

The shawl collar is inspired by Danielle's Little Man Tuck look that won Week 2 of Project Run and Play (season 3) she hand stamped the herringbone on that sweater too!

The contrasting buttons, wrists, and waist chunk are like The Daniels tee from Film Petit: The Birds.

These outfits are size at 12 months for this winter, but I tried it on Isabella just for fun.

She's wearing 6 month clothes right now, so I think these should hopefully fit these boys in a few months!

I tried to slick her hair down with a part on the side to look like a boy.

Apparently she's not into cross-dressing.

Yuck Mom!

The pants are simple elastic waist baby pants.

I did add faux back flap pockets with gray piping and contrasting button to make them feel a little more dressy.

The shawl collar that folds into a button placket took me a few tries to get right.

I cut the fabric on the bias and did the two-tone effect with a center-back seam.

I hope the asymmetry of the split collar using two colors feels cool and modern, not like Two-Face or a jester or something.

My goal was to bring a fun twist into the shawl collar.

Either way, hope it works for the new baby boys!

Man Quilt

2013-04-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

Last year I made my mother-in-law a quilt using the shirts of my father-in-law who passed away suddenly 2 years ago this May.

I had a bag of what was left of his shirts, and just couldn't throw them away, so I thought I'd make a smaller quilt for my husband.

It was his birthday recently and I barely finished in time.

here's the "tag" I made for one corner

My husband had a great dad.

He operated a wholesale fossil and mineral business on their property that required hard physical labor every day.

Most of the time he wore light collared western shirts for working in the desert, but they also had button chest pockets to hold his phone.

This was the last picture I took of him, holding Ellie and her cousin (they were born on the same day).

This yellow shirt he's wearing was used a lot in this quilt.

He was a great grandpa to our kids, and one of the things that was tragic at his death for our little family is the fact none of our kids will have memories of him.

They were just too little.

It's an emotional thing to use clothing from someone you love to make a quilt.

But it's a beautiful thing I've found too.

As you sew, each shirt reminds me of different times my father in law wore them, which led to thinking of my husband, and how he's a lot like his dad.

Both are noble men who love their families.

I think Rhett learned to value having a wife and kids from his dad.

Early when I first met him and we were just friends I remember Rhett complaining how jealous he was of other friends who were married and having kids already.

For a 22 year old guy this was an unusual complaint--not having a wife or kids yet...and I remember thinking "this guy's a keeper", little did I know at that time I'd get to be the lucky girl to marry him the next year.

But unfortunately I wasn't quite as ready to start popping out babies like he hoped, so he still had to wait four years before that dream came true.

And Rhett's proved to be a great husband and dad.

This was taken right after Isabella was born...who says male brain's can't multi-task--Angry Birds with RJ, horsey ride for Ellie, while soothing the newborn baby too!

Igloo making with RJ

He tells great bed-time stories.

I'm lucky to have Rhett for a husband and our kids are blessed with a great dad.
Happy Birthday!

This is the 10th year I've been around to celebrate his birthday with him.

I actually made him a quilt the first time, we were engaged and he was turning 23.
Time has flown!

But back to the quilt:

1. Cut the left over shirt remnants into 3" wide strips.

2. Chain sewed them all together in one huge strip.

3. Began at one end of the huge balled up strip and cut segments 50" wide.
It went quick, just put down 2 pieces of masking tape on my kitchen floor 50" apart to quickly measure and cut the huge strip into many segments.

4. Sewed all the shorter segments together, just grabbing and sewing randomly.

5. Machine quilted using this method:

Quilting was just straight lines across the middle of every other row.

6. Bound with handmade gray bias tape.

Rhett's favorite color is black, so the backing had to be black, which makes the quilt seem more masculine.

It was kind of fun just to see which shirt scraps ended where and the overall effect it gives to the quilt.

So husband's birthday down and on to RJ's!
He's turning five and that blows my mind!

Your Mom Goes To College

2013-04-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

The last few years for my husband's birthday I've made him a "nerd shirt".

Previous years:

Spreadsheet Lover

Bracket Master

Maurice Moss

So for this birthday he got Kip:

In case you're not familiar with Kip:

He's a character from the movie, Napoleon Dynamite:

Kip is Napolean's awesome older brother.

Here's the scene this shirt is quoting.

So to make your own Kip shirt!

To make your own you'll need:

-printed image of Kip

-feezer paper

-solid t-shirt

-fabric paint

-scissors, iron, paint brush

PRINT KIP HERE

Freezer Paper makes your stencil:

Follow the paint instructions about dry time and possible heat sealing with a dry iron.

For the text, I wanted it to look hand "written" and similar to the font of the movie title.

To stabilize the knit t-shirt so I could paint the letters, I ironed freezer paper on the wrong side to keep it from stretching as I sloppily painted the words.

Happy Birthday Rhett!

I hope your wildest dreams come true.

I've had a secret...

2013-04-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

..that I'm pretty thrilled to be able to share.

I'll be teaching at Sewing Summit 2013 this September!

It's a conference focused on sewing, with a few classes on blogging stuff as well.

I'll be teaching a hands-on class making your own simple blouses!
They'll have a classroom of sewing machines to sew while you're there!

Hopefully this will be a good class for anyone who would like to sew garments for themselves,
especially if you're like me and started with skirts but was a little nervous about tops.

There's going to be instruction on the main simple blouse and different variations
(placket, sleeve length, maternity, collars, sleeveless tank, etc) to take with you as well.

I've taught a few sewing classes in the past few years and I really love it
(even to teens with zero sewing experience) and am just so excited about the chance to
share my simple blouse pattern (a complimentary paper pattern will come with the class)
and interact with other sewists out there!

There's many more awesome teachers and classes in case you're not interested in mine!

I'm really excited to meet some of the friends I've been able to get to know through blogs,
eat, and learn more about sewing.

You can register this morning (April 16) starting at 10am MST.

Last year tickets sold out (only 250 available) within a few hours.

Hope to see you there!
(I'll be the tall dork looking nervous in the corner)

Simple Blouse Week Day 5: Simple Dress

2013-04-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

This last post for simple blouse week is actually a simple dress!

(with pockets of course)

Basically it's the basic blouse with a skirt attached.

The fabric is voile which is really light-weight and therefore semi-sheer, so the blouse is lined and I just wear it with a half slip.

I sewed a few rows of shirring with elastic thread in the bobbin to make the waist area gathered.

It kind of just looks like a matching blouse and skirt, but is really easy to wear and I plan to get a lot of use from it this summer.

We were at my mom's where we're currently storing my chartreuse velvet couch.

Last fall I saw it on craigslist and my husband got it for me for my birthday.

I love it, but we don't have room for it so it's at my mom's until we move this summer.

It's the end of simple blouse week!

I actually have a few more ideas I may whip up if I get the chance.

Simple Blouse Week Day 4: Pintucks

2013-04-04T04:00:00.000-05:00

There have been a few comments about a pattern, and it seems like enough interest I am going to make a pattern for this blouse.

I'm not giving a date as I hope it would be sooner than later, but our family has some big changes in the next months with selling our home, moving, and my husband starting a new job.

It would be ideal to get it done before I have to pack up my sewing room!

_____________________________________________________________

Day 4: Pintucks!

This blouse is made with a thick chiffon-like fabric.

I bought it thinking it was chiffon and would need to be lined, but when I was cutting it out I realized it was thick enough to kill any lining and had the soft, flowy drape.

Sweet!

I wish I could remember what exactly its content is or where/ when I bought it.

So the variation on this blouse are the pintucks on the center front.

Pintucks are really easy to add. When you cut the front piece on the fold, you just add however much extra you'd like pintucked. I added 2" on the fold which required enough pintucks to pull in the blouse 4 inches total.

I sprayed the front piece with starch and ironed it in a few times to help make it stiff and minimize the drape/ shifting.

Next I drew the vertical lines starting with the center front and drawing them 1/2" apart.

You fold the fabric on a line and carefully sew (in this case) a 1/8" seam all the way down, then fold on the next chalked line, etc all the way across. Each tuck takes a 1/4" out of the blouse.

Once the pintucks have brought the blouse back to the correct width, you finish the blouse the same as a regular one.

This one for some reason ended up too big, so I need to alter it for a better fit.

I love the lightweight fabric which is breezy and will be cool in the heat of summer, and the fact it was thick and opaque enough to eliminate a lining!

Simple Blouse Week Day 3: Front Placket

2013-04-03T03:30:00.000-05:00

It's Day 3!

This time I went with navy gingham and added a front placket and 3/4 length sleeves.

Adding a placket is really easy and opens up a lot of opportunities to make tops with non-stretch fabric.

I use it a lot with kids clothes since they have large heads in proportion to the rest of their bodies.

I also made a longer sleeve and cut it on the bias.

I think I got this shirting fabric from fabric.com a long time ago, but it doesn't wrinkle which is pretty great.

Here's where I wore it to church with navy sweater tights and my green pleated pocket skirt.

Oh and it was daylight savings time which I totally forgot about, so I thought I had an hour and started curling my hair when my husband brought to my attention I had 10 minutes until church started.

So I put the uncurled top half in a bun and ran but we were still late for church...but so was the main speaker so I didn't feel too bad.

Simple Blouse Week: Day 2 Pointed Peter Pan

2013-04-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of Simple Blouse Week has a contrasting collar!

I cut the neck a little higher and added a pointed peter pan collar in satin.

The other change on this variation from the basic simple blouse pattern is the bias tape trim on the sleeve hem.

This dot fabric was on the sheer side, so the blouse is also lined, which helped create a nice neckline with the collar.
The raw edges of the all three layers is folded in between the blouse and lining to make a smooth, finish around the neck without any top-stitching.

The biggest challenge was drafting the one piece collar.
Erin's tutorial helped make it easier than my original plan.
I went with pointed tips to make it a little different than a regular curved peter pan collar.

Of all my blouses this week, I think this is the top I'm most excited about....

...but feel like I don't really know how to wear it!

Simple Blouse Week Day 1: Printed

2013-04-01T01:57:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty excited to switch gears from all the Ellie/ toddler/ girl/ dresses and do some selfish sewing for myself.

After each baby I seem to feel disappointed when I unpack my regular clothes and want to throw them all away and start over.

Maybe it has to do with the hormones or something, post-partum wardrobe meltdown syndrome?
But I really wanted some new tops once packing up the maternity clothes and I'm still trying to avoid knit t-shirts.

The solid knit Target or Old Navy tees served me well the last 15 years of my life.

I'm trying to branch out more into the blouse arena where the fabric doesn't cling to my saggy post-baby gut.

Plus summer is on its way and a looser woven blouse is much cooler than the knit tees right next to my skin.

Thus I have a whole week of posts based on my original simple blouse from last summer.

So get ready for:

here on the blog.

There's five different variations of the basic simple blouse planned.

My blouse pattern is as simple as it comes, no boob darts, no closure (neck is large enough to go over head) and no special seams.

I'm planning on keeping the posts simple with only a few pictures, as the same shirt 5 ways doesn't really require too much elaboration...and I got lazy with the photoshoots. :)

I had specific outfit ideas around each blouse, but decided just to take photos of them in jeans for this go around. Hopefully they'll pop up again in future posts down the road.

(I'm also hoping to sew a batch of casual summer skirts)

These were really fun to whip out, taking between 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on the variation.

So first up:

Printed

The most obvious way to switch up a basic pattern is in the fabric choice.

I found this vermilion print on the clearance table at Joanns, making this top cost only $3.00

It's just the basic simple blouse pattern using a printed fabric.

This was the easiest, only taking about 15 minutes to cut and sew.

Just side and shoulder seams, insert sleeves, then hem the sleeves, neck and bottom.

I don't often sew with prints, especially in clothing for me, so this is my subtle branching out into the scary realm of printed fabric.

I.Q. Dress

2013-03-28T23:13:00.000-05:00

This dress was also for Ellie's birthday and is also her Easter dress for this year.

It is inspired by a dress Meg Ryan's character wears in I.Q., a romantic comedy made almost 20 years ago.

The movie is set in the 1950s and Meg Ryan's character wears lots of cute dresses.

I really liked this one, with the white contrasting details and decided to create a toddler version for Ellie.

I went with green like the movie, but rather than the olive, I used a pastel green eyelet.

The white detailing is top-stitched 1/4" wide bias tape.

A white grosgrain ribbon is at the waist and ties in the back.

My favorite part is the front loop detailing.

The white lines continue on the back where they meet at the zipper.

The dress ended up being a little big.

I was hoping to give her enough room to wear next year as well, and she'll probably be able to wear it longer than that in the bodice.

We'll just have to add a little petticoat if the skirt gets too short I guess.

The bodice had to be lined due to the holes in the eyelet, and the edges were finished with white 1/2" double fold bias tape.

I'm planning on layering it with longer sleeves for fall.

Eyelet is one of my favorite fabrics, so I'm excited to see it popping up everywhere this spring.

We took these photos at a park when we were visiting my mom in southern Utah.

Ellie insisted on wearing her green rain boots.

She's got her own sense of style that I wasn't willing to fight!

I'm excited for next week--it's 5 days of SIMPLE BLOUSES!!!

I've been pretty Ellie focused lately in my sewing, so it's been fun to recently pump out a few quick tops for myself and it will be weird to have a post every day which hasn't happened in some time.

Silky Giraffe Jammies

2013-03-27T09:19:00.000-05:00

Ellaria loves silky things.

Like my underwear she'll steal and stretch out.

So I thought she might like some silky pajamas of her own made from this giraffe printed charmeuse satin.

I didn't use a pattern and just hacked it out, thus the sleeves were weird flutter-ish cap sleeves.

I had to sew darts in them to help them curve down a little bit.

The bottoms are just simple two piece, elastic waist pants.

The top goes over the head with the little sleeves.

The back of the top has a button loop closure to allow it to fit over her head.

We couldn't celebrate her birthday on the actual day because my husband was working a 24 hour shift and would miss everything, but we did let her wear these pajamas to bed on her birthday and she didn't take them off the next day when we actually celebrated her turning two.

I can't believe she's two!

Time flies and she's grown a lot and is our little maniac.

She has so much energy and keeps me running way more than my first kid ever did!

I wish I was a cool mom that did the huge themed, napkin-straw coordinated birthday parties, but we keep it pretty simple at our house and just have a cake with "2" in sprinkles.

Yellow Owl on Pink Backpack

2013-03-25T23:10:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I made animal backpacks to sell on etsy.

I recently packed up about half my fabric and found a half completed owl backpack.

Ellie has been borrowing RJ's boy backpacks in an attempt to pretend to be Dora, singing the backpack song, so I thought I'd finish the old etsy one up as a gift for her 2nd birthday.

The body is hot pink 32 wale corduroy lined in a yellow cotton blend.

The underside of the straps and ribbon hanger is in pastel pink.

A simple velcro closure makes it easy for a toddler.

The owl flap is a yellow and green paisley-ish floral and I used maroon for contrasting wing lines and beak.

More sewing from Ellie's birthday to come!

Metamorphosis Butterfly Frock

2013-03-14T23:20:00.000-05:00

This is a project I think you'll love or hate.

There's no in between because it's weird, nerdy, and a titch creepy.

Kind of my nerdy spin on all the girly butterfly stuff everywhere.

I took the life cycle of monarch butterflies and appliqued the process on a little dress for Ellaria.

And I love this thing.

My husband had a Saturday off and I had some precious "alone" time and busted it out.

I hadn't sewn in a while with the new baby and preparing our house to sell, and just creating it made me so happy.

Some people exercise, shop, or get a message for "me" time, but making this was so fulfilling and fun...which is why I have a butt-load of pictures in this post.

Anyway, the idea has been mulling in my head for over a year.

In 2nd grade we spent what felt like weeks studying the life cycle of monarch butterflies and I remember having to draw and write out all the stages, so it was fun to relive it a little again.

AP Biology was also one of my favorite classes in high school.

I remember the text book had an owl on the cover and I seriously considered never turning it back in.

It was my senior year so they couldn't have tracked me down or had any real consequences, and I really wanted to keep it as a reference because it was that great and I am that nerdy.

But on to this nerd sewing this butterfly dress.

I was inspired by:

- the pretty greens and blues of the chrysalis and steps in this image.

-the jute neutral base and applique hem in Cherie from You and Mie's little Fantastic Mr. Fox tunic

-Ellie's favorite book right now is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

RJ (almost 5) was really interested in learning about metamorphosis and helped me plan it out on the dress.
We watched this video over and over, he thought it was cool and I was trying to figure out which stages I wanted to sew.

So basically the life cycle of a monarch butterfly starts as an egg,
then the...

I wanted the images to wrap around the dress so it wasn't just flat on the front.
So I cut out the dress front and back, and sewed the right side seam to work on the appliques with a flat surface.

The baby caterpillar ends up on the back side, but I liked the wrap effect of the imagery around the hem of the skirt.

HOW TO SEW SOME BUTTERFLIES!

The process is really quite easy, and was a lot of fun.

PAINT:

I first took a scrap of green fabric (formerly a sheet) and used fabric paint in green and a mix of blues to paint a strip of green to blue gradient.

Basically pouring a glob of green on one end and blue on the other and sloppily painting them until they slightly mix in the center.

Once dry, this strip is what I used to cut out the chrysalis pieces.

APPLIQUE:

Using the pellon fusible webbing that is double sided with paper backing, I drew out the shapes of the different fabric portions.

Next, I ironed the webbing on the back of the fabric scraps, cut out the shapes, arranged them on my skirt, peeled off the paper backing, and ironed them on.

THREAD DRAWING:

To create the details, I used my free motion presser foot and "drew" with thread.

I put the feed dogs down so I have free moving fabric and draw away.

I think my favorite aspect of the thread drawing is the sketch-like quality it gives the final shapes, like you used pen and ink.

I used different thread colors, like adding white on the butterflies and two colors of gray for the empty chrysalis.

DRESS DETAILS:

After all the time making this dress, I wanted to make sure she could wear it a while.

So it's a basic a-line jumper that is a dress now, but could be worn as a tunic with leggings when she's older.

The neck and arms use the same orange fabric as the butterfly wings with homemade bias tape.

Milky green and blue buttons finish it off on the back for the 1" wide placket.

So both Ellie and I love this little dress and I've been thinking about my next artistic, nerdy, piece of clothing to make....

....the Krebs cycle? Mitosis? Immune System cartoon battle? Pollination & Fertilization of plants?

Neon Necklace Dress

2013-03-13T03:00:00.000-05:00

Ellie has a long torso.

So most of her shirts are too short and her belly hangs out.

Lately I've been trying to whip her up some tunics and casual dresses to wear with leggings so she'll have some options other than all her belly tops.

This little knit dress was inspired by a boden necklace dress and a charcoal backpack with neon trim.

{boden usa} {backpack}

The inspiration boden dress has rows of the necklaces, but I overlapped mine to give it more of a jumbled necklace look rather than the rings.

I upcycled a boys neon pink t shirt that was on sale for $3.00 for the knit trim and leggings.

The "necklaces" are strips of t-shirt 1/4" wide that are zig-zagged onto the dress.

I also added just regular pink thread zig-zags between for smaller details.

The pockets have the neon piping along the top as well.

Neon Necklace Tutorial:

1. Cut out:

-dress

-neon knit strips 1/4" wide

-front and back neckline facings = the same neck and shoulder pattern of dress but only 4" long

2. Sew facing to dress along neckline with both front and back pieces.

3. Open facings and align front and back with right sides together, sew shoulder seams making sure the dress-facing seams line up.

**You could also sew the facings and dress right sides together at shoulder seams separately, then join them sewing around the neckline, either way works.

4. Pull facing away from dress and zig-zag around, understitching (with a zig-zag or stretch stitch) facing to dress seam allowance to help keep facing down.

5. Press neck seam with facing down

5. Take your thin knit strips and zig-zag them to the dress, using the facing as stabilizer.

I drew a path with chalk then sewed it around, overlapping "necklaces" to look more natural.
I also added a zig-zag stitch between knit lines.

You could do lots of unique things or designs with the thin neon strips beyond the necklaces, and could even just use them to embellish an existing top or dress!

Peek-a-boo Swim Suit

2013-03-12T04:00:00.000-05:00

Amy at Nap Time Crafters is having a spring blog tour of her Peek-a-boo Pattern shop!

Today's stop is one of her many swimsuits for little girls.

I reviewed Amy's Sun n' Fun Swimsuit for toddler girls all the way up to size 12.
It's a basic swimsuit with the optional ruffle shoulders and bow back detail.
It's nice to have a basic pattern as a base to use for future variations!

Following the pattern's size chart I sewed a 18 month size for Ellie.
It fit well and I think next time I'll cut a little extra room in the bum as she's not potty trained and has to wear a swim diaper that gets big and bulky when wet.
For now it's a great fit in the bum over a dry regular diaper.

I chose not to add the ruffle sleeve or bow in the back, so I cut the back scoop 1.5" taller on the back.

I'd say this pattern is advanced beginner.
The design is basic and simple, but sewing swimwear can be tricky and frustrating.
Here's a great link for tips on sewing swimwear if you're just starting!
Creative Chicks complete list of swimsuit tips

Ellie loved her new swimsuit and didn't want me to take it off!

You can also enter a giveaway to win ALL the patterns featured on the spring tour!

Rafflecopter giveaway

Ikat Toddler Dress from Blouse print disaster

2013-03-04T02:07:00.001-06:00

I made a cute little dress for Ellie.

But it was the remedy for a big project fail.

I really liked the colors in this ikat printed chiffon and made myself another simple blouse.

It's the 4th time I've used my little pattern, so I just sewed it up.

I tried on the finished blouse and to my horror realized the unfortunate placement of the print on my chest.

NOOOO!

When I cut it out I didn't think about the print becoming offensive in its placement.

Not only the dark dots, but the white "v" shapes were just in the wrong spot.

A friend saw the photo and called it "tribal boobs".

Another friend suggesting fixing it with a pocket, which would have maybe saved it, but at that point the blouse was already tainted and hacked up too make a toddler dress.

It was such a bummer to put it on and just realize I'd never be comfortable, always wondering if anyone noticed the ikat tribal boobs.

The bummer is I went back to Joann to buy more to remake the blouse and they were out of the fabric.

I had bought in on the clearance rack so I wasn't surprised, but I'd been really excited about the blouse and was going to make a camel colored skirt to go with it.

SO now it's a little dress for Ellie.

I just cut a simple neckline with little cap sleeves.

The lining was used to finish the neck and sleeve opening so I wouldn't have to hem them, as it would have been a pain with chiffon.

The construction to use the lining to finish the neck and arms is kind of like putting a vest together, sewing the neck and arms first then the shoulder and side seams last.

For the back closure I used navy satin ribbon as the thin chiffon couldn't support buttons very well.

Usually Ellie doesn't care what she wears, but she really liked this little dress and didn't want to take it off.
The only problem is the static made the lining ride up on her tights so it was just sheer chifffon from the waist down a few times.

I'm thinking in the summer with out tights it won't ride up as much.

Ellie loves candy.

So in the end I'm glad my disappointment turned into something I could still use even though I'd rather have had a blouse for myself. Next time I sew an ikat print I'll be more aware of where shapes are falling!

K.I.D.S guest post: Space Pants

2013-02-28T09:29:00.001-06:00

If you haven't been following K.I.D.S over at me sew crazy, you should check out all the sewing inspired by children's designs.

Today RJ and I are over there sharing his space pants he designed!

Check them out here!

It was so nice to have a scheduled obligation to sew. It's been a while and was so nice to create something again!

More Pajamas and curtains from a sheet

2013-02-21T23:39:00.001-06:00

I made some quick pajamas for my niece who's even taller than I am at 6' tall.

For some reason, there are never long pajamas (at least that I've seen).

She's taller but I'm bigger, so I couldn't throw them on to model them however.

I used Anna at Noodlehead's tutorial here.

It has a waistband with elastic and shirring on the back half.

Check out Anna wearing her cute ones from cotton voile.

They have a really cute fit for pajamas.

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The only other sewing I've done lately was to make new curtains for my kids room.

I used a white flat sheet that had striped texture. It was only $2 from the thrift store.

I used the wide decorative cuff that goes at the head of the bed for the bottom of the curtains.

Then just a simple valance to go across the top.

We're putting our house on the market to try to sell next week.

EEK.

So I've been packing up a bunch of things I won't need between now and our move, de-junking, organizing and deep cleaning.

It's been a drag, especially with my kids running around making messes in areas I'm not working on.

Selling our house hasn't even started and it's kind of stressing me out.

So here's my MLS photo of the drapes in the kids room.

I had to pack up half my fabric stash to make the sewing room presentable.

In the process of going through all my fabric there was a shocking mass I'd totally forgotten about.

So now I have a whole stack of inspiration from the forgotten fabric but need to keep cleaning/ organizing, etc.

But here's my question:
What are your methods to store your fabric?

I have the cubbies for smaller pieces 1 yard or less on the wall, but the folded stacks just don't work very well for me.

Like clothes, you only wear what you can see.

I only sew with what I can see and so much got lost in the piles.

So if you have any ideas on how to store fabric that's a few or more yards in size, I could use some tips!

Pajamas from Pillowcase

2013-02-15T09:57:00.000-06:00

{made with standard size pillowcase, just monster printed}

Using a pillowcase for kids clothing is an old idea.

Tons of pillowcase dresses have floated through blog-land for years, along with pajama pants as well.

So I realize this isn't the first time you've seen pants made with a pillowcase, but these were just really fun.

We had a Herberger's department store open last fall and they had huge sales with their grand opening.
I got a twin sheet set in this monster print for $12 regular $60.

They're a microfiber blend that's really soft and silky feeling.

But to be lame, these monsters didn't go with the rest of his bedding to go on top of his bed.

So we use the sheets and I cut the pillowcase into pajama pants.

I actually made these last fall, but RJ said he wouldn't wear them.
So we set them aside and I brought them out and this time he had changed his mind.

The nice thing about using a pillowcase is using the cuff as the hem. It makes it quick to sew, these were made in less than 15 minutes.

The bad thing is there is only one direction to cut the fabric, so in this case having a print made them go side ways rather than up and down and if you notice or things like that bug you, not the best idea.

RJ's favorite photo in these pants below:

They're a really great fabric with the silky feel and non-wrinkle factor.

Why didn't he immediately love these?

Who knows.

I've actually thought about using the flat sheet to make me my own since the flat sheet always gets shoved at the foot of the bed anyway.

Despite the initial hatred of these pajamas, RJ did cooperate to have some quick pictures taken.

(I had to exchange nailing scraps of wood together for a "car boat" he was building, so pretty fair trade)

But then he said he was dead.

I guess the photo shoot is over!

Thanks and A Mom Memory

2013-02-14T00:28:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post:

First, thanks for all the support I've received on the baby bedtime bag pattern!

I really appreciate all those who have purchased it and hope to see some of your versions in the flickr group so I can check them out!

Next, I also enjoyed all the comments on RJ's sharpie t-shirt.

I'm glad I decided to document it really fast.

As I was reading your nice comments, it reminded me of something my mom did for me when I was little.

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Here's my dad's all time favorite picture of my mom.

I was number three and not born yet, looking at this now makes me realize RJ kind of looks like my oldest brother.

STORY:

So I don't know how old I was, but pretty little.

I drew my family on a paper, and at that time humans to me were circles with arms and legs coming out of the head.

NOTE: I grew up with a "fun" mom.

She'd jump on the trampoline, build snow slides in the front yard, freeze us an ice skating rink over the garden in the winter, and even check us out of school to go see girly movies like Swan Princess and Little Women.

So anyway, this occasion she was impressed with my drawing of our family and decided to put it on a sweatshirt.

Which made me think I was amazing.

baby Jess around age 2

I remember she was using black puff paint (late 80s) on a peach Hanes generic sweatshirt.

The sweatshirt was laying flat on a couch that had brown, blue, grayish huge flower things on it.
Hideous couch looking back. It was the kind of print as a kid I'd stare at and see all sorts of fish or monsters in what I assume were flowers.

Anyway, my memory is standing by her watching her study my drawing, then puff paint the heads with limbs on the sweatshirt for an exact replica in my mind.

I assume it made a lasting memory so young because I was obviously so proud at how clearly awesome I was.
My mom apparently LOVED my drawing of our family so much she was painting it on a sweatshirt!

For her it was mainly a work shirt, but I do remember her wearing it once in a while and again just thinking how great I was.
I was great, and my art was great.

I don't know what happened to that peach sweatshirt, but I wished I'd stolen it from her to have it now!

So pretty much I had an awesome mom and I wish I was more like her.

Hopefully remembering that piece of childhood will help me give my kids more opportunities to feel their creativity is....(and makes them) amazing!