Running With Scissors

FINALS: Weekend At Granny's

2012-02-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

Well first off, can you believe I am still around for the final week at Project Run and Play?

I have to say I'm pretty surprised I made it this far. Of course you always hope, but to get to sew for this week was really exciting for me. Stressful too, as I didn't do as much preparation for final look, as I wasn't sure I'd ever need it. So thank you for all the support throughout the competition, and those votes that helped me get here!

Voting open through Sunday night to determine the winner of Season 3 of PRandP and the amazing $500+ prize package!!

VOTE HERE

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Signature Look:
Weekend At Granny's

This last challenge is "Signature Look", or whatever you want that represents you.

This was the hardest one for me, I think it's easier to have some kind of focus or assignment, but fun to make whatever you want.

I decided to sew for both my kids, as they both are my inspiration and motivation to sew.

I also knew I'd be sewing some historical or vintage inspired look.

But from there, it was kind of a process to narrow down and figure out what details to design/ sew. I made lists of all my favorite fabrics, color schemes, garments, and influences and ended up finding a mesh of a few of these favorites.

This week's look is: vintage inspired, military influenced, has tweed and upcycled knits, coats, pleats, welt pockets, and some asymmetry all in comfortable, washable, easy to wear separates.

I liked the texture of the different fabrics, stripes, plaid, and colors in these looks. I think it has a lot of interesting elements that's obviously got vintage roots, but created in a more modern look.

So the rundown of everything I made this week:
Convoy Coat, Sergeant Tee, and Olive Plaid Pocket Trousers
Tweed Peplum Jacket and flat-front circle skirt, double breasted tee shirt with mustard buttons, mustard leggings and baby TOMS gray/ mustard shoes

I'll start with Ellaria this week.

Her jacket has a simple shape, but a few details that make it stand out.

First of all, I chose to use a burgundy tweed. Typically you don't see tweed on kids, but it gave the look a vintage 1940s feel to me. I've read a few places how peplums are trendy for 2012 and figured I'd hop on the trend early and designed the coat with the waist seam and peplum that's intentionally not too ruffly.

The coat is lined in gray polka dot flannel.

To make the look a little more feminine, I thought of having some kind of trim at the sleeve and neckline. I'm not the biggest fan of ruffles, so the box-pleats that fan out mimic the shape of a ruffle, but have a more structured, crisp look. I love a pleat!

You can see how they bend out and back along the shape of the neckline.

I love a standing collar, and so the pleats decrease in size as the shape of the coat front curves to make room for the chin. The coat closes with two large buttons, with a double breasted overlap.

Next I have to talk about the shoes!

I actually considered buying some for this look, but ended up not liking the kid size TOMS. They've got a big velcro tab, and I prefer the adult version with a slip on, wrapped look.

SO I MADE SOME BABY TOMS!!

I love these things so much I'm going to have a whole post just on the shoes later.

But my favorite part is the heel patch, which I free motion sewed her name on.

The darted square toe makes these fit really well, giving the shoe height for some thick, short chubby baby feet that just won't fit in regular shoes we've bought.

Under her coat, she's wearing a tee shirt that's upcycled from my mom's shirt, and mustard leggings I made from a maternity shirt.

It's a double breasted style tee shirt with three mustard buttons and white piping.

On to RJ's look.

He also had a tee-shirt upcycled from my mom's original.

It's a turtleneck, but something I'd never seen before with the open neck that starts off to the shoulder.

It reminded me of a military neckline, so I thought the navy epaulets were a fun details to give it a masculine edge.

There's also the kangaroo pouch pocket on the belly to keep it kid friendly.

Now on to the trousers.

I went with plaid. I had a dark olive and tan plaid that I thought could work as pants without being tacky.

Although it does look weird with his shirt still tucked in.

There's an elastic waist with belt loops, and I had to have some welt pockets somewhere, and they ended up on his bum. I added the contrasting pocket top and flaps.

The big feature on these pants are these big patch pockets.
A "patch pocket" is where you just sew the fabric on top of the pants, creating the pocket all on the outside. These took extra time because I had to make sure to cut them so the plaid lines on the pocket would match up with the plaid on the pants once they were sewn on, and that they'd be in the same places for the right and left sides.

Pattern matching is a pain, but in the end makes it look a lot more professional.
You can see these pockets are big, and wrap around the side of the pant, and can hold a lot!

Now for the Convoy Coat!

I designed this coat from two different British classics.

The Norfolk Jacket and the Duffle Coat.

Norfolk Jackets were used for shooting dress. The cut was looser to raise your elbow to shoot. I liked the box pleat, self made belt, and huge patch pocket details, but felt the lapels were way too dressy for a kid coat.

The Duffle coat originated in the Royal Navy during WWI, then more commonly in WWII. It had toggles so they could unbuckle the coats while wearing big gloves, and the hoods were large enough to go over flat topped navy hats. They were also knee length. I liked the idea of having a hood, the overall sack shape of the coat, and the few simple closures.

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So I kept the shape, length, dropped shoulders, hood and closure of the duffel, but maintained the box pleat, yoke, self made belt of the Norfolk. The back also has the double box pleats that act as belt loops.

This coat is lined with fleece, and it's really warm. RJ was trying it on for a fitting and said: "Get me out of this! I'm too hot!" So I think it would be a great coat to dress up or down in the winter when they're not sledding or something directly in snow and they'd stay really warm.

My own design not derived from the inspiration coats were the closures. I decided to make kid-friendly denim belts to close the coat. The belts loop through D rings on the opposite side of the coat, folding back on themselves, and securing with velcro. Easy on and easy off.

The waist has the belt that has a larger D ring, but the same concept.

Thanks for checking out my looks! The wool tweed coats seemed like they would be great for a train ride, and where else do little kids go except to visit Granny!

Voting for Project Run and Play Finals is open through Sunday night!

Here's a funny blooper when RJ was complaining his head itched.

Oddly enough the baby that can't stand on her own or walk was the easier model to work with during this round!

Exposed Zipper Pocket Tutorial {Bomber Jacket}

2012-02-07T23:03:00.001-06:00

I'm so excited to share a few tips I used on my Squadron Bomber Jacket!

Here's how to add an exposed zipper pocket.

In my case, I was making the entire jacket, and it was my first step.

But you can always purchase a hoodie, sweat shirt, pants, tote, or jacket and just add a zipper pocket!

Supplies:

-article of clothing

-Zipper

I found mine at JoAnn they are "fashion zippers" and have the silver teeth and gray tape. I used 5" zippers since they are going on a small chest, but you could use longer lengths.

-Pocket Fabric

I cut two rectangles: both 1.5" wider than your zipper (mine were 6.5" wide)

Determine how deep you want your pockets. Add 1" to the height of bottom piece for seam allowances.

Add 2" to top piece for seam allowances and room to go on top and around zipper tape

(so my pockets were only 3" deep so my pocket pieces were 4x6.5" {bottom} and 6x6.5" {top})

1. Draw stay stitch rectangle.

You need to determine where you want your zipper.

I draw a line where the zipper will go first. Make sure this line is as long as your zipper.

Add another line 1/4" above and below your first line. This will make the total height of the hole 1/2" in the end.

2. Sew Stay Stitch Rectangle

It's important to pivot at the corners really precisely to have a nice clean finished corner in the end.

Once you've sewn around the outer rectangle, cut along the center line and cut the angles into the corners, making sure to cut close to the thread, but not through.

4. Sew pocket fabric to Jacket

With the jacket facing up, you'll line up the pocket pieces, with your taller piece on top, or toward the head.

You'll want to make sure the pockets are face down so you have right sides together.

Next you'll sew right on top of the stay stitch rectangle, but only on the long seams across, not up and down the ends.

It's actually easier to sew these pockets to the jacket if you flip it all upside down, so you can see the stay stitch rectangle you sewed earlier. So the above step is the visual of how and where the pockets attach to the jacket, and below is the picture of what it actually looks like when I'm sewing the seam.

-wrong side of jacket is up, and you can look through the slit to line up the pocket fabric, right sides together to the open edge. You'll sew right on top of the previous stitching with 1/4" seam allowance.

MAKE SURE YOU DON'T SEW BEYOND THE STITCHING ON EITHER BEGINNING OR END OF SEAM as this will make a pucker in the end. So I sew slow and use a smaller stitch length so I don't overshoot the end of the seam, but you want to finish directly on top of the corner.

******This is the hardest part because you have to sew as precise as you can.

5. Flip and Press

Once both sides are sewn, you'll have each half of your pocket attached to your jacket. Next you'll stuff the pocket fabric through the hole. Press with an iron set at your fabric's settings both seams so they are flat.

Here is the back view with the pockets pulled through on the back/ wrong/ inside of jacket.

You'll also want to press the little triangles on each end under to the back, leaving you with a nice, clean pressed opening with finished edges.

6. Sew on Zipper

With the zipper closed (zipped up) you'll pin it to the back of the jacket, lining up the teeth to be in the center of the hole. Top stitch around your zipper 1/8" from folded fabric edge.

7. Sew Pocket Bottom

First you'll put the very top and very bottom raw edges together and sew across the seam, making the bottom of your pocket.

8. Sew Pocket Sides

I flip the jacket so the right side is up, and make sure the pocket behind/underneath is laying flat.

Roll up the side of the jacket, and you'll have the raw sides of the pocket exposed.

Sew down the edge of the pocket fabric creating a side seam for the pocket.

Repeat on other side of pocket.

Trim excess seam allowance.

You're finished!

TIP/ Easier Variation:

I made mine just as you would real welt pockets, but just added the zipper to the back.

But with hindsight I just thought I'd throw out there that you could make these same pockets, and it might be a little easier if you just cut one larger rectangle for the pocket, rather than having two smaller ones.

[pocket rectangle width 1.5" wider than zipper]

[pocket rectangle height: pocket depth x2 + 2"]

so for a 3" deep pocket your finished rectangle would be 8" in height

SO...

The changes you would make to my above directions would be to draw the rectangle on the back of your jacket. Slap on your big pocket fabric rectangle on the front of the jacket, right sides together, lining it up so your rectangle is 1" or so below the pocket piece center. Then flip it over (sewing on the back/ wrong side of jacket) and sew around the entire rectangle, all 4 sides. At this point you'll cut along the center slit and into the angled corners and stuff the whole piece through to the back.

Follow the instructions the same from there.

I didn't photograph it all again, but thought either way works, and you can use the above welt version photos for reference if needed.

Thanks and hope you enjoy adding these trendy exposed zipper pockets to lots of different clothing, pants, totes, etc!

SYTYC Week 2: Roald Dahl Paintings

2012-02-06T10:00:00.000-06:00

Week 1 of So You Think You're Crafty was Organization and a freebie, no one went home.
This week the challenge is CHILDREN'S LITERATURE.
I was really excited about this one because I was a little nerdy bookworm as a kid and love children's novels.
You can VOTE HERE. Poll is found on side bar.
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This week I chose to paint for my project.
I painted my table legs and stools inspired by Roald Dahl's books and Quentin Blake's illustrations.

My favorite children's author is Roald Dahl, the World's Most Scrumiddlyumptious Storyteller.

He wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, and more.

Most of his books were illustrated by Quentin Blake, who uses a sloppy sketch style of illustrations.
These books were really a big part of my childhood. In 4th grade I loved Matilda so much I actually sat on my little sister so she couldn't run away as I read it out loud to her....she didn't fall in love with the book as I expected.
Now I've enjoyed reading them with my own kids. Over the years I've been collecting his short stories, novels, and poems and have a few copies of each now. I just can't pass them up in the thrift store when I see them.

For this week's challenge I chose to paint vignettes from my favorite Roald Dahl books on a children's sized table we use in our toy room.

Table Leg 1: James and the Giant Peach

Table Leg 2: The Twits

Stool 1: The BFG

Stool 2: Matilda

All my paintings are original compositions, but they're all based on Quentin Blake's illustrations. So I look at his original characters in the novels, and use them to sketch and paint my own. His has an easy style to mimic as it's sloppy and basically just sketches. As an artist, it's actually amazing to me how much expression he can portray in characters that just have dots for eyes and scribbled hands.

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Here's all the paintings together.

Painting the table legs pose a challenge, because they're so long, skinny, and faceted. James and the Giant Peach portrays the peach high in the sky, with all the bugs hanging on a string. This painting is composed to seem like you are getting closer as you go down the string, due to the size of the bugs getting larger as they near the base of the table leg.

The other table leg I painted The Twits, which is a really funny, quick read. Mr. Twit is trying to get rid of Mrs. Twit by sailing her away and out of his life with a bunch of balloons. Above in the sky is the rolly-polly bird with the monkey.

The tops of the stools had more room and were easier to compose the scenes.

The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is huge, so to include the main character Sophie, I painted her in the giant hand, with his head peeking into the scene above. He's also holding a jar containing a dream.

The last piece was the other stool, and on it I painted my favorite parts from Matilda. This was my absolute favorite childhood book. Front and center stands Matilda. To the right are her parents tugging on her father's hat Matilda glued on his head. Opposite in the desks are her friends Lavendar and Bruce Bogtrotter (eating a huge piece of chocolate cake of course). Behind Matilda is sweet Miss Honey and Miss Trunchbull freaking out over a newt on her chest.

The paintings are sketched in pencil, painted, then details added with a fine point Sharpie for the sketch feel. I'd hope they stay true to Quentin Blake's aesthetic.

To protect the paintings, I added 2 coats of polyurethane to for durability. So far my son loves sitting on the stools. We've only read James and the Giant Peach from these particular books, and he was excited to identify those characters. Just a fun way to add art to our reading nook.

Week 5 The Real McCoy

2012-02-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

Last week no one went home for Project Run and Play because it was so close, so this week the pressure is on with a double elimination, and it determines the top 3 designers for the finale!

So it's the big times and the challenge for this week was:
Special Occasion/ Party

You can vote here on the upper left sidebar.

From the beginning when I found out all the challenges, this was the week I was so excited about. I was bummed it was week 5 because I wasn't sure I could make it that far in the competition, and I really loved my design and plan. So I'm not only thrilled that I made it this far to be able to compete this week, but I am so proud of my looks.
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The Real McCoy

I made a vintage inspired suit for my son RJ and a satin champagne dress for my baby Ellaria.

When I thought of special occasion/ party, I immediately decided to sew for my kids, as you never want to go to a special occasion without a date!

My inspiration was mainly from my Grandpa.

He was a WWII marine and just an overall handsome, amazing man. My son is named after my Grandpa, and we have the center photograph taken in 1941 hanging in his room. I love the formality of the 1940s and 50s where dresses and suits were everyday wear.

I also of course thought of James Bond, and the scene in Catch Me If You Can where Leonardo Dicaprio buys a suit and wants to make sure it's the exact James Bond replica.

I called my look "The Real McCoy", mainly because I put all the real details in this suit, no faux fly or pockets this time around, this suit is the real deal, just kid sized!

Also, the title references Frank Sinatra, another suit wearing inspiration from this era.

I listened to Frank a lot as a teenager.

So here's an overview of everything I created for this week:

suit jacket and trousers, refashioned tie and belt

champagne satin dress, ribbon belt, satin bow headband, over-sized pearl bracelet, and hand dyed wine tights

I think I'll start with the suit.

I first chose a charcoal herringbone suiting. I liked a color other than standard black, and the subtle texture of the herringbone. I do have to mention what a dream wool suiting is to sew with. It presses so smooth and crisp, like sewing with butter.

Overall, I just love this suit and I'm so proud of it.

It's one of those garments it was finished and fit him so well, I am still shocked I was the one who made it!

Even last summer I don't think my sewing skills could have pulled this off.

RJ was dancing to Michael Buble's "Feeling Good"

I did a lot of research on suits to design this. I really didn't know much, maybe two-button versus double breasted and that's all. There's tons of info out there, but this post is a good comprehensive list of different styles with examples.

So you may not care, but I thought about all the details in depth to design this particular suit. Before I did any research, a suit was just a suit. But learning more made me have specific preferences, like a notch lapel rather than a peaked, etc.

So here's the run down.

Of course the biggest feature that is unexpected on this suit are the exposed zipper pockets.

I thought they added a punk vs refined contrast, military vibe, and just fun kid element. And it's kind of becoming my trademark, as I loved them last week on my Squadron Bomber Jacket too.

The next unexpected feature is the lining. I've found my kids always love the things I sew if they have some input in the process. So I let RJ pick out the lining, as no one really sees it.

I wasn't surprised when he picked camouflage spiders.

LOOK OUT! I have spiders in my coat!

The coat and all the pockets are lined with these spiders and he loves them.

His favorite is to unzip the waist pocket and tell me the spiders are getting out to get me, then I'll scream, and he'll zip it up fast to shut them back in there.

We even have spiders in our trouser pockets!

The inside of the coat has another welt pocket and a label. Just like I made in my husband's pea coat, I added a sentimental note/ clothing label to my son. Kind of like signing a painting for an artist or dedicating literature for an author. The piece of white satin I used for the label is actually a scrap from my wedding dress which I thought was a fun detail/ memory.

"for my son, RJ Boy/ with love, Mom" label from my wedding dress scrap

The back of the jacket has curved side seams, that become the double vents. My french curve and I had a late night drafting those curved seams, and they ended up laying perfectly flat and shape the back really well. I was really excited when that all worked out!

From what I understand, the double vents are an Italian style, and meant to give access to both back pockets without disturbing the silhouette of the jacket when you sit, etc. My husband really likes a double vent from living in Italy a few years, and so this was an obvious detail I wanted to include.

Now on to the trousers.

It seems like they emphasize on the real Project Runway how difficult a well fitted pair of pants can be. That's why I was so thrilled the seat or butt of these trousers fit so well! You don't want a baggy butt, but you definitely don't want the back seam up their crack, so there's a very narrow "tailored but comfortable" zone to aim for.

I'm also proud of the buttoned welt pockets on the back too.

I've put so much effort into this suit, I really wanted it to be able to grow with him, so I have a large hem to lower as his inseam grows. Then for the waist, I knew I needed to make the adjustable elastic waist like you find in most manufactured kids pants.
I looked for the button hole elastic but couldn't find any, so I ended up just cutting this elastic out of a pair of jeans he has that were thrashed and too small.

Adjustable button elastic waist, belt loop detail, zip fly and hook/eye closure.

You'd think a suit might be uncomfortable or restrict movement, but my little guy seemed to be moving just fine.

that's right, no socks...going a little euro today

You can also dress it down for a more casual, going out to dinner look.

This face was just too hilarious not to share.

But back to our date...and on to the champagne satin dress.

I am not the best at designing girl things. It's a lot easier for me to get excited about boy looks.

But I had 1 yard of champagne colored satin and thought I would try to make a great girls dress. I had been inspired by my idea for the skirt a while ago and planned to have a basic scoop neck bodice. I was searching "champagne dresses" just to get ideas on how to accessorize/ style with this color, and found this amazing vintage gown from the 1950s and it became my inspiration for the neckline, and the over sized pearl accessory.

But a cowl satin neckline looks great on a form with a chest. It was a challenge to work the fabric to be subtle enough it's a texture on such a small and boxy shape as a little baby. So I ended up liking the idea of a twisted cowl, where I started at the bottom and twisted the fabric as I shaped and hand tacked it into the cowl shape. In the end I loved the result and the texture it adds to an otherwise simple bodice. I also kept the sleeves simple with just a baby cap.

The bodice has a dropped waist, or at least for most baby girls dresses it's lower.

The sheer ribbon belt velcros in the back and is removable because I didn't want to commit to a particular color. This way we can do lighter colors for spring/ summer, where wine/burgundy felt like a winter look to me.

The skirt is quite full, not a true circle skirt, as it's narrower through the hips then bells out.

This girl became much easier to photograph once she fell asleep.

The accessories are pretty simple. I used satin wine ribbon to sew a simple bow headband. There's about 2 inches of 1" wide elastic at the base of the neck to hold it on. The big pearl bracelet was made with plastic pearls and that stretchy clear elastic found in the jewelry aisle at the craft store.

The skirt was my favorite part.
I designed it with the concept of having a sheer pleated texture on the satin skirt.
To accomplish this look, I cut the skirt into strips, along with champagne organza strips. I pieced the skirt around alternating the satin and organza strips. The I sewed the seams together, making the organza strips fold on themselves like a huge pin-tuck. This ended up giving an architectural element to the structure of the skirt, sheer folded texture, and a slight shimmer from the organza. I used a scant self made bias tape hem, and loved the end result.

So in the end RJ was a good little gentlemen to take his sister on a little date to the lobby of my husband's work. They tried to dance....

had a drink...

then the shoes came off...

...and when your date passes out you know the party's over.

Thanks for making it this far in this epic, long post.

Remember if you like all this, you can vote through Sunday at Project Run and Play!

I did want to mention how grateful I am for my kids to assist me in my hobby. It ended up stretching across three different photo shoots due to different things that came up, bad moods, naps, no light, etc.

It's not their favorite thing to get pictures taken, but they did great!

I think RJ got a wedgie bending in half with his head upside down on the ground.

More About Me: Country Woman Magazine

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

I currently have a little feature/ spotlight on

Country Woman Magazine

if you want to read a little more about me and my blog!

Kind of exciting for me, they're featuring my bird pillow cover tutorial and basket liners!

Since they're featuring my bird pillow cover tutorial, I thought it would be appropriate to include this video clip.
I think it's hilarious!

SYTYC Week 1: Clutter Crates

2012-01-30T10:12:00.003-06:00

My bomber jacket won this last week on Project Runway! It was really close, Stef and I were pretty much tied so I'm sure it was by a hair that it took any lead. So that was exciting, and today both my blog competitions overlap.

So today starts the All Star Round of ,
So you think you're crafty
You can vote for your favorite organization project Here.
Voting is done on the sidebar under all the ads.

The first challenge was Organization, which at first was hard for me to get excited about.

But I started thinking of everything I need to organize and tried to hit two birds with one project.

I cleaned out my wood scrap bin to make crates to hold my clutter in three different rooms. I love these things and we've been getting a lot of use out of them.

All used reclaimed or scrap wood and have drawer pulls for handles.
I don't know about you, but I have piles of junk that we use enough to keep out, but I'd rather have them in a crate to try to look more tidy.

I thought I'd focus on one crate at a time.

MODERN
This ended up being my favorite one.

This box was made with my leftover MDF scraps and had to be pieced together.

I loved the herringbone pattern when it was all done. Originally I was going to paint a chevron zig-zag, but decided it was so trendy, and tried to switch it a little by doing the herringbone pattern. It's a variation of the chevron, but you alternate the colors per row instead of solid zig zags. It ended up working perfectly to seamlessly wrap around the hole box and not break the pattern.
I used left over paint from previous projects.

The crate was free to this point, so I splurged on these bar drawer pulls to use as handles.
I love the modern look the pattern and silver handle give to this crate.

This currently is in our master bedroom and holds all my husbands magazines and reference books that were two large piles on between the bed and his wall.

Crate #2

RUSTIC

This fall my neighbor tore down their fence and she said I could take any wood I wanted before they took it away. So some fence planks have been rotting in my yard for a few months and I used a few to make this crate.

This crate required other scraps to hold the weather planks together.
I chose to use my 2x2 scraps in the corner, 1x2 strips across the bottom, and I made a divider in the center so I could have two separate compartments. One for toys, the other for books.

Once again, I think the finish and hardware make the crate.
I used brass handles that I spray painted black, along with the corner braces and casters. I just thought the shiny silver would look too modern and the oil rubbed bronze made it look more authentic and aged.

This crate goes in our front room. With our baby still in the sit and play stage, we have toys out every day. So now all the toys can all fit in the crate, along with all the books in the other half.

At the end of the day I can easily roll the crate on the caster wheels to the mess, load it up and just push the crate out of the way. I am LOVING this thing!

The last crate was the most difficult to finish.

CHILDREN

This crate is made from my pine scraps.

This crate was made with all pine sides. I had to add 2x2 stubs in the corners to house the casters.

The handles were the cheapest drawer pulls, and were brass. I just spray painted them white to better match the white hardware.

To finish the outside, I really wanted to maintain the natural wood grain and knots since I was using actual wood. But I also wanted it to be colorful as it was for my kid's room.

So I made a wood stain wtih Rit dye and it gave it the color, but is just a stain so you still get the wood grain too.

Using my own had sketched stencils, I gave it natural wood animal silhouettes. My favorite is the elephant.

This crate holds toys and also has the casters to roll around to make my life easier!

This crate is in my kid's room to the toys and books.

These crates are all pretty big, so they go on the floor and wouldn't fit on a shelf or anything.

Week 4: Squadron Bomber Jacket

2012-01-27T04:00:00.000-06:00

I have been so grateful to make it this far, (further than I ever have in other competitions) to week 4 of Season 3 in Project Run and Play.

So thanks for anyone who voted for the Lace Princess Grace look last week and hopefully you will like my

Squadron Bomber Jacket.

exposed zipper pocket tutorial here at Project Run and Play

It's a military inspired, asymmetrical, pocket filled, high-collared and flannel lined jacket.

I styled the look with gray carpenter jeans, army snow boots, and RJ's monster hat he designed last winter with me.

This hat is his favorite and always gets smiles when he wears it in public.

Hat details, pictures, and original post here:

My son was the model again and my husband reminded me of this WWII tank parked in front of the National Guard right by our house.

Jacket Construction:

The style is basically a double breasted coat, having the under-layer cross over past the center line, and the top layer passing across, but in this case the asymmetry of the top side of the coat extends up to the shoulder seam and slopes down to the center line. This coat closes with Anorak snaps, which were large and slate in color which was perfect for my green/ gray look.

The main pockets are the waist welt pockets. They are lined with the green fleece and are the perfect position to jam those hands in there.

The collar is a thick standing piece that tapers on the underside. It covers the entire neck and can act as a scarf/ lower face shield.

To design it laying right, there's a break where the coat front meets the shoulder, which allows the rest of the collar to wrap around the neck.

Another favorite element are those shallow chest pockets.

I found these gray taped metallic 5" "fashion zippers" at JoAnns. The exposed zipper trend seemed fun and masculine for these pockets. The pockets are lined with flannel. I took photos for a tutorial of these exposed zippers, the technique I used is similar to sewing welt pockets.
I have a tutorial planned for these exposed zipper pockets hopefully available in the next few days!

I would love to have made this with a nice wool. But it's itchy, scratchy, expensive and dry clean only. So I stuck with the sweatshirt fleece, as I did with my husband's dress coat I made him for Christmas.

The whole jacket is fully lined with black buffalo plaid flannel.

To me the lining is what makes a big difference in coats being homemade looking or polished. I've made things unlined in the past, which works, but it definitely takes your garment up a notch if it's lined in my opinion.

The layer of sweatshirt fleece and flannel makes this a pretty warm coat. Not a puffy parka, but a good transition coat for when it's too chilly for a hoodie but not quite cold enough for the huge puffer snow coat.

RJ really wanted to get up to get a closer look at the gun, and once I put him up there he doesn't look so sure.

You can also wear the collar down and open if it's too much up at your face, or if you just want to look cool like I did in 1st grade only wearing one backpack strap.

We interrupt this photo shoot for a roll down the hill.

This ended up being my favorite shot, he tucked himself into the wheels, and you can get a good view of the monster hat.

Vinyl Tablecloth Update

2012-01-26T13:19:00.001-06:00

Over a year ago I used tablecloth to make a fitted tablecloth for our dining table.

It has been awesome to protect the wood and made clean up easy with the messy kids.

But it's life came to an end after 1.5 years of use, lots of messes, and I even melted a few holes by an edge of a hot dish that wasn't completely on a pot holder.

So the original black damask tablecloth went in the trash and I needed to make a new one.
But I couldn't find any tablecloth printed vinyl I liked. I even looked at laminated cotton, which was expensive but even then nothing stood out.

So I ended up paying $3.00 for just the clear, thinnest vinyl and made the same fitted tablecloth.
Tutorial here.

But I didn't finish the edge with bias tape or hemming or anything, just a straight cut.

Now I use linen tablecloths and this just protects them from having to wash them every day, which would be the case with kids. So it's a little tacky, like sitting on Grandma's vinyl encased couch, but if anyone ever does come over we'll pull off the plastic and eat on the real linen tablecloth. But no one ever really comes over, so for most of the time we'll have the plastic easy cleanup.

I actually like the idea of having the fitted clear topper tablecloth so I can change out the colors with the season/ event. I did kind of get sick of the black damask after a while, and this opens up a lot of fun opportunities to make printed cloth tablecloths that are fitted and can be exchanged.

I haven't tried it, but I thought if dry erase markers come off easily, it would be a fun drawing mat too. I'm thinking dry erase probably won't wipe off though.

Week 3: Lace Princess Grace Gown

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-06:00

I'm so thrilled and grateful to still be here for week three of Project Run and Play!

Thanks for anyone who voted for the Oxford Gent boy look, I really appreciate it. It's been so fun participating in this competition and has really pushed me in a lot of ways.

{through Sunday night}

This week was especially fun for me, RETRO, picking a decade to design for.

I ended up going with the 50s and made a Lace Princess Grace Gown, dress coat, and clutch.

My inspiration was Grace Kelly.

{source}
Not only beautiful, she was a movie star, an actual princess, and style icon. This dress was inspired by a red lace gown she wore in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder.

So of course a little princess would need not only the gown, but a dress coat and coordinating clutch.

I thought lace would be too adult for a little girl, then I remembered I had this ivory polka-dot lace I'd been saving, and thought it would work great for a little tea length princess dress. Because the lace was ivory, I had to hand dye all my fabrics so they'd coordinate.

It was kind of tricky because the lace was ivory, where the white sheet I used for the base, tulle, and organza were all white. So I learned a lot about dying fabric and lucked out that they all ended up the same shade of seafoam green.

RIT dye has an online formula guide to mix their base dyes to get over 500 colors.

I really love this little gown. It was so fun to make.

DRESS:

The inspiration dress had a sexy sweetheart neckline, which I loved. But for a little girl, I just made a simple v-neck that wouldn't compete with the polka-dot lace.

I loved the sheer sleeves that to me, is typical 50s formal wear and kept the sleeves unlined in my look.

I chose to have a dropped waist on the skirt for a more modern look. The skirt obviously had to be really full and so I have a six-layered circle skirt on this dress.

The base is a sheet, followed by 4 layers of gathered tulle, then topped with a single organza layer for a little shimmer.

The skirt is obviously great for spinning....

...or jumping for that matter.

Dress Coat:

Like all fashionable 50s looks, this gown needed a coordinating dress coat to cover the large skirt to the hem. I designed a peter pan collar with a three button closure to make it easy to get on and off.

Clutch:

I had a set of vintage 50s paper dolls as a kid and I liked how they always had coordinating clutches with their elbow length gloves. We bagged gloves here, but I did make a little clutch from the dress scraps for my little neighbor to have as payment for helping me with the photos.

The body of the clutch is the polka-dot lace with the organza lined lid. I found this rectangular diamond looking button to add a little glam. The clutch is lined with the gray coat fabric.

I told my little model she could open the clutch because everything inside she got to keep.

I'd just got some basic make up for her (I did check with her mom before to make sure it was OK).

Of course her favorite was lipstick!

Thrift Junk Makeover

2012-01-17T14:50:00.000-06:00

I've been sewing and creating for these blog competitions, so my posts have just been the Project Run and Play outfits lately.

Which, by the way, thanks to those who voted for the Oxford Gent look, I'm so excited to be able to go on for Week 3: Retro Decade this Friday.

But despite my lack of posts, I have been making things between.

I didn't take photographs, but I made a batch of shop aprons this week for my in-laws business. I had 10 yards of vinyl to cut and sew. Not complicated, but vinyl is sure a butt to sew on, especially when it was a huge 2 yard piece for these big aprons. Just the weight was a pain and something I should probably do on an industrial machine rather than a little home sewing machine.

So here's just a little project we did when my little guy was in the mood to paint.

Thrifted glass ornaments got a little paint job.

I hadn't been to the thrift store in a while, and on my way out, I went down the "knick knack" aisle. I usually don't look around there, but I happened to see these burnt orange mushroom figurines and thought they would be cute in Ellie's corner of the kids room.

MUSHROOM MAKEOVER:

1. Clean with soap and water.

2. Primed with spray paint primer.

3. Used acrylic craft paint. It required a few coats of the base red and white. Added dots and turquoise ribbed bottom.

4. Painted a gloss sealer on top.

These little guys go on a floating shelf above the baby's crib.

I painted the underside of the mushroom cap turquoise to match the other accents on her wall.

It's an easy project, the painting is simple, and it seems like there's a lot of these little trinket things on etsy. If I was ambitious, I might consider knick knack makeovers to make a quick buck.

Week 2: Oxford Gent

2012-01-13T04:00:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited to be able to compete in Week 2 of Project Run and Play.

Thanks anyone who voted for my Plaid Jacket outfit last week! I really appreciate it.
Today we're competing with our boy look.
Click HERE to check out all the amazing looks, and hopefully you like mine enough to vote for it!
Voting poll is on left sidebar.

My favorite boys style is vintage inspired, but modern enough not to look like a costume.
This particular little set includes:

faux-flat front elastic waist trousers, collared waistcoat, and a long-sleeved tattersall dress shirt with elbow patches.

For this look my son was the model at our local library.

Our library is really old, built over a century ago in 1907.

INSPIRATION:

Because boy's clothing is pretty basic, for me, it's all about the details.

The greatest inspiration for this look is 19th century British gentlemen's elaborate suiting--without the weird billowing button-crotch pants. I've always loved the mens' costumes in period films with their high starched collars and layered waistcoats and jackets.

It doesn't make much sense, but CS Lewis got mixed in the inspiration here, which made me think of using chocolate corduroy and adding the corduroy elbow patches to the shirt. A little professor vibe mixing in.

The last man that inspired me was Atticus Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird), one of my favorite literary heroes and the reason I really wanted a pocket watch to be involved somehow.

DRESS SHIRT:

The blue dress shirt is made with a simple tattersall plaid. I cut the body of the shirt on grain, and chose to have the yoke, pocket, sleeves and button placket on the bias or diagonal.
My favorite element of the shirt has to be the white contrasting cuffs and again the stiff, standing collar.

Detail of bias button placket and chest pocket.

I've only sewn one dress shirt before this one, so I was really proud of my little plackets, as I had to just come up with my own little pattern for the placket, cuffs, and collar. I used one of my son's existing dress shirts as a pattern for the body and sleeves.

The shirt also has elbow patches, which are obviously traditionally on jackets, but I thought for a little boy, it was functional and unique to have them on the dress shirt.

WAISTCOAT:

This waistcoat has two waist welt pockets and an additional little chest welt pocket. Boys always need a few extra pockets for all their treasures. One pocket in this case is for his cousin's pocket watch we borrowed, which he loved because it had a train on the front. The waistcoat is lined in chocolate satin.

The biggest design element that makes this waistcoat unique is the the standing collar. You can find vests with lapels, but the whole standing collar isn't common and I really like the look.
Here's what the waistcoat looks like when buttoned up the whole way:

I also chose to sew the hem straight across like the Victorian styling rather than traditional pointed vests.

TROUSERS:

These were the easiest piece of my look. I made the front of the pants flat with a faux fly, slant pockets and the back has elastic to keep them up. I made a straight leg, but kept it pretty loose through the leg as my son has his dad's ham-hock thighs.

I love this outfit. I think from a distance it looks just like a pant/vest set and blue shirt, but if you look close, you notice all the unique details from the collars to the subtle tattersall plaid.

Altogether a classic little suit with some historical fashion elements, while sitll leaving room for some little boy under all the gentleman.

Leap Frog Update

2012-01-12T12:45:00.002-06:00

I have been sewing a ton trying to get ahead with Project Run and Play (Boy voting starts tomorrow) and So You Think You're Crafty which starts Jan 16, so things are in the works, I just can't post them quite yet.

_____________________________________________________________________

I kind of took a break working on letters and numbers with the holidays, but figured it was time we got working on things again.

For numbers and counting we've just been playing a butt-load of Sorry and Chutes and Ladders. I'm sick of them, but he loves board games right now.

But for the alphabet.....

Way back in 2010 I made these Leap Frog inspired alphabet cards.

Here's a link to print your own.

Here's the original old post for them.

We've been using ours forever, and so I figured it was time to focus more on learning the lowercase letters, as RJ has the capital letters down well.

So I made small lower case cards by just printing them on cardstock and laminating them, although this time I was smart and printed the vowels in blue paper and the consonants are in cream.

To transition from the colorful cartoon cards to learn the plain lowercase, we've been playing this game he loves and I thought I'd share it.

I lay the lowercase baby cards out on the floor in a big pile, then he picks one of the big cartoon cards.

He has to find the matching lower case and put the big card on top of the smaller.

My big cards have the upper and lower case print outs on the back for the times he can't remember what the lower case looks like.

He gets really into and likes to "smash!" the lowercase when he finds them and we also play hot and cold with it. I'll whisper the sound of the letter and as he gets closer I make the sound faster and louder until the baby letter gets crushed. Maybe girls won't get as much satisfaction from crushing baby flash cards, but he loves it and asks to play it.

Now I have to think of something to get him excited about learning numbers. Every time he sees 7 he says "I don't know who that is". I review it ALL the time but he's still trying to figure out just who 7 is I guess. If you have any good preschool aged number learning ideas we could use them!

Week 1: Plaid Pizzazz

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-06:00

This week Project Run and Play starts!

If you have a second you should click over there and vote for your favorite look and hopefully you just happen to like mine the best!

Plaid Pizzazz

This first week's outfit is modeled by my cute little neighbor.

This first challenge was to make your own variation using the Junebug Dress sewing pattern from Craftiness Is Not Optional.

I chose to sew separates rather than a dress.

Jacket and a knit bubble skirt.

So first, the jacket.

I wanted to keep the double breasted button closure and the trapezoid shape from the original pattern. But I obviously lengthened it, changed the neckline adding the hood, and added long sleeves without the gathered shoulder.

I chose a gray plaid and cut the jacket on grain, except for the front trapezoid piece which was cut on the bias so the plaid is on the diagonal to add some variety and visual interest.

The hood and jacket are lined in white.

The right side of buttons are just decorative, and the left side are functioning buttons to close the jacket.

The skirt is a simple bubble skirt with an elastic waist, but I always have to add pockets to skirts or dresses if I can, and I chose to have welt pockets for this skirt.

The welt pockets have really thick cuffs, 1" tall and have the cuff portion from the plaid, once again cut on the bias.

When sewing clothing for kids, I always hope they will look cute, but also be comfortable...which may be more important in the long run.

To style the outfit, I bought the tights and hat, and actually spray painted a pair of rain boots that were getting too snug for my son. The green is Krylon Ivy Leaf.

This little girl did so great letting me take her pictures in the cold weather.

So her payment was the outfit, balloons, and matching Jelly Bellies!

Thanks to anyone who votes for my outfit.

There's a particular challenge coming up that I am so excited about--probably one of my favorite things I've EVER sewn.

My goal is to just hang in there to get to my favorite challenge!

Men's Dress Coat

2012-01-04T00:56:00.001-06:00

My husband really needed a nicer dress coat.

He has to wear dress clothes to work, and his puffy parka didn't seem that professional, and definitely not fashionable (not that he cares) after I got thinking about it.

So I started looking online for ideas. I pinned a butt-load of men's nicer wool coats and the end, casually asking what he thought, I realized he preferred simple and basic.

My winning inspiration coat that I pretty much mimicked entirely was this University Coat from j.crew.

I was nervous to make an adult wool coat without a pattern. Have you noticed there are virtually NO male patterns for men or boys? So I couldn't bring myself to pay all that money for wool in case it turned out like bonch. So I remembered I had this really thick sweatshirt fleece in my stash that was black.

So I thought it would be an affordable (it was only $2/yd) substitute that would look and feel close enough to real wool. I also fully lined it in regular charcoal fleece, making it a really warm coat. So this puppy is all he'll need in the dark early mornings when he's headed to work.

So to get this done for Christmas.

While he was asleep, I used my husband's regular thin jacket as a pattern. I worked late into the night to conceal my surprise. The back has a yoke and center back seam, which I top-stitched for flat felled seams.

There's a few elements I ended up being really proud of:
the thick welt pockets that are "external hand warmer" pockets

The flap welt pockets are lined with black satin.

The buttons are vintage from my husband's Grandma who passed away in 2006 at age 96.

My favorite part of the whole jacket is the inside "label" I made. I just ironed interfacing on the back of white broadcloth and with my free motion presser foot sewed:
"for Rhett, my beloved husband
love, your Jess
2011"

It's the message on the pocket watch of Atticus Finch in the book To Kill A Mockingbird given to him from his wife. I don't think my husband knows that's where I got it because it's pretty generic, but I liked the idea of having a little Atticus inspiration in this.

We had Christmas at my mother-in-laws and Rhett opened it and said, "wow this looks really nice". I had left the back hem open in case I had to alter it. He saw the back/bottom of the coat unsewn and said: "wait a minute, it's already falling apart." I explained I didn't finish it in case it didn't fit right, and he held it up again and said, "Wow! You made it?"

I thought that was pretty good he thought it was purchased. I must be getting better from my sloppy sewing ways. There are a few things I'd change if I did it again, but so far it's been a good project.

I've just begun sewing for my husband. It's fun to sew for your kids and a lot easier, but I have to say it's my favorite to sew for Rhett. Especially this coat which I'm considering a slam dunk because he wears it every day to work...and it was less than $13.00.

I May Be Crazy

2012-01-03T14:10:00.001-06:00

This Friday Project Run and Play starts.

I've been so excited and the majority of my project time has been dedicated to that these last few weeks. I've really loved sewing for that.

I'm also going to be competing in the All-Star round of So You Think You're Crafty which starts in a few weeks. Everyone in this round of the competition has competed in the past. Some have won or got really close, and so competition will be pretty tough--I'm just surprised I was invited to be a part of it at all, as I kind of feel like an underdog going into it.

We'll see how far I get in either, and it will be a wild ride at my house if I do make it through the first rounds!
Project Run and Play is strictly children's clothing, where SYTYC is pretty much anything you make yourself.
Both have challenging themes that have really made me think and push my creativity.
I'm pretty excited, as this is the fun part, getting ideas and planning it all out.

PS My little sister Lynette is having a little vintage shoe project going on here, and she's giving a pair of shoes away on her blog here.

2011 in Review

2012-01-02T10:37:00.001-06:00

We had a fun Christmas holiday, and we're back and I need to take down all the Christmas decorations, attack a mountain of laundry, and get some groceries.

But I wanted to quickly have a quick post of my favorite projects from this last year.

Toy Story's Bullseye Softie

Red Ripe Strawberry Painting

Dino Tails

Fox in Green Sneakers

Maxi Dress from Vintage Sheet

Baby Ellie Quilt

Shirred Pocket Skirts

Outdoor Fabric Lantern Chandelier

Chaise Lounger

Jack the Pumpkin King life-size

Baby Boarding School Dress

Moscow Wool Dress Coat

I also released three PDF sewing patterns this past year:

Children's Hipster Hoodie

Maxi Sheet Dress

Woodland Animal Costume

This has been a great year for our family, our baby girl was born in March, we've had our health and feel really blessed. This little blog has grown a lot, I've tried to create things outside my comfort zone and feel like I've improved a lot and have more confidence in my sewing.

I'm really excited about the next few weeks as I'll be competing in Project Run and Play and have been sewing children's clothing I can't wait to share! Our first outfits will be up this Friday.

Raspberry Plaid Coat Dress

2011-12-18T20:35:00.000-06:00

About half way through this project it seemed like a mess and I almost threw it all in the trash.

I'm glad I pushed through and finished it in the end now.

A vintage inspired coat-dress.

I had never thought of having a dress that was also a coat. Or a coat that you wear as a dress. Or whatever this thing is.

I saw this red heather wool one from j.crew and loved it.

Carriage coat-dress

J.crew sells them for $450 and are currently all sold out. I would obviously never spend that much on a single piece of clothing, so I thought maybe I could make one instead.

Being an experiment, I wasn't going to use any expensive fabric. I found 2 yards of this mid-weight cotton shirting with a brown/pink plaid in my stash. I'd bought it from fabric.com for $2/yd just to put my order over $35 to get free shipping. I also happened to have some raspberry satin I'd bought on clearance and 50% off, which also ended up being $2/yd. So in the end this coat-dress was under $10.00 which makes me like it even more.

Obviously the expensive j.crew version is better in both fabric and quality, but at least I have a cheaper kind of crappy look alike rather than nothing I guess!

Some of my favorite details:

The Standing Collar

This was an unfortunate mistake. I was in a hurry to get this done, as I wanted to wear it to a big fancy Christmas party for my husband's work and only had a few hours before the party. So I just hacked out a collar, and didn't plan on it ending exactly like this, but I ended up liking it just fine.

The front of the collar has a deep break that overlaps with the other side to button. So rather than one side on top of the other, one side is on the bottom for the length of the placket, then the very top comes in front with the button hole, crossing over the top placket to close. I had a big broach-like button for the collar closure that I thought added to the vintage vibe.

Welt Pockets

My second favorite element has to be the pockets. I always love skirts and dresses with pockets for both function and the look. It just seems like a surprise to have pockets on a dress to me. I made these pockets with a thick 1" welt, and a 1/8" raspberry detail at the base. The actual pockets are really deep, so I can let my arms just hang in them like a monkey. I also found an entire open can of soda fit in a pocket as I was going through the buffet line at the party. Luckily I remembered to get the can out of my pocket before I sat down.

I liked the look of the formal buttoned up collar, but I actually wore it open with the collar folded down a bit.

I usually wouldn't think to have three-quarter length sleeves on a dress, but I loved the 60s vibe it had in the j.crew version, and the sleeves reminded me of Jackie O Kennedy, although she'd probably have worn elbow length gloves rather than the long-sleeved turtle neck underneath.

Here's a shot of the raspberry satin lining.

Which happened to match a pair of tights I've had for a few years but rarely wear.

I was excited to have something to wear these tights with!

I didn't use a pattern, which was probably a bad idea. It ended up being a frustrating process of failing and fixing to get the fit better, but never really great. The cotton shirting was hard to work with, it was too thin and made a challenge trying to pattern match the plaid to some degree. A wool would be better as it's meant to be a coat and this fabric isn't. The thicker satin lining really helped in this case to reinforce and support the shape of the plaid. But I guess it turned out and is wearable.

It's a really easy dress to wear. I feel like it has enough structure and shape I'm not totally wearing a plaid sack or tent, but it's still loose and comfortable. I think overall it's really different from any other dress I've ever worn. I thought it would be cute more of a coat vibe wearing it with skinny jeans and riding boots, ballerina flats or heels to be more casual. Probably would look more like a coat if it was shorter in the mid-thigh range rather than to the knee as I've made it...but I don't wear skirts shorter than my knee so this may end up leaning more in the dress category for that reason.

I didn't get around to it yet, but I plan to add 3 buttons to the back of the sleeves for a faux placket, and probably a few on the front center placket. The j.crew version doesn't have buttons, but I think this thinner fabric needs 2 or three buttons in order to wear the collar closed.

I am interested in your opinions on this idea--a dress that also looks like a coat? Too weird? Any other ideas of how you'd wear it?

Christmas Pillow Covers

2011-12-14T00:10:00.002-06:00

I finally have a project to blog about. I've been sewing things I have to wait until I blog them, and we've all been sick or teething this week at my house....tis the season.

Two things I love, Christmas and envelope pillow covers.

Actually I don't really love pillow covers, but they're so easy to make and saves a lot of money, I seem to make them a lot.

Last year I made this noel pillow cover and wanted to add a few more.

Here's a basic tutorial for making the envelope pillow covers.

The background of this first pillow is an older Moda cotton print by Basic Gray I got on clearance for $2/yd last year. The print was so busy I decided I needed an applique patch for the word.

1. I traced my word onto freezer paper, cut it out, ironed the freezer paper to my red fabric and painted the text with fabric paint. More details on freezer paper stenciling here, or you probably already have a craft cutter you could use too. Then cut your desired shape from interfacing.

2. Sew the interfacing to the right side of the word. **Make sure the fusible side of the interfacing is facing down on the words, or right sides together (fusible/ sticky side being the "right" side of interfacing)**

3. Trim all the excess fabric from your patch. I used pinking shears to trim pretty close to stitching. Because mine is an oval, you need to cut really close or snip the seam allowances.

Snip the interfacing in an "x" shape in the center.

4. Using the open hole in the snipped interfacing, turn the patch right side out. The fusible side of the interfacing should be the back of your patch now. You can just position it on your base fabric and iron it on, and the interfacing should adhere your patch wherever you want it, and the shape has nice finished seams.

I chose to hand sew the edges of my patch with blue embroidery floss. You could always just wing around the edge with your machine too.

I also made another pillow with a square patch.

I didn't want to draw attention to the edges of this larger patch so I just used red thread to sew it on the base.

Each pillow cover comes together really quickly after the letters are painted, probably around 15 minutes.

I like making holiday pillow covers because they can be stored in a sandwich ziplock bag the rest of the year.

Project Run and Play

2011-12-12T09:50:00.003-06:00

My little bio has been posted for today at Project Run and Play.

HERE

What I've Been Up To

2011-12-09T19:48:00.001-06:00

I get to participate in Season 3 of Project Run and Play!

I was so thrilled when Elizabeth emailed me to see if I wanted to be a part of the third round of Project Run and Play, which is a blogger version of Project Runway for kids.

You can get a glimpse of the other contestants here. There are 8 of us.

What I love about PR&P is the fact it's not anonymous. It makes it about 10 times easier to be a part of it since you can use your own kids and usual backgrounds, etc. They have three celebrity judges to balance the voting so it can't be a popularity contest.

I'm just so excited to share my ideas and see what everyone else makes too.

I've never made it past the third week in prior crafting/ sewing competitions, so we'll see how I do!

Season Three will start at the first of the year!

Miss Ellie Is Spoiled

2011-12-03T12:53:00.000-06:00

My little sister Lynette is a really good aunt.

Like wipes my kids butts for me sometimes.

Sometimes I'm sure they wish she were their mom because she's always patient and nice and willing to give out treats!

She's a good aunt to RJ, she blogged a funny story where he ruined all her bobbin thread here.

But she's got a soft place in her sewing studio for little Ellie girl.

Miss Ellaria is getting especially spoiled lately as Lynette has had free sewing time recently and this little chubby girl has become her little muse.

Just check out everything she's made for Ellaria!

each project is in more detail on Lynette's blog, just click the links.

Reversible Dresses

She made her two!

Blue Version

Plaid Version

Cape Coat with Infinity Scarf and Hat

Silhouette Pillow

Vintage Animal Outfit

Fancy Outfit

This is what Ellaria wore for Thanksgiving.

When Lynette first told me her plan, it seemed like unusual colors for a baby girl, but I love it!!!

Ellie was only a model for her baby boy clothes...she barely squeezed in them

While I'm at it, Lynette also made me a button front blouse for my birthday!

In my favorite color actually.

Baby Winter Boots

2011-12-01T11:11:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was our first snow of winter!

Perfect time to welcome December. With cold weather coming in, I decided to make Ellaria little boots out of my scraps.

I purchased the pattern for these easy button boots HERE from I think sew.

As always, fabric shoes never maintain a nice perfect shape like manufactured shoes would obviously. They bunch and can look a little wonky at times. But they're easy, affordable and comfortable and I think they're really cute. She's worn them a few times and has received quite a few compliments on her cute button boots.

They're perfect for Ellie who's not walking yet so she doesn't need real shoes, but with cold weather, it's nice to have more than a sock for her.

The boots are all lined with fleece to make them warm.

The houndstooth pair is a scrap from my sheath dress.

The black pair is from an old wool sweater I cut up.

The khaki pair used the scraps from my uncut corduroy I used for my blazer.

For the bottoms, I used the same fabric and vinyl. The chocolate vinyl sole is a scrap from my DIY Pouf.

Using a sweater was fun, I cut the front tabs with the textured sweater hem on the bottom to make it a little more interesting.

The boot is basically a tall backed slipper, then you sew a separate foot flap that is top stitched to one side, then velcros across the front of the ankle. The buttons are merely decorative.

She's all ready for winter, and has loved watching the snow fall. Pretty easy entertainment!

Moscow Wool Dress Coat

2011-11-27T01:08:00.001-06:00

This coat was three years in coming.

My aunt gave my little sister and I all her fabric a few years ago and we split some red wool. Lynette made herself a wool coat, and I have been hoarding my red wool for three years just trying to get the courage to cut it. Making a coat has been intimidating, but using a nicer fabric like wool made it even higher stakes. So the month we spent staying with Lynette, I decided I would jump in and sew it with her supervision available throughout the project.

Being red and a little military looking, I thought it reminded me of Russia and initially I kept thinking of it as my "Stalin" coat, but that doesn't have the nicest connotations. So I thought it would be a good coat to wear if I ever went to Moscow. So I called it my "Moscow" coat.

For this coat I actually followed a pattern the entire way through, although I did have to lengthen the sleeves a few inches, which is kind of the whole reason I make coats for myself.

I used McCalls M5759 jacket version B.

The element that caught my attention to this coat pattern initially was of course the large collar.

It's all one piece that wraps around and kind of serves as a scarf at the same time.

The under collar and lining are this red and silver striped fabric I found for $1.00/ yard.

The angled front is kind of tricky to button, but I like the lines it creates and I think it makes it a flattering cut in addition to the princess seams.

The pockets are faux tabs sewn on.

I had these buttons which I thought would go well, being large and metallic.

They're actually roaring lion heads if you look closely which I thought was kind of cool and different if anyone ever really took time to notice.

So far I have loved it.

It's one of those projects I look at it and feel shocked I was actually the one who sewed it together.

It was my first time sewing with wool and making a nicer dress coat.

I thought it would also be a fun holiday coat to wear this season!

I'm glad I finally got the courage to make it after holding on to it for three years and I wonder if I could have managed it earlier had I just had the guts to cut into it and make it happen.

Maybe it was better to wait and get a little more experience before now, who knows.

Questions Answered

2011-11-26T16:42:00.000-06:00

A while ago I had a post where readers could ask me anything they want.

Here's the questions I got, and if you have any more questions, you can leave them in a comment or email me here: runningscissor@gmail.com

and if there's anything else anyone would like to know we'll do a Part 2.

Just like before, I feel happy to pretty much answer any question you have, even if it's not a craft/ blog related something you've been wondering about me.

1) Have you been sewing for a long time?
I guess so. But if I say the total years, it will be pathetic how crappy my sewing is. The first thing I ever sewed was probably as a 2nd grader I sewed a pillow for my barbie. In Jr. High I made pajama pants, and pieced square quilts together. I took sewing classes at school in home ec and added a windsock and lame ruffled pillow to my repertoire. I also made a bunch of simple elastic waist skirts, but not really that much. In college I made my husband a rag quilt and pajama bottoms when I was in love with him but we were only friends forever. So I feel like I've sewn a little here and there throughout my life. I knew how to work the sewing machine, but not until I became a stay at home did I really start to sew and develop skills in it. For me, I'm always learning and sewing clothing is a new passion I've had this fall to get better at .

3) What project are you most proud of?
This is a hard one.
I guess for sewing, lately I'm most proud of making myself jeans or my moscow wool coat. I think I've made items that I like better, but for those I'm most proud that I actually had the courage to tackle the project, and pleased that they turned out.

Furniture probably this front facing bookcase. It was the first furniture I built completely by myself from buying the wood all by myself, working all the tools, and mounting to the wall solo. I was shocked I could do such a manly project all by myself and it gave me a lot of confidence in furniture.

4) What hobby would you most like to do for the rest of your life if you could get paid to do it?
That's a hard one too because I really like so many different areas of projects. But I think for me sewing would probably be my favorite as it has instantaneous satisfaction as it comes together, and lots of variety. I think I could sew the rest of my life and still love it.

5) And if you could take one non-essential luxury item to a desert island, what would it be?
probably books actually

6) favorite movie? Rudy. My mom gave me the DVD a few years ago for Christmas and I started watching a special feature and was already crying. My husband Rhett came in so we could start the movie and said something like: "oh no, you're crying already and it already hasn't started..." Rhett teases me about it a lot. I just cry so easily in movies. I was 8 years old and saw Home Alone in the movie theatre and even cried then. The only other person I know that cried in Home Alone is George Castanza. I'm also ashamed to admit I got a little teary in Tangled and even Toy Story 3. I can just cry so easily. As a kid I learned to cry at will, and my dad utilized my skill to tease my mom on more than one occasion but then it backfired when no one took my tears seriously anymore.

7) what is your favorite book? that is too tough. maybe favorite authors would be easier: Roald Dahl and CS Lewis.

8) what is your favorite part of sewing? what is your least favorite?

my favorite part of any project is definitely the planning stage. Getting the inspiration, the initial creativity, thinking through the details, picking colors/ fabric/ etc. It's the fun, exciting part. Then I get started and don't like the process very often, then when it's done I love it again...most of the time. Disasters happen.

Cutting out is by far my least favorite part of sewing. I hate cutting out, but it's so important to get it right in the end.

"How on earth do you have the time to complete all the projects you do with two kids, one being an infant???"
a few people asked this in different ways...ummm. There's probably lots of factors. A few I mentioned already in this post. To add to all of that:

1. Limiting my time to get things done. Cheri at Momma Hear Me Roar said it better than I could, basically if you give yourself 10 minutes or all day to do something, most often you'll use all the time you allot for the task. For example I hate laundry. So I try to encourage myself to just wash, fold and put it all away in one day rather than living out of a laundry basket of clean clothes which we sometimes do--that's just life sometimes at our house. But I find if I reward myself with one episode of a TV show to fold laundry, I can get it all folded most of the time, rather than all day if I don't set a limit and it takes 3 times as long.

2. Working Fast. This sometimes ends up in lower quality obviously, but time is valuable. So I try clean my house like my mother in law will be here in 20 minutes and try to sew as fast as I can. I remember when I bought my sewing machine my little sister said she could never sew on a home machine because it drives her crazy how slow they are compared to industrial. I thought how rarely I sew with full blast speed so that didn't matter to me. After a few years sewing more, I feel the need for speed on a sewing machine and often feel it's just slowing me down not sewing as fast as I need to. So something that would take me a few hours then, may only take 20-30 minutes now. You just get smarter about how you work I guess.

3. Limiting Photography/ Blogging Time to Make More Junk: The computer can suck a lot of my precious time just taking/editing photos, blogging your projects, all the steps of tutorials, let alone all the blog management/ networking that you'd do if you were a good successful blogger (which I'm not...checked out my tutorials tab lately? it stinks I know). I tend to scrimp on the blogging side of things in order to make more projects.

4. Having a Designated Craft/ Hobby/ Studio Space:

For me, this is huge. I share all my project stuff with our office, and so it's cramped but it's so vital to have my sewing machine always there ready to sew at any time. Sometimes I'll sew for 3-5 minutes while my son is finding his shoes, and stop. My husband's Negroni shirt sat over 24 hours with the needle down in the shirt and the seam sewn half way until I could get back to it. Having a physical area/ space to jump in and leave my projects at any time really allows me to take advantage of tiny little breaks of time that pop up throughout my day. If I had to pull my machine out of the closet and set it up on our kitchen counter, I wouldn't get nearly as many things done for sure. So I am so grateful we were able to allot some space for my projects.

5. Night Owl/ Husband Works around 55-80 hours a week
My kids have a 7-8pm bedtime and I never go to bed before midnight. So I have (usually) a good 4 hours most nights to get my household stuff done, or if I'm lucky to work on projects. I stay up late until 2am probably once a week...some weeks a few really late nights. I guess from being a mom I'm getting used to functioning on less sleep or something.

My husband is in a really busy stage of his career and works many and unusual hours. So I have lots of time at home, and where I used to/ would rather hang out with him, he's working a lot. His high intensity career right now adds stress to a family and my creative outlets are therapy for me kind of. I keep busy myself with my own interests and hobbies rather than feel bored/ lonely/ neglected. Granted I still have a melt down now and again from feeling overworked and under appreciated (most moms have these right?). But in some ways, some weeks, projects help me survive when I'm tempted to feel I'm a single mom...which I'm not, but some weeks it can feel like that and it's fun to have something cheap, useful, and personally fulfilling to look forward to.

7. Natural High (I sound like a DARE campaign)
But I actually think, for me, there's a synergy element of making and creating things. It kind of gives me energy, even though it obviously uses energy to create stuff. The idea of making crap late into the night after a day of being a mom can seem exhausting, but it kind of gives me energy for the next day. I'm excited about the projects and it kind of fuels me to do everything else. I don't think I'm addicted, but creating fuels more productivity in the rest of my life. I don't feel it drains energy, but actually gives me energy to be a more active mom, etc. Maybe that doesn't make sense and sounds weird...and maybe the energy I reap from creative outlets is more mental than actually physical.

8. I'm Real and Lame
I have a wall hanging that says: DULL WOMEN HAVE IMMACULATE HOMES.
I am not a dull woman. My house is definitely not a pig sty, but you will find dust and probably some little kid finger prints on the glass door, etc. I try to keep things clean and the main areas of our house presentable, but we live there with little kids so yes, it's not immaculate and some times dishes get left in the sink overnight to be taken care of the next day. I obviously value a clean home but know as a granny on my death bed, the last thing I'll think is "I wish I kept my house cleaner." Sometimes you can have tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner, spend a whole afternoon playing Battleship, and do the quick clean version in the bathrooms and still be OK I think. As for being lame, I really don't have any other hobbies/ interests I'm involved with. With the baby still taking naps, we are kind of home bodies and I'm not very social and kind of a hermit crafting away.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T21:25:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone in the states enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend!

We had a time with family.

Last month we had our family photos taken.

Family photos are so stressful for moms I think.

We had by my cousin's wife Jacquel take them and she was great--fun, affordable, and we're so pleased with our photos! You get the digital files of your photos so you can actually do something with them. It kills me how expensive it can be to print photos from photographer. My kids were being pills so I was just hoping to get one picture with all of us looking semi-happy with eyes open and we definitely got more than that.

Here's Jacquel's blog Moment by Design if you live in Utah County and are looking for a photographer!

I read this article on tips for styling family photos a while ago and thought it had some good ideas to think about. I tried to use the tips but had to adapt them fit our style and family obviously, as my husband wouldn't enjoy wearing a scarf no matter how much it made a family photo pop.

So I started thinking of a color palette I liked, and grabbing fabric out of my stash.

I ended up liking a gray/blue color scheme with yellow accents. I always worry about being too matchy matchy, but I really liked the more simple color scheme, so I tried to use the corduroy and velvet to add some texture.

As I got planning the only fabric I had to buy was the sapphire velvet, which worked out great.

I was so excited at the collaboration of all my fabric, then stopped to realize all I had was fabric--which meant I guess I was going to make all this crap. But I was excited.

My friend Natalie is my friend that I always ask for fashion advice, and I was telling her my plan and if I remember right, she called me a maniac. Which I agreed with, but I had a while before our pictures were scheduled so I thought it would work.

It was a close one.

The morning of our pictures I finished my blazer, made my yellow scarf, and sewed Ellaria's little velvet shoes. I ended up not having time to make my trouser jeans, so luckily Lynette helped me out with that.

Rhett's negroni shirt

RJ's vest and trousers, jacket

Ellaria's dress

My blazer, jeans.

It was a little maddening and more than once I asked myself why I ever thought it would be a good idea to sew the majority of our clothes for this picture. But in the end it does add another personal element of these photos for me. I guess it makes me love the pictures to obviously see my family, plus they're wearing all the imperfect things I made (or Lynette).

This was my favorite of Rhett and I.

I think this is my favorite, my boys with actual real smiles...a rare photo for us.

You should also check out Lynette's most recent post of everything my mom has sewn her...it's pretty cool and I should try to find as many things my mom made me to copy her idea for a post.
Check out my mom's sewing skills here.