Category Archives: Sewing

I’m baaaaack! With Big news!

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So it’s been awhile.  Christmas has passed- Merry late Christmas/Holiday BTW… AND- we found out we are expecting (YAY!)

Now the new year has started and I have a TON of projects that I’m hoping to complete.  Probably too many.  But for some reason I love torturing myself with projects even though I have NO time at all to complete them.  I work, I go to school, I sew…I’m crazy for doing all of this….  Pinterest does not help either- but that is a whole other argument.. 

First things first.  Baby #2 is ON THE WAY!!  I’m halfway there- baby is halfway done baking, perfectly healthy, and we have found out it’s a BOY!  I’m THRILLED.  I have a little girl who is pure princess- but a little boy??  This is exciting!  So my focus these days is of course- decorating his room.

He will be moving into Ms. Priss’ baby room and she will be moving into her big girl room for good.  Right now- she spends time in both and continues to fall asleep in the converted crib- so that will have to change soon.

The idea I have for the nursery is based on colors.  Greens, blues, reds, oranges, yellows..and prints.  I love the look of the more eclectic nurseries that really do not have a theme but incorporate all sorts of different colorful items.  So that’s what I plan to go for. 

To start- I’ve ordered the fabric. Why I feel that making the bedding myself is a good idea is beyond me- but I’m going to try…at least I have a pattern to go by.  I want to make a blanket, crib skirt, crib sheet, pillow accents and bumper or rail guards. 

Wanna see my choices??  Of COURSE you do.  :)

Crib Blanket:Image

 Crib Skirt: Image

Crib Sheet:Image

Accents:Image

 

So with the bedding fabric chosen, I need to figure out art work, and wall color.  I have my eye on this mobile from the Museum Store Company:

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And here are some other design elements that I’m thinking of.

Artwork all from allposters.com:

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Ikea Barnslig mirror

And the rug:

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Ikea

So using the existing cherry colored nursery furniture and these elements, I’m hoping to create a cool bright space suitable for a little boy.  I cannot WAIT to get started.  First I will start the bedding, and THEN invite/bribe some heathy able-bodied friends over to help me paint.  :)   I’m still not sure about paint colors- I’m leaning towards a gray- but it’s such a popular color right now- I might go a different route.  We’ll see.

 

~Elizabeth

American Apparel knockoff clutch

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HI!  I made a bag/clutch! 

My sister -who is way more fashionable than I-  asked me to make her a clutch.  She was very specific about how it would look and wanted it to basically be a knockoff of this:

This is a pouch from American Apparel that is selling right now for $68.  It’s showing up all over fashion bloggy land and my sister has it on her radar but doesn’t want to pay $68 for it.  I would actually kick her if she DID pay that for a zippered pouch, but that’s just me.

Soooo this was my creation:

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Happy Friday and a link!

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WOOOHOOOO It’s friday!  ::happydance::

My plans this weekend include:

  1. Visiting my momma in the hospital… (scary stuff went down a couple of weeks ago and I’m not ready to blog about that just quite yet)  BUT she’s recovering!!  Thank God.
  2. Sewing-  I have one maxi dress on my table that I hope to finish tonight and one special project for one special sister.  I am *hoping* to successfully recreate this bag:

 

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Running with the big blogs

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I admit- I’m a baby blog.  I just started.  I have no clue how to really access the potential of turning this little tutorial blog into one of the big girl blogs.  I follow the big girl blogs and eye their beautiful pictures and design with delight and a hopeful wish that “I can be like that someday!!”.

I decided to enter a little linky party- I’ve never done this before and reaching out to show my stuff is WAY out of my comfort zone.

Fireflies and Jellybeans is one of the great blogs I stalk on a regular basis.  Full of ideas and wonderful pictures- I can always find inspiration here.

So today when I was out stalking- I discovered their linky party and I thought I would join.   Okay…I feel like the odd kid out on the playground anyway- but I will suck it up and attempt to link my silhouette tutorial.  Let’s hope I don’t screw it up.

So I follow the instructions…and instead of putting the name of my TUTORIAL as I should have- I entered my first and last name.  Sigh.  It’s obvious who the newbie is. 

But the linky party has some VERY cool links to crafty, DIY, and yummy treats!  I’m going back to stalk…

Check it out!

~Elizabeth

Rewind and Friday Links!

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Ugh. I’ve been out of blogland for a good two weeks.  So here is a rewind of what I’ve been doing:

Sewing:

I started a dress.  A maxi dress.  I love the fabric, love the style- but OMG did it turn out horribly.  It’s horrid.  It’s lumpy and better suited for someone who is way way WAY more endowed than I am…I guess I mis-measured somewhere.  Soooo I’ve scratched the first version- and am going to revisit it this weekend and HOPEFULLY I can salvage it.  AND I’ll show a pic to prove just how horrid it is.  ;)

I also took a much needed weekend girl’s trip to the beautiful town of Gruene, Texas for some serious relaxing, gossip, and tubing.  I highly recommend.  Not just the tubing- but the relaxing break time spent with wonderful supportive people.

Photo courtesy of http://www.touringtexas.com

In the meantime- here are some fabulous Friday links that have inspired me…

First- it’s skirt week at Crafterhours!  Crafterhours has featured a blog called Noodlehead that I’m pretty sure will be added to my reader.   She sews the cutest skirts!

HOW flipping cute is THIS skirt!!

Photo courtesy Noodlehead Blog

Here is the tutorial!

http://crafterhours.blogspot.com/2011/06/vintage-inspired-skirt-tutorial-by-anna.html

I love the style of this and it seems like a perfect summer skirt.  I”m hoping that once I finish my horrid representation of a  maxi dress I can get started on this.  I think I’m gonna repurpose an old denim summer dress that I can’t wear any more.  So excited!
 
Next…
 
Sooo 4th of July is coming up.. How cute is this wreath?
Photo courtesy www.lafftycrafty.blogspot.com
 
While cruising through Pinterest- I discovered this on one of my friends pages.  Pinterest is the best website for ideas and sharing.  Love it.  So I followed the link above and found the tutorial!  Very cute.
 
Rag Wreath Tutorial
 
Let’s just add this to my long list of things to do soon.  
 
 
And finally…
 
I need something sweet to make for my sweetie this weekend for Father’s Day.  I’m thinking…  Yeah this will do.

Photo courtesy The Girl Who Ate Everything

 Nomnomnomnomnom  I’m totally blowing my diet for this treat.  And the entire blog seems to be filled with delightful goodies.  ::I’monadiet.I’monadiet.I’monadiet.I’monadiet::

 
Here’s the recipe:
 
Smore’s Cookies
 
Enjoy and have an amazing Father’s Day weekend!
~Elizabeth
 

Easy Reusable Gift Bag Tutorial

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I threw my three year old a story book themed birthday party not too long ago.  Details are here.

The gift bag was a collection of a book, suckers, cookies, whistles, and other little tiny pieces of dollar store crap that you love stepping on in the middle of the night when you are trying to make your way to the bathroom to pee.  To my friends who came- you are welcome.  :)

But I couldn’t find a flipping bag to put all this crap in and I was NOT going to go store to store on some crazy gift bag hunt.  Plus I’m cheap frugal and If I can’t find it for close to free it ain’t makin it into my cart.

I’m a master procrastinator.  My motto for years has been:  Procrastination leads to inspiration.  Mark that one down people- because it’s TRUE!!  The party was Saturday.  Thursday I was sitting at my desk all bummy and stuff because I didn’t have a cute bag to put all the kid crap stuff into.  And then it dawned on me…like a spotlight being shined in your face when you are pulled over at night by the cops and you have been drinking..(not that this has happened to ME..I watch cop shows is all…I swear.)  Anyway- my moment of clarity arrives and I realize I CAN SEW!!  I’ll MAKE my own bags!  Woot!  It’s Thursday.  The party is Saturday.  I’ve done NOTHING to prepare yet.  Procrastination at its finest.

So I ran home that day and got to work.  This is what I came up with:

To make this easy five minute bag you will need:

Cute fabric

Thread

Sewing machine

Scissors

I chose a different fabric when taking the pictures because this was my test piece.

Cut a rectangle of fabric for the height and width you need with seam allowances.  My fabric was 11 X 24 to accommodate the book.  I put the book on the fabric, folded the fabric over it and cut.

Fold the rectangle (with right sides together) to make a square- zig zag the edges to prevent fraying and then reinforce with a straight stitch.  This will make your rectangle into a square little bag.

You now have the bag part.  Next finish the upper edge by folding over the top and using a straight stitch all the way around.

Don’t laugh at my uneven edges.  I was in a hurry!

Now you want to make the handle.  I thought about adding a nice drawstring or ribbon handle, but I did not have the time so I decided to just put in a little rectangle to create a handle.  Easy stuff.  I like easy.

To do this, I folded the bag in half and cut a little square close to the top of the bag.

Next I needed to zig zag around the edges of this little square in order to keep from fraying.  What I SHOULD have done was finish this edge better, but again…last minute Liz.  So instead, I chose a tighter zig zag stitch and went over the edge a couple of times.  If you are not waiting till the last minute like me, I would say to spend a little more time making this part look pretty.  It annoyed me after wards that it looked so unfinished.

Finished product!  A nifty little reusable bag that creates less waste!  AND only took about five minutes so I really didn’t care what happened to it after it left my house.

The party fabric is much much better I think.

I’m using mine this weekend when we travel to hold my curling iron.  :)

Happy sewing!

~Elizabeth