Pillow Case Dress

I'm currently making a pillow case dress for Little Dresses for Africa. I'm using about a yard of fabric and will send it off as soon as it's done. You can check out the pattern at Nancy's Notions.

Cute Baby!

I've been sewing away, making items for my next craft fair. I've learned a lot at my first one. I need a variety of items and I've learned I LOVE to make baby clothes and blankets. Here are a couple of things I've stitched up.

Craft Fair in Lawrence!

This Saturday I will be selling my items at the Spring Arts and Craft Fest in Lawrence, located at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Come anytime between 9a.m. and 4p.m. and purchase items at 50% off Etsy prices! 

Gathering

 My teacher taught me a neat trick to gathering. For this shirt, I'm just gathering a little bit on the back. The trick is to baste at 3/8" and then again at 6/8" and sewing down the middle. This way you don't have any large gathers in your fabric. The 6/8" baste will show on the right side, so you have to pull it. (Remember to pull gathering the SAME way every time).

Muslin Lining

I've cut out my Burda blouse pattern pieces and have pinned them to my muslin for class. Today we will be creating our lining.

Apparel Sewing!

I'm currently taking a class on apparel sewing and have picked out a simple pattern to make myself a shirt. My goal is to become a better sewer so that I can make my twins clothes. There's no better way than making myself my own clothes! I'm using a Burda pattern and my instructor has dutifully sized all the women in the class and we will be altering patterns to our unique shapes. What a task! I'm so excited for our homework assignment- just to pin our pattern pieces to our muslin. You will continue to see progress on this project in future posts.

Table Runner

Anna Maria Horner Fabric Border

Mixture of contemporary and Civil War era fabrics.

I've been taking a quilting class and am in the process of attaching the border. I love the way the zig zag pattern turned out. 

Headbands!

I'm currently attaching my Kanzashi flowers to headbands. I think these make adorable accessories for little girls. I just found a local vendor that makes handmade headbands, so I will be using hers. I'm so excited- everything will be handmade from local businesses.

Barrettes Barrettes!

I've included FREE SHIPPING on select items. Please check out my Etsy Shop for more details.

Craft Fair

I'm doing my first craft fair in Lawrence on March 10th and my tent is 10' x 10' but my space is only 8' x8'. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem. I've already planned out part of my display and any missing items I still need.

Oatmeal Cookies

I made a modified version of Oatmeal Cookies from the oatmeal canister. My twins and I loved them.


Ingredients:

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs milk
1.5 tsp of vanilla
cinammon (to desired taste)
1.5 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups of oatmeal (these were the one minute kind)


Directions: 


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix butter with sugar (I melted butter in the microwave), add milk, then add the eggs. Make sure it's not too hot for the eggs. Then mix in the milk, vanilla, cinammon.


Mix the rest of the dry ingredients together (flour, oats, baking soda)


Mix wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, being sure all parts are coated and there are no dry chunks. 


Use a spoon to dish out cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.


Drink with a glass of milk. YUMMY!

New Necklace

Hand-folded, hand-sewn. If you haven't tried making these Kanzashi flowers it's a meditative and calming process.

Kanzashi

I had a blast going through Diane Gilleland's "Kanzashi in Bloom," book and made my own necklace. Very simple easy to read instructions- if you love flowers and crafting you should try this book out.

Big Stitches

I took a big stitches hand quilting class and used the quilt I'm making for my daughter. It's a casual comfy quilt and she has already rolled herself up in it. Now all I have to do is bind it.

Kansas Etsy Team

Check out my Kansas Etsy Team (I'm a member, not a leader). We promote eachother's HANDMADE products.  We also participate in markets in Lawrence and Topeka. I'll keep you updated. Checkout some of their products on Etsy.

Valentine's Day Card!

I decided to make my own Valentine's Day card using images from The Graphics Fairy.


Materials needed:
Cardstock or Cards w/ envelopes (if you prefer)
glue
computer
printer
color ink
scissors


Directions: Visit The Graphics Fairy and type in "Valentine's Day," into the search bar. Pick an image you like and click on it, then click print. Cut out as desired, glue around the edges of the image, then place in desired location on the card. Easy peasy, you didn't even need directions. :)

Kanzashi Flower Pins!

I've put up some new items in my Etsy Shop. I have fallen in love with these flower pins. I'm making a variety of pins from my favorite fabrics. Enjoy!

Craft Apron!

I do a lot of crafting and have found I use my hand towel quite often. So, I decided to create an apron made from a towel (you guessed it!). It took me 10 minutes to make it. All I did was take a hand towel and stitched cording on two of the short ends (pick a short side that will be where the cording goes around your neck). Then, I stitched cording about where my waist was.


You could easily make your apron pretty with the variety of towels they sell today and use ribbon or scrap fabric to create your straps. I was being economical with what I had on hand and the towel only cost me about $3. What's nice about this apron is that when I decoupage, and constantly washing my hands, I can just use my apron instead of my nice hand towels. I also get glue on my apron, not on my clothes. Let me know if you have any questions.


Materials needed:
hand towel
cording
thread
sewing machine


Time: 10 minutes

Picnic Time!

Kansas has been having a mild winter so my husband and I decided to go for a hike with our babies. As we hiked we decided that this weekend we would make a day of it and pack a picnic. So, I decided to make a little holder for the silverwear. My goal for my diy crafts is that they are quick and easy to make. You can always make them fancier. I took a piece of my favorite fabric and went from there. Enjoy!

Fold over 1/4" then another 1/4"

Materials needed:
Ribbon


Two 4.5" x 11" rectangular pieces of fabric (or use my pattern in "My Additions" section)


sewing machine
thread
pinking shears (for finishing the ribbon, or you can always sew over the ends)




Directions
1. Measure (or use pattern) and cut 2 rectangles of your fabric.
2. On one side of each of your pieces of fabric, fold over 1/4 inch, then another 1/4 inch and edgestitch.
3. Then, with right sides together, sew the three sides, being sure to leave the top (where you edgestitched) open.
4. Turn and iron.
5. Cut ribbon to desired length, then pin in desired location. Topstitch around the fabric, being sure to accurately stitch over the ribbon (I accidently tore part of the ribbon).
6. Finish off the ribbon ends using pinking shears or desired method.

Voila! You now can go on a picnic!

Fabric!

This was the photo I uploaded to Spoonflower.

I got the idea to use Spoonflower to create my own fabric from a favorite blog of mine. All I did was upload the photo and edit it in Picnik (you choose to edit once you've uploaded your photo). You can check out my Buffalo fabric I created at Spoonflower.

Materials needed:

favorite photo

computer

Spoonflower account (free and you can use your Facebook login)

Directions:

1. Go to Spoonflower (create a login) and upload your image. (Clikc on custom fabric)

2. You can adjust the size so that more or less of your design is in your fabric. You can also edit it it Picnik. I made mine look more vintage and think that it could make a create table cloth. Just play around and see what you like.

3. Save your work.

4. Order your test fabric to check for color and then order desired amount. :)

Copyright issues

It's your fabric because it's your original idea! Spoonflower lets you retain rights to your design and they sell it.

How to make your own hot pads

I made myself a couple of hot pads from scrap fabric. You can make whatever size you like. 

Finished hot pad

Materials:

Scrap fabric

Scrap batting

thread, sewing machine

iron

Directions:

1. I stitched together scap fabric to make two 9" x 11" rectangular pieces. 

2. I then used scrap batting and layered it with the batting down, backside facing right side up, front side facing wrong side up. 

3. Then I stitched all around, leaving about a 1-2" opening for turning. 

4. I turned it right side out, pressed it, then topstitched all the way around, making sure that the opening was stitched closed. You can always slipstitch the opening closed too. 

5. Then, quilt as desired. 

I like to use hot pads to practice my machine quilting. It didn't take very long to do either. Enjoy!

Layer pieces for stitching.

Turn right side out.

Topstitching.