July 16th weekend sewing

I've been itching to sew for the past week but due to time contraints and pregnancy issues just couldn't find the time. So when the weekend came I decided I was going to make it a sewing day. I have a list of projects I want to do and finally tackled some of them.

I had this really cute cupcake fabric in my stash that I wasn't quite sure what to make with it for my youngest daughter. I asked her if she'd like an article of clothing or would she like a purse. She chose a purse. She liked the size of my prior asian inspired purse so I chose the same pattern and off I went.

This is the 2nd time using this pattern and the instructions finally clicked for me. I was able to figure out how to do the lining. It did end up making the inside look much more finished inside. (Not like my first one). The pattern calls for a magnetic snap. I personally don't like snaps on my purses as things may fall out, so like my previous one I added a zipper. I still have to figure out in between which step I should be adding the zipper because I'm still having trouble getting to look right. I did think I was brilliant by sewing the zipper on the lining prior to understanding the directions. Big mistake. Since I didn't have the patience to actually use my seam ripper to rip out the zipper I just cut it off from the lining and left the strip of material on it. Messy I know, but I'd probably pull my hair out trying to fix it properly.

All in all it came out much better than my first one. Guess practice makes perfect.
Here's a picture of the finished Cupcake purse:

And here is a picture of daughter modeling it.

Next up was to try to make an infant light jacket. I used a knit jersey material. The pattern was simple. 3 pieces. I love it. This was my first time working with this type of material and I must say I was pleased with it. I did make a mistake though when cutting the fabric out as I had a decided to try and save some material. Oops cut against the grain. Oh well live and learn.

I took the same pattern from the little jacket and used cotton flannel material to make another jacket. Since I had enough material I also made some pants. These look like little pajamas. I can definitely tell that the cotton flannel lacks the drape from the pattern of the jacket. Oh well. I think it'll look when it gets on him.

So all three projects were made in one day. My sewing area was quite the mess but at least I got something I wanted done accomplished.

Camouflage Fleece Outfit

Every boy needs to have at least some type of outfit which is made out of the camouflage pattern. Originally my idea was to make a jacket that would fit our soon to be new arrival within a couple of months of his birth alas I wasn't thinking when cutting the pattern out and the size used. So instead of having a jacket for a younger age he'll have one for when he's probably closer to 9 months or a year. Knowing me though I'll stick him in it when he's little just because I'll have to see how it looks on him.

Since I had extra fabric left over I decided to make a pair of pants also to go with the jacket. I used the same pattern from my other pants but just cut the fabric a tad bit bigger once I realized the jacket was going to big. So here is the end result:

Here is the back. The hood seems a little big but I just left it as it. Chances are he'll be wearing one of my handknit hats:

Here are the pants:

I'm really happy that I was able to make something like this. The pattern originally called for a button front but if you have kids it's quite well known that the child does not always stay still enough to get it buttoned, so I opted for a zipper. I was proud of myself that I remembered to buy a zipper that separates. (I didn't for when make my daughter's jacket)

Now I can't wait for the "little dude", as my husband calls him, to come.

On a sewing roll

I've spent a lot of time reading the web and books all about sewing. I finally decided that I had better start sewing. Here's a list of projects I've finished this month.

The first project I worked one was a purse from a McCall pattern. The purse picture on the package looked simple enough. So I start. This pattern caused me so much aggravation. I had quite the potty mouth while working on it. Here's a list of what happened:
-Apparently I didn't read the instructions well enough so after I had the pattern and my material and interfacing out, I realized that there was a lining! So back to the pattern to cut out the lining and more interfacing.

-Realized that I didn't cut out all the pattern pieces. Back to the pattern.

-I never realized just how many pieces it take to make a purse.

-Irritated over the instructions on the construction of the purse. So what does my wonderful crafty self do? I wing it and sew it together the way I want to using the pattern as a guideline.

- There are many thick areas on this purse. I'm surprised I didn't break my machine.

Overall I learned a lot from this purse and it's my first and I have pleasantly pleased with it. It's not perfect but it appears to be functional which is what count right? Here it is in in it's finished state:

The next project that I just finished today was making my daughter a pair of shorts. I used a video tutorial by The Crafty Gemini to guide me. Instead of an actual pattern I used a pair of short which she wears. I was going to make it with T-shirt material but there wasn't enough so I just used regular cotton fabric I have in my stash. I'm 50% happy with the results. For some reason there seems to be bulk in the front crotch area. I'll have to read how to fix this.
Picture of the shorts:

And here she is wearing them:

A new baby should be making his way into the world in about a month. The best thing about babies when being a crafter is that because they are small one can make so many cute things and a lot of material isn't use.

I found this pattern on line to make baby pants. It's from Made By Rae blog. Super super easy and fun. My first pair I did take a bit longer and the second pair I had done in less 30 minutes. Totally in love with this pattern and plan on making a lot more pants.
First pair-crayon pants

2nd Picture-pirate pants.

So overall I'm pretty darn proud of myself. I'm having a blast with sewing and I'm learning a whole lot.

Baby Gifts for Ashley

On this pregnancy message board I belong to I was paired with what is called a due date buddy. This is usually two ladies who have similar due dates. This was my first time doing this so I was a bit tentative at participating. I am so glad I did. I was paired up with a wonderful lady by the name of Ashley. She is expecting a little girl on the same date as I.

As a crafter, primarily a knitter, I was overjoyed to find out she was having a little girl. Since I'm having a boy there would be no cute little pink and purple girlie items. So as soon as she found out the planning began.

The first gift I made her was this adorable pink hearts blanket. I have had this pattern for a couple of years and have always to make it. Well now was the perfect time! It was a fun knit and I was pleased with the results.

Next up was to make some hats for her. She was showing me some picture of hats from etsy so I had an idea of what she liked. I made her a minnie hat since my first one turned out so cute for my niece. (The picture shown is the one I made my niece. I apparently forgot to take a picture of the newest one)

Up next was a cute little crochet hat with ears:

And last but not least this is the daisy hat from Itty bitty hats. I couldn't find green yarn to make the stem so I just made the daisy and the stem all the same color.

I also made some knit burp cloths which I forgot to take pictures of.

The one item I made that was not yarn related was a cloth covered diaper wipe case. Ashley loves purple (so do I no wonder we get along so well) so I used a mixture of purple fabric and ribbon for her case. I was a bit disappointed with how the case turned out but Ashley loved it. It was my first one I did.

The other non yarn item was the tag baby block which I had made. I was inspired by the tag baby blanket but I wanted to make something different so I found instructions on how to make a tag baby block. It was a lot of fun to make. I added bells inside to help make it a little more entertaining for baby. They are totally child proofed inside so there are no worries that they will come out.

So overall I had so much fun making all these items for my due date buddy, Ashley.

The pillowcase dress that turned into a skirt

I came across some tutorials on how to make a pillowcase dress so my interest was peaked. I spent quite a bit of time watching and learning how to make them. So last night I decided to dig through my linen closet to see what I could find.

After taking inventory there were only a handful of cases that would work due to the patterns. (I was tempted to use my husband's star wars pillowcases for the heck of it). My youngest daughter decided to pick an old Powder Puff girl pillowcase.

So here starts my adventure. Since it was a pillowcase obviously the pattern will be horizontal rather than vertical. (this realization did not come to me until I put the case up against her). Hmmm sideways powder puff girls wouldn't work.

Bright idea #2! Let's open up the pillowcase and then the designs would run vertical! After an hour the pillow case was finally open all the way. Stupid me didn't realize that now the characters on the back side would be upside down. Time to take a break after that.

Pillowcase dress is now out of the question. After spending all that time I decided to make a skirt. I used my Bobbin's nest pattern as a guideline.

Here are the problems I ran into with the skirt:
- I apparently am no good with using a rotary cutter yet. I ended up cutting the skirt about 1 inch too short on the width.
- I wanted to add a ruffle to the bottom. My strip came out way too short
- When making the casing for the elastic I forgot to sew up the side hem before doing this

The plus side:
-I finally figured out why my first skirt seemed so tight. I was able to make the skirt have more ease and not be as constricting
- I improvised my own bottom edging.

All in all I spent way too much time tweaking this, but it helped me learn a couple new techniques.

So after spending the entire afternoon working on the skirt here is the finished result:

Here is the happy new owner happily wearing it:

I will attempt a pillowcase dress sometime in the near future.

New Skirt

So it appears that I'm back on the "I want to learn to sew" kick. I think part of this new craze is because I'm expecting a new baby in August and would love to make some handmade clothes for him. One problem I'm running into is that "cute" boy patterns are hard to find. Luckily I have 2 girls so I can indulge in making pretty girly items for them.

My local sewing/yarn shop, Bobbin's Nest, had a free demo day to make a girl twirly skirt. I figured this would be great to attend to see if I could actually attempt sewing again. The demo was quick yet informational. I was excited the skirt seemed so easy to make. No real pattern just taking measurements of the garment wearer and go from there.

I had a lot of the materials to make it at home so I let my daughter pick out her choice of fabric. Here is the end result:

I can see some of my mistakes and the next one I hope to make will be a bit better. She loves it though and it isn't falling apart on her. So I'll take this as a win in the sewing column.