My 1st Serger Project!

Did I mention that my wonderful husband gave me a serger for our anniversary??
There's definitely a learning curve to it, but luckily I usually fall on the good side of those. :P

This is officially the first project I have made using my new machine. My friend, who has an adorable little daughter, wanted an apron knot dress with matching pants.

She was going to get it from a talented Etsy seller who makes lots of baby clothing, but the timing was too crunched. Being much less busy than the average professional seamstress (I'm guessing, seeing as how I'm not one), she asked me if I could make one by the weekend.

Must be my daughter's propensity for only wearing things with hoods and pockets, but I'd totally missed this cute little trend in toddler clothing. Nevertheless, it's not a hard dress to replicate, so as soon as she gave me the material and an outfit that fit Little G already, I got to work!

The whole outfit took only a few hours (like... 3-5, including bathroom breaks and boo-boo emergencies), and I'm very happy with the results!

HOPEFULLY my daughter, with her bouncy blonde curls and brown doe eyes, will decide to stop dressing like she's going on a hike when she sees this outfit! :D

Today, It Finally Hit Me

March is half over!

Naturally, whenever I realize I'm wasting time and burning precious moments, I have a small internal freak-out. This morning I realized that I am very quickly running out of time to reach my big goal--that is, my smaller large goal that is a stepping stone to the "BIG" one. So I called about it.

And, I don't want to make any formal announcement or anything, but I found out that it should be well within my abilities to have a costume booth at the Western Illinois Threshers Reunion this August!!

There are still a lot of unknowns, but I'm going for it! I just need a good stock of merchandise before August. This SHOULD be attainable. Especially if I continue to have mornings like this one!

This morning I cranked out a 2T-4T prairie girl outfit, including dress, apron, and mob cap. Is it historically accurate? No. Period perfect? Not at all. But is it adorable, under $50, comfortable, and something that someone will see and love? Well, that was the plan, anyway. :)

My model was napping, but I assure you, this is adorable on an actual toddler!

Hair Bows for Little Miss

Before I took a hiatus from my sewing room (I haven't seen it in DAYS!), I made these. Actually, I made these on the couch in the living room, so I guess it was after my sewing room hiatus and just before my crafting hiatus.

Nick went to his hometown last weekend to make panhas with his aunts, uncles, and cousins. We stayed home because we're on germ patrol (Gus is having hypospadias repair surgery this week and must be perfectly healthy). I took the opportunity to do a little home remodeling, while my well-intending poo-poo'er was away, and ripped out the cabinets in the kitchen that have so irritated me since we moved in. Next up: building whatever storage unit for the other side of the kitchen, and a table and bench set to eat on. I have a feeling that this is going to be done as a distraction from the gruelling hours of coddling our recovering son that I'm anticipating. Pictures later, I promise.

Because Sometimes It Doesn't Work Out

Here's to mistakes!

*insert glass clinks and "Cheers" here*

I had two t-shirts that I bought for $5 each at JC Penny's a year or two ago, and altho they were my size, my style, and colors I like, I almost never wore them. Well, obviously I wore the purple one enough to get a bleach spot on the collar, but otherwise they were in perfect, barely-worn condition. I decided to get a little bit of toddler-dress practice in and try doing a shrink-down. This post is for all of the people who ever had the idea that I don't end up with nothing but a pile of scrap fabric sometimes. There probably aren't any people who think that, but let's make sure it stays that way. :D Even tho Little Miss loves this dress, I have still dubbed it a disaster. But it was worth the practice! And the liberated hanger in my closet.

Carebear Pillow Decon/Recon

I've mentioned before that my friend Alma's daughter outgrowing her Carebear decor has taken most of the work and expense out of decorating my toddler's room. However, years of love have taken their toll on a couple of items. A recent bequeathment from Kristen was a small pillow, which had clearly been well-loved. I'm sure you know the type. The back probably used to be white. The front was still in perfect shape, tho, so I salvaged it and went spelunking into my sewing room and found a bold retro flower print that compliments the Carebear color. We were bombarded with baby blankets when Little Miss was born and still find ourselves with an abundance of those, such as this pretty pink fleece one with embroidered flowers. So I got out my pinking shears, and here's what I did with it all:

Total Cost: Free!

Thank you, Alma and Kristen!

Rhyl's "New" Jeans

Little Miss HATES jeans. She hates the seams, the waist band, the crotch and zipper, the material--and she freaks out every time she thinks I'm going to make her put on a pair. Everything about denim jeans rubs her the wrong way, quite literally, and she won't have anything to do with them. But some of her shirts look best with jeans, and I get tired of seeing her in sweats and leggings ALL. THE. TIME.

Last week Hubby came home early because he'd ripped out the rear in his jeans--a soft, worn-in pair that he liked because they were (light bulb!) SO comfy! I planned to make a simple pair of pants for Rhyl out of them, with a simple elastic waistband.

But the more I looked around as I was doing this project, the more ideas I got. I saw a perfect-fitting pair of leggings that had been stained up and bleached out and decided to line her new pants. I turned them inside-out so that there are absolutely NO seams rubbing on her anywhere.

I had a $3 roll of craft ribbon and a $2 belt buckle (I had already planned to make a belt for her, altho I don't know why because she never wears anything with loops!), and off I went! I also used the elastic from the leggings, so there was no cost there.

She now has a "new" pair of jeans that are lined because it's FREEZING COLD and SNOWY in Iowa right now, with a matching belt, and she LOVES them!! Score one for Mom brains!!! :D And they're extra-special, of course, because they were Daddy's jeans first. And perhaps sometime, tho maybe not today, I'll get a picture of them on the model--when the model isn't feeling so terrible-twosey.

Total Cost: $3 for ribbon (used nearly all 3'), $2 for belt buckle, free jeans, free elastic for waist, free leggings for lining, so.... $5 and about an hour, start to finish.

Seeing my girl in jeans without melting down: do I even have to say it??

Procrastination

Lucky me! Most of the work was taken out of decorating my 2 y/o daughter's room when a friend's daughter decided she'd outgrown her Carebear decor. :D This is where Little Miss sleeps:

And this... well, this isn't something I'm beaming with pride over, but it's better than the Carebear printout that was in the frame. I didn't have stencils for the letters and my printer is on the fritz, so it is 100% free-handed, so I can't complain too much because it's legible! (It says, "rhyl".) This is one of three pictures that were gifted to us by our gracious friend Kristen, but it was just a little too aged. The frame was good, tho.

In a procrastatory move (is that a word??), I got out the scissors and put together a fun little name picture thingy. It's colorful and fills a space on the wall, and that's all I really wanted. Oh yes, and it kept me from doing my workout video. Another plus.

Two for the Little Lady

When Rhyl catches me perusing any patterns or projects online, she often requests a dress. So I went thru my fabric stash, and pulled out a length of crumpled white satin that has moved with us at least once, if not twice, and my new Simplicity pattern (remember the cowgirl outfit?).

And now she has an angel dress. It's pretty plain, but she loves it. And that's the most important.

Oh yeah, and also important: I consider it a payment to myself to put this fabric to use, and the entire thing only took about an hour and a half.

Rhyl's [fun]ctional bathroom addition, which Mama is probably crazier about than she is, is a hair bow keeper, inspired by this post. I made it out of a $3 picture frame from the evil WM corporation (ugh, don't even ask me what I was doing there--someone PLEASE open a craft store in Keokuk!!!) and leftover fabric from my shower curtain.

It would have been cute with satin ribbons, but I had these fabric straps on hand from the shower curtain.

I do have a feeling that I should have really shellacked this down, because I think it'll be pulled on enough to need repair. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Cost: $3 and fabric scraps. PS-- I included this pic of the back so that you can see how I put it together. And I stuck it on the inside of the bathroom cabinet with a couple of leftover 3M stickers.

A Productive Morning!

With my morning coffee, I also take in a good dose of http://www.oneprettything.com/ and usually some creative blogs to go along with it. Really gets the blood (and ideas) pumping! This morning I found http://www.samstermommy.blogspot.com/ where a fellow crafty mom (who takes MUCH better pics than I) has put up her thought and goings-on for all to enjoy. The reason I was there: this necklace and this necklace. These tutorials only fueled the project I had in mind when I saw an ADORABLE very similar necklace at Peebles.* I still plan to make a few more--I REALLY REALLY love the black ribbon and black beads, but it'll take more than my sewing stash to produce that (but hopefully no more than a trip to the Salvation Army, or maybe Ben Franklin's). Here, out of my coffee can of old/broken jewelry and my bag o' ribbons salvaged from gifts/worn out clothing/other packages/etc: my "new" necklace. I have no idea where the ribbon came from--if I had to guess, I'd say it adorned a baby gift--and the beads were the handles of a gift bag. Cost: a few inches of real estate in my sewing room for a few years. Now, on to produce an outfit to wear it with!


Also a product of my morning: place mats for Rhyl. She has taken to eating with a napkin or wash cloth under her dish, and she's wild about princesses, so I decided to combine with two. She got to pick out the fabric (hate to admit--at WalMart), which was fun because she's always looking over the little kids' fabric while I'm perusing the other stuff, and this time she got to have some! Princesses and crowns + three bleached-out, stained-up dish towels that were headed for the rag bin = 6 quilted place mats the perfect size for a 2 y/o. These really have made it easier for me to get her to sit down and eat. For the first few days, anyway. We'll have to see how long that lasts! I realized too late that I should have used a brighter contrasting bobbin thread (for the back), but I'll just have to keep that in mind for next time. I'm sure I'll be putting together Spiderman or Thomas the Tank Engine mats for Gus in the next year or so. (Funny--I use place mats for other projects, but make place mats when I need some for their original use. Did anybody else catch that?? lol) Cost: $2.50 for fabric at WM.


*Conversation with Peebles Guy at check-out counter regarding necklace:
Me: Oh, I just love that!
PG: Would you like to try it on?
Me: No, that's okay. I shouldn't even be here in the first place, and I don't need a necklace.
PG: Sounds like a shop-a-holic to me!
Me: No, no, nothing like that. Just some Christmas shopping. But it's so pretty!
PG: I was just kidding. Are you sure you don't want it?
Me: Yes, I'm sure. (pause) How much is it?
PG: $16.
Me: Hey, that's actually not bad.
PG: You can get it!
Me: No, see, I make things, and I just can't pay $16 for something I can make with a ribbon and a few beads.
PG: Aw, but you don't want to make it--you want to buy it!
Me: No, I want to make it. Thanks anyway. It is very pretty. (As if a compliment on the necklace would make him feel better about my not buying it.) Oh, I gave you the wrong card!! .....

Cop Costume

Finally got a picture! Silly me, forgot to take one after I made it. :P

My friend Nicole's husband is a police officer with our esteemed county Sheriff's Dept, and their 3 year old wanted to be a cop for Halloween. I cut a full-sized adult uniform (shirt and trousers)down to a 3T. At the time, I had never made a shirt with a proper collar OR pants of any kind. This project convinced me that I can conquer the world with just a needle and a thread, because it turned out pretty well!

I free-handed the pants, but for the shirt I bought a button-down collared shirt from the Salvation Army for $1 and cut it at the seams to make a pattern. I removed the badges and pockets, cut the seams on the big shirt, cut the pieces out of it, and sewed it all together. Voila!

Rhyl's Purple Flower Dress

I should mention that I got this idea from Make It and Love It. She did a much better job, but this is a flu project. That is to say, we all have the flu right now, and I thought that minimal effort on my part could give maximum enjoyment to my ailing toddler. I was only a little right.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm done with this. I'm considering filling in around the big flowers with lots of small ones, and putting a ring of small ones around the waist.

The top is an old shirt that was too short for her. (Large, lovely stains are hiding under the flowers on the front!) The skirt is a yard of material that I got from the Salvation Army. I think it was a dollar, and I used about half. You could use any material that you have on hand--old clothes, sheets, pillowcases, etc.

Rhyl as Tinkerbell, Halloween 2009

There was no getting around it. Rhyl had to be Tinkerbell. So, after much brainstorming, research, sketching, and one fairly unsuccessful dry run with a yard of satin, I made her a costume. Head to toe, it all cost under $3. I used about half of the $3 green fleece throw that I bought from Hy-Vee, some random jingle bells (on the shoe covers, for the pixie sound), and some leftover white fleece scraps and notions from my stash. Here's what she wore:

*Headband with a couple of white flowers, to keep her ears warm

*Dress: fitted bodice, gathered skirt with leaf bottom, and ruffle sleeves

*Wings: white fleece with pipe cleaners sandwiched between them for structure; green and white fleece pompom in the middle, just for fun; pin backs to attach it to her dress/shirt/jacket

*Shoe covers: because she didn't have any green flats to attach a white pompom to, I made green fleece covers with green and white pompoms and little jingle bells. A drawstring around the bottom of the cover kept it over the shoe. She wore them over her red Mary Janes.

*Long sleeved shirt and tights and such, to keep warm.

My favorite thing about this outfit was working with the fleece--it doesn't unravel! I used my pinking shears for a zig-zag edge and didn't have to worry about finishing any edges. Made it that much more fun! The biggest challenge was making wings that Rhyl was okay with. Judging from the last pair I made, they would have to be something that attached to the outfit that she could forget that she was wearing. Mission accomplished. Cost: about 2 hrs, a portion of a $3 fleece blanket, and some leftover notions.

My Most Recent Time-Takers

Here's a ratty collection of snapshots from my most recent time investments.

*Curtains for my kitchen window: took 1 hr from cutting to hanging, will redo them someday, but had to have curtains PRONTO! for a church bbq at our house.

*Gus' bedroom wall painting: this tree is NOT how I saw it turning out--should've stuck with the color scheme I had originally planned. Design Sponge had this before and after project that was my inspiration, but I should have kept it at just the inspiration and shouldn't have second-guessed my own project. Hers is excellent, and I love it. Mine... we'll redo it someday.

*Curtains for Gus' room. Still need tie backs for them to let some light in. And new mini blinds to keep the light out. OR... I just need to make up my mind. lol

*A couple of all-in-one cloth diapers for Gus and Rhyl. She refuses to potty train, so she's still in diapers (no advice needed here--trust me, it's flooding in from all directions!) and Gus is a fat little booger, so they can share diapers. Gus appreciates the purple. The lining is an old receiving blanket.

*Chicken wire basket: My mom gets Mary Jane's Farm magazine, and they had some instructions on chicken wire stuff. I'll post more chicken wire projects later, I'm sure. Rhyl snatched this one for a baby bed, so I covered and padded it and here we are, one chicken wire cradle later.

*Rhyl's tutu: I've been afraid of this project for a while. It's tons of busy work, but it's incredibly easy (with the exception of cutting the tulle--THAT'S a pain in the butt--but I think that would be much easier without two kids crawling all over it). And, like the fairy wings, she hates it. ~sigh~ Better luck next time.

*The children: That's an ongoing project. I'm constantly working on them. They'll never be done, but they are perhaps my most rewarding--and HOPEFULLY successful--of creative endeavors.

*And lastly, but not least, I hung a smoke detector outside Rhyl's bedroom. Not crafty. But very important. :)