Christmas Quilts January 1, 2013

My sewing over the last few months has been going toward two quilts for two of my brothers for Christmas.

My oldest brother, T, had told me last summer that he wished he could turn all his old, special t-shirts into a quilt, and I told him I’d be glad to do it for him for Christmas. So, I took his prized t-shirts with me in August, and the months of waiting made us both really anticipate him opening this special gift. I don’t know the stories behind all these shirts, but I do know that one involves his first date with his wife, and he’s had at least one of the shirts since high school. (He’s 34.)

He told me that when he was opening it, his heart was pounding and he was fighting tears.

I’m so glad I could make something for him that would be so meaningful.

I also made my youngest brother, J, a quilt. I used a jelly roll with batiks, and I really like how it turned out.

My Mom’s Purse February 2, 2012

I gave my mom a handmade purse for Christmas, and I’m just now getting around to blogging about it.

I’ve mentioned before that I took Rae’s free Buttercup Bag pattern and drew my own pattern, based on her design, for a much bigger bag. My mom liked my bag and had told me several months ago that she would love to have a bag with the same size and shape, so I kept that in mind when I was plotting her Christmas gift.

I love the Michael Miller fabric that I found at Hobby Lobby. I’d like to make myself a bag with it. And that big button from JoAnn’s really added a nice touch, too.

I couldn’t have been more pleased with my mom’s response upon receiving her bag. It made my day to see her so excited about something I made for her.

This week I made her a little zippered pouch to coordinate with her purse. It’s going in the mail today, along with Kelsie’s quilt.

So, be looking out for a package, Mom! Hope you and Kelsie like your goodies!

Art Bag December 17, 2011

Well, I found another use for the cool pink and purple fabric! I bought a bunch of art supplies for my 3 1/2 year old niece, Hanna. I decided to make her an art bag to hold all her new supplies.

I found the lining fabric at Hobby Lobby. I loved it because it matched so well and because the pattern looks like a mosaic, which I think is great for an art bag. I sewed velcro along the top of the bag for a closure. I figured that velcro would be a lot easier for a 3-y-o than a magnetic snap or a zipper. Hope she likes it! 🙂

Also…I finished a really cool gift for my mom yesterday, but since she’s one of my readers, I’ll have to wait to post about it until after Christmas. I’m really excited about it and hope she likes it! (If not, I’m stealing it back! :))

A Little Boy’s Apron December 10, 2011

I made this apron for my son. I used bias tape for the edges, so it took me under 30 minutes to make. (Daughter is trying it on in the photo so it can be a surprise for Son! :))

Arrrrgggg, Matey! I think he’ll like it!

Zippered pouches

I am in a homemade-gifts-groove right now. Usually during the Christmas season I don’t feel like I have time for homemade gifts, but this year I feel like I can squeeze it in, and I have the motivation to do it.

I finished a few zippered clutches this week. The top one is for my sister-in-law Melanie and will also have an initial necklace inside it that I bought from Etsy. So cute! The bottom one will go in my daughter’s stocking since she told me, “I’ve always wanted a clutch made out of that fabric!” Done! 🙂

I used a combination of Anna’s zippered clutch tutorial and this tutorial from Skip to My Lou on making any type of zippered pouch.

I like Anna’s tutorial for the size, the gathered look, and the card holder for the inside. The thing I don’t like about Anna’s tutorial is the instructions to make end tabs on the zipper. To me, that makes the construction so much more difficult. The Skip to My Lou tutorial makes the zipper instructions super-easy.

Neither tutorial explains how to make the clutch into a wristlet, but you can see that there are at least a couple ways to do it. In the first one, I made the wristlet detachable. In the second one, it’s sewn in.

These pouches are a great way to use up scraps, don’t take a lot of time to make, and I think will make a great gift!

Grandma Bags December 30, 2010

Every Christmas I try to think of something my kids can make for their grandparents. I think it makes them feel special, contributing with their creativity, since they don’t have money to spend. It’s just not as meaningful if I buy something with my money and say, “This is from you to Grandma.” So…we talk it over and try to think of something meaningful that they can make, with Mommy’s help.

This year, I took some of their best recent art, scanned it into the computer, and printed it on iron-on transfer paper. We then ironed the transfers onto a canvas bag. I thought about making t-shirts but then figured I’d probably have to a make t-shirt for each grandparent from each kid and realized that added up to a lot of t-shirts! So, I decided on the bag instead, because I could get by with putting more pieces of art on one bag and just in case any of the grandparents would rather look at the art than actually wear it….. At any rate, I decided the bags might be more useful.

I had one transfer page left and made my son a t-shirt with his very own art on it. He loved it!

(Somehow I missed taking a picture of the back of the bags. They were cute too….)

A Homemade Barbie Bed December 23, 2010

My daughter and I have plans to make a Barbie two-story home out of a 2-shelf bookshelf, and we’ve been keeping our eyes open for items that can be turned into Barbie furniture. So….when I saw an empty clementine box and packing material from Christmas shipments……

I saw “Barbie Bed” written all over it!

Belle and Bee Hats

I received my prize today from the SewMamaSew giveaway! Belle and Bee offered to make a custom hat for me, but I couldn’t decide which of my kids should get one, so I told her to just surprise me. I wanted to make it easy on her, because she had to make my hat in just a few days in order to ship it out according to SewMamaSew’s giveaway requirements. Well…..she surprised me indeed. She made a hat for EACH of my kids!!!!!! I’m just stunned that she whipped these off in just a few days. The kiddos love them, and I love them too! Thank you, Becky!

Barbie Clothes! December 19, 2010

Well, here is what I’ve been working on for the past few days:

My daughter really loves her Barbies, but I had a hard time finding any pretty clothes for them in the store, so I decided to search the internet for tutorials, and I hit the jackpot at Craftster. The dresses in this picture were all made from this tutorial at Craftiness is Not Optional. She has several other Barbie tutorials with very clear and easy instructions. I’m hoping to use some of that leftover purple velvet from the Mouse King cape to make one of these ballgowns. Won’t that be fun?

My daughter is a little too young to manage the sewing machine, but she has made a belt out of bias tape and stick-on velcro, necklaces with tiny beads, and a triangular-shaped shawl out of felt. We’re having a ball crafting Barbie clothes together, and the time we’re spending on them will make these clothes infinitely more special than anything I could’ve bought.

Mouse King Costume

Both of my big kids really love the Nutcracker. I’ve gotten one particular video recording out of the library so many times (and it seems I’m the only patron who cares about it at all) that I really wish they’d give it to me. (And I can’t find that particular one that my kids love so much for sale anywhere on the internet.) Anyway….

We went to a Nutcracker ballet performance last Sunday, and my kids are still on their Nutcracker “high.” My daughter has been acting it out with her ballet Barbies, dancing around the house to the Nutcracker music, etc. and my son has been drawing Mouse Kings and making Mouse King and Nutcracker masks. Here are some photos of his awesome creations:

(There’s no way I’d have thought of a way to make a 3-dimensional mouse hat like this out of paper. I think I have a pretty intelligent 5-y-o!)

We’re on Christmas break right now, so I’ve had some extra time to scratch my creative itch. This is what I made today, much to the delight of my dear son:

(My daughter made her own mouse mask while I made his.)

He was so excited, and it was so fun making it for him.

Here’s what I did:

I had actually seen felt Mouse King masks for sale in an Etsy shop, so I copied the idea off someone else (sorry, whoever you are out there…) I sketched it out on paper and then cut it out of the felt and stitched it together with embroidery floss. I bought 3/4 yard of purple velvet at Hobby Lobby, and it would’ve cost $9, except that I had a 40% off coupon. I had leftover fleece material from the cape I made my nephew last Christmas, and I edged the cape with that. (I happened to still have the receipt and noticed that I paid $2 last year for 1/2 yd. of it, and it was enough for 2 capes.) And I had leftover gold rope from that costume too. So, I certainly paid under $10 for the whole costume.

Something significant that I did that I think makes these capes fit nicely: I cut a piece of 1/2 in. elastic to a length so that it just touches his collar bone on either side when wrapped around the back of his neck, and sewed it into the ends of the cape. It keeps the cape bunched up nicely and helps it to stay put when he’s wearing it.

The only tough part: The fleecy material is pretty thick, and when I was sewing layers of it together, it was kind of hard to move it through the machine. When I was sewing two layers of fleece, a layer of velvet, a layer of elastic, and a layer of rope together, my machine had a pretty hard time with it. I ended up doing a bit of hand-stitching to make sure the elastic was going to stay put.

So far, Christmas break has been all about creativity in this house. Maybe tomorrow I can show you what I’ve been making for my daughter….