Love design? Enter to win the #CB2NovogratzBrasilSweepstakes !

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CB2 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If I could describe my dream home design aesthetic, it would be a mix of mid-century, vintage, and modern.  Sometimes I look around my second-handedly decorated apartment and mentally fill it with great items from those eras.  My college emphasis was in Interior Design, so I have been filling notebooks (and pinterest boards!) with that style ever since studying it in my classes. It makes sense, then, that I do a lot of drooling over the products available at CB2. Even better now that The design duo Robert and Cortney Novogratz have come out with a deliciously loveable line at CB2 inspired by their vacation home in Brazil- the warm wood tones and bright color mixes are the perfect blend of modern and vintage.  The signature fearlessness of the Novogratz style is really fun and exciting, and fits so well with the other CB2 offerings! It was a match made in heaven.

The new CB2 and Novogratz Collection has some truly awesome pieces, like this Breaker chair (the blue! It was made for me!!):

Although I think my favorite combo would be the Dupla Credenza and Soneca Pendant Lamp:

That credenza has a beautiful mix of wood tones, color, the industrial feel of the corners... everything about it calls to my someday-home design sense. Love it! The contrast of the angular credenza and the smooth global lamp are a match made in heaven.

In order to help light the flame of the beautiful Brazilian features of the CB2 and Novogratz Collection, there is an amazing CB2 and Novogratz Brasil Sweepstakes where you and 3 friends can win an entire week's stay at the vacation home of Robert and Cortney Novogratz in Trancosco, BRAZIL!  You can see exactly where the inspiration came from, live the experience, and revel in design goodness. I have always wanted to spend time in the home of a real designer!  This would be the chance of a lifetime! 10 other winners will get a $100 gift card to CB2, plus get an autographed copy of the book, "Home by Novogratz."  Simply enter at cb2.com/sweeps between May 2nd and June 3rd.  Better hurry- the sweepstakes is halfway over!

I Can Sew: Sewing a Straight Line

It is time to sew with some control!  I don’t mean in terms of self-control, like when I sew until the wee hours of the morning, or get frustrated and throw something across the room.  I mean sewing with control over the fabric you are working with in order to get a nice, straight line :)

This is how my mom taught me how to sew a straight line: With your left hand, gently hold the top left corner of the fabric.

With the right hand, hold the fabric gently again between the thumb and the fingers, holding it up slightly with the thumb.

Then, as you begin to sew and the machine feeds the fabric through, move your body and arms with the fabric letting it guide you while still having that hold on the fabric.  Stop before you get to your hand (or pin) and reposition your hand holds.  My mom had us first practice on paper with her junky needles, and it helped a lot!  Try it, see if your lines get any straighter.

That’s all for today!  Amazingly short, huh? :) 

Did you use a nursing pillow?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was a first time mom, one of the things I really struggled with was nursing. MAN that was painful!  But I plugged along and eventually we got a handle on things.  Something that made it easier for me was having a nursing pillow- I had some knock-off brand from who knows where that I made my own cover for, and while it functioned, it wasn't amazing.  I usually used it with a pillow, but mostly used it to prop up the baby!  Especially when she was learning how to sit, I made sure she was nestled safely in the nursing pillow. 

I think things have come a long way since I had my first baby 6 1/2 years ago!  I realized this after getting the chance to "sample" a different nursing pillow made by the folks at Comfort and Harmony, the mombo™! Since I am not actually nursing right now, I called up my friend who had her very first baby only 14 weeks ago and had her try it out!

The first thing that I was a super fan of was the super SUPER soft cover that came with the sample pillow.  My babies have always loved fuzzy fabric, so that was a win!  Also, one of the unique characteristics of this mombo nursing pillow is the fact that it is 2-sided; one side is more firm for nursing, and the other is soft for supporting.  The fact that the nursing side is firm eliminates the need for extra propping pillows underneath to keep baby right where you need them to be.  According to my friend here, it was much more convenient than the other pillows she has tried! 

The other side of the pillow was very cute with modern elephants and trees, but we wondered if the piping around the edge would bother a propped-up baby.  It is cute, for sure!  But still, it might be a concern.  Something else that is unique about this pillow is the fact that it has a little space for an option to insert a vibrating piece to help soothe the baby.  It hides inside undetected, and is a great idea, I think!  This would have been nice when I had my Allie baby, who spit up all the time and needed to be propped up but also liked the vibrating seat things.  It is like a 2-fer! 3-fer?

This fun mombo pillow is available at Toys R Us, and possibly Babies R Us (which makes sense, right?) and in lots of different styles. This would be a great gift for a new mom!  Because the covers are removeable and washable, it can last a long time.  Go check out all the different products they have!

To see more products and get the latest information, you can visit Comfort & Harmony on Facebook and Comfort & Harmony on Twitter.  There is always something happening there!

So... do you use a nursing pillow?  Would you like this one??? Or, even someone you know who is expecting might like one! I have a second baby nursing pillow with the same elephant cover for one of you, dear readers!  This is a great giveaway!  All you need to do is leave a comment telling me why you want a mombo? Is it for you?  A friend? Family member?  Let me know, and please... make sure I have a way to easily e-mail the winner back- otherwise, you can't win!

I Can Sew: Know Your Fabric

My favorite topic EVERRRRR! I mean really, fabric is so delightful.  I LOVE fabric :)  One of my favorite classes in college was a textile class where we had to study different properties of different types of fabric and then, based on those qualities, determine where that fabric was best used.  It was a great class!  The very first thing we learned that I am going to pass on to you is that fabric is not simply “fabric” (is nothing simply what it seems to be? sorry!). There are 3 basic categories of fabric: Knits, Wovens, and Non-Wovens. 

Basically, knits are the stretchy fabrics!  They are made by threads being looped around a needle, to put it very simply. The most common knit fabrics you will come across in your sewing days are interlock and jersey, but ribbing and even fleece come into play a lot too.  Interlock is light-medium weight, like regular t-shirt fabric, and has two “right” sides.  Jersey is lighter and more airy, and has a distinct right side.  The yellow stripe knit in the photo is jersey knit.  Ribbing is heavier and has definite “ribs” in it; it typically costs a little more.  For these summer pajamas, I used interlock and rib knits.  Knits are used all the time in clothes because it is soft and comfy and stretchy! 

Woven fabrics are, in fact, woven!  There are vertical (warp) and horizontal (weft) threads that weave into each other to make a fabric.  The family of woven fabrics is the most diverse, and the plain weave is what you see typically in quilt shops and usually has the largest section in fabric stores. Seriously, woven fabrics are everywhere, in so many different forms. Nearly every fabric used in your home is probably a woven.  And your jeans, and a lot of your other clothes.

Wovens do not stretch unless on they are pulled on the bias, or on the diagonal, but then they only stretch a little bit in that it is just distorting the weaves to be more like diamonds instead of square. Typically you cut pattern pieces to line up with the warp (remember that line/arrow we talked about?) to make sure that clothing or projects do not stretch while you sew or hang funny on the body once the garment is sewn.  If the look of draped clothing or projects is desired, the pattern pieces will be placed parallel to the bias of the fabric.  Unless a pattern calls for fabric to be on the bias, do not do it because it won’t lay or hang the way you want it to.  In home or quilting projects, bias “tape” is great for using on curves because it stretches just enough around them.

Non-wovens are your interfacings (although there are knit interfacings too), battings, and other specialty fabrics like insul-brite. They are neither woven or knit; they are simply manufactured. There are lots of them, and these are usually not what your garment or project has for its main feature :). There are often different weights to them, so make sure the weight of your interfacing matches the project you are working on.  Patterns will tell you what specifically you will need.

When shopping for fabric, it is important to not only look at how pretty it is, but also the information on the cardboard bolt.  I asked Hobby Lobby if I could use one of their finished bolts to show you examples of what you need to pay attention to:

Fabric type: Usually this is labeled above the fabric, but it is good to check and make sure!  This is also a good way to learn what different fabrics feel and look like so you don’t have to check every time. 

Fiber Content: What the fabric is made from; something like chiffon (I LOVE chiffon!!) is usually 100% polyester in your typical fabric store, and quilting fabric is almost always 100% cotton.  This goes hand in hand with…

Care Directions: SUPER important if you are sewing for kids!  You don’t want to pick up a fabric that is dry-clean only or hand wash only if you are going to have to wash it often!  The fiber content usually is the factor behind how to care for fabric; sometimes, however, an easy-care fabric has a delicate finish on it or some decorative feature that will change how you need to care for it.

Width of Fabric: You will want to know this for your patterns.  Example: For my twirly t-shirt dress, I used 54” fabric and was able to get a full circle out of it for my 6-year-old.  If I had picked a fabric only 45” wide, I would have had to make panels cut on the bias to get the same effect. Home décor fabric is usually much wider than quilting-weight plain cotton fabric.

First and foremost when picking a fabric, make sure it is the right type: do you need a woven, or a knit? THEN you can go look in that section of the store for what tickles your fancy.  If you want to know more about different types of fabric, I highly suggest Dana Willard’s Fabrics A to Z.  My friend Jill sent me a copy and I have loved it as a reference; it has care instructions, sewing needle suggestions, and other ways to work with each fabric.

Do you have a favorite fabric type to sew with?  How about your favorite place to shop online/brick and mortar for your fabric?  Please share so we can all be enlightened!

Teacher Gift: One Smart Cookie (Printable)

I know that last week was Teacher Appreciation week (only, I didn’t know it was until halfway through…) but since we are leaving before school gets out, I wanted to give my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher something now rather than at the end of the year as a good-bye since we won’t be around!  While we got her some pretty Violets, I do love edible gifts too. I am the biggest fan of edible gifts when I am the recipient, but I suppose I can give them too.

I was working on some homework of my own and decided to make a cookie printable to help go along with the teacher gift.  You can right-click and save the image above to use it too.  I simply backed it in blue cardstock and then taped it to my little treat bag with chocolate chip cookies inside.

And if you think I am going to make my mother-in-law’s yummy chocolate chip cookies and not share the recipe, you are crazy!  These are our favorite cookies, and this recipe makes a lot!  When I halve the recipe, I add 2 eggs, just FYI.

Collette Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 4 cubes butter (1 lb), room temperature
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 5-6 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 12-oz bag Semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In separate bowl, cream butter and sugars.
4. Add eggs to creamed mixture, mixing on high speed for 30 seconds after each egg, and then an additional minute on high speed.
5. Incorporate dry ingredients slowly to creamed mixture, mix until combined.
6. Add chocolate ships and mix on slow-med speed until chips are fully mixed in.
7. Form cookie dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen.

Mother’s Day Printable

I was working on my Illustrator 102 class assignment (yep! Taking another one of Nicole’s classes!) and since the assignment involved type and Mother’s Day is this weekend… I made a simple Mother’s Day quote.  Feel free to save the image and print it off, or do whatever. Enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

I Can Sew: Commercial Pattern Reading

My mom taught me how to sew using commercial patterns.  I totally see how people are intimidated by them!  SO many pieces of paper and little marks and doo-hickeys all over the easily-ripped tissue paper pieces… but you know what?  I love them. They take so much guess work out of the sewing process, and they can be SO cheap! NEVER buy a commercial pattern for the suggested retail price- something is always on sale, somewhere!

With most patterns, you can walk into a fabric store and walk out with everything you need to complete the project.  The pattern you pick will tell you exactly what you need, and how much of what is needed. The thing you need to know is your measurements!

Children’s measurements are different than adults, especially adult women, obviously! For kids, measure the height, chest, waist, hips, and distance between the largest bone on the neck and the waist. Sometimes waist is hard to find on little stick bodies, so take your tape measure, loop it around their middle, and slide it around until you find the smallest part. It is a good idea to measure your kids every few months during their growing years and keep that information with you, on your phone, on a piece of paper in your wallet, whatever.  That way, when you are in a fabric store and you don’t have your kids and a tape measure, you know what size you are looking for in patterns. For my average-sized girls, the patterns run pretty true to their size; if they are 4, they are size 4.  It makes it easy for me to pick what size to use! :) 

Women are different, because most of us have more to the chest (some, much less than others!) and that needs to be taken into account.  For women, the height, high bust (under the armpits and above the breast), bust (widest area around the breast), waist- the natural waist, not the low-rise pant waist, back to natural waist, and hips- the widest part of the body below the waist.  Wear your bra when measuring to get a more accurate measurement of what you are when you will actually be wearing the article of clothing. Another point to realize is that your department store size will be different than your pattern size.  I’m a double-digit pattern size, and a single-digit store size.  Remember that it starts with the kid sizes and goes up from there, and you want to be bigger than your 6-year-old. ;)

Now, go thumb through pattern books or browse online!  I am going to use a Simplicity pattern for reference here because they are my favorite out of the commercial patterns in terms of ease of use, cost, and availability.

Every commercial pattern is numbered, and the front will also have the sizes contained in that particular pattern envelope.  Make sure when you grab a pattern from the store it has the right size on it, not just the picture that matches.

The back of the pattern has the measurements that you need to reference.  Use them to determine the size you need; if not every measurement matches, round to the nearest size or measurement up.  The size with the most matching measurements should be the one you start with.  These patterns are easy to adjust because they have a wide, 5/8” seam allowance.  If you have an extra tall child, also check the bottom where it details garment measurements, and you will see the finished length.  The pattern will tell you how to lengthen it if you need to, but this will reference how much you might need to lengthen.

Patterns often have several “views” or options on what you can sew.  This pattern has two dress variations, a jacket, and a bag. If I only wanted to make dress B, I only need to worry about the sections with B included.  The back of the pattern will also give you fabric suggestions so you know what type of fabric to look for while you are at the store.  When you find a fabric you like, check on the bolt end to see how wide it is; you need different amounts based on the fabric width.  The pattern also says what extra notions and trims you might need.  Follow the size down the chart to see how much of what items you need; view B dress needs 1 1/8 yard of 45” wide fabric, plus 3/8 yard of lightweight fusible interfacing, plus the notions up at the top.

Inside your pattern, there should be an itemized pattern piece list showing how many pieces there are, and which ones go to what view you plan on making.  Dress B needs pieces 1-6, so those are the only pieces I am going to cut out of the huge mess of tissue paper.

There are also some general directions which are super helpful when just starting out.  The symbols are explained to you right there.  For the notches, those are reference points for lining up pattern pieces correctly.  Once upon a time I cut out each notch (or a big notch for the notch groups) but now I just make a little 1/4” snip into the fabric where the notches are.  It is much faster, and since the seam allowance is huge, it doesn’t mess anything up.

The dots need to be transferred to the fabric using a disappearing pen or transfer paper.  They are also references for lining up pattern pieces.

The center Front of Back of garment lines are GREAT if you are working with a fabric with an awesome pattern that can be centered on the garment. For instance, this floral damask from Raspberry Creek Fabrics:

The best thing to do would be to line up the center garment line with the center of the damask.  This attention to detail is what can make your garment look really great in the end.

The pattern also helps you to figure out how to lay out your pattern pieces on your fabric.  This takes into account the sizes too, so make sure you are looking at the right picture.  When a pattern piece is grayed out like some in the above example, it means the piece needs to be flipped over to its wrong side.  Pay attention to the arrows on the pattern pieces, they need to be parallel with the selvedge of the fabric (the edge with the writing or tiny little holes) so the garment drapes, or hangs, right on the body.

I rough-cut the patterns out of the tissue paper.  They aren’t perfect!  I should have ironed this one out (on low) but didn’t because of laziness.  The pattern will give more instruction; for instance, this sleeve C needs two pieces cut.  If I have it like the pattern layout suggests, those two will be cut at the same time; if I am using scraps, I need to make sure this piece is cut once right side up, and then flipped before cutting the second piece because it is not a symmetrical pattern piece. Sometimes, the pattern also says to use it to cut interfacing pieces if that is needed, and the same rules apply there about symmetry.

Let’s say I’m cutting a size 4 out of this; the 4 is not on the edge.  Since this is tissue paper, I pin my pattern to my fabric and then slide my scissors under the pattern, lining them up with the size I am wanting to cut as I go along. I can see what my scissors are doing under the paper so I don’t worry about cutting blindly.  It is slower going than slicing right through the pattern, but then I can use it again and again.  If you are not comfortable with that but want to keep the pattern in tact, use tracing paper and a tracing wheel to transfer the pattern size directly to your fabric, and cut along the line.

The pattern instructions have both text and images.  This is where most people get confused!  Read slowly, and reference the picture.  The pieces are printed differently so you can tell what is the right side, wrong side, interfacing, and lining. There is always a key to know what is what too. Follow every trim, snip, clip, and iron step they have in there and you really will find it is to your benefit!

If you are still feeling anxious, consider using a PDF pattern. This step is also where so many PDF patterns like Peek-A-Boo Patterns (affiliate link) are convenient, because they have step-by-step photos of what to do instead of illustrated drawings (and the Pier 49 convertible pants are 50% off today only!).  I like how the commercial patterns have so many options in one pack, but there are many cute PDF garment patterns out there nowadays!

Key things to remember with paper patterns:

START EASY.  Familiarize yourself with the lingo, illustrations, and directions given with easy projects, like the bag on this pattern.

READ EVERYTHING.  The basic directions are priceless!  If you run into a question, your best bet is that the answer is in the general directions at the beginning.

DON’T FREAK OUT. It is easier than it looks.

And, if you made it this far… I am totally exhausted from these past 3 HUGE lessons.  Whew!  We’ll do something more fun next week: Fabric. :)

FLASH GIVEAWAY!  It is a small one, but hey, I’m moving in 3 days so give me a break ;) I gathered a small pile of my favorite sewing tools, and someone will be the lucky recipient!

I’ve got pins, a seam ripper, 60” tape measure, and my favorite Micro-tip scissors up for grabs.  Leave a comment!  I’ll pick a winner tonight at midnight.  (Speaking of winners, I picked a winner for the Flirt Earrings giveaway- was it you? Check your e-mail!)

If you have ANY QUESTIONS EVER about sewing with a pattern, let me know, shoot me an e-mail ( melcollette at gmail dot com) and I will do my best to help you out. I WANT you to succeed, so you aren’t bothering me, I promise!

Over and out.