Operation: Slim That Stash- Bird Mobile

I have been working on this project for some time now. I used the fabric from my crazy fabric shopping spree (mostly the Park Slope stuff I got). I did a few things differently from the original Spool Sewing pattern.

The original mobile idea was to attach them to little branches so you get the whole nature feel to it. Since the baby room in our apartment has no other nature theme to it, I decided to forego the branches and just use some monofilament thread to hang them from some painted embroidery hoops. I just painted them the same time I painted my pegboard. I told you I've been working on this for a while!

I also put a seam down the back so I could insert a tab for the monofilament to go through. I did three without the tab because I wanted them to sit on top of the hoops.

They sure are a colorful bunch! I stuffed the tails so they look less... real? And so they can be nice toys later in their lives when the babe is too big for a mobile.

We had some play time with the birdies before we strung them on the hoops. My baby girl (yes, she's a girl although she has a green blanket, yellow onesie, and is in a brown swing.) cried right after I took the picture. Funny girl!

It took a little manuevering to get it on the hoops right... I ended up hot glueing the thread to the hoops because they would come untied. Not a good thing for hanging over the crib! I am considering putting a ribbon on the inside of the hoops to hide the hot glue. But I have had this thing sitting around for so long, it needed to be hung.

My husband found some fancy screw in his messy stash of tools and hardware and we just looped the string to hang from it.

My baby girl loves to look at it now. No crying! It gives me those 3 extra minutes of sleep in the morning :). I love how it is so colorful! And it looks great over the beautiful crib I got for $45 off of Craigslist. Yeah, I know. And, my husband is so happy I finished something. With his help, of course. Hooray!

My other "slim-stash" project I am working on right now involves yards and yards and yards of fabric, so it iwill make a huge dent when I'm done. I am making drapery panels for my bedroom. It will be a while before I post that, but stay tuned- I'm excited!

An excuse for a party...

My munchkin is now potty-trained. And to celebrate this momentous occasion, we had a "potty-party." I only decorated our itty-bitty dining area but it was fun. It was an excuse to use my pink fabric with the white polka dots as a table cloth (2 yards, barely enough to hang over the edges!) and also to use Char's tutorial for a fabric-covered party hat. It was a fun event, with streamers, balloons, finger foods, cupcakes, chips and dip, and even princess party bags. I was going to do some sort of potty-training game like "Pin the potty in the toilet" or something but I didn't have time to come up with something truly thrilling. We invited my niece who is the same age as my girl who is slowly making her way in the potty-training world, and I think we got the point across that it is a great accomplishment!


Alas, even with the fun of a potty-party, there is always a mess to deal with. Is this a familiar sight?

Giveaway!

My friend Julie (totally cute girl with tons of talent) from college has been featured on Design Girl Blog for her awesome camera strap slipcovers. I know some of you out there have those fancy cameras, but what's so exciting about BLACK camera straps? Check out the feature for a chance to win a camera strap slipcover! And check the etsy shop, masonjarholdings, for the cutest Don't Eat Pete game!

New dress! Again...

Here is a dress I finally finished for my munchkin. I used Simplicity pattern 3512. I used the pattern once before for another dress view and I really liked it, so I tried another! That is when you really get your money's worth with patterns.

The pattern used a ribbon tie but I saw a little girl at church in this pattern with the ribbon and it was constantly coming undone, so I used matching fabric instead. It is still cute! I love thew godets on the skirt and the ruffles on the bodice. The fabric is from Moda's Oh Cherry Oh! line.

Operation: Slim that Stash - Ribbon Blanket

I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow morning for my cousin. She is flying in from... huh, I don't know where... Kansas? Virgina? Timbuktu? Anyway, since she is flying, I don't want give her anything big and bulky and don't want to do the typical, expected thing of a gift card. Plus, I don't want to go to the store today :).

So, since I have oodles of fabric on hand, I decided to make a ribbon blanket. They are similar to Taggies (they have lots of stuff with tags... toys, blankets, even clothing!).

1. First, I cut out four 8x8 pieces of fabric for a "pieced" top. I did two minky dot fabric squares, and two cotton fabric squares. I appliqued a design on one of the cotton fabric squares first.

2. Take two squares and sew them together. I paired a minky dot with a cotton square.

3. Then sew the rectangles together, lining up the corners real nice.

4. Square up the now 15"x15" square and cut out another 15"x15" square out of a third fabric for the backing. I used a patterned flannel-backed satin (baby satin) that I got on clearance months ago...

5. Take your front piece and attach ribbons. Cut your ribbons to 4 inches for looped ribbons and 2 inches for un-looped ribbons. Any longer than that and babies may choke on them. I cut a bunch of different width/pattern/texture ribbons and put 6 on each side, spacing them as evenly as I could by eyeballing it. I was too lazy to measure:).

6. Sew the ribbon to the top using a 1/4 inch stitch. Make sure the ribbons are on real tight, either by double stitching over each or by shortening your stitch length.

7. Sew the top square to the bottom square, right sides together, leaving a 3" hole to turn it later.

8. Clip your corners so it will turn nicely.

9. Turn inside out and top-stitch 1/4" around the edge. I ironed it a little to make the edges nice and crisp, which made it easier to get a nice topstitch.

See my applique? It matches one of the patterns on the back piece.

10. Set your stitch length to 0 and make a few stitches in the dead center of your blanket. This keeps it from slipping around and getting off-kilter when it gets washed. (Speaking of washing... if you hand-make it, hand-wash it!)

And there you have a cute finished ribbon blanket! The different textures and bright colors are fun for babies and the cute fabric is fun for moms too :)

Operation: Slim that Stash - Repurposed Shirt

Project #1 of Operation Fabric Slim-Down wasn't necessarily from a piece of fabric. I found a linen shirt in my mom's pile of junk to take to D.I. (like Goodwill) and I decided that even though it had a few teeny stains, it was still nice! Nice enough to chop up and refashion, that is. The bottom of the shirt had a pretty eyelet edge and it was the perfect size for a 3-T dress. Go figure, I didn't take a picture of it before I started cutting, so, use your imagination! Here is what I ended up with:

I started by taking off the collar. I just unpicked it carefully and pulled it right out.

Then I used a dress as a template. The arm holes were a little long on this dress, which I didn't realize until later. Next time I'll refashion using smaller armholes :).

Then I cut out a top bodice and a bottom skirt. If I used the entire shirt length, the dress would be to her ankles or something rediculous like that, so I left three inches out of the middle.

Using that middle piece (and some of the sleeve I added on), I made a ruffle. First I sewed the short ends right sides together, and then turned it right side out. I ironed it so it looked nice and crisp.

Then I gathered it along the raw edge to the same length as the collar that I unpicked. You know the gathering drill by now, I am sure.

I slid the ruffle into the collar and top-stitched it on.

I thought it looked really cute.

Then I put in a sleeve... this was my first time making a whole sleeve without a pattern and well, you can tell :). The long sleeve hole was my first problem, and then my sleeve I made was too narrow. My "Napoleon Hat" was too tall and skinny. Sometime I'll learn how to do it for REALS and then teach y'alls.

I had some red piping I also snagged from my mom's house, except this time from her box of sewing goodies she got from her grandmother. This stuff is from... who knows. It was old. The piping was getting yellow :). I LOVE it. I just added it to the bodice front using my zipper foot.

Then I sewed the skirt pieces together, put the bodice on, and ta da! A new play dress. White linen. Play dress. Right. Well, she liked it and it is great to play tea party in! The buttons on the bodice are great for getting the dress on and off without a zipper. Easy peasy. Now on to project #2!

The greatest challenge yet

My husband sat me down last night to have a "talk."

The outcome was devestating.

What happened? Well, he told me we had a lot of fabric. A lot of fabric that was just sitting there not doing anything. And he was concerned that I keep buying more. Since he does not have that itch that I have to sew or craft something, he doesn't quite understand. But, I did see that in our tiny space, there was a lot of fabric. So I told him that I wouldn't buy any more fabric until all my current projects (I have like 45,000 projects going on right now) were all finished. Unless I needed more for one of those projects.

And so, here lies my greatest challenge yet: To Complete what I've Started!

>>>>Hello this is Mike. I sat down at the computer to check the news, and what do I find....but an unfinished blog. This is a dangerous point in any man's life because what I do or say could put me in a serious predicament. Let's just say my life could hang by a thread (ha joke) if I say anything about Mel's fetish with fabric. I have to admit that I am somewhat surprised our conversation had an effect, as previous attempts have fruited me nothing...but alas it worked! Oh, Mel's coming back, so I've got to go.

'Til next time...

Oh. For. Cute.

I just stumbled on this sweet, awesome, rad tutorial today. I love looking at other craft blogs and thinking, "someday, I can be like this person." Moda Home Mom is one such person! The cool thing about this tutorial is that it includes a shirt dress for a girl, and a cool applique idea for a boy shirt. My brain is on baby girl overload, it is nice to see boy stuff every once in a while. Hope you like it as much as I did!

New Craft Space

So, I took all your support as incentive to go to Home Depot and picked up a small sheet of pegboard and some cheery blue paint. I also picked up a pegboard hardware set to hang all of my craft supplies. Notice how bare it looks right now...


... but more stuff will be added as time goes on, I think! So far I have:
Corkboard (I had it in my craft stash) to hang up crafterly inspiration
Embroidery hoops
Rulers/measuring tape
Craft Misc. like exacto knife, beeswax, pins, iron cleaner
Tacks
Sponge brush
Scissors (Pinking shears-a vintage find at a garage sale!- reg. paper scissors, little snipper scissors, and fabric scissors)
Bobbins (I need another way to store these, so this worked for now)
Presser Feet

I have all my fabric drawers all organized too. I still don't have enough space, so I hung some current projects on hangers. It IS a closet, you know.

So, now that I have a pleasant space set up, I can get to work. While it isn't ANYTHING close to this awesome creative space, it works for now! At least, it works when kids are sleeping or watching Barbie movies. I have more supplies on the closet shelf in small plastic tubs which are labeled with dorky label stickers. But I like it that way. It reminds me I'm dorky.

Do you like? Works for a closet, eh?

Now if I can just get my husband to keep his clothes from off the floor in there... ;)

P.S. Happy Anniversary, sweetie- 4 years! I love you even when your clothes are on the floor. I promise I'll put my crafts away just for today.

p.p.s. The bird onesie was a total hit.

A little birdie told me...

... how to make this awesome onesie!

Thanks to Jill for her tutorial on UCreate on how to do freezer paper stencils. I went straight to the store to get freezer paper (by the aluminum foil and plastic wrap and such) and fabric paint. It was so fast, so easy, and so awesome. I'm a believer. I still love hand-embroidered applique onesies, but these are super easy. And my hands don't get sore. :)

I was hoping putting a bird on a blue onesie would make it more feminine for my baby girl. I still think we'll have some confused baby-oglers but I don't mind!