New Scripture Cover

It was time for a new scripture cover.  I just got a new set, since I misplaced my last pair at a church meeting and I got tired of borrowing some for Sunday School.  So, with new scriptures comes a new scripture case, courtesy of Delia.

Since I started this late in the evening, I just started pulling from my fabric stash.  How fun that I had some leftover herringbone from a skirt I made (the fabric had originally been a $1 find at Goodwill, and I used this same pattern) and a yellow print from Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom line.  Also in the stash was fusible fleece for some extra padding and a magnetic snap.  How convenient, right?

Delia’s tutorial doesn’t involve a strap and magnetic closure, but that is what I wanted for my cover.  So, I cut a piece 5 1/2” x 2 1/2” out of both fabrics and some heavy weight interfacing.  I ironed the interfacing to the yellow piece, and put the snap on, and sewed the fabrics into a tab.  Before the main scripture cover pieces were sewn together, I made sure the other side of the snap would line up with the tab and put that on the outer herringbone fabric.  I put a little piece of interfacing behind that too just to reinforce it.  Then I continued as normal, putting the tab between the jacket flap and the outer fabric before I sewed it all up instead of the elastic that Delia uses in her tutorial.

I like the fusible fleece addition too, but it made it so my seam allowances got too bulky (although I did cut the fleece down to not be in the allowances… guess it wasn’t enough!) and I had to omit the final top-stitch step in order to actually fit the scriptures in.  Dar be dar. 

Delia had a strap that caused a minor frustration for her, so I wanted to show you how I did mine in a continuous circle.  I’m using scraps for demonstration purposes, your straps will be longer :)

Delia’s straps were 2 1/2” wide for the bottom layer, and 1 1/4” for the top layer, and both at 46” long.  To get continuous straps, cut your bottom strap 48 1/2” long and your top strap 47 1/4” long.  I had to piece my straps to get them this long.

Take each strap and put the ends right sides together, like the picture above, making sure the strap isn’t twisted or anything.  Stitch where I have the red line marked on the photo, corner to corner.

When you open it up, it will be a full circle.  Trim the seam allowance and iron it nice and pretty, and then repeat with the next strap.  Then you can continue with Delia’s instructions about ironing them and sewing them together and then onto the scripture cover.

The scriptures got their church debut yesterday, and it was really nice not pulling them out of a bag or anything.  I think all I need now is a cute bookmark.  For the record, I’m finishing up my Personal Progress, and all I have left is to finish the Book of Mormon- yay!

My only problem is, what do I do when I’m wearing that matching skirt to church??? :)  

Getting Quilty

It’s been a while since I finished the Kaleidoscope quilt, and I’ve had bundles of fabric ready to be made into something for a while.  I gave in to one of them the other day and cut them into 6” squares, which then became 9-patches, and then ended up chopped again into a Disappearing 9-patch.

And now I have a quilt top. 

I went to JoAnn Fabrics to get lots of batting when it was on sale, but they told me it wasn’t on sale, so I didn’t get it.  Turns out they were wrong (surprised?) and I missed out on that.  I don’t have good experiences with that store…

So, here it will remain until batting goes on sale again.

This quilt has organic Transportation, Michael Miller Ta Dots, Lakehouse dots, Snorkel, Half Moon, and… something else that has totally escaped my brain at the moment.

And, if you were wondering, the craft night was really fun. Just a few people showed up, but we gabbed the night away.  I had them bring a project, but I also had a few cheap/simple things for people to do too if they wanted.  And food was present :)

Gotta put that Pyrex to work, you know.

Spiffing Up the House

 

There’s people coming over tonight- hopefully, lots of them.  Since one of my new year resolutions was to make new friends (or, be a better friend), I decided to have a crafty night at my house.  I was going to have an organized craft with all the supplies and stuff for everyone, but then I remembered I’m one woman, and my monthly craft budget is $40.  Oh.  So it is a Bring Your Own Craft night!

But when people are coming over, don’t you feel like you have to take your home up a notch?  I do.  Usually we just clean.  Let’s face it- that is up quite a few notches for us!  But this time, I needed to add a little more than usual.  So, the Kitchen Aid got a tattoo.  Or two.

Doesn’t it look like a cool tattoo?  I have to say, it was a BEAST getting this little vinyl flourish cut (the automatic cut setting was a little off, so first it didn’t cut through, and then I adjusted it and it was too deep and vinyl was getting caught all over the place) and then transferred (I have no words.  It was crazy, and I unleashed a whole slew of Mormon curse words) to the Kitchen Aid.  But I like it!  It got this design on both sides.  I thought I mirrored the image, but it turns out I didn’t.  Ah, oh well.  I still think it is way cool, I love it in silver.

And then, I cut out some letters and glued them to some paper heart doilies, and strung them together with twine.  Then I wandered around our 100 square feet of front living space (and I’m having lots of people over?  What was I thinking!) looking for a place to put it, and ended up hanging it up at the entrance to our hallway.

The girls loved helping me with this sparkly heart art.  I found the great houndstooth paper at Hobby Lobby, and the hearts at the Dollar tree.

I spray painted this amore sign a while back, and just stuck it on the top of my mirror.  Then, since it was still bare, I put some of my vintage crochet lace as a little garland on it.  I am planning on making a heart garland too, some time.

So, there is my pathetic attempt at spiffying up the place.  Good thing this isn’t the Parade of Homes or something. 

I’m sure there are people out there who think my house is always decorated to the nines for holiday and regular day use since I am a bit crafty, but since we have NO flat surfaces, it really is pretty barren.  Mike would freak out anyway if I started putting stuff all over- I often find my meager decorations on my craft desk where he has “put them away.”  He’ll even put the couch pillows away in the linen closet.  Ha!

Have a great day!

Make a Snuggie!!

Ok, I was giggling the whole time I made this.  And then I started taking the occasional picture, because it was just too fun not to share.

I’ve been thinking how snuggies are just blankets with sleeves, and since I know how to cut a big rectangle and then a circle, I could make one.  And I had just picked up some Fancy Nancy fleece.  The stars had aligned.

To make the snuggie, I measured my child’s height (just ignore her super old princess dress that I made from nightgown fabric once upon a time when I didn’t know what I was doing), and then added a least another foot because she does grow fast.  Then I measured her arm length and added about 5 inches to that length too.  I also made it wide enough to wrap around real loose with extra room for growing.

Next, I marked where the sleeves would go on the actual snuggie by having my daughter lay down on the blanket for an idea on where her shoulders were.  I needed them spaced apart by about 14”, so I marked with a single pin where the centers of the sleeves would be.

Next I hemmed the sleeve, but I only did this with one of the snuggies.  Fleece isn’t going to fray, so I didn’t bother on the second.

Sew the sleeve right sides together into a long tube.  Turn it right side out.

The tricky part for me was figuring out how big to cut my circle where the sleeve was going in to.  I first measured the diameter of the sleeve (from fold to seam), and then subtracted 1” for the seam allowance to get my finished circle diameter.  I ended up with a hole smaller than the sleeve when it was laying down,

But when the blanket and sleeve were pinned right sides together, it fit pretty nicely.  I had to adjust only slightly as I was sewing.

This was seriously so fast… and I got 2 little kid snuggies out of the fabric I had on hand.  Woot woot!

Now the kids can warmly play their V-Smile and bite their fingernails.  Hmmm.  I’m actually thinking these would be GREAT in the car so they can still play and eat snacks and whatever and still stay warm.

Make Life Square, updated.

I’ve seen a lot of the Make Life Square baby quilts on Pinterest, and since I made the tutorial before we all knew about that wonderful time-sucker (!), I’m thinking people should have other photos to choose from.  So I updated the post with pictures of the actual finished quilt.  That quilt has been folded up and put away since I made it.  We’ve never used it!  Too many blankets around here…

Make Life Square quilt tutorial is found here.

Now that Pinterest is around, do you find yourself wanting to re-photograph everything like I do??  :)

Baby Peasant Dress and Pants

I have been trying to increase this little Turkey’s wardrobe, slowly but surely, since she doesn’t have a lot of warm clothes.  I’ve cleaned WalMart out of their white long-sleeve onesies.  Babies are SO cute in those.  Yeah, just white.  Anyway, the three pairs of pants I have for her are dirty by day 2, so I have been cutting out little bitty pairs of pants any chance I get.  As I was cutting out this pair from Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom line, I knew I couldn’t just have the pants- she needed a top to go with it.

Or, since Abby just posted her Baby Peasant Dress pattern and tutorial, my little girl needed a matching dress.  Forget warmth, we’re going for cute now (though I will probably toss one of those white onesies on under if we go out in this).

I just used a Simplicity pattern for the pants, but Rae has a freebie that is exactly the same thing, for those of you who are interested.  I made these pants extra long because I wanted her feet covered.  I’m weird.

But she was pretty excited about the new clothes.

So much so that she spit up all over the dress, but I took a picture of it anyway.  Here it is, all crusty and wrinkled.  So cute, right?

The Heirloom line has been a little trouble for me, I keep pulling the prints out for quilts, but then end up putting them in clothes.  I think they are much better in clothing, because you can get the full effect of the bigger prints.

Anyway, we’re happy to have new clothes, and she’s so stinkin cute in them too.

**Also, my sponsor Little Bitty Boutique is having a giveaway/drawing on her Facebook page for a Valentine item or a Boy item, so check it out!  We love our bear beanie!**

The Gumball Pocket Skirt- A Tutorial

What little girl doesn’t want bright pockets, pom-pom-trim, and a skirt all rolled into one?  My girls were begging me to use some of that trim on a skirt, so I got right to work and came out of my sewing room with these matching cuties before too long.  I had to call them “Gumball Skirts” because of the ball trim and the polka-dot fabric in the pockets, like a pocket full of gumballs.

They have been approaching everyone and saying, “Do you like my skirt???” while proudly showing off the trim and pockets to all who will listen.  And, today is the third day in a row they’ve worn them.  It is time for a load of laundry, that is for sure.

Want one?  Or two?

Materials:

1/2 yard main fabric (you’ll have leftovers)

1/2 yard contrast fabric (again, some left over)

1 yard pom-pom trim (I had barely enough for a 4/5T size skirt with 1 yard)

1 package of coordinating bias tape

sewing supplies, including 1” elastic

{I got my fabrics from a local shop, ETC- Scrapbooks, Fabric, and More!  I love their HUGE sale section and get in trouble there all the time :)}

Seam allowances are 1/2”

First, measure your child from their waist to your desired length- for my girls, this was slightly past their knee.  Now, I wanted the contrasting bands to be about 4” each, so I subtracted 5 (always include seam allowance and your hem) and then added the 1 1/2” for the top elastic casing.  This is the cut length of the main fabric.  For my 4-year-old (almost 5!!), I used the whole width (minus selvedges), and sub-cut to 2, 21 inch pieces.  For my 2 1/2 year old, I used a 38” width and sub-cut to 2, 24” pieces.

Fold one of your main fabric pieces in half width-wise,

And draw on a pocket with a light pencil or erasable pen on the raw edge side of your now folded fabric.  I used a small bucket to get my curve nice.  I wanted to be able to see the proportions of the pocket directly on the skirt, so I didn’t draw my pattern first- I’m totally backwards, I know :)  This way helped me a bit though, since I am a visual person.

Cut through both layers along your newly drawn pocket.  Keep in mind that the pockets will be included in the elastic casing at the top, so you might want them to be 1” longer than you think is right.

Now I drew up my pocket pattern.  Using the cut pieces, I traced an inner curve on my piece of paper, and used that as a guide for drawing how deep the outer curve- the inside of your pocket- was going to be.

Using your pattern, cut 2 of the outer curve pieces, making sure the two pieces face opposite directions.

Next, cut two inner curve pieces, again making sure they are in opposite directions.

Line your inner curve up with the main skirt fabric wrong sides together and with the inner curves matching.  Sew these together along that inner curve.

Now, take your big pocket piece and place it right side down on top of your contrasting inner pocket piece, making sure to line up that outer curve.  Sew only the contrasting fabrics together along this curve, where I have all those pins.

Cut a piece of bias tape to fit around that inner curve of your pocket.  Pin it on, and sew carefully around the edge.

I went ahead and sewed the pocket to the top of the skirt while I was at it so it wouldn’t flop around.

This is what your skirt front looks like now.

Take your remaining main fabric and pin it along one side, and sew them together.

Take your pom-pom fringe and baste it along the bottom of the main fabric.

Sew your contrast fabric together along one of the short sides, and then line the edges up right sides together along your main skirt fabric.  Sew these layers together, carefully making sure your pom-poms are out of the way as you sew.

Iron your new seam towards the main fabric, and top-stitch along the edge to hold that seam allowance in place.

Sew the remaining two sides together and iron your seam allowance flat.

Make a double hem along the bottom

Either iron a 1/4” hem or finish the top of the skirt, and then iron a 1 1/4” hem.  Stitch close to the finished edge, leaving a 2” opening to make your elastic casing.

Insert your elastic all the way through the skirt and sew the elastic ends together, overlapping them by about 1/2”.  Sew the elastic opening closed.

Repeat for the sister, friend, or whoever.

They will love their pockets, fun trim, and running around in their new skirts!

They’ll have plenty of fun in their Gumball Pocket skirts!