TWO giveaways ended last night, and I’m so happy to announce the winners!
The Indygo Junction Fabric Flower Book Giveaway Winner was BETH
And the winner of the cute Ruffled Business Card Holder was JESSICA!
Both ladies have been e-mailed, so if your name is Beth or Jessica, check your inbox!
Now, I have a small project I am trying to perfect before sharing with you guys, so have a super great day!
Melanie
I had drawn up a pattern for this Valentine shirt, but the original neckline was too small for her to slip over her head, and I wanted to make something a little more interesting anyway. So, I decided to figure out how to make a placket! I tried the real way, and while it turned out great, it was a lot of figuring out. I wanted to do it a bit simpler, so this is how I ended up doing it in the end. Again, not how the professionals do it, but how this sewing mom does it!
You need:
First, lay whatever bodice piece you are working with face down.
Next, lay the rectangle face down on the bodice, with the centers aligned.
Mark with disappearing ink or a pencil where your stitching lines will be down the center, aka the width and length of your placket. Stitch along the lines.
Cut the fabric between your stitched lines, and when you get to the end, cut a “Y” shape into the fabric close to the corners, but not through the stitching.
Trim the seam allowance to 1/4”.
Iron the long outside edges of your rectangle with a 1/4” hem, and turn your bodice over, right side up. Iron the seam towards the placket fabric.
Fold one side of the placket fabric over so the folded hem covers the seam line, and pin.
Stitch close to the edge, enclosing the seam. Stop stitching where the placket opening ends. You will have to fold, tuck, and move your fabric near the bottom so it is easier to work with, and so it looks nice.
Take the other side of your placket and lay it open, covering the part of the placket you just sewed down. Iron the seam allowance towards the placket fabric.
Fold the placket over so the folded hem covers the seam line. Pin in place.
At the bottom, you will notice your placket is now a series of folds.
To eliminate the bulk, simply trim some of the bottom layers away.
Fold the remaining layers so the bottom of the placket comes to a nice, folded end and no raw edges are showing. Pin in place.
Top-stitch or hand-stitch along the edge of the placket, enclosing the seam line. Machine stitch the bottom of the placket down as well.
You can simply top-stitch around the bottom, or add decorating and stabilizing stitches like an “X”.
You are done! By hand-stitching, you eliminate the little line of stitching you can see from the underside, but I don’t think it is absolutely necessary.
Finish the bodice, and finish off the neckline with a collar, bias tape, or anything else. When I finished with the Valentine shirt, I added button holes and buttons to the placket.
The bottom of the placket doesn’t have to be square- on this trial run, I made it come to a point. Very cute!
It was fun for me to figure out this new-to-me sewing technique. I hope you try it soon!
After all this time documenting the projects I do around here, I thought I would let you know what has been the most successful! Sometimes things aren’t as appreciated as I hoped they would be, but here are the top favorites around here by myself and my children. I am not sure Mike has much opinion either way. Here they are:
![[Alphabet%2520bean%2520bags%255B4%255D.jpg]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rkfTvGP_V_Y/Tk7BEDy5F6I/AAAAAAAAGYw/rq4bbQ80tDY/s1600/Alphabet%252520bean%252520bags%25255B4%25255D.jpg)
Seriously people, these things are out Every. Single. Day. We don’t have all the letters anymore; my husband thought they would be brilliant pool toys (okay, so maybe he does appreciate things… just not in the way they were intended) and several of our letters started sprouting. Still, they function as pillows for their Barbies, they hold up the DVD case walls of pretend doll houses, they are tossed around, sat upon, used as paper weights… you name it, they’ve used it.
This is the most coveted skirt in our house. Even after my middle child snipped holes in it with my scissors. The fabric was a polyester knit, almost like a dance knit, and it was cool and comfortable. Plus, it had special spinning powers. I am always looking for fabric like this to make more, but I have yet to find something cute enough. Anyway, this is an easy project to make!
This is a direct result of the love of the Ultimate Twirly Skirt, and we LOVE these dresses. So comfortable, so twirly, so pretty! They are my favorite go-to dresses when the girls are getting ready for church and are whining about their clothes. In fact, as I write this post I am committing to making a set of three matching t-shirt dresses. They are perfect!!
Ok, I can’t begin to tell you how often I pull my little card holder out. Yes, sometimes I actually hand someone a business card, but usually I use it for my frequent shopper type cards and my gift cards. I have made several to give as gifts, and many more to go in my Etsy shop. They are satisfyingly simple and adorable at the same time.
An oven mitt? Why yes. Every once in a while, I do cook. And usually when I am pulling chicken nuggets out of the oven for my kids, I am using this. I am much more partial to this thumb-on-bottom (or, when actually in use, the thumb is on the top) set up, and the Insul Brite in it keeps me from burning myself through the mitt. I made some others with just layers of batting, and I can feel some heat through it, so this one here is my favorite to use. I have washed it so many times it is starting to come apart at the seams, so it looks like I’ll have to make some more!
![[Crafty%2520Cupboard_%2520DIY%2520Portable%2520Ironing%2520Table%255B4%255D.jpg]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-oTKYbaNFuS4/UEoWerRuYjI/AAAAAAAALcU/eprMP8IRi7s/s1600/Crafty%252520Cupboard_%252520DIY%252520Portable%252520Ironing%252520Table%25255B4%25255D.jpg)
Holy stinking cow, this is the best thing ever. My best friend when it comes to sewing necessities. I haven’t opened my real ironing board since I made this! And, bonus because it has super cute fabric. Some days I feel like taking it outside and spray painting the legs, and then I realize that I’d rather be using it than waiting for it to dry, so I don’t. Really, it is so awesome, you must have one near your sewing machine!
So, those are our daily favorites. And I literally mean daily. Even the clothes. There is such satisfaction knowing that what I spent time (and money) on has worked out so well for so long. As a matter of fact, I will be re-vamping one of the above projects here on the blog soon, just to keep things interesting :) Stay tuned!
I hope you try these projects out yourself, too!
The final “signature looks” are up today on Project Run and Play (those ladies would love your vote!), and since I had been invited to participate I wondered what my signature look really was. I have been tinkering around in the sewing room, and I decided that I really like looks with different fabrics, mixes of textures but not necessarily pattern. In the process of my tinkering I sewed up some chambray shorts, and then I put a top together to compliment it. Not as a whole my signature look, but still getting a good feel for what I do and do not like for clothes.
First, these shorts are so light and airy, I know exactly why chambray shirts are soooo popular. It is crazy easy to sew with, but the texture is a bit different than regular cotton fabric because the weave is different. I only had a yard of it in my stash, but surely I will remedy that. The pockets are lined in the yellow floral fabric, and have plenty of room for treasures. I added a little keyhole (more like mouse hole?) detail, but I should have used a thinner bias tape, like 1/4” double wide. I only have one bias tape maker though :)
The real bummer part? My daughter wanted nothing to do with them, and I had to bribe her with candy just to put them on- and they had to go on OVER her little spandex shorts for her to do it too. Even though they fit perfectly with their flat front waistband, front pleats, soft elastic waistband in the back, and lots of my love in them. She really is picky with her clothes, hence why this other outfit was so important.
The shirt is a Denyse Schmidt quilt weight cotton from the clearance shelf at JoAnn Fabrics. I got a ton of it to use for an eventual quilt back, but decided the flowers would be good for my girls to wear, and I cut into it. I used a dress pattern and just cut it shorter (too short, according to the little picky child of mine). After she tried it on for the first time, she whined she was too small for it (the sleeves are a bit loose, probably why she thought that) so I took it in on the sides. She still wasn’t happy, so I threw a ribbon around it and magically, it was wearable since it had a bow. 3-year-olds.
Now, I don’t really love sewing clothes with quilt-weight cotton. I don’t. There isn’t any body or drape to it. So, why do we do it so often? Because the cottons have such adorable prints, they are super hard to resist! However, when I stitched up this dress for the baby, I found the massive amount of ruffles and gathers changed the body, since the dress became heavier and there was more fabric to go around. It looked great on the baby and was just fine in the cotton.
So, do I have a signature look? I think I do, but this isn’t precisely it. Love the shorts, just ‘like’ the shirt, mostly because I like the fabric print. I have lots of ideas of what I would like to sew up that is more my signature style, so I will eventually get there! Do you know what your signature style is? Kind of hard to define, right?
(Still, I am glad I got these photos, my little girl has been such a stinker lately it is good to see her in her smiling, non-sassy form).
