Stripes

 I had just enough fabric left over from my cardigan to make a nice loose t-shirt. The stripes on the back are vertical out of necessity since I didn't have quite enough fabric to lay the pattern pieces out all horizontally, but I love the interest it adds. I'm still trying to perfect my basic t-shirt pattern, but I'm pretty happy with this one!

Craft Sale

Last weekend I did a little craft sale with some friends. I had my baby shoes, quilt, and stamped dishtowels to sell. It was a lot of fun, and we all made a few sales and got to talk about sewing and crafting for a few hours! :) I do have some products left over, so I guess I'm stocked up on baby shower gifts for a while... :)

Painted Dishtowels

I've made these painted dishtowels a few times now, and I really love them. I buy the thin flour sack towels and then use fabric paint to stamp the designs on.  I think the polka dots are my favorite, but I like the circles, too, and it doesn't take much paint at all!

Cloth Baby Shoes

I've been working on more projects for a craft sale I'm a part of tomorrow. I made nine pairs of these adorable cloth baby shoes to sell. I bought the Lilac baby booties pattern (which also comes rights to sell the product) from ithinksew and was really pleased with it. They are fully reversible and sewed up really quickly. I used some leather scraps for most of the soles, and I love how they look!

Baby Quilt

I've been sewing a few things to sell at a craft sale next weekend. I put this baby quilt together with a bunch of floral scraps I have had for a while. I love the fabrics, but there wasn't enough of any one of them to really make anything with them. I'm so glad I finally used them and I love how this little quilt turned out!

I used a pink and white polka dot cotton for the back, and did a simple chevron quilting pattern that looks really cute from the front and the back! I hand stitched the binding. The final size is about 30 inches square.

I really love how it turned out and would be tempted to keep it if I had a little baby girl! :)

Boy Shorts

I finally finished up some shorts for Matthew that I've had sitting around for a while. They are simple flat front and elastic waist back, and are soft and comfortable so he will actually wear them! He helped me design a few summer t-shirts, too. This one is just an iron on image of Iron Man. I don't sew as much for Matthew because it is so easy to find cheap shorts and t-shirts. But it is fun to add a few homemade things and personalized touches here and there.

Sew-vivor

Thank you so much for all of your votes, comments, and support during Sew-vivor! It wrapped up on Wednesday, and I ended up with third place! I feel great about what I made and learned during the competition, and I'm so excited about the awesome sponsors that put together such nice prize packages! I've taken a few days off from sewing this week, but I'll be back at it soon enough! :)

Pink Dress

I've had this lovely fabric for a couple of years now, just waiting until I knew what to do with it. But since I waited so long, Anna got bigger and I could barely squeeze out a basic dress from the yard that I had! So nothing too exciting here, but I love the puffed sleeves and the fit of the top and the exposed pink zipper in the back.

Sew-vivor: Challenge #3

The final Sew-vivor challenge is done and posted over on Family Ever After! The challenge this week was to make something quilted, and I had so much fun designing and sewing this look. Head over to Family Ever After to see the other amazing projects, and to vote for your favorite!! You can vote until Friday at midnight!

I knew I wanted to make a quilted puffy vest for Anna for this challenge. I had a small piece of this yellow wool that I have been holding on to, and it turned out to be just perfect! I based the pattern off a vest Anna has almost outgrown, but ended up making a ton of changes. I figured it out as I went, and I regret not taking more pictures or writing down the steps because I know I won't remember exactly what I did if I try to make another one! I used two layers of quilt batting in between the outer fabric and lining to make it extra puffy. I added pockets on the side and a pink zipper. The vest is fully lined with no exposed raw edges, and was going to be reversible until I couldn't find a reversible zipper anywhere! :) Here are a few pictures of the process:
Once it was all assembled, I pinned all the layers together to keep them in place, and then quilted the three layers together. I just did simple straight lines across the vest about 3.5 inches apart. Then I added a heart at the top on the back, and my favorite part - a little personalized note to my girl on the back. I found that the best way to stitch the words was to write on tracing paper, pin it on the fabric, and then slowly stitch with my machine along the words (mostly turning the wheel by hand and going very slowly around curves!). It took a long time, but the paper pulled away easily and it worked perfectly. I'm so pleased with how it all turned out!

I made the pants using a soft striped cotton-poly. They have a flat front, front pockets, pieced back pockets, and wide legs. I wanted to do some piecing for this challenge, too, so I put together a block of 1.5 inch squares of fabric in alternating directions. Then I cut out the shape for the knee pads, sewed it to some pink cotton, and attached them to the pants by quilting across the seam lines.

I finished the outfit with a simple gray knit top with elbow length sleeves and a pleat in the neckline, and I made the cute butterfly hair clip using the Purl Bee's tutorial.

Being in Sew-vivor has been such a great experience! I never sew under pressure or with a deadline, so it was interesting to see how it pushed me to be more efficient and productive and make fewer mistakes. All the things I sewed were on my list of things I had been wanting to sew anyway, but I feel like they turned out better than they would have because of the competition factor. I really focused on quality and correct techniques, and I definitely learned a few new things! I've only ever gotten feedback on my sewing from close family and friends, so it has been wonderful to read your nice comments and hear what you think about my projects. I'm so glad I've been able to be a part of this and I'm excited to keep on sewing, as always! :)