Finally finished those couch cushions...

It took way longer than I anticipated. Not because they took a long time, but because it took me a long time to get motivated. In the end they came out okay, not the best, but certainly better than what they were. The cushions look a little big, compared to the cover itself - but, the cover has been washed about five times since I made it, and has shrunk a bit each time. I expect the same thing to happen to the cushions over time, so I purposely made them a bit big to start with. This couch takes a beating, with a two and a four year old being the primary beaters, so it is good that the fabric washes up so nicely. Now we just have to hope that it stops shrinking! The couch is so comfortable and even though it's our main couch, one day when we can afford to buy a new couch, this couch will be kept for a basement rec room couch - it's that comfortable, I just won't be able to part with it until it falls apart. Since it was built well, I'm hoping that day is a long, long way off.

Without further ado, here is the couch today vs what it started as:


For more before pictures, and to see just how bad it was, see this post. At some point, I'll probably add a pleat around the bottom like it had before, since as it shrinks, it rides up a bit, but for now, I'm going to leave it as it. ;)

Recent fabric purchases

All washed, dryed, ironed and ready to sew!

$1.49 flannel from JAs Black Friday sale - planning on dresses for Nora, as well as little pants for Josh out of the owl fabric. I had one yard cut and then changed my mind and got another yard cut because it's just too stinking cute.

$1-$3 Red Tag Fabrics - some of which I even got for 1/2 off a few weeks ago at a sale.


These are from the remnant bin. All of them were close to a yard of fabric. Two are cute, cute, cute, and the others are good for contrasting fabrics.

The fabric on the left - I thought was adorable, and only $2 per yard! The middle two fabrics are more Red Tag fabric - maybe a reversible apron? Lastly, you've seen the fabric on the right before - in the apron that I kept for myself. My friend Carrie commented that she thought it was cute fabric and I'm making up a mommy and me apron set for her and her DD, so I bought some more of this today. It's $4 per yard in the Red Tag fabric. I got the original round for my apron for 1/2 off - wish I would have bought more that day! It was almost a solid bolt before, but apparently, more than just myself liked it. :)

Apron swap

True to my nature, my swap package is going into the mail, today, the last day. I'm waiting for my husband to get home so that I can run to the post office. I'd have gone earlier, but I'm afraid that after a trip to the breastfeeding support group and then to Walmart (I know, I know, but it's the closest store to me and there's that whole I'm pissed at Target thing too) Nora was done. Finished. So, home we came. Of course, we still had to eat, so after eating I told her she could lay in my bed or her crib (I'm trying to get her used to a big girl bed because she's going to need to transition to one soon enough) or in her crib. After several false starts on going to sleep I finally put her in her crib, where she's sleeping now. So, now I wait for my husband. He's not bowling tonight in order to finish up some work so I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know that I need to take 10 minutes to go to the post office!

I read on another blog that you're supposed to package your swap package nice AND you're supposed to include a little note. So, I made this up, the apron, as well as cute little bell earings are inside:

It's a placemat! I just sewed two straight lines, added a magnetic snap and then made that little ribbon thing to cover the snap. I think it's adorable - it's a cute little clutch that I'd use for a holiday party. :)

Please excuse the Tiffany's vase it's propped up on it - which makes the purse look a little wonky - it's really not. And, yes, I did name drop, thank you very much. :p The vase is huge and very heavy. I love it.

More apron sewing

I used this pattern, view B.

I wish I could say it was as easy to make as they claim. In fact, the instructions were just bad. Or maybe they weren't - maybe it's just because I have a two year old and an 8 week old and well, I'm tired. In any case, I still think the apron is too long - and because the apron pocket is essentially the same size, it makes for a very deep pocket. I think it would be a great house cleaning apron. You know, for when you're picking things up in the living room that belong in the bathroom, kitchen, and various bedrooms? Right, just put it all in there instead of running back and forth between the rooms over and over.

I did do a few alterations to it. First, I'm not sure who in their right mind thought that you could sew the pieces together - as in, lay the pieces out the way they'll be seen and sew them up. Then turn and fold to create a hem. Um, on the round? Not as easy to do as on a square. On the round and I would have been cursing for hours - the time it would have taken me to sew the hem. So, I did what any lazy lady would do. I pulled out the bias tape and used that. :)

Once it was all put together, those pockets just sort of flopped out and did not look like the picture. Since they're the same size, once you gather the top, well, floppiness ensues. So, I did a little pleat in each pocket.

On the waistband, I used a decorative stitch. Mainly, because I wanted to make sure that the folded over part of the waistband (per the instructions) that had the unfinished edge would catch underneath, so that it wouldn't unfold and start to unravel the fabric. It did not match up where I would have put a straight line - either slightly above the seam or on the seam of the waistband, but rather below it. Which makes sense in a way, since the idea was to make sure that the seam of the waistband was also within the waistband so that that fabric would not unravel and it would not need to be zig zagged. If I had a serger, I'd probably serge all the edges and worry about this less. Even still, the decorative stitch makes it look rather vintage, IMO.

Finally, I left out the lace. I'm more of a no fuss, no muss girl. Plus, if I don't sell this? It'll become a gift, and well, most of the women I know? They're the same way.

Without further ado, here is my version (sorry for the blurry picture - I need a form so that I do not have to take pictures of myself in the mirror):

Flirty Apron Swap - finished apron!

I finally finished the flirty apron swap apron. It's gone through several different design changes, yes, I've been using my seam ripper. But, I'm finally happy with the outcome. In the end, I don't think it needed bling so much as it was screaming to be a full apron.

So, what do you think?

Still sewing

I think I have missed a day or two of sewing this month, but overall, it's going great. :)

Here's what I whipped up tonight. I think I'm keeping it for myself....maybe. ;)

I made a trip to JoAnn's and spent way too much money there! I love that place, so it's a good thing everything I bought was on sale. I'm afraid that I didn't buy enough extra of this fabric - though, it's in the $4 red tag fabric (and was 1/2 off tonight!) so I might need to go back for more. I have a bunch more cute fabrics that I'll be showing off soon.


Pictures are wonky tonight - sorry!

Tweet tweet....

I stumbled upon a tutorial for birds today. Birds you ask? Yes, and they were totally cute. Needless to say, I took some time to make some tonight. There are still a few more tweaks I'll end up making to them, but they go together fairly quickly - the stuffing takes the longest time. Oh, and you can use some of the scraps from your other projects. I always like projects where I don't need to buy more fabric! Not that I don't like to buy fabric, it's just, fabric costs money and well, I'm cheap. ;)

More sewing

I've been really good about sewing! Here are some completed projects.

If anyone is interested in anything, please let me know. :) I have not put them up on etsy yet, but can!

Also, I'll be headed to the post office on Tuesday to get my swap apron sent off, so I could easily ship any of the lovelies that I've made the last few days.

I also finished making Nora a car seat coat - which is really nothing more than a poncho that has a front opening. It's red fleece and ties with a ribbon. It was a three piece pattern - though, I cut the front up for my car seat purposes, so we could call it a four piece pattern. Still, super easy and went together pretty quick. I made this one out of fleece but I plan on making more of these for her, I especially want to make her a nicer one for the upcoming holidays. I used this pattern.

Sewing after dark

After Nora went to bed I took Josh to the basement (he hangs out in his swing in my sewing room) and whipped up this:

I might list it in my etsy shop (that has like nothing in it) or else I will see if my mil will put it up in her shoppe since it fits in so well with her shoppe.

November sewing

Yes, I have been sewing. I usually sew during naps and after bed time. I did not sew on Sunday, I was too exhausted from the rally.

I got back to work though. :)

I have finished two of three crayon roll ups for Becky:
And then I got started on my fancy holiday hostess apron swap. The swap host had encouraged using old prom dresses. I had two fabrics (re-using fancy clothes) that were fancy and could fit the holiday criteria, a beautiful brown (Thanksgiving) and maroon (Christmas). But, I was waiting to see what my swap partner listed on her likes. Turns out, she's a Thanksgiving lover. Now, we don't have to mail until almost Thanksgiving, but since she likes it so much and since I was going with that in my color choices, I thought that I should get busy so that I could send it in time to use for Thanksgiving. Since it's a fancy swap, I didn't use fabrics that were themed - those seem more casual to me. Anyways, here's what I came up with:
It doesn't really pop on camera. It ties on the side, as you can tell. It has two ruffles on the bottom and it has a pocket. Here's a close up of the pocket and the pinwheels that are on either side:














It seems rather blah in the picture and I certainly don't want to send out a blah apron. But, it's a fancy holiday apron swap - I was thinking simple was more fancy. So, what do you think? Does it need more bling? Lace? Accessories? Color?

Handmade Holidays

November is the second annual Handmade Holidays for Sew Mama Sews blog - http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=636 (as a side note, I need to learn to embed links).

So, I'm going to attempt to sew every single day in November (minus maybe Thanksgiving?), which will hopefully give me a great jump on my personal presents, plus an apron swap I'm in right now for a fancy smancy apron - http://flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com/ as well as making some things for sale. Last night, I kicked it all off by buying some supplies, like bias tape. I also finished up a crayon roll up for my sister - for her nephew. I have two more of those for my first official sales - yay! :)

Must fix my camera or figure out why the batteries keep dying so that I can take better pictures than with my phone....

A christmas apron

I was able to whip this up tonight:


Crappy cell phone picture, but you get the idea. It's similar to the one that I made a before, though I did do some things differently. For starters, I had no bias tape, so I had to modify for that. And, I didn't think it all the way through because I ended up with part of the apron with unfinished edges. Enter ribbon. That solved that. Overall, I'm happy with it. It's not perfect, but it's okay. The fabric is a red backround with green and white swirly dots. So descriptive, eh? I'll try to take better photos later....

It's been awhile...

On September 13, we welcomed a baby boy into our family. Joshua Edward is a pretty easy going baby. In comparing him to Nora, they are night and day different so far - Nora was quite colicky. Nora is adjusting to being a big sister and having to share her brother with mommy and daddy.

So, that likely explains my absence to you. Here's a little crayon roll for a special little girl who just turned four. Please note that the reason there are crayons missing is because I ran out of them. Rather than risk forgetting to take a picture after they are filled in, I took a picture before hand. The little girl will also get a few coloring books to go along with the crayon roll.

This was scrap fabric - Becky may take notice of the contrasting fabric on the inside - after all, I believe that came from a shirt (or was it a dress) that I made for her. :)

A new purse

This is my new creation. I'm not incredibly happy with the straps - if I would have had enough of the red cord left, I'd have made them out of that and I think it would have really turned out well. Also, my inside stripes don't match up since I forgot to line them up before cutting. And then, I didn't have any extra material - oops.

I did do a few pockets for the inside. One cell phone size (as you'll see my cell in the picture) and two a bit larger - either for a larger size cell phone (one of those fancy ones) or for a wallet.

The reversible Apron

This is for my mom for Christmas. It was more challenging than I thought it was going to be - getting the corners turned (especially on the straps) proved very challenging for me today.

I really think it would have gone quicker if I had a nice sized table set up just for cutting, but since I don't, I make due with a small desk. My husband has promised to build me a table, but for now, I haven't seen it!

Mom's kitchen is done in blues and greens - I hope she likes it. :) It's important to note that my mom is just a hair shy of six feet tall, while I'm five inches shorter than that - so if it looks a bit wonky that's why.

Without further ado, here is the reversible apron.

A new bag

I don't know why, but I've been afraid to make a bag. I tried once and it didn't go too well. This time, I thought it out. Then, I started cutting fabric. In a little under two hours, I cut, pondered (is this really going to work the way that I think it will) and sewed this little number:

elastic thread

Recently, I found out that there is elastic thread that you can use in your sewing machine to create a shirring effect. The best tutorial I found was here.

I went on the hunt to my local JoAnn Fabrics store but they only had one spool of black. I was told that once the last one was purchased, it would trip the system to order more. And, it could be in sometime within two to three weeks. Whaaaat? So, I went to Walmart (shh, don't tell, I really don't like them) and went to the fabric section. And found some in white - and they were only 88 cents, which was cheaper than JAs, so I bought all five (or was it six).

Today, I had a little bit of a chance to play around on a scrap piece of fabric, and let me tell you, this is going to be so much fun!

Recent Sewing Projects

I learned to sew in high school. I was a Senior and needed very few credits to graduate. But, I was also the Editor in Chief of the newspaper, and needed to be in newspaper class in the afternoon, so I couldn't do the early dismissal option. So, I took a whole lot of fluff, filler classes. I took beginning sewing the first semester (along with Home Cooking, Beginning Foods - are you seeing the home ec theme?) and the next semester I took advanced sewing. I enjoyed myself immensley and bought myself a cheap singer machine to continue with my new found passion. These days, I'm sewing on a bit more of a complex Kenmore machine, that truthfully, baffles me at times with all of the stitch functions available. And, I lust after embroidery machines.

I've been sewing some skirts for my sister recently, here is one skirt and one shirt for her (which I still need to add the straps to).

This one would probably look a whole lot better if I took the time to press it, but since it's going into a box to be shipped across the United States I skipped that step. ;)





So, those are my very recent projects.

Blogging

I've been journaling online for years. My sister recently told me that I should start a public blog, so here it is.


I'm a married woman, to a wonderful (and very handy) husband. We have a beautiful 10 month old daughter (well, in a few days she'll be 10 months old), as well as an angel baby - our son.

I'll likely talk home renovations, crafts, sewing projects, gardening and trying to become a green household.

Going green in our area is challenging. Recycling is something that isn't done by very many people. And cloth diapers! Ha, an even stranger proposition. And now I want a compost bin. My husband thinks I'm nuts, but goes along for the ride.

That's all for now, stay tuned for more! :)