Fabric Blocks

I made these a while back to go in Madelyn's room. I used different scraps of fabric and cut out a bunch of 6 inch squares. Then I sewed them all together, stuffed them with some leftover batting, and set them up in her room.

I really wanted to have the orange minky fabric on all three, but only had enough for the two. 

More Hair Barrettes

Madelyn napped for 3 hours today!! So I got quite a bit of playing done :)

I made the first two from some material from a couple of shirts.

The last three are from roses I made out of felt following this post. They were pretty easy to make (I cut all the shapes yesterday while I was "watching" the Superbowl).



Can't wait to wear them!!

Mei Tai Baby Carrier

A friend of mine purchased one of these styles of baby carriers online and used it with their first child. I loved the idea of "wearing" your baby, for both the convenience factor and the benefits for the baby. I purchased a Moby wrap, but wasn't really a fan of it. It always felt too loose, and was a pain to put on. I looked up some of the Mei Tai style carriers, but to purchase them, you would have to pay upwards of $100. After perusing the Internet, I found this tutorial. The materials for the one I made were only around $30, and it wasn't that difficult to make. I also got to pick out my own colors, and make some custom adjustments.

This is a picture of me awhile back wearing the carrier. The Mei Tai consists of a panel in front where the baby sits, with one set of straps that tie around your waist, and one set that goes over your shoulders, cross in the back, goes around the front, then ties in back. It takes a little bit of practice, but is much easier to use than the Moby. I loved this carrier, it was a life saver. It enables you to walk around and get stuff done while your baby is close to you, and you have your hands free!! Madelyn loved to sleep in it, the constant movement is very soothing to new babies. I would highly reccomend this style of carrier to any new mother.

Bean bag chair cover

Madelyn got a bean bag chair as a gift from her great grandma for her birthday. She loved the chair, but the cover didn't really match her room. I made a new cover for it with animal themed fabric.

I used the existing cover as a pattern and just cut all the pieces out of the new fabric, pinned them all together, and sewed it. I love how it turned out, and now goes perfectly with her room!!

Quilts

I started quilting a couple years ago. It was my first real attempt at sewing anything. I picked up a book on the basics, and taught myself. It looks really complicated, and in some cases can be, but the basic premise isn't all that complicated.

My rundown of the quilting steps are as follows...

1.   Pick a quilting pattern. This can be one of the most complicated steps and sets the stage for the entire quilt. There are many different types of patterns out there, ranging from very simple to very complex. The first few patterns I attempted were from my quilting instruction book. I suggest your first pattern should be an easy one, so you can get the hang of it. The intricacy of the pattern will determine the difficulty of the pattern. A pattern with a bunch of squares is a lot easier than one with triangles and small strips. The size of your finished quilt will also determine the difficulty. Crib and lap quilts are quick and easy, while bed-sized ones are much more involved. There are many free patterns online (in fact, that's where a lot of my patterns were from). Craft stores and quilting magazines are also a good source.

2.   Pick the fabric. This is my favorite step. I LOVE putting colors together, and the main beauty of a quilt (I think) is in the colors. You can start off with a very simple pattern and make it gorgeous based on the colors of the fabric. When picking out fabrics, decide what you want your quilt to look like in the end. Are you making it to match a certain color palette? Have you found one focus fabric you love, and just need coordinating fabrics to go with it? Do you want a muted color palette or a crazy quilt?

3.   Prepare the fabric. This step involves pre-washing and ironing the fabric, and cutting it all out. I use a cutting mat with a quilting ruler and a rotary cutter to cut out all the pieces. Accuracy in this step is very important. If your squares aren't cut out evenly, then your whole quilt will be "off".

4.   Sew the quilt top. Most of quilting is just sewing straight lines. Sew all the pieces together according to the pattern.

5. Make the quilt sandwich. Lay out your backing fabric on a big, flat surface (I usually use the floor), layer the batting, then place your quilt top on it. Then take a bunch of safety pins and pin together the sandwich.

6. Put the quilt together. If you are in a hurry, or the quilt is going to be more of a play quilt, you can use the yarn tie method, where you sew through the quilt at different intervals and tie it off using yarn. Or you can machine quilt, where you sew all the layers together using either straight lines, or more intricate designs.

7. Sew on the binding. Add your binding material along the edges, fold it over to the back, and hand sew it around the edges.

Making a quilt can take awhile, or it can be quick, depending on what you do with it. It's also a very useful item and a great gift (who doesn't have a use for a beautiful quilt?). These are some of the ones I've made...

This is the first one I ever made. It was a crib-sized quilt, I actually gave it as a baby shower gift.

This one is lap-sized, pretty involved, but turned out nice.

The next two are flannel crib quilts I made for Madelyn before she was born.

This one isn't the prettiest, but it is made of flannel, and is really cozy. It's pretty big, maybe the size of a twin, so I just picked out the cheapest fabric I could find when I made it.



Another flannel quilt, this is about lap-sized, made from fat quarters I got for Christmas.



I think I'm most proud of this one. It is a queen-sized quilt for our guest room. I picked out a bunch of beach-themed fabrics and followed an awful pattern I got off of the Joann's website. But it turned out great.

I've realized I've made at least 5 more quilts that I forgot to take pictures of before I gave them away as gifts. I need to be better about that in the future...

Decorative Hair Clips

This was a really fun project that I will probably be making more of in the future. I've been in love with this blog and all their amazing fabric flowers. I wish I had the time and materials to make them all!! I just bought a bunch of felt today to attempt some of these beautiful roses.

Materials required:

Hair barrettes (found at many craft stores in either the bead or craft section)

Hot glue and hot glue gun

Various things to glue on top

Here are some of the ones I've made...

I made this one from half of a zipper. I circled the zipper pieces, sewed them together, then sewed beads in the centers. Then I glued them all on the barrette.

This one I made from rosettes (fabric rolled, then swirled into a flower shape).

This one was from jeans. I cut various sizes of circles, folded them in half twice, then glued them on to a circle of felt. I stuck a thumbtack in the center. This one is actually glued to a clip.

This is one of my favorites. I followed this tutorial to make the zipper rose, then glued it onto a small barrette.

I love all the options, and I can't wait to make more. As you can see, the possibilities are endless, whatever you can hot glue to a barrette. They're so much more fun than plain barrettes, I want to make on in every color!! I've been wearing my hair in a side bun with the barrette on the side lately.

This is a really bad picture, but kind of gives you the idea.

Seriously, check out the blog Fabric Bows and More if you want some awesome and cute ideas!!

The "20 Minute Skirt" that took 3+ hours

A lot of my sewing projects work out this way. I have an idea and the inkling to do some crafting, so once Madelyn is asleep I head to my craft room. I get going on a project, which really shouldn't take that long, but then I change my mind half-way through and have to start over, or I mess up and have to redo a bunch of stuff. This especially happens with sewing projects I've found. Maybe I just need more practice, I don't know. But yesterday was just one of those days, and this project was NOT FUN!!

I found this post about creating a simple skirt using pretty fabric and some elastic. AND it was only supposed to take 20 minutes!! I've been wanting a jean skirt for quite awhile, so I got a bunch of dark denim fabric at Joann's and was going to use that tutorial for making a skirt. I followed the steps, made the skirt, tried it on, and boy was it ugly!! It looked like a big sac, very unattractive. I think part of the reason was because jean is heavier and thicker, so not as light as cotton would have been. I might try the tutorial again with cotton sometime, see if it works then.

So I took off the elastic, then placed a skirt that fit well on top of it.

I took a fabric pencil and traced the outline of the skirt, then pinned the edges so they would stay together.

I sewed down the line I had drew, then tried it on, making sure it looked right. I did a few more adjustments to how the side stitches came in, then finally got it to look right.

I sewed a zipper in at the back, then heard Madelyn waking up. I was frustrated and done sewing, so I cheated and used some binding I had left over from a previous project to do the waistband. I put it over the top and sewed it on.

I tried on the skirt later that night to show my husband. As I was zipping up the back, I zipped the zipper head right off the track. I didn't have a 7 inch zipper when I was making the skirt, so I just cut a longer one down. I have now realized that if I do that, I need to make sure there is something to stop the zipper from coming all the way off. Oh well, lesson learned. Instead of somehow trying to figure out how to get the zipper head back on the track, I ended up going to Joann's today and just bought a new one. Arghh... this is why my projects take so long.

Here's how it turned out.

It's very simple, and the picture doesn't really do it justice, but it is a nice staple that I can use with many of my tops. AND I made it without using a pattern (which in retrospect, might have been easier if I had used one). But I like how it finally turned out, and I think I just might wear it to church tomorrow :)