Pillowcase? Naw, skirt!

I'm thinking ahead to spring a little bit, but honestly, I'm sick of looking at snow (and we haven't gotten dumped on like some parts of the country, but the snow is sticking around a lot longer than usual. Besides, I'm so not a fan of snow, I'm always sick of it by around, oh, December 26th anyway).

I found this fabric in my mom's stash (a good portion of which had been my grandmother's stash at some point and Grandma passed away when I was about 16, so that fabric is at least 14 years old, but I'd guess a lot of it is way older than that). It was intended to be for pillowcases (as in, it was manufactured for that; the border is only on one side along the selvedge and it's narrower than normal fabric - exactly the right width for a pillowcase). I immediately thought "oooh, that would be a pretty skirt" so I grabbed it, knowing I had a tutorial stashed away for a skirt made from one yard of fabric with just two seams and an elastic waistband (and it was designed to use the selvedge as the hem). As I looked at it, I decided it needed a more tailored line and a trimmer waistband so I ended up using McCall's 3341 instead (which I already had) and then I added a lining because the fabric is a tad thin, especially since it's such a light color. Anyway, a simple skirt morphed into something a lot more complicated (especially since I thought I'd be all fancy and do the blind hem on my machine; yeah, ripped that out and did it by hand instead), but I love the result . Now I just need some warmer weather so I can actually wear it.

Happy Heart Day

I was afraid I wasn't going to get this dress done in time for V-Day; I had so much trouble figuring out the shirring around the neckline and sleeves. It's still not exactly right - I had to do the cheater method to get it done in time. I do know the issue now - the elastic thread doesn't want to stay in the bobbin tensioner on my machine - now I just need to figure out how to fix it.

It's actually my "muslin" for Princess' easter dress, made with cheap Wal-mart fabric (is ours the only one that still has fabric?). I used the Lily Top pattern from Pink Fig. She's got cute stuff and she's so nice, she answered my questions more than once.

Fabric fabric everywhere

I raided my mom's fabric stash last night and came home with a paper box and two Wal-mart sacks full of fabric to play with. I'm particularly excited about a 6 yard (ish) length of vintage pillowcase fabric that I think will make a very pretty skirt (mom wasn't too excited about that idea - "but it's for pillowcases"). I can't wait to get caught up on my other projects and get to work on that one!

That's my bag, baby.

I finished up a new purse tonight, using the Sprouts Hazel Hipster pattern by Trish from Two Peas in a Pod. I had the opportunity to be a tester on this pattern back in November and I loved the bag I made so much that I wanted another (and, actually, I have fabric already to make a third and maybe even enough scraps from one of the three to make Princess the mini version). This one will "go" a little better with my purple winter coat.

I also got some new toys in the mail today that I can't wait to play with - some new feet for my sewing machine including a ruffler foot. It looks really intimidating, but I know once I figure the thing out it'll be great for making ruffles on dresses (among other things) for Princess.

Next up: some flannel jammies for Mokey, Princess and I and then I've got a couple of tops for myself and two dresses for Princess that I'm really excited to get to work on.

A quick little skirt

I am taking part in a group project this month and the "challenge" I guess you'd call it was to make something from a free pattern or tutorial (or, I guess, make up your own pattern - the free part was the requirement). I decided to make this little skirt for Princess. I looked at this tutorial but all I really used from it was the number of squares to put in each row. The fabric is 5" squares from a fat quarter bundle from JoAnn's (I may make another later from a charm pack so the squares are all different). I think I'm going to embellish the tee with something - maybe some applique from the left over skirt fabric.

A picture backlog

I finally got around to taking pictures of my Christmas projects. I got all of them except for the Snuggie I made for the hubby, but well, if you don't know what one of those looks like - picture a really long robe, worn backwards and that pretty much covers it.

First up are the baker's hats I made for both kiddos and the matching apron for Princess (Grandma Cookie made Mokie a Thomas apron last year for Christmas). The hats are from a free pattern from www.youcanmakethis.com and they were really easy. Mokie's is red and blue to match his Thomas apron. The apron is McCall's 5720. Princess is really into "sweeshies" (better known as fairies, specifically Tinkerbell and friends) so her apron and hat are made of Tinkerbell fabric (it's a little big, but she'll grow into it).

Next are the playsilks I dyed for the kiddos. The turquoise, purple and green were Kool-aid and the pink was Wilton's gel coloring in Rose (Kool-Aid didn't have a good pink). The kiddos mostly use them as capes and have Superhero races around the kitchen.

I also made I-Spy bags, but I can't get a good picture of them. I based them off this tutorial, but I made a few modifications.

I still haven't gotten around to taking pictures of my holiday projects, but check out this awesome giveaway over at Sweetie Pie Bakery:

http://jessicapeck.blogspot.com/2010/01/sweetie-pie-bakery-giveaway.html

She's giving away a sushi set! It's too cute for words.