Category Archives: Uncategorized

Kitchen camping? Yes, please!

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In a few weeks, I’ll be spending a weekend camping out under the stars. It’s a trip I look forward to every year, although this year will be extra special because I actually own a tent! I usually have to rent or borrow, but this year I had a very lovely tent with my name on it under the Christmas tree!

While starting to prepare for my camping trip, I was reminded of this amazing sewing project I once stumbled across on the Obsessively Stitching blog – a play tent for kids, made to fit over a kitchen table, using a set of sheets and some PVC piping.

ARMY BUNKER TENT1(Click here to redirect to the Obsessively Stitching blog for a full tutorial!)

WOW. Talk about inspiration! Is this not the coolest thing you’ve ever seen? What an amazing mom. She even created a drawstring bag out of one of the pillowcases to store the tent.

I’m still some years away from having kids, but I couldn’t help tucking this tutorial away in my files knowing that I’d like to revisit it again someday!

Aren’t you just dying to hang out in that tent for a bit while your mom cooks dinner? Yes, please!

 

Making the cut!

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Living in a warm climate, I planned to wear a dress for my special birthday dinner outing last week. But the evening of my birthday was cold and rainy – boo! I decided to wear a dress I bought a few years ago in St. Augustine – a convertible dress by Elan-USA that can be twisted and tied in lots of different ways. The plan was to fashion a dress with sleeves to keep warm.

Elan-USA convertible dress

But as soon as I put the dress on, I was reminded why I rarely wear it: it’s too long. Being five feet small, the dress is almost ankle length on me, which makes it feel a little too formal. But the dress itself is made out of a jersey-knit material and is supposed to be a semi-casual dress. I would never actually wear it for a formal occasion.

I picked up the hem of the dress to examine it, wondering if I could attempt to hem it myself, and was shocked to see that the dress had no hem at all! It looked like freshly cut, jersey knit fabric. How come I had never noticed that before?

With only 30 minutes to spare before my birthday dinner, I pinned the heck out of the non-hemmed-dress and grabbed my rotary cutter. There was a moment of hesitation where the rotary cutter just hovered about the fabric while I panicked. What if I ruined it? But if I wanted to wear the dress to dinner, there wasn’t time to think about negative consequences…

So I cut. And cut. And cut. Then, the moment of truth: Dress + Lindsay + Mirror.

It… was… PERFECT! I think I’ll be wearing it more often now that it’s the proper length. And now I have a long, thick remnant of fabric leftover that I can use as an extra sash for the dress.

I wouldn’t have had the confidence to make the cut without my newfound interest in sewing. I never would have looked at the hem of the dress in the first place!

Have you ever made a last minute alteration?

Sewing represent!

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While browsing the internet for either sewing or Valentine’s Day (which are obviously two of my very favorite things) I stumbled across these incredibly fun printable Valentines on the crafty style crush blog. I was pretty excited to see a whole Valentine themed to sewing (Sew in Love!)… plus the rest of ’em are pretty neat, too! Who doesn’t love mac and cheese?

So if you’re in need of a quick and easy Valentine fix, throw some cardstock in the printer and give these a whirl. Click here to go to the style crush blog and download the high resolution PDF!

Peptogirl Valentines

The Friday Five: 5 steps to a no-sew wreath

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This week’s Friday Five is both a list AND a tutorial wrapped up into one post! Wahoo!

When I was little, I remember my beloved Aunt Corlyne (who was always bursting with enthusiasm about the latest and greatest craft trends) bringing over bags of supplies to make these easy fabric wreaths. This no-sew craft gives everybody an excuse to shop in the fabric aisle, regardless of whether they know how to sew or not. It is a fun project for kids who are old enough to be trusted with a pointy pencil, although grown-ups may have to take care of the pinking shears portion.

1. Gather: You’ll need…

  • A few yards of fabric in coordinating colors
  • A styrofoam wreath (usually available in the floral section of craft stores)
  • Pinking shears (a.k.a zig-zag scissors)
  • A pointy object such as a screwdriver, skewer, pencil, etc.

2. Cut: Use the pinking shears to cut out a pile of fabric squares. The exact size doesn’t matter and the shape can be rough, but the size should be approximately 3×3 inches.

Fabric Squares

I used a bunch of Valentine fabric leftover from a quilt my mom made me in college!

3. Stab: Wrap a fabric square around the pointy object, then stab the whole contraption anywhere on the styrofoam wreath. When you pull the pointy object out, the fabric should stay wedged in the styrofoam.

Pointy Object

Wrap the fabric around the object right-side-up.

4. Fill: Continue with step #3, filling in the entire front side of the wreath. You’ll probably find yourself having to revert back to step #2 and cut out more squares as the project progresses. It only took me one viewing of Eat, Pray, Love and one episode of How I Met Your Mother to complete my heart wreath from start to finish!

Keep going until the entire wreath looks like this!

5. Hang: Now that your wreath is complete, hang it from a nail or use thumbtacks to secure a ribbon on the back!

Heart Wreath

The Friday 5: Five sewing goals for the new year

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2011 Sewing

1) Create something wearable. No more fears about making items that are poorly fitted! I will make it happen this year.

2) Adequately prepare for next year’s holiday season and make as many Christmas gifts as possible. This year I didn’t get to sew a single gift. I know… excuses, excuses… but really, working two jobs and being new to sewing didn’t blend well when it came to Christmas gifts.

3) As much as possible, use fabric/notions that I already have on hand and avoid those tempting trips to the fabric store! Those trips add up, and plus, sometimes I think I get more creative when I’m forced to do amazing things with what I have on hand.

4) Create and sell some items in my etsy shop (that is currently collecting virtual dust).

5) Blog more often, including more completed projects and maybe even some of my own tutorials!

What are your goals for 2011?

The Friday Five: 5 sewing fears

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1. My biggest sewing fear is ruining fabric. I measure, re-measure, stare for awhile, empty the dishwasher and watch an episode of Hannah Montana before finally making a cut. After spending so much time searching for the perfect fabric combinations, the last thing I want to do is wreck what I’ve got.

2. Making ugly things. I want to take pride in my handmade items, not be ashamed to show them to my friends!

3. Making things that don’t fit. I haven’t really broken into the world of wearable items yet for this very reason. You know how sizes can vary from one shirt to another? The same goes for patterns, apparently. Hence the fear of creating an item that does not fit and cannot be fixed, thus ruining the fabric. See fear #1 listed above.

4. Breaking the sewing machine. After so much research, and the final investment in what is essentially a household appliance that I’d like to keep for some time, the last thing I want to do is break it by using it incorrectly. Since I’m still learning, this is a very real possibility, so I am thankful for all of the machine’s features that are in place to avoid as many beginner’s catastrophes as possible. However, it is still a lingering fear.

5. Accidentally putting my finger under the pulsating needle. Again, I think the machine has specific safety features to avoid such an incident. But one look at that needle stabbing the air with lightning speed keeps the fear alive.

But despite all of these fears, I will continue to sew. 😉

Disney VoluntEARS Create a “Beary” Christmas for Children in Need

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I love this article! Yet another way to put creative sewing skills (and fabric scraps) to good use for the community around the holidays.

Disney VoluntEARS Create a “Beary” Christmas for Children in Need

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Dec. 17, 2010 – A teddy bear is special gift. In an instant, it can become a child’s best friend. Partnering with the Salvation Army of Central Florida, Disney VoluntEARS dressed more than 2,000 bears during this year’s Dress-A-Bear program.


Walt Disney World cast members have been participating in the Dress-A-Bear program for the past 14 years.  Janice Jones, Walt Disney World Costumer and Workroom Manager, has coordinated Creative Costuming’s Dress-A-Bear efforts since the program’s beginning.

“It’s a creative outlet for cast members and it provides something special for children,” said Jones.

Many of the bears receive one-of-a-kind outfits, handmade with great care by cast members on their own personal time. Using scraps of fabric and creativity, VoluntEARS craft cuddly ensembles from firemen to princesses. Buzz Lightyear, Rapunzel and the Mad Hatter were fashionable this year.  All of these efforts are done in hopes of connecting with a child in need.


“To be able to share our talents with children, and to make one of kind unique clothes, is a labor of love,” said Elizabeth Lau, Creative Costuming Workroom Manager.

The special bears, along with 393 filled stockings, will be distributed by the Salvation Army of Central Florida to local children who are in need of holiday gifts.

(Source)


The Friday Five: 5 reasons to check out PatternReview.com

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1. The most obvious reason to visit PatternReview.com is to read… duh… pattern reviews! As a new sewer, it’s really nice to read about which patterns have mistakes printed in them, which beginner patterns are actually suitable for beginners, which steps in the pattern are tricky, etc.

2. See photos of other people’s completed projects. The pictures opened my eyes to how different each finished project can be. Even if everyone uses the same pattern, it’s amazing how various fabrics and notions, plus minor alterations, can change the final look.

3. Search and shop patterns from lots of different brands all in one place. Dropdown menus make it easy to browse general categories so you don’t have to visit lots of separate web sites.

4. Message boards! Post questions and reach a huge audience of sewers for a variety of answers.

5. RESOURCES GALORE. Not only does the site actually offer online sewing classes, but it is exploding with helpful articles, tips and techniques, glossaries, podcasts, classifieds… you name it! If it can be posted to the internet and is related to sewing, it’s probably there.

Happy Friday!