fun with my sewing machine

sometimes you never know when you'll use something you learned in school.  and lately, i've been really glad that i paid enough attention in my 8th grade home ec class (and retained it for that long) to put together a few things with my sewing machine.

1. a little wrap skirt and a hair tie for my niece's 1st birthday.

this little number was the 2nd clothing project i've ever attempted (this was the first).  i found the basic pattern from the craftster forum, and after perusing the internet on a variety of takes on the wrap skirt i decided to widen the waistband, add a buttonhole and use a contrasting (yet complementary) fabric.  since i didn't have mira's exact measurements, i used a 12-18 month onesie to guesstimate her waist. i also added a little pocket (because i love pockets on skirts) and a little hand-embroidered birdie.

for the hair tie, i used this tutorial for rolled rosettes (by the way, her blog has some really cool stuff).  i added the little button and then sewed one of those little fabric elastic hair ties to the back side.

now i'm just waiting for my sister to take some photos of mira in them.  come on, sis!

2. baby shoes for baby cash.

quite honestly, i never thought i'd be making a pair of baby shoes, though i love them on my babies.  i have always bought them, and i used to recommend robeez for little baby feet.  that is, until they outsourced their labor.  by the time gibson was a wee babe, robeez were no longer made in canada and you could tell the difference in quality.  emma had 2 pairs of robeez (one she used while she was in the crawling and cruising stage) and they both outlasted her feet.  we bought 1 pair for gibson (which were made in china) and they lasted maybe only 6 months.  and by that time there were holes on the toes and the shoes were pretty much crapped out (very disappointing).  so, when we had baby cash i knew i didn't want to go back to buying robeez.

anyway...i had considered purchasing a pair on etsy (there are some ADORABLE ones out there), but since we're on a tight budget it was hard for me to justify the $20 purchase.  especially since baby cash will forever be the baby in the family (if you catch my drift).  so why not learn a new skill and use up some of my fabric scraps?  if i botched the project completely at least i didn't spend money on it.

after much searching, i finally decided to go with this pattern.  i like this one because they're similar to the robeez and they're reversible.  i used flannel on one side and cotton for the other side.  they turned out great!  except they fit his baby feet just right.  that's not going to work when the snow rolls in.

his second pair fit much better.  i can even use socks with them.  i think they're closer to a 6-12 month size so they should last him for a while.  for this pair i used flannel for both sides, which will be perfect for winter!

i am loving these baby shoes and i think i want to make more.  maybe put a few in my shop?  wouldn't that be fun.

3. felt crayon holder with drawing pad for my 3 year old nephew.

i've wanted to try making one of these for quite some time, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  i'm so glad i did!  i found the tutorial for the project here, except i didn't use a red flower for the front.  i decided to go with a felt fire truck and used blue and gray felt (sorry no pictures for this one).  i also changed the size of the holder to accommodate a 6 x 9 in. note pad, which i thought would be a better size for drawing and such.

i thought the project turned out pretty good.  felt is funny to work with.  though it's nice that it can easily stretch when you need it to, it's not so nice when you end up with excess fabric after sewing everything together, even though you measured everything out correctly.  i'm thinking i might try doing this project again in regular fabric, and maybe just use ribbon to tie the holder together instead of hooking it to a button.

*****

besides bonding time with my sewing machine, life has been busy and full of transitions.

i miss blogging.  can you tell by the long-winded explanations for my 3 crafty endeavors?  i wish i could blog a little more consistently, but there are days (and sometimes weeks) when i need to prioritize and blogging just doesn't seem to make it up there. 

i haven't even been taking pictures.  at least not as often as i used to.

but my minds keeps writing.  i write things up in my head, with hopes of recalling them later.  when i have time to sit down and write it out.  i miss my planner.  ha!  i do (it's actually just a little lined notebook, nothing fancy).  i haven't used it since cash was born.  it's sitting somewhere collecting dust.  it should really be called my brain organizer, because i use it to organize all the stuff whirling around in my head: craft ideas, blog posts, school ideas, house work, baking experiments, follow-up calls, e-mails, my shop...it goes on and on. 

and now that there's a little activity on here, i'm going to do my best to at least post something once a week.  and if i can do that well, maybe i'll take it up a notch and do twice a week.

little by little.  baby steps.  until i'm caught up.  though does that ever really happen?