Showing posts with label Crafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crafting. Show all posts

Friday, April 18, 2014

This Year's Easter Dresses

I made the girls' Easter dresses again this year. I didn't really intend to, but my sister in law begged me to make this dress for my niece to wear, so I bought the pattern and fell in love with it. For awhile last month, I was a one woman dress making machine. I churned out 3 little heart cut-out dresses for my favorite little people. I couldn't be happier with the outcome!





























The dresses were fairly simple to make. The pattern was very detailed and easy to understand. I was really proud of myself for making a successful garment after so many failures.

The girls love their dresses too. It's so rewarding to make something that they actually want to wear. We bought some new glitter shoes today to complete their outfits. They look lovely, dontcha think?!

































































Penelope says Happy Easter! And make sure to wear your panties under whatever you're wearing this weekend!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Revamp

I decorated our house for Christmas before Thanksgiving. As much as I love all of the red and green glitter, I'm ready for a change. Yesterday I scored some awesome Christmas clearance at Target so I did a little revamp to my dining room table.


























































It's simple and I like it. I'm glad I changed it, even if it is 2 days before Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner will feel more special under the paper snowflake blizzard the girls helped me make.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Christmas Pillows

I love Christmas decor. Honestly, I don't think I will ever have enough. The one thing my house doesn't have that I've always wanted is Christmas pillows. I'm cheap though. I've found plenty that I love, but the price has never been right. So the girls and I made some! I used fabric scraps and felt from my stash so this project didn't cost me a thing.




























I love sewing felt. It's sturdy and wooly. I appliqued white felt trees on cotton polka dots, then used multicolored felt scraps as Christmas lights strung on ric rac stitched onto green felt. I want to make 30 more!



























My couch is so much more festive now!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Christmas Jammies

I love picking out new Christmas jammies for the girls each year. I found some awesome fabric at Joann's and decided to make them this year. I made Beatrice a gown and Penelope pants. I love how they turned out!









Monday, December 2, 2013

DIY Burlap Runner

A lot of my friends are really crafty. They make jewelry, paint, and have a houseful of handmade trinkets. I always tell them how I wish I could be crafty like them, but I'm just not. Then I remember that I crochet and sew, I just might be crafty!

Recently I was shopping for a new Christmasy runner for my dining room table. I couldn't find anything that I liked or that was in my budget, so I decided I would make one. Burlap was on sale and SALE is always in the budget, so I bought it and decided to jazz it up with stencils and paint.


























Materials:

2 yards of burlap
Stencil
Metallic acrylic paint
Sponge paint dauber
Newspaper
Tape
Paper towels

I cut the burlap in half lengthwise, covered the table with newspaper, and placed the burlap on top. I taped the stencil to the burlap and daubed the paint onto the cutouts. I cleaned the stencil with a paper towel each time I repositioned it because the burlap fibers would get stuck to the stencil and the paint wouldn't transfer as well. It was pretty easy and took me less than an hour to make.








































I pulled a few fibers to fray the edges and voila! Easy DIY burlap runner.





























I want to make a gold dot one next. I'm so glad I'm crafty!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

His and Hers

I like quirky things. I like pretty things too, but if I have to choose between quirky and pretty, I'm probably going to choose quirky. It's who I am, stylistically speaking.

When I bought new bedding for our bed a few months ago, I knew I wanted some funky throw pillows. I shopped fabric and browsed pillows online, but I wanted to add a personal touch to our room. I considered monogramming a pillow, but then I came across the most ridiculous pillow set that suited us perfectly.




























I ended up making these instead of buying them online. I wasn't fully confident that I could replicate them to my liking so I only invested about $10 into all the materials. Black felt, cheap white cotton fabric, and fluffy pillow stuffing. I made them in about an hour and they turned out perfectly!

They aren't pretty, but they are definitely quirky and I smile every time I walk into our bedroom.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Victory!

After my last post about the failed sunsuit, I was on a mission to prove that I could sew. I found a cute apron knot dress pattern and was determined to complete it without any hiccups.














































































It turned out perfectly! I'm so happy. Beatrice loves it. I did it. Yay me!


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Not Quitting My Day Job

Have you ever wanted to be really good at something, but just weren't? It doesn't matter how hard you practice and try, you just can't seem to master it? That's me with sewing. I'm not bad at all of my sewing projects. I am actually pretty good with clothing patterns and simple undertakings like bibs and appliques. But I've been sewing for long enough that I should be really good at constructing and creating all of the things I put under my presser foot.

But alas, I'm not.

I have been wanting to make Penelope a sunsuit for a few weeks now. I found a few online printable patterns, but my printer wouldn't cooperate and I ended up with really tiny, askew shapes instead of workable pattern pieces. I've studied enough tutorials and have made plenty of simple dresses with my own stash of patterns that I felt confident I could make one without a pattern.

I used an outfit I already had as a template and worked on her sunsuit at night for a week. It was simple and came together easily. I had most of the outfit completed when I realized that it looked really big. I tried it on Beatrice and it totally fit her. Hmph. Undeterred, I trimmed down the sides and reconstructed everything. Still huge.


































































It's not good. The stride is really long and has a weird bunching effect. The open back is too low cut. The ruffle in the front is too high and frilly. The sides are narrow and loose. I messed up the whole thing and I can't entirely figure out how or where I went wrong. I am so upset about it. The wasted fabric!!

It looks really stupid on Beatrice, as you can see, but you should see it on Penelope. Oh my, it looks like a weird, huge potato sack with ruffles. I laughed. And then I cried. Not really. I still want to try to salvage it into a wearable outfit for Penelope, but I don't know where to begin. I will be purchasing a sunsuit pattern at Joann's immediately.

Ugh, why can't I just be good at this??? It has so much potential, dontcha think?