Shhh... don't tell anyone I told you!

This is totally between you and me and anyone else that stumbles upon my blog while searching for police cakes (really, why do they get sent here???). I have a little secret that I'm spilling to help all of man and woman kind with all your ribbon needs. Well not all your ribbon needs but the biggest problem I see all the time with people who use ribbon in sewing. You go to all the trouble sewing up something cute and add your ribbon and then it frays after the first wash. Not good people, not good at all.

I couldn't for the life of me find out how those boutique hair bow types heat sealed their ribbon without it looking like you used it for your latest weenie roast. You can use Fray Check but after a few washes it turns a milky white where it's been applied and that doesn't look very good either. I'm not sure where I found this tip but I know it's one that is highly guarded and I'm likely to get tared and feathered for sharing. Here goes-

This little baby right here. Yes, a wood burning tool. I'm sure any wood burner will do. All you have to do is heat it up and use the standard or razor blade tip and it cuts and cauterizes (for lack of a better term) at the same time. No need to trim your ribbon first, just use it to cut. 2 seconds and it's sealed forever and looks great! It takes some practice and I wouldn't recommend holding your head over it while you melt the ribbon -unless you're into that-. That's how I seal all my projects including this little one right here. See- no lighter edges that look and smell like a burned frisbee. You can't even tell it's sealed but I've washed a million things for the girls I've done this way and they still look like the first day I made them. Minus the jelly stains and wash fading that is.



Another quick shameless plug, I listed my Michael Miller bootie contest booties in my shop today. I had made Kennedy a preemie pair and being the sentimental sap that I am I decided to keep those instead. She never got to wear these and now that she's bigger I'm going to make her another really cute pair.

I'm off to go hide before the BHBSS (the Boutique HairBow Secret Service) comes and hangs me by my toenails or worse- takes my chocolate!!!

I finally did it...

I'm freaking out here but I finally opened my Etsy shop tonight! I only have 3 pair of booties in there but it's open. I was waiting until I finished an entire page worth of stuff but I lost (yes, lost... I feel sick) an entire bag of mostly finished booties and have been working here and there to make more. At this rate if I continued to wait until I made a page worth of items you wouldn't see my shop.

It feels good to finally get it opened up. I really love making baby things but Kennedy can only wear so many before I get bored so I figure this is a good outlet for me. I plan on listing things here and there as I finish them. I don't want to become a sweat shop or get bogged down until it's not fun for me anymore so that's the plan so far. Once baby gets bigger and is on a better schedule I hope to crank it up a notch, as long as it stays fun. I plan on making each fabric/embellishment combination only once per size so it stays fresh for me and it makes each pair unique.

So if you get a second stop by and tell me how corny my descriptions are and if you have any tips, even not so favorable ones let me know. How can I make it better? If your comments aren't nice, post anonymously or I'll have to sick my rabbit Jack on you. I know where most of you live ;o).

*Sorry feedreader readers, this is my last edit I promise*