Sunday meetin’ clothes

Ah, the tube top. An article of clothing that’s near the top of the list of things I would never ever in a million years wear to church or allow my girls to wear to church. Not that some people can’t pull it off under a cardigan or something but there’s just something about the word “tube top” in the same sentence as church that seems so very wrong to me. Like studded leather pants and church wrong. Maybe it’s just me.

But… there’s nothing wrong with tube skirt! I found some tube tops at the Mart that were on clearance for $2 or $3 a piece and thought they were so cute. I loved the dress shirt details (there’s a buttoned vent on the sides, seriously) and they were calling to me but I hated the fact they were tube tops.

Into the old cart they went and became tube tops no more! They look so much cuter as skirts. I can’t wait for colder weather so we can layer these with leggings and funky shirts.

Here’s the rundown if you’d like to make some for yourself. Or make some for your daughters if you still feel weird wearing one- ahem.

Find a clearance tube top you can’t live with/without.

Lob off any buttons on the smocking at the top and cut out any plastic strap doohickeys and such. Cut out the tag in the back and set it aside.

There’s a little elastic around the top of mine but not enough to hold it up as a skirt. Leaving everything as is fold the top down about an inch. Sew close to the edge making a casing, stretching the fabric as you sew.

Tuck the tag back in at the back if your 6 year old will not know which way is the front without it :). Thread some 3/4” elastic that’s cut to your waist measurement through the casing and stitch shut.

That’s it! No one will be the wiser, unless they happen to shop at the Mart to because it’s the only store in town.

They probably won’t be wearing them as skirts though. Lets do the world a favor and hoard all the tube tops and make them into skirts. For the good of humanity.

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

1+1+1+1+1+.5= Full?

I love my kiddos very very much.  That said, does anyone really want to take 5 kids to the store?  No, I can tell you right now unless you are planning on only shopping for 13 seconds and don’t mind coming out spending way more than you planned- you do not. With Cody’s work schedule being what it is if I want to leave my house for anything at any given time I have 5 little tagalongs that are coming with me or I stay home.  I stay home a lot.

I love my kids (did I say that already) even the screamers.  It’s the comments I get when I show my brood off in public, especially when I have a belly the size of a watermelon so it’s obvious that I don’t intend on stopping at the 5 I have.  I know the comments are mostly well intentioned but I feel I don’t get to share my side of the story.  That’s what my blog started out as and I haven’t done it in awhile so here goes. 

Are my hands full?

Sure. 

Am I busy?  Every. single. second. of every. single. day. 

Wow?  Yep, wow.  

Do I know what causes that?  I’m pretty sure by now I do ;). 

Would I have it any other way?

Nope! 

I got asked no less than a dozen times yesterday about our family size.  I’m usually used to it but I usually only get asked once or twice a trip.  Yesterday was a bit much.  I know 5 plus kids is the right size family for us right now.  Do I think any less of those with less or more kids?  Not one single bit.  In fact I know a few of mine that were for sale at one point during our trip.  Really though, what’s full for some is half empty for others and that’s okay!  I won’t force you to take my full if you don’t force me to take half empty okay?  Oh, and let me pick out apples in peace.

Excuse me while I run along to go squeeze some kids, kiss some cheeks, and release one from time out.  I’ve never been more grateful in my entire life to be so “full”.

Have a fantastic Sunday!

Gotta check it out

I love waking up in the morning with my mini wheats and checking my email first thing to find happy mail. I got an email a few weeks ago from Marcia (who made the adorable dresses I posted about here) that a group of sewers on SewForum wanted to do a challenge and chose to do the Double Layer skirt.  So exciting, totally made my month.

Here’s Terri’s version-

She sent the picture to me and I asked her if I could share it.  Don’t you love the added bias around the bottom!  I can just see this with a cute sweater for fall.

I hope anyone thinking about making one of these skirts checks out Sewforum first.  You might have to register there to see the pictures but it’s worth it.  There are so many cute skirts on there in all different variations with new ones being added all the time. I’m completely inspired to pick up project cousin again and crank out a skirt or two and mix it up following some of their ideas. If you want even more inspiration you can also click on the links at the bottom of the double layer skirt post on my blog under the comments where it says “Links to this post”.

I love it when something I’ve done inspires others who inspire me all over again.  That my friends is why sewing rocks!  Things just get better and better the more they are made and the more people that make them.

Have a fantastic Thursday! I’m blushing and gushing all over.

Little Brothers

More baby stuff. As if I could stop making baby things right now. I’m on a baby making things roll. I look like a baby making roll. Thought I would share a little something made from a mans 4x t-shirt for the little brother. A preppy gown and matching pilot cap.

Can’t wait to see that cute little pudgy face all scrunched up in the cap. All 6 pounds of him, here’s wishing anyway. Less than 9 weeks to go, yay!

I cut up some ribbed sweater to make the triangles and they are so much cuter in person. My stitching is “rustic” but we’ll just pretend I meant to do that okay? Everything is so soft I want to make a set for me, but my pudgy face won’t look so cute in the cap.

And this little brother is the reason I haven’t blogged in a week-

My first one! No not brothers, I have 2 little brothers that I don’t talk about much because they are just about as bratty as this machine. Hi guys! Love you muches :).

I pulled this little guy out of the box and spent 2 days just going over the manual. Once I felt comfy with the manual and dvd’s I spent another 20 minutes watching a threading video even though it’s already threaded (because I’m a freak) and glanced over at it some more. Tonight I got brave enough to plug it in, pressed the pedal, and……. nothing. Wouldn’t go. There was much noise but no movement. After sobbing and whining Cody helped a girl out and got it running for me. That’s why I keep him around.

Napkins and scarves for everyone! I might actually pull it out and serge another test strip. In 2011 I might actually get brave enough to make something. See you in a year ;).

Have a fantastic weekend!

Done and done.

Let me preface this post by saying that I’ve never made a bag before. Little girl purses yes. Bags for an adult to tote no. I really really wanted to make my own diaper bag but I couldn’t find a pattern or bag that didn’t look like a diaper bag, that I could make. I’m very limited in my bag making skills. So I searched out a bag that I liked the shape of and didn’t scream diaper rash cream to me. The pattern for it is in Sew Hip Magazine #18. Since I’m out in the boonies and couldn’t get the magazine anywhere I found an online site I could buy the digital copy from and was able to print the pattern from home.

*Edited to add magazine link. It's from YUDU and I've never used this site before until now so I don't know much about it, so be careful if you choose to. It was 3.99 GPB through paypal and I just bought the single issue here, not the subscription. You can view most of the issue for free before buying it.*

Did you know that you can cut old 12”scrapbook paper down to 8 1/2 x 12” to print European A4 patterns? It was the only thing I could think of to use that didn’t involve driving to town or using an obscene amount of tape. Tape is scarce in our house. Like candy and cupcakes scarce.

The pattern is awesome, the bag is super cute, and the instructions were clear after I converted the measurements into Oregonese. The only thing that bugs me is that the sides look taller on her bag but I did leave the height of the bag alone and my sides are shorter, not a fan of the shorter. I give the pattern and the style 4 stars as is. I modified it a bit though and surprisingly I like it even though I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I added some things, took out a bunch of things, and made it an 1” wider so I could add another pocket to the inside. I also sprayed the crud out of it with a waterproof sealer so the fabric would stay pretty later.

If I could go back in time and do it again I wish I would have had half the brain to look at it and know that it doesn’t close all the way (duh!). I wish I would have remembered that that would bother me and always has. Oh well.

We have some bonding to do before I take it anywhere since I’m not sure I’m in love with it yet (the openness) and all it’s imperfections from my bad bag sewing skills but all in all it will do what I need it to do- haul diapers and supplies for my smallest minion. Or a bowling ball. Or a small poodle named Precious with a gold digger dress on. Doesn’t it kind of look like a dog carrier from the outside? But that’s exactly why I like it. What is she carrying?

Baby project #2 Done. Hip hip!

Double Layer and other updates

 

Just thought I would pop in to let you know there’s been a few downloads added to my Double Layer skirt tutorial.  You can check them out here.  Have I ever told you how much I love my readers?  A TON!

Also I decided to revise the “please don't sell the items you make with them” clause on all my tutorials.  My blog is still protected under a Creative Commons License which means you can share as long as you link back here and give me credit for all my content and tutorials but from now on I don’t care if you make an item using my tutorials and sell the items.  No selling my tutorials or patterns, they’re still intended to be used for free, but go right ahead and sell the items you make from them.

I love to share and I would love to be able to make them for everyone who doesn’t sew but I can’t so I encourage any other sewers to do so.  I hope to see lots of little girls decked out in handmade outfits!

I’m plugging away at more projects and tutorials but this pregnancy business is really starting to get to me.  Lots of sleepless nights and no energy to finish things but slowly things are getting done.  I’m almost done with a few things so stay tuned!

 

Have a great Tuesday!

Tute for the tub.

I finished baby shower project #1 and it’s been delivered so I can share-

My toddlers absolutely loved big bath towel hooded towels and they’re the ones I always reach for first so I thought I’d show you how I make mine. I know, been there done that and there’s about 7 dozen tutorials for hooded bath towels out there but I haven’t seen my way yet so it won’t kill anyone if I add mine to the list. Make that 7 dozen… Plus 1. Here goes-

Supplies:

1 Cute Bath towel

1 Hand towel about 16” x 26”. You’ll get 2 hoods from 1 towel.

1 5” x 17” strip of fun fabric

17” long piece of ric rac. I used jumbo but smaller would work just as well. Not the micro stuff though.

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First cut the hand towel in half and zig zag the raw edges. This is your hood. You only need 1 half for 1 towel so save the other half to make another later. Fold the finished edge up and pin 4” from the bottom. Sew along the finished edge where you pinned just to tack it down.

Pin your ric rack so it’s just slightly overlapping the bottom folded edge. Sew the ric rac down. I like to sew it with the ric rac on the underside so I can make sure the ric rac stays peeking out over the towel edge and doesn’t shift.

Fold the edges of your fabric strip under 1/4” on each long side and press. Place your fabric strip on top of the ric rac covering your stitches on the ric rac along the bottom and covering the ribbing along the top. Pin and stitch close to the edges. Your folded edge should be completely covered in fabric.

Fold your hood in half matching the ric rac edge and the raw edges right sides together and pin, then sew the raw edge closed. Go over the raw edge a few times with a zag zag stitch so it stays nice and secure after it’s washed a million times. Your hood should look like the second picture now. Set that aside and grab your cute big bath towel.

Fold your towel in half wrong sides together, just like your hand towel, but don’t cut. Measure 4” from the fold line and put a pin at the 4” mark. Open your towel back up with the pin still in place, this will be your pleat. Match the middle of the pleat to the middle of your pin and flatten it down, then pin some more. Sew along the top edge of your pleat.

Flip your towel so the wrong side is facing you and the pleat is facing your table and grab your hood. Match the middle seam of the hood to the middle seam of your pleat and pin the hood to the inside of the towel about 1/2” down or so.

Sew the hood to the towel using a pretty wide zig zag stitch from the inside of the hood. Flip your towel back to the right side and zig zag along the ribbed edge of the towel on the outside edge. Make sure to really secure the beginning and ending stitches so the hood stays put after it’s been used a bunch.

You’re done! Or are you?

Adding a couple appliqués to the sides would be really cute…

Grab a coordinating design fabric and iron on some wonder under to the wrong side. Cut out a couple flowers (or whatever) leaving a tiny 1/8” edge all around the design. Peel off the paper, center your design where you want it, and iron that puppy down. It would look just as cute layering a few different designs as well. Just play with it.

Using an appliqué stitch, stitch around your home made appliqué.

Add a cute pair of matching newborn jammies with a ruffly bum and a rubber ducky and you have the worlds cutest Bed and Bath set to give away. Or keep it because you totally should unless you’re having a boy. In which case get cracking with that second half of your hand towel, it’s only midnight!

I made the p.j. pants using this pattern from From an Igloo. Tiny!

Have a fantastic night!!

Don’t be jealous.

We just harvested our garden today and I had to share the abundance of produce we picked.

Here they are! Our 2 dying finger carrots. Aren’t they pretty? I’m really proud of these 2 carrots. We started out with a bunch of baby carrots and tomatoes but they kept dying off one by lonely little one until all we had left was one broken tomato plant and 2 carrots. The tomatoes are still plugging along but will probably freeze before we ever get a ripe one. By golly we have 2 carrots and we did grow something. I grow kids much better than gardens ;).

Speaking of that here’s a shot for the Grandma’s. The traditional first day of school picture, an after school shot. Mary got a new haircut and it was crooked so I had to take her to the salon after she got out while the others were still in school. The morning pictures I took really bug me. I want to cock my head to the side just to look at Mary’s. They always look so cute the first day though.

They loved their first day!

I loved sending them to their first day :).

My fire runneth over

Oh my goodness, I think I have one too many irons in my sewing fire.  These are just what I have laid out for today and don’t include the conclusion of project cousin or about 15 other piles of junk I have sorted and waiting.

All baby projects and most of them are not for me. Thankfully they don’t have to be finished today but wouldn’t that be awesome.  I know 5 pregnant women all due before I am and some of them having their babies within the next few days and weeks.

Can everyone do me a favor and stop procreating for 5 minutes please! Do not drink Oregon water until my project piles dwindle down.  That’s a direct order.  Thanks a ton.

Next week should be rockin’ with the baby project shares though! I already have 2 down for my little bean, I just haven’t shared yet.  I’ll sketch up the cabana some time this weekend and get that on here to.

Have a fantastic weekend, school starts on Monday- hooray!

Birthday Cabana

It’s hard being the smack dab in the middle child. Mary’s our very middle one and she’s always the one being left out. The older two always play with the younger two and she’s left to her own devices, buddy-less, because for one reason or another she can’t or won’t play and when mom steps in and insists that she be included suddenly no one wants to play anymore. Rough! I thought it would be a great idea to give her her own space for her birthday. A special place just for her. A Mary kind of place. A princess cabana fairy tent playhouse veterinarian office spy hideout.

Roomy enough for 2 with a dog door off the back for those furry friends that need to come and go. Matching dog bed with new bull dog stuffed friend included, but not pictured ;).

No princess cabana vet spy tent would be complete without windows on the sides.

And big “I heart U” buttons on the inside to remind you your mom loves you more than much.

I hung a string of battery operated LED lights around the inside to give it that extra “My mom rocks” factor. Love is in every square inch of that little cabana. 2 a.m sewing for weeks kind of love that only a mom would do for her child. She picked out all the fabrics without knowing what she was getting so I could be sure it would be something she loved.

Only one problem. She doesn’t like it. It’s now Mary’s super deluxe storage unit that saw maybe 10 minutes of play time over the last 2 weeks. It’s tall enough for me to stand in so maybe it’ll become my “don’t bother me I’m eating a bag of chocolate chips and wondering what kind of children I’m raising” alone cone.

I didn’t take pictures of the process but if anyone else would like the how-to to make your own super deluxe storage unit I can sketch a rough guide.

Have a fantastic Friday!