Thursday, January 29, 2009

First Birthday Party

Even though I thought that the whole of my craftiness lay in sewing, my friend Boo has proclaimed otherwise. She is due with her first child next month (we are holding out for me and LL sharing a birthday on Fat Tuesday!), and I have assured her that the maternal hormones are where craftiness lies dormant until you become pregnant.

Boo said to me this past Saturday at Little Bird's first birthday party, "You are so crafty!" I blushed, and wondered if it were true. Maybe, but I have to acknowledge much help and inspiration from my 12 year old stepdaugher, Mallory. CC's party would not have been possible without her assistance last week.

The party started with a dog theme. We made the invitations with some Microsoft clip art and Publisher. However, we did this on my desktop, and I cannot figure out how to get it onto my HP Mini. Of course, I could get up and go into the other room, but the invitations weren't inspiring enough to warrant actual physical movement.

Mallory and I made these cookies for party favors. The instructions came in the February issue of Parents as an idea for Valentine's Day. We thought they would be perfect for a doggie birthday party.
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We looked for a cake pan that was shaped like a dog bone, but couldn't find one. I was alright with that because in reality I didn't want to spend the money on it. However, I am so not a cake decorator, it's not even funny. I can't write on a cake at all. It's horrible. We decided that we would make a puppy paw cake, and even though I had to tell several people what it was supposed to be, I was still please with it.
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I also made little puppy ears out of some of the miles of felt I have leftover from our Christmas stockings (don't even get me started about how wrong I was about how much felt I would need for that project. It's embarrassing). We bought children's elastic headbands and sewed the ears onto them. Here are a few of the fabulous models:
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And just because I am so pleased with how it turned out, here's one more shot of the birthday boy in his birthday shirt:
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Friday, January 16, 2009

Birthday Shirt, Take Three

Birthday shirt, take two isn't worth it's own post. The prints I chose didn't work out for the layers very well. The stitch I chose was all kinds of awful, so I switched on the next layer. Bad idea.

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Then I stitched the front of the shirt to the back of the shirt. Removing those stitches yielded a lovely hole in the back of the shirt.

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I cut out some new appliques and tried again. Using only two layers this time and the stitch I found that worked better on the first attempt. I'm used a font called "Frosty" for the pattern. It's the same font I used for the names on our Christmas stockings.

Not exactly the most exciting narrative, but how about this mug? Here's the soon to be birthday boy previewing his birthday shirt.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Tassle Hat Distraction

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I needed a distraction yesterday. Since it is about to get colder than it has been in several years, I decided to tackle a tassle hat project I had been saving for Little Bird.

Last year, I worked on dog coats for my two girl pups. One turned out way too small, and one turned out a little big. Both left me with scraps of fleece, perfect for Little Bird's hat. I also had enough of the red fleece with stars to cut out a matching scarf this morning. I didn't sew any of it; I just fringed the edges and went with it.

All in all, this was a simple project. I'm not happy with the finish around the base of the hat, but I'm sure I misunderstood something in the instructions. I do that often. I'm planning on making some more of these and working out my own way to finish the seam at the base. My stepdaughter, Mallory, and I have plans to make some fleece blankets when she gets here tomorrow. Maybe there will be some more good scraps from that project.

I love good scraps. I love my little scrapper down there too.

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Birthday Shirt

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Little Bird is about to turn one, as is his little friend across the street. I have seen cute birthday shirts on several websites. A simple knit shirt with an adorable "1" appliqued on the front.

"I can do that," I thought. Many a disaster has begun with that thought.

Setting out to create cute birthday shirts for the two little ones, I googled "applique." All of the hits I found were about quilting.

I turned to my online girlfriends, and the advice and help came pouring in.

Girl, from Memoirs of a Mommy, recommended a link from Etsy Labs and recommended Lite Heat and Bond. Which I thought were two different products at first. Doh. Christina and Michelle also chimed in with wonderful tips.

I used scraps leftover fro
m a purse I made for my friend, Tonya, for Christmas. I found these fabrics at Pink Chalk Fabrics, a site that I really love.

My main concern is how the project holds up through the washing and wearing. I guess though, a birthday shirt won't really get that much wear. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the result. I have Little Bird's applique cut out and ready to go. I just have to find the time to stitch it onto his onesie. Time where he is not in the room because he's decided that helping me run the foot pedal on the sewing machine is the most fun ever. Fun,

maybe. Helpful, 
not so much.

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About

I have been known to make fun of crafters. It wasn't until I started surfing through Etsy and made some new friends who considered themselves "crafty," that I began to understand that gaudy sweaters and piles of scrapbooks weren't the end of the road for crafting.

There are artists out there.

While I don't aspire to become an artist, I would like to learn how to use my new serger, and how to sew in a straight line. My craft aspirations center around my sewing machine and learning to make things for my family and friends. Things that they won't pack into the back of a drawer five minutes after receiving them.

I began sewing in October 2007. Perhaps I shouldn't admit that, since I don't feel like I have gotten much better since then. I've made a handful of baby clothes, a couple of purses, a half dozen rag quilts, Halloween costumes, and my proudest accomplishment, our family's Christmas stockings.

When I think back on all of the projects I have tackled, I wish that I had been chronicling what worked, what didn't work, what I would like to try again, and most of all, I wish that I had been taking more pictures.

This space, then, is not a "how-to" craft blog. It is simply a blog to document my projects. My failures and my successes. It is a place to collect ideas and hopefully connect with other amateur sewers. I dare not call myself a seamstress.

I am simply someone who sews.



Learning to Be Specraftular

I have been known to make fun of crafters. It wasn't until I started surfing through Etsy and made some new friends who considered themselves "crafty," that I began to understand that gaudy sweaters and piles of scrapbooks weren't the end of the road for crafting.

There are artists out there.

While I don't aspire to become an artist, I would like to learn how to use my new serger, and how to sew in a straight line. My craft aspirations center around my sewing machine and learning to make things for my family and friends. Things that they won't pack into the back of a drawer five minutes after receiving them.

I began sewing in October 2007. Perhaps I shouldn't admit that, since I don't feel like I have gotten much better since then. I've made a handful of baby clothes, a couple of purses, a half dozen rag quilts, Halloween costumes, and my proudest accomplishment, our family's Christmas stockings.

When I think back on all of the projects I have tackled, I wish that I had been chronicling what worked, what didn't work, what I would like to try again, and most of all, I wish that I had been taking more pictures.

This space, then, is not a "how-to" craft blog. It is simply a blog to document my projects. My failures and my successes. It is a place to collect ideas and hopefully connect with other ameteur sewers. I dare not call myself a seamstress.

I am simply someone who sews.