pattern/book review: Folklore bag from One Yard Wonders

Posted on 2013/06/09 by daisyeyes

This book, One Yard Wonders, is another book I’ve had on my bookshelf for a while. I made a dress a while back from it and was less than satisfied with the process (you can notice that from the not so nice words in the first line of my post!) But, I’ve been dying for a new purse for months and months and this one was the one I picked to try. It seemed simple enough and I’ve made enough bags lately that I thought if the instructions went a little hairy I had enough know-how to figure it out.

The first error I encountered was with the pattern itself. The words on the pattern are printed upside down, so if you are using a fabric that has a one way up then you would be screwed if you didn’t notice it (thankfully I did…one of those rare occurrences where I didn’t cut something wrong way up!) or you could think to read through all the errata (of which there is a fair amount) prior to starting the pattern.

But to be honest, once I got past that initial issue with the pattern, it came together really quickly and easily. Until I reached the directions for attaching that top band. The book has you attach it by this wacko (and way too time consuming) pressing of 1/4 inch down and then top stitching it to the top. I opted to match up the right sides, stitch it and then top stitch (um…the normal way?) The only reason why I would think that the author suggested doing it their way was the preserve the curve. Oh well, maybe I’m just too lazy when I sew.

Despite my negative words, this is a great pattern and I would totally make another one of these bags. It came together really easily and I absolutely love the way it looks and carries. And in case you are wondering, the fabric is from my stash and I’m pretty sure it’s Alexander Henry. I have a fabric road trip in my near future so I’m in a big race to actually make something from all the yards I bought last year!

what I’ve been working on…

Posted on 2013/06/03 by daisyeyes

fourth of July banners

setting up booths at local markets

working out some “theme/character” capes for the markets and maybe something similar for etsy soon

a few custom capes for a client

new pendants

a new embroidery design

and a work in progress for a client (4 little kiddos all in a row for one lucky grandmother)

but today I’m off to the mountains to play in the creek with my 2 little kiddos!
Happy Monday!

pattern/book review: Simple Sewing

Posted on 2013/05/24 by daisyeyes

I’ve had this book, Simple Sewing, by Lotta Jansdotter for a while now and haven’t done more than look through it. While sitting out in the sun the other day, I realized that this might be the summer to invest in some kind of hat. I remembered seeing a pattern for it in this book and thought it was high time to make something out of it.

The pattern is pretty straight forward and simple and you can easily make this with about 1/2 yard of fabric for each the outside and the lining. This fabric is Aneela Hoey’s Little Apples that I had leftover from this outfit that my darling daughter refuses to wear. The inside is some Riley Blake leftover from her Easter dress last year (that she also refuses to wear…do you see a trend?)

Overall this hat came together really easily. The brim was a little monotonous to sew line after line, but I love how it looks and feels now that it’s done. I did have a few snafus matching up the brim to the top and the lining didn’t go in well either. I don’t know if this is something I did wrong (more than likely) or if my seam allowances didn’t all match or what.

One change was that I did not hand stitch the lining in. I serged it because I can and because I am too lazy to sit and sew something like that. I think if I make another hat, I will put the outside and the lining together first and baste them, then serge them both to the brim at the same time. There is a lot of bunchiness on the top which I think would be alleviated by doing it that way.

This is a great book though. It has some really cute (and simple…tee hee) pattern ideas inside it and the directions are well written even for a fairly novice sewer.

finished dress

Posted on 2013/03/26 by daisyeyes

Here are some shots of the finished Easter dress…

the dress pattern is Oliver + S’ ice Cream dress which I love.

the embroidery pattern I found via flickr which you can find here.

the blue daisy fabric is a Japanese fabric I bought last year and the yellow dots just came from my stash of hand me down scraps my friends pass on to me

While I love the embroidery and how it turned out, I really love the little button tab and vintage button on the back.

Happy Easter Week!

Easter WIP

Posted on 2013/03/21 by daisyeyes

Finally got to do some Easter sewing today. I really wasn’t sure if an Easter dress was even going to happen for the chick this year, but thankfully I think it will.

The pattern is one I’ve sewn a few times and still love. I think it comes together really well and is pretty forgiving with the snafus that I tend to always make. It’s the Ice Cream Dress from Oliver + S and I do love it. The daisy fabric is a Japanese print that I totally splurged on last year on my venture to Nashville’s Textile Fabrics. It’s like $30-some dollars a yard at regular price. Terribly scary to cut into. But my…what a lovely garment it sews. I’ve got enough left to do something small with. I’m thinking a little spaghetti strap tank for the chick might be in order.

I decided to do just a white quilting cotton on the top so that I can add some embroidery and vintage buttons to it. The bottom is this yellow polka dot I had in my stash. It’s not the best feeling fabric and I’m a bit worried it has some polyester in it. I thought the stiffness would wash out, but it didn’t That said, I do think it adds some fun to the whole dress.

I did skimp on a few things this time around with the pattern. I decided to skip the pockets. I thought it would just detract from the awesome daisy print and I didn’t do the V-neck in the yoke because I wanted to make sure I had plenty of fabric to work with on the embroidery. Skipping on those things cut out some time in sewing and this dress comes together pretty quickly and easily.

Can’t wait to get started on the embroidery and show off the finished garment…hopefully before Easter!

crossing things off…

Posted on 2012/12/18 by daisyeyes

Slowly crossing off the incredible list of sewing and other projects I hope to accomplish while we are all on holiday break.

First off was my last Christmas gift to make: a drawstring bag for the boy. I bought this camo nylon a long time ago with intentions of making him a bag for Easter, then his birthday and finally I got it done for Christmas. After searching high and low for a good tutorial for making a drawstring bag I settled on this one by Kitschy Coo.

Overall I would say her tutorial is excellent. She has great photos and great written instructions. I used the camo nylon on the outside and this great cotton canoe themed fabric for the inside.

The only thing I felt lacking was how to do the drawstrings. I feel like there is another, maybe better? way to thread these through but maybe not. I had hoped to use some actually black drawstrings but the set I bought wasn’t long enough. I had this extra pack of shoelaces stashed away so I just grabbed those to use. They really aren’t quite long enough, but I think they will do for now.

The last project was to finish this dang chair! We actually have 3 of these chairs: one we are using now, one we need to buy foam for and one other rocker that needs to be repaired. We got the whole lot, plus a two seat loveseat for $60 on craiglist. We absolutely love these chairs, but the cushion covering process has been slow and painful. I am truly not gifted in sewing cushion covers. I finished the bottom cushion a while back and finally got to back cushion done today and oh.my.goodness! I love it so much!

The fabric is by Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt. It is a heavyweight cotton and it’s lovely to sew. I stalked it for a long time and finally bought it years ago for the kitchen in our old house. We moved and it didn’t really seem to fit in my kitchen right now so I decided to put it in the family room.

We have another chair that we will bring up after I can get some foam for it and I have enough yardage of another print from this same line by DS that I will use for the cushions. My hope is to use the remnants of what I have left to recover some pillows and eventually the ottomans too. Maybe by next Christmas!

dresses and skirts

Posted on 2012/12/14 by daisyeyes

I’m finally done with all my birthday and holiday sewing…for the chick at least. Today I finished up a matching 3 piece set for the chick and her two dolls.

The big dress is probably one of my favorite patterns right now. It is the sis boom molly peasant dress and it’s so crazy easy. It’s fun to customize and you have so many different options with it, plus it goes up to pre-teen sizes.

The fabric is all from Hobby Lobby and while it’s totally not what I would love to be sewing for my chick, it’s what she likes.

The little dresses are from Simplicity 7083 and honestly I hate this pattern. I’ve made it twice now and each time I can’t get the bodice to turn out right. The directions are insane and all over the place and really not easy to follow and I don’t want to have to focus that much when making doll clothes. Ugg. Time to chuck this one and try something else.

The second half of my sewing morning was spent on these two play skirts. The chick was in dire need of some new skirts and I saw these cute fabrics at Joanns and thought they would make super fun skirts. The doggie print is Alexander Henry and I’m not sure who the other one is.

Only one project left: a drawstring bag for the boy. Ugg. I’m sweating just thinking about it.

a few tutorials and more

Posted on 2012/12/12 by daisyeyes

There is a big birthday coming up and with it a project that my husband and I have both been working on. The chick is getting another American Girl doll for her birthday thanks to grandparents (and this is our max too!) so there was a need for something for them to sleep on. You’ll have to tune in late to see the finished project.

Until then, I’ll give you a glimpse at a few projects I worked on today. First up was a fitted sheet for a doll bed. I followed this tutorial by From an Igloo but I added a few changes so I thought I would share them here. I used some leftover pieces of a vintage sheet for the fabric.

I followed her directions for cutting out the pattern (mostly because I suck at math) and they were perfect.

For my sheets, I opted to serge the unfinished edges instead of folding them over.

Then, instead of making a casing for the elastic, I stitched it over the serged edge. To do this, you need to cut out your elastic, make a stitch with your machine leaving your needle in the fabric. Then you pull the elastic to where the end point is and slowly zig zag stitch along the elastic.

I think it turned out pretty well.

It is a little floppy on the non elastic sides. I don’t know if this was my fault in measuring or what. If I made some more of these I think I would do elastic all the way around instead of just on the ends. But overall, this is a super easy way to make doll sized sheets!

Now onto the quilts: A while back I made a little bird quilt for my chick’s bed. The fabric was from Heather Bailey (most of it is Pop Garden) and I knew when it was time to make something for her dolls I wanted it to match.

I used up most of the scraps I had left for her book sling so after a little searching on etsy I was able to track down some fat quarters that were from the same line. I suck at math and therefore making quilts is probably never going to be my forte (these ended up being about 1″ too short on the sides) but I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out.

What was the biggest relief today was finding all this leftover binding from her book sling and quilt that I had already made!

Stay tuned for the big reveal of the whole project in the coming week!

sunday sewing {aurelia cardigan WIP continued}

Posted on 2012/11/11 by daisyeyes

I’m still stitching slowly on this cardigan by sew liberated.
Today I was able to sew on the sleeves and the skirt for the bottom.
This is the first time I’ve stitched sleeves onto a knit garment and whew…it was awesome! Love that you can just stretch to make it fit

I’ve still got to sew in some clear elastic onto the seam where the skirt joins the bodice and a few other finishing up issues. Not to mention all the basting threads I have to pull!

But over all, I’m pretty pleased with it!

And I tried it on and it fits!!

fantastic fridays {nov 9)

Posted on 2012/11/09 by daisyeyes

Hello friends! Time for another weekly wrap up of some great finds from around the web this week.
If you didn’t catch yesterdays post, I’m hosting a give away…check out this link for more info! Entries end tonight at midnight.

great FABRIC: More goodness coming from the Fall Quilt Market. Monaluna has a super great line coming out early next year called Modern Home. I really love the vintage looking appliances. If only it wasn’t so dang expensive!

to whet your APPETITE: Earlier this week I posted a recipe for the best baked pumpkin oatmeal ever. Kinda thinking it might be on the menu again this weekend! It was that yummy.

be NEAT (as in organized): Love, love this idea of using a tool caddy that goes over a bucket for storing art supplies!

a TUTORIAL to do: Totally loving this idea of using galvanized plumbing supplies for curtain rods. Check out this tutorial for everything you need!

becoming more AWARE: Ann Voskamp has a great freebie for a lovely Thankfulness Tree.

something to SEW: Sew Liberated has some really awesome patterns coming out in the next year! Check them out!

to TRIM my house with: I’m trying to come up with some new ways to decorate my banister besides fake garland. I’ve pinned a couple of options. Love this one with embroidery hoops and burlap “ribbon, I also love these white flowers with ornaments hanging in between the rods, and even just hanging a simple banner.

ILLUSTRATION to stitch: I really don’t need another project for my needle right now, but I do love this vintage looking Christmas tree. It would be a beautiful embroidery!

CUTE: Sweet, sweet embroideries at this site. And the guinea pig…adorable!

Have a happy weekend!!!

And don’t forget about the give away!!!