Great use for leftover flannel scraps

My kids just started kindergarten and have been taking their lunches to school. For the first few days I was sending along some paper napkins that we had from their birthday party. Well, being the novice lunch packer that I am, I failed to realize that putting a paper napkin in an insulated lunch box with an ice pack doesn't work so well. The condensation gets the napkin all wet.

So yesterday I went though my scrap fabric bin and pulled out all the flannel I had in there. It wasn't a lot, but I had enough to make some lunch napkins for the kids. I just cut out some kid sized squares, sewed them right sides together, turned, and topstitched.

They turned out cute and the kids love that they have their own little napkins. It also saves trees and cuts down on waste.

The added bonus is that if they get a little wet, it will help them wash the lunch off their face a little better. We'll see if my son comes home with spaghetti sauce on his face today!

Here is a snapshot of what a pattern sheet looks like in Ottobre. I use lightweight sew in interfacing as a pattern medium. I previously used that tracing material with the dots on it (sorry don't know the technical name), but I like the stiffer interfacing better. It's all personal preference.

Other patterns that need to be traced look like this as well, but are often all in black and white. Sometimes the lines for each size are slightly different to help with tracing.

Lots of people are intimidated by the aspect of tracing after looking at these kinds of patterns. It's really not too bad! And if you do mess up, so what? Try again!

I love this fabric. I'm not really into camo all that much but I bought this fabric probably because it was on sale knowing me. I can't really remember to be honest.

When I received it in the mail, however, I fell in love. It's so girly and the colors are vibrant. I think it will remain vibrant after many washings.

Pattern is from Ottobre, 3/08, #12, size 110cm.

This is the shirt that gave me fits yesterday

See? I told you it was just a simple peasant top.

I think it turned out cute even after pulling out and re-doing all the shirring. The body of the shirt was shirred too tightly after the first attempt. I pulled that out and went with a blue ribbon (same color as the bow in the photo) across the front that tied in back. It was very cute and then I pressed the shirt after it was done. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Yeah, the iron was too hot for the ribbon and it melted it a little bit. I couldn't believe how dumb I was. So I got my trusty seam ripper and took the ribbon off. I decided to go back to the 2 lines of shirring for future practicality purposes and rewound the elastic thread on the bobbin to be a bit looser. After that I was *finally* done and glad for it!

This pattern is from Ottobre 1/2007, #16, size 110cm. I modified it a bit to lengthen it and did away with all the lines of shirring (how many times in the last two posts can I say shirring?) at the bottom.

Sometimes things just go wrong

You think you're just going to sew a simple shirt. Then as you're constructing it, every step just seems to go wrong. I think no matter how long you've been sewing everyone has days like this.

Today was a day like that for me. I'm in the middle of making a simple peasant shirt. I've made many of them so no problem, right? Shouldn't have been! From sewing the back on sideways to the sleeve (which amazingly matched in length to the wrong edge I attached), to shirring too tightly, to incorrectly lengthening the front and back pieces... Maybe if I'd had a few it would go along better.

On top of that, I went to remove a needle from my serger to do a rolled hem and can't find my allen wrench anywhere. I always keep it on my magnetic needle tray - that thing not only attracts metal but my son as well. No matter how many times I tell the kids to not touch Mommy's sewing stuff they can't seem to help themselves.

So now my serger's allen wrench is missing, probably at the bottom of his toy box or that place where lone socks go. Super hubby came to the rescue with a little set of allen wrenches so all was not lost.

Thankfully, all the errors are fixable and I think it will come out even cuter after a certain design change. I will be sure to post it when it's finished.

On a good note, I sewed the matching headband correctly on the first try. Woo!

Material Mama's sewing resources

Material Mama has an awesome page of sewing resources. I use several of those sites on a regular basis and she has them nicely laid out in an organized fashion. Everything from online fabric stores to snap sources. Great stuff. Don't forget to check out the Material Mama podcast as well!

5th Birthday shirts

Here they are for birthday number 5 - the annual number t-shirts!

This year I used an applique design from Embroidery Library instead of "freehanding" it. I think they turned out nice.

Capes and more capes!

When I was laying in bed the other night, not able to fall asleep, I was thinking about what I could put in the treat bags for the kids coming to my kids' birthday party. I didn't want to put candy or junky plastic things made in China that would get lost or broken within 10 minutes.

I thought about how cool it would be to make capes for them, but since it was only a couple of days away I figured it was too late. Surely I wouldn't have time to sew them up with family coming to town and all that.

Well, today we were at the craft store and the satin happened to be on sale and in a moment of craziness I decided to go for it! So here they are - five reversible capes. It's not my best sewing, but it was among my fastest! One is for my daughter so it's a more girly purple.

I'm sure tomorrow will be a flurry of 4 & 5 year olds running around like lunatics. But they'll have something to take with them that will last and provide lots and lots of fun and an outlet for their imaginations!

(Pattern is from Ottobre Design, 4/04 issue)

Ottobre Design

One popular magazine dedicated to children's clothing designs is Ottobre Design. I have found that a subscription is very much worth the cost, especially when sewing for more than one child. Since I do sew at least half of their clothes these days it's always great to have inspiration and new patterns on hand.

You can view inside every one of their issues online, find some free patterns, and even subscribe online if you wish. Pattern sizing is a little different being a European magazine, but not hard to follow. Sizes in each issue range from newborn to teenager and there are probably 30-40 patterns in each issue! A couple of times a year they have a women's issue as well.

You can order individual issues either from Ottobre or stateside from Sewzanne's Fabrics (super fast shipping!). Ordering from Sewzanne's also helps a WAHM!

If you do decide to get into Ottobre sewing, make sure you check out the Ottobre Flickr group as well as the Ottobre Yahoo group.

Moda Uptown Pillows

These are a few of the pillows I made to sell at Zakka Craft a couple of months ago. I loved the way they turned out with these fabrics. If you look closely you can see the elusive paint by number birds in it. I had no idea how sought after that fabric is until I went to try and buy more of it! I love it and it seems I'm not the only one. It's funny that I bought the entire line in fat quarters on clearance a long time ago. Lucky break!

Free Heather Ross pattern!

Heather Ross, fabric designer extraordinaire, has posted a free sundress pattern on her blog that's available for a limited time. It is super cute and a perfect way to use some of her new Mendocino fabrics!