Working on a couple of Christmas gifts

loud girl outfit, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This is going to be wrapped up and put under the tree. She'd get it anyway, but it's fun to have more presents to open, huh?

The fabric is from Chez Ami and I used the Ottobre 6/07 issue again - same pattern as the last shirt (which I just noticed I didn't blog here), but with a hood. I also modified it to have faux layered sleeves and I bound the sleeve edges. The leggings are also in that issue.



This is a preview of what I'm making for the boy. I haven't sewed him any clothes in a while, so hopefully he'll like this shirt once it's done. He told me he likes the Transformers Decepticons (the bad guys!) which was good for me because their symbol looked easier to applique. LOL

Gingerbread men ornaments

Gingerbread men ornaments, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

I'm making up several of these cute little ornaments to include with teacher gifts this year. The kids think the one with the missing leg is hilarious!

The embroidery patterns and instructions for these are available over at Urban Threads. Luckily enough, these two patterns are 50% off through December 27th!

reusable grocery bag

reusable grocery bag, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

The bag is lined and has gussets enabling it to hold more. I put a box of cereal, a roll of paper towels, and a big thing of oatmeal in there for the picture.

You can find the free tutorial here. Have fun!

For my pattern, I used a Target bag and that worked perfectly.

reusable grocery bag, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Here it is after being folded into itself with the pocket on the front.

raglan nightgown

raglan nightgown, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

The neck looks wonky in this picture from the way the fabric fell, but it's not really. Ottobre 6/09, #36, size 116.

Tooth fairy pillow

Tooth fairy pillow, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This time I finished the tooth fairy pillow *before* the tooth fell out. The girl is now prepared for her first tooth loss. I made this out of scraps and my imagination. She loves it!

Our Christmas elf

Our Christmas elf, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This is our very own elf that the kids named Elfie Hot Santa. He appears in a different place of the house each morning, and the kids love to search for him when they wake up. The boy loves this elf so much he has taken him to school to show him off.

You can find the elf pattern and tutorial at Make Baby Stuff.com here.

Quilt Giveaway

Want a chance to win a beautiful twin-sized quilt? Head over to marie-madeline studio's blog and enter for your chance! If you win, you get to choose from two lovely quilts. How fantastic is that?

Click here to enter!

Advent calendar

Advent calendar, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Finished it just in time!

I went on a search for an advent calendar tutorial without pockets. I wanted something different than the norm, something that I wouldn't have to think hard about what to put in pockets. I'm too lazy for that (and cheap).

I came across Wee Folk Art's Advent Tree tutorial and went for it. I liked the hand sewing aspect, which allowed me to stay warm by the fireplace while working on it. I also was able to use up a good bit of a box of 1" buttons I'd bought a while ago that I never used.

You might not be able to tell from the picture, but the star has a button hole, and it starts at the bottom. Each day, a lucky kid (in our case) gets to move it up to the next number. They are already stoked to begin. :)

My new file cabinet

My new file cabinet, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Okay, so it's not sewing, but it does involve fabric.

This was my first time to decoupage anything and I think it turned out pretty good. It beats an old ugly putty-colored file cabinet and fits in a lot better with sewing room stuff. :)

I used fabrics from the out of print Moda Uptown line by Erin Michael, one of my very favorites. I consider myself very lucky that I had a fat quarter of all the fabrics in this line. I was real nervous and was hoping that I wouldn't be wasting my fabric on this project. Now I get to sit and look at it whenever I want. :)

Clothespin bag

Clothespin bag, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

I found another use for a couple of snaps! This is a clothespin bag I made using a tutorial from My Lucky Chicken. It was very simple and fast, and now my clothespins have a real home.

November 2009 008, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This was made several months ago, so I don't remember the pattern, but it's from Ottobre. :)

Kiddie snuggle blankets

The kids saw that commercial for the blanket with sleeves and wanted one for themselves. I'd gone on a fleece buying spree a few years back and was happy to find a reason to use it up. Note the sideways flames on the boy's "snuggie". I was not impressed when I discovered the printing was sideways (not my fault - it was actually made that way). The boy was a little disappointed that his didn't come with a free book light. I handed him a flashlight.

The tutorials and templates for both the adult and children's versions can be found here.

50s day at school

poodleskirt, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Today at the kids' school they are doing a 50s theme. They're supposed to be "twisting out drugs" or something like that. Anyway, I couldn't let this chance go by without dressing my girl up in a poodle skirt. Soon she won't let me do things like that. :)

This is just a simple circle skirt out of purple felt. It's not even hemmed, just a simple waistband with elastic. I went to all the stores around to buy a poodle applique, but being so close to Halloween, they were out of all but the tiny ones. Then I ordered one off of eBay (just me being lazy), but it still hasn't arrived. Luckily, Embroider This! has a free poodle embroidery pattern on their site and I was able to finish the skirt. The embroidery came out nicely and she was thrilled!

A couple of years ago I bought way too many snaps from the Snap Source (love them!). I have more snaps than I know what to do with. So whenever I find a cute and easy project that involves using up some of my snap stash, I'm all for it!

Last night I was cruising the sewing and craft blogs and came across this cute needle book tutorial. I had the perfect fat quarter of some Japanese canvas Little Red Riding Hood fabric that I knew would be great for this.

I love the way it turned out, even if I did have to decide to close it the opposite way of the tutorial. That'll teach me to not pay attention to the direction of the fabric pattern when I'm cutting something out. Next time I'll be on the ball, I swear.



Here is my first version, because I'm definitely making more of these, the Little Letter Needle Book:

Free downloadable patterns

If you haven't checked out the free downloadable patterns at fabric.com yet, do it!

Right now they have several offerings from Hot Patterns including a couple of bags and a cowl-necked top. These won't be available forever, so grab them while you can!

Another thing to check out are the videos that Hot Patterns posts on YouTube. It's pretty cool to be able to see a face behind the company, and get tips and help with your projects. Just search "hot patterns" and you'll find a bunch of videos!

Fancy Nancy costume

Fancy Nancy costume, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Here is a costume I made on request by a friend. It's a Fancy Nancy costume, for those who aren't familiar with the children's book character. The skirt was a challenge, being costume satin and all. I hate slippery fabrics! Another challenge was getting the applique to stick on the satin, since I couldn't use high heat toapply the iron-on applique. I used fabric glue and it seems to be doing the trick so far. The underskirt is made from tulle - another favorite fabric. /sarcasm One new technique I did with the skirt was to use 20-pound fishing line in with the thread as I was doing the rolled hem. This helps the skirt to stand out a bit more despite the weight of the applique and the fabric.

I hope she likes it!

Tooth fairy pillow

August 2009 149, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

The boy lost his first tooth the other day. I didn't have much time to whip him up a tooth fairy pillow but I managed. The bandana fabric makes up not only the little pocket for the tooth, but the back of the pillow as well. I tried to make the pocket tooth-shaped, and I made sure to sew across the tops of the roots so the tiny teeth wouldn't get lost or stuck.

It worked out fine and the tooth fairy was able to retrieve the tooth and leave some cash. :)

Shorts!

August 2009 151, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This is actually the first pair of shorts I made with the Little Smarty Pants pattern, but I just now got around to taking a picture. She has a pink shirt they go nicely with.

Birthday clothes

I've been neglecting this blog way too much. I have several items that I've yet to photograph and post. I'll try harder!

Today I managed to get some pictures of the birthday clothes I made for the kids. They are turning 6 this weekend and it has become an annual tradition for me to applique their age on a shirt for them and take a picture. It's neat to compare year to year and see how much they've grown and changed.

Here are the shirts for this year. I was a little lazy and bought the tees from Hobby Lobby. I can't believe the size I bought for the boy is already almost too small. Yikes!



I also made some matching shorts for the girl using some Chez Ami fabric and the Little Smarty Pants pattern by Favorite Things. These are the second pair I've made - of course I haven't yet taken a photo of the first pair. I really enjoy this pattern because I think it's more stylish than any of the other shorts patterns I have.

Mushrooms!

My kids want a Super Mario Brothers themed birthday party this year, so I made these to surprise them. Unfortunately, the girl spied me uploading pictures so she already knows about them. She promised to keep them a secret...we'll see!

WolfDreamer off the Hook offers this free pattern on her site as well as a few other Super Mario inspired crochet creations!

Motherload of bag tutorials

If you're in the mood to make a bag, start here!

It's a shame, but I really haven't been in much of a sewing mood lately. I did make a t-shirt and knit shorts for myself as sort of lounging around clothes. Purple tie dye fabric that I got on clearance forever ago. Mainly I wanted to try my hand at making a v-neck. It was depressing seeing how much fabric it requires to cover this body. I guess I'm too used to sewing for kids.

If you're looking for something to sew, this site has a DIY headband collection that rocks!

iTouch cozy

I crocheted a cozy for my iTouch out of some scrap yarn I've had for years. I think I actually bought it when I was first re-learning to crochet (I hold onto things way too long)! Yes, it already is in a plastic case, but the plastic case needed protection too, darn it.

I have the ipod pulled out a little in the picture - it fits inside nice and cozily. I might add a button closure or something. Or not.

The husband made fun of me for this. He fully expects me to start covering the house in doilies now.

My first quilt

May 2009 079, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

Oh boy...I started this a few months back and threw it aside out of frustration with the quilting part of things. My daughter kept seeing it sitting there untouched and hounded me to finish it for her so I finally did. She doesn't care about all the mistakes and it makes her happy so I am satisfied. I can't say I'll be making another quilt any time soon, though!

It's made out of scrap fabric except for the backing which is yellow flannel. I started out on this adventure to see if I could do it. I read lots of instructions on the internet and went for it. Sometimes that's just what we need to do to learn and grow. I'm sure the next one will be better, right?

New swimsuit

A new swimsuit for the girl. Ottobre 3/09, #38, size 116. I like that it doesn't ride up her rear end. She picked out the fabric last weekend when swimsuit fabric was on sale for 50% off.

A real bad t-shirt

May 2009 049, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

This simple curved raglan t-shirt that the boy requested ended up giving me fits when it came to using my coverstitcher (Brother 2340CV) on it. I was going for a three thread exposed coverstich and the machine wouldn't work without skipping stitches constantly. After changing needles, rethreading, adjusting the pressure screw, I switched to a 2 needle narrow coverstitch and that was that. Doesn't look very good but I was ready to throw everything out the window by that point! He likes it so I'll take it.

You know, just about everything I've read from Brother coverstitch owners has been so positive. I have had so much trouble since I got mine over a year ago. I find myself avoiding it and dreading its use and that sucks. I got mine used, so maybe that has something to do with it. The only time it might not skip stitches seems to be when I'm sewing on interlock, and that's only if I'm using two needles, not three. Three is always a disaster. I've changed the needles and adjusted everything I could think of to adjust. Anyone have any other ideas other than the obvious one of getting it serviced?

The lost shirt

May 2009 045, originally uploaded by pearljamfanatic.

I made this shirt a while back but lost it, never to be found until I was organizing my fabric. I don't know why I set it aside - maybe to get a picture? I'm just glad it still fits for a bit.

Teacher appreciation week

This coming week is teacher appreciation week. On Friday the kids brought home a paper that gave them ideas for something to do for their teacher each day of the week. Monday's idea is to bring a little treat for her, so we came up with a couple of cute things that I could sew and they could give.

First up is this cute patchwork apple made from more of my Moda Uptown scraps. I used the basic instructions from the tutorial at The Wool Food Mama's blog here. I did the leaves a bit differently. The girl is happy to give this to her teacher tomorrow!



The other item is for the boy to gift. We bought a composition notebook and made a cute cover for it as in this tutorial at Joy's Hope. It was easy and fast and is super cute. I want to make some for me!

I just finished a new outfit for the girl. I'm trying so hard to use up fabrics from my stash. I can't remember the last time I bought fabric! Most of that is because I was in a sewing slump, so I was able to avoid it. Lately, though, I've loaded up my cart at the Chez Ami fabric clearance and emptied it more than once. The temptation is huge!

Anyway, on to the outfit. I bought this stripe a long time ago. I believe it's a cotton/lycra blend; it's very drapey. I thought the yellow accents and the green of the pants went together pretty well.



The girl likes it and is sitting next to me going through my Ottobres and making me a list. 99% of the items on her list are skirts and dresses, things I don't make a whole lot of for her. I guess she's decided to take charge!



My ego's been given a boost lately because the boy and the girl have been wanting all the sewing done for them. I had to tell them that I will alternate. So just for the record, I did make him three pairs of boxer briefs in between the heart skirt and this newest outfit. He prefers mom's underwear over the store bought underwear, I think because the elastic is covered by fabric in the mama made ones. It's pretty good when you can beat out Batman underwear!

Try out a purse pattern for free!

Ottobre Design Magazine has several patterns for free to try out on their site. The latest one is called the Pea Pod Linen Purse. Try it out and let me know how it went!

"Hertta" skirt

Here is the "Hertta" skirt from the 1/2009 issue of Ottobre Design. This one is a size 116. The only change that I left out is the petersham drawstring ribbon. I could just see that thing coming undone, untied, and the girl can't tie a bow yet. I envisioned a big knot mess or else it being pulled out altogether. Maybe a sewn on bow on the front of the waistband would be better.

Speaking of waistbands....ick. I'm really not fond of them. Maybe it's because I'm not good at them. What's the matter with a normal elastic waist treatment on a skirt like this? Next time that's what I plan to do.

The girl will love this. She was so excited watching me sew it up this evening. The next step will be to make up a top to go with it!

Happy Easter!

I just came across photos of these fantastic fabric Easter eggs on Flickr and retro mama has been generous enough to post a tutorial on her blog. You must see these - so cute!

We're back from vacation to Disney World and had such a great time. With the warmer weather coming I'm sort of in the mood to clean my sewing room. Whether or not it will get done is another story!

Today I'm going to try out this ear warmer tutorial. Yep, I said ear warmers. The kids both have soccer games tomorrow and for some reason lately it's been really cold on Saturdays around here. Their league never cancels games and I don't want a repeat of the day we went to watch our kids play in weather that was 34 degrees with the wind chill. It was awful. So we'll see if I can get 3 pairs of ear warmers made today.

Car organizer

We have an upcoming car trip. A reaaaaalllly long car trip. I'd been meaning to make a set of these car organizers for some time, and there's nothing like a long trip to kick me into gear.

I used the tutorial as a guide but did the construction a bit differently. For once thing, I used my serger to finish the raw edges and then folded over, pressed, and stitched instead of the double folding of the hems. This was so that I could cut down on the bulk significantly. Also, instead of hemming first and then adding the pockets, I added them first and then hemmed the whole thing with all the layers together.

What I don't like is that mine isn't hanging very well. One reason is the car has a sort of plastic bar thing across the back for the passenger to hold on to when I take those crazy corners. Another reason I think is that my daughter put a bulky stuffed animal in one of the pockets. I think another tie or something about midway down wouldn't be a bad idea. The only thing is, the front of the seat is concave and I wonder if a tie across there would be annoying on my back as I'm driving.

Another thing I might do differently is round the corners at the top. Rounding the corners would need a bias binding for the edges instead of hemming. I wonder what that would look like. Hmm.

Does that Snow White doll scare anyone else?

Another play dress

I cut this one out at the same time as the Valentine play dress, hence the reason they're pretty much exactly the same. Saves time and energy even if it ends up being kind of boring. I find I tend to sew more things that will get worn on a regular basis and that are comfortable because I want my kids to wear what I make and I also don't like to iron very much. It seems like everything "fancy" I've made ends up hanging in the closet with only one or two wears and that makes me sad.

Valentine's Day dress

I needed some motivation to sew and Valentine's Day was it. I decided that I had just enough Chez Ami hearts fabric left to make the girl a cute little dress for her school's Valentine's Day activities.

The pattern I used has become quite the standby in our house, as it's easy and fast to make and the girl loves the style because it's so comfortable. Well, actually we only use the knit dress part of the Farbenmix Olivia pattern, and I often alter it a little bit with this time being no exception.



I made it into a curved bodice style instead of all one front piece. I also left off the hood and the pocket. I shortened the short sleeve a bit and finished the edges with binding instead of hemming. I used a size 110/116 cm here.

She woke up and was thrilled with her new little dress!

I have a son that can't seem to wear a pair of jeans more than 5 times without ripping holes in the knees. Everyone says that's just what little boys do. Well, long pants weather will be gone very soon. I really don't want to buy more jeans in his current size for him to only be able to wear them a few times before the colder weather is gone!

I wanted to find a way to patch his knees that was different. I came across this video tutorial on Etsy's handmade blog, The Storque, and I gave it a shot.

Here are my results.



What I like about this technique is that it allowed me to avoid hand sewing the patch on. His pant leg was just big enough to fit over the free arm of one of my machines (whew).

He wore the fixed up jeans to school today and hopefully he doesn't come home with a new rip!

The top 100 tutorials of 2008

The Long Thread blog has posted a great list of links to the top 100 tutorials for 2008. It contains everything from baby and kid items to things for the home. Definitely check it out when you're in need of some inspiration!