Dollys for the Dollys

 I read somewhere that every little girl should own a homemade doll. 

So I decided to make one each for my girlies and my niece this year for Christmas.

I used the Ruby Lou Doll Pattern by Sew Much Ado which I had bought in a pattern bundle last year. I was so excited to make them and the pattern was super easy to follow and all three dollies came together rather quickly.

 

I also made some aprons for the dolls which were left over from panels for kids size aprons.

 

And I finally used those embroidered squares (remember from WAY back when?!) and sewed together a little dolly quilt for T (I had already made a dolly quilt for S back in the day, so T needed one). 

Happy Wednesday!

lets not go ice fishin', how bout we stay inside

So I've been doing some tons of projects for Christmas and I'm pretty close to giving a 100% home made. I kind of feel jipped of the Christmas shopping experience but I'm getting used to the idea especially since I'm not constantly handing over the credit card. 

There is not much I can share with you pre-Christmas but I figured a couple of 3 year old's probably wouldn't be checkin the blog anytime soon.

For our nephews I made them each a magnetic fishing set. 

(7 different fish and rod with a worm attached to the end)

Each fish has a washer sewn to the end. The 'worm' is made out of a leftover piece of tights (used for the Jillian Jiggs Pigs) stuffed with two strong, long and skinny magnets which I found at Home Hardware. I quickly whipped up two drawstring bags from fat quarters and threw in each set.

 I don't even need to wrap these gifts, they are good to go.

Happy Friday!

*** Update: I knew I saw this somewhere on Pinterest and I found the pin that was stuck in my head (not on one of my pinboards). Check out Home Stories A2Z's Fish set.

Another Shirt to Dress

 

I made this dress back in August.

(Yep, way behind in posting my projects, there's more coming.)

 I did the same thing as my simple dress tutorial, which is really quick to whip up. Unlike adding a skirt to a shirt (which is even easier) I added a tube of fabric.

I made it out of some really cute jersey knit speckled with birds, snails, butterflies and flowers.

As an added bonus the five strand headband I made her a couple of years ago goes perfectly!

 

Happy Saturday!

Boring to Bright Couch Cushions

Boring...that's all these cushions are. 

And since I did have adding color as one of my new years resolutions I  figured this was another perfect opportunity.

I have been making cushion covers and little pillows since I was young (my mom actually had to tell me to stop making cushions at one point), so this was a quick fix. 

I just used a fold over cover, no zipper needed. 

You can check out this easy tutorial if you want to make your own, this is basically what I did.

Now aren't they pretty?

From drab to fab. Just look at all that color!

And now the girls are constantly playing with them, where as before they never touched em!

You may have noticed the blue pattern is the same fabric as my magnet board, a small attempt to draw the two spaces together.

Happy Tuesday!

Jillian Jiggs Pigs

 Have you ever read the book The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman?

(We are huge Phoebe Gilman fans: The Balloon Tree, Grandma and the Pirates...great stpries) 

Jillian Jiggs was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl and is now one of S's favorites. I had always wanted to make the pigs but never have (there are instructions in the back of the book!).

 S had been asking to make them so I got all the supplies together and we made them while she had a friend over (and T was napping). We started off by reading the story and then got to work making the girls each a pig.

I did all the sewing while the girls picked out buttons for noses and eyes. 

Then they filled the pigs with stuffing.

I hot glued all the pieces on and sewed the cute lil tails. After that the girls were quite antsy to play with their piggies so I didn't bother putting on feet (which was just fine by them and me). 

Here are our finished pigs!

And the two happy pig owners...

 Happy Friday!

Some fineprint: This post was in no way sponsored by any company and/or person. 

It's just a great book and project that I wanted to share.

Sewing Machine Cover

I have been wanting to make a sewing machine cover for quite sometime and when our move was postponed by a couple of weeks (at the beginning of February) I had time to make one!

I started with the easy tutorial offered at Notes from the Patch. 

I changed it up slightly. 

I omitted the pocket and I cut my outer and lining pieces the same size and used double fold bias tape around the bottom.

If you check out the original tutorial:  Instead of folding over the extra long lining piece over to finish the bottom, I lined up both edges and then stitched brown double fold bias tape around it. Not a huge change but a change none the less.

Tada. I love it! Just wait til you see it in my new craft room.

Happy Tuesday!

Linked to: Sugar and Dots

Simple Dress: A tutorial

I had been itching to get my sewing machine out lately but had no projects in mind. So I started going through my stash. When I came upon this cute owl fabric I instantly thought 'Dress'! 

S wears dresses EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

And it happens to be a rotation of the same 4-5 dresses. 
So I thought giving her another option wouldn't be a bad idea.

I started out with a white long sleeve shirt and the fabric (measuring 18x21 inches).

I folded the fabric in half and stitched up the side to make a hoop of fabric. 

Then I hemmed along the bottom.

Along the top I hand sewed a gathering stitch leaving excess thread at both ends.

I then pulled on the thread to gather in the fabric and pinned it to the shirt. 

(Right sides together, with the skirt going up towards the top of the shirt)

I sewed the skirt onto the shirt, cut off the excess shirt and serged it.

Flip it right side out and you should have a dress.

I went a step further and sewed on sash so that the waist could be tightened.

I think she likes it, she wore it two days in a row!

Happy Tuesday!