What's Up: End of Preschool

I'm behind this week - I took the holiday off and we had friends over for a BBQ.  Then I was up all night Monday night with a vicious migraine (nausea and more, unable to sleep, almost told Devon he needed to get me to the ER) so Tuesday was about taking it easy and recovering (and calling my doctor to cry uncle and ask for a prescription).  But I'm back on track and feeling like myself again.  I will head out the door in a moment to go lead Cora's farewell class party - my baby is done with preschool - but I thought I'd take a moment to post about her teachers and the farewell gifts I made.

Miss Kim and Miss Nancy are fantastic teachers.  They have big hearts and big personalities and they treat the kids like people, so with humor, kindness (without the treacle), patience, and the right lack of tolerance.  Cora has really blossomed at school this year.  She's still hesitant to give hugs to non-family members (you should see the look on her face when a classmate runs up to hug her!) but she's confident about talking to and playing with other little people now.  And just more of her has come out.  So I love these teachers.

I organized the gifts from the other parents and classmates and we're giving them some things for the classroom: The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game (we received this from our friends Kate, Candice, and Rowan for Christmas and it is awesome) and two favorite books, Bedtime for Bear by Bonny Becker and "Stand Back!" Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas.  I still wanted to get them something special from just our family, so I made these gifts (Cora helped pick out the fabric and buttons):

The little top is for Miss Kim's soon-to-arrive granddaughter.  I traced a 0-3 mo top that we had in storage and then cut it out and added the ruffly strips before sewing it up.  I used scraps from the top I made for my friend Malinda and I'm excited to find a use for the leftovers from my jersey projects!

I'll get you caught up on my other ongoing projects soon.  I made a jersey dress for myself, but I need to get pictures.  I did a ton of work on Catlin's summer wardrobe but everything is not quite done yet (waiting for a fitting), and I finished Johnah's skirt but I want to get a picture of her in it.  This week I will make some headway on Ann Marie's and Denise's skirts.  But for now I'll just soak up the end of preschool

What's Up: Upholstered Clutch Wallets, Funky Flower, Bag for Donation, Packages Shipped!

This past week was a little slow.  I worked hard, but I don't feel like I have as much to show for it as I spent more time than usual on the computer catching up on admin and placing orders.  The latter does mean I have the arrival of lots of packages of fabric and hardware to look forward to this week (soooo exciting!).  But the former means that I didn't spend as much time as I like actually sewing.

But sewing did happen!  I finished the first two items on Melissa's order from the skirt party, a zebra print clutch wallet and flower pin.  I love the way they turned out - the right mix of edgy and pretty:

 

I made a variation on the clutch wallet from an old chair cover that I found at The Economy Shop, using bias tape to finish the edges:

I want to redo the stitching on the bias tape (I figured a technical issue out halfway around) and then I'll put it up on Etsy.  I now think I know enough to write a tutorial for these and I hope to post that on Thursday or Friday of this week for those of you who want to make your own.

And since it seems to be the week of clutches, I made another Ali Foster clutch to donate to a local school auction:

Jennifer, the woman who contacted me about the bag, has her own blog called HealthAtMySize.  I dropped off the bag yesterday and she invited me in for a mimosa and a chat (nice treat!).  In order to find new and unusual donations for the auction, she searched for local artists on Etsy - such a great idea!  There are tons of artists and crafters who sell completely online without a store front and I bet they don't often get asked to do this sort of thing.  I love the opportunity to do something good (help raise money for the school) while getting my name out to potential clients.  She is showcasing the artists on her blog - go check out the work.

I did have a helpful realization this week.  I made a promise to myself to save weekend sewing time for my personal projects.  I haven't done a good job of this so far and I realized it's because the personal projects I want to work on are challenging.  They will stretch my skills and require multiple weekends to complete.  So I've been avoiding them by continuing to work on my client's projects on the weekends.  No more!  I made myself sit down to trace and cut out my first project, a spring/fall coat by Indygo Junction:

I'm going to make a variation on the version on the left and if I get it completed in time, I'll enter it in IJ's design challenge competition.

And this week I will do a lot of sewing.  I want to get Melissa's messenger bag bag and finish Diane's corsetted skirt (the fabric for this finally arrived).  I hope to get a draft version of Melissa's skirt finished, too.  And the upholstered clutch wallet tutorial . . . and the unpacking of many boxes of fabric.  We'll see how fast I can sew!

Circle Skirt & Ruffle Top: Do you believe in magic?

UPDATE 2/7/2012: I entered this in a competition at Craftsy.com, so if you have an account there, feel free to "heart" this project over there.

I sent my husband and four-year-old daughter out tonight for their first ever Valentine’s daddy-daughter dance.  Did you do this as a child??  I remember going to at least one daddy-daughter dance with my dad at The Barn, a converted barn that was owned by our Park District.  I remember dancing with my dad, standing on his feet so that he could help me keep time.  My mom made me a twirl skirt from a pink and white heart fabric.  I loved that skirt.  I wore it to a every ice-skating party I went to that year, too.

Well, for such a momentous event I thought I really needed to make Cora an outfit.  I love sewing clothes but I don’t really sew that much for my daughters.  This is partly because I’m really busy sewing things for clients, but also because I don’t have that much interest in sewing kids’ clothes.  I like sewing for adults and for myself because I know the garment will be worn for years.  But with kids?  I’m lucky if it still fits a year later.

Here it is:

I started with the skirt, following Gretchen Hirsch’s circle skirt tutorial from Quick Stuff to Sew magazine, Winter 2011.  (If you don't know her, you MUST check out her blog).  The only change I made was to put in an elastic waistband instead of a zipper and waistband – hopefully this will allow Cora to wear it a bit longer!

The top was a bit of a hodge-podge.  I used the Peasant Shirt bodice from my Little Girls, Big Style book by Mary Abreu.  I wanted something with short sleeves that Cora could put on herself (no zippers or buttons to worry about) and this fit the bill.  For the bottom half of the top I generally followed the Shwin & Shwin Sand & Sea Top tutorial (another great sewing blog).

For the flowers, I followed a tutorial from Andie Johnson's blog.  I love making these flowers because they are super easy and resemble dahlias, which are my favorite flowers (Devon plants them in the garden for me every summer).

The main fabric is a purple velveteen that I found at the Economy Shop (great local thrift store).  I bought the hot pink fabric there as well – it feels like some kind of jersey but it doesn’t have much stretch.  The fuchsia skirt lining was leftover from a skirt I made for a client – I left it a bit long so that it could peek out.  The thread, buttons, and elastic were already in my stash, so all told this skirt and top probably cost less than $5.  It did take a long time to make, mostly because I decided to do a blind hem on the skirt and circle skirt hems seem to go on forever!  Apart from the hem I probably spent about 5 hours on this.

I’m waiting for Cora and Devon to come home now so that I can hear all about it.  I hope it was magical!

Free Sewing Tutorial: Ultrasuede or Felt Flower Tutorial

I love making fabric flowers and I am always hunting for new ideas in the online tutorial community.  Since I have learned so much from other's tutorials, I thought it was time to share one of my own.  I was looking for a way to make polished-looking flower pins for coats and bags that didn't require a lot of time, and this is what I created.

What you'll need:
*Scraps of ultrasuede or felt for the petals
*Matching thread
*Two 3x3 squares of felt or ultrasude for the backing
*Brooch pin
*Hot glue gun
*Button or scrap (or both!) for center of flower

I found my first piece of ultrasuede by chance at the Economy Shop, a local thrift store.  I didn't know what it was at first but I knew that I had found something wonderful: soft texture, lovely color, thick enough to hold it's shape, and - best of all! - no fraying when cut!  I thought it was regular faux suede and I was disappointed when I ordered faux suede online only to find that it frayed just as much as any other fabric.  I did some research and came up with Ultrasuede, but it is very expensive by the yard.  So I was very pleased to find the Etsy shop 3crafties, which sells packs of ultrasuede packs in a lovely range of colors.  I'd stay away from the 1 inch strips, but anything larger should give you enough to make a range of petal sizes.  I also have a local resale and re-upholstery shop which saves me scraps when they have them (and they give them to me for free!), so that's another good place to look.

Step 1: Make your petal templates
Fold a piece of paper or medium-weight interfacing in half and draw on half of your petal shape.  You want the bottom of the petal to be flat across.  I use a rounded petal and a pointed petal, and I have them in a range of sizes (after I got a shape I liked, I just added or subtracted 1/4 inch around the petal).  Here's what they will look like once you cut it out and open it up:

Step 2: Cut out petals
I usually use 6-7 petals per layer and I like the look that 3 or more layers give to the finished flower.  I often use a larger size petal for the two outside layers and a smaller size petal for the inside layer, but you should play around with this to see what you like best.

Once you have your petals cut out, cut a small slit from the bottom of the petal to about 1/3 of the way up the petal.

Step 3: Shape petals

To create the petal shape, close the petal together at the slit, like this:

Hold the petal shape in place and stitch it shut.  You could probably use a dab of hot glue to hold it closed if you don't want to do the stitching. 

I've found that sometimes the different sides of ultrasuede have slightly different textures, so make sure that you have all the petals curved with the same side up.

Step 4: Sew petals to backing

Take out the 3 x 3 square of felt or ultrasuede and lay out the bottom layer of petals in a circle.  I usually pin and repin the first round of petals until I get a shape I like.

Now you need to sew the petals to the backing with a running hand stitch.  After you have the first layer of petals sewn, pin and then sew the second layer.

Finally, pin and sew the last layer.

Step 5: Add center of flower

Now you can get creative with the center of the flower.  I use a scrap of felt or ultrasuede cut into a circle, a strip of pinked felt rolled in to a circle, and/or a button to finish off the center of the flower.  You can thread or hot glue to attach the center to the flower. 

Step 6: Add brooch pin and finish back

Turn the flower over so that the backing faces up.  Trim off the felt or ultrasuede, being careful not to cut through your stitches, so that the backing is now a circle. 

Don't worry if this isn't pretty - it will be covered up in a moment.

Cut the second square of felt or ultrasuede into a circle the same size or slightly larger.  If you want to add a label, sew in on the circle now.  Heat up your hot glue gun and glue the second circle on top of the flower backing.  Use hot glue to attach the brooch pin to the backing.

And you are done!  Here are some examples of flowers I have made this way.  If you have questions, please leave a comment.  If you want a flower pin but don't want to make it, check out my Etsy store to see what I have in stock or contact me for a custom order.  Enjoy!

Fancy Funky Flower Fun

Greetings!  I am in full-on Christmas making mode, but I thought I'd take a quick break to show off a flower pin I made recently:

It is made with upholstery-weight fabric scraps that I was given by a fantastic furniture consignment store in Oak Park called Divine Consign.  The women who runs the shop has that rare combination of elegance and friendliness.  She graciously gives me the scraps from their re-upholstery projects.  I plan to make another slightly smaller flower with these same scraps to give her as a thank you gift.

Speaking of, if any of you are looking for last minute holidays gifts, I just stocked up my Etsy shop with items that didn't sell in the Western Springs pop-up store I mentioned a few weeks back.  And if you are in the Berwyn/Oak Park area, please feel free to use my free shipping code (FREESHIP) and I'll drive it over!

Seven Bags in Seven Days

It sounds like a competition, doesn't it?  If only, because now I would get some kind of prize!!  Instead, I got this on my thumb:

The little round whole in my thumb came from pinning and unpinning around a thousand pins.  I guess I must use the same part of my thumb to do that each time!

But enough about my sacrifice; here are the seven bags:

Or do I get to say that I made fourteen bags since they are all reversible?

Thus ends my largest order to date - a total of nine bags for Devon's Aunt's Christmas list.  She bought the fabric and mailed it to me (and she included extra yardage so my stash has grown!) and I got to mail a big box of handmade handbags back to her.  It was great to have so many to do because I found a new way of sewing the MaiseyBelle that saves about three hours of time per bag and I discovered some new ways to make fabric flowers, like this one:

and this:

Whew!  Not a bad week's work for a naptime/night-time worker!  I have one last order to finish up and then I'll be making five pairs of kids' pajamas, four little zipper bags, three fabric flowers, two clutches, one party dress . . . . and a partridge in a pear tree.