a bunny on its way to being real

I made a velveteen bunny. I didn't like any of the patterns I found in softy books so I decided to make my own. I think he turned out ok. I'm really happy with the fabric I found (remnants, all for under $5.00). I am still thinking about his face. I don't like the idea of a mouth but I think his personality doesn't shine at this point. I have until Easter to think about it. I am posting two pictures because I can't decide between the two.


























And here's a tocks close-up:

A birthday present

I went to a 1st birthday party this weekend and, like all the gifts I give this little guy, I made the birthday boy something handmade. My gift is probably a little too old for him right now, but it never hurts to give fun, educational toys.

I made felt letters. I just made the upper-case alphabet for now, but have plans on making lower-case letters and numbers eventually. I made a template for all the letters, cut out felt, blanket stitched, and stuffed all the letters. I started this at the beginning of January, thinking I'd make one letter a day, but it actually went faster than I thought it would.

I made a bag from scrap fabric (using up my stash!) to hold
all the letters, with plenty of room for additional letters as I make them. I pretty much followed the instructions from happythings to make the bag. I made mine much bigger than the tutorial though and it still worked out great.

All bundled up!

Almost there

These gifts for the newest niece in the family are the second- and third-last gifts I had to make - just one more left to finish! I made the bear from a cashmere sweater that I'd accidentally machine washed; he is so so soft! I made his face with embroidery floss and knit a tiny scarf to hide his neck seam. The balls are each about 3" in diameter, made with the same yarn I used for the ruffle scarf. I have plenty of these colors left over for another fun kid project or two in the coming year.

A belated birthday present

I made this skirt for my sister for her birthday.

It's a wrap skirt from here. I wanted to embellish it a little though. I was inspired by the Kimono House Wrap Skirt, but my final product was quite different. Eh, maybe I'll actually look at the inspiration before diving into my own craft next time! This skirt sewed up super fast. I used a linen fabric for the main part of the skirt and I think I'll have to make another one for myself for the summer.

Bag tutorial

I realize there are roughly a million bag tutorials out on the internet, but I'm adding one more to the mix. I made some bags as gifts for Christmas and didn't write down a single thing. I decided to make some more and thought I should keep track of the process this time if I ever wanted to do it again. I apologize for my horrible pictures; one day I'll buy a better camera. So, here's my first tutorial. Hopefully it will make sense!

Materials:
You will need fabric for the bag and a liner. I bought a yard of each fabric and had plenty to spare.

scrap fabric for pocket (optional)
matching thread
interfacing (optional)

Cut:
2 pieces of 15x17 for the front and back panel
2 pieces of 6x17 for the side panels
1 piece of 6x15 for the bottom panel
2 pieces of 2x24 for the handles

Finished measurements are: 14(w)x16(h)x5(d) with 1.5"x 23" handles

All seams are 1/2", except for handles, which are 1/4"

Iron interfacing onto pieces before starting.

Handles:

1. With right sides together, sew one piece of the bag fabric and one piece of the liner together.
2. Stitch along the long edge of each side, forming a tube.
3. Turn the right side of the handle out, and press.
4. Top stitch the handle for a nice finish.

The short edges will still be unfinished. That's ok since they will be sewn into the bag later.

Bag:
1. Pin and sew the sides to the bottom, forming one long strip of fabric.
2. Press seams out.
3. With right sides together, pin the front panel to the strip, being careful to match corners.



The corners are a bit hard to navigate. I like to line up the bottom of the front/back panel with the bottom of the bag first. Then I pin the two sides, leaving the corners loose for turning while I sew.








4. Start sewing the front panel to the side.



5. About a 1/2" before the edge, with the needle in the down position, lift footer and turn the fabric so the bottom is ready to sew, making sure there's still a 1/2" seam allowance.
6. Do the same for the other corner.
7. Press all seams out and trim the corner so there's less bulk once it's turned in again.





8. Repeat all these steps for the liner.

Before sewing the liner, add a pocket of any size.

Optional pocket:
1.Take two pieces of fabric, equal size.
2. With right sides together, sew around the edge, leaving an opening suitable for turning the fabric out.
3. Turn so the right sides are out. Press.
4. Attach pocket to one front/back panel. Sew three sides, forming a pocket. At the same time, make sure you position the opening so it is also sewn shut.




Sewing the bag together:
1. Place the bag, right side out, inside the liner, which is wrong side out. Essentially, you're putting right sides together.


2. Before pinning the two pieces together, stick the handles inside.
3. Sandwich the handles inside the layers with matching fabrics touching each other.

I placed the handles about 3" in from the edges. Be sure not to twist the handles.











4. Line up the corners of the bag and pin.













5. Sew around the top of the bag, going over the handles a couple of times to reinforce them.

Be sure to leave an opening to turn the bag.







6. Turn the bag so the right sides are out.




7. Then stick the liner inside the bag.
8. Press the top to form a nice edge.
9. Top-stitch the top of the bag.

You're done!

Not really a refashion...

So I shouldn't be posting about this, but *did* use my sewing machine.
In my pursuit of this cute Gap dress, I found this shirt in the clearance section:


It was an XL and looked like a giant mumu on me, so I hemmed the side seams. I know it's not much of a refashion, but I am so excited that it worked. I'm a big fan of Wiksten Made, and while her designs are much better, I thought I did a pretty good job finding a similar design.

Now I just don't know if I should wear the dress or the shirt to work tomorrow!

Baby gear

Well, I think I already broke one of my New Year's resolutions by not posting all week. I guess crafting takes time. I have been busy crafting fun baby items lately. My pending auntiness didn't really kick in until a month ago, but now I just want to make baby things all time. My first project was a little hooded wrap. I knit this with Bernat organic cotton. Organic cotton is hard to come buy if you're not willing to order online, so I question how organic it really is. Hmm. I really liked how the little wrap knit up though.
Second, since the baby is going to be born in winter, I thought a little sweater and hat set was necessary. I used patterns from One Skein for both the hat and sweater. I thought I was getting the hang of seams, but this sweater was crap to sew up. I loved the yarn though. It's Classic Elite Yarns Lush, 50/50 wool/angora. It's super soft.
Finally, I made some baby bibs. I wasn't too sure if new babies use bibs but I've been assured that they do. They're so little that a little bit of fabric goes a long way. I really like the kitty/cat fabric. The more I look at fabric, the more I'm tempted to buy the super expensive stuff online. There are so many irresistible fabrics out there. I used the pattern from Chickpea Sewing Studio. They sewed up really fast, and they're so cute....

Babies are cute.

Christmas crafting round-up

I had great intentions of debuting all my crafting for the holidays slowly, but since it's practically mid-January, here ya go:

Item #1:
Here is the mysterious item I was hand felting. It is a big bag and it was a name-draw gift for Christmas. I was fairly pleased with the final product. I think it could have felted better in a machine but overall, I was able to keep the felting consistant. The handles were horrific to felt--I didn't think they would ever shrink! I will also confess to attaching the handles on wrong ends so I cut them and attached buttons for a cute little flair.






Item #2:
I decided that bags were going to be the gift of choice this year; they're always needed, super trendy, and customizable. So I made my mother and two sisters their own tote bags. I kind of winged it in terms of a pattern. I learned a lot about the process of adding a liner from the bags when I made the bags for my grandmothers, and I just adapted that pattern for new bags. I'm also starting to not forget to add pockets to the inside! I did, however, forget to make a bag for myself. I think they're so cute but I'm kind of burned out from sewing....maybe I'll make a couple when the outdoor farmer's market starts up again.


And for some non-present related Christmas crafting:

Something for Myself

As a small bonus for semi-finishing my final project in school, I thought I'd make a little something:

I made a little needle holder for all my double pointed needles. They were getting out of control at the bottom of my knitting bag. I had originally envisioned a large needle holder for all my needles, but I have way too many to do that and still make the holder a reasonable size. This way I can make three different holders. I got the idea from the Multicrafty: Knitting Needle Case tutorial, which I found via the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. I think it'll really help, but I wish I would have made the pockets a little more custom for each needle set. Some of the smaller needles move around a bit.

And I love the inside fabric!

I'm about to do something really irresponsible

It's the one year anniversary of our blog! I should have knit a little cupcake to celebrate, but is it really that big of a deal? I had to mark the milestone though.

On to projects:

I made myself a Christmas tree this year because my little tree I usually have is located at my parent's house and I won't be making a trip there until after Christmas. I found these wonderful little softy trees from little birds handmade and decided to expand on that idea.


I sewed little circles of Christmas fabric on it for bulbs. I still have to put lights up and the star on top but kitty is having some issues with it right now so I'm waiting for her to settle down a bit. Apparently it's a giant toy!

Good Grief!

I had high hopes of posting something every day of December this year. I seem to have plenty of projects, but not enough time I guess. To kind of catch up, here are three recently finished projects:


First, I made another green A-line skirt. This time, I added pockets, which was fun to think about and plan for. I didn't use a pattern again and I still like the skirt, but I think it flares out a little more than I wanted but I can never tell what it'll look like until I have it all sewed up and by then I'm not tearing it out again. Also, I added a liner but didn't take a picture of it.






Next, I had a request from a friend to knit a Charlie Brown sweater. I didn't think I had to time or desire to knit a whole yellow and black sweater so I compromised and knit a hat instead. I made the pattern all by myself (not too hard, thankfully!) I used my favorite Cascade 220 yarn and followed the Hats that Fit by Nancy Lindberg pattern.




And finally I started my holiday crafting. I feel fairly safe posting what I've worked on so far. I'm making bags for both my grandmas and here's one bag all finished up. I used the Curved Gusset Bag from U-handblog. It sewed up really fast and it was easy even for me. It turned out really well and it's huge! I think it's almost too big.




More tomorrow!

Finished Projects

I thought I'd post what I've been working on lately. It's been a while! First, I finished the baby crew sweater that I started a couple weeks ago. It turned out really cute. I wish I knew a baby to model it!

Second, a couple of weeks ago I went to Old Navy and found a really horrific jumper (for only $6) made out of the exact color green corduroy that I've been scouring Joanne Fabrics for. So, I bought an XXL and used it to make a skirt. I wish I would have taken a picture of the jumper. It could have been a really cute above the knee jumper, but it flared out so much that it looked like a mumu.

Anyway, here is the jumper transformed into a basic A-line skirt. I thought I'd be cool and model it (I'm not sure if I'm pulling off the boots though...) I used another skirt of mine that I really like as the basic template and I added a cute fabric to the yoke on the inside (because I'm all about cute details...I'm a sucker for things that other people won't see...)

That's it for finished projects but I'm working on some other things (and getting great ideas for Christmas presents...) so hopefully I'll have a new post soon.

More miscellany

Wow, Rita's sewing really puts mine to shame, but here it is anyway - my first baby steps toward both learning to sew and beginning a wardrobe recycling regimen with the bags of reject clothes on the floor of my closet. These tote bags made from tank tops are going to get stuffed into my regular everyday handbag so they'll be handy for library books & small grocery store trips.



Here's a little sweater, from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight, for my niece-to-be. It's super-tiny! It's made with Cotton-Ease, which I really enjoyed knitting with.




Back in December I made a bunch of small felted bowls to give as gifts, but I made more sets than I gave away so I finally put the rest to use by nesting them tightly, stuffing the smallest ones & inverting them, then sewing them all together to make pincushions. And in keeping with my original intentions, I gave them to two coworkers who like to craft.

New Shirts

I finally finished a couple of shirts and thought I'd share the final products. They are both from the same pattern: Simplicity 4589. I was a little uncertain about how to read the pattern directions at first, but I figured it out and, obviously, both shirts are very simple.


The brown shirt is pretty great. I already wore it to work and didn't feel like a tool in it. The yellow shirt's arm holes are a little wide and I'm thinking I'll take a small tuck under the arm eventually. I wish this pattern had darts, but I think that might be a step beyond my current abilities...always something to work on.
Since these are my first attempt at sewing clothes, I'm pretty happy. Years of semi-quilting has at least given me the basics on how to use my sewing machine and how to sew things together. I am next going to work on making skirts and I'm also thinking of making a pair of linen pants with really wide legs.

On the knitting front I'm slowly working on these socks:

There has to be a Rita's Rule about knitting socks, but I'm too lazy to write one up right now. I have one finished and I'm working on the second one now. Maybe I'll have it done for the fall. We'll see.

Sewing pieces

I finally have some time to post my finished projects. First, the grocery bag:

It's by no means as stylish or pretty as I imagined, but it gets the job done. I have enough fabric to make another one, but I'm trying to decide if I can make a messenger bag out of it. I want to be able to ride my bike to the grocery store, but I can't carry things back in a bag like this.

I also finally finished a shirt I've been meaning to alter for some time now:

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The elastic around the bottom might work on some 16 year old, but I really wanted it loose and longer like a tunic. I wasn't sure what kind of fabric I should go with because the shirt is so busy. I didn't think a solid piece would work. When I found my final choice, I was fairly pleased. It compliments the red in the shirt and the flowers, but it's muted as well.