Another Owl Cell Phone Case

I made another owl cell phone case for Mom for Christmas. Same deal...wool felt and fabric scraps. One of these days, perhaps I will make one for myself. 

Simplicity 2365

For a while now my daughter has been asking for matching outfits. I put it off for a while, but recently found this fabric at my favorite Lancaster spot, Obi's. It was only $3.69 a yard and I love it! I bought about 5 yards thinking we could have matching dresses. However, we are both in need of summer shirts so I decided to head in that direction. (I still have enough left to make other things anyway) I haven't really delved much into making shirts, but let me tell you, I am a new fan! It is hard to find shirts that are a)well fitting, b)of decent quality, and c)cute. The pattern is actually for a shirt with sleeves, but I left them off. Who needs them anyway! :) I finished the arm holes with bias. I did tweak the pattern a bit, taking in the sides above my hips, and sloping the shoulders a little more. I love the shirt, except next time I think I will extend the tucks down a few more inches to keep it from poofing out in the front. The buttons are some vintage beauties I got at a yard sale for dirt cheap! Matching pictures to come...

Yard Sale Haul!

Mom called this morning to say she found a promising yard sale. I threw the kids in the car and headed off. Yes, it was promising indeed! I found boxes upon boxes of vintage buttons. Each box has about 10 cards of buttons.

Two and a half yards of this faux shantung fabric which is prettier in person.

A big box of safety pins and miscellaneous sewing things. 

Five awesome vintage patterns of 60's vintage, several appliques, three packages of trim, a few zippers, a whole box of new packages of needles, several bags of wooden wheels and pegs, and a partridge in a pear tree.

All for the low, low price of $5.50, TOTAL!!! How's that for awesome!? 

Huckle Cat

Huckle is finished! Here are the stats, if you are a sewing geek. :) I drafted the pattern myself using my trusty roll of medical tissue, you know...the stuff they cover the exam tables with. Its awesome for making or tracing patterns. For this project, I used wool felt which makes a world of difference! It is so nice to cut and sew with, and doesn't seem like it will pill like Lowly already is. His shirt is made from an old pair of jeans. The pants are corduroy and I made them using an infant bloomers pattern as a base. I basically only used the crotch curve from the pattern. Otherwise, they had to be made more narrow, longer, and a lot lower in the rise. In lieu of stuffing, I bought a $2.50 pillow from Walmart and cut it open. If you have checked the price of stuffing lately, you will know that this is a lot cheaper. For the face details, I used a dry brush with yellow, orange and red fabric paint.The facial features are stitched on with black thread, as I wanted to replicate the idea that he is a drawing from a book. I also used exposed seams with black thread for the arms and legs. I also made sure that his clothes are permanently attached so they don't get lost! :)

DIY Lowly Worm Doll

The Making of Lowly Worm

Ready to conquer the world, or at least Busytown!

My son loves Richard Scarry books, especially Lowly Worm and Huckle. I am going to make him Lowly and Huckle for Christmas. I've got one down, one to go. Lowly is made from felt (note to self: next time use wool felt) and various scrap materials. My husband contributed a length of electrical wiring (something pretty thick...it has three copper wires inside a plastic sheath) to make Lowly pose-able. Of course, letting a two year old run around with electrical wiring is not exactly advisable so I had to make it safe. (Well, the big cheeses somewhere would probably declare him unsafe for anyone under the age of 21, but I don't really care. I declare him kid-friendly!) I used duct tape to cover the ends of the wire and then sewed a little channel into a chunk of repurposed fleece blanket. After putting the cable in there, I rolled the fleece up very tightly and whip-stitched it closed. After scalping some stuffing from my son's dilapidated stick horse (shhh...don't tell him!!!) to stuff Lowly's foot, I carefully slid the fleece thingamajig into the felt body. I added some more stuffing for his head, embroidered his mouth and sewed on vintage buttons for his eyes. His hat is felt and complete with a feather from our very own chickens!

Buttercup Bag: Chicken Edition

This bag was made from the Made By Rae Buttercup Bag pattern (which is free!). A few weeks ago, Mom and I went to an AWESOME fabric store in Lancaster County. It is called Obi's General Store, and the place is stacked to the ceiling (literally) with fabric. It is really quite overwhelming, and I know that despite our time spent there, I probably only saw a fraction of the fabric they had. While there, I bought several pieces of fabric, including this chicken print. Now that I have chickens (!!), I should have something with chicken fabric, right?! I figured I would make myself a cute apron, but plans changed and I made a purse instead. This purse is super-easy to sew up. I added rick-rack for a little punch, and also because I can't find my red piping. No doubt it is off somewhere being used by my children to rig up a squirrel trap or something. I left out the small interior pocket, and added a divider instead. The buttons are from my Grandma Heppner's stash.

Simplicity 2828: I'm In Love!

Several months ago, I bought a girls dress pattern, Simplicity 2828. I've had it in my to-do list ever since. My goal for the next month or two is to sew through my stash! I would like to use up what I have so I can have a little more space. The fabric for this dress was from the clearance section at JoAnns, which I've had also for several months. It was about $1.50 a yard. The trim was also from my stash...two sizes of yellow rick rack (!) and some vintage yellow buttons. The buttons are square shaped and have a little braided border around them. The pattern is awesome!! If you are a beginning sewer, this pattern would be great. Because of the pleats in front and back, there is no gathering to do. The whole pattern is a total of three pieces (there are also 'Designer Additions' you can add too if you're feeling crazy). The pattern calls for a zipper but I did buttons instead, only because I love buttons and I wanted to add a little extra yellow to the dress. Even though my daughter is a size 3T, I made the 5T size. It worked perfectly, because it will be long enough for a while, but the arm holes are not too baggy and the top fits nice. The lining is from a sheet I found at the thrift store a while ago. When it was all said and done, I had used up several things from my stash, and my daughter ended up with a new dress. I'm already working on a second one....

The Skirt That Does Not Love Me Back

I love this skirt. Alas, it does not love me back. This is the second time I made this pattern, and I **thought** I had a nice idea of what I would do better. Ha! I added a bit to give it a little more ease in the back, or at least I thought I did. In all honesty, I have no idea what happened. Somehow the same skirt, from the same pattern, turned out not to fit me and I really don't know where I went wrong. I am going to keep it around in hopes that it will work out. The fabric is from the fabulous yard sale we hit a few summers ago. A lady was selling boxes of brand new curtains that she had from her job. (She would photograph them for catalogs) She was selling them really cheap (like a buck or two each). This one is a purplish color...hard to describe and even harder to photograph realistically. It is a nice sturdy weight. The top of the curtain had a whole row of wooden toggle buttons that I cut off and saved for another project. The skirt buttons are vintage shell buttons from the stash that my Grandma and Aunt Phylis so generously gave me last spring. Seriously, I have such an obsession with buttons I could plan whole projects around them! I think a project like this is in my future.

Skirt Simplicity 2451

Here is a skirt I made to try out the pattern. I am happy with the way it turned out, although I will change a few things next time. I have to say, sizing of patterns drives me nuts!! So inconsistent!!! Glad I got that off my chest. This skirt ran a little small and I had to tweak a few seams. Overall, I am happy with it. I used vintage buttons from Grandma's resale shop (the awesome-est...both the Grandma and the resale shop!) The fabric was again, a nice quilter's cotton from the clearance sections: $2/yard! I am planning on making this again soon.

A Shirt For My Girl

I just finished this shirt for my daughter. She is happy about it, which means I am happy about it too. I think I will be making more of these, with a few variations. The fabric was a nice 'quilters cotton' that I found on the clearance shelf at JoAnns. The buttons are some older ones I had in my stash. Each time I find the perfect buttons for a project in my stash, I feel justified in my button habit. :)

Catastrophe Averted

It seems that every time I make my daughter a cute dress or two, she outgrows them in no time. Which, quite frankly, is not the worst thing in the world. Sewing for a little girl is pretty darn fun! I am currently working on a winter-ish dress for her, and I got it in my head that she just had to have a fur cape to go with it. Now I don't really know my arse from my elbow when it comes to fashion trends, so I thought it was quite funny that I started to see these capes everywhere after I started making this one. The thing is, I have never sewn with fake fur. In fact, I have a prejudice against most fake fur. It usually looks cheesy, and, well....fake. I decided, however, to take the plunge and purchase myself some faux fur. I waffled for a while in the aisle of the fabric store, knowing that it could very well end up a catastrophe. The last thing I want is for my beautiful blond daughter to walk around looking like she stole the hide off a llama! To make the cape, I busted out my old-school compass and a big sheet of scrap paper. I drew up a simple pattern, and went from there. In process

The lining is from the dress that keeps on giving! It closes with a frog closure. The brooch is made from a technique I have seen all over the web lately. I have wanted to try it for some time and finally found the chance! Basically, you cut out circles of synthetic material (like polyester) and singe the edges. Keep water handy because the fabric is pretty flammable. I kept waiting for my husband to come in and ask me what in the world I was doing. :) The button in the center is a vintage button my Grandma found at her awesome second hand shop.

Button Monogram Pillow

After seeing a similar idea on Etsy, I made this button monogram pillow for Mom. I chose a font I liked and printed the 'C' out in the appropriate size. I traced the letter onto linen and sewed on vintage buttons to fill the space.