The First Painted Shirt

So the title is not technically accurate!  My oldest painted her design on a piece of cotton and we then appliqued it to the sweatshirt.  She is very excited about the way it turned out and I am so proud of her!  I'm going to have to see if I can get a better detail shot later.

Stitch Craft Create

I picked up the premier issue of the new magazine Stitch Craft Create. I have been following them on FB and twitter for a couple of months and waiting until I could pick this up. I was not disappointed at all! It is beautiful with craft ideas that are suitable for beginners and experts. I also love that they have projects and downloadables on their website. One of the projects is a fabric coffee cozy. I love to make felt coffee cozies so I had to try this one too! I modified mine to use 2 vintage buttons so that the cozy is truly reversible. I need to tweak my construction process a bit but otherwise, I am very pleased!

And then the other side...

Thank you Stitch Craft and Create!  I'm looking forward to watching you grow!



One last day of crafting.

Only one thing to show today so far.  My youngest DD will be a clown this year at AAA and we have been planning her costume for some time now.  Shortly after school started, the teacher asked each student about what their plans were for their costume. DD said she wanted to be a button clown.  The teacher then told her about a style of dress in the UK where the clothing is covered in buttons.  I thought she meant something during the victorian period but after researching we found this.

These people are members of the Pearlies and the women are queens and the men are kings.  You can read about the Pearlies on Wikipedia.  The group has quite the history.

Back to the clown costume...  We could not use a Pearly type costume for clowns as they are not colorful enough!  The AAA clowns are known for bright shiny colors with black and white accents.  But in an homage to the Pearlies, I made a headband for DD today.

I used  wool blend felt (2" x 9") and sewed 35 white buttons onto it.  Then I used a blanket stitch to attach the back to one side.  Before sewing the other side together, I inserted a narrow black elastic headband.  When DD tried it on, the ends seemed to be too wide as they stopped well above her ears.  I had her remove it and I found that I could taper the ends by folding them over each other towards the middle.

Next time, I would cut the tapers into the felt and use the blanket stitch so as not to have the extra fabric on the ends.  But this way does still work!



You can get a glimpse of my photography setup in this photo! 

And this one is a bit blurry but it does show how well it spans the head.

Rule #6

When photographing your craft, finished or not, light matters!  Check out my headband post below and just see the differences in the colors and vibrancy of the ribbon!

And another project designed and created tonight!

The same DD has been asking for ribbons for headbands lately.  I knew I had a stash of beautiful ribbons that I found in Nashville a couple of years ago.  (Textile Fabrics is fabulous for trims!!!)  Then I saw a tutorial a day or so ago on making ribbons into headbands.  The tutorial I saw did not do it quite this way but it was very similar.  I also didn't pay attention to the part that said to keep your width  to two inches or less.  Oooops!

This ribbon is 2.5 inches wide (maybe a little less) but the colors are so vibrant!  When DD saw this, it became the headband.  So we chose a wool blend felt and lined the ribbon with that as the back of the ribbon was lots of threads from the weaving of the design.  Is there a term for that type of ribbon?

I should also note that I am an impatient crafter and took photos before I actually finished the ends and trimmed the threads.  What can I say?  I couldn't wait to share it!

DD complained about modeling for me saying that her hair wasn't right but she is beautiful still.  The light in the hallway where we took the photos does not do justice to the colors though.  That's why I showed the detail photos first!

So thankful for a long weekend! Crafting!!!

Since school started there has not been much time to make new things.  But finally, the long weekend has arrived and I made something tonight!

This is a zippered pouch for my oldest DD.  I fell in love with this fabric but found that I didn't purchase enough to be able to match the design exactly on the front and back.  Another crafting lesson!

The inside may be my favorite part this time.  DD is a classical singer and we loved this fabric when we spotted it at Hancock Fabrics.

It has script names of most of the famous classical composers.  I added two strips on one side to make credit card sized pockets for her too.

I think she loves it as much as I loved making it!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation!

With the kids going back to school tomorrow, I thought it might be appropriate to review my summer crafting.  I am surprised by how much actually got done.  I do not have pictures of everything so I need to remedy that!  This has certainly been one of my favorite tools this summer!

Singer, a photo by theresplendentbeauty on Flickr.

I made a skirt for my younder DD which is chronicled here.  This helped me develop some ruffling skills which will be important going into the fall season.  Next I made a pleated skirt for my older DD.  I do not have a picture or blog post about this one but will try to rectify later.  Again, pleating skills may be necessary for this fall.

I took a break from sewing and crocheted three hats for Uganda as part of a mission project at my church.  These were fun to do and I hope to make another 3 or 4 later this fall.  It turned into a family affair and my aunt joined in the project too.



I found a great tutorial for Tunisian crochet and taught myself how to do that!  It turned out to be simple and fun.  It just required a special crochet hook.  It was quick to do too.  I blogged it here.

I took a break from crocheting and made some fun jewelry for the girls which is blogged here.  These were so fun to make!  I made another one this past weekend for my youngest DD to give as a birthday present.

I discovered that my die cut machine (lever type) would actually cut fabric this summer.  I put this information into practice to make this!  I need to explore this idea further.

Then somewhere in the midst of the other things, I found my old quilting project and finished up an applique square.  My bad quilt flashback was blogged here.  You never know when that applique skill might come in handy.

Then I started back to sewing with phone covers.  These things are so fun to make!  I blogged about them here and here.

Then, because I needed the skill, I made a zipper case for my youngest DD.  I need to photograph it for the blog still.  I am going to make one (hopefully tonight) for my oldest DD.   Putting in zippers has been a sticking point for me when sewing but no more!  Not that 2 zippers makes me an expert in any way, shape or form!

When I look back at this list, I am amazed!  I am so glad that I have blogged most of it to help me remember so much of what has been done!  I don't think I have ever gotten so much done in a summer!
I will be armed with all kinds of new sewing skills for this fall!  Why is that so important?  I can answer that easily!  My youngest DD should be a clown this year (if auditions go well!) and the costumes are so (and sew!) important.  In years past, I have relied on friends to help.  This year, one of them is moving to Phoenix for at least a year.  The move is our loss and Phoenix's gain.  There are others who will step up and help but I really want to try to do as much of it as I can myself.

So what's next?  Well besides the zipper case, I have an apron in the works, more phone covers planned and some more quilting to do with a more modern color scheme.  I cannot wait!