Sewing Journal April, 2013

An Easter dress with a very twirly circle skirt and a Peter Pan collar. She told me, "This skirt, it is all I wanted." Ha! I made it with a fabric she picked from Jo-ann's and the collar was a beautiful scrap of pink chambray I got at Purl Soho in NYC that I wished I had yards of. The pattern was Butterick B5877. My sweet old machine hates making button holes so they aren't as pretty as I like, but you can't tell when it's on. This was my first Peter Pan collar and now I want them on everything.

My other project I can share right now (muhaha) is late birthday present for my tiny little Wonder Woman. I surprised her with super hero girl pajamas. I found this fabric at Jo-ann's and traced her American Apparel karate pants. We also made a patch for an old stained blue shirt and it covered and matched perfectly! Then she demonstrated Super Hero Karate.

What have you been sewing or making?

T-shirt dress tutorial

I have seen many versions of this on blogs and pinterest. I have made a few now and this is my process. Using Over and my iphone my 5 year old and I made a quick t-shirt dress and a tutorial.  This is written to someone who has finished seams and knows how to do a gathering stitch. If you don't you can follow the links I provide on how to do that. 

Target-t-shirt- $5 +

1/2 yard leopard floral crinkly silk- 3.50 +

the bonding time and the fact that she chose the fabric and colors

=$8.50 and way more likely to wear it because she was involved.

Wash your fabric and t-shirt to preshrink.

D was in love with this leopard floral fabric. I wouldn't have picked it, but I am learning that if I let my kids pick the fabric, they are WAY more likely to wear the finished product. 

(The shoes have nothing to do with the process, but I know Jessie has them too. Hi, Jessie!)

Ha, I have this pic upside down but already had put the text on. You get the idea. 

Here is a link on how to finish seams.

 Here is a great link for gathering.

 Press each seam and hem as you go and then the whole dress.

Don't sew on the flu

I had sewing projects I REALLY wanted done by this week. 2 way overdue presents. A project for Mike and Easter dresses for my girls.

We have the flu. And it is brutal. So many symptoms. Mike has yet to get it, but the rest of us have.

I tried working on my projects a few 10 minutes installments here and there and I kept making mistakes. Too sick to think straight. Now I have a pile of projects that need redoing or reworking because I sewed with the flu.

So. I thought I show you fabric instead (some already shown on my Instagram). I think a bouquet of fabric sounds as lovely as a bouquet of flowers when you are sick. Mike Cosper, Send me fabric. I mean. I love you.

 A present...some patchwork...vague:)

 3 yards of this to sew for future 4 year old's birthday. Old man PJs and a dress or skirt.

 Spring dresses. I've got plans. 

Gotta get better. XOXO friends. 

Except not. Because you don't want this flu.

How a Batgirl costume was effortless compared to Supergirl.

A few weeks after Halloween, our sweet niece Lydia had a super hero birthday party. 

 I needed a costume for Maggie...

I didn't have it in me to make one like D's Supergirl Costume.

• Enter a Target boy's t-shirt with the Batman logo on it.
• A Target Harijuku Mini tutu skirt (I can't find the direct link, they must be sold out)
• One pair of black tights for legs
• One pair of black tights cut to cover boots 

And afterwards, she might wear that shirt. Twice a week for 3 months.

The birthday girl and her cousins. I will love this picture for so long.

Costume: Supergirl

It is February! And I forgot to write about the Supergirl Halloween costume!

 Photo made with Over!

Here are my super late and quick notes of how I accomplished it.

Using this classic picture, Dorothy asked for it to be exactly the same. "I'll try".

The Leotard. I made a practice fitting using a cheap black t-shirt knit material that I bought on sale. I did this by tracing her favorite swimsuit onto freezer paper. and using this tutorial at No Big Dill and lots of the info I have learned from all these posts on my Sarah's clothes to sew: knit pinterest board 
to sew it all together .

The practice fitting or "muslin", fit well so I kept the pattern which like I said was basically a trace of her suimsuit folded down the middle. (I took pictures of all of these steps, but must have deleted them because they are not on my phone or computer. Sorry!).

I added sleeves by tracing D's favorite long sleeve shirt and attaching it with my favorite sleeve method, A cheater's guide to setting in a sleeve At A Fashionable Stitch.

The "S" for Super... it took a long time. I used fusible interfacing and made a patch out of the knit materials. I have hopes of making my own tutorial on how to do that. Until then google that concept if you want to know how to do it.

The Skirt. Mom's of girls, This is my favorite skirt tutorial for girls. I had made a couple of these all ready last fall so I had done the math and this was the easiest part of the outfit. I used the gold to cover the waist band: Dana Made It: The Circle Skirt. Make one now.

Are you still with me?

So.

Cape. I honestly can't remember how I made the cape. I made three versions out of red lame' and that fabric was gross crinkly fabric for me to work with it kept ripping even though I used the right needle. And I made it the night before and she didn't want to wear it. We were both over the cape and of the three times she wore the costume she would not wear the cape. Luckily her cute wool blend coat looked matched with the rest of the costume when she needed it.

Super Dorothy,  Butterfly Jamison, and Little Red Mags

Boots. There is this tutorial on making super hero boots. I was on my 5th or 6th day working on the costume and I just didn't have the energy, also I was not keen on cutting the tape off her legs, so I just took her red tights I had bought for the tutorial and cut them and stretched them over her boots. It cost about 3 bucks and 30 seconds.

And that sewing friends, that is how I made Supergirl costume and learned how to sew with dancewear/swimsuit knits.  I think the costume cost about $18-20. I could have bought it for about 5 or 10 bucks more through a costume store, but I learned a lot of sewing skills which makes it so worth it.  I enjoy this so much. I know there are people that wouldn't, but this stuff makes me giddy.

Every. single. time.

Every. single. time.

Every time I start on a sewing project (whether it is the beginning or I pick up from where I left off) I plan, design, and sew then I get mad and frustrated and want to throw it away. Every.single.time.

I am up to me ears in projects I need to finish and went to plow through in some free hours where D was playing and M was asleep and it all seemed to go wrong. The logical and organized person would ask why not finish one project, but, all the projects are all the same kind of sewing, so to change thread, machine feet, stitch length etc. It is more logically and organized to piece all the projects, then quilt them all and then bind them all...I think. I'll turn around in a week or 5 and hopefully crank out the 6 quilts I am working on. And hopefully Ezra will get his blanket I started before he was born before he turns 2 and his little brother is born and the other sibling is adopted. THAT is how far behind I am people. What can I say, you all know I had had my plate full with other things.

What I really want to know is how do you creators deal with your frustrations? I love the creative process, and love knowing that sometimes even the greatest musicians, artists and writers want to through it all away before they love it.

Girl's room part 2

I told you a while ago of goals for decorating my girl's bedroom. Dorothy's birthday came and went and there were plenty of other distractions for her at her August birthday and even at Christmas for her to remember that she was suppose to get a quilt from me. It was also a dilemma for me because I couldn't decide if I wanted to make it a toddler bed size or twin size. I knew the toddler bed wouldn't last much longer than a few months or a year before it was passed on to our escape artist, Mags so I hoped to make a twin size. That just meant a lot more work for me. Like twice the work. Luckily the decision was made for me by waiting so long to pick the project up again.

Here is the tutorial I have been using. Here is the quilt that started it all. I started this last June and only worked on it about 2 weeks (10-15 hours maybe) before completely packing it up in preparation for rearranging the house (like trading rooms with other rooms). I unpacked it this past last month and have been working on it quite a bit. Today I finished piecing and trimming the 80th square. I have spent about 40-50 hours on it so far.

I am like a deer in the headlights getting ready to sew all the squares together. I can't possibly pull it off.

The colors of the quilt are what I call bubblegum, cotton candy, cherry, lipstick, sage, and lime. Or something like that. I am loving the color scheme and excited to have an almost complete room.

The Girl's Room

I told my friend, Wren I would post. I know she lovingly judges me when I go for a while without posting.

I have always thought to myself that as long as my health allows I want to make a baby quilt for my girls, and then a twin size quilt that they help pick out fabric for when they are older say 3, 4, or 5. Well this 3rd birthday my little pink loving fashoinista, Dorothy Jean is approaching . She has many milestones on the horizon such as 100% potty training (slowly getting there), preschool this fall, and a big girl bed.

OK so long story, well long (that is how Mike describes my story telling)...

My girls have a blue, red, and green nursery. The original rental bedroom that Dorothy inherited was periwinkle and lime green and apple red was my choice for gender neutral theme. I am now trying to figure out how to phase out some of the blues and add a lot of pink, which is easier now, because they have a neutral off white wall in our house.

So we are making a pink quilt with lots of bits of green, white, and red in it. I found a pattern I love and of course it is stupid hard and very meticulous. I started this process with 2 months until her birthday and tomorrow marks the 1 month until her birthday. We'll see. I made a practice quilt for dear friends to see if I could pull it off. Again, I say, "We'll see".

Practice and baby gift for dear friends

Goals already completed

• Make a practice quilt to make sure I can pull this off (I made a baby quilt for my friends 3rd baby girl, being a 3rd child myself I thought she needed something of her own).
• Get rid of several boxes of stuff we never used for the girls.
• Organize their closet (so much stuff-took me a whole day. Remind me not to let it get so bad ever again).
• Rearrange room. Get Maggie away from all items that she can destroy or harm herself with.
  

Goals for their room

• Get art back up on their walls that Maggie can't rip down when in her crib or on her changing table.
• Make Dorothy's birthday quilt.
• Make a banner or bunting to add more pink to the room
• Make the height chart that I have had in my mind for 3+ years now and fill in the girls heights over the last 3 years

YIKES!!!

This is what it looks like when I am sewing. I promise all the other rooms are clean! I love this house, but I wish that I could sew in another room, one that isn't the main entry to the home, one that is closed off from everything else. This unfortunately is where all our guests walk in. Luckily it only looks this way a small portion of the time. I have gotten much better about putting things away each day instead of after the project is done.

PS Happy Birthday to my good friends Emily Ferguson (yesterday) and Rebecca Dennison (today)! I am blessed by you both!

Have a beautiful day.

Well Folks,

It has begun... my friend Emilee brilliantly designed me a business logo and cards and I am beginning regular sewing time. Sooo, I guess it has begun, this little sewing/crafting business of mine... I'll keep you posted with what I am making and where I am selling. Keep visiting. If you'd like to get my quarterly newsletter, email and I'll make sure you are on the list.

Oh and if you want to hire Mrs. Emilee for design work you should! Just email me and I'll send you her contact info.

So here is my first attempt at crocheting a hat. I prefer crocheting or embroidering while on vacation. I made a circle like you would a in a granny square and then just kept going around and around with a single crochet stitch. Then once I had a tube I skipped each stitch to make the top and close the hat. So here it is on my cheese eating model.

Have I mentioned that yogurt and cheese are her favorite foods?
When I show them to her she screams.

Tomorrow we are off to Vail from Aspen for an Acts 29 retreat. We will be home soon! I'll post as I'm able. If I can't, I'll see you here next week!

What I've been working on.

Gifts
Originally uploaded by findingcontentment

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Our camera is up and running. Here is some stuff I made a couple weeks ago. A few baby gifts (patchwork and embroidered onesies and bibs) and purse for Tera.


I am so very confused. I am trying to post my Flickr photos to this Blog. What I have done in the past is load my pictures to Blogger and Flickr at different times often negleting one account or the other, but that seems like a lot of work so I am trying to do it different. BUT if I post from Flickr to Blogger then I can only have one photo and no editing tools. And if I try to paste the Flickr URL into the Blogger post then the photo doesn't show up. Have I confused you yet? Oy! If you have any advice on this, please let me know!


Sarah

Cultivate Beauty: Homemade baby food

Check out this cool site: Gourmet Baby Food. Some recipes are intimidating/ridiculous but I think I'll try some of them. Dorothy can now run her fingers through her hair, can you tell?


Oh and this is my one hundredth post!

And the first winner is...

...Alice Huff. My Aunt Alice! She won this medium sized shoulder bag that is a version of the beach bag I made for Melinda's show! It is made with two decorator fabrics, lined with interfacing, quilted straps and a magnetic snap.

Thanks for everybody's comments and keep them coming! All who were left in the drawing will go on to the next drawing. You can post as often as you like.

Cultivate Beauty

This is one of my favorite parts of spring, our annual Cultivate Beauty Festival/Kill your TV at my church, Sojourn. The whole idea is to challenge everyone to make space for beauty in our lives by turning off our TVs and cultivating beauty around us. God is creator of all things and he has given us the ability to be creative ourselves. It is a way we can worship God by enjoying in his creation and being creative.

I personally have the goals/inspiration to watch MUCH less TV and spend MUCH MUCH less time on the Internet. I am planning on sewing, gardening, be more creative in playing with Dorothy, and reading more. I am also trying to learn how to use our camera beyond snapping pictures, but really taking care to take nice pictures. Hopefully you'll see evidence of my photography here.


So I challenge you to cultivate beauty, turn your TV or computer for example, just take a break from whatever keeps you bound up and not engaged in creativity.
Draw, write, sing, bake, garden, take pictures, go for a walk, go see a game, write a hand written letter, sew, paint... anything! Just cultivate beauty and thank God for all his beautiful creation.

What I've been working on.

Here is another project I tried recently. I have a lot of t-shirts that are worn or have spots or holes in them. I have been saving them for sewing. I took a shirt from Old Navy. You know those great thick cotton shirts they use to sell before they stated all this "tissue weight" t-shirt nonsense where it is now essential to wear a shirt layered, never can you just wear it by itself. Sigh.

Anyway. I have seen around the web instructions on making kids pants with old t-shirts. I wanted to make a dress. So I traced a dress (the one that Miss Jennie V got her) that D has been wearing lately and added some length and seam allowances and made the bottom flair out. Mom coached me over the phone on how to sew jersey material. She said I had to use a ball-point needle and suggested a zig-zag stitch. I lined it up so the hem of the original shirt was now the hem of the dress. I left the neck and arms raw edges so they raveled kind of cool. I also added the ribbon across the waist. She (obviously) wore it over a white shirt and jeans in this picture.

We took several pictures of Dorothy in the dress and this was the only one that turned out! She kept lifting her feet and marching. Also keep in mind this is the end of a very busy day, so that explains the blur and the random spots on her new dress.

God, I am thankful for:Mike and Dorothy: baby dedication September 07
I heart them so much.

• Remembering our baby dedication last fall. It was a sweet day with family and friends.
  
• Spring weather
  
• Sewing and crafting
• Reconnecting with friends and family
  
• My church
  
• Getting to know people better over this "web" (this means you Ceece :)
• One of Dorothy's three emerging teeth popped through yesterday!

Praise God for all these things.

Since on my dearest friend Carrie's birthday this past year I had a 9 day old baby, I didn't get to make her the purse as I intended. Anyway the one I started once Dorothy was a little older was packed away during our move and is MIA, somewhere in the garage. She'll get it someday. In the meantime... I thrifted a belt that reminded me of Carrie AND it just happened to go with my leftover fabric from the bag from earlier this week. Soo here is her "in the meantime" purse. It is made with two coordinating decorator fabrics, interfacing, and a recycled belt! I am getting the hang of this sewing thing again. I was telling Carrie earlier, I think God is blessing me by helping me keep my sanity through these creative endeavors.

What I've been working on.

I dusted off the sewing machine! My sister-in-law Melinda invited me to make a beach bag for her room in a decorator's show-house up in Indianapolis! I am so excited! As you may know she is an amazing custom painter, muralist and overall artist. Here is what I came up with...


So I am getting encouragement from those around me to sell these little projects. I am working on that. Pray that I would do God's will in this little business venture. I love sewing and creating but I don't want it to become a hindrance to loving my family the best that I can.

Besides sewing and raising up little Dorothy, loving Mike and all, I have been spring cleaning. Also rearranging the house to make it more functional, which reminds me... Look what my mom found and refinished for us. It was caked with layers of paint and look what she did! This is now in our bedroom as my dresser. I love it!

I Thank God For...

God, I thank you for...

my backyard

the yellow sparkles in my husband's and daughter's blue eyes

encouragement from my husband and parents when they see what I have sewed

that cutting out sugar from my diet seems to keep down RA flair ups, a bit

the book Philippians

Wendell Berry's writings

CSA starts soon

a dog who submits to a squealing, clawing 8 month old baby girl

a vacation with family