mending

Two weeks ago, my (one and only) fitting pair of maternity jeans started to slowly rip right next to the back pocket. It looked totally fine when they were off me, but the rip was pretty obvious when they were on me. I had hoped to make it to capri-pants season without having to purchase another pair of jeans, but in this case - with my unmentionables peeking through - I went and bought a new pair.
Once again properly attired, I started to think about what I'd do with the old pair. I remembered seeing a tutorial on messy jean-patching on some blog somewhere (of course I can't find the link now) and figured I'd give it a try. Basically, you sew a patch behind the rip and sew some crazy zig-zags to attach it. Messy and fun.

inside

outside

on my backside

It was quick and easy AND it gave my pants new life! I'm pretty pleased with myself. I now sort of wish I had used a differently-colored thread so the mending would be more visible. Maybe next time...

crafties

I've been doing some knitting. This cap (still needs to have the ends woven in and ties added, but let's call it finished just for now) was one of those troubled projects... first, I had to do all sorts of fancy math to get the gauge right. Then, I made a mistake and decided to start over (but that happened all of 15 rows into it, so it wasn't such a grave loss). Then I made another mistake later that required some really focused thinking to figure out how to repair. Then I took the whole project to San Diego with me, only to discover that one of my double-pointed needles was missing. Once I found that needle (after some semi-desperate searching and frantic emailing pleading with people to look for my needle at their houses), I finished the rest of the hat without incident. Yay!
Except - that's supposed to be sized for a 6-months-old and it's almost big enough for my 3-year-old to wear.
I like the pattern so much, however, that I've decided to keep trying to recreate it smaller. Knitting goes well with watching Downton Abbey, so I've been rather productive on that front - I think the one I started this weekend will be a good newborn size.

A friend of mine is having a second baby - a baby doctors told her she would probably never have, which... yay! For her baby shower, I decided to get a little something off the registry and add in a few little handmade things. I always have the compulsion to give something I made, but I always doubt that it's "good enough." It's kind of silly - people are usually impressed (or pretend really well that they are) when I give them something I made... I should really get over it.
So - I made a cute little owl onesie (the shower had an owl theme, and there were tons of owly items on the registry, so I decided to go with it). I couldn't find cute owl fabric to sew something from, so I bought an iron-on transfer instead and ironed it onto a onesie. To go with that, I made a cute little pair of shorts out of some knit fabric I had in my stash. To top it off, I added a teeny pilot cap I knitted a while ago. It's mercerized cotton yarn (fair trade organic, blah blah blah), so it should be just right for a California spring baby - not too hot. Cute, no?!

This is crafting-unrelated, but cute. My most recent photo trick is to tell Noah that he CANNOT be in the photo. "NO!" I tell him. "Go over there! You can't be in this picture! What... NOAH! Get out of my way!" I get the best photos of mischievous giggles this way.

catching up, as usual

There's been quite a bit of crafting going on around here!
My mom and sister were here to visit, which helped me get unstuck with some of the projects I'd been working (or rather, NOT working) on for a while and with projects I'd been thinking about for a while.
During one of our fabric-shopping outings, Noah fell in love with a fat quarter, which of course meant I had to buy it for him. He called it "my mice" and carried it around and was quite reluctant to give it up so I could wash it. Wash it I did, and then I was even allowed to make him a pencil roll out of it:

During a different fabric-shopping outing, I fell in love with these chickens. Bought them, brought them home, made a table runner out of them. And now they make me happy every day.

Next up, I made a crayon roll that I'd promised a friend a while ago. A long while.

And finally, for a sewing quickie one afternoon last weekend, I made boot shapers (or boot pillows, as I like to call them). The idea for them popped up somewhere in my feed reader, but I can't remember where... at any rate, my boots went from sad and droopy to happy and perky:

And here are the magical pillows:

I simply measured my boots, added half an inch all around, cut the pieces out of a fat quarter, sewed them together, stuffed them, and sewed them shut. It took less than an hour and was very satisfying.

gifty

We were invited to a special princess birthday party today. My initial plan had been to design some gift wrap with Noah - with crayons or paint or stencils or stamps etc. - but I ran out of time because the perfect gift I had envisioned turned out to be harder to find than anticipated. When I did find it, it was packaged in a plastic bucket, which I didn't really want to have to end up having to wrap with paper.
Instead, I quickly sewed up a sack with some fabric I had laying around, added a bow, and voila!

actually finished something!

I had some time to sew today, and actually finished (!) not one but two projects!
Before:

warm but ugly and polyestery

After:

penguiny and flannelly, with a bonus velcro closure

See: super-cute!

I also managed to finish a coffee cup sleeve I promised a friend almost a year ago. Ahem. Well, at least it's done now, right?! Right.

cute, no?!

pencil roll

I've been admiring the pencil rolls Lori creates, so when we were invited to a third birthday party, I immediately thought "PENCIL ROLL TIME!" (As an unrelated aside, we've been invited to three weddings this Summer, which excites me because it gives me an excuse to make a tie and vest for my boy. Wheeee!)
I used my trusty friend google to find a tutorial (this one), agonized over fabric choices for a good hour, and finally set to work.
Tadaaaa:


The birthday girl herself was a little pink-glitter-princess-blinded by her other gifts, but her mom was over the moon and very impressed with me for gifting something handmade. WIN! :)

good news, bad news

ring sling
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

Good news:
The ring sling has been completed! I used Amy Butler fabric (bought on Etsy) and this pattern. The rings are from slingrings.com. I had some minor issues with the smaller pleating, but overall, this was an easy-peasy project, which made it ever so much more fun to work on.

I got inspired looking at chickpea sewing's sidebar and promptly followed two of her super-easy tutorials. Voila: two cloth diapers turned burp cloths and a reversible bib to go with either of them.
(I slightly altered the bib pattern: instead of cotton fabric and terry cloth, I used cotton quilt batting and two layers of cotton fabric, making the whole shebang reversible. Also, I had bought flat diapers, not prefolded ones, so I had to add the folding, which wasn't all that tricky. Next time, I'll buy the prefold diapers for this project because the seams of the diapers weren't all that straight, which made the folding look sort of messy.)

Bad news:
Right after finishing these projects, MY SEWING MACHINE BROKE. I took it to the shop, where they told me that it would take up to a week and a half to fix, and that they would probably need to order a part, which puts the repair cost in the $200 range. *sigh* I was pretty literally distraught for the rest of the day - those lovely pregnant hormones make "dealing with stuff" NOT EASY.
Now I will most likely have a baby before I'll have my machine back. Which? *sigh* but also YAY! BABY!

finished project

I finally made a pillow case for my enormous pregnant-lady body pillow. I was pretty sloppy and fast, but it turned out great. I'll be snuggly tonight! :)

quickie sewing

outfit for Hannah
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

I made this little outfit for Hannah (since the dress I made her won't fit for another year or so). The denim was left over from my skirt (which is also done - pictures to come soon) and the red-and-white fabric is some of that delicious Alexander Henry stuff I scored on sale at JoAnne's a while back. The pattern is pretty basic and uncomplicated (yessss!). It's out of print, but they have a very similar one in the Easy stich'n'save line.
I still have to add elastic into the pants' waist (I'm out - how lame!), so I'll have to go to JoAnne's, and you know how much I hate that... ;) (99cent fat quarters, here I come!). I love me a quick and easy project!

gift for baby Landon

gift for baby Landon
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

And here's what I was sewing last night! Inspired by all the little outfits Lera has been making for Sawyer...
I didn't realize, of course, that my fabric was directional, which made the whole thing a bit more fabric-consuming than expected (I just so had enough fabric).
Now, people, I need y'all to look at the bib close-up picture on flickr and tell me if there's a way to make the bias tape hug corners better. I'm frustrated with how many folds I had to sew into the bias tape, but I didn't have the time (or energy) to undo and try again or to undo and go without bias tape.
I had initially planned to make the bib with the animal fabric on the front and a big appliqued "L" on it, but then I ran into fabric-matching issues, and then I realized that it would be too much (way too much, as a matter of fact) to have the kid wear the animal pants and the bib at the same time (dizzying!)
Allrighty. I'm rambling. I better go make those cookies and cupcakes and whatnot. See you on the flip-flop!

getting ready to shower

getting ready to shower
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

not myself, a mom and dad! I'm helping put together a co-ed baby shower today (must leave house at noon). Of course, I had the craziest day ever yesterday with errands that needed to be run (one of which was to JoAnne's, where HOLD ME! fat quarters are 99cents (until July 21st, FYI) and CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! I only bought one. Eins. Uno. Un. One. I think I might need medical attention.
Anyways. I had made this grand plan the night before. I wrote out what I needed to do and which order to do it in and how much time it should take. Cute, huh? Of course, when I came home from running all the crazy errands (paper muffin cups for baby shower with animal theme - WAY TOO SPECIFIC), I was running about two hours behind schedule.
And then the phone rang, and when I got off, I was running four (yes, FOUR) hours behind schedule. Which was ABSOLUTLEY WORTH IT, because finally FINALLY I connected with my friend Marion (aka god-baby-mama) after playing phone tag for weeks).
So, we went for slightly healthy-ish fast food for dinner and I sewed the baby gift (which I had bought a pattern for at JoAnne's the same day because I LIKE TO PREPARE WAAAAAY AHEAD OF TIME) until 10:30pm (which isn't bad at all).
Now all I need to do this morning is this:
1. Bake animal shape cookies.
2. Decorate animal cookies with cute little faces and tails and stuff.
3. Make chocolatey chocolate muffins.
4. Frost and decorate chocolatey chocolate muffins with animal cookies.
5. Make and print out game sheets for "make as many baby names as possible with the letters of mom and dad's names" game.
6. Tape or glue strips of paper around baby food jars to disguise them for taste testing game.
7. Make up game sheets for taste testing game.
8. Make baby shower card (d'you know how expensive cards are at Target? I didn't have time to go to YET ANOTHER store...)
9. eat something
10. shower
11. get directions
12. leave the house ON TIME.

sewing up a storm

dining room curtain
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

I went to JoAnn's on Tuesday with a long list of things I needed. Of course, they were out of red ric-rac (how could they?!!), but I did find all the other stuff on my list.
I bought an extra two yards of the living room curtain fabric and sat down and sewed this curtain for the dining room on Wednesday. The accomplishment gave me the extra push I needed to finally take down, hem, and put back up (and better than before) the living room curtain. Pictures on flickr, as usual.
Now if only I could get The Husband to hang the shelves over the TV, my living room could look... FINISHED. Only nine months after moving in. YAY!!!

yet another WIP

IMG_0060
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

I'm sewing a denim skirt. I've had the pattern and the denim since March (I think - a long time, at any rate). Of course, I had to go buy a zipper once I'd cut out the pieces. What can I say - I like to be prepared! ;)

WIP

working
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

I had a little date with Alexander Henry on Friday (okay... not literally). I ended up not using the pale yellow bias tape you see in the picture. Instead, I made my own with some much brighter yellow fabric I had in my scrap drawer (yay! MY SCRAP DRAWER!).
Now all that's separating me from my cute, summery tablecloth is a trip to JoAnne's for some more red and white ric-rac.

Help!

I'm working on an apron for my friend's daughter. She (the daughter, not the friend) is 5 years old and loves all things pink. We decided on this colaboration because my friend recently had her 4th baby (who is by all accounts extremely adorable) and thus has no time to sew, and because I couldn't stand idly by while someone I know buys a child's apron from a ritzy store (which didn't stop me from buying two birds - BIRDS, of all things, but let's talk about that some other time, hmkay?).
Here's the apron I talked her out of buying:

Now this is my problem. We discussed adding a cute design on the front of the apron, and I thought it would be really cute to have flowers "growing out of" the pocket. Since I needed something playful and inspiring to do today, I worked on the design of the flowers. Now I have too many ideas.

All buttons? Ric-rac and buttons? Fabric and buttons? Fabric, ric-rac, and buttons? HELP ME!!!
There will be three flowers (the fourth one here is only representing the 4th possible design). You have to (HAVE TO!) vote on the following:
1. design
2. petal colors (do we like the green-yellow?)
3. center color (if you choose the design with the button center)
FYI: My friend chose the fabrics. The pocket will be pink (just like the trim you see in the first picture and the center of the fabric center flowers). I wouldn't be devastated if I didn't have to sew on three million buttons. Just sayin'.
Here are your contestants:
ALL BUTTONS

BUTTONS & RIC-RAC

BUTTONS & FABRIC

BUTTONS, FABRIC, RIC-RAC

Feel free to leave the longest comments, ever.

Zip Quilt Kit

Mail
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
Melissa over at Under Construction has come up with a wonderful little doll quilt kit, designed for people who have never quilted (or sewn) before but would like to give it a try. I was one of the lucky "guinea pigs" to get to try out her pattern.
It was a fun, quick sew - exactly what I needed to unclog my creative flow (there have just been too many large projects lately).


Zip quilt kit
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
Doesn't she have a great eye for colors? I would have never put the torquoise/blue with those greens, but it totally works!


doll quilt layout
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
I decided on a random layout, and it took me forever to make it look random. Ironic.


tying the doll quilt
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
I had never tied a quilt before, and Melissa's instuctions worked beautifully.


doll quilt done!
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
All done!


doll quilt in use
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.
Amy the bear would like to thank Melissa. Finally, she has a lovey and doesn't need to be afraid of the dark anymore.

catch-up

I've been having quite the week with allergies and job-related drama and PMSing, but am happy to report that I'm feeling much better today, and that I've gotten quite some crafting done. See for yourselves:

item #1: Purple Dress

I finished the pants and the hat. I decided to improve the pattern by making the hat reversible, which turned out a wee bit crumply, but mostly fine and definitely reversible.


I'm calling the whole thing a success!

item #2: Knitting
I needed something to do while watching a movie last week, so I dove into my yarn stash and taught myself to cable from this book. I had somehow thought that cable-ing was extremely difficult and only to be attempted by knitting super-heroes, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was and by how well I did with it.

The yarn was an inherited left-over, so the one ball I got was all there was. The pattern I was working with is for a jacket, and since I didn't want to end up with a one-sleeved jacket or anything similarly embarrassing and frustrating, I decided to turn this first attempt into a little clutch purse, lined with satin or some other fun fabric.
Then I moved on and bought this lovely green cotton ease, which I'm very much in love with even though it's only 50% cotton. It won me over with its pretty colors and soft softness. I'm making this jacket. Cute, huh?!


It's turning out well, isn't it?!

item #3: Quilting
I have a friend who had her second baby on Tuesday. I'm making dinner for them next Sunday, so this should be done by then. So far, the progress is promising...

It's going to be a nursery wall hanging, and my plan is to quilt the two boys' names into it. Thankfully, they're both short names. :)
(individual star pictures on flickr)

item #4: boldly going to where I've never gone before
I'm getting an application for a booth at the annual local craft fair this October. Booths run upwards of $150.- and I don't have anything to sell (at this point). But I made the call!

March/April Tie One On - finished!

March/April Tie one on
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.

I've mentioned before how unsatisfying this project was. The most frustrating part was trying to take a picture of me wearing the apron. I tried different outfits, different angles, different kinds of lighting, different photographers, indoors, outdoors - nothing worked. And so I give you this mosaic of close-ups instead.
Here's to hoping the next apron won't be such a challenge!

all done!

all done!
Originally uploaded by girlwithfabric.

Here's the promised picture of the dress - all done. Click on the picture to make your way to flickr to see a close-up view of the back.