Made With Love

It has been way too long since I last sewed.  Other than a couple quick stitches, I haven't tackled a project yet this year.  To make matters worse, the new sewing machine Joe got me for Christmas had gone untouched until a couple weekends ago.  

But a couple weeks back I carved out some time and figured out how to thread my new machine, wind a bobbin and insert the bobbin (trickiest part).  And - WOW! - what a difference I can tell while sewing now.  My few practice straight stitches made me a little overzealous, thinking a brand new machine that glides could make up for no practice and much impatience!

I decided to make a toddler blanket for Wren (bigger than her baby blankets so it will cover her cot at school).  I've done my share of blankets, except I've never appliquéd letters before or attempted binding a blanket with trim.  Until now.  Kind of.

For the sake of my feelings, I am choosing not to share any close ups of my poor craftsmanship in the photos.  Because, like most things, as long as you look at it from a distance it looks just fine.  Up close, a little scary.  

But it's a blanket with cute little mermaids on one side, and a mix of pink and pink and white polk-a-dots with her name appliquéd on the other side.  So on Monday Wren has a new blanket, that was made with much love, to bring to school for her cot.

Easy. Breezy. Beautiful???

It's been quite awhile since I've used my sewing machine:( I've been wanting to make something, and it needed to be super simple. Then we got a heat wave and I desperately needed some breezy shirts to wear for playing with the kids. I found this idea on Pinterest.

Old t-shirt. Cut off the sleeves. Sew a row of stitches at the neck and thread some fabric/ribbon through it to make a tank top. Can easily be started and finished in 10 minutes (less if the scissors aren't MIA and the sewing machine is already threaded).

I've turned old race shirts into tank tops as well as our "State Fair" t-shirts (each year Joe gets t's from Boston Scientific for the whole family and if you wear them on a certain day and get spotted you can win prizes).

These are so unbelievably comfortable. Quick to make - I've knocked out a half dozen. And put old t-shirts to a new use. A new hot weather staple!

Crushing

I am majorly crushing on a new line of fabric by Sarah Jane. Originally I stumbled upon Sarah Jane on etsy for her illustrated artwork, book plates, cards, etc. Then, unaware she launched a fabric fabric line, I stumbled upon that at Treadle Yard Goods while fabric shopping for the boy's lunch bags. Notice the rocket ship and polka dot print from Otto's bag:

Now I've been keeping an eye on her stuff and I'm so excited she just announced her 2nd fabric line, Out To Sea. I love anything nautical, but put it in fresh color combinations, throw in sweet mermaids and a pirate girl who goes by the name of Pepper and it's crush.at.first.sight!

And when I say crush, I most definitely mean it. I got butterflies in my stomach reading the sew-y blogs about this new line. My heart was racing with ideas of what I could make. Just looking at the pretty colors and illustrations made me giddy.

And then I read that it won't be available for purchase until August. August!?! I'll be pining over it for the next couple months.

Which is probably for the best because we have plans to host a Pirate play date in the next month and had this fabric been available immediately I would have wanted to somehow whip up my own pirate costumes and accessories in these custom colors. This way I am still incredibly excited about using the black and red Dollar Spot pirate items I found.

But, come August, I hope to woo my crush and turn it into a summer fling...a few weeks of finding the time to create something cute with this collection!

The New Construction Paper & Glue

Every day I experience little moments of "How can I possibly be 33 years old? I mean, that is old! Like when did I get married, have three kids and a sign up for a mortgage old." And then I have just as many moments of feeling like I'm still 22 years old. Because I am still in my young twenties, right? I find time to do my hobbies (barely), I still get carded when I want to buy a 6-pack (most of the time) and I use the swings, slides and monkey bars at the park (not always to chase after my kids).

And then there are those ever fleeting moments that put you squarely back in Kindergarten. The other night, as I packaged up a homemade gift to send my mom for mother's day, I had a very powerful out-of-body experience. I totally felt like I was a young girl because I had just made my mom a gift, by hand, for her special day. Except now my sewing needle and thread had replaced construction paper and glue. And while I was so excited to give it to her, the 33 year old in me was kind of squashing my enthusiasm because the homemade gift I sewed for my mom was a bit wretched.

I made her a little fabric quilted basket and a "mug rug." It was not one of my best works of art...

It was fun to make because it contained a lot of Firsts. First time attempting quilting - a very basic diamond pattern, but it contained batting and stitching, thus I guess it's considered quilting. First time having my needle fall out of my machine while sewing. Literally, the needle just plopped right out of the shank and fell onto the fabric. Needle back in position, I went on sewing only to have the needle break on me for the First and Second times in my extensive sewing career:) First time using bias tape on the edges of a project. Clearly I need to YouTube how I'm supposed to do that. First time sewing while incredibly exhausted and a little tipsy. Maybe that was the real issue.

In any event, back to the out-of-body Kindergarten experience. This was the first time I made something to give someone and doubted whether or not I should actually give it to them. In Kindergarten I never noticed if what I made wasn't beautiful - it always seemed like it was at the time. But after making these two things I was a bit hesitant given the greater amount of imperfection than usual.

Of course I did send it to her. And of course she did say she LOVED it. How could she not... I made that little pocket on the mug rug the perfect size to hold a Milano cookie next to the spot where she'll place her cup of coffee.

A Little Surprised. A Lot Delighted.

I'm down to less than one week before heading back to the office (excuse while I have a minor freak out). And as I look back across the past 6 months off, it's obvious to me that one of my "things" has been sewing on this maternity leave. I so hope that I'll continue to make the time for this little hobby once back in the working world.

Each month I've tried learning different skills and tackling new projects. Most recently I attempted sewing my first zipper. I did so without using the suggested (required?) zipper foot attachment because I was kind of renegade sewing and couldn't instantly figure out how to use it. I was making a little waterproof pouch for Greta as part of her Birthday gift and was short on time so I just gave it a shot without the special notion. It seemed to work, but I will need to take the time soon to learn about the zipper foot.

And then I took on the task of making my first dress - for me, since I've already made Wren a couple. It seemed simple enough. Attach some flow-y fabric to a store-bought tank top, and voila, the "10 Minute Maxi." I hodge-podged a couple different tutorials together and made my own plan for how to sew the dress. I used elastic thread for the first time. I used nearly two yards of fabric for the first time. I used more than 10 minutes to make it.

And I was little surprised and a lot delighted with the outcome!

If I can find tank tops on sale and inexpensive fabric (heck, even if I pay full price for both of those items), this "instant outfit" is inexpensive and original. I've already been searching for new fabrics so I can make another dress for this summer.

Now the question is...who else has a sewing machine, or is going to get one, so we can have our very own modern day quilting bees? Scrap that. No biggie if you don't want to sew; we can still hang out and bee together.

Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady

Over the past few weeks I've been practicing more sewing, and one of the projects I wanted to tackle was a little skirt for Wren. I must say that the tutorial I found for this skirt is remarkably easy and quick to complete. Yet for some reason it took me three tries before I got a skirt that I really liked.

ONCE

Practice skirt. I used some of my old/scrap fabric to try making this for the first time. The skirt ended up being a bit too tiny - kind of fitted on Wren. And the two layers of the seersucker fabric didn't have much flounce in it.

TWICE

I was so excited with this little "Fat Quarter" of fabric I bought that I didn't want to take the time to wash and dry it before making the skirt. I knew this was a bad idea, even though I thought I had accounted for shrinkage by cutting the fabric a few inches bigger than the first one I made. Lone behold, after washing the skirt, it's length was identical to the first one I made. Micro mini. And we're not doing micro mini's in our house. It's cute, but isn't very practical given it won't fit Wren for too long.

THREE TIMES!

Third time was a charm! Off I went to the cute little sewing/crafty store in my neighborhood to pick out some more fabric. A couple weeks had passed since the previous two skirts I made, which means Wren had probably grown another couple inches. So this time I bought a half yard, knowing it would be enough to make a skirt big enough. I ended up using exactly a quarter yard of fabric to make the skirt. It looks cute and I actually think it will fit her til this Fall.

Once I made this skirt I loved it so much I wanted to make another one right away given I had exactly enough fabric to do so. I whipped up a duplicate to give to Wren's friend Tillie. Did you guys have "twins" day at your school? When I was growing up my girl friends and I would pick a day and all dress alike. I'm hoping Wren & Tillie will want to carry on that tradition (Wren & Tillie will be at the same daycare once I go back to work).

While Max was playing with his Playmobil (obsessed. max, and me!) people, Max saw that I had made a second skirt just like Wren's and asked about it. I told him who it was for, etc. He asked if I'd make a skirt for his Playmobil girl, so...

Does It Come With Free Alterations?

"Does it come with free alterations?" asked Joe as I showed him the 1st dress I sewed for Wren.

"No, but all the mistakes I've made on it are included."

I tackled my first true patterned sewing task this past week. I'm still baffled by the instructions, though. After asking engineer Joe, googling it, watching a handful of video tutorials and more, I decided I'd just wing it and attempt to sew the arm holes and sleeves my own way. What was nice about this is that given I tried three different ways to make the four different arm holes, I have learned a little bit more about what works and what doesn't than if I had just followed the instructions. And know one would know the better just by looking at the dresses.

Both of these dresses were just "test" dresses to see if I could figure it out. I used fabric that was a decade old and has been sitting, untouched, in a Rubbermaid bin in the basement. As soon as I completed these and knew I knew what I was doing (at least enough to make a garment that resembles a dress), I was (1) off to the fabric stores, both online and offline :), and (2) surfing for countless free sewing patterns/tutorials. Essentially what I did was replace my Pinning of random crafty ideas to bookmarking a whole hell of a lot of sewing blogs/patterns. My reading list and bookmarks are nearly full with all the things I want to make.

So here she is...Wren enjoying (she won't take her dresses out of her mouth) wearing her first dresses made by mom! It's so cheesy, but I already have visions of my first granddaughter wearing this little dress. Or shirt. As Auntie Katie pointed out... I really need to make the next ones quite a bit longer so they are actually a dress and can be worn with tights instead of jeans.

Mommy & Me. Yeah, We're Crafty!

I'm not one to dress my kids in matching outfits (um...getting them dressed in any clothes is a good 1st step most days), let alone myself and my kids in "mommy & me" get-ups. And then again, I never say never. Our matching doily tank top and onesie might be the closest I get to it, and I think it's just about right for me and Wren!

Joe's mom gave me a lot of her late Great Aunt Marie's (Joe's grandma's sister-in-law) crocheted items over Christmas. I went through the bag and found a few treasures to use, a few more to repurpose and a few others I couldn't think of what to do with, including these small "snowflake" doilies. I loved them, but didn't want them to become clutter so was going to give them back. Joe seemed surprised and asked if I was sure I couldn't think of something to do with them. As luck would have it, a day later I came across this idea for a doily t-shirt.

I met Great Aunt Marie just a few times, and only during the last couple years of her life while she was in a home. There aren't a lot of people that I meet that I would say their "eyes smiled," but she was one of them. She had a sound mind but a worn out body. I could tell she lived a good life and cared deeply about her family. She was quiet, but I sensed she had great hopes for Joe (& by nature of our long-term relationship), also for me and our future family that she surely knew would come to life after she was gone.

Given Wren is growing like a weed, this special onesie won't fit her much longer. But it makes me happy to have found such a pretty and special way to showcase the snowflake doilies. And I'll make sure to preserve Wren's onesie and Aunt Marie's talent and spirit in a 1st Year memory quilt, just like I had made for Otto and Max.