Silent Sunday- Upcycled Slippers

For Gwennie, for school.

First Day of school skirt

On Tuesday we went shopping. Rhayn wanted a skirt for the first day of school. She saw lots of them that she liked. But they were all too short. She's 10, she's not 17. She wanted a Catholic school girl, plaid skirt. She tried on a few others that weren't plaid, but we never found any that she loved and I was ok with.
After quite a few stores I told her that we could sew one for her easily. I had quite a bit of fabric for her to choose from but she didn't love any of it.
Then I thought of a dress I had in the "giveaway bin". I brought that down and asked her if she liked it and if so I showed her how we could modify it, from a dress to a top and skirt. She really liked that idea.
We figured out the length of the skirt and cut it. Then I took a gray t-shirt that I didn't wear any more and sewed a yoga-style waistband. The waistband didn't hold up the skirt and I had to add elastic.
But she is quite pleased with the outcome and it goes nicely with one of the tops she picked out.

You will have to wait for the first day of school for a picture of the outfit.

Semi-silent Sunday

Apparently I have been busy this week. I have wanted to sit down and post something, there is just never time.I did manage to make a costume for Rhayn today. She is going to be Muninn, Odin's memory in raven form. In 4th grade at her school they have studied Norse mythology. (Remember last year it was the Old Testament.)

Happy December- Doll

I have been meaning to take pictures of a doll I made for the school store. I finally finished his sweater today. You may recognize his sweater, it was made from left overs from the sweater purse I made. His white t-shirt is from the sleeves of one of Will's old undershirts. While his jeans were once a pair of Rhayn's that ripped and became shorts.I am really pleased with how he turned out and I would love to keep him. But I know I can easily make another and he will sell for about $80.

What I should be doing...

I feel inspired to sew and create, but this lingering cold (and a migraine on top of it) is keeping me down today. I want to make a bunch more of the Dala horse ornaments that I made for the Winter Faire. I cut them out but haven't started embroidering them. I also have fabric waiting for a few Christmas gifts, including some fleece Gwennie helped me pick out today to make pajama pants for the girls (and myself I hope).

But instead of doing any of those things, I have been sitting here looking at some of my favorite inspirational blogs and shivering. I am looking at our dining room table which has temporarily become a craft station (covered in glitter and mess).

I have pictures to take of some things I have created lately. I have Christmas cards to get into the mail, because I finally picked them up at Costco today. I have laundry to do, as usual, but its cold and that means I probably won't use the clothesline. However it should be in the upper 60s tomorrow so I will do it then.

Oh, and Gwennie has a fever along with her stuffed up nose and the cold. Now its time for Rhayn to pick up the cold and be miserable.

Gratitude Monday

This week I am thankful for

• being 24 weeks along. 6 months in, 4 months to go. Baby lets me know "she" is there with pokes and jabs all of the time. This is reassuring since once again this morning I had a little bit of spotting.
  
• my mad sewing skillz. At Rhayn's school they have a winter faire, and we are asked to donate a number of items for it. I love making things and having a reason makes me happy. (See the above Dala horse ornaments that I made yesterday.)
  
• Will. Yesterday when I felt miserable and could barely breath he took Rhayn and her friend to a birthday party. It was nice to be able to rest, knowing that they were safe and taken care of.
• my girls. Rhayn has been a huge help while I have been sick, so has Gwennie.
  

Sewing

I was skimming craft blogs this morning and came across this tutorial on Make It and Love It. I thought to myself, I have a sweater that I have been hanging onto waiting for just the right project.The pattern is only on one side. Its a little washed out looking in this picture but its a nice gray/red/black palate in 100% Extra-fine Merino wool. It had a few small holes and had been felted in the wash (purchased at a thrift store).

I have a purse from The Sak, similar to this one that I bought, on clearance at Dillard's, a couple of years ago. It is teal/navy and very soft (its a natural fiber). I really like it.

So using the tutorial from Make It and Love It and my Sak purse, I was able to come up with a pretty nicely sized purse. I added a red zipper, and an interior pocket with elastic at the top. Also the inside is black canvas. Hopefully the purse is sturdy and will last for a while.

Gwennie modeled it for me, but then wanted to take a picture of me with it. So of course, I had to stand so you can sort of see the bump. I know its small, but its growing! (Also I look awful today, I haven't even brushed my hair. Yikes.)

Too many dogs at my house (Halloween preview)

Gwennie wants to be a "Super Hero Dog" for Halloween. Simple, eh? She needed a dog costume and a cape, of course. Last week we went to a local thrift store and purchased a brown sweat suit for her. Then we headed over to JoAnn's for ear and tail fabric. It only took about 20 minutes to sew the ears and tail onto the sweat suit. Gwennie helped me by letting me know how long she wanted the ears and tail.

I will make the cape at a later time, but we bought Ice blue crushed panne (to match the stripes on her jacket) for it. Rhayn has chosen to be a ninja, and luckily at the thrift store we found a full costume and I do not have to "make" anything for it. She does want blue fabric instead of red for the belt, but that involves cutting and no sewing.

For a friend's baby shower...

One of the cook-a-thon ladies is having a little girl in just a few weeks, so I made her a special dolly. Gwennie loves the doll and asked if I could make her one. I had to patch together some of the fabric since I was using some fabric that we had here. I LOVE the way the patching came out, check out the ruffly part on the hat. Cute. I can't wait to give my friend this doll.

Inspriation

Yesterday I posted about needing some craft projects to make it through a rough time. Here are a few websites that I have found lately that have really inspired me.

Prudent Baby- this one has a project I started work on yesterday. I crocheted the top part of the Quick Crochet and Fabric top. After learning how to treble crochet it was quick.

***Edited to add- I finished one of these today, a Gwennie sized dress style one using fabric I already had (pink with "Noonicorns" on it.) It was harder than it looks. Also I ended up pleating instead of gathering. I have some ideas to make it better (read as easier for me) and I have the crocheted part of another one done already (its much smaller, like the size of a nearly 2 year old Melanie?) I have a lot of cute fabric and it only takes about 1/2 a yard total to make them. (I'll take a picture later.)

Lusa Organics- I really want to make this sunhat for Rhayn for school.

Frugal Family Fun Blog- there are some really fun crafts to make with the kids on this one!

The Purl Bee- I want to make one of these zippered dopp kits for myself.

So, if you have any inspirational blog links pass them along! I'd love some more ideas!

All Done

A Matter of Perspective

The cutting part of the quilt is done. I laid it on the floor to check it, and make sure that I hadn't missed a square. (Good thing because I had missed one.) Lily came to check it out, first sitting on the front and then getting comfortable on the back. I think the quilt looks small in the picture where she is sitting on the front. In the second picture the quilt looks massive. (Lily wants to know when I am making one for her.)

At this moment the quilt is in the wash. After that it will go into the dryer and then, tonight Rhayn can use it on her bed. She's so excited!

Sew What? A Rag Quilt!

Back in April Rhayn asked me if we could make a quilt for her. We purchased some fabric for it to be a summer project. Yesterday we finally bought the fabric for the back and started the long task of cutting out squares. I finished cutting squares this morning and then sewed an X on the squares to make a rag quilt. It laid out on the toy/bonus/craft room floor. This is going to be a large quilt. But we hope this one will stick with her a long time. She already had one but it was pastel pinks and purples. This one fits in her current favorite color palate. I am pretty excited about it, because you can already see what it will look like. Gwennie was pleased to recieve the old rag quilt and enjoys sleeping under it.

Tomorrow we'll sew all of the pieces together and begin clipping the edges. (In the link explaining how to make a rag quilt it says that printed fabrics do not fray well. I did not find this to be true as the last one we made frayed just fine.)

What to do...

With Will's old Army blouses? (I already repurposed or upcycled a pair of the pants to make skirts for my girls. I want to make a skirt for myself, too.)


I think I'll make a backpack! (Gwennie was an unwilling model for it.)
This took me about an hour and a half. I would have liked to line it, but this was just a prototype. There are a few things I plan to change if/when I make another. It was quite easy, though.

I was able to cut it out in such a way that I didn't have to sew in a zipper or pockets. I only had to attach the pencil pocket from one of the sleeves to the outside. Also, I used one of the sleeve for the straps (which are not adjustable). It only took one blouse to make it and its big enough to hold a few note books.

Also- this is what we* built for Rhayn's teacher's end of the year gift. Can't wait for his "ladies" to make themselves comfortable in their new home and start laying eggs.
*By we, I do not mean me, I merely helped paint it. Will helped a lot. He is awesome at building things. One of my friends drew up the plans and bought the materials, then we gathered at her house to put it together. We plan on having the children all paint their hand prints on the coop before he is given it.

Silent Sunday

Girl Panties!

Remember earlier I posted this link?

In about an hour's worth of time, using a pair of her boxer briefs as sizing, and then her as waist measurement we have three pairs of "girl panties". Gwennie is really excited, she loves the zebra pair best although the other pairs are softer.
I had to change the pattern a little, since we didn't have t-shirts to repurpose. Instead of a hem on the leg part its a zig-zag stitch which gives a nice ruffled effect (which Gwennie loves!) I made the legs longer, and the rise as well.
I will have to make her more to replace all of her current underwear (since they are for boys they are NOT panties, as Gwennie informed me the other day.) A half a yard will make two pairs, too. Since the jersey was on sale at Joanns, as well as the elastic, these cost about $3 each to make.

Gratitude Day 9

I am thankful for my mad sewing skills. That is right folks, I am a great seamstress. My girls want one of these dolls, well at least Rhayn does. But I wasn't wiling to pay the $80 for it. Sure it won't be exactly the same as the one in the catalog, but I am positive that she will love it.

Cleaning the House

Did you know that if no one comes to my house for weeks on end, I do not clean it? Yup, I need people to come over to keep my house clean. It is ridiculous. When Will is home, I do it for him. I feel like he deserves to come home to a clean (ish) house. Its rare that I clean for myself, although I should because when the dust builds up I stop being able to breath well in my bedroom at night. You would think that would keep my room clean, but it doesn't. Seriously it has been one of the dirtiest rooms in my house lately. (And I spend like 70% of my time in here because it is where my computer is!)

So today I am cleaning, because tomorrow handwork is being held here. I love handwork and the beautiful women who attend. I love talking to them, or even just listening. Its almost like what we had in Richmond, but not quite (there are kids there- and maybe not quite as much camaraderie.) But it works as a once a week chat-fest. I wish it felt as comfortable as the Richmond trip did. I really don't know why it doesn't. I have known these women longer, maybe it is because I KNOW them, and SEE them on a regular basis. Maybe because I am more reserved around them. Maybe it is the turnover from year to year. Some of them have seen me at my worst and maybe I feel the need to hide that from everyone.

Maybe it goes back to me being strong for this time, while Will is gone. If I let myself really feel how I feel, I lose it completely. Instead the sadness and tears eek out because of silly things. You want to know how many times I was teary eyed yesterday as I listened to NPR's coverage of the inauguration? Every other minute. I had to turn it off at one point before I began bawling. Now, I think it would have made me a little misty eyed normally, but this was tears streaming down my face. It was a release I rarely allow myself to have. It was a beautiful day, lovely speeches, lovely interviews. It just felt way more emotional than I think I would have normally felt.

Its for me, darnit.

I am constantly sewing dresses and skirts for the girls. Its fun, they always look cute. I love the compliments I get. (All from older women at Joanns, I admit.) But I hadn't yet ventured to sew myself a dress. Until yesterday. Lets just say there was very little cursing at the machine, in contrast to what I thought there would be. The dress was relatively simple and I think it looks darn good. (NO PATTERN! Yes, I am that good. Be impressed. Be very impressed.) The only frustrating part came when I was mostly done with the dress. I needed a few more yards of the purple dot material that I was using to line the dress. Why? Why does the inside need to look pretty? Well because it didn't involve me purchasing more material for lining since I was already buying it for trim. Only one cut, ya see. I also purchased a little doo hickey to make bias tape (best $6 ever!) I had also decided that I was going to make a sewing apron with this fabric, not a dress, so I hadn't purchased a zipper for it. (Lucky for me I had a few zippers laying about.)

I put the dress, unfinished, away until this morning. I hate leaving projects unfinished. However this morning, in the light of day, I was better able to come up with some options to finish the dress. And I am so pleased. I mean, there are parts that could be better, but I made it myself, with. no. pattern.

I think that I feel more satisfied with my dress than the dresses I have designed for the girls. It also makes me want to set up a sewing area in our house, so that I do not have to run up and down the stairs to where I keep the majority of my fabric. (Another time I hate the stairs.) Any one have a spare sewing machine table they want to give me? Hmmm... Grandma has one.... maybe I can borrow it? (Is it going to you LVH? If so I promise to take good care of it, if she lets me borrow it.)

Fabric repurposing was my mission this afternoon (upon completion of my dress.) I used an old sling that once carried a big, fat baby (or BFB if you will) into the skirt lining of my dress. The sling's tail had a fancy pocket on it that became an apron for Rhayn to carry her notebooks in. (Showcased above with the uberpink dress that I made her a few days ago.) Some fabric I bought just because it was so pretty, is on it's way to becoming the aforementioned sewing apron, along with yet another sling that I had carried the BFB in, and a few scraps will be the pockets. That apron is only about 3/4 of the way done. I will finish it tomorrow. I would have finished it, but it was time to make dinner.

Yesterday we had reruns (thanks for the new lingo Alex's Human. I love it!) but since we ate most of them last night, I had to make something. We had raw tomato sauce on fusilli pasta, using all of the yellow pear tomatoes and a few of the red from my garden. Yummy. Will and I enjoyed it. The girls do not like tomatoes (unless they are in the form of ketchup/catsup) and would not eat them. They totally missed out, though.

A Whole Lotta Sewing

Somedays you just wake up feeling creative. Well, I do. Today was one of those days. I sewed two dresses and a shoulder bag. Whew, now for my least favorite part of sewing- the clean up. Anyone want to organize my fabric? It is such a mess that I can hardly find anything. And most of it is remnants that I hang on to for whatever reason.

I made today's dress pattern from one of Rhayn's Hawaiian dresses. (Yes that means I did not use a pattern. I hate patterns, that tissue paper crap, ugh its frustrating. I use parchment paper to make the patterns I make.) We picked the dress up at a consignment store months ago, and I love that it doesn't have a zipper or buttons. Rhayn had found the dragon fabric at Joann's the last time we were there (I found the apple/pear fabric) she picked out the purple flower calico for the top part. Personally I don't think they go together, but it was a dress for her, not me. She loves it, and it adds to her dress collection, and IT IS NOT PINK. It also has the most important thing for a girl on the go- pockets. We have to have pockets around here.

Gwen did wear her dress for a while this afternoon, but I made her take it off when she was eating blueberries. (I did not spend two hours sewing it for it to have bluish purple stains on it the very same day.)

The front. The back, the fact that the pear in the crossed part matches up is a total coincidence. Seriously, I didn't even try. I was too busy trying to make sure that the apples and pears all faced the right direction!

I made a bag for Rhayn, as she received her library card yesterday and needs a place to hold her books and her card (I made a small velcroed pocket inside, you can see it when the navy blue corduroy fabric is out.) I used this tutorial by Lula Louise, that I found via a Google search. Pretty nice, fairly easy. The only hard part was sewing the bottom on, and I didn't really "get it" until I was half way through the bottom of the dragon side.

Dragon fabric side. I like this as the outside better. "Inside" or navy corduroy side. See the strip of white?

That is the velcro pocket, just the right size for a library card!

I have more things to write about, because yesterday I made JAM! but I haven't had the energy to post those pictures or write about it. I have also been feeling a little under the weather, and am trying to rest to keep it from turning into more.