Wrap Top

Over the weekend I was looking for a quick project that I could post about, and ran across this free pattern by Megan Nielsen that I had bookmarked a few weeks ago.  I had some purple jersey fabric left over from another project, just enough to whip it up!

How I wish I had made this top months ago!  I love that it doesn’t matter how much bigger my belly grows, it will keep fitting!  That also means that it fits my rule for maternity clothes: I want to be able to wear it both before and after the baby is born with minimal altering.  It seems like such a waste to spend time making a top that, at this point, I could only wear for another 8 weeks!  Pardon me while I go and freak out for a minute…

As the date for baby’s arrival gets closer and closer, I am finding myself nesting more and more.  I spent the better part of the last two weekends cleaning, purging, and organizing.  It has helped that it is finally starting to feel like spring around here, and I can partially blame my frenzy on the “Spring Cleaning” bug.  Hmm, maybe this is how I freak out?

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Bubble Chandelier

As soon as I saw this DIY Chandelier by Rachel of Small Notebook, I fell in love.  I have had a single, naked lightbulb providing light to our living room since we moved in 9 months ago.  So sad looking.  This is the project I had been looking for to revamp our lighting.

Rachel’s original chandelier had a lot more glass balls, and two extra lights on it, but I only had one light, so  I decided to make a simpler version, like the one she made for her kids’ room.  Instead of floral wire, I used picture hanging wire…not white, but it still worked well.

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New Stash

Hello Everyone, I hope all of you who celebrate the holiday had a happy Easter!  A little package finally arrived in the mail the other day…a little spring to brighten my week!  This is my new Anna Maria Horner Good Folks stash.

Settling on bedding for my little one has been one of the hardest decisions for me so far (yes I know, compared to all the questions about how to be a good parent/how to raise a child, this might seem like a very small dilemma…).  You know that I finally chose colors for the baby’s room, and I thought these fabrics went perfectly!  My plan is to sew a fairly simple quilt, that is bordered in little triangles of this colorful fabric.  Something like this:

I love the little triangles, and I am going to echo that design by making triangle fabric flags out of the scraps to hang around her room.

Originally, I was planning on using the fabric that I designed to make bedding for my little one, but I was really getting stuck on the color and trying to make the pattern “just right”.  I decided that instead of stressing about it, I would use fabric that I already know I love, and use my fabric design as an art print for the wall.  Luckily, my fabric has little triangle flags on the hot air balloons, which I think will tie in perfectly with everything else in the decor.

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Boys Kimono PJ’s

After my mixed experience with the “Easy” Empire Waist top pattern by Amy Butler, I was a bit wary of trying any more of her patterns.  I kept looking through the book, though, and could not resist giving one more pattern a try.  I made a promise to myself before I began that I would trust my instincts, and if the instructions did not seem right, I would do what I thought I should do instead of blindly following.

I am so happy that I tried out this pattern for the Kimono PJ’s.  It was much easier to follow, and I only had to rip out one seam (my fault, not hers)!!  What is even better, is I was able to complete this project in one day.  It was very exciting!

I chose a rich, soft, brown linen for the main fabric for these pj’s.  I wanted to use a natural, breathable material that could be worn in multiple seasons, since I have no idea how big my friend’s baby is going to be, or when he will fit into this outfit.  The trim is an Echino cotton double gauze (mine is the blue, not the purple, but I could not find the exact fabric I used online).  I have used other prints in the double gauze and I just love how soft it is!  Perfect for lying against a small baby’s skin.

I loved sewing this pattern so much, that I am already planning on what fabrics to use for a set for my little one.

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Mike’s First Baby Toy

About a month ago, I wrote about Mike’s new woodworking hobby.  Well, he finally got the saw he had been eyeing and made his first project…a colaboration between the two of us.  And I have to say, this is probably the best first project that I have ever seen!  He did such a great job, smoothing the edges to make it safe for baby mouth contact, and shaping the whole thing perfectly.

So what is it?  Its a teething ring!  Made out of untreated oak and finished with walnut oil.

Turtle Teething Ring

• 5″ square 1/4 inch untreated wood
• walnut oil
• turtle teething ring pattern
• scroll saw (if you don’t have one, you may be able to borrow or rent one)
• drill
• sandpaper in medium, fine, and superfine
• tacky cloth
• old towel

1. Cut out pattern and trace with a pencil onto wood.
2. Using your saw, cut around the turtle.  Take your time!  And use safety precautions (ie. goggles, gloves, etc.)
3. To cut the middle out, drill a hole in the center.  Unplug your saw, insert the blade into the whole and attach the blade properly to your saw, and plug it back in. 
4. Cut around the circle.  Unplug saw, remove blade and toy.
5. Starting with the coarsest sandpaper, sand the toy fixing any small mistakes, and rounding all the edges.  Work your way to the superfine sandpaper, making sure the whole toy is smooth.  Keep an eye out for rough or pointy edges, and smooth them down.
6. Use the tacky cloth to remove all the fine dust covering the toy.
7. Take the towel and dip in some walnut oil.  Smooth oil evenly over the surface of the toy.  Wait 20 minutes, then repeat.  Repeat applying oil until the turtle is well oiled (it may need more coats as it gets used by your little one).

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Summer and Winter Hand Towels

Another week means another weaving project for me.  Actually, I have another one on the way, because I’m a little behind on my homework!  This time around we were given a Summer and Winter project.  This type of weave is called Summer and Winter because the finished fabric is opposite on each side…one side is light, and one side is dark.  My teacher told us that this first became popular in America when families did not have enough money to buy two bed covers for the warm season and cold season.  They would buy/weave bed coverings in the Summer and Winter pattern and use one side for the warm months, and the other for the cold months.  Traditionally, white yarn is used for the background, and a dark color like navy is used for the foreground.  Since this was my first time attempting this type of weave, I decided to go with the classic look.

Another characteristic of the Summer and Winter weave is it is usually a fairly firm weave, making it great for towels, handbags, and bed coverings, but not so good for clothing and scarves (unless you use teeny tiny threads).  I opted for a set of hand towels because they are small and easy.  I used 100% cotton thread for optimal water absorbancy.

What I loved about Summer and Winter is it is really easy to design a pattern.  Basically, with my loom, I can make two different pattern blocks, A and B, and put them together in an almost unlimited number of combinations to make a pattern. 

Up next?  Lace!

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A Valentine’s Scarf

This is my latest weaving project I’ve been working on…a long, warm scarf for Mike!  Somehow I missed the fact that the colors are very reminiscent of the 70’s, but I still love the scarf, and more importantly, so does Mike!

I used a super soft bamboo cotton blend, and wove it in a zig-zag twill.  I am still deciding how to finish the ends…right now they have about 8″ of fringe hanging off them…not so good for a men’s scarf!

I hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend! 

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Spool Holder

Sorry everyone for a my few days of silence.  Today I wanted to share with you Mike’s first woodworking project for the year…a spool holder!  I was having trouble managing all my huge spools of yarn for the different weaving projects I’ve got going on.  There is a lot of unwinding that I have to do when I’m first setting up the loom for a project, and I was always scrambling to find something that I could put the spools on that would allow the yarn to come off the spool easily. 

To make the spool holder, Mike found some good, solid wood at Home Depot in their scrap bin.  If you ever are working on a small project, check the bin first (Mike got this piece of wood for less than $1)!  He sanded the wood down and softened the edges so that I wouldn’t get any splinters.  This really brought out the beautiful grain of the wood. 

Unfortunately I didn’t think to take any pictures of what is actually holding the spools up!  They are 3 strong dowels, each about 5″-6″ long.  Mike drilled three holes in the wood the same diameter of the dowels and then inserted the dowels with some wood glue to keep them in place.

I got a chance to use this over the weekend, and it works beautifully!  No more trying to put the spools on our curtain rod!

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Easy Empire Waist Top

 

I received Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones this past Christmas from my sister-in-law, and have since looked through it nearly every night, planning projects for our little one.  One of the first pattern’s I tabbed was this Easy Empire Waist top.  I love that the top is obviously a girl’s top, without being too frilly.  When I stumbled on some Anna Maria Horner Little Folks fabric at my local fabric shop, I knew it was time to start working on this.  I bought the contrasting blue fabric at JoAnn’s a while back.  It matches the blue in the Little folks fabric perfectly, and I love the contrast between the geometric and floral patterns.

I would not exactly call this pattern “easy”.  The directions were a bit confusing to me at times, though I suppose I am used to seeing patterns in more of a “tutorial” layout with pictures as well as descriptions.  I had to rip out a few seams, but all in all, I am very happy with the way this little project turned out.  Also, I’m not sure I would call this a top…it seems more like a dress to me…

The original pattern has long sleeves, which I decided to leave off.  Instead I chose to make some binding from the contrasting fabric to make the dress more summer friendly.  Now that I got the hang of it, I may just have to make a second!

A little bit more about the book…Many of the projects are really darling, and I would make nearly every one of them.  However, there are not as many clothing projects as I would have liked.  Many of the projects are for room decor and toys.  Also while there are a few clothing projects, many of them can pretty much only be used for girls.  There are two dresses and one hat for a girl, as well as another hat, some pj’s, and booties that could be used for either a boy or a girl.  Also, as I said earlier, the instructions can be a bit confusing at times because there are not many pictures of the process, but if you are really experienced in pattern reading this might not bother you at all.

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Sewing Clothes for Baby

The number one thing people want to know about the baby is, “boy or girl?”  People have been making their predictions since they first found out I was pregnant.  Well, we are about 85% sure our little one is a girl, pending a follow-up ultrasound in a couple of weeks!

I feel confident enough about her, well, being a “her” that I have started my sewing projects.  It has been so hard waiting on some of the things that I want to make.   I have a huge list going of all the fun free patterns that I have found in various corners of the internet, and I can finally tackle it!

I decided on this little dress from Made by Petchy for my first project because of how easy it looked.  Pair that with a June birthdate, I thought it would be perfect for her to wear through the summer.  The fabric is from my trip to the LA Fashion district.  At the time I went, I did not know whether our baby was a boy or a girl, so I just bought fabric that was soft and made of natural fibers.  What is funny is that when going through my fabric again, I noticed that many of the ones that I purchased were “boy” colors, mostly blues and greens.  I must have been subconsciously thinking about a boy at the time!

I really don’t mind using boy colors for a girl, though.  I am actually not the biggest fan of pink, or even purple unless the colors they are paired with are just right.  For the main body of the dress I used a super soft cotton knit that has a subtle dot pattern on it.  I made the binding from a striped open weave cotton.

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