Handmade Holidays 2

Since I have so many gifts to show and thought it crazy to make a post for each one, I've divided the gifts given by families to cut down on the amount of posts!

These handmade goodies were made for some of the nieces and nephews on my husband's side.

The vest/tie onesies were from a pattern I drafted myself based on the onesies I had on hand. I used my favorite sewing tool, aisle runner from the bridal department, to trace the shape of the neck line and sleeves, then drafted my pattern from that. What's cuter than a baby in a onesie that looks like a suit?! The material used was from Jo-Ann's and I used Steam 2 Steam to iron the vest/tie onto the onesie then sewed around the edges. Some I used a zig zag stitch and others I just used a straight stitch. I added the buttons after that.

This dress was made for P who has a lot of spunk in her! All the material used was from Ace Hardware and the shirt was from Target. This is a modified version of CKC Cosettes knit and woven dress pattern. Instead of making my own bodice piece I used an existing t-shirt but my sash is still attached to the dress. I had already cut out my woven pieces when I realized my sash was in pieces so I worked some sewing magic and had to figure out a way to sew it on.

This top is made for my niece F, using fabric from Ace Hardware again! I do love this top pattern, how cute will it look with a pair of leggings! This is CKC Maisy's ruffle top pattern, made with 3/4 length sleeves. For all the nieces I paired their outfits with a necklace from Cookie Crumb Couture, I actually had the necklaces first and then found material to match them!

Thanks for stopping by and come back tomorrow to check out more handmade gifts!
 

Handmade Holidays

Now that the holiday's are over and my kids are finally back to school after this crazy blizzard Missouri had last week I can maybe get some things finished! I love my kid's but a routine is the way to go and we all needed things to get back to a routine!

This is going to be a series on everything I made for Christmas gifts this year. I tried to make most of my gifts since I tend to hoard fabric like crazy and needed to work on getting rid of some of it. So every day I will post a picture of something I made for a gift.

First up, I have a ton of nieces and nephews on my husband's side and instead of getting them all toys I made them a piece of clothing. I hope they know how much love goes into making someone else clothing. When I make things for others I tend to over think the fabric selection and what pattern I will be using!

This is the outfits I made for my beautiful niece, H, who we don't get to see as often as I would like to! I hope she enjoyed her Christmas outfit and a little dress I made her for their vacation to Hawaii!

This Christmas outfit was used with corduroy fabric I found at Hancock Fabric's. The black and red have little Scottie dogs on it and then there's the black and white houndstooth. The pattern for the skirt is CKC's Amanda's triple ruffle skirt. I love this skirt, it's so cute and you can change it up so many ways using 1 to 4 different fabrics. The turtle neck I picked up at our local Wal-Mart and I found the little Scottie iron on at our Ace Hardware, that carries fabric. I sent this with a pair of red tights for her to wear for Christmas.

This dress I made because they are going to Hawaii and I've had this fabric sitting in my stash forever! I picked it up at our local resale shop, I think it was 4 yards for $2, it was a light weight cotton that I thought would make nice summer dresses. I think it looks very tropical and perfect for a Hawaii beach day! I used the CKC Lorelai's pattern but modified the skirt part omitting the ruffles and using just one fabric. The bodice material I picked up at our Ace Hardware and it's sort of a camo print but it matched the flower fabric prefect.

Check back tomorrow for my next handmade gift tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Daisy Meeting

I'm the group leader for my daughter's Daisy troop and this month we had to move our monthly meeting due to the Christmas concert. I, of course, moved it to The Craft House for an afternoon of mother/daughter crafting time!

We made up bags to take to our parish food pantry that contained everything needed for a family to make Christmas sugar cookies. The girls decorated the bags and the recipe cards then we included all the dry ingredients along with cookie cutters and sprinkles. The girls made a cute owl ornament to take home and then the Mom's were surprised by having to sew! The girls got to pick out their material and the Mom's got to sew and make a headband for them. Can I just say I dropped my daughter off at school the next morning and all the girl's from her troop were wearing their headbands! How cute.

Here's my L wearing the example I made for the Mom's to look at. This one I cut 2 strips, 3 inches by the length of the material but I thought that was too wide for the younger girls. I ended up cutting each strip 2.5 inches by the length of the material. Each girl picked out 2 different prints of material, then we sewed right sides together, both long sides and one short side. Turned the tube, pressed and folded in the raw edges on open short end and topstitched all four sides. The leaves I just free handed and then sewed them on very messy like. The flower is just a 3/4 inch strip of material that I started in the middle and just twisted as I sewed onto the headband.

Here's a group shot of all the wild and crazy girls having fun together. It was a loud but fun event and I think some Mom's walked away with a little more knowledge on sewing!

November Sewing Class Week 3

This week our November Sewing Class made the Kitschy Kitchen Apron from One-Yard Wonders and I just love how the ladies apron's turned out. Kara made a pretty one with black fabric with cherries all over it and Lindsay made an adorable Christmas themed apron! These ladies are becoming more confident in their sewing skills and it shows! I love to watch them grow and expand their knowledge and I hope that this is a hobby that takes off for them. Sewing is a very rewarding skill to have because you can see your progress until you have a completed project and really the sky's the limit on what you can create!

Can't wait for next week's class, we will be making pj pants and sadly it will be our last class of the session. I will be adding some more sewing classes after the first of the year and thinking about adding a class that would continue these new found sewing skills!

November Sewing Class Week 1

We started our second Beginner's Sewing Class at Make and Take Craft Weekend this month and these ladies were total rock stars sewing up 3 pillowcase dresses for Craft Hope Project 23 during their first class! We went over how to properly thread the machine and had to mess with some bobbin issues but then we got to work on our dresses. We sent a total of 9 pillowcase dresses to Craft Hope and they all turned out so darn cute!

I just love the look of the vintage pillowcases as a dress and what an easy sew, no hemming at all! We used the directions for a pillowcase dress from The Craft Hope book but there are many tutorials online like here, here and here. One of the best things about the pillowcase dress is that is can be worn all year round with layers and can go from dress to tunic as your child grows!

Sewing Class Week 4

This week was the ladies last week of Sewing Class and I hope they continue their sewing adventures into the future! It was so much fun working with these ladies and the laughs were great! Just a few hiccups with machines malfunctioning, sewing pockets shut and pressing wrong sides together instead of right sides together!

This evening our projects were to make pillowcase dressings for Project 23 for Craft Hope. I'll mail these dresses off to go to developing countries for young girls to wear! We also did some selfish sewing and they made knit infinity scarfs now that the cooler weather is here to stay.

If interested in learning how to sew I will be teaching another Sewing Class starting in November, register here.

Sewing Swap Part 2

This is the second outfit I made for the Create Kids Couture Swap that I did last month. I got paired with a partner for each of my kids ages/sizes and we each made surprise outfits for each other. This is The Goodship Dress that I have had stashed in my patterns for quite some time and just never made it. What a great excuse to pull it out and make one up, because it is so cute! I used some pink with brown button print corduroy from Jo-Ann's for the main dress and brown cotton for the collar, pleat and bow.

The pattern was a little confusing at times, for instance, it just tells you to make binding but never says if it's single or double fold and I had to figure it out for myself. I think this pattern is for an advanced beginner just because there are some parts that you really need to think over, or maybe it's just me!

I love how this dress turned out and it will be great for colder months layered or alone in the warmer months. I'll have to make my daughter one for herself now!

Rose T-shirt Pattern Testing

I had the opportunity to test the upgrade of the Rose T-shirt by Melly Sews and I can't wait to make a few more for my fall/winter closet this season.

I cut out the longer shirt and after I sewed it up I realized that longer knit tops don't look that flattering on me so I decided to cut off 3 inches, well I shouldn't attempt these things late at night. Instead of the 3 inches, I cut 5 inches off so now the top is just a tad shorter than I wanted but I still love it.

It was an easy and fast sew. I did it all in one day along with taking care of the kiddos. I ended up not hemming it since I cut it so much shorter than I wanted and since knit doesn't fray it's fine, just curls a little at the ends.

I used a jersey I got from Girl Charlie awhile back with a scrap piece of woven I used to make my daughter's dresses for family pictures last month.

I ended up topstitching the woven material so it laid a little flatter and had to trim the sleeves because they were too long for me. I loved the pattern and now it goes up to a size XL, I highly recommend it. Also check out her selection of kid's patterns, they are all so darn cute!

Sewing Swap Part 1

This past month I participated in a Sewing Swap with Create Kids Couture. I sent in my kids sizes and we were paired up with someone by location, size and gender. I was crazy and sent in all 3 of my kids sizes so I got 3 different swap partners. We started the swap by talking to our partners about needs and likes and then we each just took if from there and surprised each other.

The first item I made for the swap is for a little boy who likes anything that moves and his favorite color is orange. Sewing for boys is a little harder than sewing for girls just because finding boy material is difficult and not as many selections. I hit the fabric stores looking for something I just couldn't live without. I found an orange and white houndstooth at Hobby Lobby I thought would make a good accent color for the pants and shirt I imagined making. After a little more hunting I found a dark denim with a little stretch for the pants and a light blue fabric with airplanes on it for the shirt.

For the pants I used the Pocket Pants pattern in Growing Up Sew Liberated in size 5. I used the dark denim for the pants and the orange/white houndstooth as an accent on the waistband, cuffs, and around the pockets. The pants are long on my son but look fine when rolled up and I had to use a lot smaller piece of elastic for them to fit around his waist!

For the shirt I used The Easy Linen shirt in Sewing for Boys size 4/5. The airplane material was used for the main part of the shirt and the orange/white houndstooth as the accent neck band. I found the sleeves were very long for my son who has just started wearing 5T.

 The finished outfit that I hope my swap partner and her son enjoy, I loved it so much I made 2 of them so my son could have the outfit also! Thank goodness my swap partner lives in Virginia and they won't be seen wearing the same thing!

October Sewing Class Part 2

I taught my second night of Sewing Class at Make and Take Craft Weekend and the ladies were rock stars! We first finished the reversible tote bags they had started last week and then we rocked out a half apron. Besides a little trouble with one of their machines, they were awesome! So fun to watch people figure out how to sew and those bits of material come together to create something fun and useful.

Samantha modeling her apron!

Finished reversible tote bag.

Lynn was showing her modeling talent with her sewing talent!

Cute colorful apron!

This was my example apron I made to show them. 

The reversible tote was taken from MADE, I made a bunch of these for teachers gifts at the end of the school year last year and I love seeing the teachers carry their things in them! The apron is the Kitschy Kitchen Apron from the book One-Yard Wonders. The material is stuff I have had in my stash for a long time with the intentions of doing a skirt for my oldest daughter but never got around to it.

                                                             

   

Sewing aLOT

My craftiness has been taken over by my need to sew! I just love seeing a pile of fabric and watching it come together to be a pair of pants for my son or a twirly dress for my daughters. I have found a pattern company, Create Kids Couture, that have very easy patterns to follow and their Facebook group does sew-a-longs every month. I just finished up their Willows Wrap Jacket for both my girls and I'm just waiting for the actual Fall weather to start here so they can wear them! My son was with us so I had him pick out some fabric for a pair of pants and he went with a blue fabric with dogs on it. The whole time I was sewing I just kept hearing Scrappy Doo yell "Puppy Power!" I used the Pocket Pants pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated.

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Superhero Cape

I have a friend who did a Superhero theme for her son's birthday and wanted capes for each of the boys. I offered up my idea of doing felt ones because there is less sewing (no edges to worry about) and they hold up really well. My kiddos have a few toys made out of felt and they are on their 3rd round of being played with by a baby without much wear and tear.

She wanted the Superman colors so I suggested doing the emblem with just each boy's initial on the back and they all turned out so cute.

I bought my felt at Joann's by the yard, you can't beat it when it's 40% off.  I traced an old cape we already had as my pattern and made my own pattern for the emblem. To make the letters fit I traced the emblem onto paper and then wrote the letters on that and cut them out. After getting them cut out it was just a matter of sewing Velcro on the tabs and sewing the letters and emblem down on the back of the cape.

Cutting Cape

Emblems for back

Sewing emblems

Finished cape

Superhero cape finished in no time! This would make a great idea for a Halloween costume or a gift for Christmas for those Superhero fans. Make and Take Craft Weekend is offering a Kid's Gift Day and this is just one of the gifts you can make, it can be made for boys or girls.

This Is Me...

Here I am trying my hand at blogging. Let me just come right out and admit it: I'm not a computer person! So bear with me as I figure this all out. I'm a crafty person who loves to sew for my 3 kiddos L, O and T. I first began my crafting journey with scrapbooking about 7 years ago and it's spilled over to many different things. Just ask my husband, my hobbies are spilling over into several rooms in our house! Over the years I have followed several blogs and have always wanted to "show" off my abilities and I have just started a business adventure with my Mom. We are hosting amazing getaway weekends where you enjoy home cooked meals, crafts, shopping and more crafts. Make and Take Craft Weekend I thought this would be a way for me to showcase the crafts we do and to get our name out there. So thank you for joining me on my journey. Enjoy!