Sometimes It's Just...

…Not right.

I have been trying to do some stash busting this year.  I wanted more space in my closet for things like clothes, and less space taken up by things like half finished sewing projects from my high school years.  I used these drawers for most of my quilting fabrics/notions, and now that a lot of the crafting supplies I actually use aren't in the closet anymore I'm ready to get some of those 3+ year old projects gone!

Most of the projects I no longer care for and don't see a need to complete as intended.  Why bother finishing a vintage dress I will never wear?  So when one of the fashion bloggers I follow - M Loves M - posted this outfit:

http://www.mlovesmblog.com/2014/01/a-sunny-new-year.html

...I thought "why don't I turn that bright blue dress that I don't want into a beautiful, bright colored, pleated skirt?"

I took the skirt pieces, did a little cutting and a lot of measuring, and stitched it together.  Then I held it up to me...

Yep, I just posted a mirror selfie.  Feel free to judge.  :P

Maybe the fabric is too heavy.  Maybe I'm terrible at making up patterns (yep).  Whatever the reason, I'm not planning to finish this project.  Another learning adventure!  Planning and sewing are fun, but they don't always turn out as we intend...

Girly Letters

After Spell-It with Moda, my sisters and I made some quilted wallhanging letters for some little friends.  It was great fun to all work on the same project together!

Basic lines filled with beauty.  And a whimsical little decoration for each...

The girls liked them (though, I'm not sure children under 4 years of age fully appreciate things like this yet) and their mother was thrilled.  One of the greatest joys of crafting is giving!

Last Minute Pioneer Sunbonnet

My mother spoke at a small homeschool conference a couple weeks ago, and she asked me to make her a prairie sunbonnet as a giveaway prize.  It was a late-night-before-the-conference/up-til-2am kinda project.  I snapped this lone photo at 3am; hence the lack of nice(ish) photos.  But hopefully some little girl will really enjoy playing with it!

I used a free pattern I found at My Cotton Creations.  It was really easy to follow; I would definitely recommend it.  Perfect for a last minute sunbonnet!

Pencil Skirt Failure

One of my first sewing projects was a 50's circle skirt that didn't turn out.  The waistband was wonky, and it hung strangely.  I wore it around the house a few times and then threw it in my closet thinking someday I might try to use the fabric for some other project.

Well, that day finally came when I decided to try to make it into a pencil skirt.  I based the shape on a skirt I already had and set to work.  And when I finished...  I realized I would never wear this skirt.

It's not absolutely egregious, but it hangs a little funny and is kinda tight at the top.  The fabric was cheap to begin with, so I'm not sure there was anything I could have done to make this turn into a nice skirt.  But at least I tried!

As you can tell, I didn't even bother to hem it.  But I did get the fabric out of my closet, so yay for stash-busting!

Speaking of stash-busting, one of my goals this year is to try to complete at least one stash-bust project a month.  I'm hoping to have the "stash" in my closet pretty much gone by the end of the year!  Then I can fill it with new fabric/projects.  ;)

Knit Again

The last several weeks have been filled with the adventures of a wedding.  One of my very dearest friends said her vows before God and many witnesses last Saturday, and I was very blest to be part of my first wedding!  We made programs and favors and bouquets and we painted wine bottles for every table at the reception, and...  We got our nails done, we had our hair done, and generally had a wonderful time!  Weddings are too much fun!

But the busy fun can't last forever.  Now that life is settling down, I decided to pull out some yarn and set to work giving my first pattern a final trial run.  If it goes well I'll be posting my very first original knitting pattern!  And I haven't done any knitting recently, so it's good to hear the click of my needles again.

This has been a great project to have around as the Olympics begin.  :)  I have several projects I'm hoping to get finished while I watch.  I'm really looking forward to this year's Olympic games!

Pink Ruffles

Ruffles are so delightfully adorable that every girl should have several ruffled pieces in their closet, right?

Having seen a few online, I started daydreaming about making a ruffled skirt.  Then it occurred to me that a pink fabric I'd been given a few years ago would be perfect - I'd get a new skirt and stash bust!

I looked up a few tutorials (most helpful being here and here), but liked the look of the larger ruffles on this skirt:

http://allnewfashions.com/archives/5105

I used Simplicity 5462 which is a pretty basic straight skirt and just added ruffles (approximately 6" width) to each skirt piece before attaching them.  It worked pretty well, and - besides a weird zipper snafu - everything went rather smoothly.

I don't know what kind of fabric this is, but it ravels quite easily.  After I cut out each piece I zigzagged all the edges, and didn't do any hemming.  I rather like the look of the unfinished ruffles.  :)

Ruffles are just so feminine, and this made the perfect girly addition to my wardrobe!

Grey Pleats

For about two years now I've had this image in my mind of a skirt...  a grey pleated skirt.  Oh, how cute it would look with colored tights!  Or that new sweater I just bought.  Or those boots...

Then someone gave a us a huge amount of grey...  I don't know what kind of fabric.  But now my skirt would be practically free!

So when I needed some cute skirt outfits to wear to a conference last month it was time to actually make the skirt!  My sister had used New Look 6566 (I can't find it on Simplicity's website...  sorry!) to make a couple of pleated skirts that turned out really nicely, so that was the pattern I used.

Making the pleats was a little time consuming, but not difficult.  The only thing that has caused me trouble at all is getting the pleats to stay ironed in...  But I think I'm starting to figure it out.  Just use lots of heat.  :)

I love this skirt!  It's such a perfect neutral color that goes with so many things!

(Oh, and we had a lot of fun with this book photo shoot!  Though getting our cat Schubert to stay on the book pile was quite a chore...  haha)

Baby Dress Stash Busting

When I first started sewing pretty much all of my “dream projects” consisted of dresses for my dolls, so I bought three floral prints for my three dolls so I could make them matching dresses. However, I never actually got around to making the dresses, and have now been storing this fabric for… I don’t know how many years!

A use for this stashed fabric appeared when I made this baby dress a few months ago using a free pattern we found online. I really liked it, and it only took a few hours to make, so I thought it would fun fun to try again with different design elements. This time around, instead of ties I made a new bodice with buttons!




After I got started I realized I had enough fabric for two of them, so I made another the same day. The buttons are just for decoration as the dresses really close with Velcro that I sewed beneath on the underside of the straps. I had originally planned to use snaps, but Mom recommended Velcro since the dress is for newborns and she thought it might stay closed better.



I found some navy rickrack in our stash, which worked out perfectly for some details on both dresses. I had to buy the dark blue buttons, but other than that it was completely made of things we already had either in my closet and the sewing room. It's so nice to stash bust!



It’s hard to believe that a baby could actually fit into these because they are so small! When I walked downstairs after finishing the first one my mom thought it was for a doll! But it’s the version for a 9-11 lb baby, so hopefully it will fit on a newborn just fine. And a tiny newborn has to have cute clothes when she's born, right?

New Headband! :o)

I wanted to sew the other evening so I opened my closet, looked at my stash of extra fabric, and pulled out some scraps from a couple years ago. And then with a little measuring, a few snips, and a bit of sewing - TADA!!! I've got a new headband!



I was inspired by this tutorial from Casey. I didn't really follow it, though, cuz my headbands weren't the same size, and I didn't want my bow that big. For my bow I just made a little rectangle and pulled in the middle... :oP



I really like it, and will probably make another. Maybe I'll try to put a flower on the next one... :o)



Always fun to have a new headband. YAY!!!

Baby Dress

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. And I have been doing a fair amount of crafting. But have I done much on the computer? Nope...

I made this little baby dress last week and am finally getting around to posting it! Kiri found the Itty Bitty Baby Pattern a couple years ago, and I thought it would be great for some stash-busting!



I will probably be making 2 more dresses from this pattern soon, since I have 2 more pieces of this fabric in different colors. I originally bought three of the same fabrics(in different colors) to make dresses for three of my baby dolls. It was going to be one of my first sewing projects... hmm...



I'm planning to embellish all 3 a little differently. The bow was a last minute thing that I added (originally I was gonna put on rickrack, but I didn't end up having any that was the right color...) because I had the perfect amount of binding tape left. I think a ribbon bow would look better, though, so maybe I'll change it.



This project was really fast and easy. If you have 1/2 a yard of fabric lying around and want a quick project, I recommend this sweet little dress!



Does it seem I'm all about baby things recently? Maybe it's cause I know lots of ladies that are pregnant? And baby things are always so sweet. :o)