Aprons

A is For Apron, by Nathalie Mornu.

I originally saw the book while I was browsing one day at Jo-Ann's earlier this year, and then went home and reserved it at my local library. I waited for a couple months to get the book, because apparently it has been a popular book, and only one or two copies were available in my library area.

I decided to go ahead and buy the book because it did have some fun styles. I've made a few of them in the past weeks or so. This is my review somewhat of the book and a few hints for the patterns.

First of all, none of the patterns say to interface the waistbands. I did on all of mine because I think that they lay nicer and stand up better. That would be a personal preference.

Waldorf, pg. 58-59

I just love the pretty scalloped hem. As an FYI, you use just over 2 yds. of the bias tape (I had 1 & 7/8 yd. leftover from my 4 yd. package). Therefore, if you preferred to use the 1/2" double fold bias tape, which only comes in 3 yd. packages, you could go ahead and buy just one package.

I added 2" to the length of the apron. For the most part I don't think you would need to lengthen it unless you are making if for someone quite tall. (I am 6'2".)

I also added a pocket with a little folded over scalloped edge. The pattern did not call for a pocket, but you can easily add one if you prefer it--which I always want a pocket on my own personal aprons. I cut 2 and edged them together in the bias tape along the scallop and then attached it to the apron itself.

Version #2--for Fall

Only difference was I messed around with the pocket a bit and gathered it before attaching it. I think that what I would do next is sandwich a little piece of elastic in between the 2 pockets so that the pocket "gives" a bit as you stick your hand in it.

Amoeba, pg. 34-36
First of all, my kids loved the fact that this pattern appears to be a large set of lips as it is laid out flat. So they call is the "kiss apron".

The biggest problem with this pattern in my opinion is the ties are TOO short. The pattern called for 16" long ties. This was BARELY long enough to tie a bow around the waist of my 9 yr. old. For me I was only able to tie it in a knot. Dumb look, if you ask me.

16" long ties view on both my daugher and me---Too Short!!

I ended up taking the ties off, recutting them to 31" long and then attaching them. I can now tie my apron with a bow, and not just an overhand knot. This is much better to look at (the ties, that is...not necessarily my backside).I also decided to cut 4 of the ties so that there wasn't a wrong or right side to them. You probably don't need to do this if your fabric is printed decent enough. I just laid out 2 per tie, wrong sides together, and then bound them together with the bias tape.

I also found that attaching the bias tape to the vee'd top and bottom was a little tricky. Mine probably isn't as sharp as it could be. Oh well...this was practice.I did a topstitch on the pocket on both the inner and outer edges of the bias tape. The book suggested just topstitching on the inner edge, which is where it encases the pocket. You can decide which look you like best.

Twirl, Girl, pg. 101-103

This a very easy pattern to make, but oh so cute. I did not lengthen anything on this pattern, but you could easily enough if you prefer it longer. I love the contrasting piece. I used up the last of the fabric that I had used for this top for L. Now she has a matching apron to use if she wants.

The finished ties were about 28" long. Finished length of apron is about 18" from top of waistband to hem.

I also had to improvise slightly as I snipped a hole in the fabric as I was clipping threads. ARGH!!! I couldn't figure out any other way to fix it and make it look decent except for adding some pretty ribbon to the hem edge to cover up the hole. Luckily it worked and I had some that matched so that I didn't have to go buy anything. Plus, L. does like it and so life is good.

Once again for the little girl version I only enlarged the pattern 300% not 400%. The ties for the little girl ended up being about 1 3/4" wide (finished) and about 20" long (finished). The apron itself measured 13" finished length from top of waistband to hem.

Camoflauge Tankinis

I have to say that I debated on whether or not to post these suits. A few weeks back I bought some camoflauge swimsuit fabric, mostly so that I could have some "boy" fabric in my stash to make baby speedos, jokingly, when friends of mine have baby boys. I usually make little baby girl suits for shower gifts. The one time (so far) I have made a little speedo I knew the mom (and dad) would think it was hilarious. And they did. Even if the baby never wears the speedo, it sure makes for a fun time at the shower. Also, my C. wanted that fabric for himself so I could make him a suit.

However, when I brought it home my girls thought the fabric was great. I'm not sure what it says about them that they are all excited and thrilled about wearing camoflauge swimsuits--either they are really comfortable with themselves and their choices, or they are completely whacked!

Regardless, I have been doing some last minute sewing before we leave for our family vacation later this week. Next week we are having a family reunion at Island Park, Idaho and one of the planned activities is a float trip down the river with all the family crew. I haven't made my girls tankinis this year, before now. But I am thinking that especially as we are floating down the river that tankinis will be much easier for bathroom breaks and wearing life preservers, etc.

For L. I used Kwik Sew 2868, which is a basic tankini pattern (women's) with either boy shorts or a panty bottom.

Crossing the straps makes it so that you don't have to worry about them falling down your shoulders as you are swimming. That I can say from experience. I've even gone back and changed straps on suits after one wearing so that we can avoid that annoyance.

Detailing on the neckline and straps.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE using a double (or twin) needle!!!

For the other 2 girls I just tweaked the swimsuit patterns that I already had for them. All my girls like their tankinis especially long--so that when they raise their arms there is still NO skin showing on their bellies.

And as an added side note. We did make C. a camo speedo. His older brother thought it was awful that I did that. But I reminded Z. that when we was 3 yrs. old he too wanted a speedo---only he wanted a leopard print one.

Click HERE and HERE for previous swimsuit posts and tips on making your own.

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

This is one of our family favorites and one that our Mom made for lots of years. This is one of the easiest recipes you'll come across and it is great when you need a quick treat or a chocolate fix. And since they are "no-bake" it is also great when you don't want to heat up your kitchen.

NO-BAKE OATMEAL COOKIES

In 2 qt. bowl put in:
3 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. peanut butter (I prefer crunchy, cuz I'm a little nutty myself)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Set aside.

Combine together in a small saucepan:
1. c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. milk
3 Tbs. cocoa

Boil above 4 ingredients for 1 minute and then pour over remaining ingredients. Combine all together and then drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Let cool and eat. (We sometimes stick them in the freezer for a few minutes if we can't wait that long to eat them.)

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

2+2 blouse and pleated skirt

here is my 18 month old wearing the outfit. not listening to me....not turning around. but you can see the cute buttons down the back.

You've already heard my feelings on the top. The skirt is great, but those pleats won't last past the first washing. Total bummer. It will just look like a full skirt which kind of defeats the purpose of making all those pleats in the first place. But I'm still a huge fan of these patterns.

see pattern here

Simplicity 2724

I have been in need of revamping my dress wardrobe. I am tired of some of the things that I currently have and/or I've had them since my oldest daughter was born (12 years old) and need a bit of a change to help my mood a bit. I found Simplicity 2724 and had a couple things in mind before I ended up with my final project.
I wanted something new to wear to Church as well as try and find something to fun to make out of one of the pieces of fabric that I received in our last fabric swap. So a big thanks to my swap partner, Bonnie, who was nice enough to send me this gorgeous piece of fabric that she had from Hong Kong.I already had the black piece for the top and just bought the little black piece and fuschia piece for the border at the bottom. I wanted it a little longer than using the print alone would allow.
Here is the detail of the fabric and ties above. I think after wearing it once I am going to make the belt loops and tack them on and see if I like it better that way because I think that I will always wear it belted.

Below is the sleeve detailing. I didn't do it exactly like the pattern directed. They wanted you to make a facing and understitch it inside. I didn't really didn't want to do it that way.
Neckline detailing below. I've been wanting to try this detail on something for a long time.I had to fuss a little with it before it fit me the way I wanted. I'm happy to say I had to take it in after measuring and cutting the pattern size accordingly. I also had to add 1" in the bodice length for myself. You probably wouldn't have to do that. All in all I really do like how it turned out and it is very comfy to wear, which is also a plus.

Multiples

If you haven't figured it out yet...I always make things in multiples. It's just easier and faster for me. And I like easier and faster!

Here are some other versions of the same skirt I made for S while I was making bird skirts:

They are quilckly becoming my girls "go-to" clothes of choice.

More T-Shirt Transformations

Getting ready for the family reunion and working on our 70's night get-ups. Miss M. was more than happy to help out. We used the tie dye kits that come in boxes at either Jo-Ann's or Michaels. They do a couple different shirts at a time, but I still don't think that they can do as many as the box says. Also make sure you use gloves when you are removing the rubber bands before washing. I didn't the first time and ended up with colored hands. The directions don't tell you to wear them during that process, just during the dye application.Don't be afraid of bright or bold colors after you unwrap it from the plastic. The pictures both above and below are both the before washing pictures.

Same shirt after washing below. Personally I would rather they stay the darker/brighter colors, but I haven't figured out how to do it. Just leave the colors on as long or longer than the directions say to.

Here are the shirts all lined up and ready for the reunion. Mine below is with the iron-on decal.

I used Tulip® T-shirt Transformers which I bought on clearance at Jo-Ann's for $.97. I think it was well worth the bargain price. L. is actually coveting my shirt and she'll probably get it once the reunion is over...maybe.

And since we still had a little bit of dye left over we went ahead and colored this bag that we store our baseball bases in. I don't think we'll lose it, do you? I really just wish it would remain this bright once it gets washed. Oh well.......long live tie dye! O.K. maybe not.

One of the kits we bought also had some glitter spray that you add at the very end. All 3 girls wanted that on their shirts. I would've taken a picture but you can't really see it that way. Let me just say that they love it. It does look cool in the sunlight. We also bought some glow-in-the-dark spray for the boys' shirts. It works! We tried it out.

Hobo Bandana Bundle

My 2 big girls wanted to do a sewing project and this is the one they picked from the book, Sew & Stow by Betty Oppenheimer, that we had checked out from our local library. We didn't have any bandanas around that either of them wanted to give up and use, but we did have fabric--go figure :) So we made the Fabric Remnant Bundle version as it is called in the book. (see pgs. 91-92)

Here is a nice tutorial that is basically the same that is shown in the book.

The concept is really easy. Lay your bandanas wrong sides together at a diagonal--with eight points showing. Sew a circular casing around the bandanas. Thread your cording and cinch it up.

Materials Needed:
Cording: 2 pieces 36" long each
Fabric: 4 - 23" square pieces of cotton
OR
2 Bandanas of your choice
Thread

One of the nice things about this little bag is that it is reversible--change your bag depending on your mood. However, using the fabric version it is a bit thick once you cinch it up tight (think 4 layers of fabric). I think that with using just bandanas it would cinch up more tightly and securely.

Either way you try it they are cute. The girls were happy with them, and the next 2 in line (Z. & B.) were quite jealous and wanted one too. We'll have to save that for another day.

Tie Dye and An Experiment

As part of our family reunion activities this year, we are having theme nights each night. We've all been busy working on our "get-ups" for each of the nights.

For 70's Night it's all about the Tie Dye! Here are all my shirts!

Since I was dying so many shirts, I opted for a solid color tie dye. It was a lot less messy and way less stressful for me. I'm sure the neighbors wondered what rainbow hippie died in my backyard when I had all my shirts hanging up to dry. It was quite the sight! But all the neighbor kids were like "cool shirts!"

My husband and I will never wear ours again, I'm sure, but our kids on the other hand couldn't put theirs on fast enough! I think they'll wear them every possible day they can. The reunion should be hilarious with 30 different shirts going on. I think we should change the night to "Ugly Shirt Night" or "Neon Night." Seems a bit more appropriate than just "70's Night."

I decided that I'd experiment and try dying some white fabric along with my shirts.
After washing and drying, my fabric came out a bit lighter than I had hoped, but not too terrible for a first time experiment.

The blue had the worst amount of this marbling look to it, but again, I can live with it. The yellow came out the best.

At this point, I don't have a particular project in mind. (My pieces were half yards.)

Anyone else had any experience dying fabric? Or any tie dye stories you want to share?

Sunday Poetry

Miss M. was bored this afternoon on a cold (52 degrees) and wet Sunday and decided to write some poetry. This is what she came up with:

Summer
Summer Sun
Run, Run, Run
Play all Day
Hip, Hip-hooray!
Green grass
Fish for bass
Summer, summer, summer

So, if you need a little idea for the out-of-school kids at your house, maybe you could have a poetry lesson/contest/reading....whatever comes to mind. You might come up with something great to share, and chase away the rainy day blues at the same time.

Giveaway

Leslie is having a giveaway on her Photo Blog. Go check it out!

Easy Father's Day Cards

If you haven't seen these yet, they are super easy to put together and there's lots of space for the kids to decorate a card for dad. :) I would recommend having them color on the piece of paper before folding it into the shirt. Also, using thicker paper like card stock, was harder to fold. I would use construction paper or just regular white paper.

Click here for the simple instructions!

Simplicity 3546

Simplicity 3546
We've made this pattern before as shirts--check out Here and Here. This time we made dresses.
L. continues to be on a "blue" kick. But at least this plaid has a little pink thrown in--just enough that it doesn't bug her. I used satin ribbon at the neckline and white cotton for the contrasting waistband/ties.
Here is another one for her--slightly different version. I really like a contrasting band at the hem. This is more like a really long shirt for her--she wears it with leggings. I couldn't find the exact color brown bias tape to do the contrasting facing topstitching, but oh well...she still likes it.
______________________________________
M. is our fashion diva, and it shows in this. I found this fabric and immediately thought of her. You should've seen her eyes light up when I showed it to her. I used contrasting turquoise fabric and then pink bias tape. LOVE how it turned out!!

Kimono Style Dress for Tweens

I made this dress as a big girl match to S's storybook dress. I used Simplicity 2993.

I'm hoping this dress will lessen the drama on Sunday mornings when the 7 year old "can't find anything to wear!" (said while screaming and crying)

I absolutely love this fabric! It is even more beautiful in person!

Gardening Party Apron

I made the aprons for my daughter's Gardening Party Birthday using the Deep Pockets apron pattern from the book A is for Apron. (see pg. 55-57)

**I orignally saw this book at Jo-Ann's, browsed thru it there, and then reserved it and checked it out from my local library before going back and buying it with a 40% off coupon. That was actually cheaper than buying it on Amazon.

I tweaked the pattern some and made some adjustments as I was going along. Hopefully, if you decide to make this pattern, this will help you avoid some of those things.

Instead of enlarging the pattern 400% for an adult size, per the directions in the book, I only enlarged it 350% and it worked out great for a child's size apron.

One - 4 yd. package of 1/4" double fold bias tape was enough to bind the inner curved edges on the pockets for all 8 aprons, with about 16" left over. If you were really good and careful I am sure you could get one more for a total of 9 aprons. (At 350% plan on 17" of bias tape per apron for the 2 pocket edges.)

The pattern originally called for a small piece of bias tape on the side edge, then with right sides together sew the body of the apron, trim, clip curves, and turn and press. I decided I didn't want that. So instead, after having cut the pieces out, I cut the little piece that jutted out and blended it into the curve of the apron. I hope this makes sense. See pics below.

This shows the back and pocket pieces pinned together.I then used the 1/4" double fold bias tape and enclosed both pieces--apron and pocket--along the entire outer curve of the apron. With such skinny bias tape make sure your two pieces are perfectly matched. I had to trim down one or the other in a couple spots so that I could get both pieces sandwiched in the bias tape. Pin the pieces to hold them together if need be. And/or pin the bias tape in place too.

One - 4 yd. package of 1/4" double fold bias tape was enough to bind the entire outer curved edge of 4 aprons--with 17" left over.

I decided that 1/2" double fold bias tape would be better for the ties than 1/4" bias tape. One - 3 yd. package of the extra wide double fold bias tape (1/2") was enough for ties on two aprons. (Cut 1 1/2 yd. lengths for the waistband and ties) Just remember to backstitch a bit at both edges of the apron and again where the pocket piece connects into the waistband as these would be the spots where it would most likely pull out from wear and tear.

The pattern calls for you to sew through all layers right down the middle of the apron/pocket in order to form two pocket sections. We chose not to do this with this size apron, but I would most likely do it on a larger apron.

If you're worried about applying bias tape, or have never done it before, click HERE for an easy tutorial from Wrights --they are the bias tape company.

This project cost me $7 in bias tape (7 pkgs. all on clearance for $.97/pkg.) Had there been more floral fabric I might have considered making my own bias tape, at least for the top waistband and ties.

I used about 1 yd. each of both the chambray and the floral.

$1.50-$2.00/yd. on the floral (I can't remember for sure.)
Chambray denim--free
Total cost for 8 aprons: $10.00

Here's all the little girlies with their finished plant pots and aprons.

Nine Patches

I finished sewing up all my nine patches for the quilt along. I think I have 48 done. Now, I am forcing myself to put this project away for a few weeks while I focus on the more urgent projects I have.

They include: finishing up 4 little girl dresses for a wedding, a bunch of family reunion stuff still left to do before July, and packing up for a move to our new house in the coming weeks. Life is insane around here to say the least! My husband keeps asking me when I'll be done with my sewing projects so we can start packing up my sewing room...(um, no answer!)

Gardening Party Birthday

This year for the 6 year old we had a little gardening themed party. Below are a few of the things that we did with 7 little kindergarten girls.

I made gardening aprons for all the little girls--mostly because I wanted to try out a pattern out of my A is for Apron book. But also, anytime I can reduce the stash of my fabric for a good cause I'm willing. I'll post in a day or two more of a detailed tutorial on how to make the little aprons. They were fun to do and all the little girls were happy to take one home. Total Cost for Aprons: $10.00

One of the things that we did to go along with our theme was each girl got to plant a couple petunias in a pot to take home. I scored big on the pots--the night before the party I found these cute ceramic containers at Menards for 33 cents apiece!! Oh yeah!!

I was so happy as I'd been trying to get clay pots for cheaper than a $1 apiece at any of the garden or craft stores but no one was having any sales on them. I had originally bought plastic cups to use for their flowers--but now I'll just save them for the 4th of July party.

For $1 I found these wallpaper stickers at the Dollar Tree and used those to decorate the pots. Each girl got about 4 different butterflies to put on their pot. A couple of the finished ones are shown below. Flower Project:

7 Pots at 33 cents apiece = $2.33
3 - 6 pk. of any kind annual flowers at $1.85 each = $5.55
Butterfly wallpaper stickers at $1.00 each
Total Cost: $8.88 Favor bags included:

• Floral pencils
• Flower pinwheels (shown above in the houseplant)
• Starbursts
• Balloons

All at about $1 per package

Miss B. was very specific this year on what her cake should look like. She kept telling me that she wanted a wedding cake. You always have to find out what that means when they say stuff like that. For her "wedding" meant differing sized layers and different flavors per layer, along with some flowers. Below is what I came up with: One 9 x 9 chocolate layer and one round vanilla layer. Frost it, add a little decorative border and throw (loose term) on some fake flowers. I probably could've done a little better job with the placement of the flowers, but all in all I was pleased with it.

Cake Mix for $1.00

Butterfly find at Michael's for $1.99. (We found it near the floral decorating items)

2 bunches of flowers at the Dollar Tree for $2.

Homemade frosting

Total cake cost: $7-8

Here is our table setting:

Pack of paper plates $1

Pack of paper napkins $1

Pack of pink plastic cups $1

Pack of plastic silverware $1

Total Cost papergoods: $4 (with a bunch of items still left over)

Lunch---probably around $10-15 for chicken nuggets, grapes, chips, and lemonade.

Grand Total: around $50

Storybook Dress

Leslie is closest to me in age of all my sisters. Because of this we share a lot of the same memories. (Pictures of each of us as a child usually includes the other.) One of our favorite books as kids was a book called The Big Tidy Up. It's about a girl with a really messy room. Her mom decides that if she doesn't want to clean it up, she'll make her live in it indefinately.

We've been talking for awhile about trying to recreate a dress from this book. I mean, check out all the great inspirations it provides:

We weren't sure if we'd be able to find fabric with the right look, but Leslie found this fabric that is a darn close match to the dress below.

So here's our version of the Storybook Dress

I found this awesome button in my button stash. I have no idea where it came from, or when/if I even bought it, but I love it on this dress.

Cramming

After signing up for the one a day quilt along at Crazy Mom Quilts I promptly started some other sewing projects and put the quilt along on the back burner. By day 22 I hadn't even started. But I really, really love the look of this quilt, so I pulled out my scraps and did some last minute cramming.

I spent about 3 1/2 hours cutting thru my small scrap stash. I ended up with 48 blocks (I think!). Since it's now day 24 of the quilt along, I'm ahead of the game, right?

On the left are my rows ready to be sewn into finished nine patches~on the right are my squares for the border. There isn't a stitch of fabric left in my 6" square piles. I'm pretty happy about that as some of those fabrics have been in there for a looonng time!

I'm really wanting my quilt to have a true scrap feel so I am not using any duplicate fabrics (other than the border) for any of the 9 patches. I think that will give it a great old feel. I'm also trying not to use too many "designer" prints.

Peasant Top and Capris

Used my stand-by peasant top pattern and made this cute litte shirt for B. (She was unhappy for this pic because I think I wouldn't give her something to eat that she wanted). Didn't quite have enough of the blue floral so I made the sleeves out of some more of the eyelet that I had in my stash. I think it was from a dust ruffle that I bought secondhand at the thrift store just for the eyelet. The eyelet was about 12 inches wide and I figured I could use it for skirts, etc.

Bias tape casing for the sleeve elastic.

I also added a little hint of the eyelet at the bottom of both the top and the capris. Not sure if I love it or not on the capri hem, but she likes it so I'll leave it there.