Sewing/Crafts
There’s a Contest Coming!
I love seeing the clothing and bags that you’ve sewn from my Fishsticks Designs patterns, especially when they’re modeled by your little ones! I’ve been thinking on this for a little while, and I’m working on putting together a photo contest. More details are coming soon, but until then start snapping photographs of the things that you’ve created with Fishsticks Designs patterns in action.
I would love to offer several prizes, so if you’re a reader and you’d like to donate a prize for the contest, just click here and drop me a line!
Short Sleeves for Summer
It’s Mending Week over at Making More with Less which reminded me of these three shirts that have been sitting in my mending pile.
The top shirt was Allen’s favorite this past winter. The other two were discovered in the bottom of one of his drawers when I cleaned out the winter clothes . . . they’d never even been worn! I thought since they all had long sleeves sewn under short sleeves, I could convert them to summer apparel really easily.
I started by simply cutting the long sleeve portion off, just below the hem on the short sleeve, but that left this funky piece at the bottom seam.
So I grabbed my trusty seam ripper and ripped out the portion of that seam where the long sleeve had been sewn in. (A quick tip: When you’re ripping out serging, the easiest way is to find the side with the two rows of stitching that run parallel, slide your seam ripper under both stitches and rip them out. Every three of four stitches will do the trick. Then just pull the two pieces of fabric apart.)
Once that was done, I was able to cut off that little bit of extra fabric,
and then serge the seam back together. (If you don’t have a serger, it would be perfectly fine to sew those back together, too!)
Twenty minutes of work, and three tops are ready to add to Allen’s summer wardrobe.
Here’s Chewy, back in action . . .
It’s My Turn!
June is my month to send off fabrics and have quilt blocks sewn for me at the Fresh Comfort Virtual Quilting Bee. I chose Monaluna Chickens for Robert Kaufman as the main fabric and asked for the other quilters to fussy cut the chickens and feature them somehow. Everything else about the blocks, I’m leaving up to them! I’m planning to sew up a whimsical quilt and maybe some accessories for my kitchen when I get them all back.
I did a couple of blocks myself before I sent the fabrics off. I started with this fun wonky house block with a giant chicken in the yard:
Then I sewed up a more traditional Shoofly block with chickens peeking out from each side:
May Quilt Blocks for the Fresh Comfort Quilting Bee
Carrie asked for 3″, 6″, 9″ and 12″ blocky squares this month. She wanted traditional as well as wonky blocks. I had a lot of fun with this one! The block above is a 9″ wonky bento box block. The ones below are 6″ and 3″ improvisational blocks. (That blue, green and purple stripe fabric refused to be ironed flat!)
And, as usual, I sewed up two blocks using the same patterns for the quilt that I’m working on putting together.
Next month is my month to send off fabric and receive blocks! I’m so excited! I have all the fabric picked out, and I’m working on a few sample blocks right now.
I’m Late! I’m Late! I’m Late! SMS Giveaway Winner
It’s been a busy couple of days, and I just haven’t had time to sit down and find the winner until now. I loved reading everyone’s comments about my blog and what you love about newborns. Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Days are always so much fun! On to the winner . . . random.org had chosen comment #184:
And, comment #184 is from Tara of Tinkerfrog! Congratulations, Tara! I can’t wait to see the sweet baby clothes that you make with the Little One Layette Pattern and fabric.
May Giveaway Day!
It’s May Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew! I always have a great time checking out all the amazing blogs, and, of course, giving away something. We’ve welcomed a new baby boy into our family since the last giveaway day. Baby Charlie was born February 12th, and he is such a blessing!
For this giveaway, I thought I’d share in the joy of sewing tiny baby clothes. They really are so much fun to sew, whether you’re sewing for your own little one or sewing for a shower gift. The winner will receive a copy of my Little One Layette pattern and 1/2 yard each of Pink Chickadees and MOM Robots, both on 100% cotton interlock.
In order to enter, just leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen at random, but I’d love to hear what you think of my blog or maybe what you enjoy most about newborn babies. I’ll keep the comments section open until Thursday, May 20th at 10 p. m. central time and post the winner the following morning.
Little Folks Tunic
The finalists for Spring Top Week are posted at Made by Rae, and they are amazing! I love all the ruffles and gathers. Obviously I didn’t finish this tunic in time for the contest, but I did finish it! That’s at least a start, right?
The pattern is Kwik Sew 3162 and the fabric is Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile. The pattern was really easy to follow. The only real modification I made was the hem on the sleeves. I just added a simple band to finish them at 3/4 length. Anna Maria Horner’s Voile is amazing. It’s really easy to work with and has the perfect feel and drape for clothing.
Eliott Elephant Little One Layette Modeled!
I do realize that I missed the whole entry period for the Rae’s Spring Top Week. It’s a little sad that I didn’t get to enter a top, but this little guy has been keeping me very busy, and who could look into those beautiful blue eyes and complain? I do, actually, have the tunic that I wanted to make partially cut out . . . maybe I’ll finish it this weekend?
Charlie is growing so fast. I won’t be able to squeeze him into this outfit for too much longer. It’s the wrong season for it now anyway. Now that our little photoshoot is done, I’ll pack it away.
The beautiful blanket behind Charlie in the pictures was crocheted just for him by my mom. It’s gorgeous in real life!
Just one more . . . don’t you want to squeeze him?
Ladybug Diaper Bag #2
My friend, Michelle, is a week overdue with a new little one. I promised her a diaper bag like the one that I made for us, but with a new little one of my own, it’s taken me a bit to get it finished. Michelle let me pick out the fabrics, so I really hope she likes it! I love how it turned out. Maybe having a cute new diaper bag all ready to go will encourage baby girl or boy to come out and meet us?
I used the Ladybug Diaper Bag pattern and made the same modifications that I did for the Mom & Baby Bag I made for Charlie a few months ago. The changing pad is a layer of the cotton woven in the bag backed with organic bamboo/cotton velour. It’s soooo soft!
Fresh Comfort Quilt Blocks for April
I am really enjoying the Fresh Comfort Virtual Quilting Bee. Each month I get to learn a new technique or try out a new idea for a quilt block! This month, Tacey asked us to do Opposites Attract blocks for her quilt. The idea of this block is to pair a busy pieced area with a quiet area featuring one main fabric.
For the first block, I did randomly pieced pinwheels using the main fabric for the bottom quarter of the block. For Tacey’s second block, I pieced together squares of the coordinating fabrics around a strip of the main choice.
Samantha fell in love with Tacey’s fabric selections, and I happen to have a few yards of the main fabric in my stash so you may see this combination again in a quilt for her in the future!
And, as usual, I made matching blocks in the same patterns to keep for myself.
