The Totally Terrific Tie Tutorial
Easter is coming soon! And, Easter tends to bring beautiful handmade dresses for all the pretty little girls. Piles of flowery fabric and stacks of frilly patterns have made their way to sewing rooms everywhere. Boys, on the other hand, are so much harder to sew for when it comes to dress-up clothes! Most of us tend to go for simple and traditional button down shirts and dress pants for our little guys. How about dressing up those plain tops with a fun, personalized, handmade tie . . . or two . . . or a dozen!
Ties are so fast and easy to sew, even ties that fasten with hook & loop tape (like Velcro) or pull on over the head with elastic!
You might even find that your teenage boys will get excited about wearing something mama-made, if it’s a tie made with a great fabric! (I can’t believe how grown-up my Allen looks in this picture! And, for the record, he not only said, “That’s pretty cool,” when he saw the tie, but he also wore it to his writing class this morning.)
Don’t they look handsome? (Even if they all really need haircuts!)
I had to try these ties out with my Everyday Camp Shirts! I wasn’t sure at all how they would work since the Camp Shirt pattern is really meant to be worn as a more casual top. (It doesn’t even have a top button!) I think they look adorable, though! What do you think?
I did find that they look much nicer with the Velcro-type fastener than with the elastic, though. I think that’s because the Camp Shirt has a wider neckline than a traditional button-down dress shirt. How can you resist a sweet little guy in a matching top and tie?! 
I’d say my little guys approve! (Or maybe big sister, Samantha, was making faces behind my back while I was photographing?)
Ready to sew up a batch of ties for all the little boys and young men in your household? I’ve got a tutorial all ready for you! The tutorial includes patterns and instructions for Velcro and Elastic Ties in sizes to fit little ones from 2-4 and from 5-8, and it includes the pattern and instructions for a Traditional Tie for your bigger boys from ages 8 to about 14. You’ll find the tutorial right here: The Totally Terrific Tie Tutorial. If you sew one or two or more, I would love to see!
Addition/Correction: It’s been brought to my attention that I did not specify the seam allowance on the original tutorial. 1/2″ seam allowance is included. So sorry about that!
At Least It’s Not Blood
Yesterday was one of those days. You know the kind, right? One of those days when things just don’t go as you planned, but you love life anyway? My naptime plans yesterday included a blog post about my living room floor cushions (the ones that you can see up in my new blog banner above) and finishing up the tutorial that I should be posting right now. Around 1:30, I went to put Charlie, who couldn’t have been out of my view for more than two minutes, down for nap. I came around the corner, though, to find him standing on the staircase covered in what most definitely looked like blood! I think all moms know that rush of adrenaline that pours uncontrollably through your body when you see a sight like that. “Charlie! Is that blood?” He was remarkably calm for it to be blood, but he could have just been in shock, right? “No.” “What is it?!” “I don’t know.” “Where did you get it?” At this point, I realized that it most definitely did not smell like blood. “I don’t know.” “Show me where you got this.” Nail polish. Bright cherry red nail polish. All over the master bathroom. Tile. Counter. Faucet. Toilet. Cabinets. Rug. And, of course, all over Charlie. At least it wasn’t blood, right? Time to find a better place for the nail polish.
He did do a fairly good job of painting his big toenail, didn’t he? So, I spent naptime cleaning up Charlie and then cleaning up nail polish. It takes forever to remove bright red nail polish from a bathroom, by the way. It did come off of almost everything, though. Only the rug went into the garbage. It did not come off of Charlie very well, however. There will be a little bit of photo-editing involved with that tutorial so that no one thinks my little guy is covered in blood. Which, by the way, I am still very thankful it was not!
In other exciting news, the Fishsticks Designs Facebook page hit a huge milestone last night! I posted this photo to my Instagram and my personal FB page just before dinner:
And with the help of a few sweet friends, including Kristy at Hopeful Threads and Leigh at Rooibos Mom, this is where we are this morning!
I think a celebration of some sort is in order! I’m working on something for next week! In the meantime, barring any unforeseen nail polish incidents, that little boys’ Easter tutorial is coming this afternoon.
Adding a bit of an update here since this topic of little ones getting into things that can cause them harm is so important: We choose to purchase products that are as safe as possible, including all of our cleaners and cosmetics. It’s important to do that, especially when you have small children in your home. It’s impossible to have your eyes on your child every second. Things like deodorant, toothpaste, perfume, nail polish — those things that we use everyday can be dangerous for our little ones. It’s important to keep these things up high where children can’t reach them, but children are resourceful. If a natural non-toxic option is available, I’m always going to choose it. When my child gets out of my site for a few minutes and paints his toenail and drips polish on the cabinets, toilet and tile in the process, I don’t want to have to worry about anything more than cleaning up the mess.
February Riley Blake Mystery Quilt Block – Hearts
Yes, February is over, but I’m not considering myself behind on this block since the next block doesn’t come out until Monday. (I almost called this Block #2, instead of the February Block, but I already called the first block January, so . . . )
The second Mystery Quilt Block in Riley Blake’s Quilt Block of the Month series is a paper-pieced, appliqued heart. The video was actually down on the weekend that I started my block so I just downloaded the pattern and used the freezer-paper piecing technique that I’m familiar with. 
It wasn’t until I watched the video a few days later that I realized my heart is pieced backwards. Who’s going to notice, right? Oh, and I stitched the right and left portions together first instead of the top and bottom portions. Ooops! It worked out, though!
My husband wandered in at about the point below and said, “I thought you were making a heart?” “It’s an abstract quilt, Dear.” 
Jina’s and Cindy’s blocks on the Riley Blake blog were finished using reverse applique. My “abstract” heart sat around here for over a week waiting to be trimmed into a non-abstract heart while I waffled back and forth over how I was going to finish it. In the end, though, lack of time thanks to a weekend lost to a nasty little stomach bug that attacked the whole family, led me to go with a quicker method. A little sewable iron-on adhesive coupled with the blanket-stitch on my sewing machine, and the applique was done.
Here’s my Heart Block all finished!
And here are the January and February blocks together. I think I’m ready for March!
A Sewing Soiree!
Oh, my! I had so much fun on Friday night! Sarah of Blue Susan Makes and Caroline of Sew Can She invited me to join them for their first Sewing Soiree!
Sarah taught the group how to make her Simple Tote.
Caroline brought along some sewing toys for us to play with, including this very cool digital Slice cutter!
The whole house was buzzing with shared tips and guidance, the humming of over a dozen busy sewing machines, the snipping of scissors and the steaming of irons. 
There was a beautiful spread of yummy treats and some great door prizes! Everyone who came got to take home a little gift bag with a fat quarter, ribbon and a presser foot guide from Sew Can She! (I just saw that Sarah is giving away a goodie bag AND a beautiful set of handmade pot holders over at Blue Susan Makes this week! Go enter and join in on a little bit of the fun!)
We chatted and sewed and ate and laughed and had a blast! I can’t wait to do it again!
Sew-vivor Season 2!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to outwit, outplay and outlast in a Survivor-like competition, only in your dream version of the popular reality TV show, you would survive based on your sewing skills?! If so, then you need to run over to the Family Ever After blog and audition for the second season of SEW-VIVOR! Not only will the challenges all involve sewing, but the prizes are fabric and patterns, AND you don’t have to be dropped off on a remote beach, make a fire with two sticks or sleep outside in the cold rain with a group of strangers for 39 days!
This season, Fishsticks Designs is sponsoring Sew-vivor with pattern prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Auditions are open now through March 11. The Top 10 contestants will be announced on the 13th, and they will advance to the sewing competition which runs through the end of April. (If you don’t end up being one of the finalists, though, you should sew along anyway! I will be!)
You know you want to see what the prizes are and check out the competitors so far, don’t you?
To read all the rules and to enter, just click right here!
Sew-vivor
The Fabric Flower Book Winner & A Peek at Next Week
Random.org chose comment #73 as the winner of Indygo Junction’s Fabric Flowers book and the sewing supplies from Clover!
That comment was from Diann! Diann wrote, “The raw edged flower is the best! I can see it on summer sun hats…” Congratulations, Diann! I’ll be in touch with you to get your mailing address.
Since I already have your attention, would you like to see a little peek at the Easter tutorial that I’m working on for next week? It’s something that will help you get your little guys all dressed up for Easter Sunday.
The Mud Puddle Splashers!
Good morning! I know I said I was going to be back at naptime yesterday, but I got distracted by cookies — all-natural, gluten-free, coconut flour, chocolate chip pecan cookies. Yum. I need to tweak the recipe a little and then maybe I’ll share! 
Really, I got wrapped up packaging up a couple of wholesale orders and answering emails, and the afternoon got away from me, but I did bake cookies. My kids needed some mama-time.
Back to the subject at hand! The complete Mud Puddle Splashers pattern is done! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It’s become my go-to for quick and simple basic pants and shorts for my two youngest boys. I love that the little extras don’t take much time, but they make a huge difference in the finished look and the practicality of the pants.
The side seam pockets are a huge hit with my little guys. Pants are just not pants without pockets for your hands or your pennies. (Remember, if you have a big enough piece of fabric, you can cut the pockets and the legs in one piece. You’ll find instructions right here: Naptime Mud Puddle Splashers.)
The faux fly gives the look of a zipper without the fuss. Little ones appreciate the ease of the elastic waist and big kids like the comfort. 
The back pockets are the perfect finishing touch. I’ve said before that I think back pockets make the difference between a pair of pants looking not-quite-done verses properly-finished. (My husband is actually the one who originally expressed that opinion to me when he asked me to be sure and add back pockets to our boys handmade bottoms.)
And, the cuff! Experienced moms know that kids tend to grow up faster than they grow out. How many times have you looked at your child and thought how did those pants get so short so fast? The optional cuff really extends the life of these pants so you get more wear-time for the work that you put into the sewing. (I can certainly appreciate that!)
I mentioned last week that I had plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from the MPS to charities that benefit at-risk children. I still absolutely want to do that. I originally designed this pattern for charity, and I want it to continue to have that purpose. I’m actually glad that I put off posting this introduction, though, because I needed to research the laws about businesses giving a portion of the profits of something to charity. I’m still not sure if Florida has a specific law, but most states do, and I’m not big enough to pay an attorney to help me out with it. So, for now, I’m going to have to remove that wording from the pattern listing and the paper-pattern cover. I’ll just have to continue to look for other ways to give and encourage you to give! (There are still two days left to sew bibs for the February Hopeful Threads Dinner for 2 project!)
I’ll wrap up this post with a little reminder of where this pattern got started! If you want to read more about the project that we completed last July or where the Mud Puddle Splashers name originated, including why in the world I made mud puddles in the backyard and let my children jump in them, just click over to this post: Boys Shorts Month at Hopeful Threads.
You can find all of my patterns, including these three new ones, in my pattern store: Fishsticks Designs. The patterns are arranged in alphabetical order, and the new ones have a little white banner in the upper left-hand corner so they’re easier for you to find.
The Scrappy Sack!
Do you have a pile of favorite fabric scraps that you’d love to put to use? How about sewing up a Scrappy Sack? You can use pieces of every size! (The care-free look of this bag even lends itself well to pieced together pieces. If you look closely at the pictures in the instructions, you might see that I pieced together a couple of the strap pieces and the back of the main front pocket. Except for the solid inner, I made this whole bag with stash scraps from ADORNit’s Vintage Groove Collection.)
The Scrappy Sack has three raw-edge pockets on the front that give it that fun frayed-edge look. There are two small cell-phone-ish sized pockets and a larger middle pocket that is perfect for many e-readers or other things that you need to grab quickly. With a finished size of 13 ½” x 14″ x 4″, this bag is not small at all, but it’s not so big that you feel as if you could carry the kitchen sink. 
The fabric-covered button and loop are great little places to showcase your tiniest bits of favorite fabric. I love the little bird on this one!
The Basic Bag strap is designed to be worn across the body, low on the hips, but instructions are included for shortening the strap to the perfect length for you. Inside, the Basic Bag has four pockets: two business-card pockets and two pen/pencil pockets.
But what if you want a bag that you can use no matter where you are? We can’t be happy-go-lucky all the time, right? Sometimes, you just have to be a little more sophisticated. How about a reversible Scrappy Sack?
The Reversible Scrappy Sack uses the same pockets on the reverse side as the Basic Bag but with finished edges. Of course, you could sew the Basic Bag with finished edges, too, but where’s the fun in that? I think my favorite thing about the reversible bag is how the bright and cheery, happy side peeks out just the tiniest bit even when that classy, sophisticated side thinks it has it hidden away!
I’ll be sharing more about the Mud Puddle Splashers Shorts & Pants Pattern during naptime this afternoon! You can find all three of my new patterns, and all of my other current patterns in my pattern store right here: Fishsticks Designs Pattern Store.
The Katie J. Jumper!
My three newest patterns are all ready for you and available now as downloadable e-patterns in the Fishsticks Designs Pattern Store! First up is the Katie J. Jumper. I love all the options that this simple little dress offers! You can see the two strap options above. The stretch strap is elasticized and has a pretty gathered look. My oldest daughter, Morgan, loves this one for our granddaughter, Katie, because it’s cute and easy to get on and off!
The knotted strap dresses the jumper up a little and adds a bit of modern style. The strap pulls through a loop that is attached to the bodice rather than through a button-hole. This gives the bodice a comfortable fit.
There are two back choices for the jumper. The one-piece back on the basic jumper gives it a contemporary feel. (This pictures also gives you a good idea of where the basic jumper hem falls. It’s right at or just below the knee. )
The gathered back is really just a repeat of the front bodice and skirt, and it gives the jumper a fuller, more traditional finished look.
There are two reversible options for this dress, too! (You can peek at the second option in that picture just above.) The first reversible option is the basic reversible jumper. It’s a straight-forward reversible option that you can make with either back choice.
The second reversible option is the Double-Layer Reversible Jumper. The Double-Layer Reversible Jumper is slightly longer than the Basic Jumper, falling about 2″ below the knee. The reverse side of this jumper is finished with a bottom band which peeks out under the hem on the main side. 
That wraps up the details on the Katie J. Jumper. You can find it right here: The Katie J. Jumper E-Pattern. I’ll be back in a bit to share more about the Mud Puddle Splashers and the Scrappy Sack!
The Snapsource SnapSetter Winners are . . .
The winners of last week’s Snapsource SnapSetter Giveaway are Carla, Paula and DM! Congratulations to all three of you! I’ll be in touch with you via email or Facebook later today.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
New patterns are coming late this afternoon!
