Juicy Bits

203: more christmas do-dads

Just a few more little christmas gifts that I hadn't got around to posting.

I added these little embroidered sprouts (vines?) to a yummy fur-lined sweatshirt from Old Navy for my Aunt.  (I know, not my best picture taking this time around.)

Here's some things I learned: Don't over-iron tiny bits of fabric adhered with fusible web.  The glue can sort of start to melt away and they won't stick too well.  Also, use a round-tipped needle when embroidering on knit.  You'd think that one would have been obvious to me since I know to do that for machine sewing, but it took me a bit to figure it out.

I also made these coat hook plaques for my sister's apartment.  They're inexpensive wood plaques from Michaels that I painted and mod podged fabric onto.  When I use mod podge on fabric I find it best to paint a layer on the the back of the fabric before cutting it and let it dry.  This makes the fabric stiff and allows you to cut without frayed edges and it seems to prevent so many bubbles.

JT

191: I will blog tonight

I've been telling myself that all day, and while it's technically now tomorrow, I'm on it.  Obviously.

A while back I promised to share the results of all serger-sewing-fun I had this summer.  These dresses are my favorite.

One is for Aurora and the other for her best friend who just happened to move half-way around the world this summer.

They are made from recycled t-shirts that I mostly got at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  A few pieces are old dresses or t-shirts that Aurora used to own and probably had  stain or something on them.  One is even from old PJ pants of mine.

I knew I was going to do very piece-y stuff in bright colors and I found this etsy seller for inspiration.  The patterns are my own, and obviously that took the longest time.  The actual sewing of the dresses is quite quick.

 I got very addicted to shopping at the thrift store.  I went there at least 3 times and spent more than $30 on t-shirts, most of which only cost $.99 each.  You do the math.  I now have big bins of t-shirt scraps to work with.  Luckily I feel pretty certain I'll make more.  She loves the style and wearability of the dress.  I've also made her another and Theo a couple of pieced t-shirts.  I'll try to get pictures of those.  I love Theo's t-shirts because boys clothes often bore me.  And I might want to try some adult sizes, but it's harder to come by big enough pieces.

 

And now I frequent the thrift store on half-off day.  I just can't get over buying Gap jeans for the kids for $.99.  They both now have several pairs of jeans in too big sizes.  I have to scour the racks, but I always find some good stuff.  And I did get quite a few props for her Harry Potter party.  By the way, it's over (thank goodness) and it was a smashing success.  Whenever I have the photos edited, I promise to share.

JT

170: Little Girls, Big Style blog tour

Hi all.

You're in for a real treat today.  I'm lucky enough to be able to giveaway a copy of Mary Abreu's new book, Little Girls, Big Style.  

 

So, if you haven't heard of it, the premise is this: it has 4 basic patterns (basic bodice, peasant top/dress, skirts, pants) that are all full size pull-outs and you can use them to make endless different designs for your little girl.

Now, while I've read the book (great detailed instructions), I don't actually have my own copy yet.  It's on order.  So I can't show you anything fabulous I've made from it yet.  But I'm sure I will.  For now you can feast your eyes on Mary's lovely photography.

Anyway, I asked Mary a few question that I thought might be of interest to like-minded folks like you.

I love that your book allows the sewist to be their own designer.  When you started sewing for your daughter, I assume you used commercial patterns.  How did you make the transition to developing your own patterns?  

I grew up sewing the same Big Three patterns I think most people use and never really knew there were any other options. When I returned to sewing a few years ago, some online friends who also sewed were incredibly supportive and generous with their advice. They introduced me to European patterns, the Sewing Mamas forum and helped get me on the path to developing my own patterns. Once I had those basic pieces to sew with, I sort of challenged myself to see how many ways I could alter those patterns and change them up, which was infinitely easier than drafting a completely new pattern and going through the process of testing it. The results are what you see in Little Girls, Big Style. And I’m still going back to those patterns and making new hacks!

The photography in the book is just beautiful.  Will you tell us bloggers what kind of camera/lens you use and any secrets you have?

My current camera is a Canon 30D and I go back and forth between using a Canon 50mm/1.4 and a Tamron 28-75mm/2.0 lens. I probably have the Tamron on my camera 90 percent of the time just because it’s so versatile and I get such great shots with it. My biggest secret? Copious amounts of begging and bribery. LOL! Honestly, I’m really fortunate to have some great photographer friends who’ve given me lots of constructive criticism through the years. I try to shoot with natural light whenever I can, keep my shoots short and fun, and use an assistant if at all possible so I can focus on the technical and composition aspects while someone else engages the model (a suggestion made to me by the awesome photographers at C&T) I’m really a hands-on learner, so just picking up my camera and practicing as often as I can really has helped me grow, too.

Finally, lots of crafters (especially bloggers) dream about writing their own book.  How did the whole process go for you?  How did you find a publisher?  Was it difficult to fit the work of writing a book into your life with several children?

As far as the process...it was long and sometimes discouraging. I’m not a “name.” I don’t have a fabric line or patterns, just a small blog, so it wasn’t like publishers were knocking down my door. I had the idea that would become Little Girls, Big Style about 2-1/2 years ago, ran it by a dear friend (Lisa Carroccio) to get her opinion, then started researching publishers and working on submitting my proposal. And was rejected. Twice. In hindsight, I can see that I wasn’t presenting to the right people but when you’re in the middle of it, it’s a little harder to separate that from being turned down. I tend to believe that things happen for a reason, though, and I’m so glad they did because Stash/C&T have been just amazing to work with and I’m so glad to be a part of their roster of authors! 
I’m incredibly fortunate that I come from a journalism background. I started out as a reporter at my hometown paper 20 years ago and working in a deadline-oriented environment really is sort of second nature for me, so the actual writing just...happens. It’s hard to explain. I once described myself as “a writer who sews;” I think that’s pretty apropos. Still, my first job is “mom” and I struggled to balance those obligations with my book deadlines. I was working on the first draft of the book with about two months of summer vacation left and three kids at home. I’d grab an hour here or there when I really would have loved dedicating a solid four hours to writing. My husband and older kids were just a huge help, pitching in with laundry and housework, and I really couldn’t have done it without them. Once school started, I was happy to have those daily three hours of preschool to use towards sewing and writing (or sometimes laundry)! 

If you'd like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment here by Monday Dec 13 and I will pick a winner randomly that night.  Only one entry per person please!

If you want more chances to win, stop by the other sites on the blog tour.

12/6 Lisa http://thedomesticdiva.wordpress.com
12/7 Susan http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com
12/8 Jessica http://juicy-bits.typepad.com
12/9 Penny http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com
12/10 Daria http://boutiquecafe.com
12/11 Rashida http://iheartlinen.typepad.com
12/12 Kristin http://sewmamasew.com/blog2
12/13 Jona http://jonag.typepad.com
12/14 Kim http://trueup.net 
12/15 Bari http://barij.typepad.com

JT

 

 

146: stunning samples

Hi all.  

Can you believe I forgot to post lately?  Not like "Oh, I'm such a bad blogger I really must post more" (which I've vowed not to continually repeat) but like it's just been slipping my mind.  Blogging has been such second nature (and yes a little bit of a chore sometimes) that I'm just kinda surprised it hasn't worked it's way onto my to-do list until now.

And here's the fun thing: recently I hit 1000 subscribers on google reader!  I was waiting for that occasion so now I'll have to come up with a giveaway.  Check back for more details soon.

 

Anyway, these pictures are some gorgeous samples made with Timber.  They are courtesy of Pacific Fabric and Crafts for a regional show in California.  

 

The pillows are Amy Butler's Midwest Mod Pillows and the bag is the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey.  The tunic is Amy Buler's Liverpool Tunic and the quilt is the my free pattern, Balance of Nature.

 

So wonderful to see beautiful things sewn up with my fabric.  A few more have shown up in the Flickr pool, but I'm dying to see more...

JT

120: in a field of gold

I know things have been pretty quite here lately.  I have some gorgeous pictures of Theo's constrcution party to share with you, but I just don't have the time to put it all together.  And we had the most marvelous day for Aurora's birthday at the farm...could not have been more gorgeous.  So hopefully soon with those.

But for now how about a peek at some of the samples I made with my spoonflowered Timber?  

What's taking up all my time lately is making up samples for Quilt Market.  As soon as I take some pictures I'll share those too.

These picture of Aurora modeling for me are from the same day I took the ones of her pillowcase dress.  What a sport she was.  :)

JT

95: the glitz and the glam

In keeping with the theme of some of the more "retro" sewing I've done, here's a little look at the glitzy world of ballroom gowns.

I've mentioned before that my husband and I dance.  In fact, that's how we met.  Anyway, we used to do it a lot more before we had kids.  We took several lesson a week.  Did some shows and a little teaching.  And even competed once.

But to do a show right, you need the right look.  And it's showy for sure.  Lots of rhinestones. 

And the dresses cost a ton.  Thousands of dollars.  Not exactly in the budget...but I'm always up for a sewing challenge.

So, I set out to learn about the construction of such dresses.  It's not easy because they're all stretch material and you really have to consider how they move etc.  And don't get me started on the rhinestones.  There are literally thousands of them on there.  And each one put on individually by hand.

That's why I'm in awe of Dancing with the Stars (No, I don't watch it anymore cause really who has 4 hours a week to dedicate to one show?).  They churn those costumes out so quickly and they are NOT easy.

Anyway, these two gowns are 2 of the ballroom ones I've made.  Maybe someday I'll show you the latin ones (a bit racier).  They're both my own design adapted from parts of patterns here and there.

The blue one I actually won a contest from the big name in couture ballroom - Chrisanne.  I painted the design onto the dress with fabric paint.  Considering it's not really intended to be stretchy, it's held up remarkably well.

Here's an action shot of me actually dancing the gown.  I wish I had more good ones (this is scanned and I seriously need Photoshop to revamp it a bit) to show you but really most of them pre-dated good digital cameras.  Just sitting on the dressform doesn't really show you how much volume and movement they have .

Well, folks I think I have to sign off until after Market...I promise to come back with my creative juices all revved up!  Hopefully I'll take some of that inspiration and translate it to actual projects...

Ciao.

JT

90: easter goodies

This was my easter creation for Aurora.  I guess you can ignore all my comments about not sewing clothes for the kids much.

I really love this dress, particularly because I could use lots of my favorites from my stash.

She had quite a few compliments on it, and it's funny because she's come to expect that.  She told me that people had better make a fuss about how pretty her dress is.

   

I created my own pattern for this dress.  The inspiration is this dress from Chasing Fireflies.  As you can see it's not really the same style, just shares the ruffled back.  By the way...I love the kids clothes at Chasing Fireflies, but they're SO expensive. 

I'm wondering if this is something others would like to buy a pattern for.  It's not the easiest dress ever.  The actual sewing level isn't that high, but it's time consuming making all those ruffles.  I already have some modifications in mind, but I wondered if it was too intimidating for anyone to want to buy.

You're my market research, so speak up if you're interested...

I didn't make an outfit for Theo, but of course, he looked darling.

Here's the whole happy family:

So, I'm wondering....didn't it used to be warm for Easter?  I have all these pictures of me outside in short sleeves and I know my dad would have made me suffer through the cold like I did to my kids, but I really don't remember that.  I should probably just make my kids do a photo shoot like 2 weeks after Easter on a nice day.

Oh, and I ordered these awesome bunny cookies from cakebox cookies and they really rocked.  I mean so delicious, and I'm really picky.  I wanted to test them out as a potential source for party favors and I will definitely order again.

JT

88: sweet ruffles

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.  And, Happy Spring to everyone in this hemisphere!

This is a little preview of the easter dress I made for Aurora.  It's my own pattern and you will see it in it's entirety very soon.   I have to process the tons of pictures I took today.

It doesn't have the high twirl-a-bility factor that her Xmas one did, but what it lacks in that department, I think it makes up for in poofy ruffles.  Tons of 'em.

It was fun using some of my favorite girly fabrics from my stash.  I think I only bought 1 yard of fabric for the main body of the dress...

Have a great day...

JT

85: baby blanket gift set - part 2

Well, I'm back with the rest of our gift set tutorial.  I know I said how much work these things were last time, but I think I kinda forgot.  I don't have any others in the works right now, but after a break maybe I'll forget again and come up with something.  :)

So first, the bib:

1.  Using the bib pattern, cut out one piece from the leftover blanket fabric. (You already cut out the one from the binding fabric.)

2.  Using the bib pattern, cut out one piece from the terry cloth.  I use this inside the fabric to absorb lots of drool or spilled drinks.  :)

3.  Pin all three pieces together so the right sides of the fabric are together and the terry cloth is on the outside of one side.

4.  Using a 1/2" seam, start sewing on one side just before the bottom curve.  Sew almost all the way around leaving a 4-5" opening on the straight part of one side.

5.  Clip the seam allowances of all the curves.

6.  Turn the bib right side out.  Press flat making sure to fold in the seam allowances in the opening.  Pin the opening close to the edge.

7.  Topstitch around the entire edge, at about 1/8" from the edge.  This includes stitching over the opening so the seam allowances are caught and it is now closed up.

8.  Sew on velcro at neck.  You can use snaps if you prefer.

  

Your bib is complete!

Next the burp cloths:

1.  Cut a 9"x 16 1/2" piece of the leftover blanket fabric.

2.  Cut four 9" x 16 1/2" pieces of the terry cloth.  (I mentioned before that you can use a towel for this because it will be easier to get a coordinated color.  If you do, it will probably be thick enough that you only need one layer.)

3.  Pin together each fabric rectangle with 2 terry rectangles.  Make sure your right side is on the inside.

    

4.  Now basically you do the same thing as the bib: sew around the edge leaving a hole, clip the corners, turn it right side out, press, and topstitch around the edge.  

5.  Repeat for the second burp cloth.

Finally, the embellished onsie:

1.  First, from your scraps, cut out a motif.  You can choose to cut a out a design in the fabric pattern (I did a flower bunch) or you can make a basic shape (heart, bird, puppy, whatever).  I cut mine out leaving a little extra around the edge that I trim later.

2.  Now use a fusible web to attach the design to the onsie.  I used Steam-a-Seam 2.  It's sticky on both sides so I stick my rough cut design on one side.  Then I trim through all layers close to the edge of my design.  Then I stick onto the onsie and press according to the directions.

3.  The final step is to stitch around the design to secure it.  I simply use a smallish straight stitch very near the edge.  This means the edge of the fabric will fray a touch with washing, but I like like the look.  You could ziz-zag or satin stitch to make more of an outline.

And that's it!  Now you have complete gift set.  You can present it in a nice basket and add few little toys or accessories to complete the look.

I have shown a few more of the blankets in part one and here and here.

I hope you enjoyed this project.  Not ground-breaking I know, but something most levels can tackle.

JT

74: it's never too late for love

Well, I embellished this little number for Aurora some time ago, with plans for a tutorial before Valentine's day.  Now I'm just squeezing in some simple instructions (no pictures....sorry!) just in time.  It's  VERY easy, I promise, so if you need a little something for your sweetie to wear on heart day, you should be able to do it in an evening.  

Plus, nobody says you HAVE to do for the holiday...I think it's a good "anytime" pattern.

So I started with a pre-made dress, but this could also be done on the bottom of a shirt.

I use Steam-A-Seam 2 for my fusible appliques.

So, first step: print out the hummingbird pattern.

Next trace this (not the beak part) onto the Steam-A-Seam.  Make sure you trace the reverse of the final design you want.  Cut loosely outside the lines you just traced.

Peel the paper without the drawing on it.  Stick the pattern piece on the wrong side of your fabric.  Now cut along the lines through the Steam-A-Seam and the fabric at the same time.

Peel the remaining paper off.  Place the hummingbird wherever you want on the garment and iron in place.

Then I did a straight stitch very close to the edge on top of the hummingbird.  The edges will fray slightly with wash, but I like the look.

Finally, satin stitch (a wide zig-zag) for the beak.

I added little heart flowers that rim the entire bottom of the dress.  Cut out little hearts of varied sizes and fuse to the dress the same way you did the hummingbird.  After stitching around the edge of the hearts, I stitched a stem to the edge of the dress by using a straight stitch and going over it 4 times.

That's it!

Many kisses to you all...

JT

67: twas a few days after christmas

I was finally able to get the kids to sit for some portraits.

Well, mostly sit anyway... with a bit of running away.

From these shots you'd think they were super-cooperative.  In reality there was some bribery, much pleading, and a whole lot of blurry pictures.  God, I love digital.  Back in the day I would have gone through so much film.

    

It actually was a pretty nice day...not overly cold.  So we moved it outside for a few minutes.  Until Theo fell on his face.  Ugh.

As I mentioned previously, the dress is altered from a pattern.  Theo's vest was made without a pattern from an example and the tie was made from this tutorial by Ottobre Design except a little smaller.

       

Aurora was very pleased with the twirl-a-bility of the dress.  She looked at me quite seriously and with reverence said "Thank you, mom, for making me this beautiful dress.  I love it."

My...   heart...   just...   melted.

Makes it all worth it.  :)

JT

63: simple slices scarf

I did precious little sewing gifts for Christmas this year in an effort to keep my sanity.  I succeeded in creating the simplest Christmas to date and still made a few pretty things.  Yay me!

These pictures are of the scarf I made for my sister.  It's done from the pattern in Denise Schmidt's Quilts book.  I feel like I'm always telling you how I don't use patterns much, and then using a pattern.  :)  Well, anyway I did and it was very easy.  Three hours start to finish.

The front is mixed textures of wool suiting with little slices of cotton prints. I used an organic cotton jersey for the lining which is oh so soft without causing a major lint problem on the front.  The only thing I would have done different would be to make it longer, but I didn't have enough of the lining to do that...

  

I hope she enjoys it and keeps warm over in Ireland.

JT

62: a peek at all their holiday finery

I made Aurora a Christmas dress this year.  I don't make a ton of clothes for the kids because, as you know, I don't do anything simply, and there are just so many cute choices out there, that I don't bother.  But sometimes a pattern or fabric speaks to me and I feel I must make something.

This time it was the fabric.  Many of you recognize the print from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden.  I just fell in love and knew immediately I would make a dress for Aurora.  It is red and green but definitely not in the regular Christmas-y category.

I used McCall's 5742 pattern, but altered it a bit.  I changed the sleeves to add the 3/4 length bubble ruffle.  And I changed the lining to be a visible underskirt with it's own bubble ruffle.  I added the sash band on the front, and finally I added the fabric flower and button details.

Anyway, these are a few sneak peeks at the dress and Theo's matching vest and tie. 

I didn't actually take portraits of them all dressed up yet, but I will attempt that soon.  Indoor portraits in the cold are so much harder!

JT