Archive for the ‘sewing’ Category

a million little pieces

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Ok. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration. I’m talking about all of the Christmas toys that come with too many pieces and nothing in which to store them. I have to give a thumbs up to the folks who designed M’s drum. They put a handle on it, so you can turn it upside down and store the drumsticks and other instruments inside. Brilliant!

Her awesome eco-friendly tea set could have used an awesome eco-friendly tote or basket, though. And it would have been great if her cute wooden “paper” doll set came with a cute wooden lid. Plus, there is the growing collection of matchbox cars and Thomas trains. I needed to get control over all these bits and pieces, so I sewed up a bunch of drawstring bags last weekend.

bella bags

These were super easy and economical. I bought the set of fat quarters from Michael’s with my 50% off coupon, the ribbon came from a thrift store and the muslin lining came from one of my amazing garage sale fabric scores last summer. Total for all of the bags: about $4. The design is a slightly modified version of this tutorial from happythings, which I found through the sew, mama, sew blog. I love these so much, I’m thinking of making some for my knitting projects. M thinks they’re pretty cool, too.

patchwork scarves :: wool and denim

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

patchwork quilt scarves

Last summer I bought a cute little patchwork quilt that I’ve been planning to make into a tote bag. When I started deconstructing it, I realized it was made up of long, skinny rectangles. Perfect for scarves! Two scarves, actually: one backed with wool, the other backed with denim.

I think I am officially addicted to making scarves this season. If you are on my holiday gift list, you should probably expect to receive one!

felted wool scarf :: gray and red

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

So I’ve been trying come up with an idea that makes use of the felted sweater sleeves from my totes and I figured it out. Scarves!

grey and red wool scarf

The beauty of these is that they give you all the warmth of wool without having to wear it next to your skin. (I know at least one person for whom this would be perfect.) I am going to make a bunch of these for my etsy shop and will try to keep some of them in neutral color schemes. Dads, brothers and husbands need hand-sewn crafty goodness in their lives, too! More photos over at etsy.

remote control pillow featured in craftier magazine!

Friday, November 7th, 2008

Last month, Meredith, the Editor in Chief of Craftier magazine, asked me if they could feature my remote control pillow pattern in their DIY Holiday issue. Here I am on page 22!

only 47 more days until halloween

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

Around here on the blog, though, you’d think it was already October! I’ve been busy sewing up some orange and black goodness that I wanted to share with you. It all started with a doodle.

ghost

Then, M and I were sorting through (playing with) fabric, and I got inspired to make her a trick or treat bag.* It turned out so cute, I made a bunch more.

trick or treat bag

Then I sewed up a stack of Halloween cards. I’ve been trying to do more things with my left over stash from paper trade shows. I made these cards out of Fox River Confetti paper. (Love, love, LOVE this paper!)

cards

There’s more coming. Remember how I said I was becoming slightly addicted to amigurumi? I’ve got two little pumpkins on my windowsill looking for a new home. I hope to get a picture posted soon. I also may have possibly bought some glow in the dark yarn for a little amigurumi ghost. Oh, and I was thinking a little black cat might be cute to make, too.

All in good time, my little pretties.

*No, I’m not taking her around this year to collect a bunch of sugar. She’s still too young. She’ll probably just stash her keys, phone and baby Elmo in her bag. What? Like you don’t have a baby Elmo in your bag.

anything look familiar?

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

I was flipping through the pages of Home magazine from last June and saw this:

home mag

Check out that bed spread/comforter/duvet! Look familiar?

null

Mine was originally a table cloth, I think.

i made it myself: moleskine journals

Monday, August 11th, 2008

This week’s I Made it Myself post is from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. The pattern is called “Scrapbooks,” but they were a gift for my brother-in-law. I’m not sure “scrapbook” is the right positioning for a guy gift, so I’m calling them journals.

journals

Anyway, these were super easy and fun. I practiced first on some card stock because I didn’t want to sacrifice any of the Moleskines. I did them in one night. There were a lot of ends to trim, but other than that, I totally love them. In fact, now I want to make some for myself! I have a feeling lots of friends and family will be getting these for gifts in the coming year.

journals

flickr pool for julie-bird patterns

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

The other day I came across these cool t-shirt shorts made by Jessica.

jessica's shorts

I thought it would be nice to have a place where everyone could share their finished shorts and pillows (and whatever I come up with next!). I’ve set up a flickr pool here. I’m still trying to find my way around all the cool stuff I can do with the group, but in the meantime, share your finished shorts and pillows!

remote control pillow pattern

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

UPDATE: Thanks to WhipUp for their link to my pattern!

When it comes to gift giving, it’s really hard to buy for my brother. Same with his girlfriend. They don’t have a lot of time for hobbies because they both work really hard at their jobs and at school. The only thing that is consistent with them is the Hokies. Something burgundy and orange usually goes over well, but how much VT gear can one really want? I decided to ask him. I told him to be honest. Do they both really love the Hokies that much? The answer was YES. So for his birthday, I made him this:

easy remote pillow pattern front

And that’s not even the cool part. Look at the other side:

easy remote pillow pattern front

Because they are so busy with work and school, they wind up watching more games in their living room than down in Blacksburg. I figured a VT-themed remote control pillow would be perfect! What’s even better, I made this out of one of his old VT sweatshirts. He had handed it down to me a few years ago and it had been sitting in my closet for awhile. I figured I’d give it back to him new and improved!

I think this would be a cool gift to make for any sports junkie in your life. It would probably work just as well with a t-shirt. I’d just use a more substantial interfacing to give it structure. I’ve written up a pattern and you can download it here. Let me know if you make one! And as always, drop me a line if you have any questions.

five easy steps to silencing your inner elmo

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

You know what I’m talking about. The Inner Elmo. The la, la, la, la that runs through your head all day. You just want to make it stop. I can imagine that parents with a talking Elmo doll are probably on the brink of insanity. I think that’s maybe what happened to Christy.

We were at knitting one Saturday afternoon and I was talking about how much Bella LOVED Elmo. Christy said she had an Elmo to give me if I wanted one. It was in her closet. I told her thanks, but I don’t need an Elmo that continues to sing la, la, la, la after I turn Sesame Street off. She said no worries. This Elmo doesn’t work anymore. Oh. Well, in that case, cool! We’d love to have an Elmo!

When I brought him home a few weeks later and showed T he had two things to say: “Oh my god, Bella is going to LOVE that!” and “Oh my god, does it talk?” I told him that Elmo was broken and he said, “Cool!”

I showed him the doll and he commented on how heavy Elmo was. All that mechanical stuff inside made him kind of clunky. T suggested that I take it out. Huh? He reminded me that I can sew and that I could do anything I wanted with Elmo. Yes, knowing how to sew can sometimes be dangerous. It makes you fearless with regards to Opening. Up. Elmo.

5 Easy Steps for Silencing your Inner Elmo

  1. With a seam ripper, carefully open up the fabric around the battery box.
  2. The battery box is part of a bigger box, which is held in place by a heavy duty plastic tie. Cut the tie.
  3. The box is also connected to the mouth and hand by small wires. Cut the wires as close to the hand and mouth as possible.
  4. At this point, you might want to throw Elmo in the washer on the gentle cycle. I didn’t put him in the dryer, but rather let him air dry. (I’m not sure why I was so cavalier about ripping him apart and throwing him in the washer, but timid about putting him in the dryer.)
  5. When dry, stuff him with some FiberFil and sew him up!

I did all of this in the evening after Bella was in bed. I was afraid she’d get upset if she saw me cutting Elmo’s insides out. A few days after he was finished, Bella was freaking out about getting dressed because OH MY GOD PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME TAKE OFF MY ELMO PAJAMAS. I was in a hurry get out of the house, so I made a deal with her: take off the Elmo PJs and I’ll let you play with a real Elmo.

They have been best friends ever since.

bella and elmo

Thank you, Christy!