Striped Curtains {How To}

 I have received a lot of emails about the striped curtains I made in my son's bedroom and decided to share a little more info about how I made them. First off, I envisioned long floor length bold striped curtains for this space since day 1. I figured I could find some online, but after quite a while I couldn't find the right shade or thick enough stripes. I even considered painting plain curtains. At that point, I didn't know how the paint would look. Would it make the fabric crusty looking? Would it flake off? Could I even make the stripes even and would they look bad close up since this is a small space? After mulling that over, I decided my best bet was to sew my own curtains. So I headed off to the store and picked my fabrics. I measured my sons room from floor to ceiling to make sure I would make them tall enough (and ensure room to hem them). I also knew I wanted to do a grommet top panel. I chose a plain blue cotton fabric, but for the white I went with a thicker weave fabric. Almost like a light canvas. I didn't want the sewn seems to show through the white when it was all said and done. I was worried how the two fabrics would go together when I started sewing...but they stayed straight and worked well together. 

 I got my cutting mat, roller cutter, and measuring stick and went to cutting! I cut out all the stripes and laid them out to make sure they were long enough. (FYI, I did my strips 39" wide, 10" tall allowing a 1/2" seam allowance.)

My new tree skirt...

I know, I know. I debated about even posting this because it is yet again another "ruffled" tree skirt. I almost didn't want to use it just because they are everywhere and I am kind of over them. But I had been planning to make this skirt for a while since our tree skirt was too small for our tree and it never looked right. (this was before pinterest bombarded my life with ruffled tree skirts) But I planned to make a tree skirt that would match the style of my tree, and I figured I would bother you with yet ANOTHER ruffle tree skirt. {cringe} I ordered nylon chiffon online at the same store I use to buy supplies for making pettiskirts. They offer great fast service and color selection. Plus, I have NEVER found nylon chiffon where I live, only poly chiffon which frays badly. I cut the chiffon in 5" strips.

I bought white felt for the base. It wasn't wide enough so I went and bought more...and sewed the two pieces together. Now my sewing machine is super old and apparently is on the fritz. It wasn't having my ruffler foot...so I pleated the chiffon by hand and fed it through ever so imperfectly. it won't show;) 

 {Yes, this project took like 3 or so hours because I had to do it that way!}

I just kept adding on layers as I went.

Final Product: I can't wait to go to upstairs in our monster moving mess(yep its been like 6 months since the move) and find our train and see how it barrels through the chiffon. :)

And the tree shot: {Daytime}

{Nighttime}

P.S. I won't be linking this to any parties to save the world from another ruffled tree skirt tutorial! LOL

Master Bedroom {Quilt in Progress}

So I have finally decided that I want to do my master bedroom in butter yellow, light various shades of blue, and a rich apple red. I am not sure why, but I think they will make a beautiful color combo for accents throughout my bedroom.  Here is my bed 'before' pic so you can see the boring-ness I am working with. I plan to keep the whites and the blue polka sheets but will add a quilt throw folded across and a few colorful accent pillows behind the white ruffle pillows.

I wanted to do something vintage looking and I have searched for the past year and haven't had luck finding the look I want with the right coloring. So I decided to take on the quilt making project myself. Yep, its going to take me a year I bet. Yes, I am crazy. I am doing it entirely by hand. I found some beautiful fabrics that I love! I am doing a hexagon quilt using English paper piecing. So if you've wondered what I have been working on...its basically been this. Hours and hours of work!

 

 The crazy stitches you see will be taken out. They are just to hold in the paper.

 

 

 

 

 I have 10 of these hex's made so far.

I have never done anything quite like this...so I don't really have a clue how to "do" it, but I am still pretty excited with the progress I've made. I only have 3 full hex's done. Only like 50 more to go! I'll keep you updated as this project continues!

Baby Burp Cloths

 If you couldn't tell, I've got babies on the brain! So many babies being born around me right now and tomorrow I head to the airport to go on a 10 day trip to meet my newest niece. (At least she better make her appearance so I can be of some help while I am visiting!) I found the cutest little outfit for my new niece and I wanted to make some "boutique" style burp cloths that are my specialty. Now, I am not a sewing pro...but I will try and share my steps! It may seem like a lot, but once you make one they come easy and are so cute and practical.

 I use cloth diapers because I just think they make the best burp cloths, seriously you gotta try them. Only problem is they aren't the cutest. Nothing that a little fabric, ribbon, and trim won't fix! (FYI...I wash all my stuff except the ribbon and trim before I sew because things shrink after washing)

Burp Cloth #1: This one will be covered completely by fabric on one side. Start out by laying out on cutting mat. Cover with burp cloth.

 Using a rotary cuttery cutter or scissors cut out fabric around burp cloth with 1"of fabric overhand to fold over for seams. Make sure to leave about 1" edge around burp cloth of excess fabric or you won't be able to hide your seams and prevent fraying.

I then took fabric and burp cloth and folded fabric around the cloth and ironed it down to create the shape I would need.

This is how I do my corners. Kind of a triangular fold?

After you have ironed all around several times, remove burp cloth and you should have a good ironed out guide of your fabric.

Place burp cloth on top of fabric and make sure it is straight so you can pin it together. If you can't get it straight, go back and iron it down to the correct shape. If you get it even before you sew then your burp cloth with look better and more even.

 

Sew fabric to burp cloth, (I used about 1/4" seam allowance) by going around the entire cloth. Make sure when you begin and end you go in reverse a little to secure your stitching better.

Burp Cloth #2:This burp cloth I used a similar technique to the other one, excep this time I decided to just cover the ends of the burp cloth (both inside and out). I layed out my fabric, set my burp cloth on top and then folded the fabric over to see how much edging I wanted. Then I carefully removed the burp cloth and cut out my edging strips.

  I decided to clean up the seams and prevent fraying so I sewed down the edge using just a tiny seam allowance. Just enough to gather it under.

I took the fabric strip and folded it evenly around the bottom (or top) edge of the cloth diaper. I made it as even as I could using the sides as my guides. I then folded over the edges and tucked them under and ironed them down so they would be a clean edge when I sewed.

I pinned the fabric to the cloth diaper. I cannot get straight edges unless I pin, otherwise the fabric or cloth moves too much and just a little can totally mess up your seam!

 Sew your fabric to your cloth diaper. (I used roughly a 1/4" seam allowance and ran along all edges). Time to make it a little bit cuter with ribbon. I forgot to take a pic of this, but I measured a piece of ribbon that would go along the edges where the fabric meets the cloth diaper on both ends, inside and out. I used iron on adhesive strips and attached them to the back of the ribbon.  You can find this in the sewing isle by the notions. Just lay it down, iron it on, peel off the back and then its ready to be ironed on your project!

I ironed it around both ends of the burp cloth and I stitched over it for extra measure to make sure it was secure.

 It turned out so cute!

Burp Cloth #3: This one is the easiest yet, I found this ruffle trim at hobby lobby. I just pinned it around the edges of the burp cloth and sewed it on! Sooo easy and sooo adorable!

Aren't they just so cute?

I'll also be sharing this cute printable tag this week before I head out on my trip. I made some pink for girls, and some blue for boys.

I'm linking to the parties listed on the left of my blog!

EDITED TO ADD: Here is a link to the free downloadable tags in blue and pink.

P.S. I'm out on vacation so I may not have access to email for questions or comments so please don't think I am ignoring you...just spending some time with family!

How to make beanbags, Halloween style!

Bean Bag Toss Game
Hopefully my "lingo" won't be too confusing!
-First I made a set of 4 bean bags, nothing fancy, just got some black broadcloth and folded in half cut 4 squarish-rectangles(make sense?) :). I didn't measure, just kinda of eyeballed it. This made 1 front and 1 back (8 total) pieces.

I kept the 2 pieces together that were cut together, 1 for front, 1 for back. I sewed 3 sides of those pieces together, and part of the 4th side making sure to leave an opening for beans. I went over the stitch again just to reinforce the durability of the beanbag. Do this will all 4 beanbags.

I then pulled them inside right(hiding my seams inside)

I then added the beans to about 3/4 full.

Then I just got a needle and thread, and tied a knot at one end and started sewing up my seam. Not sure if you can tell but I folded down the opening so when it was sewed shut the the edge would be inside leaving a cleaner line.

All sewed up and ready to play (don't mind the lint from my carpet...I was too lazy to do this at a table!

After I made the bean bags, I went and got my orange felt. I just bought this off the roll at Hobby Lobby. I got a sharpie and marked it all up. 

 I then cut out the pumpkin shape, eyes, and mouth. This is large enough so the mouth spot and eyes can easily fit a bean bag tossed through.

 The only thing I didn't take a picture of was the rope I used because I had to go buy it after I made it. I just sewed it on the top 'left' and 'right' and bottom 'left' and 'right' of the round pumpkin so I could tie it up for the bean bag toss game in our basement. Super easy, quite cheap, and a heck of a lot of fun! Tomorrow morning I will fill some cute little plastic pumpkins with candy corns and hide them for the pumpkin hunt, and I took some orange poster board and cut out a big pumpkin, and some black eyes, nose, and mouth for pin the face on the pumpkin. Just a few fun games that little children love.