Happy Monday All!
     Today was yard work day for me. It is quite warm already here in the sunny south, but I'll take that over cold any day! I planted tomato plants (since my seeds didn't make it...boohoo!), weeded flower beds, raked leaves, put in two new flower beds, fertilized, and watered. Despite the blisters and sore back, I just love working out in the fresh air and sun.
     I had a fabulous weekend. Saturday my super sweet hubby watched the kiddo for me so I could go get a hair cut and do some "junking". If you don't know what that is, it is treasure hunting amongst yard sales and thrift stores.  Yard sales are a HUGE thing around here, and I love it! I hit the jackpot Saturday. In my pile of loot I got 15 children's books for $3.

     These are books I grew up reading so I was very tickled to find some for so cheap.
     I also found this wood crib and mattress for $35!

     I practically hugged the lady when she said she would give it to me for that price! Now, granted, it isn't gorgeous....YET. It is solid wood though, sturdy and in great shape. Anything that is solid wood can be beautified with a bit of sand paper and paint. Now we can turn the little lady's crib into a toddler bed and the new little one can have this one. I just love when the Lord drops me an unexpected blessing! That is the second time we've been blessed with a good crib find. The first one we found at super nice children's furniture store marked down from $400 to $75 because of a crack that was purely cosmetic! I wasn't going to argue that, just paid and ran before they changed their mind!
      I am thinking about doing something a little different with this one. The children's room walls are yellow and there is already one white crib....so I was thinking of doing this one a grey blue. Right now it is camped out in my dining room until I fix it, so the sooner I make up my mind the better! I'm open for suggestions if anyone would like to chime in! =)

Smocked Maxi Skirt

     
     I love maxi dresses and skirts. I can't ever buy them, because tall people are not considered in the mass production of clothes. ( I'm sure short people would say the same thing!) Bless you if you are average height and can buy whatever you want. The long length of maxi dresses and skirts in stores nearly always falls several inches above my ankle. This drives me batty! I like it short at the knee, or long at the ankle but not some weird in between! So, when all else fails, head to the fabric store.
     When I saw this fabric in the store it just screamed spring to me.  I had planned to make a maxi dress out of it, but I wanted to be able to wear it more than just for the next five months. I settled for a maxi skirt instead. The fabric is a soft cotton/poly mix that has a lovely drape to it. I used some white satiny feeling stuff (have no idea what kind of material it is) for the lining that I had laying around. Since smocking looks like summer to me, I used that for the waist.

     Here is how you can make your own. Measure your waist = (A).  Measure the length you want your skirt to be = (B). I added a gather at the bottom just for fun.

      If you want this gather than you need to decide how long the top portion should be (C) and how long the bottom gathered portion should be (D). Cut out these pieces. (optional: I cut the lining a couple inches shorter than my total length...I didn't want it to peek out the bottom at all)

     The first thing I did was gather the bottom strips. If your material has a pattern on it, make sure everything is going in the same direction. Mine had me confused, because it had flowers facing up and down. To gather, set your stitch length to the longest it will go and your tension to the tightest it will go.

     Attach the gathered portion to the top skirt portion. You will have two pieces that look like this.

     Sew up the sides of your skirt. Also, sew up the sides of your lining. Now, attach the lining to the skirt at the top. Your skirt should be right side out, lining inside out. Put the skirt inside the lining. Sew or serge around the top.

     Flip your lining into your skirt and then top stitch close to the edge around the top. It would help to iron it first and then top stitch...but my iron and I are not good buddies. I only use it in extreme circumstances.

      Next, make a casing for elastic. I made it wide enough for half inch elastic.

     Don't forget to leave an opening to thread your elastic into.

     Don't put the elastic in yet, we will do that in a bit. Now is the fun part. Smock as many rows as you like around the top. I did 12.  To smock, hand wind your bobbin with elastic thread. Sew evenly spaced lines with the elastic thread on the inside of your garment. You can draw lines as guides or use your pressure foot as your guide. When finished, spritz with water and pat with a hot iron. Here is what you should have so far.

      See why we are going to need that elastic around the top? I don't think that little ruffle would do any one's waist any favors! Measure your elastic and thread it through the casing. Use a safety pin to speed up things.

     Sew the casing shut. Last step is to hem the bottom. I just serged the lining and left it since it won't show anyway. My preferred method of hemming is to serge, fold over and sew. All done!

     Time to throw on some flip flops and soak up some sunshine!

Linking to:
The Freckled Laundry
Be Different Act Normal
Funky Junk Interiors

Hairbows

     Most likely if you own a little girl, you also own a few of these. I've always considered hair bows a product of "crafty people". I am not a crafty person by my definition. "Crafty people" can scrapbook, wrap presents so perfect you don't want to touch them, make jewelry, think up all sorts of cutesy projects for their kids to do, have infinite patience and small fingers...and make pretty bows. I am certainly not crafty! 

     However, just by chance, the other day I stumbled onto this tutorial. Much to my surprise the directions actually made sense in my foggy little brain! It shows you how to make small bows.

     Medium bows.

     And large bows.

     I played with the directions a bit, doubled the length for the medium and then snipped the ends to come up with this one.

     I may have gotten a little carried away, but it sure was fun!

      Up till now, since Walmart only carries generic bows in about 48 different shades of pink, and I refuse to pay $5 for cute one at a boutique, our bow selection has been rather slim.  It is such a great way to use up left over ribbon and it is the perfect finishing touch if you've made a little girl an outfit for a gift.

     If a non-crafty, big fingered, impatient person like me can do it, you can too!

Sleeves - Part 1

     I'm going to call this "part 1" because this only addresses how to do a sleeve with a stretchy or knit material. I'm writing this in an effort to help a friend out. There is no way to explain sleeves verbally so hopefully this will help. You would be surprised at the lack of sleeve explanations or tutorials there are online. I've found a good method after much trial and error that works well for me. If you are non-pattern using sewer, this may be right up your ally.
     First off, let me just say this is NOT the professional way to draft a sleeve pattern. If you want to see how to properly draft a sleeve pattern go HERE. That gal does it right and proper! I am too impatient, don't have the time to do all those steps, and really don't care if the method is right as long as the end result looks good. Horrible I know, but I doubt I'll be repenting and changing my ways anytime soon.
     To start, you must first have something to which your sleeve will be attached, so trace a well fitting shirt. Place a piece of paper under the arm hole. (I used wax paper that is why it is clear, sorry if that is confusing) Make a dot at the arm pit and the top neckline. (where the tip of the scissors and the pen are)

     Next place the top corner of the arm hole on the top dot keeping the bottom on its dot and stretch it with your hand. Trace that curve onto your paper.

     Now, draw lines horizontally and vertically until they cross. You will have a triangle with one side having a slight curve.

     To cut out, place your pattern on a fold, curved side pointing away from the fold.

     This is what it will look like cut out. You can either round out the curve as you sew or trim it with scissors.

     This sleeve is a short, almost cap sleeve. If you want to add length to your sleeve draw a straight line from the end of the curve to the length you want. You need to taper the width down to the size of where the sleeve will fall on your arm.

     To sew the sleeve to your shirt, first sew the shoulders of the shirt together. Open the shirt flat, wrong sides out. Pin the middle of the sleeve to the shoulder seem and the ends to the ends of the armholes.



     Your sleeve will be longer than the arm hole. You will have to stretch the shirt as you sew to match the length of the sleeve. It will look like this when you are done.

     Starting at the ends of the sleeves sew down the sides of your shirt. Picture an upside down "L".

      On this particular shirt, I left the edges of the sleeve raw and sewed two rows of smocking along the edges to give it a ruffle. (I also have elastic around the neck so that is why it looks a little rumpled around the front)

     You can add variation by extending the width of your sleeve and making puffed or gathered sleeves. Just place your pattern a few inches away from the fold like this. (just ignore the writing on the pattern, its wrong)

     Use a basting stitch to gather the excess material and it will give a sleeve that looks like this.

    And here are my finished shirts.

     Just as a side note, a super easy way to make a maternity shirt is to make or buy an extra large shirt...ruche the sides with elastic and sew a few rows of smocking around the bottom edges.

     Well, I hope I didn't thoroughly confuse you. Once you get the hang of how sleeves should fit into a shirt they are super easy. To be honest I don't even do the tracing thing half the time...eyeballing it works pretty good too! The next part about sleeves will be on cotton material.

Linking to:
Sew Much Ado: We did it Wednesday
Someday Crafts: Whatever goes Wednesday

Reviving old chairs and a nesting box side table

     I was quite productive yesterday, although for quite a bit longer than I ever intended. Maybe you've done a project before that went along these lines. I had two chairs that needed painting and the seats recovering.

     I dragged them outside along with my sniffly little helper who was not in the mood to help, only to discover that one chair had a crack that needed gluing. After ripping apart all craft supplies. I surmise I have no wood glue. That's fine I think to myself, I'll use gorilla glue. That done, I disassembled the second chair to start painting. At this point, it becomes apparent that I have one can of black paint and no primer. Well dandy, off we go to Walmart. Walmart has decided it would be a good day not to restock their shelves, so they don't have any primer either. The next town is thirty minutes away and I wasn't about to trek down there just for some primer. Upon arriving home, I find I have one can of red tinted primer so I use that until it is all gone. Fantastic. Who needs primer anyway! While chairs are drying, I start recovering the seats.

      Surprise surprise, turns out I'm a tad short on fabric, so I piece a corner in to make it work. You have to be about six inches away to see the seam and it's on the back corner. If anyone comes to my house and actually notices it without me pointing it out....well, I'll banish them from my house for forever. I kid, I kid! (sorta) I did the recovering the same way I did this stool.

     While everything was drying, I decided to start on my next project. Some fantastically kind folks had given me a while back a pile of these.

     I don't suppose you know what they are? They are nesting boxes, complete with bird poop and everything! They are not nesting boxes to me though, they are shelves for all my future organizational needs! I just love delightful people who give away "junk". The one I dragged from the pile to use is on the far right.
     I gave it a good scrubbing with bleach to remove all the remnants of its former life. Sanded off the splinters and then gave it a coat of white wash. Whilst energetically slathering it with white wash, I discovered that my new black chairs drying nearby were now beautifully speckled with white paint. Well isn't that. just. glorious. Once I returned everything to its proper color,  I coated the chairs with a coat of finish and had no sooner done that, than I spied a large splotch I had failed to paint. Well dandy. Nothing more paint can't fix. So, as it turns out, if you don't use your brain before and during projects, it takes twice as much time to get things done. Who knew?
     For all my ideocracy, it all ended up turning out very nicely. Here are the chairs all done.

      The nesting box I ended up dry brushing with grey paint and it looks like this now.

     All together, along with the lamp that I recently updated, I think it's a rather cozy corner.

      I don't believe I was ever more delighted to be done with a project in my life!
      I kept thinking as I worked on this crazy project, that these chairs and crusty nesting box reminded me a lot of me. On my own, there isn't a whole lot that is very nice to look at or is very useful. My natural sinful self is about as lovely as a poopy box of wood. Thankfully, God knew what HE could do "junk" and saw value in me. I had to give myself to Him first, just as the above treasures were given to me. He has been sanding and scrubbing and cleaning me up ever since. Those chairs sure didn't paint themselves; I certainly didn't save myself and I can't fix me up. I'm so glad He does a much better job with His "projects"!

Linking to:
Funky Junk Interiors: SNS
Be Different Act Normal: Show and tell Saturday
Under the Table and Dreaming: Sunday showcase party
Between Naps on the Porch: Metamorphosis Monday
Someday Crafts: Whatever goes Wednesday

Summer cardigans

     It's been raining sheets here, so in the absence of my beloved sunshine and fresh air, I've been amusing myself with my sewing machine. I'm sure you've noticed that the trend of layering clothing is carrying over into summer with light weight wraps, cardigans, whatever you want to call them. I love the look and also the practicality. It can be steaming hot outside. but icicles can form on your face the second you step indoors from the pumped up AC most folks have going. Since a girl can never have too much variety, I decided to try my hand at making a few.
     This light tan one I made from scratch based on the style of one I already had. I just traced out the pieces and sewed it all together.

     This pink one I refashioned out of a long sleeve, long length one that I had sitting around. I never wore it because it was rather unflattering. I chopped the sleeves and used the cut off portion to do the pleats around the edges. I cut the length shorter and curved the edges in the front. I'm not entirely satisfied with this one as the edges have a tendency to fall open even though I topstiched it all. I might go back and sew some ribbon or trim to the inside raw edges to make it look neater.

     I made another as well, but it needs a little refining before I show you that one. These are so simple and can be so many different styles, they are really fun to make!

Linking to:
Tea Rose Home: Link Party
Someday Crafts: whatever goes wednesday
Sew Much Ado: We did it!