Now You See Me, Now You…

So I disappeared for like a week for finals, returned only to disappear again.  The reasons?  Holiday traditions, mainly that one about getting sick amidst all the good cheer along with other obligations. 

Anyway, the good news is that I finished my project list, without staying up all night sewing.



I have a certain little niece who’s under a year old, so I had to make something as cute as she is without anything she could choke on.  So I made this cute baby bear out of off-white fleece.  The eyes are embroidered and the diaper is sewn securely on, so hopefully this little guy won’t be hazardous to her health.



I somehow got the idea to decorate plain paper lunch bags to make gift bags.  I used a glue gun to glue on lace for handles.  Then glued two rows of lace along the edge of the bags to reinforce the handles and make the bags cute.  Simple, sweet and costs less than $2 to make about 40 of them.  Considering that even at a dollar store $2 would buy only about 4 gift bags, that is a bargain.



My brother tends to run errands a lot for himself and other people, and when he does he makes use of some old reusable shopping bags we have lying around the house.  These bags are starting to wear out on him, so I thought he might like a nice new one of his very own.  It’s a very simple, roomy bag with an outside pocket for convenience.  The color is a reddish brown color which I was hoping wouldn’t look too feminine.  Actually my brother couldn’t care less about that sort of thing, so no worries. 



My niece has mentioned a few times that she doesn't have enough clothes for her Barbie dolls.  I thought why not whip up a couple of pretty skirts to stuff in her stocking this year.  These are similar to the skirts I make for myself only doll-size and the waist bands and bottom hems are different. 

For the hems, I used that one stitch on my sewing machine that’s intended for button holes.  Sorry I don’t know what it’s called.  It leaves an edge that’s not as bulky as a regular hem and easier to do on such a small sized skirt.  Then I just added lace on top.  Voila, two finished skirts and hopefully a happy little girl. 



Now we need a happy little boy.  My nephew’s Cabbage Patch doll has be laying around his room with no clothes.  Me and my sister used to make clothes for our Cabbage Patch dolls out of our outgrown clothes.  Time to revive the tradition.  This was an old t-shirt from one of my nieces,  I thought it would be perfect to make a cute doll dress.



With a few cuts and stitches here and there, here is the new dress.  It looks cute and is easy for a small child to pull on and off.  You can’t tell very well, but I made a stretchy headband with some of the scraps. 

Want to know how I did it?  Don’t worry, I’m going to show how later.  Possibly after Christmas.  Look forward to that.

Update: I made the tutorial and you can find it here. enjoy!



Now the last ones.  I had plenty of scraps of fleece cut into squares lying around the place and I finally came up with an idea to use them all up.  Patchwork plush toys. 

From right to left there’s a dog, a cat, a bunny, and a lizard.  The lizard is for my nephew, the one that doesn’t like dolls and such.  What could possibly be more perfect than soft and cuddly fleece animals?



Animals with sleeping bags.  I had enough fleece squares to make a simple little sleep pouch for each of them. 

Here’s the updated list:

• Mittens
• Wildlife
• Baby bear
• Ornaments
• Gift bags
• Bows
• Doll makeover
• Bags
• Collars
• Barbie clothes
• Doll clothes
• Animals
• Sleeping bags

Twelve down and out.  All that’s left to do now is to finish wrapping, as in cramming stuff into the gift bags.

Read More »

Catching Up Again

I’m back.  Final exams went great and I passed all my classes with A’s and B's.  Still got more stuff to do for work before the end of the year, but it’s mostly taken care of so I had some time this weekend to actually do some crafts.

While browsing the holiday section at Dollar Tree, I got a great idea for making glittery ornaments with the plain glass ornaments they sell.  Here’s the trick, you stick foam holiday stickers on the ornaments before spreading on the glue and rolling the ornament in glitter.  When it dries, you carefully peel off the sticker.  That’s what I did with the ornaments on the left.  It kind of looks like little mirrors on the ornaments.  I used squeezed tube fabric paint on the edge of the “mirror” areas.  For the ornaments on the right I just added dots using the same color of fabric paint.  They were quicker to make and I think they mix and match well with the glittered ornaments.  I now have a bunch of pretty ornaments to give as gifts.  Hope everyone likes them.

This next project also stemmed from an idea I got while shopping.  I was at SAS and saw some small bows that I thought would look cute in my hair.  They were next to some jingle bells which I thought would look cute too.  Next thing you know, I ended up with these.  I started with a couple of pieces of felt, and glued on the bells, roses and bows.  The bows I made myself.  I recently realized how easy it is to make those tiny premade bows you can buy at many craft stores.  Anyway, I just had to glue on the combs and stick them on my head.  I guess they are made sort of the same way as the barrettes I made previously (See Hair Accessories Again?) except no lace.

Next up, remember this doll?  The lovely Cinderella doll I got at Goodwill on sale for 50 cents (see Finally Remembered).  I knew she would be prefect for one of my nieces, the one who loves Disney Princesses especially Cinderella.  But this Cinderella doll clearly didn’t look ready to go the ball, so I got to play fairy godmother.

Here’s the after shot.  First I washed the dress and the doll.  Wasn’t easy, she had pen marks in odd spots which are a pain to remove.  I comb through her rat’s nest hair and restyled it.  I made her a new pair of slippers from felt (not glass) and blue ribbon.   The ribbons lace up like ballet slippers.  I used the same ribbon on the edge of the dress because I thought it needed a little something.  I also made a quick headband with the ribbon and some more felt.  Cinderella did wear a headband in the movie, at least I think she did.  Anyway, she looks pretty good for a doll I bought for less than a dollar.  And my niece will definitely love her.

I have been experimenting with my Knifty Knitter loom again and came up with these collars for the cats.  They’re soft, stretchy and warm.  Plus, if they don’t like them they would make interesting bangle bracelets.  I’ve tried them on, they actually look cute that way.
Here’s the updated list:

• Mittens
• Wildlife
• Baby bear
• Ornaments
• Gift bags
• Bows
• Doll makeover
• Bags
• Collars
• Barbie clothes
• Doll clothes
• Animals
• Sleeping bags

Six down, seven to go.  I should have a few more projects done by Tuesday.

Read More »

Mittens and Camping

Well yesterday I had a report due first thing in the morning.  And of course, I got right to work on it as soon as I heard about it (not!) which is why I managed to finish it early.  Early being 4:00 am the day it was due.  Basically what I am saying is that it was because of this and other issues that I didn’t blog yesterday.  Oops.

Anyway,  I had plenty of fleece leftover from the coat I made (see Fluffy Fleece) and I think I mentioned that it would be good to make mittens and stuff.  They aren’t the most complicated mittens in the world.  I traced my hand to make the pattern, cut two and sew.  Nothing hard about that.  Of course I just had to add a small amount of lace along the edge, the same lace as the coat to match.  Now my hands will be nice and warm.

Next project.  Some time ago I went to Goodwill and got among other things this Little People camper (see Finally Remembered).  I thought it would be perfect for my nephew who loves Little People and virtually anything with wheels.  I thought that a camping trip is never complete without animals though, so I made these.  They were suppose to be little bears.  My nephew saw me making one (he doesn’t know it’s for him) and asked what it was, so I asked him what he thought.  He insisted that it was a cat, no doubt about it.  So now I’ve got a brown and white “cat” and a purple and white bear.  It works.
Here’s the updated list:

• Mittens
• Wildlife
• Baby bear
• Ornaments
• Gift bags
• Bows
• Doll makeover
• Bags
• Collars
• Barbie clothes
• Doll clothes
• Animals
• Sleeping bags

Three down, ten to go.  Just a heads up, I have a quiz tomorrow, multiple projects for work and school, and finals next week.  That probably means I might be scarce for a few days.  Or it means I will procrastinate the heck out of them and actually spend more time here.  Which is more likely?

Read More »

Duct Tape Does it All

How to describe this one?  So sometimes when I sew dresses or tops it does get difficult to make sure they fit right around that area.  That’s where a dress form or dummy comes in, or it would if I could a afford one.  Enter the duct tape.  Yep, I’ve seen tons of tutorials over the web about making a custom one using duct tape (Here’s a good one).  So with the help of about three rolls of tape and my sister (who had to be bribed), this is what I got.  It’s not very tall (neither am I) and the proportions are weird (ditto for me too), but I think it will work.  Now hopefully I won’t have anymore problems with bodice patterns that are designed for “curvier” woman.
Here’s the updated list:

• Dummy
• Mittens
• Wildlife
• Baby bear
• Ornaments
• Gift bags
• Bows
• Doll makeover
• Bags
• Collars
• Barbie clothes
• Doll clothes
• Animals
• Sleeping bags

One down, thirteen to go.  The next couple of projects should be up by Wednesday.

Read More »

Look to the Left

<----

See that, it’s another poll.  This time to see if I should get rid of the monkey widget.  I know Momo is cute and entertaining, but I think he’s causing problems.  The blog has been loading up more slowly since I installed that widget, and it kind of looks a little cluttered.  But what do you all think?  Please vote on it, and maybe leave a comment if you have other opinions along the same matter.

On another note, ever heard of the Random Tutorial Generator?  I found it through Twitter and it’s pretty cool, you click the button and a random craft tutorial pops up from blogs all over the web.  You can search their database if you want something specific.  You can also submit your own tutorials or your favorite ones to them by emailing the links.  I just hope nobody tries to spam them or something like that. 

Read More »