How to Get a Cool Font on your Blog

 My blog is very basic. I've only had it up and running for 3 months now, so I started out with whatever Blogger had on their site. I wanted to get it customized by a blog design site, but I don't have the cash. So I figured that I would take baby steps. Tonight I figured out how to change the fonts on my blog on the date and heading for each post title.

I am usually a dummy at these things, but this tutorial pulled me through in less than a half hour. So I figured I would share for anyone else who needs a little blog makeover.

And the font I chose? I tried 4 different fonts. Eh. I might change it again tomorrow when I wake up, lol. So give it a try, you can do it!!

P.S. I also quickly added a signature to my posts in about 10 minutes by using a tutorial from Sneaky Momma Blog Design (you won't be able to see the signature until my next post).

Pop Can Cozy

Per his request, I made a few of these pop can cozies for my little brother for Christmas, to keep his pop (ahem, beer) cold while he's chilling in his dorm room. I found a tutorial on Flower Girl Designs. It was really easy.

Fabric - My brother *loves* fishing, so I found this cool fishing/lures fabric from Timeless Treasures. I like that the print looks realistic, and I enjoy the background color as well. And sandwiched inbetween the main fabric is a layer of Insul-Bright by the Warm Company, to keep his pop cold.

Pattern Pieces - There aren't any pieces to cut out, all you need are 10" x 4-1/2" rectangles and you're good to go.

Illustrations/Instructions - Everything is very easy to follow. Of course, this is a simple pattern and it will probably take you longer to iron your fabric and cut than to actually sew it.

My only nit pick is that, unless I misunderstand, the instructions call for you to finish off your cozy in the last step by folding the fabrics to the inside and top stitching, which would have your seams exposed on the inside. Especially since this is a gift, I didn't want exposed seams, which would probably look sort of amateurish to my brother. So instead I trimmed the long edge of the Insul-Bright by about 1/4", and folded the interior and exterior fabrics in toward each other 1/4". Then I top stitched. Also, the Insul-Bright bunches inside a small bit, so trimming the whole piece of Insul-Bright by 1/4" all the way around to begin with helps a lot.

Conclusion - Great beginning project for someone who has never sewn anything before.

Pink Skulls Mabel Bag

Whew, I'm almost there! As far as Christmas presents go, I only have 1 more bag to finish (and then on to the other Christmas present sewing projects, lol!).

This bag was the Mabel Messenger bag sewing pattern that I reviewed earlier in the year here. I've made so many, it's going into retirement for awhile. I made this bag in Robert Kaufman's pink skulls fabric, with Alexander Henry Light Bright in black as the interior fabric. It has an inner zippered pocket and a snap closure.

I am anxious to finish all these Christmas presents so that I can start on my own projects...I got the Style Stitches book by Amy Butler for my birthday, which I have vowed to complete all the patterns from front to back. I also got two dress-making books, so I have my eye on making a particular party dress. So many projects, so little time!

P.S. I'm linking to Amy's Creative Side and The Boy Trifecta for my finish this week! Come check out all the other projects!

Sewing Pattern Giveaway #6

Wow, I can't believe we're already on giveaway #6! I've decided to spread the handbag pattern love and give away a new, unused handbag sewing pattern every Friday until Christmas. That's right. One every week.

This week's pattern giveaway is going to be the Moonshine-Designs Round Handle bag!


How you can enter:
1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this shiny new pattern! The drawing will close on Thursday, December 2nd at 12am CT.

The winner of last week's giveaway, the Sweet Pea handbags, was Kelly Irene! Congratulations, please e-mail me your snail mail address at sewsweetness@yahoo.com!

Be sure to check back every Friday morning for the newest pattern to be given away!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I received some much-sought-after sewing books for my birthday. I was so excited to receive these books, you have no idea! First and foremost, I got Style Stitches by Amy Butler. This book has instructions for 12 different bag sewing patterns (I know the subtitle also says 26 different bags, but it's basically 12 different bags, mostly with small/large options or short/long straps). You can see the selection of all the bags in the book here.

I'm really excited to say that I'm going to be attempting every last one of them. It may take me awhile, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to start at the beginning and work my way to the back, and post about my progress of course! The difficulty levels on the patterns are from easy to advanced; the further in the book you go, the more complex the patterns become. The pattern pieces are all printed on paper in a little folder at the end of the book. At around $16 on Amazon, this book is a great value. If you've ever used one of Amy Butler's sewing patterns before, they usually cost over $10 each, so even if you only use two of the sewing patterns from this book, you've gotten your money's worth.

Next, I got The Party Dress Book by Mary Adams. I looked at this book on Amazon.com a few days before my birthday. It wasn't on my Amazon wishlist, but my amazing mom got it for me anyway, and I'm so glad that she did. This book exceeded my expectations, if only from skimming through it so far. I don't think that the cover does the book justice. Amy Sedaris wrote the foreward for the book, and she describes Mary Adams's dress shop as, "a pastry shop full of cakes dripping in colorfully dyed buttercream icings. It was a deaf person's dream - a vision chock-full of bright colors and dramatic textures."

There is a sewing pattern included in the back for the basic dress, which you can see an example of here. Then you take all the information laid out in the book to make your dress. It appears that there are dozens upon dozens of different options you can use to create your own special party dress. I personally love the look of the quilted bodice and the ruffled silk organza skirt with the beautiful petticoat look. I am excited to combine several colors, but I'm not sure which I'm going to use for my dress...I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow and I am planning on holding the silks up to one another to see which color combination I prefer. Definitely something bright and fruity! I am very very excited about making this dress over and over again.

Lastly, I got The Little Black Dress by Simon Henry. Although this book does teach you how to sew 3 basic dress styles, there are no pattern pieces included. Instead, I feel this book is more important for fitting dresses to your body as opposed to having to choose which size you happen to fall into, from the back of the pattern envelope that you get at the store. There are many, many pictures and the instructions appear to be very concise. I know this will be a useful book for making clothing in general.

Harry Potter makes me want to sew...

I went to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight (part 1 of the Deathly Hallows). I thought it would be a night of relaxation, but as soon as I saw two of the dresses worn during the wedding scene in the movie,  I just thought, "How can I make that?"

Hermione Granger's red dress is the perfect color and very feathery-looking, but my favorite was the yellow dress worn by Luna Lovegood.

In the movie, I only remember seeing the bodice part of the dress (I love that round-necked part of the dress), but after looking some more online for pictures of the dress, I see that it has ruffles all the way down.

I need to have a dress like this. If not the ruffles, at least the top part, which I fell in love with. It sort of reminds me of this childrens' round-neck top that I have from Etsy, but how can I make it for an adult...this
 was the closest that I could find, or perhaps this dress from Serendipity Studios and just add the yoke to the top. Hrm...I'll have to think about this one.

Sewing Pattern Giveaway #5

I've decided to spread the handbag pattern love and give away a new, unused handbag sewing pattern every Friday until Christmas. That's right. One every week.

This week's pattern giveaway is going to be the Sweet Pea handbags!

How you can enter:
1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this shiny new pattern! The drawing will close on Thursday, November 25th at 12am CT.

The winner of last week's giveaway, the Swing bag, was Kristy Lou! Congratulations, please e-mail me your snail mail address at sewsweetness@yahoo.com!

Be sure to check back every Friday morning for the newest pattern to be given away!

P.S. I just posted a tutorial for sewing a reusable gift bag, take a look if you're looking for a fun and easy way to wrap your Christmas gifts this year!

Tutorial: Reusable Gift Wrap

My mom made reusable gift bags for our gifts from as far back as I can remember. She had special fabric bags for birthdays and for Christmas. Now that I have kids of my own, I can really appreciate the fabric gift bag...with all the toys they get, it takes 2 seconds to wrap their gifts when all I have to do is pop them in a bag and tie. Plus, it's really convenient when the present is oddly shaped. I have little round paper gift tags with names on them that I reuse each year, too. So easy! So I thought that I would share how we made our gift bags. It's a quick hour-or-less project that sews up with no exposed seams and a nice drawstring feature.

Materials List
-1/2 yard of fabric for a 16"x19" bag (feel free to make bigger or smaller bags...I like to have a variety)
-36" long piece of decorative cording (can be 1/8" - 1/2" in thickness, whatever your preference)
-color-coordinating thread
-fabric marker
-ruler


Instructions
All seams will be sewn with a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

1. Pre-wash your fabric. No cutting needed if you are making the 16"x19" bag!

Step 2

2. Fold your fabric wrong sides together, with the short (selvedge) edges touching. Pin one long edge and sew.

Step 3

3. Now we'll concentrate on the other long edge. In this step, you will be making the hole in which you will later insert your cording through. Measure down 4-3/4" from the selvedge edge. Mark with a fabric marker or pin. Make another mark 5-1/2" from the selvedge edge. Begin sewing from the selvedge to your first mark. Stop and cut your thread. Raise your needle and put it down on the second mark (5-1/2"). Sew from the second mark all the way down the rest of the long edge. Don't forget to backstitch at each end.

Step 4

4.  Flip the fabric over so that right sides are together. Press. Repeat step 3 (take extra care to make sure you are putting that hole on the same edge that you did for step 3!), except sew a 1/2" seam. This will ensure that your original seam will be enclosed, making nice French seams for your bag.

Step 5

5. With fabric right sides together, hem the opened end. To do this, fold the edge down 1/4" so that it is wrong sides together. Press. Fold down again 1/4". Press. Pin the folded edge. Stitch 1/8" away from the edge.

Step 6

6. Now take notice of the edge of the bag where you sewed the little opening in step 3. Find the little opening in your bag and fold the hemmed edge down 1/2" past the opening (wrong sides together). Press. With your fabric marker, draw a vertical line from your first mark that you made in step 3, down the width of the bag. Do the same for your second mark, as shown. Now sew each line all the way around, making sure to sew one side of the bag to the hem (do not sew both sides of the bag together). This will create the casing through which you will be inserting the cording.

Step 7

7. Find your little opening. Take the cording and attach a safety pin to each end. Attach one safety pin to the edge of the fabric near the hole, and use the other safety pin to push your cording all the way through the casing. Once the cording is completely through both ends, grab each end and knot it.

You've finished! Congratulations! All you have to do to wrap your gifts is pull the cording and tie in a bow.

Giveaway at Above All Fabric

Valori Wells Garden Fresh

 

Above All Fabric, your place for fabric and sewing patterns, is hosting a fabulous giveaway! The prizes are amazing; here is what you can win:

First- $100 Gift Certificate to the store

Second- $50 Gift Certificate to the store

Third - $25 Gift Certificate to the store

All you have to do to enter is go to their shop website, create a wishlist with your dream prizes, and blog about it. Then go over to their blog and post a comment, linking to your original post.

Anna Maria Horner Baby Bouquet Dusk

I posted pics of a couple of my wishlist items. Mmmmm... :-)

Cassette Tapes Mabel Bag

I only have a few more things to sew for Christmas, and this was one of them. I don't know why I let it sit half-finished for 2 months, but here it is. This is a Moda Cassette Tapes fabric sewn with the Mabel Messenger Bag sewing pattern that I reviewed earlier. I actually ordered a little extra of the cassette tapes fabric as I wanted to make something for myself with it, too! The interior fabric is Alexander Henry Light Bright in black. I have made so many bags with this sewing pattern that I believe it's time to retire it for now. :-)

I've been feeling really mopey lately because I have some upcoming dental work that I need to deal with. I should probably just get back to sewing, as I've taken a few days off.

P.S. I post projects every week as part of Amy Lou Who's Sew and Tell Friday. Come take a look at the other projects!!

Sewing Pattern Giveaway #4

 

I've decided to spread the handbag pattern love and give away a new, unused handbag sewing pattern every Friday until Christmas. That's right. One every week.

This week's pattern giveaway is going to be the Swing Bag by Amy Butler!


How you can enter:
1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this shiny new pattern! The drawing will close on Thursday, November 18th at 12am CT.

The winner of last week's giveaway, the Sherbert bag, was My Daily Creation! Congratulations, please e-mail me your address at sewsweetness@yahoo.com!

Be sure to check back every Friday morning for the newest pattern to be given away!

Sewing Meetup

I was visiting my parents and grandparents today, as I do every week, and while I was waiting for my kids to wake up, this idea dawned on me. I've been reading a lot of Quilt Market posts on blogs lately, and inparticular I read this post on Made By Rae about a local sewing meetup.

So I talked to my mom, who also likes to sew, and she said she would be willing to back me up on getting a similar group together on Meetup.com. I thought it would be fun to have a monthly meeting to talk, eat, and of course work on some sewing projects, get some feedback, and help eachother out. Besides family, I don't know anyone in real life that sews, so I thought it would be cool to meet some other fabric whores.

Also, I tried to run an (online) fabric buying co-op recently that didn't quite work out, but I thought I might give it a try in real life if this group works out. Besides cotton, it would be cool to also get some minky fabric, which probably wouldn't work out with an online co-op because it's bigger/heavier. But we'll see.

So I haven't pulled the trigger on setting up a meetup group yet because I wanted to think of a witty name. Something with Chicago or Windy City at the beginning. Cute like Stitch 'n Bitch, but applicable to sewing.  Windy City Seam Rippers? I dunno. Any ideas??

Got some more sewing patterns to add to the stack...

I got these patterns in the mail today, from Fashioned by Meg, who is having a 40% off sale on sewing patterns. I know, like I don't have enough projects to get to, but I couldn't resist. I am dying to make the dress in the first pattern, I love the top left-hand corner dress. So pretty! That Momo fabric is awesome.

Memory Quilt

Even when my son was still a baby (he's going to be 4 next month. Wow!), I started saving his baby clothes. Not all of it, just special things that were my favorites. I did the same for my daughter, and I have a big plastic tote with these clothes. I knew that I wanted to make a quilt with these clothes, something to be able to look at while remembering and looking through old photos. At the time, I had never made a quilt, but since I completed my first one last month, I felt like it was time to start thinking about making these memory quilts.

It's sure fun taking out these clothes that I had forgotten about. You just remember how tiny they used to be. I wasn't sure what size squares to make, but I made a square as an example and decided that 6" squares would be a good size as most of the embroidery or designs on the clothes would be small in size, anyway.

I still have some Christmas gifts to finish up, so I probably will only work on the two memory quilts sporadically, but it gave me a thought that whenever I have a trying day with my kids, I should set aside some time (even just 10 minutes) that night to cut a few pieces of clothes up into squares to remind me that I used to carry those little bundles around for hours on end. :-)

New Look 6574 Large Tote

I found out about this New Look sewing pattern when I saw it done up by Allyn in some lovely fabric from Ikea at Seven Waters, To Go. When I got the pattern and cut out the pieces, I realized that it was a lot bigger than I initially thought it would be. It reminds me of one of those large plastic beach totes. I thought it would be a quick one-evening project...boy, was I in for a surprise.

Fabric - This bag called for 7/8 of a yard of the exterior fabric, the same for the interior, and 2/8 of a yard for the binding (I used some store-bought double fold bias tape that I had leftover from another project). It also calls for 2-1/2 yards of heavy weight fusible interfacing; I used my old friend Pellon Peltex. For the main fabric, I actually cut up some crib bumpers that I had made for my son when he was a baby. Since he only used the crib for about 6 months (we co-sleep), the bumpers didn't hold any particular place in my heart, so I didn't mind using the fabric for something else. This fabric is dear to my heart, though, it's Alexander Henry 2D Zoo in sage. The interior is just a plain turquoise cotton.

Pattern Pieces - This bag only has 2 pattern pieces....yeah! Nice and easy to cut out, which was why I thought it would be an easy sew. I applied the interfacing to all the pieces, which makes for a nice stiff and sturdy bag.

Illustrations/Instructions - I am just the biggest idiot when it comes to commercial sewing patterns. I guess the illustrations were okay, but I assumed you would just sew the sides of the bag together, sew the bottom, then repeat with the interior fabrics before placing them inside eachother and just binding them together. The instructions wanted you to sew the sides, then baste the exterior and interior sides together, then somehow sew the bottom on (wouldn't there be exposed seams somewhere if you did it like that?)...after that my eyes glazed over and I just decided to go with my original inklings. Before I put the interior into the exterior, I cut a piece of cardboard to go into the bottom to make it sturdy. This is one tough bag. Tough is also cumbersome to maneuver around the sewing machine. It's so stiff, it takes a lot of persuasion to turn, and I also had my walking foot on.

Sewing the bottom to the interior sides.

I managed to sew the binding that goes around the top of the bag on my sewing machine, but I realized right quick that the binding going around the circles of the handles wasn't going to fit in the machine. No way. After it took me so long to sew the binding around the top because of the bulk of the bag, I could have cried out of frustration when I realized that I would have to hand sew this sucker to get it done. I really don't like hand sewing. But I did it, and it's done. I guess it wasn't so bad, I just like to complain.

Conclusion - I made this bag as a tote to keep our library books all in one place. I had to pay a late fee last week because one of the Berenstain Bears books we borrowed got mixed in with all the Berenstain Bears books that we own, so I figured this was a good excuse to make a bag. If it wasn't for the heavy weight interfacing, I would say a complete beginner could do this. I suppose you could use a light weight interfacing, but I don't think it would have the same effect, it would be a totally different bag. If you are willing to hand sew the binding, no biggie.

P.S. I participate every week in Amy Lou Who's Sew and Tell Friday. Come by and check out all the other projects!

Sewing Pattern Giveaway #3

 

I've decided to spread the handbag pattern love and give away a new, unused handbag sewing pattern every Friday until Christmas. That's right. One every week.

This week's pattern giveaway is going to be the Sherbert Bag by Melly and Me!


How you can enter:
1. Leave me a comment and show me some love!

2. "Follow" my blog (if you're already a follower, super!). Then, just leave a second, SEPARATE comment saying that you follow me.

You can have up to 2 entries. I will randomly choose a winner, who will be the new owner of this shiny new pattern! The drawing will close on Thursday, November 11th at 12am CT.

The winner of last week's giveaway, the Nicole Mallalieu Belle bag, was Bree! Congratulations Bree, please e-mail me your address at sewsweetness@yahoo.com!

Be sure to check back every Friday morning for the newest pattern to be given away!

ModKid Frida Tunic

I have a lot of super-cute fabrics in my stash; however, making things for my 2-year-old daughter, Violet, has been on hold since she is so picky with her clothes. She will only wear pretty much the same 3 things, so I have to make sure I keep on top of doing the laundry (ugh). However, I found some cute pink and purple Spiderman fabrics on ebay that I got from Japan...something girly, but with good ole Spiderman (which my kids are CRAZY about).

And I used this AWESOME ModKid Frida pattern that I've been hoarding...those patterns are just my style. Not too frilly, just girly enough for me.

Fabric - I made the 4T/5T size, which calls for 7/8 yard of fabric. All but 2 of the pattern pieces are small, so this would be a great pattern for scraps! You also need some elastic for the optional capped sleeves and top of the pocket, and I used ribbon instead of fabric ties because I thought they would lay nicer. I got the Spiderman fabrics on ebay; they're a cotton blend, so feel a little cheaper (think Walmart), but the top is lined, so I figured I'll take what I can get. I thought the polka dot fabrics would be subtle and not take away from Spiderman.

Bodice Piece

Illustrations/Instructions - Wow, these ModKid patterns are beautiful. The pattern pieces are printed on paper (love!), and the instructions are printed in a full-color half-page brochure. So nice! I can't say enough good things about it. It's just a pleasure to work through, and the directions are very easy to follow. TWhat's nice about this is that the bodice, when assembled, has no exposed seams...maybe it's just me, but I think the overall design of this piece of clothing is just genius.

 

Assembled bodice

There are 'vents' on the sides, so about a 3 inch slit from the bottom of the sleeve into part of the 'skirt' portion (it makes a top or a dress), which are what the ribbons on each of the sides are for. I really like this because I can imagine it being so easy to put on and take off.

Vents on each side

This was a quick evening project to finish. I really think the little purple Spiderman pocket was the icing on the cake.

Conclusion - A beginner could surely make this top. It was an easy one evening project to accomplish. If you can gather fabric and push elastic through a casing, then you can do this. I loved being able to use several fabrics to make this. I was going to save this for Christmas, but I just couldn't wait to see it on her!

P.S. I contribute a project each week at Amy Lou Who's Sew and Tell Friday! Stop by and see the other projects!