Drop Dead Cute

Rockets

My little guy is really into rockets right now. I found this little book at a children's book shop that was going out of business and thought it would be perfect for him. It's a colorful, short board book that talks about rockets, astronauts, stars, the moon, and planets, but also has a count down page (his favorite page), and talks about colors, numbers, finding differences, etc. Very suitable for a just turned 2 year old.

I have a big pillow on the floor of my craft room which never was intended as a floor pillow (it's here because it needs it's buttons sewn back on) but has somehow found a new purpose as Jack's reading pillow. As I'm working on sewing projects he runs in here with a book, plops down and reads to himself or whatever little stuffed buddies he hauls in here. One afternoon as he was reading I thought it would be fun to make some rockets that look like the ones in the book and hopped over to the computer for a quick google search. This is the tutorial I found. We made ours with toilet paper rolls and construction paper. They are a big hit and as my sewing machine is whirring it makes me smile hearing him counting down numbers and blasting his rockets off into outer space.

Nursing Cover Tutorial

So here goes my first tutorial! This is my take on a nursing cover and a little travel bag for it. I haven't actually ever used one of these, I always used a blanket but I thought why not make one, other moms rave about them. I had all the supplies except for the boning so it cost me a whopping fifty cents. If you were to buy all the supplies I'd say it would cost about $10 to $15. Take advantage of fabric store coupons and you can make it even less expensive.

I'm going to try giving detailed instructions with lots of photos in case you're a beginner sewer. If you're experienced or even after you make one of these, you can stream line things, make your own short cuts, skip pressing and pins if you're comfortable with it. But for the sake of the beginner I took the time to pin and press and show all the little things that after a while become second nature. Please be gracious toward me and if there is anything that needs clarification please don't hesitate to ask. Here we go!

Supplies:

1 yard cotton quilting fabric, washed, dried, pressed with clean cut even edges

Coordinating thread, I use either Mettler or Gutermann - cheap thread gives me headaches

1 pair of silver D rings, 1 1/4 inch wide

1/2 yard corset boning (or more specifically 14"), I used white 1/4" plastic boning that was covered in interfacing material that measured 3/4" wide- it's lightweight and washable

1" square of Velcro (only if you're making the travel bag)

Notes**

I use 1/4" seams. Top stitching is 1/8"

Begin and end all sewing lines with back-stitching.

It's helpful sometimes to start your sewing 1/4" or 1/2" in from the edge of the fabric, back-stitching, then sewing forward.

Cut out your pieces. Here's a quick sketch of the layout.

Main Cover: 38" x 26"

Strap A: 3" x 30"

Strap B: 3" x 5"

Bag: 6" x 43" (or whatever the remaining peice measures to be)

We'll begin by preparing the straps. Fold the long strap lengthwise with right sides together, press. Sew a 1/4" seam along the length leaving the short ends open.

Attach safety pin to one end and pull through.

Press seam open so it's in the middle of one side.

Tuck about a quarter inch of fabric in on one end, finger press, and top stitch all the way around three sides, (one long side, tucked in end, other long side), leaving the one unfinished end. Repeat with short strap.

Take the short strap with seam side up and place D rings on finished end, fold fabric over and sew the end as close as you can to D rings. (When the loop is too big the rings flop all over the place and it gets annoying when trying to tighten it). Set straps aside.

Take the main cover piece and press a 1/4" double fold over hem on three sides (one long side and two short) leaving open what will be the top edge. I have made pressing guides out of cut strips of file folders to help me when I press for these little hems. Basically I lay down the 1/4" strip just below the edge of the fabric, fold my fabric over it and press, pulling the paper down the length as I press. Then I just fold the fabric over one more time and press. Perfect 1/4" hems!

Sew hem closed along the three sides.

Here's what my corners look like. One end is just folded over the other. If a bit of raw edge pokes out on a corner while you're sewing just tuck it in and sew it down.

Now to put it all together. Lay the main cover wrong side up with top edge towards you. Place the unfinished end of the straps about 10" in on each side along the top edge and about 1/4" inch down, pin in place. Make sure the seam side of the straps are facing up. Place 14" length of boning along top edge between straps. Either move straps or trim boning so they all fit next to each other without overlapping. Also make sure boning is curving up. Pin everything in place.

**Please note: My "short strap" is going to look longer than yours. I started off with a longer piece, realized how dysfunctional it was and shortened it to the length you have and what you see in my finished photo a the top.

Sew/baste straps and boning along top edge of the main cover. This just helps keep everything in place for the next step.

Fold edge down once and then once again, pin everything in place. This top edge should measure a hair over 3/4 inch wide.

Sew down the length on both sides of the edge about 1/8" in on each side, sewing down the straps to your main cover as you go. 

Loop long strap through your D rings and you're ready to go. You're done! You've made yourself a nursing cover!

Now for the bag:

Take the 6"x43" piece of fabric and fold in half with right sides together.

Sew 1/4" seams along length of one side and about an 1 1/2" around the open end. Repeat on the other side. You should have an opening about 2 1/2" at the top. Trim the four corners.

Turn right side out, use a turning tool or something like a chopstick to push out the corners. Press and sew an 1/8" top stitch along the top edge with the opening, sewing it closed as you go. Fold the other end over about 8 1/2" and pin.

Sew along the 8 1/2" sides. Turn bag right side out and press.

Center one half of the velcro on the flap about 1/2" down from edge. Sew around all four sides. Center other half of the velcro on the front of the bag about 1/2" down from the bag's opening. Sew around all four sides. This can be a little tricky because you have to be careful to have the bag open as you're sewing on the velcro. This is where the velcro with the sticky tape backing is helpful to hold it in place as you sew. Sometimes it's nice to touch up the fabric with an iron after your done making a project, just make sure NOT to iron the velcro - it will melt!

You're now done with the bag! Congrats!

Now to fold the cover and stuff the bag:

Fold cover in thirds.

Then in half. Fold straps on top.

Then roll and stuff.

How great is that! There's even enough room to keep a breast shield, pads and a little tube of ointment.

Please let me know if you've found this tutorial helpful. I would love to hear feedback...may help me to decide if I should do more tutorials or not. They are quite time consuming but I'm willing to do them if you all find them useful. Enjoy!

Nesting Begins

It's a strange thing how a mother's body just tells her instinctively that it's time to get ready for the little one about to arrive. It's comes at different times for everyone I think but when I started having intense BH contractions last week the sirens started going off. It's been so hot and humid outside that being in the garden or outdoors in general is the last thing on my mind. But my hands have been itching to keep busy and sewing has become the craving of late.

I have some blankets left over from when Jack was a baby that didn't really get used. Somehow you develop favorite blankets and the rest lay there unused. So I took a flannel swaddling blanket and turned it into burp cloths. We were in a condo when Jack was a baby so doing a million loads of laundry wasn't all that bad. We are now in a house and the laundry is in the basement, two floors down. I guarantee you laundry is not going to get done as often so I need to triple up on my essentials.

I cut out 7"x16" rectangles from the flannel, stacked them in three layers, used an upside down mini bucket to cut the round corners, made binding from some fat quarters that I had laying around, and sewed them up.

I generally don't care for binding things...or piping things, even though it adds a lot to the cute factor, both are tedious and time consuming. I'll do them, but rarely. Like most things, practice makes perfect and after about 4 of these I started getting the hang of it. Don't look too closely as they are far from perfect but they'll do...they're burp cloths for goodness sakes :)

The ones below were my favorite ones when Jack was a baby but the satin trim took a beating and looked shabby so I took it off and replaced it. These are made of two nice thick layers of a cotton knit. I can't seem to find a knit nearly as thick. I've tried making a reproduction of these with a thinner knit but not with much success.

There are several different methods for making your own binding and for sewing it on. You can get some great tips here and here. I cut mine on the bias since I had curves to deal with and I used my machine - no hand stitching here, hence why they are little less than perfect looking. My two big tips are; be anal when ironing your bias tape strip, the more even and consistent the width the less frustration you'll have later. Second, when placing your binding on, again be anal, make sure it's even on both sides, maybe even a little more on the back side to make sure you catch it as you sew. As much as I hate using pins, I pinned a lot - it saved my sanity. If I was working with only straight edges on my project I wouldn't bother with the pins and binding in general would be much easier but I just had to have those curves. All in all I'm fairly happy how they turned out and glad that I have a cute little stack of burp cloths that cost me nothing. I feel so resourceful! Since I'm in the groove I think I'll try finish off a few more before moving on to my next project...a nursing cover.

Metro Bag

Here's the newest creation...a simple reversible shoulder bag. I'm into reversible things if you couldn't tell. It's like getting two for one - gotta love that! It's a Tanya Whelan Metro Bag pattern you can buy over at her beautiful blog. The fabrics are hers as well from her Dolce line.

This bag was simple and easy to make and I'm sure I'll be making more. The only thing I did differently was that I didn't have medium weight sew-in interfacing so I substituted cotton flannel for interfacing. I'm sure it has a softer feel and look to it but I was desperate to sew something and I've been fighting a miserable head cold all week and there was no way I was leaving the house, so I used what I had.

I've been enjoying sewing again and I've managed to jot down a list of projects. Me and my lists are never ending. You can find them everywhere in my house, half a dozen stuffed in my purse, not to mention the ones I keep on my iphone. I'm an avid compulsive list taker. I suppose there are worse things. Anyway, I hope to get a bunch of things made before the baby comes, all my half finished projects, some new ones, and maybe even a few more Christmas presents. Well, we'll see how far I get.

Christmas in July

Since baby boy #2 is coming mid-September, I know my hands are going to be full this autumn. Last year when I didn't even have a new little one I didn't manage to get any gifts made for Christmas. So...I thought I'd get a head start on Christmas presents for my best friend's little girls now. For last Christmas I sent them little dishes and silverware and what would go better than cute little cloth napkins, a tablecloth and reversible aprons?

I made the table cloth with whatever fabric I had left over from the aprons. It ended up being 22"X26" which isn't terribly big but it'll work. I contemplated adding rick rack to it but I didn't have enough and lazy me didn't want to run to the store, so I kept it simple.

The napkins are about 13"x10.5" finished size. I basically cut out the size according to how best I could maximize the fabric that I had. Both the tablecloth and napkins have a basic double fold-over hem. Fold edge up a little less than 1/4", press, fold over again, press and sew. These are ridiculously easy and fast to make.

These aprons are an easy project and if you don't have a two year old demanding all your attention you'd probably get them done a lot faster than I did. It took me several days of stealing whatever free moment I could but they turned out super girly cute. You can get the *free* pattern here. I added the rick rack and kangaroo pockets on each side so the aprons are reversible. Kangaroo pocket template and instructions I got from Amy Karol's book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing.

Both aprons I made are exactly the same, all the photos are of one apron, showing both sides.

This apron is a little different from your traditional apron in that it has a velcro closure making it much easier for little ones to put on themselves. The only drawback is that you can't really tighten it. Also liked that the neck strap has elastic in it allowing it to grow with the kiddo for a few years.

It's fun getting a chance to make girly things. I really hope they like them. When these were done and hanging on a door knob my little man Jack informed me that these were for girls and he wants an apron too, then he proceeded to pick out some fabric from my shelf that had boats on it :-)

A Quick Quinoa Salad

My hubby is on the detox diet once again. Once or twice a year he subjects himself to this cleansing and I join him as long as I'm not pregnant or nursing. Anyway, I am forever trying to come up with new meals to make while on the diet so it doesn't FEEL like we're on a diet and tonight I came up with this one. I had two goals, it had to be fast and it had to be detox worthy. Let's see if I can remember what I did...

Quick Quinoa Salad

2 cups quinoa (rinsed)

3 1/2 cups water

2 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

2 TBS olive oil

Place all ingredients in a pot, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or so till liquid is absorbed. When done, spread on a cookie sheet that is lined with wax paper so it can cool off.

Meanwhile, place in large bowl:

1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

zest from one lime

add sliced green onions if you want (I was out)

add the cooled quinoa and toss lightly

In a separate bowl:

Juice of one lime and

Juice of one lemon

Give the salad a drizzle of olive oil, spoon some of the juice over top, salt (I used about 1/4 tsp) and freshly ground pepper to taste, adding more lemon/lime juice to your liking, tossing as you go.

If your salad sits for a while you may need to freshen it up a bit with a little more juice and possibly a little more salt.

Enjoy!

A Few Quick Sewing Projects

This is when I'm sooo glad I buy random fabrics I like but have no idea what I'm going to do with them at the time. I bought a small piece of this eyelet like three years ago. We gave our bathroom a facelift last fall, hung a fun shower curtain from Anthropologie and this piece matched perfectly. Yay! However it was so small. So after some very careful cutting, stitching and plenty of Frey Check...I have a sweet curtain for my bathroom. The tension rod and clips were a perfect solution to hanging it.

I also made a bathmat for this bathroom (no photo). I found just the right color towels but the only mats they had were the fuzzy kind my grandma had in her bathroom. So I cut down and sewed up a body towel and now we have cushy soft bath mat just the right size for our room.

I created this small laundry bag with a piece of leftover fabric from a tote I made years ago. We use cloth napkins and found that after meals they would accumulate in a corner on the floor by the stairs. A bit unsightly. Our laundry room is in our basement and the stairs going down are off our kitchen. I've utilized some of this stairway wall for my spices and hanging bags of root veggies...so why not make a hanging laundry bag? It has worked great for our napkins and dishtowels and I only have to haul it down about once a week.

Our guest bedroom gets the most glorious morning light pouring in and I wanted something very light and airy feeling for the curtains. One of the local West Elm stores were closing down and they had a crazy sale on everything. I scored two very long linen curtains for five bucks each. I cut off the bottom portion and sewed it under the top piece (which I hemmed) and gave it a layered look.

Now I have some not-so-quick sewing projects to get to, like a king headboard, king bedskirt, and a sofa to recover. Maybe I'll go make an apron instead.

Water Painting

Received this book from Amazon the other day and we decided to try out a few things that centered around painting with water. It's a great book with lots of ideas for the little ones and recipes for homemade paint, dough, etc., and organized exceptionally well. Well worth the $10 it cost. The authors little motto is, "It's the process, not the product." As much as I love craft projects that produce a product and they definitely have their place, it's just as important if not more to have unstructured art time. It fosters creativity, discovery, independence and it's wonderfully freeing.

We started off coloring black crayon on black construction paper, then painting water on it to see what happens (pg 72).

Then did the same thing but with chalk pastels and oil pastels (pg 64). It's not in this photo but the oil pastels were really fun b/c they get vibrant when you paint water on the paper. Jack wanted me to outline his hand 20 times with different colors on that one. He loved it.

We also took coffee filters (taped up to my table drying in the photo), drew with markers on them, then painted with water and watched the colors spread and blur. It also leaves a cool watery color pattern on the table paper (pg 33 and 63).

From that he thought it'd be fun to use markers and color the table paper and water paint that. I love that he came up with that one on his own. Discovering for himself.

We had a lot of fun with this art time. Not even sure how much time passed. An hour? Maybe more. He really didn't want it to end but helped me clean up anyway. It's been so nice doing all these projects with him lately. Now that we're not in the yard quite as much because of the heat and me being pregnant, it's been a wonderful way to spend indoor time with out costing a fortune or sitting in front of the TV. The best part is we're creating an abundance of fun memories together while he's learning all kinds of things.

You really must excuse the bad photos, it's so much easier and less time consuming to use my iphone. If I had to use the camera every time I'd rarely ever post I'm afraid.

Toddler Bed Tent

I'm a total sucker for tents and forts. I had so much fun as a kid turning my mom's living room into a giant fort and imagining to my hearts content. A couple months ago on a whim I stretched some fabric across the top of my kiddo's bed and he loved. It didn't quite give him enough head clearance however so I've been trying to come up with an idea of how to build him a bed tent ever since.

I found a someone unloading a new crib tent on Craig's List for $25 and with a few modifications...this is what I ended up with.

I cut off the side panels that wrap around the bars and the front strip with the velcro fasteners that attaches to the front bar. I then cut off the velcro fasteners so I had 4 individual ones and re-sewed them to the sides. Strapped it onto his bed and stretched a fitted crib sheet over it. He totally digs rockets right now so he thought this was fantastic. He was bouncing around all over the place as I was putting it together for him. Eventually I want to make another cover that actually goes all the way around the sides and front with a flap so it really feels like a tent. Another day...

A Little Scooping, Pouring, and Cutting

I've taken to a lot of Montessori techniques and methods and try to incorporate as much as I can into our everyday lives. I appreciate the focus on independence, responsibility, respect, and creative learning activities. I've enjoyed the book, How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way, by Tim Seldon. It's given me a good basic overview and many ideas. I've also found some inexpensive items at www.montessoriservices.com  and www.forsmallhands.com (essentially the same company). A lot of things you can gather from around the house but I have gotten smaller sized tools and things like the pitcher and glasses below that are much easier for Jack to use.

Here he's practicing scooping. The old cookie tray is key to keep beans, lentils (and later water) from ending up everywhere. I found several different kinds of spoons in a kitchen drawer, a couple small bowls and things to scoop from my pantry that are different sizes and colors (orange lentils, white baby limas, black rice, green split peas). He really enjoyed this activity. Tried all the spoons, right and left handed, even poured the contents from one bowl to the other over and over. He talked about the colors, the sizes and counted them, discovered which spoon was better for scooping each item, discovered the big spoon held a lot, etc. I love that he was telling me all these things not me explaining it to him.

Here he's practicing pouring. We had many spills (all contained in the tray and mopped up with sponges) before he learned how to control how much he poured but what a triumph when that happened! He was SO proud of himself and he celebrated by drinking out of his cup like a big boy.

It really is amazing how much better he drinks out of these little cups verses even small regular cups.

Then we moved on to cutting and pasting. Cutting can be a difficult task to master for little ones and is going to take time and pactice. Jack was fascinated with it though and very determined to learn. It was fun to end with pasting and talk about shapes. He's watched me so many times use the glue stick so he thought it was something special that I let him have at it this time.