Crafts

I was having dinner with my husband and his coworkers, when they mentioned a baby shower that was happening at the office. My husband admitted that he didn’t have a gift, and I thought that I could totally make a taggie blanket that is so popular in the sewing blog world.

I raided my local Michaels for fun ribbons a while ago, and also happened to have some soft minky fabric in my stash. For the stripey fabric, I purchased some receiving blankets from Babies R Us. I figured since we’re at the age where our friends are constantly having kids, making taggies with this fabric could be worth it. 🙂

I really like how this came out, and while I didn’t have the straightest lines sewing these fabrics together, I did learn that these fabrics with a stretch do take a little more effort to sew. Good lesson for when I finally make a T-shirt quilt. 🙂

I am a pretty tall gal (5’11”). Thankfully, most stores have gotten the clue and offer tall inseams in most pants, but unfortunately in my search for some great pajamas or workout pants, I come home empty-handed each time. So, I usually just go for capri styles instead, since those won’t make me look like I’m preparing for a flood. I will admit though, I really was hoping for a pair of pajama pants that make me feel, well, normal.

When I started sewing, I decided to stock up on patterns at Hobby Lobby because they were 99 cents each! Included in that was this plus-sized pajamas pattern. I wanted to wait a while to attempt garments, but Sew Mama Sew gave me a jolt of motivation with their challenge this month: Make it, Wear it!

I was a little intimidated, but there is a big red word on the pattern packaging: EASY. I’m sure that means easy peasy to a pro, but I’m just hoping it means manageable to a newbie like myself.

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought this pretty dark grey/blue floral pattern for my pants. This is gonna happen folks, and my seam ripper, once again, is at the ready!

Wish me luck!

Have you been intimidated by trying something new in a craft? What motivated you to finally go for it?

I know summer doesn’t officially start until June 21, however, most people identify the beginning of the summer season with Memorial Day.

Since that’s quickly approaching, I have some goals. The biggest one?

This.

Now, relax folks…don’t freak out. My machine hasn’t touched this yet! This is just fabric laid down on the carpet in the pattern I like. I know, the fabrics are not laid the same way…no worries, they’ll all face the right way when thread goes through the needle. 🙂

I’m going to admit I’m intimdated by this quilt. It’s a level 2 project in my S.E.W book, so I shouldn’t be so intimidated, but the word quilt is intimidating. They are so pretty and just perfect looking. Can I really do this? I surely hope so. My seam ripper is on stand-by.

I found all of these fabrics at Hobby Lobby for about $4.50/yard, which isn’t too shabby.

I have a serious addiction to that store and their remnant bin, by the way.

I can’t wait to see this project done.

No worries, I’ll share my other summer goals with you. I just need to save it for another post. 🙂

I’ve been wanting a dSLR camera for quite some time now. The only thing holding me back was partially price, trying to get my car paid off  ASAP (which will be done next month YAY!) and fear of regretting a splurge. I have trouble making splurges, because I feel like I don’t really NEED them and the money could be better spent. I wrote about my issue with clothing purchases before, so you can understand where I’m coming from here.

Cheap alert: I’m wearing a 3 year old blouse today and work pants with a partially broken zipper. I’m contemplating ripping the zipper out and just replacing the zipper for 2 bucks haha!

Anyway, come to find out, Target had my beloved Canon XSi on clearance for $454. I’ve been budgeting and saving for a $600 camera, so this was a welcome surprise. I bought it.

With my newly developing sewing skills, I decided to make a strap cover for it. I followed this tutorial, minus all that quilting. The more cutting required, the more I mess up it seems.

Of course, it didn’t turn out perfect, since it’s slightly a little too short. However, it’s comfy and that’s all I care about! Plus, using scrap fabric and thread I own, it was nearly free! I did purchase $3 worth of fusible fleece at Hobby Lobby, but that was 1/2 yard….barely used much of that at all!

Pardon the iPhone pic and my stinky mobile Photoshop skills.

Now, to work on finishing those Craft It Forward projects that I promised the 5 winners a month ago…sorry gals!

Since it’s craft month, I’m determined to make my sewing skills much better! After my giant fail with the tote bag, I decided to move on to do another project. I decided to make the box bag. I was completely confused at first, because I’m a visual person and I needed a video or something to get this right the first time. Since there was no video, there was a lot of seam ripping, random outbursts and in the end, a box bag that has crooked corners. Oh well, don’t judge me.

See for yourself…

Another view…

I think my enemy was my (way too thick) interfacing, and maybe mixed with some impatience and a cute puppy who wanted to play, towards the end.  Next time, I’ll know to not buy it out of a pack at Hobby Lobby. Rather, go to a fabric store and get a feel for different interfacing.

I will say, I’m pretty proud that I sewed in my first zipper! I feel pretty darn cool about that!

Oh, and if you need zippers, don’t buy them at a fabric store. They are like $2 each, when you can buy a bunch on Etsy for way cheaper. I purchased from this seller. 🙂

Here’s a future project (as in, once I can sew straight lines with much more confidence) spoiler: I cut 30 squares for a beginner’s quilt, found in S.E.W. Everything Workshop. This is the book that is sort of teaching me most of the basics. I recommend it…great patterns and ideas in there!

Anyway, I bought the fabrics at Hobby Lobby…aren’t they cute? 🙂

How is National Craft month going for you?

I tend to get slightly obsessed when I start a new hobby. I’ve purchased yards of cute fabric and tons of fat quarters already. I’ve only sewn two things: the clutch and another bag (post coming soon on that). It’s pretty crazy.

Sewing is so practical though. It’s a hobby I can justify for, easily. I can hem our pants, which saves money, sew pillows  for the couch in fabrics that are yummy, PJ pants that are long enough for my legs, etc. It’s just easy to justify spending time on, because the things you can make are very useful for everyday life!

I find myself drooling over free online patterns and things in Etsy shops, and making lists of what I want to make next. I tend to find most of my inspiration via Google, but lately, I’ve started to look into this site.

CraftGawker is for ANY craft project. Basically, if you take nice pictures, unlike me, you submit your picture to CraftGawker and if they like your picture, they put it on their site. Then, craft junkies like me click the picture and are sent to the source of the picture: whether it be a tutorial (hopefully) or Etsy link (blah..I don’t wanna buy your craft, I wanna make it! I know, so selfish and cheap!). 🙂 It’s very neato-mosquito if you ask me.

At the bottom of the site, there are categories, so you can go specifically to knitting projects, bags, jewelry, etc. I love it.

Here’s some sewing things that I’ve taken a liking to lately. These are from CraftGawker and multiple sewing blogs. 🙂

Project

Project

Project

Project

I mean, seriously, how awesome are all of these ideas? There are tons more, but these are my favorites. 🙂

I also have an ultimate sewing goal in mind, which I’ve been waiting YEARS to finally do, after seeing a friend buy one for (gulp) $300 from someone who made it for her. Big savings if I can DIY, but I’ll keep you hanging and let you know about that project in another post. 🙂