Some Crafting Motivation

As a stay-at-home mom, I really enjoy the blog community. I get to interact with other adults, get to share tidbits of life, and get some great motivation & ideas from other blogs.

I've run across a couple blog events lately that have me motivated! I'm not sure if I'll be able to participate in them, but if not this year, then definitely next! I wanted to pass them on in case any of you are interested.

100 Quilts for Kids is being hosted this year by Quilts in the Queue. This is a charity quilt drive for kids. It's pretty straightforward - make a quilt, donate it to an organization that will give it to a child, then link your quilt up at Quilts in the Queue. There are some great prizes with this, but more than that, what a special way to bless a child!

Craft Book Month is being hosted by Craftbuds. This is another opportunity to win some great prizes. Link up a picture of a project made from a craft book this year, and you're eligible to win!

Both 100 Quilts for Kids and Craft Book Month end on September 30.

I'd love to finish up my Vintage quilt from Simply Retro for Craft Book Month, but I need to be realistic! My current motivation is coming from the fact that Christmas is 114 days away! I'd love to share those projects here... but those will have to wait until after Christmas. :)

Are you participating in any kind of online sewing party? What's keeping you motivated with your sewing these days?

How To Recover an IKEA Poang Chair

Before our first baby was born, we purchased an IKEA Poang chair for the nursery. You've probably seen these chairs - definitely a little plain. At first glance I thought they were pretty strange looking, but they are surprisingly comfortable and come with a really great price tag!

The nursery is grey, so we opted for a black frame with the off-whiteish cushion.

Well, after 2 years and baby #2 was born, I decided that I was tired of the plain chair. Not to mention that it really didn't look that great in the nursery, especially with the monogrammed pillow given to Anna by some sweet friends! 

I found some pink & grey twill zigzag fabric on Fabric.com that I thought would work. The fabric was on sale at the time, so it was a really cheap way to update the nursery. 

Since the fabric is 56" wide, I only needed 2 yards to cover the chair. I loosely based my project on this tutorial found on Stickelberry, but since my fabric was a different width I modified it slightly.

First, I laid out the whole piece, marked the middle, and cut it in half. Then, I put one piece face up, laid the cushion on top, then put the other piece of fabric face down. I marked the top piece of fabric near the velcro on the cushion and cut that. 

So, I then had 3 pieces of fabric: one really long piece on the front, and two smaller pieces for the back. I folded the two back pieces down twice and hemmed. (I know this isn't very detailed, but really, the tutorial I referenced is very thorough on these steps.

Next, I pinned & sewed the longer of the back fabrics to the front fabric. Then, I laid it on the floor again, laid the cushion inside, and pinned the top of the back fabrics to the front fabric. I wanted the seams to be at the ends of the cushion. I also sewed the velcro strip at this time.

Once I had a big piece of fabric, I just needed to sew up the side seams. I like things to be pretty exact, so I measured the cushion width to be 24.5" wide. This would provide a snug fit for the cushion. I pinned, measured, and marked the fabric to be 24.5" wide on the bottom half of the cover. After sewing that, I stuffed the cushion inside just to verify the width. (It would have been much easier to rip it then if I had to - but I didn't - it was a great fit!) I then pinned, measured, and marked the top part.

I sewed diagonally across the corners since they're rounded, trimmed the edges down to a smaller seam allowance, flipped it, then stuffed the cushion inside. And - TA-DA! A brand new looking chair with a removable cover!

{Note: I'm not claiming this to be a tutorial since the one at Stickelberry is already excellent. I realize that pictures and my description are not as thorough as they could be. However, if you have any questions at all please contact me & I'll do my best to help!}

Linking up at C.R.A.F.T., Skip To My Lou, Sew Can Do, and i should be mopping the floor.

Beginnings of an Hourglass Pillow

With baby #2 on the way, I've been working on several projects to make the nursery a little more girly. We're not changing anything big - like the paint color (currently grey) or curtains, but I have a few small things to make it more hers. Big brother is also moving rooms, so I'll share a few things we're doing for his new room at some point.

Project #1 for baby girl's room is a pillow made of hourglass blocks. It's getting close, but for now here's a peek at some of the blocks.

I used this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts for the blocks, only started with slightly smaller squares. I started with 4" squares and will end up with 3" square hourglass blocks. After joining them together, each little hourglass will finish at 2.5" square. 

Looking forward to seeing this fun little pillow finished - I'll be sure to share a picture!

Sewing with Kids: L-O-V-E Banner

Hello there! Thought I'd pop in and actually post something new for you to enjoy. :) One thing after another has kept me away from this blog for way too long, and as always, I'm making no promises as to how often I'll post. Baby girl is due less than 6 short weeks from now (yes, she's one of the reasons I've been hiding), and I'm sure that once she's here I'll be right back in hiding for a while.

For now, though, I have been sewing away with K every week and we're having a blast. She got a sewing machine for Christmas so we've had a chance to try a few new things from Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing. For Valentine's day (yes, this was a while ago...) she had the idea to make a banner.

K picked out all the fabrics & cut the pennants out. Then, the letters were perhaps the trickiest part. We found a computer font she liked & printed them, then cut them out. We traced the letters backwards onto Heat'n Bond Ultra, then ironed it onto her letter fabric. Then we cut out the letters, peeled off the Heat'n Bond backing, and ironed the letters onto the pennants.

Finally, K zigzag stitched the ribbon onto the pennants to make the banner. She did a fabulous job! I love seeing her creativity and style in designing her projects & selecting the fabric.

I also love how much my little guy enjoys K coming over! They got some fun reading time in this particular day, even with all the sewing.

Sewing with Kids: T-Shirt Pillow

A while back, I asked for advice on sewing with kids. Thanks to those of you who gave input! I ended up deciding to stick with the book, Sewing School. My friend ordered the book for her daughter, who I'll just call K. Yesterday marked the 3rd week of our sewing "lessons", and it's been so much fun!

K is doing a fantastic job! She just completed her second project, a pillow made out of an old T-shirt. What a fun way to get to hang on to a favorite T-shirt that's too small or has a hole somewhere.

On our first week of sewing together, I tried to gauge what types of projects she was interested in. It turns out that one of K's biggest problems with learning to sew was not really having ideas of things to sew. This really struck me, because I remember the same thing from when I was a kid! I'd ask my mom to teach me to sew, but then when she'd ask me what I wanted to make, I had no idea. All that to say, I love having a book with some kid-friendly projects - instant inspiration! Since we've started, K has had no problem telling me what she wants to sew next. We have quite a list of Christmas projects to work on. :)

I'm hoping that the more K sews, the more she'll be inspired to challenge herself to create new things. I'll keep you posted with more of K's projects!

Sewing with Kids: Looking for Input

Good morning, sewing friends! Today I'm looking for a little help from you.

I've been talking with a friend about doing some sewing projects with her 9-year old daughter. We're thinking some hand-sewing projects would be best. I've heard good things about the book Sewing School, but am also interested in hearing other ideas. There are so many wonderful resources out there that it can be hard to know where to start looking!

So, have you ever sewn with kids? What projects are a hit, and which ones are flops? Any particular projects that they really loved?

Thanks for the help! I'll keep you posted on what we decide to do.

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday... hoping some of those lovely folks have some ideas!

Camera Strap Cover Tutorial Roundup

My camera strap could use a little flair, so I went in search of some ideas. However, there are SO many tutorials out there it's a bit overwhelming. Here are some of my favorite ideas... now I have only to decide what I'll do for mine!

The Cottage Home: Gathered Camera Strap Cover | she can quilt: His & Hers Reversible Camera Strap Cover | Everything Etsy: Padded Camera Strap Cover

Kevin & Amanda: Ruffled Camera Strap Cover | Saltwater Quilts: Camera Strap Cover with Lens Cap Pocket

Honeybear Lane: Quilted Camera Strap Cover | lbg studio: Camera Strap Cover with Lens Cap Pocket | Lola Pink: Patchwork Camera Strap Cover

Pillowcase Dress

This pillowcase dress was made for a group who sews for charity. I'd love to tell you more about that group later... so for now, onto the dress!

I've heard how easy pillowcase dresses are, but was still a little skeptical. Well, not anymore! This was a super-quick, fun project. The pattern came from Nancy's Notions. There are no pictures with the pattern, though, so here's how it looks.

Step 1: Cut a piece of fabric to the appropriate length, based on the guidelines in the pattern. I was sewing a size Medium.

Step 2: Match selvages & sew. You don't even have to cut off the selvage! You now have a big tube.

Step 3: Center the seam on the back of the tube.

  And cut out the armholes, using the pattern.

 Step 4: Fold under casing, then edgestitch. My elastic was 3/8" instead of 1/4" like the pattern suggested, so I just made the casing a little bit wider.

Step 5: Thread elastic through casing, stitching at both ends. To make this easier, I didn't actually cut the elastic at first. Instead, I marked 7" from the start and pulled the elastic all the way through the casing. Once the elastic was all the way through, I stitched the "free" end to the dress, then gathered the top until I found where I had marked the 7". Then it was easy to stitch this down without worrying about the elastic disappearing into the casing.

 Step 6: Cut length of bias tape & stitch over raw edges on armholes. This also hides the elastic. I did not bother turning in the raw ends of the bias tape, and also cut the bias tape only 36". This way, 1 pack of bias tape could be used for 1.5 dresses.

Step 7: Hem the bottom, and you're done! Tada - one delightful pillowcase dress!

You can also add embellishments or pockets to the dress if you want, but I loved this one just how it was. I definitely want to make more of these. Seems like this would also be a really fun project to make with a little girl learning to sew.

oliver + s Bucket Hat

For the little guy's first birthday, I wanted to make him a bucket hat for the summer. I have heard wonderful things about oliver + s patterns, but had never tried one out. They have a free pattern for a reversible bucket hat that was exactly what I was looking for.

Let me tell you, this pattern was great! Only three simple pieces to cut out.

I've never sewn a hat or something quite that round before and had some reservations, but I was able to follow this pattern step by step & end up with a fabulous hat for my ONE year old little guy.

I'm considering adding a chin strap to make sure this hat stays on this busy little boy, but then it wouldn't be reversible after doing that. All in all, I'd highly recommend this pattern! I'd love to try some more oliver + s patterns someday.

Isaac's Christmas Stocking

We've made do without our own stockings for the five Christmases that we've been married. However, every single year I've told Javier that we would have stockings by the next year. And the next year would come... and go... and we still wouldn't have stockings. This year, though, I decided that we *must* have stockings. It was Isaac's first Christmas, after all! After scouring the web and the large number of stocking tutorials, I finally decided to use this lovely tutorial. I liked the shape, and the quilt-as-you-go seemed pretty fun. I modified it slightly in order to add Isaac's name at the top.

The fabric came from The Little Fabric Shop, which is a new favorite place to shop for fabric! I searched for a while to find an online store that would cut 1/4 yard of fabric and also have reasonable shipping. (No, I'm not affiliated with them at all - they have no idea who I am!!) I LOVE the fabrics - there's quite a mix: some Brrr by Robert Kaufman, a little bit of Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hooey, and Joy by Kate Spain.

This has been one of my favorite sewing projects ever! It was so fun to try the quilt-as-you-go method and I love how the stocking turned out! (Certainly helps that I love the little guy it's for!!)

Unfortunately I ran out of time and mine & Javier's stockings were not finished in time... BUT in order to make sure that they really are finished for next year, I'm working on them now. :) Nothing like Christmas sewing in January! Stay tuned - I'm making them all different!