Mini Shop for Etsy

Sock dolls

Audrey and I just posted some sock doll creations on Etsy. Our shop is Sew4fun114.etsy.com


Feedback on what you think of the sock dolls, the photos ( by Audrey) and any other critiques would be great.

Cars Overalls

An old set of Disney's Cars sheets prompted my next project for this blog. Our sweet little friend, one year old Hayden loves cars and trucks,especially red cars because my car is red. He is always pointing out cars and making that cute "vroom" sound that little boys just naturally can do at the back of their throat. Yet I cannot make it without coughing. 

Simplicity 8933 from the early nineties was in my pattern files. I centered the pocket on one of the vehicles and added some red car buttons for the straps. 

Hayden loves his new duds! He kept putting everything into the front pocket from straws to rocks to credit cards. A great bonus with this simple type of pattern is that it took less than 2 hours to make the outfit. 

I have some Tinkerbell and Hello Kitty sheets in the closet...wonder what they could become? 

Audrey and Jess sewing lessons Part 1

We started out with a large pile of scrap trim and fabrics from the garage stash. I told the girls to find some trim and a piece of fabric that matched for their first real project: tote bags. Jess found a lovely Hoffman print from the Flower Fairy Collection with little pink flowers by Cecily Mary Barker. I should post the dress that the scraps came from since it used to belong to Hillary and later Audrey wore it. Audrey found some guitar printed fabric from Moda that we made baby bibs out of for Hayden last year. Both girls found rickrack trim. The piece Jess chose was from my old sewing teacher's stash. When she passed away many years ago, her daughter gave me a huge box of her treasures. So I guess it is considered "vintage" trim.

 Jess is the giggle bug when it comes to photos.

 First lesson is to always iron, iron, iron!!! Audrey thinks it is actually fun and her new job is to iron everything after it gets washed before we start projects.

The kitty is very comfortable !

Jess working at pinning her handle strap before stitching.

Audrey and Jess took to sewing like a pros...must be in their genes. My older daughter never really liked it at all. She just enjoys wearing the clothes. Notice in some of Audrey's pictures that the cat is lurking in the background to watch.His name is Thin Lizzy and he belongs to my youngest son, Lane.

 Audrey does not like threading the machine! But I told them that if you sew a green strip of rick rack on with black or pink thread, it just screams "Homemade" in a negative way. It's always worth the time to change the thread colors out.

 I love the concentration as she turns the project right side out...like she can't quite believe it looks right.

 Audrey working on pinning on her trim in a nice straight line. I marked both end points with a safety pin and told her to follow the pattern in the center of the guitars. After she finished, it was pinned above the guitars and she asks "Mom, why did you put these safety pins on the ends?" I was like..."so you could line up the trim below the fold down seam line...along the CENTER of the guitars".
"Oh, oops" she replied.

Both girls enjoyed the process of creating their tote bags. I made them change the thread color to match the trim and each bag for practice. They are getting really good at threading the machine, but that darn back-stitching is Jess's least favorite.
Next project will be skirts. And we will also be altering some thrift store finds for back to school items.

My first posting

Welcome to my little blog about recycling your old fabric items into something new. My daughters and I have been enjoying the creative process for several years. But recently a friend suggested I blog about it and post photos so others can share the fun. 

My youngest daughter Audrey is pictured in a green silk dupioni bodice that was created from an old curtain that I got from a sewing client. I had made her new curtains for her house and she was tossing out this beautiful green piece when I saved it from the pile. I ended up making a costume out of part of it for some theater production. When we found this leftover scrap in my fabric bins, we knew it was perfect for her graduation outfit from Middle School. 

Audrey wanted a "corset" look but not something adult. So we used McCall's 4455 as a starting point. We tried the pattern out in a scrap of white first to get the fit right for her. We had to cut it down a bit since she is a size 0 and the pattern is a 4-10. We made the top about 2 inches longer than the pattern.  In view C, the front laces up and instead of a zipper, we opened up the back with a placket and added buttonholes. The fabric covered buttons down the back added a classic look.