Even More Little Geraniums

I can't stop sewing these Little Geranium dresses (here are my 1st 'bouquet' and 2nd 'bouquet').

Earlier this month I was reorganizing my fabric stash and came across pieces that were less than a third of a yard. Just enough to make baby dresses, I thought. This batch of dresses were made from simple quilting cottons except for the gray which is a mystery fabric (it has a bit of stretch), the bodice lining is simple white cotton blend. These baby dresses were made for and will be donated to Dress A Girl Around the World.

If you are ever interested in sewing up a Little Geranium (free pattern, size 0-3 months), here are the amounts that are needed. Just something to keep in mind when you are going through your fabric stash and are wondering what could be made from those smaller fabric pieces.

5.5 X 6 inches (2 of these are needed for the bodice back)
6 X 10 inches (1 of these is needed for the bodice front)
11 X 34 - 11 X 44 inches (1 of these is needed for the skirt)

Do you have fabric pieces in those sizes in your fabric stash?

PS this little blog celebrated it's 4th birthday yesterday ~ thank you for reading, subscribing, and for all of your sweet comments over the years :)

Marzipan Day of the Dead Skulls

 Kids can make their own festive and yummy snack for Day of the Dead {Mexican holiday celebrated November 1st (All Saints' Day) and November 2nd (All Souls' Day)} with these marzipan skulls. They are super easy to make and very inexpensive.

Marzipan Day of the Dead Skulls Tutorial

What you need:

• Silicone ice cube tray with skull shapes (I bought this one for $1.00 at a dollar store, but others with skull shapes can be found at large craft stores for about $10.00)
• Marzipan (I bought some at IKEA for $2.29)
• Cake/cookie sprinkles

 What you do:

• Take a small amount of marzipan and with fingers press into the mold

•  Pop the marzipan skull out of the mold (the 7.1 oz. package of marzipan made 14 skulls)

• Decorate with sprinkles

Bon appetit!

PS When decorating the plate I added orange flower sprinkles because marigolds are the traditional flower for Day of the Dead. I also added some Mexican treats that I found in the Mexican section of a regular grocery store: Canel's chewing gum and de la Rosa peanut marzipan.

For Day of the Dead Skull Crayons go here. For even more Day of the Dead ideas go here.

Jasper Vest and Jodhpur Pants

 

My girl is modeling her newest outfit that I sewed her during Kid's Clothes Week. It's Clever Charlotte Jasper Vest & Jodhpur Pants... in size 5. Very satisfying results.

 I love the pleated side panels on the pants (which give a feel of European styling). I followed the method that Cindy from Siestas and Sewing did, by topstitching around the side panel and also where the upper and lower leg panels join. I really like how that gives the details more definition because these pants are all about the details.

 I was first drawn to this sewing pattern for the unique pants, but after sewing up the vest, I fell in love with it, too. The asymmetrical zipper vest has a slightly oversized collar and gathered back with buttoned tab. This vest is made up in some nice thick soft wool because where we live it gets cold. It has a silver metal fashion zipper and also 2 cat paw shank style buttons which are silver metal (and made in Italy). The wearer of this vest adores cats, so I was delighted to find these cat paw buttons.

 There were problems along the way with sewing up these pieces, but I'm super pleased with how they both turned out, so I guess all is well that ends well. This style pleases me so much I hope to sew some more in the future.

 Project details
Pattern: Clever Charlotte Jasper Vest and Jodhpur Pants (sizes 2T-8)
Size: 5
Modifications: The hem on the pants is .5 inch instead of 1 inch
Fabrics:
Pants: khaki twill (school uniform bottoms are to be khaki, so she will be wearing these pants to school)
Vest: raspberry pink wool, lining in cotton gray with white polka dots is from the Captain Phillips Collection from Blue Hill Fabrics

 I also whipped up a little matching hair accessory, the pattern is the Oliver + S bow hair tie. (The long sleeve t-shirt she's wearing was store bought).

How did KCW go for you?

Day of the Dead Skull Crayons

 Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated November 1st (All Saints' Day) and 2nd (All Souls' Day). Sugar skulls are very popular as decorations. I was inspired by the sugar skulls and came up with this craft to do with kids. We have made DIY Ice Cube Tray Crayons before.

I bought the silicone ice cube tray with skull shapes for $1 at a dollar store, but others with skull shapes can be found at large craft stores for about $10.

 DIY Day of the Dead Skull Crayons Tutorial

• Gather similar colored crayons
• Remove the paper wrappers
• Break the crayons into small pieces and place them in a small glass jar
• Place the jar in a small pot of boiling water on the stove
• Once all the crayons have completely melted pour the melted crayon mixture into the silicone ice cube tray
• Wait for them to harden, then remove from ice cube tray

Now the kids can enjoy coloring with their new skull crayons. Have fun crafting with your kids for Day of the Dead.

Barbie Reversible Circle Skirt Tutorial

 Last week when I was reorganizing my fabric stash, I came across some 7 inch diameter circles of fabrics. They were the centers of the circle skirts from the striped dress and plaid dress. I thought they would be perfect for circle skirts for a Barbie doll.

Barbie Reversible Circle Skirt Tutorial

What you need:

• Two different pieces of fabric cut into a circle, I used 7 inch diameter circles (In order to get a longer skirt, cut out a bigger circle)
• Rotary cutter with pinking blade
• 1.25 inch diameter circle paper punch
• Disappearing ink fabric marker
• Scissors
• 5/8 inch or 1 inch fold over elastic

 What you do:

• With right sides together, sew .25 inch (or edge of presser foot) all around the outer edge of the circle.
• Trim using a rotary cutter with pinking blade.

• To create the 1.25 inch diameter circle paper pattern piece, use a 1.25 inch circle paper punch. (Or use a compass to draw a circle).

• Place that circle pattern piece in the center of the fabric circle, trace it, and then cut it out.

• Turn the circle skirt right side out and press with iron.

• Take the fold over elastic and fold it over the raw edge of the waistline, sew around with multiple step zigzag stitch (it is suggested to use a 2 or 3 stitch length and a ball point needle). If you have never sewn with fold over elastic before I recommend watching a YouTube video to learn how.

• Cut off the excess fold over elastic.

 Slip the reversible circle skirt on a Barbie.

Enjoy sewing your Barbie reversible circle skirts!

Fabric Stash Storage Shelf

 Yesterday I organized my paper pattern pieces and today I tackled my fabric stash. I can't believe how much faster and better it went then I thought it would. Considering how quickly it went, I really should have done this much sooner!

So here's the story about this shelf… I bought it at a flea market…

It got painted white…

 It was filled with toys and materials for my daughter (who used to be in part-time school) and would have her space while we both worked/played in my sewing studio.

 Then my daughter started full-time school (sniff, sniff) and my fabrics began to take over the shelf. This is what it looked like this morning.

 I took those fabrics as well as some in a mesh container and the fabrics that were sitting on top of the piano and I reorganized them.

 And here is how the fabric storage shelf looks this afternoon.

Much better!

I still have to figure out what to do with some fabric scraps, but that will be for another day. How do you store your fabric scraps? Also what do you do with your fabric scraps?

On top of the shelf are my sewing projects I have planned for Kids Clothes Week October 21-27. Will you be taking part in KCW? If so, have you been planning?

Hanging Paper Pattern Pieces

 My sewing studio has become a complete mess! I was inspired by Sally's post from Daisy Chain Creations about organizing a sewing space. I want to go through everything and start from scratch.

This is so embarrassing, I've had paper pattern pieces sitting on top of the piano, some for over a year! These are the sewing patterns that are digital and I've printed them out on my printer or ones that I've traced with freezer paper from regular paper sewing patterns.

 I got these vintage metal hangers tiered with multiple clips from my mom's house years ago. Does anyone know what they were originally intended for? Anyway, I thought they would be the perfect thing to hang up all these paper pattern pieces, one clip per pattern. I have one hanger just for Oliver + S sewing patterns.

As you can see from the back of the hangers, they have many clips, 10, 12, so they can hold a lot of patterns. How convenient is that!?! So that's my tip for sewing pattern storage. (Note: to see how I store my paper sewing patterns that I've bought in a package, click here).

I feel more organized already… next up will be reorganizing the fabric stash, not exactly sure when that will be completed, but hopefully in the near future.

PS Speaking of sewing patterns, the winner of the Mara blouse pattern is Nele Combraz! Congratulations, you have already been emailed the pattern by Marte from Companie M.

Rainbowy Crafty Set

 This was a fun project... planning and making a girl birthday gift in bright rainbowy colors (as well as beige linen).

 First up, I sewed an open wide zippered pouch (medium size, the inside is lined with beige linen).

 I bought a 6-pack of gel pens and sewed up a coordinating gel pen organizer, following this pen wrap and roll tutorial.

I also sewed a rainbowy pin cushion which is super quick and easy. Cut 6 rainbow colors 2 inches by 3 inches, beige linen 3 inches by 7 inches, sew together with .5 inch seam allowances, leave 1-2 inch opening, turn right side out, fill with stuffing, and hand stitch opening closed.

 And lastly I put together a simple sewing kit in a (Bonne Maman) jar. I found that idea here.

All of the items fit inside the zippered pouch and made a crafty set.

I would really like to try to make more birthday gifts in the future.

Have a sweet day.

DIY Embroidery Floss Organizers

 Wondering what to do with those white cardboard pieces that come in bias tape packages? Well, wonder no more. Turn them into cute cat embroidery floss organizers.

I got the idea from this DIY String Organizers blog post.

Now my embroidery floss won't be all tangled up in balls in a plastic bag anymore!

Happy organizing!

Mara blouse pattern tour

 I had the pleasure of sewing up a dress for the Mara blouse pattern blog tour. Marte from Compagnie M. designed the Mara blouse pattern (a PDF pattern) and it is now available for purchase. Available is sizes 1Y - 10Y, the pattern includes both with or without seam allowances, and all measurements are in centimeters and inches.

The Mara blouse sewing pattern has a vintage touch with the front yoke and pin tucks.

There are 4 different sleeve options:

• sleeveless
• butterfly sleeves
• flutter sleeves
• long sleeves

Plus you can adjust the pattern into a dress (by following 2 detailed tutorials):

• an A-line dress with or without a colored hem band
• a gathered skirt dress

 My version is a sleeveless dress. I followed the tutorial on how to adjust the blouse to a basic A-line dress. I used gray linen, deep red stretch suede piping, and 3 black buttons. It is given a difficulty level of 2 out of 4 and I think that is right on. I sewed up a size 5Y and I am so pleased with how it turned out. I like all the little details which take a bit of time and attention, but after those are complete the rest sews up super fast.

 Be sure to visit Compagnie M. October 1-6 to see all the variations that were sewn for the pattern blog tour.

Marte has generously offered to give a copy of her Mara blouse pattern to nest full of eggs blog readers. Enter below for a chance to win. One person will be chosen to receive the sewing pattern. The giveaway is open until October 6th.

Oliver + S Guest Post

The Oliver + S Fairy Tale Dress came out a little over a year ago and since then I have used it 10 times! Today I am visiting the Oliver + S blog sharing how I have customized the Fairy Tale sewing pattern…

…including my 10th one called '10 Stripes'

Project Details:
Patterns: Oliver + S Fairy Tale Dress (difficulty level of 3 out of 4 scissors), pocket pattern from Oliver + S Playtime Dress
Size: 5
Modifications: Sleeveless, collarless, no bow, no crinoline, I added length to the skirt, I added on seam side pockets from Oliver + S Playtime Dress
Fabrics: Cotton sateen: smoke and eggplant, lining and pockets in cotton sateen: smoke. For size 5 I used about .5 yard eggplant (58 inches wide) and 2 yards smoke.
Notions: Invisible zipper, hook and eye closure
Inspiration: My inspiration came from the 'Carolyn' Stripe Fit and Flare Dress Kate Spade New York $478, black and white version, pink and orange version

Click here to see the tutorial.

Happy sewing!