A crafty Birthday gift! Embroidered felt birds

A crafty blog post

Every once in a while I like to do some embroidery needle crafts. Garment sewing is my true love but I do like to just create! One area that I enjoy is doing some embroidery. I have a pillow that is an embroidery WIP for a couple of years now!! However, this time I turned to the birds!

 

My granddaughter just turned 6 and she really enjoys handmade items. She loves to know that someone is making something for her and doing it with their own hands. When I make her clothes she knows that I make them with love and she takes joy when she wears them. She sees many people in her family and school creating. This is something that is an important family value. I grew up that way, my daughter grew up that way and now my granddaughter is growing up that way. It is lovely!

Due to the pandemic the options were limited for birthday celebrations- we came up with the idea of a socially distant picnic with our good friend Liz in Grant Park. V loves getting together with friends of all ages and was so happy to be having a picnic in the city.

For her 6^th birthday I decided to create for her 6 little birds that she could play with and enjoy. I did a google search and found this book- Folk Embroidered Felt Birds by Corinne Lapierre. I purchased my book from Nancy’s Notions and it was as a kit with a pack of very nice wool felt. You can also purchase directly from Corrine Lapierre’s website in the UK or from Amazon.

The templates or patterns are located in the back of the book but you will need to make copies to cut them out or use tracing paper to cut them out since they are layered and on both sides of the page.

Song thrush made up in purples

Robin

Modified Goldfinch- i made him double sided and added a 'breast gusset' to make him fatter.

I made 6 of the 20 birds -   Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Robin, Goldfinch, Puffin and Dove. I made a few changes. For the single sided hanging birds, I made them double sided and added legs. The directions were all very clear and worked great except for the Puffin. There seems to be a pattern piece missing and the directions were not as clear on this one. I saved him for last and just sort of made up the missing parts as I went along. SO if you get this great little book just don’t start with the puffin!!

L-R Robin, Dove, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Puffin and Blue Tit

Each bird probably took about 6-8 hours to complete from start to finish depending on how many pieces and how much embroidery was needed.

Such joy and happiness in her smile!

Victoria really enjoyed opening these lovely little birds and I certainly enjoyed making them! I think that I will have to make some for myself J

Do you enjoy other crafts? I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Sewing and Happy Crafting!

 

Ohhhh, so sparkly!!! A sequined top!

The end of December marked my 45th birthday. Originally I was planning a big ole super fun and crazy house party to celebrate my birthday and New Years. However... With the onset of pancreatitis in November and ensuing health crap I decided to scale back a bit and go for a small gathering to be able to sit around our big table and play some fun party games. This worked out great! Since I can't eat anything fun and the most exciting thing I've had to drink in months is ginger ale, at least I could partake in some Cards Against Humanity and some fun Left Right Center. 

Everyone else got to drink and eat the fun stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed the merriment! (And the lack of hangover in the morning!!)

Being silly with my girlfriends!

I decided to mark the occasion that I would tackle a sequined top! I have always wanted to make somethings out of sequined fabric. Now, I'm not talking about the knit fabric with sequins fused into it. I'm talking about hi end real sequined fabric where each sequin is individually attached to the backing fabric. 

What a perfect challenge to end 2015 with!!! 

I picked up the fabric on my travels at Les Fabriques in Southern Virgina. 

I'm glad I gave myself plenty of time to make this top.

Let me briefly outline the steps and the estimated time of each one. 

Step one. Choose an appropriate pattern from pattern stash. Well, there wasn't one. I mean I had plenty of contenders but for real sequins there really needs to be a minimum of seams and no darts. Not that those aren't doable, just not for my first sequined garment! And upon a Google search many sequined garments are a very simple shape and looser silhouette.  Time spent: 2 hours

Step two: in the end I choose my TNT tank top/camisole pattern that started as a Silhouettes pattern. It has evolved over the past couple of years into something of my own. This is a simple pattern with just 2 pieces. A front with darts and cut on the fold and back cut on the fold. Now for another change! I decided to re-draft the front piece to eliminate the darts. After I redrafted the front piece and walked the side seams I quickly sewed up a muslin to check fit. Time spent: 2 1/2 hours

Step three: cut out the front and back pieces. I did this with a heavier pair of scissors that just cut right through the sequins! I then had to spend some time aligning all the sequins in the right direction and checking for missing sequins and any damaged sequins within the body of the cut pieces. Ugh.... When I talk about aligning the sequins, I mean that the sequins are attached by a little hole at the top of the sequin. Then the hang free at the bottom. As you handle the fabric, have it lightly folded or even turn it upside down these sequins have the tendency to flip up and get stuck under the row above. It's wonderful having them hang free because as you move in the garment there is this very light tinkling sound of the sequins. Time spent: 3 hours

Here you can see see what I mean about the sequins being flipped up.

Step four: trim all the sequins out of the seam allowances. Oh jeez! I really could have used a bottle of wine for this step!!! Time spent: 3 hours

Let's do a quick recap here... I've now spent over 10 hours and I haven't even started sewing yet...

This better turn out to be a damn nice top!

Step five: sew the side seams and the shoulder seams. Time spent: 15 mins

Step six: make and apply bias facing for the armholes and neckline. In order to do this I had to make a trip to the fabric store. I was originally just going to use some bias strips of cream silk organza but I didn't like how it looked. The bias facings needed to be a bit more substantial and match the sequins and give some depth and definition. At this point I only had time for a trip to JoAnne's, New Years was just 3 days away! Luckily, I found a poly charmeuse in a perfect match. I much prefer working with silk but with the poly charmeuse being used on the bias I was able to coax it into submission. I hand sewed on the facings. Time spent: 5 hours 

Step seven: make a facing for the hem. Nope, no time. I skipped this step completely!!! After all the netting not the sequins are attached to does not ravel so I just carefully trimmed the backing so you can't see it and left it at that. Time spent: 10 mins

Step eight: last step!!! With just a couple hours to go until my guests arrived I was furiously hand sewing on sequins to spots that had no sequins. There were just a couple spots in the yard that I had bought that was missing a couple and of course they were in the middle of my top! I also had to sew some back onto the seam allowances specifically around the neckline where I had to take them off to apply the facings. These were just at the very edge. Time spent: 1 hour

Overall time spent: 17 hours for a simple tank top with a front and back piece and bias facings for armholes and neckline. Whew! 

Was it worth it?? YES!! I love the top! This will be in my wardrobe for many years :) 

Such a fun an pd beautiful top! I love the feel of it, very smooth and cool and the drape is just beautiful and liquid like. 

Have you sewn with sequins? It was a fun process, just leave yourself plenty of time!!

Happy sewing! 

A crazy start to the new year!

January has been a crazy one for me so far! Work has been very, very busy, i suppose that the relaxed holidays was really just the calm before the storm. I have been on the road 11 days already this year and headed to the airport this afternoon. If only I could figure a way to get paid and not work!! wink, wink, now wouldn't that be fun!!

A birthday cocktail!

In all seriousness, i am not complaining i am only out one night this week and several of those 11 days were to surprise my dad for his 74th birthday! and he sure was surprised, it was GREAT! I love that i get to spend time with my parents when my job takes me close to them :) They live in lower Delaware so not always the easiest to get to time wise.

Helping dad set up and navigate his new tablet.

It was great to spend my weekend with my mom and dad! We ate and drank and talked, I helped them move the treadmill into the house from the garage workroom, I helped my dad set-up his new tablet. It was just a very nice weekend having them all to myself.

Indian River Inlet Bridge between Rehoboth and Bethany Beach.

I treated them to dinner down in Bethany Beach at this wonderful little farm to table restaurant called Off The Hook. If you are ever in the area you must check them out!! We stopped at the parking lot for the Delaware Seashore State park to view the bridge. So pretty with the blue lights.If it had been a tad warmer out I would have taken a walk across the dunes to the ocean. we could hear the waves hitting the beach from where we stopped.

It was a great weekend! It also meant that no sewing got done. However, the weekend before I did manage to get a couple things done or at least started!

I made a gift for my friend who is a bride to be. She is getting married in a couple weeks on the cruise that we are set to go on. Since there was not going to be a bridal shower, I wanted to make her a little gift that she could use on the trip.I made her a laundry and a lingerie bag set. As you can probably tell her favorite color is purple and she has a thing for pigs. The pig print is actually a plane full of piggies! how's that for travel themed?!?! The bags are also lined with the piggy fabric and I embroidered the designs on them from an Anita Goodesign CD called Chic Travel Accessories. We went out for lunch and to do some shopping last weekend and I gave them to her. She LOVED them! YAY!

And last but not least, I have this maxi skirt sitting on my dress form just awaiting for my Evolution serger to be picked up from the doctors office so I can cover stitch the hem. I am also contemplating adding a short nude knit lining under it. I will have to find some sunshine later this week and assess the sheerness! Perfect colors for a cruise and warmer weather!

Happy Sewing!!

Maternity shirt take 2, success!! And a birthday gift for Dad.

Take 2 of the Ruched maternity T-shirt was a great success! The changes I made gave her the extra room that was needed under the arm, across the upper chest and the upper back. She really does need a sway back adjustment. Too much fabric pooling at the small of her back. However she was adamant about NOT having a center back seam. And it may just go away as her belly gets bigger!

Well, as long as she's happy, I'm happy!

Now that I have a good base fit I have several other ideas for using this pattern.... I also measured her for a maternity skirt. I figure she will need a few things other than stretchy pants for work. 

It's nice to be able to sew for her:)

I also finished a birthday gift for my dad. I'm not 100% sure if he is going to like it. I got mixed reviews when I polled the family about it!!! Everyone liked it, it is a toiletry bag,  but there wsa the thought that the embroidery design may be too girly. He'll have to let me know! I'm sure if he does not like it then mom will. 

The outer fabric is a cream color pleather and the lining is a quilting cotton from my stash. The embroidery design is Gentlemans Grooming Tools from Urban Threads. 

Next up on the work table is a sundress for our upcoming trip!

Fabric wristlett Wallet: The last gift

The last of Melissa's birthday gifts was a fabric wristlett wallet. When she opened this yesterday on her birthday I got one of the best compliments that a home sewer can get... wow! Where did you get this?? I love it! 

I must confess that I made this fabric wallet in the middle of the night the day before her birthday. I could not sleep and instead of tossing and turning I headed to the sewing room. I had the pieces already cut out so I just spent a couple hours whipping it up! It came out so great and I am sure to make a couple more of these.

I was originally going to use the free pattern/tutorial from the winter 2010 SewNews magazine but when I got online the comments for the tutorial where filled with bad reviews. I checked my printed pattern against some measurements and when I found these were off I decided to scrap the project. I did a search and found a tutorial for this fabric wallet from Confessions of a Fabricaholic. I did make some minor changes like adding the swivel clip and wrist strap as well as adding more interfacing. Other than that I just followed the tutorial step by step.


I used the dachshund fabric as the main fabric and then used the leftover rainbow fabric from the tote bag for the inner pieces. It came out great and coordinates with the tote bag.

Then the lovely part of telling the recipient that you made it for them. :) That always makes my day. She knew that she was getting the tote bag but had no idea about the doxxie fabric wallet or the jewelry board.

It was a great way to celebrate her birthday, with lots of gifts made with love just for her, that plus the 6 hours her Dad and I spent in the kitchen plating ultimate cakeoff! We made a giant birthday cake for her. It was great fun and came out delicious!

 

The Tote Bag is done

The tote bag is complete!

I finished Melissa's birthday gifts! Just in time, her birthday is today:) Can't believe my baby is turning 23... This post is all about the tote bag, I'll post on the last gift I made in the next post. Boy... she is really spoiled this year :)

The tote bag turned out really well, I made a couple of modifications from the original Amy Butler; Sweet Harmony pattern.

1. I added 2 magnetic closures at the top. I really like a bag that has some type of closure. These are pretty heavy duty magnets so unless the bag is over  stuffed they are gonna stay closed!.

2 magnetic snap closures at top of main compartment

2. I added a clip on the inside to attach keys to. I put this on the side that has the open pockets. The keys can be clipped on and slid into the pocket for easy retrieval. Nothing worse than having to dig around in a big bag for keys.

Swivel clip added into lining, upper left hand of picture. This side has the 2 open pockets.

This side shows the big zippered pocket

3. I applied Scotchgard to the bag. I have never used scotchgard before. I only applied a single coat, I may add a second one... any one have any Scotch Guarding tips?

I also made a matching tissue holder or 'sneeze catcher' for the bag.



tote bag versus the handbag



My only con to this project was the quality of the purple zebra fabric. I bought the fabric at a good quilt shop and paid just under $10 a yard for it. I was expecting a higher quality than what I ended up working with. I may think twice before purchasing clothworks textiles again especially when paying a premium price.

Completed GIft but still not enough time!

I have finished one of the planned 3 birthday gifts for Melissa. Yikes... her birthday is this coming weekend and of course I am running out of time.

Not only am I running out of time but also I am having surgery, again, tomorrow and my sewing machine has decided that it needs to go into the shop. now. I wont have the time to bring it to the shop until after my surgery so it will just have to wait a bit.

Murphy's law that my sewing machine decides to misbehave just when I would like it to be working perfectly. Oh well, I should not complain, I have my trusty standby machine that I can work on if feeling up to it.

So in order to make up for the fact that I may not have the other gifts done, I added to the first project. The project, that you had a sneak peak of, is a jewelry board. Melissa is in dire need of a jewelry box, which her boyfriend has decided to get for her. However, on further discussion with him regarding her needs of a jewelry box we discovered, while snooping a bit, that she has several costume jewelry necklaces. Any woman knows that these necklaces tend to be big, long, chunky and fun and that they also don't fit in a standard jewelry box. Hence my decision to make a jewelry board that she can hang her fun costume jewelry necklaces on.

I would love to claim the idea as my own but I can't. I read about a similar idea sometime while recuperating from my broken leg over the summer and it stuck in my brain.

I started with a $2.98 bulletin board and used Acrylic paints, craft paper, magazine advertisements, ink jet printed paper, various cup hooks and hooks from hardware store, Mod Podge and varnish and put it all together! The hardest thing about this project was all the dry time for the various coats of paint, nod podge and varnish.

** The last 2 photo's are sideways, not sure why they uploaded that way and I can't seem to fix it regardless of what I do! so sorry for you having to turn your head!**

Top half of the jewelry board, showing the three large hooks and the 4 smaller cup hooks.

Detail of the corner, I added a crystal rosette to each corner for some added 'bling'



The completed Jewelry board



with 4 new necklaces added to the gift :)



At least I have one great gift my girl! If I don't ge the tote bag done on time I wont worry too much.

Tote bag progress

Yikes, 2 posts in one day!!

I was able to make enough progress on the Sweet Harmony tote bag to actually take a couple of shots. I did not bother doing a full step by step photo shoot because I did that with the Sweet Harmony Handbags I made last spring/summer.

Reminder: I did not pick out this fabric. However, I am very pleased with how it looks together. Quite hip and fun for a soon to be 23 year old!

Side 1, I love the rainbow piping detail! The lining will also be of the rainbow material.

Side 2



Side 1 with a view into the pocket, shows the cell phone pocket or what I rather call a gum pocket. Not really big enough for Mel's smart phone but perfect place for a pack or 2 of gum.



detail view

Unlined, unfinished inside showing all the heavy duty decor bond interfacing.

The only thing I am lamenting about is that I only cut out pieces for 1 bag. I really like it and want one for myself! I really love this Amy Butler pattern the only draw back is that it simply takes forever to cut out all the fabric, interfacing, fleece interlining. By the time you get to the sewing you are almost sick of working on the darn thing. This is certainly NOT an instant gratification project. Is is totally awesome when it is done and provides lots of gratification and pleasure afterwards but not during the construction!