Simple Sewing Book Review and Giveaway!

Today I am so excited to share with you a book by Katie Lewis, Simple Sewing: 30 Fast & Easy Projects for Beginners. You may also know her from her lovely blog, The Red Kitchen. She wrote a book! How fun is that!! And a darn tootin' pretty good book if I do say so myself.

This book is absolutely perfect for the beginning sewist. I so wish she had written it when I started sewing 4 years ago. And even though I am no where near a beginner I really think this book is pretty great. I love the sheer volume of fun and quick projects she put together. Accessories, Baby, Toys...the list goes on, as you can see from the picture above! And I'll have you know that every project has full color, step-by-step instructions AND 90% of the projects in the book require less than one yard of fabric!

I actually used her Reversible Bib project to make a baby gift for a friend's friend's baby shower (haha, did you get that?) It was the easiest bib I've ever made, using 2 different cotton fabrics to make it reversible...and good for a gender neutral baby shower gift...and a set of snaps instead of the velcro! 

Totally adorable, right?

I paired it with some of the burp cloths I sell in my shop...

And packaged it up all pretty along with a few other fun gifts and sent it on it's way to it's new happy home!

If you'd like to make your own Reversible Baby Bib or any of Katie's other fast and fabulous projects than you will want to enter the giveaway below to win a copy for yourself!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can see more of the book tour over at Kojo-Designs and Ruffles and Stuff.

And you can buy a copy of the book for you or some friends at these retailers:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Ruffled Mason Jar Cozies

I love mason jars. In our home we use them for everything :-) 

Need a vase? Grab a mason jar! 

Need a container for pens, pencils or crayons? Grab a mason jar!

Need a habitat for all the worms my kids dug up in the garden? Grab a mason jar!

You get my drift...we use them for everything.

But the thing we probably use them for the most is to drink out of, they sure do make the handiest glasses. You too? And they are even travel-worthy if you own a few cuppows too, such a cool invention.

Remember how I told you in my Mommy/Daughter Picnic post, found here, that I made my daughters some Ruffled Mason Jar Cozies for their drinks and that I would share the tutorial with you...well, I'm here to tell you that today is that day, woooot!

You are going to love making these, they are made with one layer of insul-fleece too so they will keep your hot drinks hot and your cold drinks cold. And they are a really nice quick project. You could definitely make a handful in an hours time. I'm thinking I will be making a few more for Teacher Appreciation Week...or maybe as part of the kids' teachers Christmas gifts? Decisions, decisions! 

Ruffled Mason Jar Cozies (directions will make one cozy)

two 3.5 x 12 inch piece of fabric for the cozy

4 x 22 inch of fabric for the ruffle

3.5 x 12 inch piece of pellon insul-fleece 

elastic hair tie

button

Gather your supplies. Cut your fabrics and insul-fleece to size.

First we'll make our ruffle. Fold the longer 4 x 22 inch piece of fabric in half the long way, with right sides facing. Sew the long raw edges together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance (picture at the right) so that you make a long tube. Using a safety pin, turn the tube right side out. Place the seam in the center of the tube and iron flat, this will be the backside of the ruffle.

Now to ruffle the tube. I like to ruffle by increasing my thread tension to 9 (the highest number my machine will go). Then I increase the stitch width and length to the highest numbers they will go. Start stitching down the center front (the side opposite the seam you just ironed) making sure to backstitch after the first stitch. This way my machine ruffles the fabric for me as I sew and there is no need for me to pull threads, etc. I love doing ruffles this way!

Once your longer piece is ruffled you are going to center it on top of the right side of one of the 3.5 x 12 inch pieces of fabric and pin it into place. Sew it on with any stitch you like (I prefer the look of a zig zag stitch) making sure to go down the center over top the stitch line you just made while ruffling it.

Now to put the cozy together. You will need to do this step in very careful layers so make sure you pay attention!

Your layers will go like so...insul-fleece at the bottom, then ruffled 3.5 x 12 inch piece of fabric right side up, then at one end you will place your hair elastic with just a bit sticking out over the edge, then you will place the other 3.5 x 12 inch piece of fabric right side down.  You've got yourself one heck of a cozy sandwich happening now, don'tcha.

Here's a look at the top of that sandwich...see that little bit of the hair elastic sticking out (and some of the ruffle too!) You want that bit sticking out as it will help you make sure your sewing machine catches that elastic when you are sewing this sandwich together.

Alright, so next you are going to sew all around the sandwich using a 1/4 inch seam allowance leaving the end opposite the hair elastic open.  So, if you are looking at the picture above, you will start sewing at the bottom right corner across to the bottom left corner, then up to the top left corner (backstitching a few times over the hair elastic, and then sewing across to the top right corner.  The complete right side will remain open for turning the cozy right side out.

Clip your corners, making sure not to clip the seams you just sewed up! Then turn your cozy right side out using the opening we did not sew together. You may need a chopstick to push out the corners.

Then topstitch all the way around the cozy starting by folding the open end edges inward to close up the opening we used for turning the cozy right side out. 

The last thing we need to do is place the cozy over a mason jar and pull the elastic to see where you will need to place the button. Place a pin in that spot so when you take the cozy off you will have the area marked. Hand sew your button in place and you are done!

So pretty!

And totally functional...the best kinda project!

PS. You can also add another button onto the cozy so that these will fit the narrower Starbucks-type coffee cups...I love a multi-functional piece, don't you!

Happy sewing my friends!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

Mommy/Daughter Date: Picnic in the Park

At the end of the summer I was asked by Davidson's Organics and the Missouri Star Quilt Company to be a part of their Ultimate Picnic! program and to create a fun picnic theme to share. What fun, right! I love a good picnic. Remember this post here? Well, last week I decided it was high time I took my girls out on a little mommy/daughter date. It had been far too long since I had done anything with either of them that was just us. You know, without any errand running, after school activity pit stops, soccer games, heck, not even a brother in sight.

Since we've been having the most amazing fall weather, I thought a picnic at the park would be the perfect little getaway for us. I packed our picnic basket with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, animal crackers, apple slices, and some iced tea (caffeine free of course...my kids love when I let them have iced tea, I think it makes them feel grown up!)

I was sent a few boxes of Davidson's Organics have been loving all the fun brewed iced tea flavors they offer. I chose the Te de Hibiscus for my girls as it's caffeine free and they really enjoyed it, especially in their own little mason jar!

I was also sent an adorably happy fat eight bundle from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. I used the fabric to make each of my girls a cute Ruffled Mason Jar Cozy (tutorial found here!) to use at our picnic in the park.

We had so much fun. It was so nice being able to talk to them without the interruptions of any brothers. Since school started it seems that they have both grown so much. They had so much to tell me about school, their routines, their classmates, their favorite parts of their days. I loved it all and relished every bit of the fact that they were both such open books :-)

Ellie seems so much older now that she is in preschool. She is learning about the weather, the calendar, days of the week, she loves all the songs they sing and giggles as she tries to teach them to us.

And Penny. Wow! I knew she loved school, but hot dog, she downright adores it. Every. Bit. Of. It. She soaks it all in and remembers every detail of every day. Right now her favorite class is art, she is learning about money and loves the fact that there is a song about the penny (which she thinks is about her :-) ), she memorizes everything her teacher does and is so pleased with herself to share the minute by minute action with us. 

I'm not sure who had more fun on this picnic date, me or the girls. I do know that I cannot wait to carve out time to do this with the two of them again...as well as I am trying to find something special to do with my boys. Even if only for an hour, it ends up being such a special time and such a great memory for all of us!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO, 

The Sweetheart Dress: Pattern Review and Giveaway

What's more perfect for Valentine's day than to have a sweet little dress to wear to celebrate the day! I don't think much can compare whether you are 4 or 45, am I right?  Well, if you have a little girl in your life between the ages 2-6 you are in luck because there is a pattern for the most adorable dress my good friend Shannon from Luvinthemommyhood created called the Sweetheart Dress.  It is seriously the cutest thing!

The dress is an 18 page digital e-Pattern meaning you print it off right at home on your computer.  The thing I really loved about this pattern is that there were absolutely NO papers to tape together! All the pattern pieces fit on a few pages of paper, hooray for that! 

The pattern is very clear and easy to understand, Shannon did a great job of making sure it was easy for even a beginner seamstress. Her pictures are super detailed and guide you step-by-step in creating your very own dress.  I made both Penny and Ellie's at the same time, assembly line style, and had them both done in right at 2 hours.   

I think the dresses turned out so cute!  My girls are head over heels excited about them.  Penny picked out the fabric and went to bed praying that I would have them done by the morning for her and her sister to wear.

These two sisters.  

They love to dress alike and can I tell you that these dresses have been worn quite often in the short time since I made them :-) I love when something I make them is such a hit!

The dress is constructed really well.  The bodice has the sweetest heart cut-out on the back, I just love it!  The bodice is also fully lined so there are no seams showing on the inside of it.  I chose to use a covered button in Penelope's dress and I hand embroidered a heart in the middle of it.  She really liked that special touch!

For Eloise, I used a wooden heart button I found at Joann's.  I also lined her bodice with a light pink fabric to change the dress up slightly from her sister's.

Can you tell they are happy!

These dresses have a great skirt that is perfect for twirling in too!

And that heart cut-out!  Ah gah, I can't get enough!

If you'd like to purchase your own Sweetheart Dress Pattern click here now!

And now onto the giveaway!
Shannon has been so sweet to offer ONE of my lucky blog readers one of each of her sewing and knit patterns!!  How awesome is that!?

Just to sum that up for you, that includes:

The Sweetheart Dress pattern
The Commuter Cowl pattern
The Hannah Pom Pom knit hat pattern
The Downton Cowl knit pattern
The Camille Hooded Infinity Scarf knit pattern
The Stasia Infinity Cowl knit pattern
The Mallory Reversible Infinity Scarf knit pattern

To enter, use the Raffelcopter link below!
If you can't see the link, click here to enter!

Giveaway ends next Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Double Layered Gauze Swaddle Blanket

After Oliver was born this summer and we found out he was a boy, I sat down one night and sewed him up some of of his very own stretchy Gauze Swaddle Blankets that Dana shared on her blog a few months prior.  I still don't understand how I never knew about them before especially having Oliver be my 4th little babe, I guess I missed the big craze as I was using Noah's hand-me-down blankies with the girls.  

Well, Dana made them look so easy to make which they totally were and add in the fact that the gauze/muslin is super stretchy made them the perfect new baby wrap.  Plus I loved how lightweight they were for my summer baby which kept him nice and snug but not too hot (again, how did I not know about them before? I mean, hello! Oliver was my 3rd baby born in the summer!) 

Well this past January I had a few lovely friends have their sweet bundles of joy all within a week of one another so I decided what better gift to bring to them then one of these blankies along with a nice warm meal .  This time of year though all those new little babes need to stay extra warm so I thought a Double Layered Cotton Gauze Blanket would do the trick.  Stretchy, Wrappy, Cozy goodness...Perfection! 

Double Layered Cotton Gauze Blanket:

1. Buy 1 yard each of two gauze (also known as muslin) prints. 
2. Layer them on top of each other, right sides facing, and sew around the perimeter using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leaving a 3-4 inch opening at one side for turning.
3. Turn the blanket right side out and topstitch around the perimeter of the blanket using a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Make sure to sew the opening you left for turning the blanket right side out closed!
4. Press your seams.
5. Give as a baby gift!

Super stretchy, super sweet. I hope you make a few for the winter babes in your life!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

TUTORIAL: How to Make a Cornice Board

Today let's talk DIY Cornice Boards today, shall we?  These are seriously so easy to make and install...I know! I always assumed these were so hard to make...but they're not, trust me! 

I have seen lots of them made all crazy weird using plywood or MDF but the way I decided to make these takes the cake (my secret ingredient?  Styrofoam panels!)  so they are nice and lightweight and it's a breeze to take them down to change the color of your fabric when you want a new look!

You will remember (from this post here) I made the cornice boards/valances in my girls' room as well as Noah's bedroom too (seen here).  In this stage of my life, I am really loving cornice boards over curtains to spice up windows.  It seems my little ones love to use curtains as napkins and tarzan-like swinging ropes. So this way I can get pretty color infused into our decor without the insanity of someone pulling a curtain rod on top of their head. Oh, and we have room darkening roller shades underneath the cornice boards for those of you who are wondering just how we cover our windows at night!

DIY Cornice Boards (for one window covering)

One 3/4"x14"x48" panel of Styrofoam (cellofoam poly panel brand)

1 yard of fabric

bread knife

hot glue

straight pins

trim nails

hammer

This is the brand of styrofoam paneling I bought for this project.  I found them at Home Depot as a package of 6 for less than $10.  You can also use them as insulation between studs apparently ;-) 

First thing you need to do is measure your window from one outer edge of the trim to the other.  Cut your paneling, using your bread knife as a saw, to this measurement.  I found that using a bread knife made cutting the styrofoam so much less messy, I hardly had any weird styrofoam static ball thingys thanks to my good 'ol bread knife, who knew! 

Cut two more smaller pieces of the styrofoam panel for the sides of your cornice board.  This measurement will depend on how far you would like your cornice board to come out from the wall, I cut mine to be about 5 inches wide. Then hot glue the outer short edges of your long piece and press the shorter pieces to it like in the picture above!

Then grab your trim nails...these are what mine looked like!

Push a few trim nails into the edge of the styrofoam panels where you just hot glued the two pieces together to doubly secure the cornice board sides into place.

Easy, right!  You can just push them in with your fingers.

Now it's time to cover the cornice board with fabric.  Lay the cornice board over top of the wrong side of the fabric (pictured above) If you have a patterned piece you may want to cut your yard of fabric in half lengthwise so it is less bulky and the folded layer of fabric doesn't show through.  If your fabric is one color you may want to leave it doubled up if you feel it is pretty sheer. 

PS. Make sure you iron your fabric first so you don't have any odd lines on the front of your finished cornice board.

Grab your straight pins...

And fold up one side, pin it, and then do the next, making sure you have nice and tight edges the whole way through.

The sides are a bit tricky but if you go slowly and fold tightly they work themselves out :-)  I used a lot of pins in those corners!

And Voila! Here is what the backside of my cornice board looks like.

To hang it up, you will need two people.  One to hold the cornice board in the correct position and the other to hammer the trim nails into the trim.  Since these styrofoam cornice boards are so light we only used two nails per side...easy peasy!

And there you have it...an easy DIY project to give a nice pop of color to your windows!

Let me know if you have any questions about these cornice boards and I will answer them in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,