New Living Room Pillows! ~ Link to Tutorial

Something about new pillows makes a room feel fresh.  Back in September of 2012 I made these awesomely easy zippered throw pillows and provided you with a tutorial.

The pillows were cute but a little on the small side.  P.S. I still have all four, they will just be moved to the "banana couch" for now.  ("banana couch" is an amazing 70's tan couch that I think they called kidney shaped? I don't know for sure but I've always loved it so when we bought my grandma's house 3 years ago I made sure the couch came with it!)

This time around I used 18x18 inch pillow forms - bought on sale at Hancock's.  I followed the same steps as the tutorial and these really are so super easy to make.

I love the outcome and the pillows are huge! I can't wait for everyone to get home and find them.

The fabric I purchased on Feb. 8th this year - yikes it took me this long to sew them up!
The green is a wonderful print from Valori Wells - Wrenly Bloom Citrus 1.5 yards (had leftovers)
The brown is a great print from Ty Pennington Home Decor Impressions - Lace Espresso 1.5 yards (had leftovers)

Breakdown:
18x18inch pillow forms (4): $31.00
1.5 yards Wrenly Bloom Citrus: $11.45
1.5 yards Lace Espresso: $9.55
Total for all four pillows: $52 or $13 each

The best things about these are the fact that: I can remove the cover to wash them, and now that I have the forms I can also remove the covers and change them up to new fabrics with ease.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Crafting ~ Doll Clothes ~ Simplicity 7083

Miss K goes in spurts on what she likes to play with.  Some days it is Barbies, other days it is Legos.  Once in a great while she pulls out her American Doll girls - like this week.

Awhile back I made some clothes for her dolls out of Miss K's old favorite shirts.  She got a kick out of it.  Just this week when she was playing with the dolls she asked me to make them some new clothes.

This is such a great way to make her happy inexpensively and uses up scraps in the process!

I used Simplicity's Pattern 7083 to make a nightgown and a top and shorts set.  View G and View I & B
The nightgown is the same fabric as Miss K's vintage pajama outfit; and the top and shorts set is from Miss K's puppy sundress.

 I used buttons on one and snaps on the other.

The pattern was written fine, no mistakes or confusion. They came together fast and I think they turned out cute. In the future I would use less than the 11 inches for the elastic in the neck.  I think I'd try 10, or maybe even 9.



~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Back from Vacation!!

Hello, Hello!

We are back from vacation in sunny Florida!

The good: our trip was great. There was lots of sun and fun.  The kids loved Universal and Disney.  It was cool to see the countryside on our drive down.  The mountain was amazing!

The bad: the truck broke when we tried to head home, ended up having to rent a uhaul and trailer to bring it home because they told us it was the engine.  We got home on time but $1400 over budget due to this - plus, my mechanic here says its only the spark plugs.... which we told the FL mechanics but they said no way.  UGH!  We also hit the bad storms in IL and WI on Sunday night.  We saw a tornado trying to form right next to us near Decatur!!!!  Scariest thing in my life.

Anyway, we are glad to be home and still glad we took the trip.  We all enjoyed each other.  Here are some pics of our great time!

Laying an egg - Universal Day 1

1st Day at Magic Kingdom - Day 2

Alice is my favorite!

2nd time at Universal - Day 3

Lollipop Lollipop, Oh lolli-lollipop! Universal day 3

Yay for 1979! Universal day 3

This thread made me miss my sewing stuff - Universal day 3

Last day of Disney - Day 5

Disney Day 5

So much line waiting - Disney, Day 5

Now I'm chomping at the bit to get back into my sewing room.

Hope you all had a great week!
~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Upcycle ~ 3 Adult T-Shirts to Kids Tanks

As I mentioned the other day, we are vacationing soon.  Mr. T had only 1 tank top to wear in the warm place we are heading.  I looked in the stores and wasn't satisfied with what I saw, plus the price was $15 per tank!

I had saved these T-shirts to upcycle and tanks seemed like the perfect thing.
I used the "Tools" tank pattern from Ottobre 03/2011 (#33); I went with a size 146 - T is skinny and wears a 10 in RTW.  I modified the straps to be straight and not envelope. I whipped up 3 of these puppies for a few cents in thread and ribbing.  I saved us $45 and Mr. T is super happy with all 3 tanks.  I especially love the Pokemon one!

Tank 1:
My old Green Hurley shirt that became way too big for me.

Tank 2:
Hubby's old World of Warcraft shirt that had un-fixable holes in the armpits. (I even managed to save the Blizzard symbol on the back!)

Tank 3:
So I forgot to take a picture of the before shirt :(  It was a plain blue long sleeve shirt that is way too big for me now). I cut a square of the Pokemon Ash and Pikachu from T's old Pajama shirt that is too small now.  I attached it to the front with fusible tape and zigzagged around the edges.

I'm so happy with how all 3 turned out!  They are "school worthy" and ready for our vacation!

Here is all 3:

And T in action:

I must say, this pattern is one of my favorites now.  It is fast to sew, fits really well, and looks RTW.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Upcycle ~ Grandpa's "Golf" Shirt to Kids Tank Top

The past week and a half has been crazy, stressful, and enlightening.  Crazy because we are leaving for Florida in a short bit here for vacation.  Stressful because I had finals week for school and this class was a nightmare ~ it ended today thankfully.  And enlightening because I've been terribly ill for the last 4 1/2 years with no answers and I received some answers yesterday.
Whew! What a ride!

I didn't sew in this last 1.5 week span but I sure thought about it!  It seems I dream about sewing and it consumes my daytime thoughts as well.  I walked into my sewing room a few times just to browse and feel the fabric; I also browsed my patterns and Ottobre magazines.  These things comfort me.

My mom gave me some clothes to take to Goodwill this week and I snatched up a few things to re-purpose.  Here is a shirt that Grandpa no longer wants for some reason or another.  I decided to mesh together the Zen T-shirt pattern from Ottobre 6/2011 and the Tools Tank from Ottobre 03/2011 to turn the Grandpa shirt into a Tank for Mr. T.

before                                            after front                         after back

 I saved the bottom hem so I didn't have to resew that.  It is a little longer in the back than in the front because of the original shirt design.

I also used two different ribbing techniques to see what I liked better.  The ribbing on the left is the bias method.  I sew it onto the right side and then flip over itself, turn it up and top-stitch.  The ribbing on the right I fold in half then sew right sides together, serge, then flip, press, and sew the serge edge down.  I think I like the looks of the ribbing on the right and it is a bit faster/easier.

 
That's all I've really be up to.  Countdown to vacation begin!

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Resolution Totals April 2013

In keeping up with my sewing resolutions for this year I plan on doing a tally-type thing on the first of each month regarding the prior month.  I hope this keeps me on track for the year!

April 2013

Items Completed: 7
Resolution: 3

Unfinished projects completed: 0
Resolution: 1-2

New items in the Etsy shop: 0
Resolution: 2

Avg Blog Posts Weekly: 2.25
Resolution: 1

Tutorials created: 1
Resolution: more

Overall:
It seems I sewed 7 things in March and 7 again in April!  That rocks!  I was motivated by the Pattern Stash Contest on patternreview.com which helped a lot.  I didn't complete anything from the unfinished project box but I'm ok with that as long as I'm completing things!

I really let the Etsy shop slip this month.  School was very difficult this last month; however, I will be surely adding things in May as I just picked up some awesome vintage patterns and fabric to add. 

Having this in print makes me see how I'm doing and fuels my fire to make more things.  May will be a busy month as we are going on vacation but I am determined to get some summer clothes sewed up!



~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~