(Hopefully) Brief Hiatus

So while working on a project last week, my sewing machine broke! So I don't have any new projects to post because I can't get any finished! I plan to get a new sewing machine when our tax return gets here, but until then there will be no sewing for me...

I do have some work to do on decorations for my son's first birthday party and if I can get some of it done I'll post that here.

Dr Seuss Dress

I finished the Dr. Seuss dress finally and it turned out pretty cute.



I've been kinda of slacking on the sewing so I need to get back at it. I'm planning on making Will a Dr. Seuss romper with the same fabric. I also have another Dr. Seuss outfit in the works for Will for his birthday.

Other projects I need to get started on are to finish the blanket from the sew-a-long 2 weeks ago and make the crayon tote bag from last week. I'm also planning on making fabric easter baskets for Nora and Will this year. Good thing Easter is so late this year!

I'm back!

I took an entire week off of sewing and then have only sewed a little bit this week but I do have some projects to show you!

I made these pants for Will:


Here is the complete outfit with matching tie onesie:


I also made another Tie onesie but it didn't turn out too well. I get pictures of it later. I've been working on my quilt letters too, but I'm waiting until they are all done to show them off.

My project for this week is a new pillowcase dress for Nora with Dr. Suess fabric! I hope it comes out as cute as I imagine in my head.

Finally, I'll be catching up on my blog sew-a-long projects by doing last week's blanket (a little late) and this weeks art tote.

This week's completed projects

I finished the fleece soaker (but it didn't turn out to well so I don't have a picture). But I did have a couple of successful projects too.

I made Will another tie onesie:


This time I used a zigazg stitch around the outside and it turned out really well.

Skirt for Nora:


This was super easy and turned out really cute. I'll definitely be making more of these skirts!

This weeks Blog Sew-a-long challenge camera case:


Unfortunately it is too small for the video camera I wanted to use it with so now I just have this handy little patch to store...something...?

Sewing Books

So I've been doing most of my sewing from online tutorials and patterns. There is a lot of great (and free!) stuff out there. Last night though, I went to Barnes and Noble and found some really great sewing books that I can't wait to get (eventually)!

Sew What Bags
This looks like a great book with lots of information and ways to sew bags without a pattern.



Little Girls, Big Style
Cute girls clothes and easy to follow instructions. I also looked at the book Sewn With Love but it seems more difficult and not really my style even though it did have some boys clothes in it too.




Oliver + S Little Things to Sew
I wasn't sure I'd like this book because it's a lot of accessories and other things to make besides toys. But it was really cute and seems fairly easy to follow.



The Practical Guide to Modern Patchwork
I love the style of these quilts. I'm not planning on tackling a quilt anytime soon, but I'd like to attempt one eventually and I'll probably use this book to do so.

Projects for this week

So I guess I'm feeling a little ambitious this week and have several projects in the works.

First, I'm making a fleece soaker (diaper cover) using this pattern and tutorial.



Then, I'm making a skirt for Nora using this tutorial (looks super easy!):



I'm making William a pair of pants from this pattern and a matching onesie (probably another tie one but I haven't decided for sure yet):



and finally, I'm making a camera case for our little video camera (which seems to be misplaced all of a sudden) using this tutorial:



I'd also like to make Nora another pillowcase dress out of the owl fabric, but I'm afraid I'm taking on too much as is because I also have more rag letters to do! So some of this might spill over into next week.

Valentine's Day Projects

Here are the completed projects for this week!

First, I made Will a tie onesie to wear for valentines day.

It turned out really cute. I have two more onesies that I'll probably add ties to as well. I used a straight stitch around the edges (using heat and bond underneath). Next time, I think I'll try a zig zag stitch and see how I like that.

I also made Nora and pillowcase dress. Apparently my measurements were a little off and it ended up too short. So I decided to tackle adding a ruffle to the bottom. After searching the internet, I found a good tutorial. However, when I went to stretch it out to fit the bottom of my dress, I didn't hold on to the strings and lost my ruffle! So I decided to make up my own way of doing it and made a pleated ruffle instead. It turned out really cute. And while my stitching is not perfect, I'm really proud of this dress.



Close-up of pleated ruffle

What I'm working on this week

I have three projects for this week. First I'm making my first tie appliquéd onesie using this tutorial. I plan on using it as a Valentine's Day outfit for my son, William.



Next I'm working on some rag quilt letter from this really neat tutorial. This will be an ongoing project as I only plan to do a few letters a week using fabric scraps from other projects.



Finally, we have this weeks Crafty Sewing Mamas sew-a-long project. The choices were betweeen pajamas and something for Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to attempt a dress from my daughter, Nora, so I decided to go with a simple pillowcase dress. I bought a pattern and instructions here.

Nora picked out her fabric and I'm excited to make this dress!

First Projects

I got my sewing machine for Christmas and finally pulled it out to start using in January. I purchased this book from Amazon and jumped right in.

It has patterns and instructions for making envelope pillow covers, a tote bag, and a skirt. I made two pillows, one for each of my kids (not sure why these pictures are huge):

I also made this tote bag (which turned out really well for the most part!):


Close up of inner pocket

I also made a knit skirt which turned out only so-so. No pictures of this one.

So now I'm on to finding tutorials and patterns from the internet as well as looking for good books on sewing. I'm certainly open to any suggestions!

Sew-a-long

I've joined a sew-a-long to help me keep motivate and practicing! Our first project is a sewing machine cover.


Here is my completed Sewing Maching Cover! I used this tutorial to make my cover. It was easy and I got to use some leftover fabric.

Welcome

This blog is mostly about my attempt to learn to sew and its definitely a work in progress. I'm a complete beginner, having only previously sewed a bag in 8th grade home ec. class. I'm teaching myself using the book - Sew Fast Sew Easy and the internet. So far I've made 2 pillows, a tote bag and I'm working on a skirt. I'll update with pictures in a little while. Thanks for stopping by!