An upcoming project (perhaps this weekend?)

Ya know how you can find out about a new product and then wonder how you ever got by without it?

Well I can't believe I didn't think of this one!

In our attempt to cut down on waste, I had to curb my addiction to paper towels. As I have talked about before, and made near the beginning of this blog, we use big microfiber towels from Sam's, cut in half. The problem was always what do we do with the rags after use? I use about 3 a day, and we have been putting them in a plastic bag inside the small closet in our kitchen. Problem is, they reek. I don't want to wash them every day (defeats the purpose, no?). My husband always forgets where we put them.

So today, in my internet adventures, someone posted about kitchen wetbags!

I have about 6 wetbags. We cloth diaper our son, and we have a few for home, a few for daycare, a few for diaper bags. However, it didn't even cross my mind to use one in the kitchen. DUH!

So, I will be making my own wetbag. I am going to use this tutorial, and wing the rest. Hopefully it will come out looking something like this. I asked my mom if she thought I could do this one, and she said yes AND she has some PUL left from when she made our wetbags. Score! I can use some of the fabric I have left from a different sewing project, it takes about 1/2 yard of fabric for one bag. I have never done a zipper before, and this requires a zipper, so a new skill will be learned (I hear there is a special foot needed for zippers? My machine has a bunch of presser feet with it). If you look at the picture, the maker used snaps, but I will probably use velcro and make it so it will hang somewhere else (possibly at an angle). The stove just isn't somewhere I want my used rags to hang out, since heat makes things smell.

Yay!

This will probably happen this weekend. School started today for teachers and kids.

Fabric beach balls?

I didn't really plan on sewing anything today, but I was looking for fabric blocks to possibly make. We are trying to move away from plastic toys in favor of soft/wooden toys that are a bit simpler. I decided to use this tutorial. This site has a TON of great ideas for all sorts of projects.

I used mostly scrap for this project. I did the medium and small balls. I decided on black/white/green for the fabric colors.
Cutting out the green fabric. I needed two of each color, in each size.
Progress...this challenged my cutting skills because it was important to get the points pretty close in shape/etc.
Pinned, right sides together, to sew one side of each. Curves are VERY tough for me, so this was something of a toughie for me.
All of the wedges pinned and ready to go. 1/4" seam allowance for a curved item was a bit daunting to me, but it turned out OK for the most part.
As per the suggest on the tutorial, I chain pieced all of the parts together. I don't see quite how it made the balls "prettier" but it definitely made the process a lot faster.
4 of each size, separated.
Pinned and ready to make the half-balls. After they were pinned and I started sewing them, I realized it would be easier to do without being pinned.
Chain pieced together.
Basic shape after they were mostly done.
I sewed the right and wrong sides together...I had to rip the seam and start again.
Finished, unstuffed balls. I messed up the smaller one. I tried to go flower/black/green/black/etc. but I accidentally made the little one black/flower/black/green/black/green.
The circles to go on the ends. These were a massive pain in the butt.
Stuffed.
Finished ball! (Medium) I put the ends on according to the directions, and it was a PITA. I did the small ball not according to direction and it didn't turn out so good.
The end of the little ball, all messed up. Its oK though, it is securely attached.
And there we go! I hope Jack likes them. I bought him a new wooden toy, and added these in today, so out went three plastic toys (we live in a small place...one toy in, one toy out).

What did I learn?

• I learned how to chain piece. This might be useful in the future.
  
• My stitching along a curve improved greatly! The biggest problem was keeping the seam allowance. I think it turned out OK but there were a few 'holes" that I had to hand-stitch once I stuffed it.
  
• Go with the directions...they are usually tested!
  

Upcoming projects:
Breathable bumpers for Jack's crib. Bedskirt too.

Basket liner (the hard way)

Today I made a basket liner that I have been meaning to make for awhile. I don't really know where this basket came from, but I have had it for awhile. I keep Jack's extra blankets/sheets in it. I had planned on using the Curbly tutorial on Youtube, but I ended up using this one instead. The Curbly one would have been 110% easier but I didn't even have close to enough fabric (there is a bunch of wasted fabric as a tradeoff for an easy basket liner). I really like the fabric the tutorial I did used, by the way.

Here we have a long, shallow basket.
I had to do a ton of measurements, then make what looked like a wide tube. This was pretty easy. This is the same fabric I used for the Podaegi straps, since the beautiful green fabric I had planned to use was not big enough. I ironed the seams, and got ready to sew on the bottom.
Pinning the bottom to the tube. Not easy, the sides of the tube were a bit longer than the bottom (though I measured both out as per instructed).
I had to kind of wing it when it came to sewing the corners. They turned out OK but not perfect.
You can't see it here, but the corner closest to me has a "hole" in it, and the one on the far right is bunched up in the middle. Another victim of my crappy cutting skills.
I foled the edges 1/4", then 1/2", pinned, then sewed. It turned out pretty well. Curbly's tutorial adds elastic, which would have been nice here, but not necessary.
I fixed the "hole" and the bunching will just have to stay, because I am in no mood to use the seam ripper. All done!
What did I learn?

• Corners are hard.
  
• Wasting fabric might be worth more than doing it the hard way. They other way just looks SO easy. Unfortunately, all the baskets I have left to cover are the wicker ones that look like small laundry baskets (every Walmart has them). Round bottom...should be interesting!
• I learned that stores have a real racket going on. These liners are not hard to make at all, and can be made pretty cheaply (I think I spent $2 on this fabric). The same basket with a liner at Michael's is about $19.
  

Upcoming Projects:

• I desperately need to make mesh crib bumpers.
  
• Not much else coming up since school starts Tuesday. BLEH!

OH and we finally finished the birdies. Jack and I went out back to find a fallen stick to sew the birds to. I came back in with it, tested it on the wall, and then found out I had a giant spider crawling up my arm. Thankfully Jack was on my back in the Podaegi, because that thing scared the crap out of me.
Not crazy about the bird on the left...but I wanted a bird there and couldn't figure out another way to get it to stand up straight!

Finally got busy last night...

Last night I decided to try my hand at a Podaegi. It worked out pretty well (so far). It is a Korean-style baby carrier. I have a bunch of carriers but this one piqued my interest so I thought I would try it out. I used this tutorial. I had seen a few other tutorials, but this one was the easiest to follow (so I thought).

Here is my fabric. I got 2 yards of the cotton one on the left, that was my blanket fabric. I got 3 yards of the poly/cotton upholstery fabric on the right, that was the strap fabric. It is not really that thick so I figured it would make good strap material (I was correct).
Instead of a continuous strap, I sewed 3 strips of the fabric together, as per the directions.
I had to cut out batting for the head/shoulder rest. This would turn out to be mine enemy.
All of the strap material sewn into one long strap.
Sewing the blanket. I hemmed it on the inside, then I zig-zag topstitched it.
Trying to figure out which end goes inside the headrest. I had to measure again.
Figured it out. I had to sew the batting into the center of the straps, then sew the blanket into this area. Turns out, this is a giant pain in the ass. Giant. Can't get it straight, can't get it in right, can't do this that or the other. The instructions also were not very clear here, I had to read them outloud to myself a few times. A work colleague who sews told me to use either paper or some of that tearaway stuff (which I have, would have been nice to know this yesterday!) to sew through this stuff. Now I know!
The final product. I tried it with my son this morning. He is a teeny tiny peanut of a boy who is used to being in all sorts of carriers. This is simply too short. The directions did say that this could be made longer/shorter due to preference, but I made it exactly to the #'s specified. I will fix this tomorrow by adding length to the blanket. It shouldn't be too hard.

What did I learn?

• I hate batting.
  
• I kept getting the bobbin messed up somehow. I had to stop and start this a lot. Part of it might have had to do with the thickness of the project.
  
• Speaking of bobbins, mine drove me crazy last night when I was winding it. I kept winding it and winding it and it was winding loose, on top and on bottom and under where it should have wound. I did it over and over and over again and could not figure out what was wrong. This afternoon, I figured out the problem. The little cap that holds the thread in place (on the spool, not the bobbin) was not on there at all the whole time. It had been getting unwound in the wrong tension, therefore getting screwed up. DUH!
  

Upcoming projects:

• I am going to make that basket liner.
• Still thinking about making the ButterCup bag
• I might make a clothespin holder with some scraps that I have.
  

Nothing new today...

but I am really not feeling confident enough yet to try the chair slipcover. I will eventually try it, but I am not ready, and I don't want to screw it up! I only say this because I was close to going to Joann's to pick up the stuff today, but I am waiting.

In the meantime, I will be doing Curbly's method for making fabric basket liners. Her youtube video makes it look SO easy! Now if only I could find a video tutorial to make ones for round/oval baskets! Jack's toys and blankets in the living room are kept in what looks like small wicker laundry baskets.

I improvised a pillowcase.

This afternoon after a disaster in the kitchen (to be recounted at a different day...let's just say primer met carpet), Nate and I decided on wings for dinner, so he went to pick them up. I decided to make a pillow case while he was gone, and then we would watch Shaun of the Dead.
So here goes!

I completely winged this whole thing. I even misplaced the pillowcase my mom gave me to use as a template. Ikea fabric. Sorry Chris, I know you don't like the 70's thing :-)
Ugly red microfiber pillow that I have wanted to cover for awhile.
Measured the pillow, cut the fabric and laid it out on the pillow to make sure it would fit. Here is where I made my mistake. I was just a bit short on fabric to fit comfortably, so I had to make sure to squeak out every single inch. I had the overlap going horizontal. If I had thought for a second to make it vertical (while still staying with the pattern), I would have had plenty of fabric to do it. Live and learn!
Hemmed the long back edge. I then sewed the long back edge to the front, and the short back edge to the other end.
Pinned right sides together to stitch the front to the back.
Right after I made sure the pillow would fit.
Just barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrely overlaps. More on this later.
Turning it inside out to check for pillow fit one more time before I finish the last side.
The pillow case would just not stay closed, it looked like an overstuffed turkey. So I had to figure out a way to keep it closed. I thought of maybe sewing it closed by hand, or maybe adding a button. In the end, since this is for a baby's room and will get messy, I need to be able to take it apart to wash. I cut two narrow strips of velcro and stitched them to the very edge of the back parts. I sewed them down.
The finished product.
The finished back, holding together just fine! This took me about a half an hour, mostly because of the problem with the short side and double checking for pillow fit (yes, I measured, but with the short end, I couldn't be sure it would all cover). Then I had to find the soft side of the velcro, turned out it was left in my car.

What I learned today:

• I really need to brainstorm a bit better when figuring out how to make something work. This would have been a perfect velcro free pillowcase otherwise. The color is a bit loud, but it is for Jack's room, which we are re-doing.
  
• I love pinking shears! They made this much easier. I only use them to trim edges, of course, but they make the corners seem sharper because there is less bulk under the seam.
  
• I was able to pin the hems on the back, but I did the rest freehand. I was finally able to a 1/4" seam without messing up, freehand. WOO!
  

Upcoming Projects:

• I suck at using Mod Podge, but the dresser for the baby's room might be done by sometime next week.
  
• Bird mobile will eventually get done. It was raining today, no park for us.
• Hung a mirror in Jack's room, which he adores! It is just high enough for him to watch himself when we stand him up to get his pants on. (As in...it is out of his reach while being changed).
  
• I might try my hand at a ButtercupBag but I would need to find the exact right fabric to make it worth my while. I really like the one they used on the site. I don't think I own a single yellow item. It makes me look sick. I love the color though, so sunshiney!
  
• Trying the Poang slipcover now that I think I have a clue as to how I should do it. I need to get some upholsery fabric for this one.
• Found the right color of twin bed sheet to make the bed skirt from, but for some reason, I didn't buy it. It was only $3, I don't know what I was thinking!

ETA: I found an instructional on how to make a slipcover for the child's poang chair, as well as some ideas on how to make my own pattern for the big chair. If this ever gets done, I will be shocked!

Finished!!

Here goes. This is a long one.

First, I finished the messed-up bodice from last night (I watched Project Runway this afternoon and picked out all the old stitches, that was fun). It was pretty easy to finish, so I figured I could keep going.
Next was doing the darts on the actual skirt. Not too hard. I did OK on the first one. Darker fabric, maybe I thought my mistakes wouldn't show? Anyway, this side turned out OK.
Here is the darts on the flip side. Didn't do so well here. I didn't really think about which string would go on top, bobbin or needle, and they needed to be ironed inward, so this looks kinda funky and wrong. Oh and my thread kept on desentegrating. It got thinner and thinner and finally broke, it happened about 6 times.
I figured I had some time, so I moved on to the straps. I sewed them with a 1/4 inch allowance all the way around. Right sides together! I was amazed at how this pattern was able to mask a lot of my bad cutting mistakes.
Finished and turned straps. In between this and the last picture, and emergency sewing call was placed to my mom. I didn't actually know what topstitching was. Luckily, she was available. Next thing I did (this might have actually been done after the darts were done, it is all a blur!)was to sew the bodice to the skirt for each side. This part was very simple and easy. I didn't even screw it up once!
The flip side, bodice sewn to skirt. I sewed the straps on right after this. I sewed them directly under the bottom bodice accent strip.
After the straps were sewn on, I had to gather and pin the straps so they wouldn't get in the way. It was time to sew front to back! Right side together, I pinned the whole shebangabang. This was actually not very difficult, either.
I trimmed the excess edging with my trusty pink pinking shears. Maybe not so trusty, I just got them (yay mom!), but they worked!
Here I am sewing on the bias binding. This part was not hard for the first side. After that, it sucked. I had to take it to the mirror, figure out how long I wanted it to be, and pin it all while wearing it. The binding was much easier to work with (initially) than I thought it would be. It called for hand-ladder stitching but I rejected that part of the instructions and just topstitched the bias binding after initially applying it. It turned out OK. Now I wish I had taken the time to hand stitch, but it is my first apron, I think I can be forgiving to myself. I had to double up on the neck so it wouldn't open up due to my cruddy cutting skills.
My model with the finished product...that's my dear husband who shall remain nameless. The flip side, the side I really love. What did I learn?

• I learned that I should have picked up a simpler first real pattern project. Though having done this, I think attempting a pillowcase or three won't be hard at all.
  
• I figured out how to have the thread break but still make it look OK. I had to just keep the presser foot down and not move the fabric while I did my repairs.
  
• 1 yard=36". I bet all of you knew that. Neither I nor my husband did.
  
• This apron is missing one very important element. A pocket! Where will I keep my gin now?
  
• I was able to do the straps in one continuous stitch. A BIG first, so I learned how to sew a straight line. Three cheers for me!
• I think it turned out pretty cute except the stitches on the halter neck binding. Just meh on that part. My fault, for not doing it by hand (and having crappy cutting skills).
  

What's Next?
We are picking up the sticks to finish the bird mobile this weekend, but it is possible instead of a mobile, it might become a wall hanging. Like this one, from Flikr. I have a few other crafty things planned this weekend (or maybe just stuff I don't normally do). I have to patch some holes in the paint in Jack's room, and maybe do a few wall hangings. I will steal any and all ideas off of this fantastic site with allll sorts of baby rooms (including toddler rooms, yay!). I love all the themes in there. As I have said before, I am not much of a "theme" type of person, but owls and birds are calling to me. Especially owls. Love them. I might try to get some felt to work with, because there are some cute patterns for felt owls out there. I even covet this owl diaper (no way would I ever spend that much on a diaper, but I love the pattern).



My next sewing project will be to make a pillowcase cover for a hideous pillow in the living room, to be used in Jack's room (in the Poang chair, not his crib, silly). I will make it out of one of the fabrics that the birds is made out of so it will have some matchy-matchy to it but I am not sure which one. Also going to make a bedskirt for Jack's crib. We keep a lot of crap (excess cloth diapers, stuff for daycare) under there, so I would like to keep it covered if at all possible.