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Because Everyone Needs Something With Their Name On It

Remember when you were a little kid and you would patiently wait for the end of Romper Room? You may not have really liked the show, but you always hoped they would say your name at the end . . . and then they never did. I had the 20th most popular girls' name for the year I was born, and yet, no love. This is why it's important for every child to have something with their name on it. It makes you feel special; like that something was made just for you. Of course customizing is a lot easier these days thanks to websites like Zazzle. You can even get a t-shirt with your name and favorite Disney character. The days of hopelessly searching for a personalized bike license plate for little Lucretia are over.

Still, I like that handmade touch. After all, then it really is specially made. As I mentioned in a previous post, friends of ours just had a baby. Along with Floppy the Turtle, I decided to make little Christopher his very own name banner. This turned out to be infinitely easier than piecing together Floppy.

There are plenty of books out there that can tell you how to put this project together. Both Stitched In Time and Handmade Home have versions of this project. I should point out that Stitched In Time calls for you to paint the letters on the fabric. Paint = Messy.

For this project I used the instructions in One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!. Of course, I never really follow the instructions verbatim. Sometimes this works out better, sometimes less so. The book instructed me to use felt for the letters. I didn't really care for my color options in felt so I opted for a soft flannel for both the pennants and the letters. The flannel worked just fine for the pennants, but was probably not a great choice for the letters. Flannel tends to fray at the edges. To combat this problem, I used fusible web to adhere the letters to the pennants. Fusible web is very similar to the Stitch Witchery I mentioned in an earlier post, and can be found with the stabilizers and interfacing at your local fabric store. As a general rule, fusible web should be used when appliquéing. The instructions had called for fabric glue, but I'm not really a fan. It doesn't seem to hold up over time. I also hand stitched along the border of the letters in the hopes that this would help stabilize the letters, while also giving them better definition.



This time, following the instructions, I sewed the pennants between the layers of double fold bias tape and created loops at the end. Now Christopher won't have to wait for the lady on Romper Room to call his name, he'll already know he's special.

The Stewardess Dress

Sewing with Vintage Patterns

I call this dress the stewardess dress because it reminds me of the dresses worn by stewardesses in the 1960's (or at least what they wear in movies set during that period.) This was back when being a stewardess was still considered a glamorous job. Of course, back then the girls were made to fit the uniforms, not vice versa. Not that I'm advocating the return of enforced sizes and girdles, but it would be nice if airlines retired the ill fitting polyester of today. Really that goes for all uniforms though.

I'm probably reminded of a 1960's stewardess dress because I used a vintage pattern from the 1960s. I ordered this pattern from Wearing History on Etsy.com.



Vintage patterns can be a little tricky. Usually when you pick up a pattern at your local Jo-Ann Fabrics, you're getting a pattern that can be cut within a whole range of sizes. Not so with this pattern. As you can see, this pattern is a Juniors’ size 11. My bust might be a 31 ½, but my hips are not the proportionate Juniors’ size (we're not even going to discuss that number). After consulting my mother and my sewing bible , I learned that you choose your patterns based on bust size, as this is the hardest part to alter. In order to ensure that the dress fit me through the waist and hips, I reduced the seam allowance. As you can see from the pictures below, this wasn't really necessary. I'm guessing that garments in the 60s were cut a little more generously than they are today.

This dress didn't really ask too much of me skill wise. As you can see, this dress closes in the back using buttons (I haven’t learned how to do a zipper yet). My machine has a buttonholer that is absolutely idiot proof. Only two of the buttons are true buttons. The other two are dummies over snap closures. The princess seams on the front introduced me to the concept of clipping seam allowances so that the dress would lie flat on the curves. It's worth noting that you do not usually have to cut notches in the seam allowance. You only need to slice through the seam allowance. Just make sure you don't cut through the actual seam. This dress also has a hidden dart, but it turns out that darts really aren't too hard (they are also your best friend if a waistline on a skirt is not sized correctly.)


The dress from the front


The dress from the back


The dress with a cute jacket from the sale rack.

Floppy the Turtle

Overly Ambitious Baby Gifts

Some friends of ours recently had a beautiful bouncing baby boy. We couldn't have been more excited for them and I really wanted to make them some special baby gifts. Our friends had decided not to find out the sex on their little bundle of joy before his big arrival so they did the nursery in sea turtles. Fortuitously, I had just picked up One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! from the library (I love this book, I love this book so much I bought it). Lucky me, there was an adorable stuffed turtle project. Of course the theme of this book is to make projects with just one yard of fabric. I wanted to make something with lots of patterns and soft textures so I did deviate from the pattern . . . which is where I got a little overly ambitious.



This it the turtle's top shell, cute right?



Less cute is how time consuming it was to put together. Now if I had just followed the pattern and appliquéd the shell, this probably would have been soooo much easier. I opted for four different flannel patterns instead. I used corduroy for the head, tail and flippers. The bottom shell is a wonderfully soft plush fleece type fabric that I'm sure has a real name, but we're going to go with "mmmmm soft" for right now. I also opted to just use my eyelet stitch (sewn over three times) for the eyes. I know safety eyes are supposed to be nothing if not safe, but I didn't want to have anything that could conceivably end up in a little mouth.

So meet Floppy the turtle.



He's not perfect, but I'm pretty proud of myself!

Wedding Love Birds

How I Got Started Sewing

As I said in my last post, I got started by sewing love birds for my wedding. A pair of these little guys sat in front of each bridesmaid at the head table.



I apologize for the poor picture. I wish there were good pictures from the reception, but the photographer was more focused on the flowers. These little guys always ended up out of focus in the foreground. I got the wonderful pattern for these guys from Spool Sewing. They seem like a totally fabulous sewing and fabric shop in Philadelphia. I'll have to check them out some day. I highly recommend you take a look at the bird mobile that they provided the pattern for. You can see the love birds from different angles. I just love the flat tales. It makes them so much more realistic and streamlined than most of the plush birds out there.

I also have to thank Spool Sewing. When I originally found this pattern, they were having some server issues and the pattern suddenly disappeared. The people at Spool Sewing were so good about my frantic email asking if the pattern would be back up :-).

These little guys were pretty easy to put together. I cheated a little by finishing the tails using Stitch Witchery. This seemed to work pretty well, but I wouldn't use this technique if you plan on washing the birds, it never seems to hold up well in the wash. You should also be careful not to over-stuff the bird. I noticed that some other people that attempted the project reported that any stuffing in the tail made them look more like turkeys.

You may have guessed, but we did a love bird theme for our wedding. There will be more bird wedding crafts scattered through the posts.

"A Novice with Notions"

Just a Beginner Sewer

So I'm rather new to the sewing world, unless you count that stuffed panda I made in Home Ec back in the eighth grade. Since the most complicated part of that project was an invisible stitch, we're not going to count that. Last summer I was planning my wedding and I was trying to come up with creative and budget friendly ways to put my mark on our impending nuptials. One of the projects I came up with involved plush bride and groom birds (more on them in another post). I ended up hand sewing a bunch of birds and found that I really liked sewing. It didn't take long for me to start lusting after a sewing machine of my very own. My husband came through this Christmas with a brand new Brother PC-210PRW.



This is probably more machine than I actually need, but I wanted something that could grow with me. Now my spare bedroom looks like a fabric store exploded.

I know there are plenty of sewing and crafting blogs out there but I thought I would start this because I can't be the only beginner out there (see Michelle Slatalla's column in the New York Times). I thought this blog might be a good way for me to learn, but also for other beginners to learn along with me. We can also find good projects together.

I should point out that this blog is not going to be all sewing, all the time. Sometimes other projects will catch my fancy; I'll be featuring those as well. Also, summer is fast approaching and my husband and I are community gardeners, a little gardening might sneak in from time to time. I'm also not above sharing the occasional yummy recipe. Expect things to be a little eclectic around here. Another thing to keep in mind, I have a full time job. I'm going to try and keep my posts fairly frequent, but sometimes life intervenes. Of course, maybe my mother will be the only one who reads this thing.

Here's hoping we can grow and sew together!