doll suitcase

UPDATE: Since posting this I have made two more interchangeable rooms - a kitchen and bedroom - and posted a step-by-step tutorial on how I made it. Would you like to make your own?

Come check out the full tutorial!

I already showed you Dolly, but now she has a place to call home, and some cute new clothes to boot! I had so much fun making this, but I have to say that I got majorly burned out whipping this up so quickly for the Christmas time crunch. I had even grander plans but they will have to wait for when I get another burst of motivation. But I digress, let me show you inside...

Welcome to the living room! The only room in the house for now. I made the back panel interchangeable so eventually I can make a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc. and the panel would just need to be switched out and voila! you are playing in a different part of the house! 

Everything was sewn onto one big piece of fabric which was glued around a piece of poster board cut to fit. My vintage suitcase (which I bought at the thrift store for $2) had this handy ruffle edging to pop the panel behind.

But is Dolly home you ask?

Why, yes! She is tucked away in the basement with her wardrobe waiting to be dressed up and played with! The 'floor' lifts up to reveal her hiding place. I used foam board for the floor to make it more sturdy.

        You may notice I never gave her a face..truth be told I was scared to mess up and then several people told me they liked her without a face and I tend to agree with them. This way she isn't just sleepy or happy all of the time, but any emotion you want to imagine!

I managed to make her four dresses, a coat, a purse, a scarf, and a pair of moccasins before my big burn out (I still need to add little snaps on the dresses and coat). I'll probably end up making some more summery things when the weather gets warmer, and if I get my act together I'll share my patterns with you since that is the part that takes the longest. 

Here she is showing off her favorite outfits:

Dolly is already getting lots of love and it will be fun to add to her house and possibly get her some furniture bit by bit. If you want to try this out the possibilities really are endless... 

I am really happy with how it turned out. And the fun part is that if the Little Miss wants to take Dolly with her to Grandma's house she is already packed up and ready to go!

make believe - animal ear headbands

The Little Miss is in need of more play things that help her use her imagination and promote pretend play. We don't have a lot of room for toys around our house so we don't have very many and I'm sorry to say that most of them are for babies, not toddlers. So I thought I'd whip up some make believe/dress up gifts to give her for Christmas this year.

 

(L to R: fox, monkey, cow, deer, lion, rabbit, pig, mouse, horse)

Ever since Halloween she frequently asks me to draw a dog nose on her with my eyeliner, so what better to go with a little black nose than animal ears? We tried them on today before they get wrapped up and she had a lot of fun!

I used freezer paper to more easily cut the felt shapes (just draw the shape on the freezer paper and lightly iron it waxy side down onto the felt, cut around it, and then peel it off - you can reuse the same freezer paper shape several times), and double stick fusible to adhere the fabric to the felt, then embroidered around the parts I wanted, and finally used the sewing machine to stitch around the outside edges. 

Then I used a glue gun to stick them to the headbands and I was really surprised how well they stuck! You have to pull really hard to get them off (I had to re-do a couple and ended up cutting them off because it was so hard to get them off). But, I was still a little paranoid that little hands would find a way, so I ended up using embroidery thread to secure them even more and also help hide the glue.

I hope we will make many fun memories playing with these! (And as an added bonus last minute Halloween costumes will be easy to come up with!)

Here are the materials I used:

- headbands (from Walmart)

- wool felt

- freezer paper

- vintage and scrap fabric

- feather boa for lion/horse mane

- double stick fusible

- embroidery floss

- glue gun

diy fabric wall decals

I am loving Danielle's home tour, especially the whimsical fabric clouds in her boy's room. I feel like so many possibilities are opened up to me now that I know I can adhere fabric to the wall with cornstarch - although I'm probably the last to know since the tutorial is from 2008. Better late than never! Have you tried it before?

tutorial: pleated pockets

I just added these cute little pleated pockets to a skirt I made for the Little Miss. They are pretty easy to make and here's how - I hope my instructions and pictures are clear!

By the way: I used a 5/8" seam allowance and if you use the pattern I provided below the pocket ends up being about 4 1/2" high and 4" wide.

step 1. Cut out pocket and pocket band (see pattern below). Baste stitch across pocket top and pull to gather. Fold over pocket band with wrong sides together about 1 inch (or 1/3 of the height) and iron.


step 2. Pin pocket band to pocket with right sides together with folded edge of pocket band on the bottom. Adjust your gathers so the edges match up.

step 3. Stitch across top, trim seam allowance to 1/4".

step 4. Open up and iron seam allowance toward pocket band.

step 5. Fold down pocket band to outside seam line and pin in place.

step 6. Stitch around all raw edges (not across the top).

step 7. Trim seam allowances to about 1 cm and cut top corners diagonally.

step 8. Turn pocket band to inside.

step 9. Iron pocket band flat and raw edges of the pocket to inside.

step 10. Slip stitch open edge of pocket band closed.

step 11. Pin pocket in the position you want it on your garment. (If you are making your garment from scratch do this before you sew it all together - it's a lot easier).


step 12. Stitch around sides and bottom close to edge. You're done!

Click on picture to enlarge and print.

fabric ring necklace

Remember how I loved this necklace? I just got around to making my own, here's how:

Supplies: one fat quarter or fabric scraps cut into five 1" wide strips (preferably use a fabric with a small print), five rings*, string/yarn, glue gun

*Now let me start by saying that I searched every nook and cranny of the craft store before I finally found some rings. Tucked away in the back corner clearance section (of course the last place I looked) these button covers caught my eye so I grabbed them and ran.
Then Husband asked me why I just didn't get shower curtain rings.

No comment.

So, since my rings were a little flat in the back I decided to wrap them with some batting first to give them a plumper effect.

I feel a bit silly telling you how to do this because it's so simple - all you have to do is glue your fabric to the ring and start wrapping, then glue the end in the back where you won't see it. Use the string or yarn to bind the rings together in the shape you want and then use more string/yarn or some pretty lace to make the chain.

Easy peasy.

little miss plaid

The Little Miss got a bad cough and cold the end of last week. As much as I hate it when she is sick I can't help but enjoy the time I get to myself while she takes much longer naps than usual. Like 5 hour naps - I know, awesome, right? (don't think I am a bad mother). So I took advantage of my free time by putting this fabric I found at the thrift store to use. I know I saw a dress made out of a similar plaid somewhere in the vast internet that gave me the inspiration, but it is long lost to me now.

I used a pattern I already had for a simple, plain dress and tweaked it a bit to add in the pleats (see below), then I changed the direction of the grain of the fabric for the hem panel and sleeves. I love how it turned out although the neck is a little too small so she'll grow out of it sooner than I would like her too (for some reason I thought the pattern I was using was a size 2, but it was a size 1).

Fabric - $2 divided by 3 (because I could probably squeeze another two dresses out of the leftovers).
Zipper - already owned
Total Cost = $0.67

That's why I love thrifting.

How to tweak your pattern to add front pleats:
Tape pieces of paper together until you have a piece of paper big enough to trace the front piece of the pattern you are tweaking with room to spare along the fold line. Trace around the outer edges and bottom. Where the fold line is measure out about 2-3"* at the top neckline and 1 1/2"-2 1/2"* at the bottom hem. Then using a ruler connect the lines. Now you have your own pattern piece that you can use over and over again!


*These measurements worked well for my size 1 pattern for 3 box pleats. You'll have to adjust them for different sizes or depending on how many pleats you want to add and how big you want them. I just wanted to share with you the general idea of how to do it! Oh, and I would recommend ironing your pattern first, I know mine is all wrinkled in the picture.

applique pillow tutorial

Danielle, from My Sparkle, is the talented older sister of my good friend Vanessa, and a total inspiration to me! Everything she makes is so adorable and she gives great tips. She recently posted this applique pillow tutorial at Bloom explaining how to use cardstock and aluminum foil to get perfectly formed shapes which I think is G-E-N-I-U-S!


For the full tutorial go here!

And check out Danielle's cute etsy shop here!

(photos by Danielle of My Sparkle)

diy: crayon apron

party planning time!

The little miss turns 11 months tomorrow, so the time to start planning her party is now. No more day-dreaming about it, no matter how fun that is... if I want it to look anything like the elaborate party in my head I need to take action (although I know it won't quite look like the elaborate party in my head because we do have a budget). Here are some of my favorite garland ideas - all with DIY instructions! I haven't decided which one I am going to do yet, but I am leaning towards the foam ball garland. Its just looks so delightful and cheery both characteristics that describe the little miss.

Do you have a favorite?


[Lighted paper pennant garland from Once Wed]


[Foam ball garland from Martha Weddings]


[Molly's party garland from Purl Bee]

weekly wrap (to do)

Happy Friday! I have a pretty jam packed weekend coming up full of fixing-up-the-house projects, and time spent with usually out-of-town family. And if I find a spare-hour-or-two I'll be making one of these fun DIYers...

How to make Cakie's scrap fabric necklaces via smaller.

Ruffle headband tutorial on Heart of Light via Craft Gossip.

Learn how to do needle felting with Ola Smith via Craft Gossip.

Make a Do-Si-Do Book via The Storque.

Have a great weekend!

weekly wrap (to do)

I'm so glad it's Friday! And, finally, a weekend without plans...seems like its been forever since I could do whatever I wanted - I am itching to get sewing again! And guess what, I've sold two items in my shop! I can hardly believe it! So a trip to the post office has now been happily added to my non-existent plans. Are you doing anything fun? Here are some projects if you are feeling crafty...

Isn't this Made by Rae Buttercup Bag so cute! Get the pattern here.

Iron-on "Ruffle" Shirt how-to and lace panel template from Martha.

This Knot Trivet found on Design*Sponge could be used in so many ways!

DIY Cake Stand tutorial at Tangarang - I really want to do this one!

Learn how to make a Birdcage Wedding Veil at Once Wed (and check out the cutest vintage circus themed wedding while you're at it).

have a happy weekend!

handmade ties

I'd never thought of making a tie before, but now the purl bee's tutorial has me wondering if I have any scrap fabric the husband would like to wear around his neck...

homemade party hats

I think I am going to have to steal this party hat idea - so adorable!


"You had party hats. Did you make them?
I bought a party hat from the store and took it apart and traced it onto card stock and stapled it together to make a cone shape. Then I used pompoms that came on a string and stapled them around the bottom of the hat. (You can use clothes pins to hold it in place while you staple.) I did the same thing with a feather boa. For the newspaper fringe ones i just cut a strip of newspaper and stapled it around the bottom of the hat leaving a few inches hanging down to cut into fringe. Then we stapled the elastics on."

{images and quote via Nesting}