wool felt & fleece flower headband

:

{kids clothes week}

:: I had leftovers of mustard yellow wool felt & gray fleece from the Abby Jacket I sewed, so I decided to make a matching flower headband

:: I had this mustard yellow elastic (approximately 16 inches) I think it came from a box of chocolates ?  not sure... the gray button was from my stash

:: to make one...

:: cut out circles in various sizes, I used some circle paper punches for a few, none of the circles are perfect, I made 4 circles from the mustard yellow wool felt & 1 from the gray fleece

:: snip into each circle all around (something similar to a fringe) to add some texture, then stack up the circles & place a coordinating button on top

:: zig-zag the ends of the elastic together, twice

:: take some coordinating embroidery floss & sew the flower onto the elastic (if you want you can sew it over the spot where you zig-zag stitched the elastic together that way the zig-zag stitch won't show giving it a more polished look)

:: voila, you're done... you don't need to worry about fraying since wool felt & fleece don't fray :)

:: making a headband like this was so simple, I don't know why I hadn't made one before, but will keep this in mind when I have leftovers from future sewing projects

:: next on the list for kids clothes week ?  flannel pajama pants...

Abby Jacket

{kids clothes week}

:: Abby Jacket size 4T

:: I used gray fleece, mustard yellow wool felt, 4 modern gray buttons, 2 mustard yellow vintage buttons, & gray embroidery floss

:: my button hole maker attachment on my sewing machine wasn't working, so I made the button holes using this hand-worked button holes tutorial

:: cute jacket with style & detail, so soft with the fleece & I really like the high collar

art smock

{kids clothes week}

:: it feels good to be creating again, making things = happy me :)

:: art smock from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children by Liesl Gibson

:: hoping to reduce the stains on long sleeve shirts, this art smock is for school, I'd like to sew another one for home

:: fabrics look familiar ?  they are from the JoAnn DS quilt collection: Sugar Creek Whimsy Bouquet Meadow & Picnic Dots Red/Pink

:: this is the second item I've sewn from this book, the first was the tutu

:: I can't say enough about any pattern from Oliver + S, they are great !  really like the finishing touches on this art smock, lots of French seams so the inside looks polished

:: back to sewing I go ~ happy sewing everyone !

convertible clutch

 Vanessa @ Little Big Girl Studio asked her blog readers a couple of weeks ago for sewing pattern testers for a purse that she designed & I volunteered :)     (BTW, how I know Vanessa is she's the one who hosted a dress a girl around the world sew-a-long, she shared a free pillowcase dress pattern & I sewed a couple... Vanessa has great ideas, so I knew her purse would be a good one, too)

I've knitted a purse & sewn simple totes before, but I had never sewn a purse, so I enjoyed the challenge.

What really attracted me to this purse was the shape of it which reminds me a bit of the moutarde bag.

I knew just the right cotton print fabrics to use for this project... a couple of fun new fabrics by JoAnn DS quilt collection: Sugar Creek Whimsy Bouquet Meadow & Picnic Dots Red/Pink.

It's called the convertible clutch, it's a 2-in-1, a tote & a clutch. The PDF pattern is now available to buy, so go check it out !

Summer Hair

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

my daughter gets lots of compliments on her hair because it's soooo long, she's 4 years old & never had a haircut.  with such long hair & the summer heat & humidity it needed to be off the face if not up off the shoulders, so we've been having fun surfing the net to discover new hair styles & here's a few we've tried...

first photo is hippy hair #2

 twisties

 bubbly ponytail

 long hair messy bun

 hippy hair

 lots ideas all over the web, but did you know there's even a book all about girls hair ?  it's got fun ideas, too...

I have caught up with blogging (meaning I'm done with my "what I did during my summer vacation" posts), yeah !  I feels good to be caught up... back to regular postings soon, until then (for those living in the USA) enjoy your Labor day weekend !

Gluten-free Reese's S'mores

{what I did during my summer vacation}

did you know that they now have jumbo marshmallows ?

to make these gluten-free, the key is finding or baking gluten-free graham crackers, try S'moreables by Kinnikinnick

or try this gluten-free casein-free homemade graham cracker recipe

from my gluten-free (outdoor) kitchen to your belly :o)

bon appétit !

Rapunzel dress details & cost

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

in case anyone is interested in sewing a Rapunzel dress (like the ones from my daughter's princess Rapunzel birthday party) following this free pattern I wanted to share my notes as I made a few changes & included more details (than the free tutorial gives) which are mentioned below.

first of all, this dress fits my daughter who is 4 years old.

I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout.

front bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of pink ribbon for the 10 ribbon loops. I did not seal the ribbon edges as they are hidden & enclosed, I felt that step could be skipped, saving time.

back bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of velcro for each of the closures.

underskirt ~ I used 22 inches of purple fabric & 19 inches of 3/4 inch elastic.

overskirt ~ I used the fabric selvage to selvage & cut it 23 inches long. for the selvage edges I ironed down 1 inch, then used 5/8 inch Peel n Stick fabric fuse (permanent adhesive for hems) down almost all of the length of the 23 inch overskirt. the Peel n Stick was ironed down & makes a nice & very easy no sew hem. for gathering the top of the underskirt I used the zigzag over cording method. for the bottom hem I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch & topstitched.

sleeves ~ for gathering the sleeves at the top I used the zigzag over cording method. at the bottom of the sleeves I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch, topstitched around leaving an opening for the casing. I used 9 inches of 1/4 inch elastic per sleeve.

amount of fabrics used:
lavandar, a flat crepe-back satin solid (polyester): 1 yard
purple, a heathered suiting (polyester): 29 inches

amount of trims used:
white eyelet trim: 47 inches
pink cord: 42 inches
shiny pink ribbon: 84 inches
velcro: 6 inches

as I was sewing these dresses I became curious to know how much it cost to make each dress. you know as a sewist, not everything you sew is money saving, but sometimes you can sew for less...

these prices are pretty close, I know I made a few teeny tiny mistakes, but this gives me a good idea of how much each dress cost to make.

(see chart below) the total came to about $13 per dress !  what a deal !  I bought everything at JoAnn Fabrics, the fabrics were on clearance, I used a 50% off coupon on the eyelet trim & 40% off coupons on the remaining items. I must add that I did not count the thread nor the trim on the bottom of the underskirt (I got that free), & thanks to a blogger the sewing pattern & tutorial were FREE :)

I did a little research to see what princess dresses cost to buy:
$11-$15 here
$20 here
$40 here

interesting, huh ?

I think I will try to keep track of how much money it costs me to sew a garment in the future...

have you ever kept track of how much it cost you to sew a garment ?  please share...

Length	Material	Unit Price	Full Price	Discounted price
42”	Pink Cord	$.79/yd	$0.92	$0.55
84”	Pink ribbon	$.11/ft	$0.77	$0.46
47”	Eyelet trim	$2.99/yd	$3.91	$1.96
8”	Velcro	$3.49/30”	$0.93	$0.56
40”	Fabric fuse	$4.49/20ft	$0.75	$0.45
18”	1/4" Elastic	$.49/yd	$0.25	$0.15
19”	3/4” Elastic	$.99/yd	$0.52	$0.31
1yd	Lavender fabric	$14/yd	$14.00	$5.25
29”	Purple fabric	$12/yd	$9.67	$3.33
		TOTAL:	$31.72	$13.02