Pencil and Paper Bedding Set

 First off, thank you to Amy (of Nap Time Crafters) for hosting The Sew Off and giving me the chance to test my creative limits. Next, thank you for supporting my Checkerboard Dress. I'm thrilled to be back for the Sew Off Week 2 challenge which is Home Decor, this Pencil and Paper Bedding Set is my entry. Go vote until Sunday night for YOUR favorites, everyone is allowed to vote 1 time for their 2 favorite projects. 

Instead of patterns/tutorials I have worked with the dimensions of each item, thinking about how I wanted it to look like in the end, and taking seam allowances into account. For this project I have sewn several different items… 1 duvet cover and 5 pillows.

The duvet cover:
I made it look like a loose-leaf piece of paper, I got the idea from the Canvas Loose-Leaf Paper project from the "Improv Sewing" book (my son even made one, too), but I made it in gigantic proportion. So instead of 5 inches by 7 inches it was 5 feet by 7 feet! For the fabric I used 2 white twin size flat sheets. I sewed one red vertical line and 12 horizontal blue lines to create what looks like a loose-leaf piece of paper. Then I hand embroidered "Goodnight" in black on one of the lines. To do that, I traced the letters using the Penmanship Print font (with disappearing ink marker), it was a bit cumbersome doing the hand embroidery with this huge bed sheet laying across my lap. The duvet cover features a zipper at the bottom for the closure.

The pencil pillow:
I took a rectangular pillow: 12 inches by 16 inches and turned it into a pencil pillow. The fabrics used were: light pink cotton, silver ironing board cover fabric, yellow duck canvas, light brown linen, dark gray cotton blend, and the backing is in light brown linen. I also used stuffing to stuff the tip of the pencil. I did topstitching on the yellow pencil part in brown and on the silver metal part with shiny silver metallic thread.

 The pencil pillow features a pocket in the back...

 ...to store pajamas!

 I also sewed 4 square envelope pillow covers: 2 with elementary school handwriting paper fabric {The Pixie Pops by Timeless Treasures Fabrics} and 2 with gold stars fabric {Goodnight, Spot by Andover Fabrics}. The gold stars are kind of fun because they go with both the school and the night themes.

 One thing that is really great is that this bedding set is gender neutral, it could be for a boy or a girl.

I only got a few work in progress photos while creating this project...

The twin flat sheet covered most of my living room floor, this was when I was drawing the 12 vertical lines before I topstitched them in blue on the sewing machine.

 Here I just finished the hand embroidery which consisted of backstitches and one French knot.

 Here are the different pieces of the pencil pillow before sewing them together.

I'll be completely honest with you, I'm a little bit nervous about this Week 2 challenge. I'm not as confident with sewing Home Decor (as I am with children's clothing) because I don't have a lot of experience sewing items for the home. But whatever happens I still plan on sharing next week's challenge which is sewing something for a woman, I'm working on an outfit for myself, and I can't wait to show it to you.

Happy weekend everyone !

Spring 13 Ideas House

 {This is not my house}

Enjoy this photo visit to Bachman's Spring 2013 Ideas House, located in an historic (1920s) family home. It's such a wonderful destination for design inspiration. They completely repaint, refurnish and redecorate the house with creative ideas in home décor and entertaining, using their signature mix of vintage and new pieces.

Why did this Ideas House even start, you may ask? Back in 2010 Bachman's celebrated 125 years in business and for their anniversary they opened the Ideas House with the intention of having it only for 2010, but it was such a success that they have continued it ever since. The only change is that they used to have a Summer one, but dropped it due to lack of attendance. They continue to still have the Ideas House for Spring, Fall and Holiday.

Feel free to visit some of the previous ones: Spring 10, Summer 10, Holiday 10, Spring 11, Summer 11, Holiday 11, Spring 12, Fall 12, and Holiday 12.

Spring is my favorite season and here are my most-loved things from the Spring 13 Ideas House...


On the porch: Miniature trellis with ribbon as place card holder in mug with embellished garden rocks as favors

 Faucet wall hooks as curtain rod holders

 In the living room: water fountain used in fireplace, coffee table unit built of 6X6 cedar posts at different levels with decorative tiles

 Vintage cubbie unit as sofa table and magazine holder

 In the sunroom: birdcages turned into miniature garden planter

 Vintage trough used as a miniature garden planter, yellow watering can turned into a miniature fairy house, tree fort made of metal tray and assorted objects

 Vintage round suitcase turned into a miniature fairy house

 In the dining room: salvaged iron panel spray-painted layered on top of vintage wallpaper as wall art

 Paintable wallpaper used as table runner

 In the kitchen: aluminum mesh panels line interior of chandelier

 Shelves above the stove

 Vintage shelving unit next to oven

 Metal rack as hanging herb planter hanging in window

 In the master bedroom: area rug as headboard

 In the girls bedroom: flowers as headboard, light pendants made from hanging vases and metal baskets

 Salvaged picket fence, grapevine, and permanent floral stems as window valances

 In the event coordinator workshop: sachet in a ceramic swan as a party favor, wire birdcage stand as serving piece, vases filled with sand as candlestick holder, bracelet as napkin ring

 Silicone muffin cups as miniature planters

 In the event coordinator office: chandelier made of layered twig baskets

 Decorative notepad paper, plexiglass and molding turned into giant wall calendar

 Coat racks used as window valances

 Birdcage turned into a planter

 Salvaged porch posts affixed to wall and greeting cards hung from line between posts as wall art

 Nests full of eggs in a glass jar !

The Spring 13 Ideas House is open until April 28th, 2013. The Fall 13 Ideas House will be September 12th - October 6th, 2013 and the Holiday 13 Ideas House will be November 7th - December 15th, 2013.

Checkerboard Dress Tutorial

 I'm so happy to have been picked to participate in the Sew Off competition at Nap Time Crafters. The challenge for Week 1 is Kids Clothing and this Checkerboard Dress is my entry. Voting is open until Sunday night, go vote for YOUR favorites, everyone is allowed to vote 1 time for their 2 favorite projects. Go to the bottom of the post and click on 'Click to vote.' And if my look is one of your favorites, it is #9 Checkerboard Dress :)

The patterns: Oliver+S Roller Skate Dress pattern and the on seam side pockets were made with Freshly Picked's free pocket pattern.

The fabrics: White cotton and 100% cotton sateen in fuschia, my daughter picked out the pink fabric, it was her favorite of all the pinks that were available. The lining is 100% cotton voile in white.

The mods and tutorial: The squares were pieced together to achieve the checkerboard look. The first thing I did was figure out the proportions of the dress, so I cut out a lining and placed fabric squares on top (they were 5 inch squares from a charm pack).

 It was the look I was going for, so with .5 inch seam allowances taken into consideration, I cut 6 inch squares.

 There were 60 squares cut out: 30 white, 30 pink.

 I sewed the white & pink squares into rows (and pressed the seams open).

 Next I sewed the rows together (and pressed the seams open) to form the new fabric. I took extra care to make sure all the corners and edges lined up in order for it to look exactly like a checkerboard.

 Then I cut out the dress pattern.

 I added a 1 inch square notched neckline. To help achieve that I ironed on interfacing to the neckline of both the dress and lining pieces.

 I added deep on seam side pockets (my daughter insists on having pockets on everything).

 The shoulders are perfectly symmetrical.

 There is an empire waist elastic casing (that follows one of the checkerboard seams), it only partially goes around, it does not go under the front center square. I achieved this by stitching in the ditch of the checkerboard seam (parallel to the casing lines) to secure the elastic.

 I found a white button (in my button stash) for the back, it's perfect for this dress because it has a square on it.

 The entire dress is fully lined to hide all those carefully pressed open seams and to make it nice against the skin. I'm so pleased with how it turned out, all of the squares are positioned exactly where I wanted them and the dress fits her perfectly.

 The placement of the squares on the back is the same as the front and that is exactly the way I wanted it.

So move over stripes... move over chevron... here comes checkerboard!

PS photo shoot location: white hallways at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
PPS ignore the Tinkerbell bandaid on her knee, she took a stumble on Monday :(

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

 I came across these recently: Poppy Field dress by Groovybabyandmama during Kid's Clothes Belgian Style series hosted by Straightgrain.  It was so inspiring, it was contagious ~ I just had to make one, too :)

The pattern: Oliver+S Fairy Tale Dress, size 5, no sleeves, no collar, no bow

The fabrics: Poppy Field by Michael Miller and the lining is 100% cotton voile in white

The mods: I raised the waistline up 3 inches and widened the neckline. Also the width of the skirt is 44 inches (which is the entire width of the fabric) and not the 52.5 inches that is needed in the pattern (so the skirt is not as full)

PS I'm really getting my money's worth out of this pattern ~ this is the 6th time I've used it!

Monet Wearable Art

 Project Run and Play All Stars is going on right now and for Week 1 the challenge is Inspired by Art. Last week I saw this flickr photo: Tribute to Monet fabric Rollerskate Dress by megamora16.  I loved the fabric so much, I bought some online and when it arrived in the mail, I sewed up this dress!

The pattern: Oliver+S Fairy Tale Dress, size 5, no sleeves, no collar, no bow

The fabrics: "Tribute to Monet" designed for ExclusivelyQuilters and the lining is 100% cotton voile in white

The mods: The width of the skirt is 44 inches (which is the entire width of the fabric) and not the 52.5 inches that is needed in the pattern (so the skirt is not as full)

Monet is one of my favorite painters. During the 3.5 years during which I lived in France I took advantage of the opportunity and was fortunate to visit as many Claude Monet art exhibits and museums in Paris as well as his house and gardens in Giverny. So needless to say I was super excited to discover that Monet fabric existed.

These are totally my colors and I decided to keep in simple and let the fabric speak for itself. It is the perfect dress for spring and summer.

So there you have it wearable art!

PS I sure have been getting my money's worth out of this Fairy Tale Dress pattern, this is the 5th time I've used it, you can see the previous 4 here, here, here, and here.