About oliver's fancy

I am wife to a patient husband named Ian and stay-at-home mom to a busy little boy named Oliver. When not running around after him, I enjoy dabbling in all sorts of craftiness. I am a self-proclaimed fabric-aholic and proud of it! I have started this blog to document my journey of bettering my sewing/ crafting skills and show off occasional pictures of my little man and superb culinary creations:).

Kids Clothes Week Fall 2013

Posted on October 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

This past week was Kid’s Clothes Week, and while I am late reporting in on my productivity, I did get a few things finished (or mostly finished) last week. When taking inventory of the boys’ clothes, I realized they could both use some more church clothes. Perfect time for me to try out the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt pattern that I picked up during their end of summer inventory sale.

I have been saving Ian’s old button down shirts for this very purpose and got one out to perform surgery on for this pattern. I started out with one for Eliot. Let me tell you, I have decided that from now on, all button down shirts I make for the boys will be short sleeved! Although the little tiny cuffs and button plackets are so adorable, they require way too much time and work! Much easier to make a simple short sleeve and then wear a long sleeve shirt underneath if need be! I actually ran out of time to put the buttons on the shirt so you will see Mr. E wearing safety pins to hold himself together!

The shirt turned out really well but a little big. He’s growing quickly though so I anticipate him getting quite a bit of use out of this shirt before winter is over.

Now as far as my other KCW project, it involved Oliver’s Halloween outfit and I haven’t been able to get good pics of him wearing it yet so expect that post to come up sometime on Friday, after our trick or treating experience. Let me just say that I think it’s pretty adorable even if it is very simple and practical. I’ll leave you with an IG picture as a hint. 😉

On creativity and your personal style

Posted on October 15, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Today I have some thoughts on defining your personal style and using that in your sewing projects. Several times over the past year, I have been asked to make things for people or to complete a particular project and I have learned a lot about myself in the process

For starters, I know that if the project is not my idea or style, I will procrastinate until the last possible second to get it done. Also I cannot copy someone else’s idea. That just doesn’t work for me. Every time I try to copy something, I end up with a failed project. What works better for me is to get an idea of what someone wants- through several different pictures, color, and styles options and then use those ideas to produce something that represents my own idea. I just cannot take myself out of the design process completely. I guess it’s how my brain functions.

Case in point. I was shown a picture of an apron and asked if I could make one similar. Sure, I say- no big deal, right? Wrong. Using a small picture and attempting to replicate it resulted in a disastrously ugly end result. Upon conversing with my husband about my frustration with what should be a simple project, he told me to put myself back in the equation and make it my way. So I took a step back, looked at key style elements of this apron, and tried again- making it my own this time. End result- super cute apron that was loved by the recipient.

Now maybe I totally over-think things and this is a silly topic which no one is interested in discussing. But since this is something I keep facing I thought I would bring it up on the off chance someone else has something to offer… Any thoughts?

(PS) I’m not referring to copying other’s work and selling it as your own. I realize in no instance is that ever ethical or appropriate.

F is for Fanfare flannel fabulousness

Posted on October 9, 2013 by oliver's fancy

When I saw Rae’s preview of her new fabric line months ago, I knew that come this fall I would have to have it! Foxes, elephants, and bunting all in organic cotton flannel…need I say more? Thankfully right after it came out, Pink Castle Fabrics had an amazing 30% off sale and I stocked up! Got enough for some pjs for the boys, pj pants for me, and a little extra for other misc. projects that come up needing soft, cozy fabrics. 🙂

I have been so busy that I hadn’t had a chance to dig into them yet but determined to make something with them this week after seeing Rae’s Fanfare blogger’s tour full of amazing ideas!

I have to admit that Eliot’s outfit is a partial copy of probably actually… I had already planned on making him the pants but loved her idea with the onesie applique to go with. Eliot’s pants are the Oliver + S bedtime story pajama pants. Love the coordinating waistband and hems on this pant pattern.

Oliver’s pants are Rae’s Parsley Pants… (double Rae factor with the fabric and pattern 🙂 ) One note on the pants: when I went to pull out the pattern, I realized I never printed the final version- I just have the tester version which is a bit baggier than the final version. However the cut is perfect for pajama bottoms so I went ahead and used it. Also Oliver picked out his elephant fabric all by himself. I bought enough of the elephants and foxes that he had several choices, (in fact I had planned on using the gray elephants for him) and I asked him several times which fabric he wanted. Every time he asked for the blue elephants. I am finding it fun that he now has an opinion about what I make him- although I know that works in reverse too!

I just love the softness of this flannel! I want to keep the boys in their pajamas all day! Now if only someone could tell me the trick of how to get a good photoshoot with a toddler and a baby, I’d be all set! Also the settings were weird on my camera and I couldn’t quite fix them so everything is a bit pixelated. Boo! 😦

I have more fanfare set aside to make pajama pants for me and hope I can find the time to get to that very soon!! By the way, these outfits were done just in time to coordinate with no big dill’s sew all 26 letter F!

DIY Fall Wreath and Bunting

Posted on September 26, 2013 by oliver's fancy

It has finally started to feel a bit like fall around here, and I have been getting the itch to change up the decor again. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I really enjoy the change of seasons because it gives me a chance to do some purging and re-organizing, leaving the house feeling less cluttered and more open. I don’t do a lot of decorating for each season, but I like to change out the living and dining room a bit with some little touches here and there.

Until this week I still had the spring decor up since a certain little baby’s arrival took away my decorating urge this summer. I had some wreaths made up from last year but I didn’t really like them and was inspired by this Pin to try my hand at a new one. I liked this final result so much that I made a little bunting for my windows to match. The hubs said he feels like we are in Canada with all the maple leaves. I still think the windows need something else but haven’t decided yet what that will be… Feel free to chime in with ideas!

By the way, I cut out all the little maple leaves by hand using a template provided in the link above (the original Pin). I doubled the felt and sewed the pairs together with perle cotton, then glued them to the yarn-wrapped wreath. The bunting is strung up with perle cotton, but it is just single leaves because I was getting a blister from cutting so much felt that I didn’t want to make those a double layer as well. 🙂

Coming this fall: more cute baby gear!

Posted on September 23, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I’ve been a busy little bee behind the scenes over here cooking up some new stuff for the shops- both the etsy store and my booth at UrbanDigs. So many ideas floating around in my head, so little naptime to get it all done!

So far I’ve managed to get a few new products out the door and am working on some more. First off- I’ve been wanting to produce some bibs for a while now and have never settled on the style I wanted. Enter baby mcdroolypants and I have my inspiration. 🙂 (I love how all of my inspiration comes out of things I make for my boys!) I like these terrycloth backed bibs because you have a super cute print on the front and a nice absorbant back that keeps the drool/spit-up from soaking through to their clothes. Here’s Eliot showing off one for the shop pictures.

I think he likes it! Next off, I have a project that I had planned on making for Oliver and never got around to so child #2 was motivation to finally get this done. I love how easy these pacy clips are! And so cute too! After I posted these pictures to Instagram, I sold out in just a few hours! Here’s hoping the etsy store is just as successful. I was really excited to find the colored clips because I feel they add a little something extra.

Here’s Eliot looking adorable with his Dr. Seuss clip. (side benefit of selling these clips…I get to pick the best for myself and indulge my Dr. Seuss fetish by making two different ones for Mr. E 😉 )

Not pictured are the burp/wash cloths I have been making to coordinate with the pacy clips and bibs. I am trying to plan ahead for what I hope will be busy fall/Christmas season and make up some gift sets for people to buy. Hopefully nap times will be long over the next week or so and I can get lots done! Must remember these little munchkins of mine are only little for a short time so I need to enjoy the precious time I get to spend with them… remind me this at 5:30 am feedings please! 🙂

Indie Craft Parade 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by oliver's fancy

You may remember my posting about our Indie Craft Parade 2012 experience last year. I wanted to give another update about this year’s experience and let you know about some cool new independent artists I discovered. This craft parade was a week ago but we left immediately after attending to head to the beach for a week so I am just now getting to share my finds with you.

I am especially excited about the sewing machine necklace…been wanting one of those for a long time!

Indie Craft Parade defines itself as a celebration of handmade art. This craft fair is located in my hometown and showcases local artists from the southeastern US. This was the fourth year, and it just keeps getting better! I really enjoy going because it inspires me in my creative endeavors.

Instagram photo of the night

Most of the craft fair is free but you can pay to attend the Gala event on Friday night which includes food, drinks, and giveaways as well as a smaller crowd of attendees to wade through. And just like last year, I won a giveaway (more than repaying the price of our tickets!). We had had a rough week with Oliver and Ian both feeling sick so a Friday night date night was just the thing we needed. Here is a collection both of what I won and what I bought with links to the artists’ websites/stores. And if you notice, there’s a bit of a jewelry theme going on. 🙂

WON: handfelted terrarium from once again sam.

WON: handstamped towel from PerlaAnne

WON: Ring from Lily Pottery

WON: Arrow necklace from Acorn + Archer
BOUGHT: Wooden Beaded Necklace from Spectrum
BOUGHT: Laser Engraved Wooden Necklaces from Once Again Sam

Anniversary Negroni

Posted on September 6, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I am SO PROUD of this shirt! I cannot believe I actually sewed a men’s button-down shirt and it hasn’t fallen apart yet! Several years ago I promised my hubs I would make him a button down shirt after seeing Rae’s version of the Negroni for her husband. But it wasn’t the top project on my list and kept getting bumped for other things. Every now and then, he would remind me about my promise, and I would make note of it and then completely forget about it. July 18th was our 5 year anniversary, and I really wanted to do something special for Ian since he has been such a huge help during and after this difficult pregnancy. I am well known for deciding such big things right before the occasion comes up and then never finishing said project. But this time I determined it would be different! And it was; I actually had a semi-finished shirt for Ian to try on for our anniversary day. The best thing was that this shirt was a complete surprise for him!

Pattern: Negroni by Colette Patterns. 2 thumbs up for the pattern! The shirt came together so much easier than I had anticipated. Only hard part were the cuffs which I had to redo several times because I made some mistakes and didn’t understand directions. Also I put one of the cuff plackets on the wrong side so one placket is facing the inside of the sleeve and the other faces the outside but no one notices this so it’s not a big deal.

Material used: a shot cotton I picked up at a fabric sale for super cheap a while back. This was my “wearable muslin.” This fabric works great for the pattern and I’m already planning on making another one in a dark green shot cotton. However, I must tell you, just like my Ruby Top, I ironed the shirt before our photo shoot and it’s still wrinkled. Ian doesn’t mind the wrinkled look, but if your husband is picky about that you may want to consider using a different fabric.

Other notes: I used one of Ian’s dress shirts as a size guide, and he happens to be a perfect medium! The shirt fit great with no needed alterations. Next time I think I will try to install a traditional collar rather than the camp style collar but every thing else I will keep the same. I found some tutorials on the traditional collar insertion so I will read up on those before I attempt it.

Ruby Top

Posted on September 5, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I recently had the opportunity to test a pattern for the amazing Rae from Made-By-Rae. I made the dress version for testing but chopped it off into the top later. Dresses are just not practical for this nursing mama right now.

I love how this top turned out! In fact I’ve been wearing it and my Tiny Pocket Tank almost non-stop this last week. I really need to make a few more of these tops. I chose the size M, even though my bust measurements indicated I was a L. Because of this, it’s a teensy bit small across the bust/shoulders area- you can see a bit of the pulling in the pictures. However, in my current stage of life I like to make things a little small so that they will continue to fit as my body shrinks back to its normal size.

I have it on good authority the pattern will be released any day now and I highly recommend you try it out! It’s the perfect pattern for the beginner seamstress because it is not complicated and results in a super cute garment. Rae is well-known for her well-written patterns, and this one does not disappoint!

I love seeing everyone’s different combinations of fabrics in the Flickr group and already have several ideas in mind for my next one! I used a voile for the top and shot cotton for the bottom. One note about the shot cotton- I actually ironed this shirt for the photo shoot (my mother would faint at this news 🙂 ), and it still looks wrinkled, but I’m ok with that since I’m a wrinkle embracer myself. 🙂

Birthday Chair

Posted on September 4, 2013 by oliver's fancy

A quick little project to share with you today…a rocking chair I recovered for my grandma’s birthday present. My mom owned the chair, and it had really old ratty fabric on the cushions. She asked me to re-do the chair for my grandma’s birthday because my grandma loves this rocking chair. I’ve already recovered two rocking chairs so this was pretty straight forward- take apart the old cushion fabric and use as a pattern for the new cushion covers (made from a twill fabric). The only change I would make is use a thicker fabric next time because the twill wasn’t quite as thick as we had anticipated and therefore didn’t turn out quite as professional-looking

Once it was done, it needed a little something extra so I used some Ikea fabric in my stash to make a quick envelope backed pillow. That gave it the perfect pop and I think it’s super cute. Thankfully Grandma does too!

Tiny Pocket Tank

Posted on August 28, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I have been searching for a cute tank pattern for a while. I have been debating on the wiksten tank but from the ones I have seen produced, wasn’t certain that would be a flattering pattern for me. Enter the Tiny Pocket Tank. I starting following Sew Caroline on Instagram a while back and love all the TPT versions that she has sewn so I decided to take the plunge. By the way if you need any selfish sewing inspiration, she is amazing!

The Pattern: Tiny Pocket Tank from Grainline Studios. Highly recommend Grainline Studios Patterns after trying two of them. (Review of Maritime Shorts pattern here.) I really want to try the Archer and Lakeside Pajamas patterns also but am resisting the urge to buy more patterns right now. We shall see how long my self-control lasts.

Fabric: A Joel Dewberry Voile I picked up for ridiculously cheap at a fabric sale. I have determined voile is the perfect fabric for the tank! I only wish I had more voile because I want to make a ton more of these tanks! I have worn this one almost non-stop since making it!

Other comments: I made a size 12 based on my bust measurements. I recently bought some Swedish tracing paper (Amazing stuff, my friends!) and used it as my muslin. When I did, I realized that the back would gap at the top and the sides were too billowy. But thankfully the bust darts were good. When I cut out the shirt I moved the back pattern piece over 1 inch, angling down to be even with the fold line at the bottom and that made the top perfect. I took in the sides a bit as well- basically graded them down to a size 8 at the bottom. It’s not perfect, but it works. I am still learning how to fit myself up top and could really use a class in that!! Wishing we had someone in town who taught classes like that…so jealous of those living up in Ann Arbor and attending all the cool classes at Pink Castle Fabrics’ new digs!I see myself making quite a few more of these tanks to wear under cardigans this fall! Hopefully I will get the fit even better with the next ones.