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:).

Baby Shower Gift

Posted on May 5, 2012 by oliver's fancy

A friend and her husband came into town for a few days and we attended a baby shower for them. Because they are flying back home, we were advised to give gift cards or other small, portable items. I had the idea to make her a wet bag for the diaper bag since I know they are planning on using cloth diapers. I have made small fabric pouches before so I figured I would do the same thing- just using PUL for the lining and increasing the size of the bag. I made the bag 13×16 because that was the size listed on the Amazon baby registry. The outside is cotton fabric from my stash. I sewed some velcro onto the strap to make it looped for convenience. The only note I would have about this project is that PUL is fairly slippery so you need to utilize quite a few pins to keep the fabrics lined up. This was a very quick and simple project and I’m happy with how it turned out. Hopefully they are as well. 🙂

New Pillows

Posted on May 4, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I was feeling the need for a change in my living room. Do you get that urge? Every time the seasons change I get the pull to redecorate a bit. It just so happens that the fabric I got last week matches my living room and so I decided to whip up a few new pillows. I haven’t finished them all, but here’s a sneak peek.

I wanted to make some simple, yet unique looking pillows. The hexagon one is based off a hexagon block pattern I found on Pinterest. I just love Pinterest for some good crafty inspiration, don’t you? I did a simple, envelope style backing for all of the pillows.

I decided to try my hand at piping for this third pillow. I definitely have more to learn in that area, but I’m pretty happy at how it turned out.

This last pillow is not put together yet. I was thinking of quilting it, but I may go the easy route and slap an envelope backing on it. We’ll see where the mood strikes tomorrow. The best part of all of this new pillow sewing is that I used materials from my stash. Yay for slowly building up my stash to a state where I can do this! I’ll be back tomorrow to show you a baby gift I made for a friend’s baby shower tonight.

KCWC Final Update

Posted on April 30, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I thought I would share my final tally of clothes made and some things I learned from this challenge week.

Final tally

4 bibs
1 appliqued onesie
1 birthday crown
1 pair of treasure pocket shorts
1 circle skirt finished and 5 waiting for elastic

Notes

I did not finish all the projects I had in mind, but I knew my list was a bit over-ambitious, especially considering how busy I was already. I liked having the push to get in my sewing room and work, even if just for a small amount of time. Those small times add up quickly. Next time I do the KCWC I want to be more organized before the week starts so I don’t waste time searching for patterns or have to stop my project because I don’t have all the needed tools. That was my biggest hangup. Overall, this was a very positive experience. It’s so fun to have an entire online community working on similar projects. I loved looking through the flickr group for inspiration! I am looking forward to KCWC Fall 2012!

What’s on my list now? Well I have some little boy vests to make for an upcoming wedding, but I think I’ll switch gears for a bit and sew for the home. I’m getting bored with my living room and see new pillows and a table runner in my near future. I also really want to figure out how to use that serger I got for my birthday last month! I’ll be sure to keep you updated on that progress 🙂 What about you? All you readers out there…anyone? Did you enjoy KCWC, wish you had participated, or have no interest in kids’ clothes?

Because every post needs some pictures, here’s a few more of my big boy…

What happens to a birthday crown when cake is introduced…

KCWC Days 5-7

Posted on April 29, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Day 5

Did not make it into the sewing room until late Friday night. BUT I had good reasons and some of them have to do with sewing. See this big pile of fabric? I was alerted Friday morning that a warehouse in town was having a yard sale and selling fabric for $1. We’re not talking Wal-Mart fabric here, folks. They had Free Spirit, Amy Butler and many other designer brands. Because of my current car situation, I was not able to be there right on time. That meant I had the place to myself, but also had seconds dibs on the fabric. However, I am still pleased with the haul I was able to get- over 27 yards for $24! I figure that amount would have cost me close to $300 at retail price so I’m feeling very thrifty right now:).

When I got home from all my errands, I had about 30 minutes before my company arrived, so I ran into my sewing room and frantically tried to get something done. I ended up finishing one bib and almost finishing another. Not a huge accomplishment, but every bit helps right?

Day 6: Little Man’s 1st birthday party today- no sewing done, but I’ll let you enjoy some pictures of him in his mama-made birthday outfit.

He loved his cake:)

Our little family! Mama’s got her handmade Tova on too:).

Birthday boy’s outfit made earlier this week: Treasure pocket shorts, Appliqued onesie, and felt birthday crown.

Day 7

I finished up my bibs today. I started with the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby, but ended up creating my own. (somehow, I can never keep with patterns and must always tweak them!) The flannel I was using was too thin for a single layer bib so I cut out a coordinating backing for each bib, sewed them right sides together, flipped them right-side-out, and then top stitched over the entire bib. I then stitched velcro on for closures. I am very happy with how they turned out- the flannel is soft but now more substantial. The pocket adds a nice touch. The bibs are definitely on the small side and will only work for newborns. I think I may make more in graduated sizes so when I give them as gifts, I will have a variety pack to gift.

Excuse the less-than-stellar phone picture. It’s too late to get out the nice camera.

Final project update: coming Monday.

KCWC Days 3 and 4

Posted on April 26, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Check out the Flickr group for some great inspiration! I am excited today because finally I have some finished products to display!

Day 3

Finished treasure pocket shorts! I am so excited with how these turned out! I used the treasure pocket pants pattern from the Sewing for Boys book. I do not have the book yet (boo!) but I have this pattern because I took a class at Whipstitch (best fabric store ever!) a month ago to learn how to make these very pants. They are perfect pants for my crazy little boy. I wanted to make an outfit for Oliver’s birthday party and since I’ve had success shortening other pants patterns, I thought I would try this one. End result- love it! Other random details: I wanted to make a flat front so I only added elastic to the sides and back. If I decide to do that again, I will shorten the front sides of the pants to make them lay better. Fabric: the blue/white is a linen cotton blend I picked up at the clearance section of Whipstitch last month and the solid blue is Kona cotton. I really wish I had a fabric store close by that sold this linen or cotton/linen blend because it is my favorite for summer kid’s clothes right now!

What happens these days as I try to fit clothes to him and get a good picture…

Day 4

Finished appliqued onesie. Notes about this: I had a brain lapse today (must be the 3 hours of sleep last night- please come in soon molars!) and used fusible interfacing instead of fusible adhesive. Oops. At least my appliques stood up nicely as I sewed them to the onesie. Since this size is almost too small for him, I’m not really worried about it holding up a long time. Also even though I pinned, the number is a bit crooked. Oh well, I had no time to fix it, so I accepted my mistakes and moved on.

Finished birthday hat! I got the idea from a Pinterest search and combined several different ideas to make my own style. I hope it will stay on his head for more than 2 seconds so I can get some good pictures of it!

Finished one circle skirt. I threw this together as my minutes were ticking away and you can see the result of that rush- not very professional looking. The elastic is kinda dirty and I wasn’t sure how far up to sew it to the skirt. For the rest of these skirts, I will take the time to read the tutorial thoroughly and take my time pinning and sewing! Lesson learned I guess.

Tomorrow’s list

finish bibs
work on circle skirts
baby boy bow ties

The weekend will be super busy as I clean the house for company and make lots of food for the birthday party, but I am going to try to squeeze in my sewing time!

KCWC Days 1 and 2

Posted on April 25, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I should have done more preparatory work if I wanted to end up with finished products every day, but I’m happy with the progress I’m making. I hope by the end of the week to have finished off quite a few projects. I am making multiples of most items because I find that it takes only a little more time to make 4 bibs than 1 bib.

Day 1: Is this all I accomplished in an hour? Wow, an hour’s time does go by quickly.

Cut out material for 4 baby bibs.
Cut out fabric for 6 circle skirts
Cut out treasure pocket pants pattern

Day 2: Today’s hour had to be spread out over 2 sessions because I have a feverish little boy who had trouble staying down for his nap:(

Overcast all edges of bib pockets and sewed one bib together completely- I am using the basic bib pattern from Simple Sewing for Baby and decided that this one layer is too flimsy with the flannel so for the remaining 4 bibs, I will sew 2 layers together.
Cut out Treasure Pocket Pants (actually these will be shorts) and sewed pockets. I realized I’m not too happy with the juxtaposition of these 2 fabrics so I changed the pocket material to a solid blue in order to be less busy. I will use the pocket fabric I cut out to make another pair once I find a coordinating solid to go with- Hubby says find some orange linen. We shall see. Bummed that I don’t have any solids in my stash to match but must move on. I hope that soon my town will get more variety of fabric stores so I can easily pick up linen and such when I need it…Hmmm…maybe that would be a bad thing for my wallet:).

Goals for Day 3:

Finish one pair of treasure pocket shorts
Make Birthday Crown for the little man’s party on Saturday.

Kid’s Clothes Week Challenge

Posted on April 23, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I’m in; are you? It’s kid’s clothes week challenge time! I have decided that after a month of selfish sewing for the spring top sewalong, I need a push to work on some kid’s clothes. I will be making some things for Oliver, but I also will be stockpiling gifts for upcoming baby showers. I always have great hopes of making handmade gifts for baby showers but, more often than not, run out of time to put these ideas into concrete form. The goal for this challenge is to spend one hour a day working on your projects. To join, add a comment on elsie’s post. Check out her flickr group to see what amazing things others have made in past years. I’m hoping to gather more inspiration as I peruse this group. I will have to utilize nap time wisely in order to accomplish this challenge because I also have a special little boy’s 1st birthday party to plan! Oh where has time gone? I will pop back in several times this week to show you my progress on my to-do list.

Here’s my list for this week. It’s a bit ambitious, but reach for the skies, right?

Baby gifts

Several circle skirts from Dana’s tutorial
Baby bibs

For Oliver

Reversible Vests (for church)
Summer shorts- I haven’t decided yet on exact pattern but I plan on shortening a pants pattern= either the treasure pocket pants or AMH quick change trousers
Bow ties
Birthday crown

Morning nap is in progress…off I go to sew! Here’s a few pictures for inspiration.

Easter vest

Treasure Pocket Pants

Last year’s quick change trousers/shorts

Tova Tops

Posted on April 22, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I had so much fun working on some selfish sewing for Rae’s Spring Top Sewalong 2012. I have never had much luck making clothes for myself but after attending a workshop by Rae and Karen Lepage (more on that later), I was inspired to try my hand at it again and am so happy that I did. This was an excuse for me to purchase the Wiksten Tova top that I’ve seen popping up all over blogland. I made 2 versions: one in Anna Maria voile and the other in some DS Quilts cotton. I really enjoyed my first time working with voile and hope to get my hands on some more soon! I modified the pattern a bit to suit my needs. I shortened the sleeves from 3/4 length to short capped sleeves. I also added a gathered band around the hem. The original top is fairly billowy and that doesn’t look too great on my post-baby figure- I try to avoid all appearance of maternity tops to reduce suspicion of curious individuals who can’t wait for baby number 2 (Hi, Mom:). I’m really happy with how these turned out and I see more in my future. I will definitely make a 3/4 sleeve one when fall rolls around. Here’s the finished pics of my tops.

My yellow tova- Love how light and airy the voile is! The day was rather sunshiny so excuse my squinty eyes.

The DS Quilts cotton Tova. I love Denise Schmidt’s fabric lines and was happy that I had an excuse to buy some for myself.

And so it begins…

Posted on April 21, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I have decided to try this blogging thing again. This time I want to keep a journal of sorts of my sewing and crafting adventures. I aim to publish a post several times a week to keep you up-to-date on my adventures. Excited to see where this journey leads me. I also hope to improve my photography skills as I showcase my creations. A warning is due: you may see a barrage of baby boy pictures! But since I think my son is quite adorable; hopefully you won’t mind them too much:). We begin with a collage of photos from recent projects.