Fun with applique

The last several weeks I have been working on some ideas that I hope will turn into money-making adventures for me. I would love to find a way to make some money from this sewing habit of mine-if only to help fund my fabric habit. This hobby sure does get expensive at times! But I think that it’s worth it to be able to create handmade items for friends, family, and myself. 🙂

I have focused on handmade items for boys because I think that so many people make cute things for girls and leave a lack of options for the male child. Having a male child myself has opened my eyes to this problem. I hope to open up my dormant etsy shop this weekend and see how my creations do out there in the big world. It has been fun creating all kinds of new outfits for Oliver in the process of trying out different ideas!

I have also delved a bit into the realm of decor- as you will see in the pictures. I am in love with embroidery hoops and have received such a great response from some hoop art I made for my house, that I decided to try out some options with that as well. Not everything has turned out great, but it has been a good learning curve. I really like the quirkiness of many of the resulting creations. Although I am marketing boys’ items, many of these creations could very well be used for girls’ rooms or even for general house decor.

Here are some pics of the resulting projects. All of the applique is adhered with an iron-on adhesive and then machine stitched for some extra durability. I primarily used fabric for the applique pieces but also used a few felt pieces for the hoop art. I did not use felt for the onesies because I want them to last through many washes. By the way I realize that the South Carolina pieces do not have the heart/star over the capital city. I thought these would be fun pieces for local people- therefore I have made Greenville the highlighted city!

Of course I can’t resist at least one picture using my adorable model 🙂

 

More Pillows

The pillow frenzy is finished for now. I completed two more pillows and it makes me so happy to sit in my cheery living room!

I really wanted to quilt the patchwork pillow above, but time is a little lacking right now, so quick and easy needed to prevail. Therefore I threw it together with another envelope back- so convenient! I may eventually quilt it but for now it is fine. This pillow came with my couch and while it is huge- 23 inches square- it is a fun way to showcase a big design.

Lest you think my sewing experiences are all happy ones, this is what happens when you are in a hurry and trying to finish before nap time ends- pillow front sewn wrongside to pillow back…enter seam ripper. Oh well, such is the life of the sewist.

Next on the agenda, vests for my little nephews in a wedding this May. Hope to have those to show you by Thursday or Friday!

New Pillows

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.