Burp Cloths and a Onesie: Handmade Baby Shower Gifts

Posted on February 18, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I was invited to a baby shower for a friend this past weekend and found some time beforehand to whip up some handmade gifts for the little man. I have been wanting to try out this burp cloth idea since I saw Gail’s version a while back. I used some organic cotton prefolds and bound the edged with some handmade bias tape. While I was making the burp cloths, I wasn’t sure that I was going to be happy with them, but once they were finished and all wrapped up together, I decided they turned out pretty cute.

I also made one of my signature tie onesies so the little man has a snazzy outfit for this spring/summer. Since sewing is kinda known as my thing among my friends, I try to remember to include something handmade in all my baby gifts. Although sometimes I want to (and do, on occasion,) just have the ease of picking something up from store. Anyone else suffer from the angst/guilt of store-bought vs. handmade? Please tell me I’m not the only one! Also do you have any go-to shower gifts? If so, do share. I am always looking for more quick and easy baby gift ideas.

This Weekend- and An Announcement of Things to Come

Posted on October 6, 2012 by oliver's fancy

About time for another weekend update around here, isn’t it? I find that I am much more efficient with my weekend time management when I throw my to-do list out for the blogosphere to read. 🙂

Friday night I finished up some baby gifts for a shower this weekend. I have another shower coming up in 2 weeks and will share all my creations then so as not to tip the second shower recipient off to her gifts since I know she does read my blog on occasion. 🙂 I am really happy with how those projects are turning out!

I spent the majority of this Saturday cleaning up my craft room. The crazy storm of PRP had caused a chaotic mess to form in my usually neat and tidy space. Oh who are we kidding here, it never stays neat and tidy for long! I get it all nice and squeaky clean every few weeks and then get into a project and mess it all up again- the nature of the beast, I’m going to assume. With KCWC and PRP both occurring next week, I wanted everything to be super organized and neat to enable me to get lots done.

I have my fabric and patterns set out for KCWC and am hoping for great things! My final list is: Charlie tunic, Green cords, 4 Raglan Tees, and as many appliqued onesies as I can produce- hopefully 10. That leads me to my big announcement- I am in 2 craft fairs the next 2 months! The first is the GCA’s Fall Festival and Holiday Market on November 3rd here in Greenville (only 4 weeks away- yikes!) The second is The Crafty Feast on December 15th in Columbia, SC. While I am super stoked to be trying my hand at these fairs for the first time, I have quite a bit of work to do in order to be ready for them. Thankfully this first one is a smaller affair, so I am viewing it as a practice to see what will sell well for the larger show. I laid my plans this weekend for the merchandise I want to have ready and mapped out a sewing schedule for the next few weeks in order to get it all done. I am determined not to stress about it and just have fun- I will keep you posted on how that goes. 🙂 Hope to see some of you there at the shows!

My goal for the rest of the weekend is to get some fun family time in, organize my creating space a bit more, and maybe even start cutting into the Charlie Tunic. Do you have any fun plans for this weekend? I linked up here for Sew & Tell Saturday…go visit and see what other cool things are linked up!

And since a blog post without pictures is just so boring, I leave you with a picture from our apple orchard adventure last night- a favorite family tradition! Notice the two handmades- a Tova top and the Raglan Tee. 🙂

Kid’s Clothes Week Challenge Fall 2012

Posted on October 1, 2012 by oliver's fancy

It’s almost that time again! My second time to participate in the KCWC. I am so excited about this week. I love seeing the Flickr group explode with projects and get inspired by all the cool stuff everyone makes. I feel that I’ve been doing a little prep by working on Project Run and Play entries. Not counting the last two weeks, I have been so busy on selfish and other sewing recently that I haven’t made much kid clothing. Now that I have had two weeks to get back into the swing of kid clothing, I am feeling inspired to make some fun stuff! It helps that next week’s PRP challenge is to make something that reflects your personal style! I don’t have my full to-sew list made, but here a few things I know will be on the list

Green cords- using Dana’s basic pants pattern as a guide
a Charlie Tunic– finally broke down and bought it when it was on sale last week.
Appliqued Onesies- working ahead on some baby shower gifts.

I hope you will consider joining in the fun this time! Go here to sign up and make sure to read Elsie’s blog this week as she features some fun variations of the basic pants pattern. I’ll be sure to keep you updated with my progress. I know I can do that challenge for all but one day. We have a church retreat that Saturday, but every other day is fair game for me!

Also, on a PRP note, I am busy working on my entry for Boy Week. Easy one for me right? Excited to see my ideas come to fruition! Check back in later this week for an update!