This Weekend

Posted on July 21, 2012 by oliver's fancy

It’s been a pretty crazy week over here on the home-front. We had family here for a week and have been super busy cleaning up from that and getting things ready for our big anniversary trip to New York City next week. Whee!!! So excited about it!

Any-who, in my little spare time, I have been so busy filling up my etsy shop with lovelies that I haven’t had much time to sew for myself, but I have fabric waiting for a Tova Top that I really want to bring on our trip so I will try to finish that before Thursday. I had been focusing on embroidery hoop art for a few weeks and decided to work on some onesies this past week to give my shop some variety. I used some of the fabric that I picked up at Whipstitch (business expense 😉 ) and am loving my new creations! I have a few basic designs that I am fine-tuning: vests with ties or bow ties, fat ties, and suspenders with skinny ties or bow ties. Check out the mini houndstooth print I found- so perfect for the suspenders and vests! It’s so silky soft too that it is super nice for baby garments.

I was just commissioned to make a cloth diaper hanging wet bag for a friends and am trying to find the perfect fabric for her and her little girl. I am making something similar to Jeni’s lined drawstring bag here: except I will line the bag in PUL fabric to make it suitable for cloth diapers. I went ahead and bought Jeni’s pattern because she gives you a license to sell and that way I don’t have to do the math by myself- so worth it if someone else has already done math for me! I am excited to see how it turns out and will be sure to show you. I would like to finish it before my trip also so I am sure to be quite busy the next few days!

Last item to update you on. Greenville now has a branch of the Modern Quilt Guild! We had an introductory meeting today with a few people and are planning on meeting the second or third Friday of each month. I volunteered to take over the blog site and will be updating it as we find out more information. I have wanted to have one of these for a while and am quite pumped that it is beginning. Check out the website if you want more details- there’s not much there now but will be soon. I cannot wait to meet like-minded quilters and crafters in my town. If you are local, we would love to see you at our meetings, even if you are a novice quilter!

Little Boy Vests

Posted on May 15, 2012 by oliver's fancy

vest fronts- ignore wonky looking pockets

As mentioned previously, my sister-in-law is getting married this Friday. Two of my nephews are in the wedding and needed some vests to wear. My other sis-in-law (I have 5 on the hubs side!) mentioned that she was not able to find any vests she liked at the store so I volunteered myself to make them since I had made one for the little man for Easter. At this point, I’m wondering why I always volunteer myself for these things, but I just can’t seem to resist. I do enjoy it and it’s good experience for me but somehow everything ends up needing to be done in about 2 days time!

I had planned on going to the fabric store to find the outer vest material but as the closest Joann is over 30 minutes away and we are a one car family, it just never worked out. I had the idea to get some men’s dress pants and use those. I went to Goodwill and found several pairs of men’s pants that were the right color in the $1 section. Score! All was going well as I took my nephew’s measurements and cut out the first vest…until I got it all sewed together and realized it was 3 inches too short. Oh drat! Back to the drawing board. This time I actually used an old pair of my husband’s pants because I wanted both boys to have the same fabric. Final fitting went well…whew! For the back of the vest, I cut along the outer fold in the pant’s leg- now it has a nice finished seam down the middle that I didn’t have to sew! Vest number two is cut a bit wider around the back and armholes as nephew two is a bit bulkier than nephew one…He’s not here to try it on so let’s hope it fits!

The vests are a boy’s size 5/6 and I discovered that this is about the largest size I can use and still get one vest out of each pant leg. For the lining fabric, I used some boyish fabric in my stash. I got the vest idea from a tutorial I found on Pinterest but I have tweaked her instructions a bit.

Changes I made

Topstitched around the entire vest when finished.

Wait to sew pockets on until after buttons are in place- somehow the pockets end up being lopsided otherwise. (this is a change I’ll put in place next time I make a vest as I had to learn the hard way this time. )

A few other odds and ends: only topstitched once on the pockets, sewed the front arm holes closed before turning, sewed all but a few inches together before turning right-side out, vests are not reversible.

vest backs…see the factory seam I kept?

I am really happy with the final product…just have to do some seam ripping to fix the pocket problem and they are all done. Now on to cleaning the house and cutting out 100 ten inch quilt squares before we leave tomorrow morning!

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.