On Halloween our little boo baby entered the world! So now I am not just Delilah's Momma, I am Shane's momma too!
He is wonderful and cuddly and I am totally in love.
Hope to back to blogging and sharing projects soon.
Janimal
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Delilah's Matching Dresses
Happy to blog today about some recent sewing projects!
Oh, the cute! I know that no one finds kids as charming as their parents. These days I am feeling especially in love with my daughter and just can't help expressing it.
But first....Where oh where have I been?
Ah, just getting to the end of pregnancy and have had lots on my plate. So blogging has not been a priority. I'm not apologizing for not blogging - I think my priorities are in order. But I do miss interacting with the online world quite a bit.
Here's who I have been interacting with. This little girl, who just turned 3. Poor dear woke up sick on her birthday but still agreed to wear a little 3 shirt I appliqued for her and was a sweet and cuddly little one all day. She is the cutest most amazing kid ever. Just sayin'.
I wish I had her hair!
Happily, she was not sick for her birthday party. I made her a cake with princesses on it and we enjoyed ourselves.
I have gotten some sewing done lately! I'm so very happy to show you this Popover Dress for Delilah for next Spring/Summer AND a matching dress for her to put on a doll. I have a prettier doll in mind, but this one was the closest available when I was ready to take a picture.
The fabric is Willow Grove by Alexander Henry and I just LOVE it! (Patterns are available for FREE download from the Oliver & S website)
I alspo recently made Delilah's Halloween costume. I'll try to post pictures after she wears it, in the meantime, here's a clue about what she wants to be...
Oh, the cute! I know that no one finds kids as charming as their parents. These days I am feeling especially in love with my daughter and just can't help expressing it.
I'll be back with more projects. Including a tutorial for some tab top curtains I made.
Take care all,
Janimal
Monday, October 3, 2011
Delilah and Daddy Coordinating Outfits!
I am in the final few weeks of pregnancy. Hard to believe!
"You talkin' to me?"
After the little man makes his appearance, I am pretty sure I won't have much time for sewing. In the meantime I am trying to make a few more projects before my hiatus.
Recently I got to test a pattern for childrens' pattern designer Oliver & S. But this is a new kind of test -- not a new pattern test. But an OLD pattern test! They have several patterns that have gone out of print, but as new sewists discover this great company, they still want them. So O&S is looking into making the patterns available as pdf files to download. As a tester, I was sent an out of print pattern that was converted to a pdf to print myself and sew up.
I already own the pattern, the Puppet Show Dress. It's the pattern I used to make Delilah's Snow White dress, actually. Just a lovely little dress pattern!
So here is the test dress I sewed up! D is currently fitting well into 3T, but I made this dress is a 4T so she could get a little more wear out of it. Not too big though - check it out!
The fabric is "Innocent Crush" by Anna Maria Horner that I bought at Whipstitch Fabrics. You may recall I used this print to make my sweet husband a tie. So Delilah and her Daddy had coordinating outfits to wear Saturday night. Unfortunately, I didn't do so well capturing their matchiness. I do have one funny pic of a crazed looking D, with her Daddy and his tie in the background.
"You talkin' to me?"
I sewed this dress Saturday afternoon, and found myself scrambling to finish to put it on D before we raced out to a wedding reception. So instead of following the lovely hem facing finishing instructions in the pattern, I haphazardly folded the bottom and sewed a very rushed hem. I felt like a contestant on Project Runway trying to get a garment done before racing to the runway. I can only imagine what Nina, Michael, & Heidi would have said if they got a look at my hem.
I'll finish the hem properly and get some better pictures!
Thanks for stopping by!
Janimal
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
ROBOT Nursery
I am so happy to share our robot nursery today!
The furniture is actually a stained dark brown. In these photos the pieces look almost black, but they aren't! I'm just not good with photography! Also, the walls are a lovely pale blue, which doesn't show well in my photos either.
On top of the dresser are some robot toys for Shane to play with 2 soft toys, and a stacking robot toy (all from Amazon.com). There is also a clock and a teeny little robot model our nephew made for the baby (awww). But my favorite piece is the lamp.
Lamp purchased from Amazon.com. I think it's super cool!
Didja check out the curtains?! Made them myself using fabulous I Heart fabric by Rashida Coleman-Jones for Timeless Treasures. (I still need to hem them though!) I also made a matching soft ottoman from the tutorial over at Living With Punks.
You've seen this fabric before! Remember I made a fabric bin with it! It's in the nursery now, holding some toys.
Moving around the room, every nursery needs a comfy glider. There is a matching ottoman, but for some reason we didn't put it in there yet. Huh. It's hard to see the detail, but there is a pretty cool robot quilt over the back of the chair.
Sorry about the glare on this photo, but here is the changing table, with some robot sticker decals above. I LOVE these decals. (from Amazon.com) They are bright and colorful, and you can move the parts around and make the robots look however you like! They seem to stick well and yet remove easily too. Also on the table is a small fabric bin (fabulous Kokka robot fabric) that I made to keep diapers and wipes handy, a little robot bucket for diaper cream and other necessities, and there are two nightlights. I really like how the large robot nightlight has a heart.
Moving around the room again, here's the crib.
The whole robot idea actually started with the three robot models on the left side shelf. My husband got them as gifts and they were on a shelf in the basement. They are pretty much the only robots in the room that aren't appropriate to play with! You can see our video monitor camera, and next to it a solid red robot - which is actually stacked measuring cups for the kitchen! Fun for a little one to play with.
The 4 robots on the bottom are made from wood. The 2 smaller ones are poseable! They look smaller in this pic to me as they are in real life.
The wood robots, kitchen cup robot, AND the robot nightlight, bucket, and clock in the room all came from http://www.tintoyarcade.com/. I stumbled upon their site with a Google search, and imagine my delight in finding out they are a local company. I was THRILLED with my purchases!
And here is a shot of the art above the crib. I fell in love with the I Heart fabric I used in the room, and decided the robots on the fabric would be good on the walls too. So I bought some canvases, and some paints, and did my best to duplicate them. They are somewhat imperfect, but if you don't look too closely, I think they're ok! Of course they are hung pretty high from the crib, safe from little hands.
So there you have it! The robot nursery! I still need to hang a window shade, hem the curtains, and add some other details. We bought a a robot 3D pic from a local artist that has a voice bubble from the robot that is a dry erase board!
There are a few finshing touches to add, but it's mostly done and ready for our new little man arrival! It was SO much fun finding robot decor.
Here is the view from the door.
The furniture is actually a stained dark brown. In these photos the pieces look almost black, but they aren't! I'm just not good with photography! Also, the walls are a lovely pale blue, which doesn't show well in my photos either.
On top of the dresser are some robot toys for Shane to play with 2 soft toys, and a stacking robot toy (all from Amazon.com). There is also a clock and a teeny little robot model our nephew made for the baby (awww). But my favorite piece is the lamp.
Lamp purchased from Amazon.com. I think it's super cool!
Didja check out the curtains?! Made them myself using fabulous I Heart fabric by Rashida Coleman-Jones for Timeless Treasures. (I still need to hem them though!) I also made a matching soft ottoman from the tutorial over at Living With Punks.
You've seen this fabric before! Remember I made a fabric bin with it! It's in the nursery now, holding some toys.
Moving around the room, every nursery needs a comfy glider. There is a matching ottoman, but for some reason we didn't put it in there yet. Huh. It's hard to see the detail, but there is a pretty cool robot quilt over the back of the chair.
Sorry about the glare on this photo, but here is the changing table, with some robot sticker decals above. I LOVE these decals. (from Amazon.com) They are bright and colorful, and you can move the parts around and make the robots look however you like! They seem to stick well and yet remove easily too. Also on the table is a small fabric bin (fabulous Kokka robot fabric) that I made to keep diapers and wipes handy, a little robot bucket for diaper cream and other necessities, and there are two nightlights. I really like how the large robot nightlight has a heart.
Moving around the room again, here's the crib.
The whole robot idea actually started with the three robot models on the left side shelf. My husband got them as gifts and they were on a shelf in the basement. They are pretty much the only robots in the room that aren't appropriate to play with! You can see our video monitor camera, and next to it a solid red robot - which is actually stacked measuring cups for the kitchen! Fun for a little one to play with.
The 4 robots on the bottom are made from wood. The 2 smaller ones are poseable! They look smaller in this pic to me as they are in real life.
The wood robots, kitchen cup robot, AND the robot nightlight, bucket, and clock in the room all came from http://www.tintoyarcade.com/. I stumbled upon their site with a Google search, and imagine my delight in finding out they are a local company. I was THRILLED with my purchases!
And here is a shot of the art above the crib. I fell in love with the I Heart fabric I used in the room, and decided the robots on the fabric would be good on the walls too. So I bought some canvases, and some paints, and did my best to duplicate them. They are somewhat imperfect, but if you don't look too closely, I think they're ok! Of course they are hung pretty high from the crib, safe from little hands.
So there you have it! The robot nursery! I still need to hang a window shade, hem the curtains, and add some other details. We bought a a robot 3D pic from a local artist that has a voice bubble from the robot that is a dry erase board!
Thanks for stopping by. It was fun to put this room together and it was fun to show it off. And soon it will be fun to bring home it's occupant!
Later Skater,
Janimal
P.S.
I have a tutorial in the works for the curtains!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Fabric Bin Tutorial
Hello! I am so happy to share with you a tutorial for making a fabric bin today!
We have a robot theme going in our new nursery and I just fell in love with the I Heart fabric from Timeless Treasures that was designed by Rashida Coleman-Jones. (Purchased at Whipstitch Fabrics) This lovely fabric came in cotton, and also a lovely cotton/linen blend that has a lovely weight I enjoyed working with very much!
Pretty soon I will be able to share photos from the finished nursery. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this little sneak peek at the decor, and this tutorial.
And oh yeah, we picked a name for our new baby - check it out!
This fabric bin will either store baby toys on the floor. Nice and soft for the baby to access. Or, we'll use it to store diapers next to the changing pad. I have other fabric bins too, so now I just need to figure out where they go!
To start, I cut five 10' by 10' squares of the outer fabric and some interfacing. I used a medium stiffness interfacing. I considered using fusible fleece but I didn't have enough on hand. If you have batting, that would work too.
Next I laid out the fabric pieces, with a piece of the interfacing on top. (this is when I realized fusible interfacing might make this a bit easier.) Because the robot fabric is directional, it's important to get the layout correct so each side has robots that aren't upside down! The arrows here show how to layout the fabric.
Ok, the layout is good. Now I must sew each panel in place. I pinned the center piece to a side piece first.
This was sewn together with a half inch seam. VERY IMPORTANT - start and end sewing a half inch before each side.
I sewed two opposite sides first.
Now the other two sides, and this is why that half inch space in sewing is important. If you sew with a half inch space again, you should have a perfect corner.
Now it's time to sew each of the side panels together. It was tough for me to get a picture of this. Basically, if you fold the bottom panel into sort of a triangle, it's a bit easier to put the side panels together to sew.
Once all the sides are sewn, you have something that is starting to resemble a box!
The lining of the fabric bin is constructed almost exactly the same way, except leaving a space between a side and bottom panel for turning.
These seams were pressed open also.
OK - It's the home stretch! Now insert the lining into the outer box, right sides together. Pushing into each corner and lining up each side seam.
Then sew around the top with a half inch seam.
My favorite part - turning! Use the gap in the bottom of the lining to pull the fabric bin right sides out!
Ta-Dah!
A good press around the top and look - it's a fabric bin! You can top stitch around the top at this point, but I didn't. The turning gap in the lining can be handstitched closed at your leisure!
I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I am pretty excited about our robot themed room and am looking forward to sharing pics of it. Please stop back by!
We have a robot theme going in our new nursery and I just fell in love with the I Heart fabric from Timeless Treasures that was designed by Rashida Coleman-Jones. (Purchased at Whipstitch Fabrics) This lovely fabric came in cotton, and also a lovely cotton/linen blend that has a lovely weight I enjoyed working with very much!
Pretty soon I will be able to share photos from the finished nursery. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this little sneak peek at the decor, and this tutorial.
And oh yeah, we picked a name for our new baby - check it out!
This fabric bin will either store baby toys on the floor. Nice and soft for the baby to access. Or, we'll use it to store diapers next to the changing pad. I have other fabric bins too, so now I just need to figure out where they go!
To start, I cut five 10' by 10' squares of the outer fabric and some interfacing. I used a medium stiffness interfacing. I considered using fusible fleece but I didn't have enough on hand. If you have batting, that would work too.
Next I laid out the fabric pieces, with a piece of the interfacing on top. (this is when I realized fusible interfacing might make this a bit easier.) Because the robot fabric is directional, it's important to get the layout correct so each side has robots that aren't upside down! The arrows here show how to layout the fabric.
Ok, the layout is good. Now I must sew each panel in place. I pinned the center piece to a side piece first.
This was sewn together with a half inch seam. VERY IMPORTANT - start and end sewing a half inch before each side.
I sewed two opposite sides first.
Now the other two sides, and this is why that half inch space in sewing is important. If you sew with a half inch space again, you should have a perfect corner.
Now it's time to sew each of the side panels together. It was tough for me to get a picture of this. Basically, if you fold the bottom panel into sort of a triangle, it's a bit easier to put the side panels together to sew.
Once all the sides are sewn, you have something that is starting to resemble a box!
I pressed each side seam open, and if I had been thinking properly, I would have trimmed the seam down to a quarter inch. So do as I say, not as I do, and trim that seam!
The lining of the fabric bin is constructed almost exactly the same way, except leaving a space between a side and bottom panel for turning.
These seams were pressed open also.
OK - It's the home stretch! Now insert the lining into the outer box, right sides together. Pushing into each corner and lining up each side seam.
I started with a pin in each corner, lining up the seams, and a pin between each corner to keep the lining in place
Then sew around the top with a half inch seam.
My favorite part - turning! Use the gap in the bottom of the lining to pull the fabric bin right sides out!
Ta-Dah!
A good press around the top and look - it's a fabric bin! You can top stitch around the top at this point, but I didn't. The turning gap in the lining can be handstitched closed at your leisure!
I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I am pretty excited about our robot themed room and am looking forward to sharing pics of it. Please stop back by!
Later Skaters,
Janimal
Monday, August 15, 2011
Apple Picking Dress
Hello friends! I am SO EXCITED to show off one of the new Fall Oliver & S patterns today. I was a pattern tester for this dress and I just fell in love with it. I've been dying to share it!
So here it is - worn by my very favorite little model!:
So here it is - worn by my very favorite little model!:
My happy little model likes her new dress!
Couldn't you just eat her up?
This pattern is called the Apple Picking Dress
The fabric I used is called "Delilah" by Tanya Whelan. I think the white polka dots on blue, with the dropped waist style, give the dress kind of a retro look.
It was fun to pick out buttons too. I think buttons can add SO MUCH to a garment. These buttons have just a hint of blue in the inner circle.
Delilah was modelling the dress on the old walkway in front of our house. Oh that walkway was getting old and was SO ugly. Construction is going on now - we took out the walkway and are putting in a front patio. A nice place for us to sit and relax while we watch our kids ride bikes in the cul de sac. My sweet husband is calling it our "partio"!
I need to sew a new outfit for Delilah so she can show off the new construction!
I have a tutorial in the works for the curtains I made for our new little nursery. I just need to hang them and take their picture and hope they look as nice actually up as they do slung across the back of my sewing chair!
Thanks for stopping by!
Janimal
Monday, July 25, 2011
Making Plans...
Hi blog friends! I'm still here!
Lots been happenin! First, here's a look at Delilah for the first night in her big girl bed. She's growing up too fast for me....
Nausea and exhaustion from pregnancy have kept me from being creative lately. But I do have one thing to show you, and would like to share some plans for future projects.
First, here is a dress I just finished. This was actually the first dress I made from the Madison pattern by Bonnie Blue that I've made many of since. I think I made the 3t. It has been sitting in my sewing room without buttons for months. I finally sewed on buttons and sewed buttonholes. It's still a little big for Delilah though.
In other news, I did make a new Fall dress. But I can't show you! It was a test of a pattern from Oliver & S that hasn't been released yet. So I can't show it off until they do. All I can tell you is....I LOVE IT! I'll post when I get permission - I think they are released in August.
Now here is a cool fabric that will be featured in our new little one's nursery.
This cool robot fabric is from the I Heart line by Rashida Coleman-Hayes, from Timeless Treasures that I bought at Whipstitch Fabrics. I think it's way cool that the designer is another Atlanta local chick. It's pretty awesome that there are so many cool and talented peeps in our city in the fabric/sewing world.
Now, what to do with the fabric? I have some others too - I'm thinking some fabric storage boxes to put diapers in....perhaps a floor cushion, window treatment. I may even make some cribsheets. I just need some energy...and time.....
Thanks for stopping by!
Janimal
Lots been happenin! First, here's a look at Delilah for the first night in her big girl bed. She's growing up too fast for me....
Nausea and exhaustion from pregnancy have kept me from being creative lately. But I do have one thing to show you, and would like to share some plans for future projects.
First, here is a dress I just finished. This was actually the first dress I made from the Madison pattern by Bonnie Blue that I've made many of since. I think I made the 3t. It has been sitting in my sewing room without buttons for months. I finally sewed on buttons and sewed buttonholes. It's still a little big for Delilah though.
In other news, I did make a new Fall dress. But I can't show you! It was a test of a pattern from Oliver & S that hasn't been released yet. So I can't show it off until they do. All I can tell you is....I LOVE IT! I'll post when I get permission - I think they are released in August.
Now here is a cool fabric that will be featured in our new little one's nursery.
This cool robot fabric is from the I Heart line by Rashida Coleman-Hayes, from Timeless Treasures that I bought at Whipstitch Fabrics. I think it's way cool that the designer is another Atlanta local chick. It's pretty awesome that there are so many cool and talented peeps in our city in the fabric/sewing world.
Now, what to do with the fabric? I have some others too - I'm thinking some fabric storage boxes to put diapers in....perhaps a floor cushion, window treatment. I may even make some cribsheets. I just need some energy...and time.....
Thanks for stopping by!
Janimal
Friday, June 3, 2011
O&S Sunhat
Long time no blog!
I got back in front of my sewing machine earlier this week and made my sweet girl a nice sunhat to wear for the Summer. I know I'm biased, but I think she looks adorable in it.
This was my first project from the Oliver & S book, Little Things To Sew.
The hat is designed to be reversible, but for my first version I chose to make both sides with the same pink polka dot fabric.
I did make one change with the instructions. The final step has the inner cap sewn on my hand all the way around using a blindstitch. I ended up machine stitching most of it and blindstitched just the turning opening. It looks perfect to me and I will probably do the same with my future versions of this hat.
She appeared to be pretty happy with it.
Won't it be fun to have hats to match her little outfits! I better get to sewing!
Thanks for stopping by. I have some plans of things to sew so hopefully my next blog post won't take so long.
Later skaters,
Janimal
I got back in front of my sewing machine earlier this week and made my sweet girl a nice sunhat to wear for the Summer. I know I'm biased, but I think she looks adorable in it.
This was my first project from the Oliver & S book, Little Things To Sew.
The hat is designed to be reversible, but for my first version I chose to make both sides with the same pink polka dot fabric.
I did make one change with the instructions. The final step has the inner cap sewn on my hand all the way around using a blindstitch. I ended up machine stitching most of it and blindstitched just the turning opening. It looks perfect to me and I will probably do the same with my future versions of this hat.
She appeared to be pretty happy with it.
Won't it be fun to have hats to match her little outfits! I better get to sewing!
Thanks for stopping by. I have some plans of things to sew so hopefully my next blog post won't take so long.
Later skaters,
Janimal
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