Handbag, Tote, Scripture Bag

This year, one of the things that my little girl asked for for Christmas was some new scriptures and a scripture bag. I learned how to make these little bags a few years ago, and decided to make her one because they fit a set of scriptures perfectly.

First, I started out with a placemat. I chose one that was out of heavy fabric so that it would be durable, since it was for a little girl.

Then I chose some grosgrain ribbon for the handles, and also to use for decorating the front of the bag.

I also bought some silk flowers to use on the front, so I sewed the piece of ribbon on the front that would complete the ribbon/flower decoration on the front of the bag when it was complete.

Then I placed and pinned the ribbons for handles and sewed them on, right along the seamline of the placemat. Then I sewed the side seams, with right sides together.

Before opening out the bag, I folded down a corner on each bottom and sewed a straight strip along the triangle so that the bag would have a nice flat bottom.

I trimmed off the excess fabric and then zig-zag stitched so that it wouldn't be bulky on the inside.

Then I turned it right-side-out and attached the silk flower using my hot glue gun.

We've made these before with our young women groups, and they are a fun, easy project for them to do, everything is so simple and straightforward, that it is a good "first sewing project" for them to work on.

A New Dress for Christmas

I spent a lot of late nights working on this dress, but it was worth it on Christmas morning when my little girl opened up the box and pulled this dress out.

I used McCalls pattern #M5742 , and really liked it. It was more complicated than other patterns that I've used, but I really liked it. The dress bodice is fully lined, which I like because then children who don't like itchy tags, seams, etc. don't have a hard time wearing the dress!

The dress also has an underskirt with a tulle ruffle added for fullness.

The sleeves are elbow length, which I really like for the winter months...and I found some crocheted lace to put along the neckline, waist and hemline of the skirt.

I really think that my favorite thing about this dress is the color. I again went away from her traditional favorite colors of pastel pinks and purples and instead went with a color that would compliment her hair color and complexion. She looks gorgeous in this dress. The olive green color just looks so beautiful with her honey-blond hair and brown eyes.

Christmas Pillowcases

This year I made each of the kids a special Christmas pillowcase to go along with a little poem I wrote. It was a fun gift for them to open on Christmas Eve. They were so excited to put their new pillowcases on their pillows!

I chose a different print of fabric for each of them...just trying to match up personalities with fabric.

Taylor's...

Rachel's...
Brooklynn's... and Matthew's...

Then, with each one I added a decorative strip of ribbon...and used my machine's alphabet stitches to sew their names onto the pillowcase. I think they were most excited to see that their pillowcase had their name on it. For the girls, I was a bit more fancy and added little ribbon bows and rosettes. Here is the little poem I wrote to go along with their pillowcases. I thought it would make them more excited for Santa to come...is that possible?

I've actually made some of these in the past as Christmas gifts for some of my nieces and nephews. They are really fun to make...like I said it's fun to try and match up fabric prints with personalities.

Christmas Framed Art Gifts

I couldn't post this until after Christmas because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone! I had some fun with these.

First I took a trip down the scrapbooking isle at the local craft store and found some cute Christmas paper...found some plain black frames, and picked up some self-adhesive ribbon. (Self-adhesive ribbon is awesome.)

I started with my background color, and then added the accenting paper and ribbon to look like a Christmas package all wrapped up.

On my computer, I printed out the cute saying onto cardstock. I did two different sayings. One for the 5X7 frames, and one for the 8X10s.

This actually took the most time, just playing with all the different fonts and shades of color until I had exactly what I wanted.

Next I added the ric-rac bows and buttons...and then put them into frames!

For the 8X10 frames, I matted the cardstock saying and made it look like the tag on a gift, and used ribbon as if I was tying it onto a package.

These 8X10 sayings turned out really cute. I made them for the grandparents, and to go with them, I had my children each paint a present-shaped wooden picture frame ornament for the grandparents to hang on their tree.

Christmas Kitchen Towels

I tried to think of something really cute and creative to make for my visiting teaching sisters this year...but really couldn't come up with anything. So, I just did a couple of these little kitchen towels. I've made them in the past for little gifts and they are very easy, and really fun.

I just buy plain white kitchen towels...and then look through my Christmas fabric scaps until I find what I'm looking for.

Sew the fabric strips onto the towel...adding embroidery stitches with my machine, and ribbon bows, etc. to make them cute.
There ya go, a super easy little Christmas craft!

The Finished Table Runner

So I finished this project a couple of days before Christmas...whew! Just in time!

After I had each of the blocks completed and framed in with strips of fabric, I figured out what shape I wanted it to be and cut out blocks of coordinating fabric to complete the top. Here is the top, sewn in three strips, and ready to be sewn together.

After sewing the top together, I added a very thin border strip of dark green fabric.

I also added some little ribbon bows and buttons to the tops of the trees. I realize now that I didn't take a picture of the backing...but I backed it in the maroon checked fabric. I sewed the top to the backing with right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning. After turning and ironing, I edge-stitched the opening shut. Then on each block I used my machine applique stitch to border the trees...quilting the top and bottom together. I also machine-quilted around the entire edge and also around the inside rectangle-shaped block. I had some fun experimenting with some of the stitches on my machine.

This was such a fun project! I'm already thinking about making one for another Holiday...like 4th of July or something.

Maternity Skirt

Something that has always annoyed me is maternity clothes. When I was pregnant with Taylor, 9 years ago, all of the maternity clothes seemed like a big huge tent you pulled over your head. How cute is that? Not very.

Now, I can usually find lots of really cute things, but because they're maternity they're priced triple what a normal misses sized the same thing would cost. How annoying is that? Anyway, this motivated me to get the courage to make my own...no, not from a maternity pattern because I really haven't seen any that I liked. So, I used one of my regular patterns that I really like and made the skirt one size bigger than my usual...then took a big gulp and cut a half moon shape off the front and then sewed in the spandex fabric to make the maternity panel. Whew! It worked! And it is now my favorite skirt. (I used Simplicity pattern #3796) I added some fun ribbon detail to the bottom edge and hem of the skirt, which makes it pretty fun and unique. The bottom ribbon was really easy, I just pressed it into the pleats, and then pinned it onto the skirt edge and sewed it on. It looks more complicated than it really was.

A Little Sewing

Rachel's birthday is coming up and so since she is getting so tall all of a sudden and all of her dresses are getting so short...I decided to make her something new! Because it's winter, I decided against her favorite colors (pastel pink and pastel purple) and do something else. I'm a little nervous that she won't like it as well as I do.

I decided to make her a jumper out of some cute corduroy with a fleece jacket to go with it. My thoughts were that it would be cute and cozy for the winter months!

I used a Simplicity pattern, #4384. I have used this pattern for skirts, the pants, the fleece poncho...and now the jumper and jacket.

I like this pattern a lot. It is pretty simple to follow, but has a lot of style.

I changed the style of the jumper skirt from what the pattern showed because I wanted it much longer than the pattern...and I didn't have enough fabric to cut the desired length in the A-line shape that the pattern suggests. I made the little flower/bow embellishment detachable so that she can wear the jumper with just a plain turtleneck and the flower/bow...or take off the flower/bow and wear the jumper with the jacket.

I love, LOVE the jacket. It is made from soft polar fleece, and it is fully-lined...making it nice and comfortable. I also changed the straight-edged sleeves to bell-sleeves. I think that Rachey will love them!