Sheer Spring Scarf

Spring! Chelsea what are you thinking?!

I know many of you are still snowed in your homes back east, but here in Las Vegas it is starting to become Spring.

My fleece scarfs are just to warm some days and I needed something lighter.

So the other day I picked up some light weight, sheer fabric. I got 1 yard each of three colors. I have not yet done the third. It is going to be a bit more special. I'll show you when it is done.

I really liked this fabric because it has tans, blues and browns in it. Perfect to wear with jeans.

This one is a bit more fun. An animal print is browns, blacks and tans. Also good for jeans.

I sewed both in an infinity loop. I hate my scarfs slipping off my shoulders so this works perfect. They are long enough to just hang, be doubled up or wrapped around the neck.

I have never sewn with this type of fabric and was worried it would be hard. It worked out pretty well. I did a basic double fold hem on all the sides and sewed the ends together. I made sure to use a new needle and it worked out pretty well.

Now I am set for Spring!

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

A friend of mine, Laura, mentioned that she also had a blog but that she didn't really do anything on it a lot. I decided to check it out and I love it! A Make It Yourself Mom's Diary.

Laura, you really should keep it up!

This is one of the posts I really liked.

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

These are her girls, aren't they so cute!!

This is another skirt she made up.

She really is an amazing sewer.

You should check her out and give her a kick in the butt!

Scarf Revamp

This is a beautiful scarf I was given by my parents years and years ago.

They were in Singapore/Hong Kong and picked up lots of beautiful gifts for all the kids.

I loved the scarf...but it was so light and flowing that it never stayed on my shoulders/neck.

So after awhile I just stopped wearing it.

This season the infinity scarf became the big hit and I knew I had the perfect fabric to make one with. I started by removing, very carefully, the fringe on the ends of the scarf. Then I just sewed the ends together with a simple stitch.

Now I can wear it without worrying that it is going to fall and get dirty or even lost.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Yellow Infinity Scarf

LOVE IT!

I have been in a scarf craze for awhile. I have never really liked scarves in the past. They seemed to make me feel like I was being strangled! They also never stayed where they were supposed to! They always fell off my sholders.

Until the infinity/circle scarf came along. They have become really popular lately so I thought I would give them a chance.

I started by making one out of some left over fleece. Simple, no need to finish edges. I loved it!

So here is my next try.

Last spring break my family went to Disneyland. I purchased bright t-shirts for all of us to wear so that the kids (and me) could find us easily in a crowd.
These are the shirts. I got them at JoAnn's craft for super cheap. The problem was that they were never worn again by the adults. WAY to bright for a shirt....but for a scarf? Perfect!

I cut the bottom off of both shirts and created a really long piece of fabric about 24in wide. Then I cut smaller strips from the leftovers, about 2 in wide, and created another really long strip. I then ruffled it up and sewed it down the center of my larger strip.

With right sides together I sewed up the long side.

I folded it in on itself, right sides together, and sewed the short ends leaving an opening to turn it right side out. This website shows a good demo of this. I finished the hole and was done. The whole thing took me about 30 minutes.

I love it! Bright and cheerful!

I was featured at:

From Trash to a Scarf

As we all do, I have a bag of stuff that is destined to go to Goodwill/thrift store.

I added a super cute jacket to the bag recently. It was Danika's jacket last year and it is just to small now. It is the cutest thing ever and I was really sad to get rid of it. it had a hole in the collar also.

So I decided to make it into a cute little scarf for Danika.

I cut about 5 inches off the bottom of the jacket.
Then I carefully (this is a knitted jacket and it started falling apart when I cut it) turned the piece inside out and stitched it closed, leaving a hole to turn it right side out.

I took three buttons off the jacket and sewed the on one end of the scarf.

The other side of the scarf had a button hole already so it worked out perfectly.
I can put it on her tight, loose and very loose.

Now the cute little jacket can still be cute, just in a different way!

And Danika will stay warm too.

A room of pink and purple

Two weeks ago I got a ton of fabric to start on my daughters room. What have I done with it? Nothing.

I has sat waiting while I make more interesting things. So yesterday I finally did it.
Okay, not the most amazing photo, but I made it, finally! A simple bed skirt. No pleats or ruffles. Simple and pink.

Hear is a trick I figured out. I didn't want a "real" bed skirt that goes under the mattress. The reason for this is that my daughter would just mess with it and it would always be short on one side and long on the other. So what did I do? I pinned it in place! I got a pack of $1.00 tacks at Walmart and tacked the skirt to the wood box spring.

Pretty smart huh! {I tried to do this to my king size box spring...didn't work. Apparently mine is made of metal. :( }

Do you have ugly shades like this?! Well, we rent so I can't change it. So what can I do?
Use Velcro!

Simple and cute. I added a strip of pink from the bed skirt fabric to tie it together.

The top of this window has a 1 inch lip. So I attached some adhesive Velcro to the top, and stitched some Velcro to the drapes.

Sorry, hard to see the Velcro here.

Here is the stitched Velcro.

I added some fabric rosettes to cuten it up. Is that a word, cuten?

Oh well.

So her room is almost done. Only about 10 things left to do. LOL!

New Fitted Skirt

Here is my first fitted skirt.

I put in a zipper! My first time! I didn't even mess up!

I will kind of tell you how I did it and the mistakes/changes I would make next time.

I don't shop in the junior section. I have three kids and all came out via c-section. So needless to say I have a gut. I purchased 1 1/2 yards jean material {it had a bit of spandex} matching thread and a matching 9in zipper. If you are skinny minnie then maybe you don't need as much fabric.
I made my own pattern by measuring around my waist and adding 2in for seam allowance/mistakes. I made my skirt flare a bit, but not much. You could do it any way you like.

The zipper wasn't really that hard! What was I so stressed about? I followed the tutorial at Sew Mamma Sew. After putting in the zipper I realize that I could have got a shorter one. Maybe a 7in. next time. I also sewed it in a bit low. I will have to get a little hook thingie to put above the zipper.

After cutting my pattern I followed the tutorial and put in the zipper. Then I sewed up the other side. I either really messed up my measurements or I can't count, but I had to take that side in almost 4 inches! It was okay though. All I had to do was sew a new seam and cut out the excess.

After I got it fitting well I started on the hem. I did a 1 inch double fold hem. I hated it! I looked bad. I really wanted to do an invisible hem but didn't know how. It is times like these where it pays to be obsessive compulsive. I got out my sewing machine manual {10 years old and 5 moves later} and found out how to do it with the machine foot I had. I really didn't want to go buy a special foot just to do this skirt. I practiced on a scrap fabric first and then jumped it. The pictures here show the before version. The after looked much smoother and more professional.

So here it is {BAD hem!} in all it's glory.

BTW, this is the most you will see of me.

Maybe next time I will do a REAL tutorial ;)

More Skirts!

Remember those skirts I made a few weeks ago? Well....

I made a FEW more!

My original skirts I made a few weeks back were Circle skirts. I found a few different patterns for basic skirts and made these.

I even made a few jean skirts!

I hope to come up with my favorite patterns and then I will share them with you.

I can Sew???

I can sew??? No! Yes? Maybe...

So here is the story.

I got a sewing machine after I got married thinking I would be a domestic goddess. I would make curtains, baby clothes, my clothes and everything else made from fabric. Well, that didn't happen. I HATED to sew. My mom tried to teach me before I moved out but I just did not like it. So my machine stayed in its box most of the time. Occasionally it came out for the random straight line hem. I mostly blame it on the fact that I had no room for it. To use it had to clean off the kitchen table and get everything out. Then I had to put it all away before the end of the day.

So 11 years later I have a craft room with room for a sewing table. It's not pretty, but I have space. So now the machine is out and I decided to try to make some skirts for ME! I found this great site with a relatively easy step by step tutorial, Regarding Rosie.

And here is my first skirt. It was not supposed to be white on the bottom but I got the wrong size fabric so I had to make a few adjustments. I couldn't go to church in a 12in skirt! Indecent!
This is my third skirt, much better. I used a sheet I got from Savers for $5.
This white one I also made form a sheet. It need some work still... a little bit sheer :)
So there you go, I guess I can sew! My mother is laughing right now.

She new this day would come.