A Most Practical Tablecloth

Wipeable. Stays put. Protects the table. Looks nice. It's everything I want.

Ezra was making a habit of banging and denting the table top with anything in his hand at random times. And coloring on it. And scratching it. That's what made me first want a table cover. But most laminated tablecloths are not so attractive and I'm not a fan of the clear ones. That's when my friend, Paula, told me about the oil cloth table covers she makes with elastic around the edges so that they stay put. Brilliant! (She also sells traditional style tablecloths in oilcloth). Only my table isn't the type that the elastic would hold it on, so I worked with her to modify the design some, and it works beautifully! I sewed the corners together for a snug fit and sewed in some ties to tie it under the table around the legs. The kids can't rip it off, they can color and eat and spill and bang and the table top is protected. I'm really loving it. If you ask, she'll make one like this for you too.

(See the tie below, on the right side)

You can check out Paula's other great offerings in her Etsy shop. She has really great fabric options. I also got one of her wasties, which are fabulous little reversible waste baskets for car, craft room, or just about anywhere. They stand alone or hang from a (removable) included command hook (or snap loop option too) any where you need. 

And tons of cute options for ironing board covers. They've made my ironing much more enjoyable, believe it or not. It's just less dreadful when you have something fun to look at instead of a plain blue cover.

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DIY JCrew Heart Tee

A while back I saw these cute purple and red oversized-heart shirts at JCrew and they were super simple. (Now they've moved on to sequins). So being the DIY kinda girl I am, I decided to just make one. JCrew had the solid colored kids shirts on sale for like $6, so I bought the purple shirt from them. Then it was just a matter of another freezer paper stencil and some fabric paint!

Here's a tip: I bought 2 different colors of red fabric paint because I couldn't decide, but one turned out to be a "pearl" finish. Fortunately I put down one layer of the matte red color first, because the pearl paint is a bit transparent. I wish I had put down 2 layers of matte and then a layer or two of pearl over top. I like the shimmer/glitter the pearl gives, but it took about 6 layers of the stuff to get an even, solid, professional-looking finish.
Ever since this project, Ava is obsessed with Valentines Day and asks me every day to show her on the calendar when it is! Pin It

Halloween Craft #3: Tweed and Flannel Fabric Pumpkins

I had this idea last year but never got around to executing it. I'm glad I got to this year. I'm sure I got the idea of fabric pumpkins from somewhere else, maybe Martha? Who knows, but anyway, I thought some menswear would be the perfect touch for the season. A little dark, a little sophisticated, a little mysterious.

If you'd like some directions, this is a great tutorial.

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Fabric Scrap Bowl

When I was in elementary school I remember that we once made these bowls from strips of fabric, and I've been thinking about them lately. And lo and behold, Prudent Baby posted a tutorial! Such a great way to use up that pile of scraps.

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Twin Duvet Cover

Ava will soon be moving into a new room and bed to make room for the new baby (though I plan to procrastinate as long as possible). Her nursery is pretty un-girly, so I thought this time I'd try to be more feminine for her. I'm not a big fan of pink and purple, but decided I'd let Ava decide for herself about such things. It's no ruffles and lace, but I'm taking baby steps here, okay?
Her room starts with the bed and duvet cover. Since all the duvet covers I liked were pretty expensive, I decided to make my own. I used this Tina Given's fabric by Free Spirit. (And I have extra yardage, so if you want some you can go to my Etsy site).

The bed is from IKEA but I got it from the local classifieds for around $100. 

See the cute dots on the sheets? Awww. So cute. (I didn't make the sheets, I got them here.)

See those snaps below? Yeah, I hammered those in myself. It was my first time doing that kind of snaps, and it was so super easy. Instructions are just on the back of the package and all you need is a hammer and a spool of thread. You should try it, if you never have. I want to put snaps on everything now.

Next I have to figure out what color to paint the room. I was planning on doing a really pale yellow, but now I'm afriad that with the tan carpet that might turn pretty blah. And I don't know if I can bring myself to go pink on the walls (even a very light pink)... Especially because this duvet reflects quite a bit of pink into the room (and hallway) already. But if I put a cute little yellow night stand next to the bed, it would sure be cute. There is a bit of very light aqua in the duvet, but the new boy's nursery is that color so I don't want two rooms the same color. Suggestions?
If you are looking for a good duvet tutorial, this is the one that gave me basic direction. Just make sure you square up/true up your fabric before you cut it! I didn't and it caused a bit of headache for me. And keep in mind, as you calculate your measurements, that home decor fabric is like 54" wide on the bolt and quilting cottons (standard fabrics) are like 44". That will make a difference in how many yards you need.

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Simplest Sewn Fabric Bag (Tutorial)

I needed to make 15 simple cute bags for Girl's Camp in a few weeks (for 12-18 yr. old girls). So I used a little bag from Anthropologie as my pattern (even their baggies are cute!). You can make these any size you want, and they are about as fast and easy as it comes.
(Since mine are basically going to be disposable, I didn't bother ironing).

I started with a scrap of fabric that was 8x10 inches.

Next, just barely fold in the top edges on both sides, about and inch and a half or two inches.

And sew that.

Like so.

Now you are going to roll over a seam, so fold it down once along the top, then fold again and pin it down.

And sew along the bottom of that fold, leaving a big enough gap for a safety pin to pass through.

Fold the whole thing in half (vertically), right sides together, and pin.

Starting at the seam stitch you just sewed, sew along the outside edge and bottom.

 

Flip inside out (or actually outside out)...

 Tie a piece of twine, embroidery floss, ribbon, or whatever around the end of a safety pin and feed it through the gap in the top of the bag and out the other side.

Tie a knot in the end and voila!

Fill your cute bag with whatever you see fit! Pretzels, candy, manicure kit, sunglasses, money, etc. But if you fill it with money, send it to me, okay? Thanks.

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Nursery Designer

I'm in love. I've just discovered the Nursery Designer website by Carousel Designs, and it's amazing and so fun to play with.

They have tons of fabrics to chose from, and you just drag and drop them onto the part of the bedding you want in that fabric. They'll even show you just the matching fabrics if you want. And you can change the wall color (Benjamin Moore paints—real colors!) and trim colors, change the flooring (so it looks like your room), change the crib color, and so forth. And then you can have them make the bedding for you! What a magical place.

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Little Necktie

So I've now made my first of probably many neckties for my future baby boy, using this pattern from The Little Gentleman's Closet. It was super easy and fast, and I can't wait to make more.

I plan to use this Joel Dewberry fabric for the next one, but first I have to use the bulk of it to make baby's crib skirt.

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Fancy Cuffs

Do you watch Modern Family? Cam always has fancy shirts with fancy cuffs. Do you know what I saw on last night's episode? Take a close look at Cam's shirt cuffs.

It's the very same fabric I used to make my high chair cover!

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Baby Hat & Blanket Tutorials

I'm a little scared of sewing knits myself, but these are so cute I might just have to cowboy up and try it. You can find step-by-step  hat tutorial here.

And the step-by-step blanket tutorial here.

She ordered Michael Miller knits (design by Patty Young) from Etsy, which explains the cuteness. I haven't see such cute knits around here locally. Not that I've been looking, but I periodically browse, you know. Pin It

Made It: Tea-Dyed Eyelet Baby Skirt

A few months ago I saw some darling skirts on Zulily's website. {EDIT: Guess who showed up again on Zulily today! This very skirt! The company that makes it is Hazel, and for the next few days you can buy one on sale for $28.99 at Zulily. Or you can make one, for like $7 ish. But you really should check out their other clothes because they are sooooo darling, all of them!}

From the baby blessing dress I just made, I had some leftover eyelet that was the bottom section of the fabric that was unused. But it was white. White white. So I got this little idea in my head to try something I've been hearing about. Tea dyeing. I had a boxful of lemon-ginger tea that I didn't care for, so here was a great opportunity to use it up.
I found some instructions here, and loosely followed them. My tea gave me a satisfactory ivory color.
(Sorry, most of my photos are at night--the only time I can do much is after little {A} goes to bed).


I dyed the eyelet fabric as well as a lining material:

Then into the dryer it went, to help set the color.
Next, I measured the elastic and sewed it together:

Then I measured and cut my fabrics (about double the width of the waist band). Hemmed the bottom of the lining fabric:

And sewed a basting stitch along the top of each of the 2 layers.

Gathered each layer, sewed the side seams.

Finally, pinned the 2 layers upside down and inside out to the elastic band.

And sewed it on, using a zig-zag stitch to allow for stretching of the waistband.

Flip it over, and Ta-da!

I tried to get Ava to model it for me, but had little cooperation. It's still a tad big on her anyway.

Now you try one and send me a photo! Pin It