A feature and a reminder

Just popping in to say how excited I was to get an email from Summer over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff that she would be featuring my Tunic Dress in her Showcase Saturday today! I just love her blog, it really made my day to hear that she was featuring me.

And of course it made all the effort I put into trying to get Haley to pose for pictures worth it. That kid cannot be bought with anything. Chocolate, toys, nothing will make her stand still and smile for pictures. Out of the 25+ pictures I took, most of them were like this:

I guess 2-year-olds can't appreciate the time it takes for us mama's to sew a dress for them ;)

On another note, just a reminder that my Sail Away Dress Sew-Along begins Monday morning! Hope you'll join me.

Have a great weekend!

Sail Away Dress Sew-Along Sneak Peek

Since the Button Down Rehab series ended, I've been hinting around that I have another mystery piece of clothing that I made out of a button down shirt. You're all probably like, "Yeah whatever, she's been talking about this hypothetical piece of clothing for weeks now. Shut up and give us a tutorial already."  Or maybe you're tired of button down shirt projects?

Well either way, I have one more for you my dear bloggy friends!

I've had this dress done since the end of BDR, it just turned out to be a monster of a tutorial because I take a ton of pictures and try to explain things as much as possible, so I decided to share it with you in several parts as an impromptu sew-along beginning Monday morning.

I hope you don't mind.

I've been loving all the nautical-themed stuff out there, so I decided to make this dress with lots of reds and blues, and of course stripes. Can you ever have too many stripes?


Or blueberries for that matter?

And the greatest part is that the fabric came from 2 men's button down shirts I had laying around (thanks hubs!) so besides the buttons and the tiny piece of elastic thread, the dress was basically free.

And boy do I love free things.

If you want to plan ahead and join me for my little sewing soiree, you'll need just a few supplies: 2 button down shirts to cut up, 3 buttons, some scraps of knit fabric for the sash, and 2 inches of 1/4 inch elastic or elastic thread.

That's it!

I'll even show you how to make your own pattern in 3 easy steps! How's that for an attention-grabbing infomercial? Are you intrigued?

I hope you'll join me for the Sail Away Dress Sew-Along next week.

Grab your stuff, I'll see you back here Monday!

Linking up to THESE great sites!

King of the Sandcastle Shirt {a Silhouette project}

After making a shirt for Haley using my Silhouette, I got brave and decided to give the Silhouette a challenge. I chose a more detailed image for an applique to see if it could cut out tiny details on fabric.

Oh yeah, it can.

On a completely unrelated note, are you loving the baby mohawk? People think we shave his head that way, but it just grows that way somehow. I tell people he was just born cool. It's a burden he'll just have to learn to bear as he gets older :)

Using the flocked heat transfer material, which Silhouette so sweetly included in my prize bundle, I ironed on some wording then used my Silhouette to cut out and iron on some fabric for a sandcastle applique.

Here's how you can make one too!

Supplies:

• White flocked heat transfer material
• Fabric for the sandcastle
• Small scrap of fabric for the flag
• Iron
• Silhouette or X-Acto knife and cutting mat
• Sewing machine and thread
• You can download the King of the Sandcastle Silhouette Studio template found HERE

Step 1: Create your wording.

You can download the Silhouette Studio file for the King of the Sandcastle Shirt HERE. If you don't have a Silhouette, no worries! Just google "sandcastle" and you can find plenty of images to print and trace onto fabric to make your sandcastle and wording.

If you want to make everything from scratch, use Silhouette Studio to create your wording. I typed "king of the sandcastle" roughly 5 1/2 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches tall. Next, I inverted the wording so when I ironed it on my shirt it would read correctly.

I positioned a square of my flocked heat transfer material on the sticky cutting mat and sent it through the Silhouette using the pink blade to cut it.

When I peeled away the negative space, this is what my wording looked like. Use tweezers to remove the little pieces inside the lettering.

Step 2: Make your sandcastle

To make the sandcastle, I used the "Echo Park Sandcastle" design from the Silhouette store and sized it to fit my shirt (approximately 4 inches tall by 4 inches wide). I wanted to cut the flag out of a different color of fabric, so I ungrouped everything by right clicking on the castle and choosing "ungroup," then I moved the flag away from the rest of the sandcastle so I could cut it out of different fabric.

Next, iron on some sewable interfacing to the back of the fabric you want to use for your sandcastle. Make sure the interfacing is an inch or so larger than you want your final image to be. For example, my sandcastle was 4"x4", so I Ironed on a 5"x5" piece of interfacing to the back of my fabric. Repeat with the fabric you're using for your flag. Cut out and remove the paper backing.

Step 3: Cut out your sandcastle and flag.

Follow the instructions for cutting out fabric on your Silhouette. Place your fabrics on the sticky carrier sheet with the right sides facing up and the interfacing down on the carrier sheet. Make sure you pay attention to the positioning of your fabrics relative to your design in Silhouette Studio. You want to make sure your fabric is lined up where your design is located in Studio so the Silhouette will cut your fabric in the correct places. I like to double cut my fabric to make sure I have clean edges.

Send your carrier sheet through the Silhouette for cutting.

Remove the negative space around your sandcastle. Use tweezers to remove those little pieces of fabric in the windows.

Step 4: Iron on your images.

Position your sandcastle and flag where you would like them on your shirt.

Follow the instructions on your interfacing to iron on your sandcastle and flag. Mine said to place a damp cloth on top of my image and iron.

Once ironed on, stitch around the perimeter of your sandcastle and flag. Usually, applique is sewed on with a zig-zag stitch, but I chose to use a straight stitch because I wanted the edges to fray a little to give it some personality.

For your wording, position your words with the shiny side up (the letters should be right reading now) on top of your shirt and using a hot iron on the "cotton" setting, place a washcloth on top of your image and iron for the amount of time indicated on the your interfacing instructions. Silhouette flocked transfer material suggests 45-60 seconds.

Tah-dah!

Every man needs to be king of some kind of castle, right?

It's a great little summer shirt, even if you don't have a beach (*sigh*)

Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!

I'm a vegetable murderer

Aren't these lovely squash? The only problem is that they're not squash, they're cucumbers from my garden.

They're HUGE and lacking that certain greenness that cucumbers are supposed to have. At the beginning of spring, I planted 2 cucumber plants, 3 tomato plants, 2 strawberry plants, 5 lettuce plants, and a handful of red onions. Fastforward many, many hot Tennessee days later, and all of the plants except for the tomato and cucumber plants have died. Actually, one strawberry plant is hanging on for dear life and has produced 5 strawberries the size of dimes - does that count?

I had some hope for my lettuce plants, but when we went on vacation to Pittsburgh for a week in June, this is what I came home to:

My heads of lettuce had bolted. I had never heard that term before, but from Googling "my lettuce plant looks like a mutant," I discovered that "bolting" basically means my lettuce plants thought they were going to die so they decided to flower, which makes them grow upward and flower. Unfortunately this means the leaves become bitter and inedible. Which meant I got to add to my compost pile.

I had some hope for my cucumbers, so when they were growing in humongous proportions, I looked past the fact that they were yellow instead of the typical green cucumber-y color. After realizing that they had yet to green up, I picked one and cut it open to see how it tasted.

Yuck-o.

It was bitter and had this gross white inner rind. After visiting my friend Google again, I found out that cucumbers weren't supposed to get this big (oops) and that the yellow color probably meant that they had some crazy plant virus or that the weather was too hot. Sigh.

So now I have a big pile of these cucumbers the size of my calf that taste like a shoe. Anybody want one?

The (not so) Reversible Tunic (Dress)

Have I mentioned how much of a Pinterest junkie I am? Oh, it was that obvious huh? Yeah, well I'm definitely addicted. I have found so much inspiration and so many great projects just by browsing through all of the amazing eye candy every day. When I need inspiration for a project, I just go to Pinterest. It's like scrolling through Google images but with no weird pictures of cats in sweaters and stuff. Ok, there are a few of those too, but it's mostly awesome artsy pictures.

How many of you have seen this awesome Reversible Tunic by Kelly from Sewing in No Man's Land floating around in Pinterestland (and all over the blogosphere for that matter)?

I was practically drooling when I saw this tunic appear on my Pinterest screen, and I was pretty sure I could make one for myself.

Wait...did I just decide to make something for myself? I should have just stopped there. Embellishing an existing piece of clothing I can do, but I decided to go ahead and make myself something from scratch. Can anyone tell me how I got it in my head that I could venture away from children's clothing and actually make myself something? The minute I began the project, it was almost as if everything I knew about sewing completely left my head and I became a madwoman with a needle stabbing wildly at a pile of fabric.

Firstoff, I chose a very busy pattern that, while cute on Haley, looked more like hospital scrubs on me. Next, I made the mistake of not using one of my own shirts as a guide when cutting the fabric - this is something I do EVERY TIME when making clothes for both of the kids. I don't know what I was thinking. I ended up with a mumu/hospital scrub shirt that was wayyyy too narrow at the top. Luckily, since I have a daughter, I was able to alter it to make a cute tunic dress for Haley.

I didn't want to make it reversible like in the tutorial so I only used one fabric. I also made the tunic long enough to hit right above my daughter's knees so it became a dress. Because I decided not to make the dress reversible, I had to make the slit in the front differently. I used THIS method that I used when making the button closure in The Haley Dress.

Rather than making a casing for the elastic, I did things the lazy way and cut a piece of 1/2 inch wide elastic 1 inch smaller than my daughter's waist. Then using a zig-zag stitch, I stitched the elastic around the inside of the dress while stretching the elastic as I sewed.

The tutorial was actually really easy had I actually made it right the first time, and I have tenative plans to try again at making myself a tunic. But maybe I should just stick to what I know. I'm kind of glad things worked out the way they did though, I think the dress looks really adorable on Haley.

See how excited she was to model her new dress for me?

The thing I love about this tunic is that it's flowy and breatheable - which is perfect for wiggly little girls who love to jump and spin like my little ball of energy.

Here's where you can find Kelly's tutorial for the Reversible Tunic. Or in my case the Not-So-Reversible-Tunic-Dress :)

Happy sewing!

Linking up at THESE awesome sites!

Monogrammed Baby Snuggle Squares

**In case you missed it, I posted over at Nature's Heirloom on July 21st.
Here's the project I shared!**

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When my daughter was a few months old, a family member sent her 2 silky lovies as a gift. We gave them to her at naps and bedtime, and 2 years later she won't go to sleep without at least one of her favorite blankies. When my son was born, I knew I wanted him to have a couple of his own too.

These snuggle squares are made of flannel on one side and soft satin material on the other, so they're the perfect little lovies for cuddling and comforting little ones. Best of all, they're super easy to make.

Supplies for 1 Snuggle Square:

• 1/2 yard flannel
• 1/2 yard coordinating satin fabric
• Sewable interfacing
• Scissors
• Disappearing ink marker
• Printer and paper
• Sewing machine and coordinating thread
• Rotary cutter and mat

Step 1: Cut out your fabrics.

1. Wash your fabrics before use to make sure they don't shrink later.

2. Cut out a 19"x19" square from both your flannel and your satin material using your rotary cutter and mat.

Step 2: Make your monogram.

1. From your leftover flannel, cut out a piece of fabric 1 inch larger than you want your letter to be. Iron a slightly smaller piece of sewable interfacing to the back (the wrong side) of the fabric according to the interfacing directions. Remove paper backing.

2. In Microsoft Word, type up and print out your monogram letter, then carefully cut out with scissors. My letter was roughly 3"x3". Place it on the back of your fabric, making sure the letter is facing backwards when you trace.

3. Trace around your letter using a disappearing ink marker.

4. Cut out your letter.

Step 3: Attach your monogram.

1. With your iron on a low setting, iron your monogram onto a corner of your satin fabric on the top (or right side) of the fabric. If you're having a hard time ironing your monogram on, try placing a cloth on top of the fabric and ironing on a higher heat setting.

2. Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch. Stitch around the entire perimeter of your letter, making sure to backstitch some at the beginning and end to secure.

3. This is how your finished monogram should look.


Step 4: Join your two fabrics.

1. With the right sides together, place your satin fabric on top of your flannel and match up the edges.

2. Pin and stitch around the perimeter of your fabric about 1/4 inch from the edge, leaving a space about 4 inches long unsewn for turning. (Make sure you use lots of pins when you pin the fabric because the satin is slippery and you don't want it to slide around as you sew.)

3. Clip your corners close to the stitching (but not too close!) Turn your blanket inside out and press with a hot iron on the flannel side. Make sure you press the edges of your opening inside so it matches up with the rest of your blanket.

4. Top stitch around the perimeter of your blanket 1/4 inch from the edge.

Done!

Let the snuggling begin!

I hope your little ones enjoy their snuggle squares as much as mine do.

Linking up to THESE great parties!

Reasons why my husband should never go on long business trips.

My husband has been on a business trip for the past 5 days. This means that I got a taste of single parenthood for 5 days. And I am not a fan.

For the past 5 days, I had to manage working full time, caring for the needs of 2 small children, and somehow still taking care of myself. Let's just say it's a good thing I froze some meals beforehand because otherwise I would be eating bowls of Cocoa Puffs for dinner every night. Hats off to you single moms and military wives out there, I already thought you were awesome for doing it on your own, but now you're all officially superhumans in my book.

So, how did these past 5 days go?

• On the second night my husband was gone, my daughter ate 1-3 rhinestones. I'm not sure exactly how many she ate. All I know is that there were at least 3 sticky spots left on one of her toys where rhinestones should be.
• My dinner Wednesday night was 1/2 of a roasted acorn squash. Because there's NO way I'm going to attempt to make an actual meal while I have a 2-year-old clinging to my leg repeating, "hold me? hold me? hold me?"
• I finally shaved my legs on Wednesday because they were really beginning to itch.
• My daughter ate a green crayon. Yeah, we're at THAT stage where my kid eats stuff. Note to her future teachers: hide the glue.
• Oh, she also managed to color on the TV screen some before eating said green crayon. (Don't worry honey, I used the screen cleaning spray and told Haley that her college fund could easily be converted into our Medeterranian Cruise Fund if she touched any of the technology again.)
• Tuesday night both Connor and Haley thought it would be fun to alternate who was awake every hour from 1:30am-5:30am. I think I had 6 cups of coffee the next morning.
• One night, I took both kids to the local fabric store to pick up materials for a project. Haley managed to stay pretty well-behaved. Connor on the other hand cried every time a stranger even looked at him. At least we know he won't be accepting candy from strange people anytime soon. On the other hand, this might also be a sign that he'll be living at home until he's 35.

Patrick came home last night, and I have never been so glad to see him. I'm sure my kids probably feel the same.