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Showing posts from December, 2008

Partridge in a pear tree

I wanted to make fabric apples for monkey pants' preschool teachers from Heather Bailey's Fresh-Picked Pincushions pattern for Christmas gifts, but I couldn't convince myself to spend almost $13.00 plus shipping on a pattern to make apples and pears. By the time I convinced myself, it was too late to order it. Well, it all turned out because I found this cute, free online bird pattern from Spool . What could be better -free and downloadable. It was such a fun, quick, and easy little project and it was specially sweet because monkey pants was so excited to help make it for her teachers. She picked out the fabric scraps, I cut and sewed the birdies, she stuffed them, and I hand sewed them shut. She was surprisingly good at stuffing them and didn't even abandon the birdies half-way as I might have thought. We simply stuffed them into clear gift baggies and attached a home made card with ribbon. I made the card using this adorable little figure from a free gift tag do

Emmeline Apron 2

Just got done with this one. Another Emmeline Apron for a Christmas gift. I wanted to try something different with my choice of fabrics this time, although not too different since they are still Amy Butler prints. I chose some darker blue fabrics from the Daisy Chain (Aquatic) line that I wouldn't normally be drawn too. But I'm glad I did. I really like the result. This time, I did a few things a bit differently. One thing about the pattern I'm not fond of is the wordy, yet poor instructions on how to place the waist straps onto the sides of the apron at the right angle. I really don't know why the correct angle isn't just printed on the pattern. So to minimize the trial and error approach encouraged in the pattern instructions, [TIP:] I laid out the fabric and the strap as it would appear once constructed and simply marked a line on the strap corresponding to the angle of the apron. Then, I flipped both apron and strap layers over together; lined up the strap wit

Scarves

Pattern: Tuck-in or Bow-Knot Scarf This is a free pattern I found on the web a while ago, but now I can't remember where. I did find another link to it here . Materials: Mission Falls "1824 Wool" (I thought this was worsted weight, but upon checking, it's not) Aran 100% Superwash Merino Wool, Rhubarb 534 The yarn was a little irregular in places and one of the balls had a join in it which bugged me. And it didn't pull out from the center. I was drawn in by the colors. Amount: patterns says it will come out of less than one 50 gram ball but I had to buy a second one to finish with this yarn. Needles: US4 bamboo Cost: $12.00 I made this scarf a couple of times before and decided to make it again using a superwash merino wool because I thought that would be practical for gifting. I picked this super saturated crimson color I couldn't resist. I thought it might really liven up a dull wool coat or a neutral jacket. This pattern is pretty easy to make and supe

Kimberly Bag

Kimberly Bag from Amy Butler pattern - check. Again, used the same fabric as the pattern (different colors). I love this bag in this pattern in pretty much all the colors. I would probably like to keep this one too, but it is a Christmas gift. This bag took me a bit longer, probably three days. I had a bit of a set back when I started cutting because I didn't realize I was out of fusible fleece and had to go back to the dreaded Joann's. I think I need to take psychotropic drugs to deal with the people at the cutting counter. Anyway, this pattern doesn't take up a lot of fabric which is nice, but apparently I didn't realize the fabric I picked from Amy Butler's Nigella line is a home decorating weight fabric that is also 54" and not the usual 45" so I ordered a yard and you really only need 1/2 yard for the exterior. I used a subtle two tone floral from Amy's Midwest Modern line for the lining. I was surprised that the pattern didn't include an i

Frenchy Bag

One Frenchy Bag from Amy Butler pattern done. I know, it's not very original. I used the same fabrics on the pattern, but I really liked it that way. I made this for a Christmas gift, but I have to admit I took it for a test run to see how well I would like it. The pattern design has two large open pockets on either side of the inside of the bag and I wasn't sure how practical that would be. Well, it really isn't very practical. Things get kind of jumbled up in there a lot and it's hard to reach in and find stuff because you don't know if your hand is the the bag or in a pocket. But, I'm still having a hard time parting with it. I guess I could always make it again and try to improve on the inside pocket design. I really liked that I was able to make this bag in one day from start to finish. It doesn't require any heavy duty interfacing or zippers. It was pretty easy.

Village Frock

The Village Frock from Sugar City got completed in time for Thanksgiving. It was such a cute little project. I think this is the first real item of clothing I've made for monkey pants . I wanted to make it out of a lightweight denim, but I didn't have enough. I took a trip to the dreaded Joann's and decided on this creamy wool that was on sale. I thought it might be a nice wintery version. My only gripe with is that I would have liked the sleeves to have been longer so the billowy part was further down the arm. I thought the arms looked longer on the pattern but I don't know what happened there. I decided to make the three year old size and use the four year old length to give it a more fitted silhouette (European cut as the pattern instructions would say). I like the little booklet pattern instructions and the hand written pattern pieces were very charming for a change. The instructions were pretty thorough and I liked that it included good measurements for the differe