striped divided basket

September 18, 2013September 17, 201317 Comments

one trick pony over here. someone’s got a baby comin’? time to make another divided basket!

this one was for my sister-in-law’s baby, her fourth boy! a family friend was so thoughtful as to throw a baby shower for her, which i love – fourth babies need new special stuff of their own too, ya know?

i sewed this basket up before the shower, which was held when my SIL was around 36.5 weeks pregnant. just four days later, little W made his grand appearance!

mmmmm baby toes.

anyway…i got the 2am call to come stay with the sleeping older three boys while husband and laboring wife headed to the hospital, a dream come true for me – i love the excitement of labor, even if i’m just back at the house trying to sleep but having too much fun getting 4am text messages. 🙂

i made this basket to coordinate with little W’s nursery, which has a slightly nautical feel – it’s blue and white with red accents and some natural wood too. i chose striped ikea canvas with a robert kaufman red canvas binding on the outer pocket, and natural linen handles. the inside is denyse schmidt for joann.

here are a few shots of little W’s nursery. i think my SIL decorated it so nicely – it’s a really peaceful room to be in and gets beautiful light, too!

you’d relax there if you were a little one, wouldn’t ya? i like the idea of the daybed in the nursery for those inevitable rough nights.

have you made a divided basket yet? if not, you should! such an enjoyable sew, so fast, and so fun to personalize, stuff with goodies, and give as a gift. i’ve now made three to give away (the other two are here and here), and i love making them every time.

oh and nope – still haven’t made one to keep yet!

divided basket for a baby boy

May 9, 2013May 9, 201316 Comments

it’s official, the Noodlehead divided basket pattern is my new go-to baby gift. i made it once for a baby girl (who is set to arrive any day now), and this one for a baby boy!

(bongo not included)

it’s for our out-of-town friends Lee & Erin, who welcomed their second little guy in March. he’s a super sweet and adorable little redheaded fella; we got to go meet him the other weekend. he inherited his big brother’s nursery, with gray walls and a bit of a whale/nautical theme, so i played off that and added some brighter colors in there too for his basket.

the moons are heather ross, used most notably here, the binding is kona olive, the blue/gray faux bois faric is from camp modern by jay-cyn designs for birch fabrics (available here, though i got mine at bolt) and the lining fabric is also by jay-cyn designs, from storybook II (available here, though mine was sent to me by Jess).

if you go check out the divided basket pattern, you’ll see a very similar pieced front pocket. because i’m a big ol’ copycat.

anyway, once again, i LOVED sewing this basket. it’s a super fun project – it feels like you’re doing a bunch of different techniques and the finishes are all clean and logical, not stressful, so it’s just a joy. pretty quick, too. only problem was i ran out of interfacing, so i spray-basted some ikea canvas to the back outer panel for structure – it worked! (thanks for the idea, Jess)

i still haven’t made one of these to keep yet. i keep making them, loving them, and giving them away!

but the babies need them.

so this is a tiny peek at O’s room – Erin painted this elephant for Em’s nursery before she was born so i figured it was an appropriate backdrop. she put her spin on one we found at a baby decor store.

quick side notes: did you know you can now order heather ross’s older out-of-print designs on spoonflower? and has anyone put in a pre-order for briar rose? i’m kind of drooling all over it – it’s so sweet and summery!

come back for a fun blog-related announcement tomorrow!

fat quarter pot holder mini tutorial

January 25, 2013January 28, 201314 Comments

my sister Laura is getting married this spring! we’re super excited, he’s a great guy. oh and i get to make another flower girl dress! yay! Em and her cousin are co-flower girls actually, so depending on the design complexity, i might be making two or my mom might make the second one. we’ll see. anyway.

she had a bridal shower last weekend, and i was actually on top of the present-buying for the most part. i had thrifted some great big vintage doilies for table decorations a while ago, as well as a mason jar with bubbles in the glass, both of which fit with her decorating scheme. i also got her a Silpat, since Laura loves to bake. and then because something had to be handmade, i made her some pot holders (starting the night before and finishing the morning of the shower).

i subconsciously matched the colors to the Silpat. haha. the main fabric is from Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley line, and i’m not sure what the binding is (if you know, please tell me!). both are from Bolt.

here’s a quick words-only tutorial for these simple pot holders, which are a great way to use fat quarters, practice quilting if you’re scared of quilts, or to whip up as a quick gift if you have a few supplies on hand. super easy, super fast.

fat quarter pot holders

this tutorial makes two hot pads that are quite large, you can scale them down in the “trim to square” step if they’re seeming unwieldy to you:

grab two fat quarters (FQs) – one for the body and one for the binding – some batting, and twill tape
cut four 9.5″ x 9.5″ squares of FQ, and four 10″ x 10″ or so squares of batting (for two pot holders)
make a sandwich – one FQ face down, two layers of batting, one FQ face up (try to line the FQs up on either side as best you can)
mark a diagonal grid starting corner to corner using tailor’s chalk or disappearing marker – mark lines 2″ apart
pin baste between the lines
quilt using a walking foot along the lines
trim to 9″ square (or smaller – i think 8″ square is standard)
cut 2.5″ strips of the second FQ for binding on the grain, enough to go around each pot holder (you’ll probably have to piece two strips together)
baste a loop of twill tape to the wrong side of the pot holder, and bind using your favorite method. i usually hand stitch to finish my quilt bindings but this time i zigzagged them for speed and stability – this tutorial is great if you need it
make another one
DONE

not too bad, eh? i love how puffy the double layer of batting makes them, and the zigzag stitch will keep them secure through washings.

mmmmm pillowy.

and here’s how i wrapped the gift up. i’m a huge fan of the old “make a wedding rehearsal bouquet from shower ribbons and a paper plate” tradition, and really love to wrap shower presents with fun toppers to add some pizzazz to the practice bouquet.

i wrapped the gift with simple brown craft paper, topped with white grosgrain ribbon and a pom pom flower with felt leaves! i hot glued the leaves to the bottom of the flower to make sure it all stayed put, threading the tails of yarn from the pom pom through a small slit i cut into the felt to tie it to the ribbon.

i’m so looking forward to Laura’s springtime wedding!

oh and if you make a pot holder using this mini tutorial, please add it to the flickr group. thanks!

essex linen sidekick tote

January 9, 2013January 8, 201330 Comments

my buddy Jessica made me an awesome pillow for my birthday, and then her birthday was at the end of December so it was only right that i make her something in return! i actually considered asking her husband for her measurements and surprising her with a washi dress, but i figured that was just a taaaaad risky.

so i made her a purse instead.

it’s the Nooodlehead sidekick tote. Anna is the queen of the amazing bag pattern, and i always love how interesting and unique her designs are (my purse creativity is pretty non-existent). i’d been wanting to sew it for a long time now, so this was my proverbial kick in the pants. it’s a really great pattern and the details are perfect! i made the large size, since Jessica’s got a couple munchkins to haul stuff around for.

Gail and Anna have both sewn it in a yarn dyed black essex linen, so i just went with what i knew worked for the outside (it’s from Bolt). plus i know it’s one of Jessica’s favorite fabrics and she’d probably enjoy carrying it around / petting it. we nerd out about fabric a lot in our friendship. doesn’t everyone?

the pocket is bound with the seersucker i’ve used a few times so far, most notably on little red.

and the lining is sort of another bit of silliness – i always say kona olive goes with everything, and so…i used it, mostly to make Jessica snicker. but also, it REALLY DOES go with everything.

the zipper is magenta (a little brighter than reality in this photo) and the interior pocket is an anna maria horner loulouthi print from Jess.

there’s a good amount of interfacing (i used Pellon SF101 as recommended) giving the sidekick a nice structure. i definitely tried harder to keep my stitching neat and crisp too, since this would be the first in-person example of my sewing she’d see and i didn’t want her to think i was a total hack face.

my giant vintage coat collar and i were ready to make off with it / keep it…but i didn’t. i stuffed it with fat quarters and washi tape magnets and other trinkets and shipped it off to Ohio like a good crafty friend should.

HBD, Jessica!

blank slates and teacher gifts

January 7, 2013January 7, 201312 Comments

two things today.

first, i wanted to formally welcome my newest sponsor, Blank Slate Patterns! creator Melissa’s patterns first caught my eye when Sophie sewed this awesome piped chevron version of her basic blazer (major wow factor!). i also sewed her blazer pattern for Fantastic Mr. Fox, and currently have a second one cut out and ready to go (super excited about it, too). i was under a bit of a time crunch to get that film petit out and just blazed through the pattern without thinking much, so this time i’m going more slowly and really enjoying it!

Melissa’s full pattern lineup includes great boy basics like trousers, collared shirts, and t-shirts as well as beautiful dresses for the little gals with great classic style. her designs are clean “staple” type patterns, so they lend themselves nicely to customization through fabric selection and your own extra special details. she even has a couple of bag patterns for grown ups! check it all out at Blank Slate Patterns!

item number two is teacher gifts that i never posted about (see what i did there? blank slate? chalkboard? teacher gifts? anyway…). Em has a really great teacher and a wonderfully musical teacher’s assistant – she loves school and is learning TONS from these two ladies, which is so fun to see. i made gifts for both, of course!

for her main teacher, a “notebook paper tote.”

inspired by buzzmills, i thought it was pretty clever to make a bag for a teacher look like a lined piece of paper. i used the triple stitch function on my machine to add a red line up the side of some blue and white seersucker. the handle is blue chambray. i just made up the pattern as i went.

the bottom is boxed, there’s a pocket on the inside, and it’s lined with…cursive print!! i bought it off Anna in a stash-reduction sale and i think it was PERFECT for a teacher. it probably borders on TOO on the nose, but i think it stays on the side of playful rather than groan-worthy…hopefully.

i also threw in a coffee cozy. it’s reversible and i’m thinking about a tutorial, if anyone’s interested.

for the aide, i finally got off my duff and made one of Anna’s open wide pouches which i’d wanted to make forever, in a joel dewberry print with seersucker lining and magenta zipper. super fun tutorial, though i only had short zippers and had to make this one pretty small which made the boxed bottom trickier to maneuver.