Fabric Storage Bins

Now that my closets are in order, I can focus on "decorating" them. I've come across several tutorials on sewing fabric storage bins, including the few pictured below, with more styles and tutorials listed on this blog.

JCaroline Creative

Pink Penguin's fabric bin tutorial

I am deciding between some combination of Amy Butler's LOVE fabric and the numerous options from Echino. Any votes?

Amy Butler, LOVE

Echino "perch" in grape

Tie One On!

An apron, that is.

Several of my nieces are into American Girl dolls so I made them each an apron with a matching one for their doll. Inspired by Kit's apron, I used this vintage apron pattern and dug into my stash of fabric (the orange dots and pink lace are Amy Bulter, the pears are from Superbuzzy.com). Thanks to Mumsy who sent me oodles of bias tape and trimmings!

My oldest niece got an apron from this pattern.

Onsie for My Onsie

I thought Elijah needed a special shirt to wear to school to celebrate his first birthday, so I cut a "1" out of fabric from Amy Butler's Lotus line and his name out of brown corduroy and sewed them to a plain onesie. Ta da!

Holiday Sweatshop Item #4: Hooded Towels

I'm told that the super-hero T-shirts I made last year for my niece and nephew were a big hit. So this year I'm going for a variation on a theme: hooded towels that double as boxing robes ...not that I condone child boxing. Xavier (The X-terminator), Cora (The Crusher) and Finn (The Fantastic) all get their first initial sewn onto the back of their towels. Here's hoping bath-time gets a lot more fun.

Thanks to Make and Takes for the idea!

Bed Warmer

Winter is here. Days are darker and Minnesotans are swathed in Smartwool, shearling, and my household's personal favorite: Long unds. I've only recently discovered that winter is a glorious time of year... as long as you have the right clothing. This little bag of warmth is my new winter staple. I honestly have begun using it several times a day, as well as at night.

It's a variation on a rice bag that you heat in the microwave. I found the pattern on Make It Do. This version is cotton on both sides. I didn't heed the warning about only using 100% cotton, and my first version had a faux shearling-type underside. But upon warming the underside would sweat. I realized the cotton transferred the heat better anyway, so I ditched the shearling in the second version. I chose buckwheat for the inside. When heated it has a very faint grain smell, which I actually find sort of comforting.

Guest Post: Super-Hero Capes

My friend Rachel has been pondering what sort of gift to make for her good friends' 4-year-old twins, Bruno and Natasha. She settled on super-hero capes, but it doesn't stop there.

Blue and pink capes sewed from satin with iron-on letters, inspired by Superfly Kidz.

Rachel is a food writer. She recently reviewed a quirky local pizza joint whose delivery dudes dress up as super-heroes and drive electric buggies to deliver their pies. Rachel developed her own super-hero persona (Pink Thunder), complete with a pink spandex body suit and bulbous white helmet, and rode along for a night of deliveries for her article.

Her plan is to send the capes to Bruno and Natasha along with a picture of her Pink Thunder alter-ego. Bruno and Natasha may still be young enough to indulge in the fantasy that "Pink Thunder" has selected them as her young apprentices... or at the very least they'll romp around and delight in their new play capes.

Black Friday Capelet

It's the day after Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday," and the Salvation Army is having a sale just like every other retailer in the country. I found a salmon-colored sweater marked from $1.99 down to $0.99 - perfect for testing out the tutorial for this capelet wrap from My Mama Made It.

Then I decided to try the tutorial for a layered flower pin.

And it all fits together rather nicely.

Sewing Machine Cover

I've been meaning to make a cover for my sewing machine for the longest time, and it finally happened. Now that I've tackled piping on this, I might need to try the weekender bag. Maybe.

I made up the pattern, which is why it's more the shape of the sewing machine than it's own neat shape.

Pears 'n Hearts Apron

I made this apron several months ago, and needless to say it fits better on someone who's not 39 weeks pregnant! I used option D from this Butterick pattern and added the pocket from Skirt a la carte, a book of patterns with fabulous skirt designs if you can read Japanese (or have the patience to interpret the diagrams). The fabric is a light-weight Japanese canvas from Superbuzzy that we bought on sale last year.

Baby Swing - Before and After

I updated our hand-me-down Fisher Price "ocean wonders aquarium" baby swing using fabric I bought ages ago from Superbuzzy and Amy Bulter's cherry full moon polka dot from her Lotus line. Although relatively simple, creating a pattern from the existing seat cover nearly contorted my 9-month-pregnant brain into a pretzel. The fish on the mobile don't really go with the fabric, I don't think the baby will notice.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Baby Monster Onesie

I bought a book called Sukie Iron-Ons, which looked cool, but my first iron-on attempt failed to yield a satisfactory result. Instead of wasting the bad onesie, I gave it some felt baby monsters instead.

Whale Onesie

Pattern inspired from the Japanese embroidery book (book purchase inspired by Sharon). I've finally added a onesie tag because, well, we keep making them. As Elana says, "When friends reproduce, I produce. Baby onesies."

Checkbook cover

I experimented with oilcloth for a checkbook cover and it did not sew well. This version was made with the leftover yoga mat bag fabric.

SuperKids

This weekend I hit the No Coast Craft-o-Rama (sadly, Sharon wasn't with me). One vendor was selling personalized kids' superhero t-shirts. Instead of buying one for $30, I copied them with cheap t-shirts and felt. My niece Cora is 1 & a half and my nephew Xavier is 3. Soon they will be Super Cora and Super Xavier.

Xavier and Cora will soon have a new baby brother or sister, as well as a new baby cousin. The babies-to-be will get onesies for Christmas.

Yoga Mat Bag

I decided this would be the winter of yoga - I've been hitting the classes pretty hard and just got my own mat (yes, extra long). I didn't have a pattern for a yoga mat bag, but I just sewed a tube, attached a circular bottom and folded over the top for a drawstring.

My extra-long mat is heavy and I didn't want the strap to rip the fabric - this was the trickiest thing to figure out. I attached the strap close to the ends of the mat so it would pull on the ends of the bag instead of loose fabric. I also reinforced it with pieces of the strap on the inside of the bag. On the top strap I tried this technique to avoid pulling on the fabric around the strap. We'll see how it holds up.

I also wanted to be able to bike with the bag, so the strap is a bit longer for an over-the-shoulder. I'm kind of pleased because the bag is super comfy.

The fabric appealed to me as kind of vintage-modern. It's Anna Maria Horner. She has lots of lovely stuff, and a fun blog.

Felt Slippers

November's Martha Stewart had this pattern for felted slippers. 

The sizing template was way off. My first attempt at a size 8 was about a size 6.

They were meant as a birthday present for Elizabeth. The tiny pink ones went to her roommate Milonga so Elizabeth could have an appropriately-sized blue pair.

Another Onesie

People keep having kids and I keep embroidering onesies. This one is for a little guy named Zach. Thanks to Elana for the inspiration (I think she has this pattern too!)

Nighty Night

Here is Athena's first sewing project - a fabulous butterfly pillowcase with ruffle trim. Nice, job, Athena! We can't wait to see your next project!

Baby Sling

I made this sling for my friend Annie and her new baby Sophia. The reversible pattern by Jan Andrea was easy to follow for a beginner like me. Annie preferred cotton, but fleece would be snuggly too. Sophia didn't take to it right away...


...but Annie's cat Lenny did.

Treeling

Therese Laskey's "Softies" is packed with zany sweetness. I got it from my mom for Christmas and am now taking advantage of my vacation time to render a few of these very simple patterns. This treeling will be a belated Hanukkah present for my friend Jessica, who adores all woodland plushies.