As you know, I had restarted faithfully blogging until she was born and then, well, life became all about taking care of that new bundle of joy and readjusting to life as a family of 4. Especially now that my sewing space is 1/4 of what it used to be, I really would like to it be contained and tidy and I’d really like to get out from under some of these projects and be free to work on what I’m inspired by at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, going through my list of projects, there are a lot of really great ones that excite me. But lets get them finished and start to enjoy them instead of allowing them to collect dust in the corner of our room! I’m sure there are more, and definitely fabrics that have no intended project, but as far as a good starting list on my project collection, here goes:

UFO’s – Projects Started But Unfinished

• Red Pendrell Blouse
• Lady Grey Jacket
• Knitted Owl for a friend
• Triple Irish Chain Quilt
• Summer Wind Quilt

Projects Gathered But Not Started

• French Press Felted Slippers
• Boys Cargo-Jeans for my son
• Boys Charlie Brown Shirt
• Monkey Pillow/Quilt from Quilts, Baby! book
• Purple Stripe knit cropped cardi (Simplicity 2560)
• Skinny Anita Jeans
• Lounge Shorts (McCalls 5819)
• Madeline Mini-Bloomers
• First Sight Baby Gifts (Funny Story…Back when I first started blogging and reading all the fun sewing blogs, I won a Michael Miller’s First Sight Baby Kit giveaway with several patterns and the fabric and ribbon to sew them all up! These would make great baby shower gifts!)
• Knit Baby girl outfit (Butterick 5896)
• Maison de Noel Quilt (Fell in love with this years ago, bought the kit at a quilt show, NEED to make it up – so cute!)
• Retro Wedding Dress Quilt (Adorable 50′s wedding dress print as the main fabric)
• A Plus A-Line Skirt from a blue Italian wool I have in the stash.
• X-Block Quilt
• Friendship Star Quilt (Have all these gorgeous batiks for this!!!)
• Blue/White Running Tank (same as this pattern)
• Flared Heather Brown skirt

Slightly ridiculous and overwhelming, isn’t it? And like I said, I’m sure there are more tucked away I couldn’t see on a superficial survey of my stash, but there’s a project for every purpose & I definitely won’t get bored! I’ll transfer this list to my sidebar so we can keep track of what gets done.

I hope whatever you create in 2012 brings you lots of joy and satisfaction! May this year be blessed!!

- Jaime

What you need are four 7″ squares of fabric, two 7″ squares of quilt batting, double fold bias tape and two 5″ strips of Velcro:

You start by making two sandwiches, with one piece of fabric face down, the quilt batting in between, topped with another piece of fabric face up:

Pin layers together and then measure 2 1/4″ in from each side. Mark with a pen, or in my case, pins. (Note: if you use pins, be sure to remove each one just as you sew to it. This means you are essentially eyeballing it with some guidance.)

You may or may not notice that my pin heads are in opposite directions. I sewed the layers together one direction, turned and then sewed the other way. Minky, especially, is so slippery, it helps to go two different directions in an effort to keep the layers even. If you’re not lazy, like me, this would be a good time to use your walking foot and then you wouldn’t have to worry about direction, but alas…

Sew down those lines and then come back to your cutting board to round the corners. I just used my sewing needle packet. You could use a pill bottle, small glass, spool of thread – whatever’s handy.

Note: If you've never used Minky, it sheds terribly - be prepared to find it EVERYWHERE once you finish your project!

Completely open the narrow edge of your bias tape, aligning the raw edge with the edge of your strap covers, and start stitching in the fold all the way around the strap cover:

For some reason, my hot pink bias tape is showing up more red in the photos!

Overlap slightly, sew together or use your favorite method for joining the ends of the bias tape, then turn to the other side and stitch in place:

It might be helpful to pin the bias tape in place before sewing...there I go being lazy again!

Fold the cover on the sewn, vertical lines to see which way you’d prefer the straps velcro together. I chose the side I just finished stitching the bias tape to to be the outside and then chose the edge with my bias tape seam to fold in first so it would be hidden by the other side folding over it. Center and place the velcro strips near the edge so that the corners almost touch the bias tape and stitch in place:

Warning: Don't stitch folded as shown in picture! In this case, I am using my presser foot as a holder and showing you how the hook velcro relates to the loop piece.

And there you have it! Cute, plush, girly car seat strap covers cut & sewn (with pictures taken in between) in about an hour!

Years ago, when I worked at a quilt shop, I became familiar with a pattern from The Creative Thimble called “Professional Tote.”  It’s a wonderful bag that is created, not by using pattern pieces, but using your rotary cutter and mat and has lots of useful features.

I got everything for my bag at fabric.com, first choosing a laminated cotton from designer Amy Butler for the main fabric, then finding a matching pink cotton canvas to use as my contrast. Because this canvas is also used on the bottom of the bag, I ended up layering it with some clear vinyl I had on hand to coordinate with the laminated cotton, but also to help keep it clean. Where you see the contrast on the pockets of the bag, it’s actually lining the entire pocket – cut slightly longer than the laminated piece, sewn right sides together, then folded over to the back and stitched in place from the outside.

If you do not have a Teflon Foot for your sewing machine, this is a must for working with vinyl and laminated cotton!

I have one for each of my machines and they are generally very inexpensive, as feet go. They slide right over those otherwise sticky surfaces and make sewing them a breeze!

I know people who work with lots of leather also use a roller foot, which might also work, but I have never used one before. Have you?

The front of the bag features two pockets – one where the contrast is with a zippered pocket on the front of it.

The back side has a large pocket the width of the bag where you can add velcro or a magnetic closure.

As you can see in all the pictures, there are also two side pockets. The pattern calls for cording or rat tail with cord locks, but I had some elastic on hand and thought that would be a fun variation. You already have the casing there from stitching the lining in place!

The straps are made from webbing and if you can’t find the right color for your bag, there are instructions for covering them with fabric. What I like about the straps is that they go all the way around the bottom of the bag, under the pink contrast, so they will bear whatever weight you pack in the bag.

For the lining, I chose a natural 10 oz canvas because the pattern actually calls for Decor-Bond interfacing to be fuzed to the main fabric to make it more substantial and then recommends using a quilting cotton for the interior. Since my main fabric was laminated, I was unable to fuze any interfacing to it as it cannot be ironed so I needed something to help make the bag more sturdy. On a side note, I had never worked with laminated cotton before and it was thinner than I anticipated. However, with this canvas as the lining, the bag has a perfect feel (though I was glad to have my industrial machine to use. There were places where the canvas was 6 layers thick – the whole project ate up 4 needles!).

The inside of the bag is very practical too, with several pockets. On one side there are two flat open top pockets with a center pleated pocket featuring a velcro flap. There is also a large center zippered pocket. A lot of diaper bags come with some kind of vinyl pocket for soiled clothing, but I think I’ll just stow some plastic grocery bags in that center pocket for such a reason.

The other side has two slim “pen” pockets with a larger center pocket and an optional swivel hook or D-ring for a key fob. I can envision clipping the binky holder to it or your car keys if you plan to use the bag as a dual purpose diaper bag/purse.

And of course, you can see the big zipper in the top that opens all the way for easy access and closes to keep everything in place. Though I had made this bag before and I remember it being great, I’m really thrilled with the prospect of using it for Elise’s diaper bag. I love the fabric and how it turned out…and if for some reason DH takes her out on his own, he can always use one of the olive drab bags!

I interrupt my regularly scheduled posts to let you know about a quilt raffle. The winner will be drawn August 2nd so you’ll need to act fast! The proceeds help a friend pay for her upcoming surgery. So here it is (click the pictures to enlarge):

 Tickets are $5 each or five for $20. Call Diana at (661) 203-6878 or Tanna at (661) 319-6273 to purchase. Again, the drawing will be on August 2nd and the winner will be called.

So, only knit scraps found their way to the trash and I ended up with 2 burp cloths, a large blanket and a receiving blanket!

Now, back who knows how long ago, I just had to have the Riviera Charm Pack from Connecting Threads. Why, I do not know. Pulling it out and looking at it again, I am experiencing a bit of buyers remorse, but in an attempt to make some things for our coming Elise and destash, I decided to make one weekend nap time VERY productive and make a small baby blanket – after all, the pieces were all pre-cut for me!

After laying out 6 rows of 6, I had four squares left over, so I decided to do what the cool kids do and piece them into the backing. Here are the very small (27″ square) results.

They are not the exact colors I would have chosen should I have the chance to pick today, but with hard flooring now in the main part of the house (that is a change since Mr. T was born), it will be something for E to chill on before she gets too mobile. Mr. Johnson says she’ll like it for all the colors…I can only hope he’s right!

I wasn’t sure the color was for me, but as I searched my stash for girl blanket-appropriate fabrics, I realized that it might have just found it’s perfect purpose. There was a lot of it so I cut a generous square, basically taking the width of it and folding it on the diagonal to make a rough square. I took it to my cutting board and squared it up. Then I used one of my kitchen bowls to round the corners.

I then set out to make as much bias tape as I could out of the scrap cotton print. I know there are more efficient ways of making bias tape (drawing lines, offsetting the seams and sewing to make one continuous line of bias, etc) but I just went old school and started cutting strips on a 45 degree angle.

Pretty soon I had a good little stack of 2″ wide bias strips.

I sewed all the strips together, trimmed and pressed the seams all in the same direction. Then I grabbed my handy, dandy bias tape foot for my Husqavarna Viking Machine – no pressing of the bias required! Just insert strip, place fabric edge down the center and sew:

I’d like to say it was that easy, but after going around, there were places I had to go back, take out and restitch. Most of the oops’ had to do with uneven feeding of the bias strips through the foot channels, but after a few fixes, I ended up with this.

After making a rather large blanket, I still had quite a bit of knit left over and plenty of bias. I cut a double layer of the knit (I wanted it to be thick enough to prevent all the baby lovelies from soaking through) modeled after one of my son’s old burp cloths. Instead of using the bias foot, I simply folded the bias tape in half, wrong sides together, and used my walking foot to sew 1/4″ from the edge. After pressing and folding the tape over, I turned the burp cloth over and sewed the cotton strip down. Here’s a look at the one I made next to it’s inspiration:

And the burp cloth by itself:

If you can believe it, there is still plenty of knit to make a few more burp cloths or even 2 small receiving blankets! There’s not as much bias left, however, so I’m thinking if I can get one more receiving blanket from the batch, I’ll feel good enough saying, “adios” to the remaining pink knit forever. It’s taken up room in my stash for far too long and has now certainly come in handy!

With only 4 weeks to go, my focus has switched from maternity wear to after-delivery essentials. So I went online to search for some easy (EASY) nursing tanks and found this lovely option at the I Make Stuff blog.

Is that not adorable?!  Please read Alida’s post to get all the details, but this top can either be purchased in her Etsy store, made for nursing, or simply made to wear for anyone! And while it may look intricate and difficult, the ruffles are actually a fabric (you can purchase here) attached to a RTW tank top!

What I like most about it is the treatment to the tank top underneath.

Again, click the picture to read her whole post with a tutorial

I almost always layer a tank top/camisol under my shirts so I purchased a few at Walmart for a couple bucks each to give this a try. While I’d love to make the ruffled version some day, I think I’ll start with a few basic tanks just to wear under my regular shirts.

What I like about this style of nursing shirt is, when worn underneath another shirt, you can nurse but still have your mid-section covered. And what new mom doesn’t want to keep that area covered?!

So a big thanks to Alida for posting this and please be sure to go give her blog and etsy store some love!

So I found this ceramic milk jug, which is really a set of stackable measuring cups and set out to make some kitchen accessories. Here’s what I came up with…

The Whole Set

Heart Shaped Hot Pads

Oven Mitt

Hand Towels

I hope they (ok, she) will enjoy them!

Now, before leaving this post, I have to mention that one of my biggest projects this year was due to my Grandma’s 70th birthday! My grandma’s family is from Kansas so when I thought of what to get her for her birthday, I went online and found the Kansas Star quilt block and planned to work something up – maybe lap size. Well, my mom also had an idea…a signature quilt. So we combined ideas and sent out squares with the invitations and received 36 of them back! Needless to say, my “lap quilt” idea was greatly expanded!! haha. Here are some pictures of my grandma and I in front of the quilt at her birthday and some close-ups.

Happy Birthday Grams!

Quilted by Lynn Douglass (http://lynndouglass.wordpress.com/)

I chose a New Look pattern, 6001, which isn’t a maternity pattern, but lent itself very easily to what I needed. The only alteration I made was to add 1″ (to make 2″) on the center fold of the skirt, just.in.case. I probably didn’t need it but it didn’t hurt either! I also made a slip for underneath since the knit was very thin. Here are some pics of the dress in action.

(Right to left) My sister, Mom and Me!

Hubby and me

So Congrats to Jason & Eleanor and Jason & Jovina! Thanks for the opportunity to make and sport a new dress!

I have to say that my inspiration for taking on such a project came from many directions. I had been refashioning t-shirts before I was pregnant, making them more girl-friendly, etc. Then I found diymaternity.com and was inspired by all the ways clothing could be altered for maternity. I purchased a dress pattern before I was pregnant, Vogue 8553 and always thought it was very cute:

The largest size my pattern comes in is a 12 and I needed a little bit more room than that for *ahem* things…so I added some room in the bust area. The style of the pattern was conducive to such alterations due to the loose, gathered fit, shaped by the neckline yoke. One thing i did, which I notated on the pattern for next time, is that though it was smart to add room in the bust, I will not need to alter the neckline yoke. I ended up adding a bit to those pattern pieces too just to be safe but it resulted in a slightly wider neckline than I desired. NOT AT ALL a big deal, just something to note for next time.

I cut my pieces as frugally as possible from my 4XL shirt, trying to preserve as much of the bottom of the shirt for belly coverage, put it together and tried it on. Perfect! I cut the bottom from as much of the t-shirt pattern in Burda 7825 as possible and attached it to the top portion. I sewed down that seam about 3/8″ from the stitching line to make a casing, inserted some 1/4″elastic and VOILA! A $5 maternity shirt (the shirts were only $2.50, but I ran out of fabric to finish the neckline yoke and had to go back and buy another).

Since the success of this piece, I have also made a purple tank using the Sorbetto pattern from Colette Patterns as my base. Basically, I cut the pieces from the armpit up, incorporating the center fold and then just left the t-shirt bottom uncut. I also used two $2.50 t-shirts for this pattern, so from the second shirt I cut a band for the bottom, stretched it to fit the blousey top and added some tuxedo ruffles on either side of the center fold. It’s a little sack-like, but very comfortable with only 6 weeks left to go.

It’s been so fun to transform these shirts and gain some maternity wear for $5 a piece! I’ll show you one more maternity dress I made for some weddings this spring and then I can’t wait to show you some nursing tank tutorials I’ve found – you won’t believe how simple and practical they are!