Elemental Stitches

Back with Potholders On

You thought I abandoned you for my new blog Shoots & Roots, didn't you?  Well, I have been spending a lot of time over there getting her started, writing about the garden, the granola I have been making every week and the little ones favorite oven fries. 

But all my crazy Californian urban homesteading fun doesn't quite fit in on Shoots & Roots.  That is what Elemental Stitches is for. 

You want to see what I have been doing lately?

Well, a couple weeks ago I almost burned my hand with a worn potholder and decided to pull out my dusty sewing machine and make some new ones.  I have been thinking a lot about Amanda's new baby, remembering when I first found her blog in 2004.  We were both pregnant at the time.  Amanda with Adelaide and me with Brae.  Reading about how she was raising her kids helped me form my own ideas about what I wanted my family to be like.  I am still drawn to her blog.  Several mornings a week I sit down to read about how they are chasing after their own little American dream.  Her posts always seem to inspire me to reach higher for my own dreams. 

All this thought about Amanda drew me back to her book, Handmade Home.  The projects are so simple and easy to make.  Millie's Hot Pad was just what I needed.

After two episodes of Bones I had cute new potholders.

In other news, we will have some new friends joining our family this week.  I will share more about them soon!

Carefree Clothers for Girls - Conclusion

At last, the sew a long has come to an end.  I have learned so much doing this sew a long.  I have made new friends, expanded my sewing knowledge, and created lasting heirlooms for my daughter.  It was fun and frustrating, but altogether an enjoyable learning experience. 

The best part of the whole project was "meeting" all of you who participated.  Thank you so much for joining in.  If it wasn't for you all I never would have stuck with this and I am so glad I did.

1. pink dress, 2. Carefree Coat , 3. 42::365, 4. hat, 5. Linen Capri Pocket Detail, 6. IMG_8414 Carefree Apron Back, 7. Quilted Bodice Dress, 8. lace trim detail, 9. IMG_8520 White Cotton Sundress, back - Carefree Clothes for Girls Sewalong Created with fd's Flickr Toys

There was only one person who finished this last project, Sarah, who finished not just one pair of pants but three!  I bow to your amazingness Sarah! 

Now back to our regular postings of knitting, gardening and daily whatnot.  Until then!

Carefree Clothes for Girls - Month 11/12

Spending the last year sewing from this book has improved my sewing confidence tremendously.  I feel like I am better at visualizing a project before I start.  I also now know enough about sewing that I can use my new knowledge and logic to figure out problems, instead of feeling frustrated and lost because I haven't mastered the basics. 

Do you know there are only two projects left?

The Lace Trimmed Coat

And the Pants with Leg Warmers.

The coat has lots of dainty details like lace and buttons.   The pants have knitting which can take some time if you are not a fast knitter.  

So this month you can pick either of the two patterns or both. 

Its up to you. 

In case you are curious I plan on doing the pants.  I've never sewn knitted fabric to woven fabric before.  Have fun and remember to include your link on this post when you are done!

How to Make Felt Broccoli

Shhhhh!  Don't tell anyone!  I have been gardening and cooking in secret, late at night, when the child is snuggled into bed.  So far I haven't gotten caught and I am getting a lot of food stored up.  Here is what I have so far.

One night I was trying to figure out how to make broccoli.  My searches on the internet turned up nothing so I sat down with some green felt and began to play.  I was floored when I figured it out.  SOOOOO EASY!!!  Seriously, you can make a broccoli floret in 5 minutes and here is how.

Supplies

• small amount of green felt
• scissors
• needle and green embroidery thread

1.  Cut a rectangle out of green felt.  Mine was about 6x9 inches.  It doesn't have to be exact.

2.  Fold in half lengthwise.

3.  Make small cuts (about halfway) all the way down the folded side.  You can see all the cuts in the below picture.  My cuts are about 1/2 inch wide, but again size is not important.  Just do what looks good to you.

4.  Start to roll tightly from one side all the way until the whole thing is rolled up.

5.  The end will have a little bit of fabric sticking out so tuck that under the top piece of felt.  (below photo)

6.  Fold over so its covered.

7.  Sew up the seam with green embroidery thread.

8.  Now make 3 more and enjoy with butter!

Christmas Make and Do

Am I really thinking about the holidays?  Have we really lived in this house 8 months?  Time flies by so quickly, it seems like we have lived here only a few months.  This is the first year where Tom and I will not be spending the holidays visiting relatives and I find myself cuddled up on the couch in the living room imagining where our tree will go and where should we put the stockings since we don't have a fireplace.  I know everything is going to be perfect because we are here together in our own place.  Last year Tom spent the holidays in San Jose working while I was in Southern California with my daughter, Mom and siblings.  It was very hard to spend that much time apart, especially during a holiday, which is why I am so excited about this holiday season. 

I've been writing down a list of things I want to make for my little one this year.  Like most kids in America, she has far too many plastic dolls and toys taking up space in her closet.  As a matter of fact I plan on getting rid of a lot of that stuff she never plays with (we already started with a mountain of naked hand me down barbies) and replacing them with more of what she really loves.  Dress up clothes, books, play kitchen toys, art supplies, and doll clothes. 

Toy Craft List

-Felt Food - I already started on this.  I have 3 carrots, a bulb of garlic, some bow tie pasta, and a zucchini finished.  Plans for more veggies, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly, sushi rolls, tea cakes, cookies, and much more are already in the works.  I have found some great tutorials from

• Chasing Marcus
• Helping Little Hands - Look at the left sidebar for a huge list of felt food tutorials
• Felt-o-rama - Again the list is in the left sidebar
• Lit'l Brown Bird's Passion

-Dress Up Clothes - The princess dress I made a couple months ago for our sew a long has been a huge hit.  Its amazing its still here too.  I forgot to tell you about how it got completely covered in my little ones blood when she fell and cut her head.  By some miracle we got all the blood out and my daughter is fine.  I was hanging up all her play dresses the other day when I thought about turning the project for this month into another princess dress.  I think there is a lot I could do with it, so that is tentatively the plan.  I would also like to squeeze in a crown somewhere.

- Legwarmers, hat, mittens & maybe a cowl - Okay, so this is probably to make me happy rather then her.  I figure she loves when I make her things and if I make them pink she will be happy.

- Socks - Believe it or not, she has requested hand knit socks.  I can't say no to that.

- Doll Clothes - I am not sure what to do here.  She has specifically requested barbie doll clothes but I honestly have enough to knit this year.  Maybe I can fit a few in late at night.  Here are lots more clothes too!

- Doll Crib & Dress Up Closet from Ana White - Remember the coffee table I built with my friend Tina?  I am pretty confident that if I could build that table then I can build this adorable Doll Crib and a Dress Up Storage Closet.  Ana is posting new toy ideas to build for the next month! I am sure there will be more things added to this list. 

That's all for my kid craft list.  Isnt it enough?  I also have a whole list of holiday decor I want to make as well.  I got out our puny holiday decor box and realized that all we have left from our two moves last year are ornaments.   That just wont do!  I will be posting pictures of what I am working on and how I am decorating over the next few weeks.

What's on your holiday craft list and what are your decorating plans?

My Apron and Pants

Here are my Apron and Pants from Carefree Clothes for Girls.  This pattern came together quick!  Did you all think so?  My munchkin seems to like hers although she tells me that she likes her apron better with the opening in the front, like a vest.  Its a good idea.  Backwards it sort of defeats the purpose of an apron, but I see what she is getting at.

The pants were so easy that I want to make a few more pairs.  It took me about 30 minutes to finish one pair.  I bet if they were sewn factory style I could get 3 pairs done in an hour.  I will need a warmer fabric for winter and they would have to be longer.  At this length they are more like capris.  Flannel would be great for pj's and corduroy might work for school pants. 

I hope you aren't too intimidated by the coat project I planned for this month.  I really think it is a lot easier then it looks.  I am a little worried my little one is going to insist on pink again and I really really don't want to look at another bolt of bright pink fabric for a while.  Anything other then pink.  I think I will fight for gray to match the hat I just started knitting for her.  It's a Star Crossed Slouchy Beret in the same gray yarn as my last Star Crossed Beret. 

Now is the perfect time for a new hat.  This past week the morning air has been icy cold and wet.  I am scraping slushy water off my windshield and rubbing the fog off my windows before school every morning.  All our knits from last year are in a bag somewhere crying for a wash.  It might be time to air those puppies out before my ears start to freeze.

Tom and I are celebrating our birthdays on Monday and Tuesday.  Mine is Monday, Tom's is Tuesday.  We don't have much planned.  I think we are going to stay near home, have some yummy food and build some furniture together.  Sounds perfect to me.

Carefree Clothes for Girls - Month 7 - Coat with Scarf

I know that in California we have chilly evenings by the end of October.  So I thought our little ones could use a coat to start off the season. 

I know what you are thinking...  A coat is hard right?  Well not this one.  I have read through this pattern a few times and I think it looks easy.  The skirt we did back in May & June was much more difficult. 

For those of you who haven't learned to knit, now is a great time!  This project has an extremely simple knitted scarf attached to the collar.  Or better yet change it up!  Crochet your scarf, make one out of fleece, buy one to sew on, or leave it off entirely. 

To me, sleeves and linings are the most intimidating pieces of a pattern.  I am very happy that this coat does not have a lining and the raglan sleeves look to be forgiving.  The top part of the sleeve becomes part of the neck so you will have more room while sewing.  The diagram below will give you an idea of how a raglan sleeve looks.  Ignore the red dotted line.  See how the sleeve attaches to the neck instead of a circle in the side?

Above Image from independantliving.org

The last part of the pattern I want to mention are the buttons and eye hooks.  I think my daughter might have trouble getting this jacket off with the hooks.  I will probably go with snaps all the way up and skip the hooks.   I am interested to see what you all come up with!

****Edit****

I forgot to tell you what the prize is for the winner this month!  I think this might be useful!

Happy Sewing!

Halloween Costume Planning

My little fashion designer discovered that it will be Halloween soon and she is very excited about costumes this year.  I asked her what she was going to dress up as and she said she had to think about it.  About five minutes later she runs back into the room. 

"I know what I want to be for Halloween!  A Vampire Princess!!!"

Oh man, she is only five and she is just as obsessed with vampires and Halloween as her Dad. 

"Why don't you draw me your costume so I know what it should look like?"

Here is what I got back.

She tells me that the skirt is red because it is covered in blood.  That is blood dripping off the bottom and there are bats on her tiara and dress.  She also wanted to make sure we could get fangs with blood on them. 

My goodness!  When I was five I dressed up as Rainbow Bright.  Tom tells me that he was a witch for several years in a row and he still dresses up as a warlock to scare the kids who come trick or treating, actually so does my mother.  Still children at heart.  I try to dress up, but usually end up wearing my Renaissance faire wench costume at the last minute.

So I now need to design and sew a vampire princess dress.  Any ideas?

Dress with Quilted Bodice Finished - Carefree Clothes for Girls

It seems like my sewing machine and I have made up.  We haven't seen much of each other since the pillow incident, but she seems to have forgotten all about it.  I frantically sewed up the dress for this month without a single, rip out half my work along with half my hair, mistake.  I don't think that has ever happened. 

So here it is!  Please be warned.  You are about to see lots and lots of pink.  If pink makes you break out in hives and run for the hills perhaps you should go now.

She wore this dress all afternoon.  Says its her "favoritest" princess dress.  She also wants to know when I can make another one.  A purple one...

I made some changes to the fabric instructions.  I used the sparkly fabric as the outer skirt only and used the pink for everything else including the lining.  At less then $2 a yard, how could I go wrong with that?

I left off the sleeves and sewed the skirt with the hem on the inside.  I didn't think that the sparkly fabric would fray well if left on the outside.  I also wasn't sure if it would bother my little one's skin by turning it to the inside.  After wearing it a while she made a point to say it was less itchy then her other dresses.  It was a small gamble that worked out fine.

I embroidered the bodice with a lighter pink embroidery thread.  It was actually nice to break it out.  I haven't embroidered in a long time.  I took Tanya's advice and watched tv until all the sewing was done. 

I decided to hem the bottom of the ruffle and the bottom of the outer skirt.  The top of the ruffle is left unfinished as the pattern instructs. 

The back was a toughy.  My back ended up with a 1/2 inch of extra space.  To fix that I used another piece of fabric for more facing on the other side with the intention of adding buttons and button holes like Adrianna did on hers.  The facing helped but it still wasn't close enough for button holes and I wanted to make it easy to get on and off.  I dug through my drawers and found a packet of hook & eye clasps.  Even better then buttons!

This was a great pattern.  Easy, relatively fast and it didn't use up too much fabric.  It could be altered in a zillion ways too.  I was thinking of adding a sash around the waist but was itching to finish. 

I will be heading to Southern California for Labor Day, so you have until Sept 6th to post your project (or finish & post it if you procrastinate like me).  I will post next months project tomorrow so you can get a head start.

Pillow Fight

Today I tried to sew a pillow cover.  A simple task.  It's just a square after all.  Alas, it was not to be.

It's not like pillow covers are hard.  I have tackled them before.  

I must have misplaced my brain because I sewed the first seam with the wrong side facing the right side.  Dug out the seam ripper and redid that.

Next I sewed the side seams... with the wrong sides facing each other.  Again with the seam ripper.

I am already feeling like an idiot at this point.  I mean come on!  I can't even put the right sides of the fabric together today!

The final straw was when I broke my needle. 

I told my machine, "I hate you" and left.