Shop Updated!

I just listed a few of my stuffed animal friends to my shop. They've been hanging out at my house for a while and I figured they could use a change of scenery. Hopefully they will get to travel sometime soon!

Check out the shop for all of the available designs. Custom orders are always welcome!

Sewing for Baby - Halloween Costumes

Originally I didn't think I really needed a Halloween costume for my little lady. I figured I could put her in the pumpkin outfit from her great Aunt and she would be all set. Then I started seeing cute costumes all over the place (mainly pinterest because that is where I spend all of my free time). Now I think I must have a costume for her. I haven't found exactly what I want for a newborn so I am working on my own creation. While I work here are a few pictures I found for future costume inspiration.

Pinned Here

Pinned Here

I Love Lucy - Pinned Here

Pinned Here

Sewing for Baby - Diaper Bag

I have been doing a lot of sewing for the new little lady who's on her way. First up is kinda for me and kinda for her - the diaper bag! I knew I wanted to make my own bag but I did a lot of searching around online to pull inspiration from bits and pieces of other bags that I liked.

2 Large exterior pockets on the front and back, 2 pockets on the side to hold diapers and other odds and ends. Then there are 4 pockets on the inside for more bits. A set of shoulder straps and a removable across the body strap will hopefully make it easy to use in any situation.

The exterior fabric is Amy Butler from her Soul Blossoms Home Dec collection. It has leather piping and a leather base.

I had a great time figuring out the size and dimensions and getting all the pieces together. Hopefully it will work out well for the baby and me!

Fun ribbon project!

Love these, they look super easy to make. Would be great for hair clips, shoe clips, a broach, really the possibilities are endless. Check out Marthastewart.com for the instructions and a few other ribbon projects.

New product - wristlet!

I have been sewing up a storm in preparation for the holiday show season that is just around the corner. I have applied to 4 shows this year - hopefully I will hear back from them soon so I know just how much sewing I need to do.

Anyway... I have started working on a new design for wristlets. I got a pattern from Etsy for a basic wristlet and tweaked it a bit to be my own. It is convertible so it can go from wristlet to a small purse it you prefer - very versatile!

I made one sample and liked it so I have 22 more on the way! I will post the shows I will be at once I have all the info and hopefully I will put some of these items up on Etsy so someone could actually buy them. Here's a little sneak peek.

How little is too little?

via little white paw

I was helping my sister clean out her sewing room this past weekend and I helped my mom with the same project a few weeks ago (free fabric for me!). Both times we started going through scrap piles. I am a slight hoarder so I have an extremely hard time throwing anything away. I'm not ready for TLC to come film my house or anything but there are a few areas (especially my sewing room) that could use a professional organizer and probably a big dumpster. We got to talking about how hard it is to throw away scraps during or after a sewing project, and she said "how little is too little to save?" I thought this was a very good question because I am guilty, on many occasions, of saving teeny, tiny fabric scraps because what if someday I am working on a project and I need a sliver of green fabric? Yes, these thoughts actually go through my head and no, these projects in need of slivers of fabric never come around.

So how small is too small to keep? My piles and baskets of scraps show me that I obviously think there is no such thing as too small.

Coasting into the weekend - free coaster tutorial!

I have been wanting to start working on a few tutorials for a long time. I just had to get my act together and make the samples, write the instructions, take the photos and write the post - no biggie. So, finally, here is my first tutorial! I would love to hear what you think - good or bad. I hope to do many more so your feedback would be very helpful!

Quilted Coasters:
Instructions and materials listed will create a set of 6 coasters

Materials Needed:
12 - 5" squares (this can all come from one fat quarter or you can mix it up using various scraps or a set of squares from your favorite charm pack)
6 - 5" squares of fleece interfacing (or quilt batting)
Ruler
Cutting board

Rotary Cutter

Thread (coordinating if you want it to blend in or contrasting if you want to add a punch of color, I used contrasting thread to show off the top stitching.)

Sewing Machine

1) If you haven't already, cut your fabric and fleece interfacing into 5" squares

2) Layer two 5" squares on top of each other right sides together
3) Layer one 5" square of fleece on top of one of your fabric squares

4) Sew around the edge of the square with a 1/4" seam allowance, leave a hole at least 1" wide for turning

5) Clip the corners to reduce bulk

6) Turn your fabric right side out and press
7) Tuck in the raw edges of your turning hole and start to top stitch around the outside edge of your coaster catching the hole in your first line
7) Continue top stitching in concentric squares until you reach the center (this can be as precise or messy as you want depending on the look you want from your coasters)
8) Repeat steps 2 - 7 for your additional coasters
9) Wrap these up as a great quick gift or invite your friends over, crack open a bottle of wine and show off your amazing sewing skills!

So there it is, my first tutorial - let me know what you think!

What to do with vintage doilies?

I've had these vintage doilies for a few years, they were given to me and I've kept them in a closet ever since. I finally pulled them out and gave them a little bleach bath to clean them up. There are a few snags here and there but overall they are in great condition. I have a few thoughts on how to use them, perhaps on a laptop sleeve or a bag down the road. We'll see how they hold up and how easy they are to work with. Have you ever worked with something this delicate - any advice would be welcome!

Here are 2 of my favorites -

Tutorial Tuesday!

Another fun tutorial for Tuesday! This one comes to us from a very fun blog Cluck Cluck Sew - full of great tips and fun tutorials. I love these pillows and the possibilities are truly endless since you just need a few scraps of fabric - and honestly who doesn't have boxes of fabric around their studio?

Click Here for the tutorials:

Tutorial Tuesday!

I found a new blog and I'm a huge fan - Ruffles and Stuff. It is not only the home of one or two great tutorials but she has tons of tutorials. And they are all fun and pretty simple and organized by category so they are easy to find and browse. Unfortunately I found out about this blog just a few months ago and she recently decided to stop blogging, but luckily for us she is keeping her archives online for everyone to enjoy!

It was next to impossible to pick just one tutorial to feature today but I landed on her LOFT inspired ruffled tank.

Very nice tank from Ann Taylor LOFT:

And the finished top made by Disney:

So cute! Click Here for the full instructions at Ruffles and Stuff.

New craft books on the way

We all know that I am a bit obsessed with craft books. I love them all, I can't get enough! Here are a few books that will be released later this year that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Amy Butler's Style Stitches I have all of her other books and this one is all handbags! I saw a preview of it at Quilt Market and there are some great patterns in there.

Tina Given's Sew Tina - I love Tina's fabrics and designs so I can't wait to see what fun she has in store for us in her new book.

Here are a few others that I found on Amazon that look great too:

Plus I just got Sew Retro and it is super cute, lots of great retro patterns and awesome photos from the 60's and 70's of sewing patterns and some great hairstyles too.

I also just bought The Homemade Home and One Skein Wonders - both full of some great patterns too.

I told you, I can't get enough. I added 3 books to my collection this month, like I needed any more?

Are there any new books you are looking forward to?

New from Mallory Hill!

Linen Zips!

Sorry for the not so pretty picture, I got excited about these new little guys and just took a quick snap on my iphone because my camera was downstairs and I was being lazy. I had so much fun stitching these fellas together, I tried a couple different versions but these simple zips were my favorite. I am going to be at the summer Bazaar Bizarre in Cleveland on July 3rd (Stop by if you are in town!) so I will be zipping up a bundle of these for the show and then any leftovers will go into my Etsy store for you!

Fabric organization and storage

I have a lot of fabric, having worked in the fabric industry for a little over 3 years now and having my mom constantly feed my obsession (thanks mom!) I seem to have acquired quite a bit and a great variety as well. I keep "my favorites" organized by color and out on open shelves in my room so I can constantly see it:

(notice my awesome vintage Singer Featherweight and my out of control magazine collection - well, about half of my magazine collection I guess)

This helps inspire me for new projects and lets me easily scan my fabric when the urge to sew hits me. I am often an impulsive sewer, when the mood hits me there is no stopping me and it's best if I have everything I need within reach at a moment's notice.

After organizing my fabrics on the shelves in my room I had lots of fabrics left over and I needed to have them organized so I could easily access them. I settled on good old plastic storage bins, you can't go wrong there. I have the rest of my fabric separated into - solids, warms (red, orange, yellow, etc), cools (blue, green, turquoise, etc) and neutrals (black, white, tan).

I even made some pretty labels with Amy Butler scrap book paper too!

Just the other day I needed a few solid colors to finish a project and I was so excited to open up my closet door and see my lovely bin of solids sitting there waiting for me. It made the whole project more enjoyable because I didn't have to dig through my entire stash to find one or two pieces of fabric. A great success!

Roman Shades (hopefully)

I had a request from a friend of mine the other day to make her some roman shades for her nursery. I'm pretty excited because I have never tried them before but I love the look of them and if they are as easy as everyone says they are then I will be on a mission to get roman shades in every window I see. I found a tutorial on HGTV.com and it sounds pretty easy - but sometimes these step by step instructions are a little deceiving. I hope to go buy supplies this week and get working on my new project. The baby's due around Memorial Day so hopefully I can get myself working soon!

Here is a little roman shade inspiration for you (and me) today:

via spacesandiego

via Remodelista

via Apartment Therapy

via decorpad

via decorpad

Tutorial Tuesday!

This week on tutorial Tuesday I bring you to a site that has a huge list of free patterns. One of my favorite fabric designers and more recently one of my favorite designers of just about everything else (bedding, towels, desktop accessories, rugs, the list could go on and on). Amy Butler's website has tons of free patterns for quilts, small sewing projects and paper crafts too. And after a peek at her new button it looks like there are a few new ones on their way too. Here are a few examples of the free patterns you can find but there are many more than I have listed so take a jump over to Amy's site and check them out.

Organizing my craft room - Before & After - My Book Shelf

My next makeover target was my book shelf. I love craft and sewing books, really any type of book that has to do with these subjects is welcome in my book shelves at any time. Before my bookshelf was just that a shelf with all of my books tossed in.

Now it is a beautifully organized library of craft!

I spent the time to organize my books into different categories so I can easily find the book I want when I want it.

The top shelf includes all of my general sewing books:

My book shelf also has my little collection of vintage toy sewing machines!

The next shelf includes all of my bag making books, needle art books (knitting, crochet and embroidery) and all of my general craft books.

The next shelf has all of the jewelry/button crafts, paper crafting and business books.

The next shelf has a small storage unit and a collection of my journals that are just too pretty to use and write in so I just keep them to look at.

The final shelf has all of my sewing patterns (divided in two boxes, one for purses and one for everything else) and the rest of my miscellaneous books - fashion, decorating and a few others.

I have tried to keep a little extra room on the shelf because I am sure there will be more books to add to my shelf soon. Like Martha's new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts that is coming out next month!

To see all of these images and the rest of my before & after studio photos you can visit my Flickr page.