Winter is here, so what happened to Fall?

So this week we have winter in Colorado. Now I have to whip up a ton of winter ready clothing for the kids. Have been sewing hats and gloves for the kiddos and myself, I am hoping to get enough hats made to donate to a local shelter or families in need. Not sure where to start looking for this goal. Anyone have any ideas? I'm open to suggestions! When the wind kicks down, I'll be able to open my storage shed for more fabric, the winter stuff is hiding in there. The kids are getting double layered pants and long sleeve shirts to wear under their t-shirts. Gotha love layers!
For this project I will be using patterns, I got from the Arch for less then $.50. This one is for my long legged daughter.

 Most of the patterns that I have collected are used and from Goodwill or the Arch.

Here is the pattern for my son, it needs a few changes made to it. The waistband needs updating and the pattern its self has been cut of a size 14. He wears an 7 with the length of an 8. I have pretty tall kids for their ages

 Can't wait to get started today!

 

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No sewing or designing makes me very sad.

So life has been very crazy around here! I have not had much time to post or do any sewing, which is so very bad.  I have the general idea of the pleated skirt dress ready and still need to draft the pattern for the skirt. The last two weeks have gone by in a rush of job searches and stressing over student loans which are due here soon. Yikes, the total repayment amount is that of a 3 bedroom apartment in the city. Before the craziness began I was working on the lettering for my sister's baby blanket. They have chosen a long first name with 9 letters. So after printing out the name in different fonts, I have decided to go with white flocked letters against the pink jersey knit. It will look great against the pink fleece, maybe I can get it done tonight.

 Just to refresh your memory, above is the fleece and below is the  pink rib knit.

Here is flocked letters I will be using. And I got them on clearance, YAY!

Now let's see if I can do this without upsetting the two new additions to house. Oh yeah, today my brother drop his dogs off for a couple of weeks why they find a place and move in.

 

First crib sheet is done!

Here is the crib sheet and its finally finished. I love this print, which I found at Wal-Mart for 5.45 a yard. I found the tutorial at http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutoria

l-crib-and-toddler-bed-sheets.html#comment-210010. This site has so much great information for anything sewing. Check out her site and whip one up today. The sheet was really easy to make as along as you cut it the right length. It would have only taken 30 minutes if I had not put it up for the night. Once I put things away they tend to disappear on me.  The next sheet I am making has some really cute animals on it, I just need to wash it first. It takes two yards of your favorite fabric cut to length of your mattress and enough elastic to stretch around your mattress. Dana from Made really did a great job explaining this so I'm going to refer you back to her site. I love this fabric so much she may get a dust ruffle too. I have more baby things to make today, like a monkey flannel blanket. It is plain white with brown monkey outlines which I plan on coloring a pastel pink with Fabric Markers by Marvy Uchida  and Sharpie. I ended up using four colors; bright and pastel pink then a pastel and dark purple. Then I will cut it to receiving blanket size and hopefully there will be enough for wipes, too. Back to work I go!

New designs in the works!

So I'm taking a short vacation from my day job and have come up with new designs. The first one is a tank dress with a box pleated skirt. I have the just the fabric for the skirt, it is a red and black plaid. Now to find the right material for the top and I am thinking a black jersey would be great. I have just enough for a girls size 8/10 top too. Here is my sketch for it.

I think a pattern print would work great with this too. However I'm on a no spend month in June and have to use up some of my stash. My stash has began to overrun my room and I can't really move around in there. So I will have pictures of fabric up soon. Long this line I'm thinking of drop waist dresses with feather fringe at the hem, still working out the design details on this one.

 

Knit shorts ushering in the summer!

Ahh the joys of summer, cleaning out the winter clothes and filling their drawers with t-shirts, tank tops and shorts. Oh wait my daughter has no shorts; time to get out the scrap boxes. This may take a while..........................................................................................................................................................
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........................................................................Still looking...........................................................................................
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....................................................Very scary in the storage shed...............................................................................................................
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OK so I found pink rib knit with cheerleader themed print and plain purple (had to go through six boxes). I'm trying not to buy more fabric this month. I am saving up to buy enough fabric to make a line of clothing to sale at the Just Between Friends consignment in September. I'm hoping it will be a launching place for my line.
Anyway I've gotten off track, back to the shorts and the pictures.

So on this pair I painted with glitter. The squid reminded me of water and summer, so here it is. I really like the glitter paint from Tulip. Found it at Big Lots for $3.00, just wished they had different colors. The squid is a stencil from the Crayola air brush set.  Once it dries I will add a shark on the

other side.

This pair of shorts is made from pink rib knit with a cheerleader theme. This fabric came from Hancock 's originally meant for pull-ups. Had about a half yard left. Wish I had more so I could add it to the Just Between Friends Sale.

 

 

 

Sewing question? Rib Knit Bias tape cut on grain or bias?

Have a sewing question for anyone, I am putting pink rib knit bias tape around the edges of a pink and white polka dot piece of fleece.  My question is do I cut the rib knit on the bias which is not as stretchy or on straight grain which is very stretchy? I know when you make bias tape from woven cotton it is cut on the bias for the stretch, however rib knit is stretchy on the straight grain. So how do I this? I only have one piece of the pink rib knit as it was the leftovers.

Stretched on the straight grain

                                       

Stretched on the bias

 

Joined CRAFTSU!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now selling my designs on the site CRAFTSU.com. Right now I only have one item up but there will be more before the month is out. Also I currently have the zebra print dress selling online at eBay for the next 5 days, then it will be moved to CRAFTSU.



Here is the eBay  address: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280945422678?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 Check it out!!