Halloween Costumes 2010

I am so, so happy with how well my costume making went this Halloween. As mentioned in my previous posts, it was my first full on garment so I was worried whether or not I could pull it off. While it wouldn't be able to be sold in stores anytime soon, due to some of my crazy stitching, I am so proud of how my daughter's Pink Cheetah outfit turned out. It was wearable and functional. And it held up for both her preschool party and Halloween night. No wardrobe malfunctions here!

My husband has a tendency to do low commitment Halloween costumes. Meaning he doesn't like anything too overly complicated. The more he gets to wear normal clothes the better. So we came up with the idea for him to be Wolf Man. We both agreed that a typical plastic wolf mask would be lame (and not good for the kiddies.) So we were quite happy when we came across the werewolf hood in Simplicity pattern#: 2513. It was my first time working with fur and yes it does get everywhere! But it was pretty easy to sew. Luckily we were only doing the hood and not the full on pattern including the chest plate. I am quite proud of it.

As for myself, well I had to take a backseat to a homemade costume since I was focusing more on them. But I got the Sherlock Holmes idea from the Simplicity 2513 pattern. I already had a tweed capelette, a fancy hat, and oxford shoes. All I had to do was pickup a smoking pipe and magnifying glass and I was all set ;)

Wedding: Banners

We were working on a budget with our wedding, (as I'm sure most do) and if you look in the right places you can find a world of great freebies and printables. Marthastewart.com of course is a great resource. She has these great letter templates to make banners out of. Just print them out on cardstock and cutout. I found circle punches worked great for a nice clean, symmetrical edges. Above, mine are strung up with the same twine that we used on our invites.

Wedding: Children's Gifts

I wanted to make the children's gifts extra special since my daughter was going to be our flower girl. I tried to think of what I, as a mother, would want her to have. Something that wouldn't just become clutter and be forgotten. I wanted them to have something they could actually use but that was still personal.

Again, I referenced the lovely tutorials from thelongthread.com for these children's capes. They were a bit cumbersome to make since I was making 4 at one time. I felt like a factory worker pumping those capes out in time. It was my first project using an applique so I had to get the hang of the stitching since I just used a zig-zag stitch. The kids loved them, because really...what kid doesn't like being a super hero?

Wedding: Ring Pillow

Back with another wedding project. Sharing today with you the ring pillow I made out of the same fabric I used for the clutches. Gotta keep everything consistant and get my monies worth of course ;) They were real simple, just two squares of fabric stitched and stuffed. Then I finished them with an embroidered 'a' and 'k' as well as our wedding date :)

Wedding: Centerpieces

I liked the whole mason jar trend going on in the wedding world. It fit in with our rustic/vintagey theme and they were pretty inexpensive to buy in bulk. I also used regular canned food cans as well as Starbucks Frapp drinks to supplement the mason jars. A great way to both save money and the environment :) I drink a lot of Sbux drinks so I just saved those and cans that were in good condition and dressed them up with twine, ribbon, and burlap. A very low cost centerpiece with highly attractive appeal.

Above is the final end result at our reception.

Tip: GooGone is a great product that helps get sticky residue off surfaces. I used that to get the Sbux bottles nice and clean.

Wedding: Rustic Invites

Our wedding invitations, probably the biggest hurdle of wedding planning, are finally out the door and we are already getting RSVPs in! Getting those out really makes getting married feel even more legitimate. These are our invites. I sewed each pocketfold; all 100 or so of them. The fiance helped print, assemble, and package them while I diligently sewed away. I like how they turned out and so far I have heard nothing but good things about them. It was funny buying all the fabric for them at the fabric store. The lady at the cutting counter was like, "Wow, what are you gonna make with all this burlap?" And I was like, "Um...pocketfolds for my wedding invites." When she responded, "Burlap? That's so interesting, most people want satin or organza for wedding projects..." Haha. Not us. We like unconventional ;) Enjoy!

Wedding: My DIY philosophy.

I realize especially after completing our Save the Dates that yes, DIYing is very time consuming and can be quite stressful, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I considered scrapping my DIY plans and just picking an invitation suite with Save the Dates included out of a catalog, but then I realized that wouldn't be true to me. I wanted the creative freedom for everything to look uniform with our wedding theme. By doing my own Save the Dates I was able to customize them to our wedding website, all the same font types that are used in our Save the Dates are used throughout our website as well. I was able to use the same paper and colors that I've been using for various other projects (like the one pictured) from my bridesmaid badges. I loaded up on Martha Stewart paper while it was on sale at Michael's. I'm pretty sure I took every piece of green, brown, and teal paper in the Martha Stewart section at my local Michael's. Michael's coupons are key ;)

I love being crafty, I love being creative and creating things. And I believe that if I didn't enjoy being crafty in the first place I probably would've scrapped the idea a long time ago. But the fact of the matter is that DIYing is part of who I am and what I like to do. DIYing your wedding is definitely not for the faint of heart. If you aren't into craft projects in the first place, I wouldn't recommend the DIY route even if it does save you money. It'll save you a lot less stress and headache in the end if DIYing isn't your forte. I am by no means discouraging you all to DIY, but just be warned that you will need to dedicate plenty of time and much of your sanity to the whole process.

Handmade Nation Premiere @ the NARO

FYI! Tomorrow is the premiere for the indie documentary Handmade Nation, being shown right here at our own NARO Cinema in Norfolk. The film describes and follows the diy/craft movement happening across the nation.

Some fellow ladies from the 7 Cities Crafters will also be there before the premiere selling their wares in promotion of the movement itself. Awareness for handmade! Woo!

So go check it out. The Trunk Show is open to the public from 3-5pm and the screening of the film is immediately after @ 5:15 pm. Admission is $6. Hope you all can make it.

Emma Pillsbury

I really love Glee. I have always had a thing for musicals...stage, cinema, television...doesn't matter (I can't wait to see Nine when it comes out), so Glee is right up my alley. Personally, I think its very well written; its smart and funny. Aaand I love the character Emma's wardrobe. Its very classic and vintage, lots of cardigans, pencil skirts, brooches, and pins...all me. I've been wanting/needing to make a sweater clip for myself since I don't like actually buttoning up my cardigans for work but I like them to stay in place. The more I saw Emma's character on Glee wearing them I couldn't resist. So I made this yesterday and I plan to make more :)

Fabric Flowers

Just wanted to share a side project I've been working on. I've been helping some friends make Fabric Flower corsages for her wedding next month. I think they came out quite nicely and I love the fabrics she chose. Who knew satin would look so good next to tweed?

On my wedding news, I cleaned out my local Michael's of their Martha Stewart paper in green and stocked up on some ribbon that were only 50 cents a spool. I am kinda upset though bc the whole reason I went to Michael's today was to use two 40% off coupons I had...and of course I forget to use them both! Bah....oh well I still think I did a good job stocking up on the sale items.

Baby shower handmade gifts

My sister's baby shower was this past Sunday, so I can finally share with you the things I've been making! First off, I made her a nursing coverlette, complete with pacifier clip. Ironcially, she requested a coverlette from me after I had already decided to make one, so I guess I know my sister well. It was a really easy tutorial to follow and it came out great.

I also made a few small things in the same coordinating IKEA Fabler fabric: some baby booties, soft blocks, burp cloth, and bunting to be hung in the nursery. The baby booties were a bit confusing at first and I had to rip out a few seams a couple of times, but in the end I figured it out and I think they are adorable.

For the soft blocks I added little cat toys inside from the Dollar Tree, so they jingle when baby plays with them :)

The burp cloth was simple enough with a pattern I drew myself. I used a terry cloth towel from the Dollar Tree on one side and the Fabler fabric on the other.

The bestie and I did a marathon of favor assembling the night before. We did hand dipped pretzel rods in chocolate and assorted candy toppings. They came out yummy! I hand stamped the favor tags and we packaged them away. I'll post more on the actual shower with pics later on in the week! So come back, oh and come back for that freebie too!

Tutorials Used:
Nursing Coverlette
Pacifier Clip
Baby Booties
Soft Blocks

Grocery Tote

Man have I been a terrible blogger. Almost 2 weeks since my last post. Well this is one of the things that has been occupying my time. I finished a grocery tote for the July stitch-along with the HR Burda Style Sewing Group I'm a part of. I'm not one for patterns. They are quite confusing for me. I usually just wing it or use tutes but I have really been wanting to learn how to read patterns so I can start doing some more exciting things, like clothes. Sewing patterns are just difficult to read by nature, luckily I've been told once you learn, it just gets easier...like riding a bike. I hope so. Either way this is the Grocer Tote from Butterick pattern 5338, Bag C. It came out quite nice. I had extra bias tape left over so I decided to make it into a nice little rosette that I applied to the front of the bag. I think it really adds to it :)

Cucumbersome's DIY Necklaces

I came across this tute for Recycled Fabric Necklaces on one of my fave blogs, Cucumbersome. These necklaces are so fun to make! They seriously only take 5 minutes each to create and they instantly add to a simple outfit. I ran out to my local thrift store and bought 5 Large colorful t-shirts with the right softness and stretch (Britt does a great job at explaining what types of fabric to look for while thrifting) for only 99 cents each. Make sure you use a ruler, it helps to lessen the jagged ends when cutting. And a rotary cutter will make the cutting process much easier, although you could use fabric scissors but it might take a bit more than the 5 mins promised as well as some more sweat to cut through the four layers of fabric. I love them and plan to make more. You can wear them so many different ways. You can't beat updating outfits with $1 necklaces you made yourself...they are addicting, I'm warning you.