Wanted to show you all some "before" pictures of my yard sale finds and hopefully I'll have them redone soon, but usually it takes me a while to finish a product so we'll see.







I bought the desk and lamp for my oldest sons' room. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet but I've already got a coat of Kilz on it so later on today I'm off to find some paint! :)

The cork board is for our bills... ugh! Picked this up for $1 but its pretty ugly looking. I'm thinking about covering it with some scrap book paper. What do ya think?

It's yard sale season!!!!

I got up this morning and since all my kiddos were at the grandparents house I figured it was a perfect day for some yard sale shopping! :) First time this season and I'm pretty happy. I haven't gotten pictures taken yet but I got a desk and chair for my sons' room ($15) and a lamp for $1... :) The lamp is really... well one of a kind. It is aluminum or something. Some kind of light metal. Even the lampshade which is whats really cool about it. I must think of something perfect to do with it!

And after these two great re-do purchases I went to Wally World and bought my first can of Kilz spray paint!

Here I come...
So normally I'm sewing clothing for my little girl or sewing clothes to sell but I have never made anything for myself. Se here's where this idea came from. I love linen pants - the bigger and wider the better! :) So I've noticed alot of jumpsuits out there lately and saw a pattern at JoAnns (which was on sale for .99 so I HAD to buy it! :) I picked out a blue linen print and got to sewing. Got it finished and it didn't fit!!!! And I even made it a size bigger! WTH? I don't know what happened. Anyway, so I decided it wasn't a lost cause and I could add some fabric pieces on to the side to make it bigger....

Off I went to JoAnns to buy an additional yard of the fabric and I put 5 inch wide pieces on the outsides of each leg. Because the fabric is so busy and large prints you can't even tell that the pieces were added!! :)

So here it is.... I am planning on wearing a white cardigan over it but took pictures of just the jumpsuit (and yes notice I haven't done the hem at this point).

So as I was trying it on I thought....If I tried this on in a store I probably wouldn't buy it (it ended up a bit too big) but since I made it and put about $20 into it - I'll definately be wearing it. It'll be perfect for lounging or heading out to the store.

Well, you don't have to wait any longer. I know the suspense is KILLING you! :)


It's a Social Parade!

It's a Social Parade!

Smart and Trendy Moms

This is my first blog hop so hopefully I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Guess we'll find out! So, come on and join the fun! Click on the button above to find some awesome blogs to follow. If you are a new blogger, this is a fantastic way to get your name out there as well as finding others to read. Have a great week!
So since my last post about my laminated cotton experience I have been busy designing and sewing but not much has come out of it! :(  I worked FOREVER on trying out a small wrist purse for someone...just enough to put essential in and carry to the gym.  Yeah, still workin on that but I'll make it into a tutorial too whenever I get it done.

I also decided to actually sew MYSELF some clothes.  Never done that before.  Gotta make some alterations due to "big thigh syndrome".  Anyone else got that one???? 

So in between I got an order for a monogrammed taggies blanket with a matching bib.  Here is the original one that I made a while ago.  Only it was the wrong initial...




First I monogrammed two pieces of fabric.

Then I cut several pieces of that fabric and coordinating fabric in 4 x 4 squares (or whatever size you like).  Now on this one I cut before I thought about it - since I had made one before I just went with it.  Yeah, well I cut the middle pieces too small so you can see that I had to make a "frame" around it.  The original one didn't have that but I didn't want to monogram a whole new piece, so I improvised.  Sew 4 squares across both for the top and bottom of the blanket then sew the 2 pieces on each side of the monogrammed piece.  You will then have three pieces (top row, middle section and bottom row) to sew together.



I got three different kinds of matching ribbon and cut 3 inch pieces - again you could cut them any length you'd like.  Or even all different lengths to make it more unique.  Loop them and match up the raw edges and pin in place.  *Sorry for the blurry picture on this one*


I chose a piece of brown minky dot fabric for the back since it's nice and soft! :)  I laid the front of the blanket  down and cut a square a little bit larger than that.  Put right sides together and stitch all the way around making sure to leave an opening large enough to pull the blanket back through.  Turn it right side and hand stitch the opening closed  - I like to use clear thread so you can't see it.  



For the bib I used all of the coordinating fabric but still wanted the patchwork pattern so that it would match the blanket.  Sew it the same way as the blanket except it will be more of a rectangle than square.



Take a bib that you have and use it as your pattern







And also cut a piece for the back of your bib.  Sew the two pieces together wrong sides together and trim VERY close to your stitches.  Use bias tape around the edges ... and ...  

 You're DONE!  Here is the finished product.  
Now you can make a set.  These are perfect for a baby gift!!


I really hope that I have some more things coming soon.  I am working on a purse that is made with regular fabric (well outdoor) and iron on vinyl... we'll see 
AND
I'm almost done with my wingback recliner that I re-upholstered. (yeah, this one has been a long time coming).

And I have been reading through tons of blogs and getting some GREAT ideas for furniture!  Can't wait to start painting!

And I love it! :)  Yes, it has some slight imperfections and there are some aspects of the design that I will change for next time (if there is a next time) but overall, its a keeper!!!

 So here it is on my beautiful wire woman! :)



 A little closer...



 Top view... see it even has a zipper... 1st zipper I've ever sewn in anything actually!!



 And bottom view



And I can't leave out the inside view.  Love the coordinating fabric for the lining. 


Now this was my FIRST time sewing laminated cotton and if you don't know what that is its like fabric with a layer of vinyl or something over it.  Now you can actually buy this type of vinyl and just lay it over whatever fabric you want to use but that means that its not "fused" to the fabric and when you have your final product you can see the vinyl separate from the fabric... with this you can't.  Good quality! :)  Of course, that's why you pay $20 a yard for the stuff!  Speaking of price let me just break it down for you here...

1.  Laminated cotton - 1 yard - $12.00 (got it on sale)
2.  Regular fabric (for lining) - 1 yard - $5.50 (and actually this was on sale too)
3.  Interfacing.  Every single piece cut both lining and outside requires a piece of interfacing too.  It was about 2 1/2 yards - probably about $4.00
4.  Zipper - $2.00
5.  Thread $2.00
6.  Piece of hard plastic that goes on the bottom piece so the purse will stand up and keep its shape - $2.00

So that brings my total to $27.50  - Just for the materials mind you!  Now lets see it took me about a week to sew this booger but that's because it was a new pattern and I was working with new material so it probably would take me 4 hours to cut and sew and finish this purse.  Now the rule of retail is that you double your cost, so my cost was $27.50 - we are now up to $55.00 just for the material and if I decide to pay myself $10 an hour for my labor thats another $40....$95 suggested retail price for this purse!!!  Is that not insane!  Let's just say I don't double my "cost" just round it up to $30 but still pay myself $10 an hour.  That is still $70.  Now you know why handmade goods cost so much!!!!

Okay off that soapbox....and back to this laminated cotton.  I would love to hear from anyone else that has sewn with this and give me some TIPS!!!  This material is a bitch to work with!!!  It's like it sticks to the presser foot and it won't glide well thorough the machine.  Saw one write up where the person put tape on the presser foot to help it glide but that didn't work at all for me! :(  The only way I could sew most of it was the lining (cotton fabric) side up which means my laminated cotton was on the bottom and what you see is not always a nice straight line, know what I mean???  

Needless to say after a weeks worth of work I said... "I'm never sewing with that laminated cotton again"!!!  But it might be like child birth - time goes by and you forget how bad it really was and you do it again.  Who knows????

Anyway, what do you think?