I just finished my second Oliver and S Lazy Days skirt and I love it! I love this pattern for many reasons starting with that it is free! Then, on top of that it’s super easy and comes out very cute. My 3 year old daughter loves dresses and skirts, so I buy many, and make a few. I really love to make her things, but sometimes its hard to set aside time to get a big sewing project done for her. This is the perfect pattern just for that.
And if you don’t know about Oliver and S, check them out, they make some super sweet patterns- but they are pricier than the run of the mill stuff- scroll thru the blog and see some finished patterns. I have the bubble dress on my sewing table to get to- its been there for a few months, sadly being passed up for some quick projects. I will get to it soon- even if I have to sew with the new baby in her sling!
See the Lazy Days skirts on Flickr.
I finally purchased my first Japanese Craft Book. I had been long hesitant since the copy is in Japanese but after reading countless blogs and reviews that the step-by-step picture instructions were easy to follow, I decided to buy one. I bought the summer ‘08 volume of Cotton Friend with clothing projects for adults and kids sizes. I love to make clothes for my almost 3 year old daughter so I thought it would be great to try out some of these for her. I love the zakka and amigurumi books too but, wanted to try the clothes first, and I also think those might be fun to do with my daughter when she’s older.
What draws me to Japanese craft books and the want to give the projects a try is the cool, funky styling of the clothes and accessories. I often find that conventional US patterns are, well not very stylish. I do end up finding cute patterns here and there (with a lot of effort) or make a pattern tracing and combining clothing items I like, but I wanted to tackle something kind of hip and different. I have to admit I’ve spent hours look at them online, and on flickr, another great place to check out the books and projects. I love flipping thru it and checking out the ideas, including a project that uses and old men’s shirt for the material. I think collecting the books and doing project could become addictive. I haven’t set out on any of the projects yet, but think the first one will be some loose pajama-like pants for my little one. It seems like a good one to start with and I love her to be comfortable and cute, and able to move easily. I do agree the pictures are very straight-forward and easy to understand. The book also comes with a trace pattern sheet, I just haven’t figured out the sizing and measurements with the pattern sheet for the clothes. I will post again with how the project/s turn out. I am hoping if anything, I will become a better sewing problem solver through the language barrier. Have you tried any Japanese crafting books? I would love to hear about your experience or advice.
A few sites to find Japanese craft books:
Traplett at Etsy
A little goodness at Etsy
Simply Contemporary at Etsy
Modern Craft
More on Japanese craft books:
Label-Free
Crafting Japanese
More at flickr
I confess we have acquired quite a bit of stuff in my house. My biggest resistance to getting rid of this stuff, is it ending up in the landfill. We bring good condition clothes and household items to the Salvation Army. But its the other stuff, the miscellaneous tea cups, antique table linens, paintings, inherited from family members who themselves were at a loss of what to do with them. So I took these homeless items in and they fill our closets and scarce storage. As a creative person, I stock papers and fabrics, clips and buttons, paints and pens, and many other things but much of this other stuff is just languishing.
So I am trying to find a home for this stuff, either by way of turning it into something else or finding the person who has been looking all there life for that antique lace tablecloth. So I am taking to web to see what ideas are out there for some of this stuff or who is hoping to find it.
How about tea cup lights? What about the table clothes? A new life for tea towels and doiles? Can two chairs find happiness as a bench?
Other creative ideas to recycle your stuff…
Reuse, recycle, recraft
Make-Stuff!
Recycling Crafts
Trash Crafts
Sites to get rid of your stuff…
FreeCycle matches you with other folks who want your stuff- for free only
Craigslist where you can list your stuff for sale at no cost
Useful Garbage
And there is always Ebay…
This entry was inspired by our impending 4 hour car trip to Maine. We are headed north from Providence to visit with family and attend my cousin’s wedding. I have to disclose that with the trip speeding toward us and general life busyness, I ended up buying* some toys for our trip to entertain my 2.5 year old daughter, but as I hunted around this week for things to buy I found a lot of this stuff can be made at home. So I decided to accumulate projects that might interest our readers if you’ve got the time before you hit the road.
Lacing cards, these are great, some fun simple shapes made from colorful cardboard with holes punched around the edge with a string to “sew” through the holes. See here for how to make them at Feeling Stitchy, CraftPad and HubPages.
An I Spy Game is another great one. It’s one of those games where the child can shake the bag/bottle to find items hiding inside. It can be a lot of fun for them to try to search for something inside and them look for an associated item in the outside environment as you drive, that will stretch the game out a bit.
How to make your own I Spy Game.
Have a budding artist? Drawing and coloring on paper and coloring books can provide lots of old fashion fun, too. A couple of good ways to keep it organized is by making a simple tote with crayon compartments on the outside and the paper and coloring books to go inside the tote. Here are instructions for a crayon tote. Another smaller option is a roll-up crayon pouch. This is good for the car, throw it in your purse or keep at arms reach for sudden creativity. Here are great step by step directions to make your own crayon pouch from Nested.
Become a back seat jewelry designer. OK, that is only if you like wearing pasta jewels. A fun thing to entertain your kids is making some necklaces and bracelets from pasta shapes and yarn. This one couldn’t be easier. All you need is a bag of pasta and some yarn or shoe laces. Fill a zip lock bag with a mix of pasta shapes and sizes with holes suitable to be strung. Voila, they’ll be stringing pasta beads and making you wear it at the next rest area before you know it!
*You can read about the toys that I did buy at my other blog HealthyTot.
Or, head to Etsy to check out their selection of I Spy toys and Crayon Holders.
Every time Amy Butler releases a new fabric, I start to drool. And if you’re a fabric aficionado your already aware that she’s released August Fields, her newest line of sateen home decorator fabrics. So I have taken to my favorite sites fabric.com and QuiltHome.com to check it out.
I have to say I am not as wowed as I have been over the likes of Nigella, Lotus and Midwest Modern, but there are still a few I like. The palette is a mix of earthy brown, red and orange tones and various shades of sea blues and greens. The patterns themselves are a mix, some follow the subtle charm and modern elegance we are used to and others breakaway from that and I found a bit busy and overdone.
There are some I just don’t like much like this and other ones I quite like, like this. Even though my feelings are mixed on this newest line, I am still ever impressed with Amy Butler’s talent and will continue to buy her fabrics and look forward to her later creations.
One of the things I love about a new fabric release, is seeing the fabric turn into new projects. People get excited and start sewing, it’s always fun to see how they’ve used it. Have you made something with this newest line? Post a comment with your creation!
A month or so ago I made my daughter a cute A-line dress. I had really wanted to make her a dress with the super cute Joel Dewberry Pink Sparrows fabric. There is something so sweet about it, the little brown birds perched on the flowering branches set on the light pink background.
So I took to the internet to find a simple pattern that was cute and comfortable. I found one by New Look, pattern 6578. It was so easy and a fun project to do. The pattern had sizes 6 mons. - 4 years. With that I decided to make one for my 3 month old niece as well. The 6 month size is a little big but she will likely grow into it sooner than later. I really wasn’t interested in adding the appliques, so I skipped that and let the beautiful fabric show uninterrupted. I also decides to use fabric covered buttons, which look nice and were quite easy to do and again blend right into the dress. I bought mine at Meeting Street Designs, a supplier and barrette designer on Etsy.
I am hoping to do a few more, there is so much delicious fabric out there to choose from. I just bought this beautiful Amy Butler fabric from the Mid-West Modern collection called fuchsia-fresh poppies which I think will make an adorable dress.
If you’ve made this dress or have another toddler dress pattern you love, please tell me about it! I’d love to try it out.
I go on Etsy all the time- and if I ever get my act together, am hoping to do my own store on it too. But I always see the link to the Storque and never have time to check it out. I am usually on Etsy looking for something specific, then something catches my eye and I venture down a new path, clicking from here to there and then I am suddenly interested in a bunch of things I didn’t even know existed!
So I finally took a few minutes to check out the Storque, and its cool. Its basically Etsy news, articles and stories about what’s there, what’s new- what’s happening on the creative hipfront. Aside from creative chat there is advice in the category Indiepreneur, filled with answers to all your questions about pricing, presentation, legal info and more. For many people who have the creative bug - they make something great, people like it and want to buy it- here is Etsy not only the vehicle to make that sale but the place to find out the best ways to do it. There is a great How-To section on an array of fun things to attempt.
One of my favorite articles- Top 10 List, today it was the My Top 10 whales, everything was great and to see the diversity in which whales were appearing on items was fun.
I know you want to go to Etsy and buy some unique, handmade item but do a little reading- it is well worth it. It really lets you know just how incredibly well done and thought out this site is. Go shop, and enjoy!
I admit it, I have an Etsy addiction. As an artist I love to look at other people’s creativity, and Etsy supplies an almost never ending source. Now a stay at home mom, I am always looking for things to make for my daughter- in part to keep being creatively active and the other to save some money. In college I was a fine arts painting major and a graphic designer in my career, but I love to sew, struggle to knit and do all sorts of fun craft projects.
Lately, I have been into making barrettes for my daughter. I bought her some cute ones at a baby boutique, including a Giddy Giddy one. But at $6-9 each, and a toddler who pulls it out as soon as she remembers its in, it was turning out to be an expensive accessory to lose. So I decided to make them. I make felt ones, grosgrain ribbon ones, ones with small appliques- and now fabric covered button barrettes. It has been really fun and a much less expensive to keep up with her need for hair accessories. It has been fun to figure out how to make them and they are pretty quick projects, not to mention the ease in matching something to a specific outfit. I have found lots of good ideas as well as new techniques on Etsy. Rest assured I buy from Etsy- sometimes I just want what they did and the prices are generally way better than the boutiques. I don’t copy existing looks or their creative inventions- but I borrow the idea with my own personal spin.
If you don’t feel like doing the project, no time, no patience, no creativity- hit Etsy.
Looking for some cute barrettes for your babe?
Check out some of my favorites:
Meeting Street Designs
Details (click on the photo to get to the collection)
Chloe’s Cuties
Want to do it yourself?
Covered Button Supplies
Ribbons, clips and appliques at JCaroline
Clippies and appliques at Trimweaver
