Baby Quilt!

The quilts I have made before consist of two sheets put together with batting in between and then tied together.  So this was a new adventure for me!  I keep wanting to sew clothing, but it seems a little daunting.  A quilt was a little safer.

I was shopping around trying to find fabric, and after a couple of hours I finally found what I wanted to use!  A cute zoo print, with a golden yellow, turquoise and white polka dot, with a multi-colored striped backing.

I have been searching and searching, finding cute quilt tutorials, and right as soon as I thought I had one, I found the right one!  A cute, simple pattern.  So here we go!

Supplies:

Warm & White Cotton Batting 34"x45"
1.5 yards backing fabric
1 yard Main fabric (zoo animals)
1/4 yard second fabric (golden yellow)
1/4 yard third fabric (turquoise with white polka dots)
cutting mat
rotary cutter
clear cutting ruler
scissors
curved safety pins
thread (I used dark brown Gutermann)

1.  Figure out the size that you want!  After washing (don't forget to pre-wash all fabric and batting!), my batting ended up being 34"x47" (I don't know why it was larger, maybe it got stretched while drying), so I wanted my quilt to be the same size.  I wanted the yellow to be 6" wide (cut 6.5" allowing for seam allowance), turquoise to be 5" (5.5" with seam allowance), and 24" for zoo animals (24.5").

2.  Cut your pieces!  I have trouble making a nice square of fabric, so I found some help about how to true up a piece of fabric and to cut nice strips.  Check out the video that I found!  I cut 2 pieces of yellow that were 6.5" wide and not cutting a length.  2 pieces of turquoise that were 5.5", and one piece of zoo print that was 24.5"

3.  Sew your pieces together!  I started from the middle out.  Pinning right sides together of the zoo print with the turquoise, using 1/4" seam allowance.  Once those were done, I pinned the right sides of turquoise and yellow together and sewed the same.

4.  I then laid my finished top down with the batting on top and cut the top to size.  I also ended up having a couple of inches of batting hanging over the top so I trimmed that also.

5.  Cut backing to size!  I trued up my fabric and cut the ends to be true.  Then I laid the backing down with the batting on top, 2" away from 2 sides and cut the other sides.  I left 2" hanging over on each side so they could be folded over for the binding.  So my backing size was about 38"x51" (I didn't measure it...)

6.  Lay the top and pin it with curved quilting safety pins.  For the binding, I used a variety of different sites to help me.  I used this for the basic of what I wanted to do (a fold over binding), then this to help with the mitered edges.  This was a great website that had a list of a ton of different helps for finishing a quilt!

So!  I folded each side over 1", then folded it over the quilt and pinned.  At the corners, after folding it, I unfolded it, and, 1" away from the corner, I cut the fabric at a 45° angle.  I then folded one edge over to create a triangle, then folded it over on top of the quilt.  I am sure there is a much better way to do this, but being my first quilt, I just went with it!  There wasn't a ton of bulk at the corner, so I figured it would be okay.

7.  Sew around the edge with a 1/8" seam at the inside of the blanket.  Once gone around, go back and sew the mitered corners.

8.  To hold it together, I decided to sew a grid instead of tying it.  I sewed 6" grids. sewing in the seam (stitch in the ditch) of the yellow to turquoise, and turquoise to zoo animal, and then grids on the zoo animals.

 And all done!  I finished this in one day!  I was surprised with myself.  And honestly, I wasted time so I am sure this could have been done way quicker.  Oh well :)

Ruffled Diaper Cover

I'm going a little baby crazy.  I just finished a cute little dress using this tutorial/pattern.  Super simple and super adorable!  It was my first time sewing a dress, and it worked out pretty well :)  My first time using piping too!  Wasn't too hard.  The tutorial uses bias tape at the bottom of the dress.  I skipped that and just hemmed it 1/4".

And, I just HAD to make matching shoes and diaper cover.

 Finished diaper cover front.

For the diaper cover, I used this basic pattern for the cover, and then this tutorial for the ruffles, but with my own twist.  So here we go!

1.  Using the first link, use the pattern to cut out your diaper cover.
2.  Cut out three strips of contrasting fabric that are 3"x21".
3.  With the strips, fold over each long side 1/2" and press.
4.  Hem one side of each strip with a straight stitch.
5.  Using a longer stitch with high tension (on my machine it's 9-tension, 0-width, 4-length), or a ruffle foot, ruffle the other long side of each strip.
6.  Looking at the basic diaper cover tutorial, the waist will be folded over 3/4" to make a casing for the elastic, so I folded over and marked with a pencil.  I then used a ruler to make another line 1/2" down from that line where the first ruffle will go.  Then mark another line 3/4" down from the line you just marked, and then another line 3/4" down from the previous line.  Each of these 3 lines is where you will place the ruffle.

 Lines Marked on Fabric where to place the ruffles.

7.  Spread the ruffle out so it lies more flat but so it is still gathered, and place and pin on the bottom line.  Using a regular stitch and using 1/4" seam, sew ruffle to diaper cover.  Take out the long ruffle stitch.

First ruffle ready to sew!

8.  Place next ruffle on the line above the already sewn ruffle and repeat #7.

Second ruffle ready to sew on.

9.  Do the same with the last ruffle.

All three ruffles!

10.  Trim off the excess ruffles.
11.  Follow the directions from the basic diaper cover!

 Back of finished diaper cover!  Can't wait to see it on her!

And all three pieces!  Bright and cheery and ready for the summer!

Apron Time!

A dear friend of mine had a birthday last week, and since he cooks frequently, I thought it would be a nice gesture to make him an apron!  I looked and looked for different tutorials on how to make an apron and found this one and also this one that I thought would be great helps.  In the end, I used them a bit but ended up doing my own thing.  Really, what I needed the most help with was just figure out how long to make the neck strap and the waist ties.

I was really worried about the pattern.  I wanted to find a free pattern online but didn't really like any of them that I came across.  In the end I took an apron I had at home, folded my fabric in half lengthwise with the apron (also folded in half lengthwise) on top of it, and traced it, giving it an extra inch all the way around for hemming.  I also added a pocket that was 7"x12" (8"x13" to give it a hem).

Doubling over the edges, I sewed a zig-zag stitch all the way around.  Well, first sewing the bottom and arm areas, then the top and sides just so everything was folded over nicely.  The tricky part was figuring out what to do with the backside so the neck strap sewn area wasn't ghastly.  I took a rectangle the same length as the top of the neck area, and 2" wide, folded and pinned the hem, and pinned it to the back of the apron to cover the neck strap sewn part, and sewed it all together.

Cotton twill tape was used for the straps, and fold over and sewn using a zig-zag stitch so they will not come unraveled (hopefully!).

It took me a while to get this project done (probably about 3 hours) just because I am so slow and unaccustomed to sewing a lot and did not want to screw up!  But all in all, I think it turned out well :)  I have yet to hear if he likes it and will use it.  And silly me, I was so excited to get it sent off that I did not take pictures of it...the picture you see is that of the fabric that I used.  Fun and kitchen-y, and I figured it was unisex :)

Along with apron sewing, I have more baby shoes I have made, and a dress and diaper cover that have yet to be put together!  So pictures and post of those soon :)

Scripture Case Tutorial

So, I am cruising around on Pinterest (like I need another time waster...) and I come across a scripture case tutorial, and it reminded me of the tutorial I used for my own scripture case and figured I would share!

So sometime last year, after lots and lots of thought about making a scripture case, I found this tutorial and decided to try it, with some modifications.  I used the concept of using the flaps to hold each side of the scripture case, but decided I didn't want/need handles, but I did need a pencil holder, and I did want it to folder over and button on the front.  I was in a gray and yellow phase at the time.  And I really wanted to use some buttons from my vintage button collection.  Because I have a lot of wonderful buttons.  :)

After a year of use, I have several modifications that I would like to make, such as make the button holes be perpendicular rather than vertical.  Also some size mods.  I have been thinking about remaking it for a while now and have yet to do it, I am sure that will be a future post :)

Baby Ballet Shoe

I am always stumbling across cute tutorials, and finally was able to make these adorable shoes!  I found the tutorial here.  It's a very simple tutorial, with not too much explanation of what is going on, but it does have some pretty good pictures to help along the way.

As you can see with my shoes compared to those on the tutorial, my ruffles aren't too ruffly :(.  First off, I had trouble making my ruffles.  It took a lot of trial and error (meaning a lot of seam ripping) to find the right settings.  I have a basic, cheap Singer sewing machine, model 2932, so for the ruffles I had to use the settings:  tension 9, length 0, width 4.  It finally gave me some pretty good ruffles, but then when I put them on the shoe I had to flatten them out a little to extend all the way to the edge of the shoe to be sewn.  I also did not put the ruffle up to the top of the shoe as the tutorial says, that was a mistake made when I placed the bottom ruffle on, I put it too far down.  So next time, I will attach the ruffle where it needs to be, but I might also make the ruffles "tubes" a little longer so that I ensure I can have some good rufflage going on, and so that they extend all the way to the edge.

One HUGE thing that hung me up when making these, was that the tutorial does not show how to turn the top of the shoe from inside out to right side out to be able to attach the ruffles.  I had a lot of trouble with this.  I finally figured out to snip the curve every so often, that allowed me to turn it right side out better.  Then I pinned it and ironed it flat.

I am glad I was able to get these made!  And figure out how to get over the troubles I was having!  Now I am amped to make another pair!  Maybe this time with some cute cat fabric I found :)