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Ok the Monday was completely unnecessary… but it started with an M!

Anyway – Mobiles are cool! Let’s face it – since we were kids we’ve wanted to hang stuff from the ceiling, it was just something you HAD to do, and of course the Authority Figure probably wouldn’t let you even if you could find something reasonable to hang. Well now you can! Here are some good ones I found:

From Create Loves (with tutorial):

From The Red Thread (with tutorial):

From DottieAngel: (no tutorial on this one…)

 A lovely ribbon mobile from A Fanciful Twist (with tutorial):

And last but not least from Homemade By Jill (with tutorial):

My BIL suggested a Halloween themed mobile using the lamp shade frame like DottieAngel’s above – I have a whole bunch of little 8″ skeletons, some foam skulls and some little skeleton hands… hmmm…

Go make something! And send me pictures!

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I decided to sew one of the Sweet Sue dresses from my vinatge pattern collection, although I couldn’t decide which of the 6 to do so I went and dug around in my fabric stash to see what I could come up with. From my new fabric bins I pulled:

And from the vintage bins I pulled:

Those reds were just callimg to me…

So I decided to make the little red and white Sweet Sue dress with the stripe fabric as the white accents and the red flower print as the main print (stripped in the illustration).

So far I’ve managed to cut out all the pattern pieces (quite an accomplishment for me!) – now I just need to get Hubby to take BabyGirl for a bit so I can get to the sewing machine (the stairs to the studio are a deathtrap and BabyGirl  is not allowed up there).

Not quite sure how to work a heart into this… thinking about getting some heart buttons and putting them in between the skirt scallops… and I just realized that the scalloped fabric was supposed to be the flower pattern and the straight skirt was supposed to be the stripe… I cut it wrong.

Wha-wa. Sigh.

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Better Homes and Gardens issue of Halloween Tricks & Treats has got a pattern for a tiny little Top Hat – also known as a Fascinator.

The magazine is $5.99 US and has lots of other nifty Halloween ideas in it but I bought it for the Fascinator pattern – and the wicked spread they did with full size skeletons posed in your yard (I got a kick out of that). The pattern is available on Better Homes and Gardens’ website – just click one of the hat graphics and it will take you to it. The pattern’s name is the Wacky White Rabbit’s Hat.

I’m so gonna make this little guy – more posts will follow on my progress. Its getting to be that time of year, mwa-ha-ha-ha!

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So now the question is… What do I want to make for the National Sewing Month Contest?

Well I have tons of vintage patterns… so whatever I make must be vintage… and its got to be a smaller project since I have like zero sewing skills.

Here are the contenders:

Simplicity 1336 (left) is a clothing pattern for the 25 inch Sweet Sue doll (late 1950′s) – I’m loving the blue ball gown and the yellow nighty. Simplicity 5277 (right) is a size 2 childs jumper – I’d skip the heinous collar.

Simplicity 5165 and Advance 3361 are pretty similar little girl jumpers… I’m in love with that little giraffe on the Simplicity pattern.

Simplicity 1553 is nightgowns – I like the polkadot one in the top right corner – and Butterick 2795 is another girls jumper.

So what do you think?

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It’s National Sewing Month!!! And there’s a contest… with goodies!!!

Just click the picture above to go to NationalSewingMonth.org and get the full contest rules – but the short version is – sew something with a very noticeable heart in it, then take a picture and submit it by September 30th!!!

Sorry about all the exclamation points… I think I’m a little hyper today!!!

Now what shall I am my dubious sewing skills toward. Hmmm….

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As I sit, still waiting for my little girl to make her grand debut into the world (we’re officially 3 days overdue today), I have found myself contemplating my ‘Personal Style’ – or severe lack thereof.  This is something that’s been brewing in the back of my mind off and on for a long time now but after 6 months of living in the same 2 pairs of yoga pants, various shapeless fleece tops and shirts stolen from my indulgent hubby, I seem to be developing some real motivation to actually ‘do something’ to correct this deficiency.

I am, at heart, a jeans and T-shirt girl – always was and always will be but out in the workplace and my forays into craft shows I want to present a more ‘put together’ appearance; I want people to glance up and know immediately that it’s me (in a good way – not in the ‘oh my god, my eyes are bleeding’ way).

So what do I want from my style?

1. Girly. Maybe it’s because I’m having a little girl and I keep looking at all these adorable baby dresses… or maybe it’s a backlash against all my time in jeans and t-shirts… but I want a Girly look – which, to me, means skirts.  I know what you’re thinking – Judy in a skirt? I’ve known people for years who’ve never seen me in a skirt; but that’s what I want.  I’m thinking wrap skirts and A-lines, just below the knee and others brushing the ground.

McCalls M5430

2. Crafty.  Well of course it has to be crafty – this is a crafty blog and I’m a crafty girl! So I’ve been combing Ravelry and have a stockpile of knitting patterns for tops to go with all these skirts I want. Obviously the skirts will have to be handmade as well (because I’m such an awesome sewer! Oh wait – I kinda suck at sewing… hmmmm… maybe I can hit up some folks for some crafty bartering…). I also need to find a good pattern for a kimono top – I love kimono tops!

Lelah Top

Kimono Styled Sweater

3. Quirky.  Well one of the benefits of hand making most of your own clothes is you get to pick the fabric – and there are some absolutely beautiful fabrics out there (namely quilt fabrics) that I want to use in my skirts. Not to mention the veritable rainbow of yarn colors and patterns that you’d never find in a retail clothing shop.

Foliage Charcoal from Ty Pennington Impressions

Passion Lilly Mulberry from Soul Blossoms

Then, too, there are the accessories!

Frankie Fedora

Mini Felted Fascinator Hat

I want to make… wait for it… (and here is where the plan may come tumbling down into absurdity) – knee socks with no toes or heels! I’ve seen tons of fabulous sock patterns out on the internet and in magazines but that’s the one project I just can’t commit to – I am MEAN to my socks! And spending all that time on something that I’m going to tear up in a matter of weeks (or a day depending) just makes me kinda nauseous. But then I saw them… manicure socks (which had no toes) and then a few patterns later – Yoga socks! (no heels or toes!) I would wind up treating these like legwarmers or tights instead of just plain old socks! It’s an awful lot of mental gymnastics to get me to make socks but this is the story and I’m sticking to it (and they’re Quirky, Crafy AND Girly dang it!).

Yoga Socks

Color Block Thigh Highs

Marlaina Thigh-High Stockings

Here’s hoping I can get this thing put together!