Secret Santa for teachers

So, I'm trying to do some handmade presents this year. At work we do Secret Santa. Monday - Thursday we give $2 gifts and on Friday we give about a $20 gift. Then we leave for Christmas break, which is really the greatest present of all. :-)

The person I drew had a few things I honed in on. Here is how my days are looking:

Monday: Six pack of Sprite Zero
Tuesday: Hot chocolate mix in a zippered pouch
Wednesday: Lanyard and a Reese's Peanut Butter cup
Thursday: 100 calorie pack rice cake things
Friday: Tote bag and a gift card

We fill out a questionnaire about our favorite things to give our Santa, so everything was chosen from that list, wait did I mention she loves zebra print and her favorite color is pink? Bingo!

I made this pouch from Patty's tutorial again. Super fast.

It has a hot pink inside.

And I measured it to fit this cute hot chocolate packet I found at the store.

I made a lanyard out of a 6 inch strip of the same fabric folded up like a strap and stitched down both sides. I added on a clasp to the end. Teachers always wear these for keys and ID badges. Vera Bradley ones are hot right now, but why pay for someone to manufacture something homemade looking? I saw a cute one with small yo-yos on it...oh, the possibilities.

Here is a close up of the clasp I used from the jewelry department at Joann's.

For Friday's big gift I mad a matching tote and I will put a gift card in it. I didn't use a pattern for this, so if anyone is interested in a tutorial let me know. It's four rectangles and a strap. It took about 20-30 minutes total. Oh, and it is reversible.

I did different colors of thread in my bobbin and needle. That gave me hot pink top stitching on the zebra side and black top stitching on the pink side. 

I made it flat bottomed so when she carries binders or paperwork in it it will stand up a little better.

All stuff a teacher can use right? I would have gone more handmade, but I hardly know this lady. I was scared I would turn into a Secret Santa horror story..."One year my Santa made me an entire week of zebra stuff she made herself. I was so tired of zebra I never wanted to see one again!"

Crimson and Clover

I have been sitting on these Clovers for a week. Literally, I've been living in them. I wore them to work. I wore them to class, and I am happy to report they are fantastic. I do have to admit, I bought this red sateen, Viking Red sateen technically, from Joann's. It was cheap, and the last time I made pants I wound up doing a billion alterations and still don't care for them much. I figured this would be a wearable muslin if anything.

Sorry, they are a bit wrinkly, but like I said I refuse to take them off. They are a bit stretched out too from being worn and not washed yet. And they still look like a pretty good fit!

Here is the amazing part...my butt. Made you look! No really, my awesome teacher Jenny had to teach me how to make an almond shaped butt dart from under my butt cheeks on my last pair of pants. She had no idea anyone could be so bottomless. These pants actually fit my rear quite nicely if I do say so myself. 

Check that out, there is a lump back there where most women keep there butts! I was hoping this would happen. A lot of reviews I read of these pants mentioned there were a lot of sway back adjustments or alterations so the pants would fit in the rear. When I read that I thought to myself, "Ah ha! All those women with the hour glass shape that look cute in everything have nothing on my apple shaped wonder body!" I bought the Clover pattern and just as I hoped, they did indeed fit.

I did make one alteration. Based on the pattern back I cut a 16 in the waist and graded to a 14 in the hips. I also left them a bit longer than the pattern directions stated. I am 5'5, and if you are any taller than me and want regular length pants I recommend you add a couple of inches to the length.

Lets talk guts. I finished the inside facing as well as the hem with black double fold lace that I had in my stash. At this point I had tried the pants on and knew they were keepers, so I wanted to kick it up a notch. I also added my new customized label I got from Jennifer's Jewels on Etsy. It matches my blog!

Here is the hem of my pants. I covered the raw edge in lace and folded it up about half an inch. I was really short on length for a proper hem, but it worked out.

Here is my top stitching around the waist. Isn't the color Christmasy?

Invisible zipper...meh. It could be better, but I had a zipper in there originally that the pull came off of. I wound up having to deconstruct and reconstruct to get a new zipper in. You can't tell when I wear them.

One last look. I love them. I already have some charcoal colored sateen in my room waiting to become a pair of Clovers. Maybe today!

Holly and the big-bottomed, special needs chicken

LOL, I bet that gets Holly's attention!

So I was working on a pot holder Christmas present today that I have been playing with for awhile. Holly and I were inspired at the quilt show by all the cute owl stuff. I thought, "How nice would it be to make one for Holly for Christmas?" She even bought purple fabric to make place mats, so I coordinated!

Behold, Prototype 1: The big-bottomed, special needs (square headed) chicken.

I traced a pot holder I already have and used scraps to make the design on it. I used Wonder-Under to attache the scraps to the body of the potholder (corduroy). It went together really fast and looked great until I sandwiched it between the Insul-bright and batting. When I turned it inside out I had lost a bit of the owl's head.

I tried to rip it out and sew it again closer to the edge, but I still didn't get the results I want.

Here is a shot of his large bottom on the left side.

I really like how the tree and his feet turned out. I think I just need to make his head a bit wider.

Sorry I ruined the Christmas present surprise, but he was too funny not to share.

Taffy of Terror!!!

OK, it's not the Taffy's fault at all. I just thought it was catchier than Chiffon of Chit! "What," you may be wondering, "is Stacie going on about?" Exhibit A:

I'm a maniac! Maniac! On the floor!

Yeah, that's my Taffy from the Colette Sewing Handbook paired with a rockin' side ponytail. I picked up this fantastic navy and polka dot chiffon the other day. I do not blame this on the pattern at all. I must stress that! I will be making this again. The fabric was horrible! And hey, sewing is fun. If I can't laugh at my mistakes, what can I do?

If you look closely at a scrap I cut, it shredded a good 1/4" into it as soon as it was cut, and as soon as it caught on anything, it would run. I know, chiffon is tricky, but I've used it before! I liked it! I am convinced this was just bad fabric.

Because the chiffon began raveling as soon as it was cut, I just made a rolled hem on my serger, and I kid you not, I had to go a good half inch in to avoid further shredding. I think if this had turned out, I would have gotten maybe 2 wears with no washes out of it. You can see just below my chin the unraveling that is already underway.

On the other hand, I really like the pattern and instructions. This was from the A Fine Finish chapter and actually has amazing instructions on how to make French seams throughout the shirt. I actually did this, but I had to go pretty deep  because of the shred factor, so they were a bit bulky.

Here you can see the seams along my sleeve, and they look fantastic, they just had to be too big.

The back was a bit big, but that could just be the fabric again. This was my first "on the bias" garment, and it really wasn't too bad. I think between user error and/or crappy fabric it just wasn't meant to be. I do plan on making this in maybe a voile or lawn. Like I said, the pattern was fantastic which leads me to...

I had a friend say they would be scared to buy a Colette pattern because they are expensive and never go on 99 cent sales. Here is how I handle that.

I trace the pattern with a Sharpie in the size I need to make it darker.

I then trace the pattern in the size I need onto Swedish Tracing Paper along with any necessary markings. Why Swedish Tracing Paper? (That link is to the store on Etsy I buy it from. Support small business!)You can actually sew it together. This makes for easy pattern fittings. I just baste it, then rip it out to ensure the right parts hit in the right places. This also allows you to make any adjustments you know you need without destroying your original pattern.

"OK, stupid Stacie Thinks She Knows it All, now I have Sharpie all over my floor!"

I tell you what, Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean takes anything off the laminate flooring (and tile) including Sharpie!

About 10 minutes of extra work and your expensive pattern is still in tact and you have a personalized pattern in just your size with any adjustments you need already made! I usually include the pattern name, size and number of pieces to make it easy when I want to make it again later.

Now, I don't do this on my patterns that go on clearance at Joann's, but for my well loved, tried and true and expensive patterns, I don't know a better way to do it! Now go buy that book! I made a tosser, but just wait and see my next one!

Happy Thanksgiving Friends

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and to everyone that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving...Happy Thursday!

I got to thinking last week. I have made everyone I know an apron, and I need one with Thanksgiving looming and Christmas right around the corner. I went to High Fashion Fabrics with my awesome teacher and friend Jenny this week and we got to talking about colors. I have been sitting on this fabric out of the Inncoent Crush collection from Anna Maria Horner for a long time, just waiting to use it on something. I, being of fair to borderline translucent skin cannot wear yellow. While shopping Jenny shared I can wear whatever color I like, I just needed to get the right shade. I had one yard of the mustard color with flowers and one yard of the coordinating purple. What to do? Of course I pulled out my One Yard Wonders book for an apron pattern.
I stumbled upon this book when admiring the sew along Pink Chalk Studio is doing. People are making amazing projects.

<-------- Their final version of the apron.

--------->

The fantastic layout and easy to read directions.

I made the cottage apron and made a few modifications. I used self made bias tape and instead of ribbon I made ties from my contrasting fabric to match the bias tape. Because I did not have a whole lot of fabric left after cutting bias tape I changed the back of the apron to just have a halter style neck.

See, no crossover straps back there.

You can see here I fussy cut my pockets so they would match the pattern on my fabric, and so the whole apron would be centered with the flowers in the middle. You can see the bias tape along the tops of the pockets and finishing the raw edges around the apron.

Also, the original pattern used an eyelet finish to edge the top and stick up above the neck line.  Being difficult like I am, I wanted to participate in Debi's So Grateful challenge. This called on all her readers to use something, fabric, pattern notion, etc. in a project that had been given to you by someone else.

I chose this pretty lace trim that I got from Project Angel Kisses. My sewing machine did not like it. It is pretty thick. I basted it along the neckline before I added the bias tape around the top. I managed to catch all of it! I think this is my favorite detail on the apron.

Now, being an American here is my tribute to some of the things I am grateful for:

• Mr. Thinks He Can and his unending patience and support
• My beautiful four-legged assistant for all the kisses, tail wagging and cuddles. 
• My family near and far. We have had a rough patch lately and I am amazed at how we all pulled together and supported each other.
• My blog and readers, I love that people are interested in this hobby I am learning.
• My friends and colleagues that make all my days better... I can't call everyone out by name because it would just get too long!
• My job and education.
• Every day.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Tree Pants update

OK, I am declaring an October redo. I blew October for various reasons, mostly beyond my control. At the beginning of October I cut out a billion little pieces for the Christmas Tree sew-along on Sew, Mama, Sew.

Check me out I finally made some progress!

The sew along really lays things out for anyone making tree pants. I did not know it, but I have stumbled along my most intensive quilting project on this one. As you can see it is not perfect, but I'm pretty darn proud of the results.

This tree skirt is make of more Moda Countdown to Christmas fabric, so it matches my Christmas Crazy quilt. I don't have enough of this fabric to bind the tree pants with the same, so I may use plain black. If you have a brilliant idea for a binding please let me know. I am game on this one.

For more fun news, I got my Colette Book last week and have been reading through it all. It is very well written and beautiful. I have a trip to High Fashion Fabrics with my awesome friend and sewing teacher Jenny this afternoon, so I will be on the hunt for some fabrics to try a few of the projects with.

I am off all this week, and am hoping to be able to get several projects done. That will help make up for all my slow times lately. Thanks for hanging in there as a reader and for all your support in the last month. Even though most of us have never met, your kind words really mean a lot to me. Stay tuned!

Beach hats and burp cloths

Remember that hat Holly and I made after the quilt show? It was the Amy Butler Blue Sky Hat. Holly was headed to the beach, and found this great pattern. In the end it is two pieces - a triangle and a band. Hot bad at all. Partner sewing is great. One person rips seams and the other one sews. It's a huge time saver!

Here is Holly modeling the hat in my sewing room, in a sweater. I bet it looks even better at the beach! The fabric calls for duck cloth to give the hat its body. We had never used this fabric before, but it really worked.  By the way, this is another Amy Butler pattern where she requires you to buy way too much fabric!

Here is the hat from the back. How cute is that? I heard that next time Holly would add a chin strap to help keep it on in the breeze. She also reports if you move somewhere on a beautiful beach you could keep yourself afloat selling Blue Sky Hats.

Now onto the burp cloths. I made these using various tutorials on the Internet. I made them from prefolded baby diapers by Gerber and a couple of fat quarters I found at the quilt show. I gave them to the expecting mom today at the baby shower and they were a hit. She is having twin boys, Riley and Cole, obviously.

I made one of each style for both boys with their names on them. I just tied them with a string and added a Grandma Betty gift tag. Super fun gift for just a few bucks!