Hello, Beautiful: Fold-Over Clutch

Recently, my Nonna gave me a huge sack of buttons she collected over the years. I was absolutely thrilled. The day after Christmas, Anna-Jane helped me go through them and we ran across this ivory butterfly button. It was so inspiring I knew I had to use it on something. I love that vintagey, eclectic vibe. I made 2 fold-over clutches over the break from Ali Foster patterns. The instructions were very clear and the pictures walked through every step. I tweaked the pattern a little so that the bottom stands up on its own. This third one I made with the special button is my favorite and pretty perfect. The clutch has a magnetic snap, so I got to use some pliers (cool). I really like how the instructions show how to make the strap. You cut a piece of fabric 2 1/2 by 11. Iron on interfacing. Fold strip in half wrong sides together and iron. Then fold the edges into the middle crease and iron again. Topstitch. The strap has a good weight to it and the width is perfect. This pattern is too big to use a fat quarter which is kinda a bummer, but it was fun to make and turned out really cute.

Handmade Gifts

That's my Nonna and me on Christmas day. She's the original seamstress in the family. Family lore includes stories of making circle skirts in a blink without a pattern and making perfect tucks and pleats on everything. She's also lended her hand on all the projects that have come along-- Amelia's baby bedding, the gathered skirt on Momma's lavender table cloth and lots more. She is holding the gift that I made for everyone. Fourteen in all. So cute, right? I got kitchen towels from Target (4 at $3.99). Then sewed strippy strips on them. I had 2 different fabrics. I cut them into squares 4 1/2 by 4 inches. Then sewed these together. Then right sides together sewed strips into tubes. Once again, using the trusty ol' safety pin turn it and iron. The towels have a ridge on them so I just aligned the strip with the ridge and tucked under the ends. The fabric is centered so that when the towel is folded you see the main fabric and an equal amount of the alternate fabric on both sides. Clear as mud. In all the excitement, this is the only picture of them. I tied rickrack around some and chenille yarn around some. Easy, cute, and from the heart for sure.

With or Without Wings: That is the Question

Over the holidays I made 3 owl clutches. One for Wendy's niece, one for a birthday present, and one for my sister. The question became: With or without wings? The first ones that I made in the fall had wings but that creates a lot of parts to appliqué: head, body, 2 wings, 2 feet, beak, and eyes (background and pupil). It takes me (because I'm so slow) about an hour to do the appliqué. So I switched things up and drew an owl with just a body, feet, beak, and eyes. Less is more, right? But the last 2 I made seem to lack the character of the others. Is it the wings?

Game Set Match - Clutches for the Tennis Team

Wendy's mom Donna is a member of a 70s ladies tennis team. I was flattered when she ordered 12 gathered clutches to give as Christmas gifts. So after Anna-Jane's birthday party, I took a 24 hour R & R and then hit it hard Sunday and Monday until the wee hours. We designed them to match their skirts which are black, gray, and pink. I found cute ribbon with tennis rackets on it at fabric.com. Cute and not too gimmicky. I took a picture of the prototype. The actual clutches had a polka-dot front and black linen back. I ended up making 13 (of course) because I totally messed up the first zipper. I decided to get all jiggy wit' it like the blogging pros and not use a zipper foot. Bad idea. The stitch was so close to the zipper, it wouldn't zip very well. Ugh! At midnight on Sunday, I realized that I was running low on black thread so I was checking and praying every 2 minutes that it would last. Then when I got to the quote part found that I had just enough of the transfers so no mess ups allowed. Towards the end I forgot to sew in a strap so had to do some seam ripping. But on the bright side, I figured out a way to pin the zipper when you are sewing around the clutch at the very end to ensure the lining gets sewed right. And it was super fun to have my first order and make some $$$. :-)

Celebrating 5 Years

We celebrated Anna-Jane's turning 5 at Healthy Me Cafe in Coppell with a cooking party. The kids made smoothies, personal pizzas, decorated cookies and cupcakes. While planning the party, Mother and I got the bright idea to make all of the kids aprons. In years past only a handful of kids have shown up to her parties. Being the workaholic that I am, I invariably get the invitations out late and it's during the holidays, so calendars fill up fast. This year, of course, we had 17 RSVPs. (Thank you Cathy for helping me create a cute e-vite and send it out on time). So Momma and I were burning the midnight oil during what is one of the busiest weeks in a school-- the week before winter break. We made 11 girl aprons and 6 boy aprons. The ties took forever. Instead of measuring and figuring out exactly how long each tie should be, I cut strips and strips, and strips, and more strips together and then used the trusty ol' safety pin to turn it. Then iron it. Ugh! It took forever. Mother made 5 aprons in the time it took me to turn the strip for the ties. After that afternoon my homework was to finish putting the ties on the girl aprons and mom made all of the boy aprons. It sounds like she woke up at 3:30 am on the day of the party to start and finish hers. I tell her all the time that she could win Project Runway. She is smart, quick, and dexterous. Instead of doing the turn thing for the strips/ties, she cut strips on the bias, folded it in and then folded it again to create the binding. She said she didn't even iron it to make the strip. She just rolled it along through her fingers as she sewed. They were all perfect. She continually amazes me with all her talents and skills. Of course, I was so in to watching Anna-Jane at her party that I didn't get good pics of the aprons but here's a few. I'm thinking we should have a birthday Princess Prom for Anna's 6th year and Mother can make all 17 kids a formal ball gown with a train. Heh!

"Being Crazy Isn't Enough"

Dr. Suess once said, "Being crazy isn't enough!" And he's right. When it comes to anything except a scarf or maybe a square, you have to count stitches and know where to put your hook. Do you see where I changed putting my hook between stitches to putting it under the stitches where it's supposed to go? Look carefully... It sorta just looks like ribbing or something fancy like that. When I first started this little hat from Posh Patterns, it looked like a pancake, but I kept going and luckily it turned out hat-ish... Now if Anna-Jane will just wear it. That's the real trick.

Here she is...

Our Little Angel

Milly's school celebrates All Saints Day on November 1. She was our little angel. This was the 2nd angel costume I made. Mother and I thought we would be all crafty and smart and make the first one during the summer when we had the time. We really thought we would be ahead of the curve. But... she grew out of the first one by the time the event rolled around, so we were up sewing late into the night like always. I was even able to make a big mess by bumping into a can of red tempera paint on Mildred's art easel that splattered all over the wall. It really added to the Halloween effect of the night. My boo-boo on this one was the casing for the elastic. I sewed it on the outside instead of the inside. Oops...