Teaching My Kids to Sew = AWESOME.

I was almost 5 years old the first time I remember seeing my mom sew. She was excellent. We never had a sewing machine, but she would make the coolest Halloween witches, etc., by hand. 

On that day, the first I remember seeing her actually sew something, I was walking down the hall to her room and saw her on the bed with needle and thread in hand. I watched her for a few moments at the doorway, before she called me in. I was so excited to get to sit with my mom in her bed, under her covers next to her and watch her sew.

Then she asked if I wanted to learn.

I could have died there. I was ecstatic.

And now it's my turn.

My kiddos have been asking for me to show them how to sew for a while. While I don't think my daughter, at 3, is ready, she wants to do anything/everything her big brother does. He's almost 5 (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?), so he's ready. At least, I hoped so.

I went out today to HobLob and purchased craft needles (blunt tip--I found them in the carpet weaving/cross stitch aisle), flexible foam sheets and cheap yarn.

On the way home from school, I told them both I'd be teaching them to sew tonight. They FLIPPED. I remembered the feeling.

When we got home, I sat them both down and showed them the parts of the needle, how to thread it, etc. 

I dotted each sheet with the path I wanted them to follow.

Then I let them go.

My son REALLY impressed me. The girlyQ? Not quite ready. But I knew that going in. Three is a little young. But almost 5?

Perfect.

New Dress, yo

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Where things are so crazy that you're not sure if Tuesday is Friday or Thursday is Sunday?

This last week was mine.

Without going into too much detail, a big project at work wrapped up after 12 weeks, and all of my energy was put into that.

So, not much time for crafts. Or cupcakes. Or anything else, like TV shows I love.

Last night, however, I had a chance to catch up with Project Runway. And it feels so odd now when I don't sew while watching the show. So with the best of intentions, I decided to start documenting a new dress for my girl.

I started with this -- some fabric left over from curtains I intended to make when I was pregnant with my daughter. Three and a half years ago. Yeah ...:

And then my dad called. He was coming in town for the weekend and wanted to know what I wanted to eat. So we chatted. I kept sewing. He came and we ate. And before I realized it, I'd finished the dress and ... no more pictures. I got all discombobulated and forgot to take pictures of the process!

Sigh.

So, no tutorial. This is how it looks now, though (I even made my own bias tape!):

But it was pretty simple. If anyone wants more details, let me know. Took about an hour and a half to sew, including time to make the bias tape.

Rectangle Shirt

Another Pinterest find!

Who's addicted to Pinterest? Me. You? It's awesome. Not on it? Want an invite? I will be your pusher. You just let me know.

This is my version. Now, please note, I didn't shop for fabric for this. YES, this looks like a curtain. That's because it was made from old curtain fabric. I felt very Sound of Music.

I'm not in LOVE with it, but I do like it. It's the first thing like this that I've made for ME. I think I'll wear it with a cardigan to work this week.

Excited!

Shirt Dress

I saw this on Pinterest and had to make it!

It took me about 3 hours. But I'm a newbie. And I didn't follow the tutorial EXACTLY. But I really LOVE how it turned out.

Ruffle Skirt

I bought a dress at the thrift store about two months ago that I loved. I didn't really need to do anything with it except take out the shoulder pads, fix a small rip and shorten it by about a foot.

But it's so pretty. Black with white polka dots and mini pearl buttons down the front. Love.

I kept the scrap of fabric I cut off the bottom and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it. But last night, I made a really adorable skirt for my little girl.

Guys, I really need a better camera.

That said, here's what I did, in case you want to make something similar.

Measure your little girl's waist and double it. In my case, hers was 20", so I cut two strips of fabric 40" long and 9" tall. On my fabric, I was able to keep the bottom hem of the dress to use as the bottom of each ruffle. But if you don't have that luxury, you'll need to hem each strip.

For the top of the ruffle, you'll need to fold the top over .5", then fold again another .5", so you'll strip will be about 7" or so, depending on how deep you made your hem.

You don't want to secure the stitch at the top because you're going to ruffle the top by pulling the top string and pushing the fabric toward the center. See here for more specific tutorials on the ruffle. She explained it better than I could! You'll want to continue to gather until the top of the strip is 2" longer than your daughter's waist.

Ruffle each strip, then sew the sides together, making sure you secure the top where you ruffled the fabric so the ruffle doesn't come undone. Each strip should be about 1" wider than your daughter's waist.

Next, I took a pair of bloomers and attached the ruffles to them. One went around the elastic on the top, and the other went about 4" down, right above the leg holes.

And that's it. I put two buttons from the bottom of the dress on the top of the skirt. Now we have matching outfits! So excited!

I added two of the pearls to the front of her skirt. Now we can wear matching outfits! I'm SO excited!

Pleated Scarf

Ala Ruffles and Stuff.

I love this scarf. I'm going to make 20 and wear them all the time.

Probably not. You need 175" of fabric.

But I'll make one for me and some for Christmas gifts, for sure!

I started with this one I did last night for my little girl using old scraps from her quilt. It's cute -- and I can't wait for her to wear it this winter!

It's was really easy. I think it took MAYBE 20 minutes. And cheap. So, a winner in my book.

Lollipop T-Shirt!

Want to make a quick, ADORABLE lollipop t-shirt for a little girl you love?

OK!

Go here for the tutorial. I love Ruffles and Stuff!

Here's what I whipped up for my little lady last night ...

Quick, cute and perfect for my sweet girl!

Ruffle Tank Top!

I made a quick little ruffle tank top for my little girl tonight. Took about a half an hour -- but if you're more experienced, it would probably take a LOT less.

Have you been to WalMart lately? They have super cheap tanks -- $2.50. Earlier this summer, I MAY have bought one ... of each color.

I've done a few things to several of them, but I still have a few left that are plain. With summer coming to a close soon (soon, right? Yes? Please?), I wanted to doll up the rest since they won't fit my little weed next year.

I started with this:

Just a plain tank with a piece of scrap fabric (7" long x 5" tall) and cut in in half longways. Then I used my sewing machine to sew a strip down the center of each piece like this:

Then, I gently pulled the bottom string to ruffle the material. Make sure you don't pull the thread all the way out from the other side or you'll have to redo this step. One, two or three frustrating times.

Sew each side down after ruffled to keep it in the shape you want:

Then I sewed each ruffled strip to the sleeves along the center ruffle strip and across the bottom hem.

And I finished with buttons! I've loved these buttons and am sad to see them go. I think the bag was $4.99 at HobLob, but I got them 50% off. So in total, the shirt cost about $5 if you had to buy all the items. But you could easily use any scrap material on had and any shirt. If you didn't want to use them across the sleeves of a tank, you could decorate the bottom of the shirt with longer strips or across the front of the shirt.

I think she'll like it! Quick and easy -- love those types of projects!

Promises, promises.

I know I promised you all a delicious salted caramel chocolate chunk brownie recipe. I know I still haven't delivered. Honestly, I think about it way more than I should. It's like, housework, schmousework, I need brownies.

But I haven't gotten around to trying out the recipe that's in my head. Why? Because I've fallen in love with my sewing machine. We're totally MFEO. I wound my first bobbin and I haven't looked back. I feel like I could take on the world. A sewing machine-sized world.

Now I'm throwing around terms like shirring and the idea of covering everything in my house with ruffles. It's bad, guys. Send help ...ers. Send helpers who will refill my water and make me eat because Momma's a one-track mind right now. Currently that track is taking me to Thread Town and Sewing City. Hop on board!

But brownies will come. If only because I promised to use them as currency and my dear friend won't let me forget.

So, soon, friends! Soon there will be chocolate. And it will be GOOD.

"Why Don't You Ever Make ME Anything?"

For my son, who so impatiently politely asked why I only ever sew things for his sister.

I give you, the 20-minute fishy shirt.

I started with one of my old t-shirts:

And cut it up by using one of his shirts as a pattern. I kept the bottom hem to make it easy on myself. Then I just sewed it all together. It was actually really easy.

Until I realized I didn't know what to do for the neckline. Keep in mind, this was GOING to be for his first day of school.

But it's clearly not EXACTLY first-day worthy.

Ignore the steak sauce on his chin.

It makes an excellent sleep shirt, though :)

The Dress That Almost Beat Me

I started this dress in 2009 after my little girl turned 1.

Remember -- I've only recently dedicated myself to conquering the sewing machine. So I intended to do this by hand.

But it proved to be more than I could chew -- er, sew.

In the last few days, I've had sewing machine success. I am by no means good, but I am passable. PASSABLE! (Side note: Anyone else watching this season of Project Runway? That girl learned to sew FOUR MONTHS AGO -- as in, when she decided to try out for the show. Crazy.)

So I brought the dress back out and decided that today was the day.

But can we just think about this for a second? I started this for my daughter when she turned 1. She'll be 3 next month. Measurements ... not quite the same. And I'd already cut the fabric.

Let that stop me? Nah.

Good idea? Nah.

But I did it. And I should have added a zipper. But I didn't have one. And I don't know how to put on on a dress. So I painted it on my daughter and then had to peel it off her.

But cute, no?

Oh, she's also 16. Did you know that?

I'm happy, too, love.

This is why I sew by hand ...

I hunkered down. I gave it my best shot.

I ended with a scream.

I decided that today was the day I was going to tackle and conquer the sewing machine. I could never even get to the point of sewing with it, because threading it, getting the bobbin to work, getting the needle to pick up the bobbin tread .... none of this ever worked.

Until today.

Thanks to several (an embarrassing number, actually) YouTube videos on how to work a sewing machine, I got it threaded and bobbined. That's a technical term.

And my first attempt at sewing? Buttah.

Like an arrow, baby.

I was MADE for this.

Oh, my ...

Everyone wastes this much thread, right?

And breaks two needles?

Is that helicopter crashing?

Battle Sewing Machine has commenced

It's on, sewing machine. Bring it.

Prepare to get LEARNED.