by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 28, 2014
*Update: This Quiet Book is now a Sew-Along! Check out more information in the Overview post.
I’m so glad all of you are excited about this project! Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on the last post. I especially think that Shari’s comment about switching out the binder rings for large key rings is genius! That would work way better and there would be zero chance that the kidlets remove the pages or get hurt/pinched that way. If you are just joining in, the last post was about the construction of this quiet book and the next post will have the last 6 pages. I’ll link it up here when it is posted. *Update: The last 6 pages are here.
Here are the first 6 pages of the Quiet Book:
The first page is a good ‘ol “button the flower” page. I had a lot of fun with green rick rack and some felt flowers I had picked up on sale somewhere. I think I bought these bee buttons especially for this page. Make sure the button hole is BIG so little hands don’t have problems practicing their buttoning. The curly lines are made with a fabric paint pen.
Next is the pretty purple purse page (say that 10 times fast!). I wanted a way to include family photos in this book because little kids love looking at pictures of people they know. The purse holds a tiny album (made with clear plastic) and a photo of every family member. I think it is the silver rings and purse handle that make this one cute. It’s just like a real purse – only with less stuff inside!
This is the shirt and pants page. The “please learn to dress yourself” page! I included the bottom of an old shirt and the top of an old skirt. The skirt can be used for snap and zipper practice, and the ribbon belt can be buckled and unbuckled. The shirt holds a little surprise – it comes with it’s own belly button, very Cabbage Patch-esque! My daughter thinks it’s hilarious – so I’m glad I put it in.
The telephone page always gets the most use at our house. As you can see from the seam that needs mending on the receiver. I’m not sure why I made such an old fashioned phone. I suppose a cell phone would have made more sense – or a cordless one at least! But the kids know it is a phone, so it works. The cord is a curly shoe lace. The number pad is made using white fabric and an inkjet t-shirt transfer.
Tying your shoes comes much later in life, so I’m not sure why I included it. This shoe lace has actually spent most of it’s life tied in a double-knot – so my 1+ year old couldn’t untie it and choke on it. Maybe I should remember this page for when my oldest gets her first pair of tying shoes!
Counting is always good, and puzzles. This page combines them by using some really great fabric I think I still have a bunch of. The numbers and pictures are cut out with notches for each. All of the pieces are stuck on with Velcro. They can be interchanged, but they don’t match up if you do it wrong! Tricky! (hee hee) I think I put fusible fleece in between my layers to make them thicker.
That’s it for the first 6 pages. Hang in – there are still 6 more pages to go! I’m sure I will be posting them in the next few days.
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 28, 2014
This week’s post subject is a un/happy accident – or not (we will find out tomorrow!). As I was finishing today’s project my machine decided to make some lovely loud clunking noises. So I decided I should pull out a project to show you that has been around for a while.
*Edit* This book is now a free tutorial series! CLICK HERE for the FREE 12 Page Quiet Book Series – Including links to all 27 posts and tutorials!
I made each of my girls a quiet book when they were 1, this book is my youngest’s. It is one of the most time consuming projects I have ever made, but I love the results! Everything is attached to the book – which was important to me – I hate lost pieces! And (almost) nothing is felt. If you are here for ideas, please take them. Be warned – this takes a long time, a really long time! But, in the end it is worth it, and it is a wonderful keepsake.
The no-felt idea came about because I really wanted everything to last as long as possible. I think I have/had the idea in my head that felt balls up and tears and is in general an inferior product to fabric. I think though, if I was to do it again, I might be open to using some – just maybe the “good stuff”, and not the felt from my local craft store. Either way, not using felt makes the whole project take a lot longer, since every seam must be finished and pieces need to be “good on both sides”!
I have made a few of these and I think the method of attaching the book pages is different in each one. I like this book’s construction the best. It is the easiest to add pages to and simplest to construct. One piece of grosgrain ribbon, stitched with 2 channels for 2 binder rings. Each book page has 2 loops added when it is stitched together, and it is hooked into the binder ring – tada! I thought maybe my daughter would figure out how to take it apart, or start chewing on it and happily neither thing happened! So I think it is a success.
This book also has a ribbon tag on the outside edge for each page. The ribbons all correspond to something on that page and I love how they look. It makes the book all the more fun-looking. I also love the outside fabric – Alice in Wonderland. It may seem to be a bit morbid to make a child’s toy in black – but it sets off the colourful pages so nicely! Inside this one I was apparently into making work for myself, because many of the pages have a patchwork background. I love looking through and remembering where a lot of the fabrics came from. I really need to make a scrappy quilt top someday to use up my scraps and keep my memories somewhere!
The outside of the book is flat, I think I added in some interfacing and fusible fleece. If I was doing it again I would most definitely add in some batting and fun quilting. But this thing is almost 3 years old and I’ve learned a lot since! The grosgrain ribbon goes all the way around the book to the back, where I’ve added a tab and velcro. It was sewn on before the inside was attached. So the stitching doesn’t show on the inside. I’ve also used ribbon and bias tape to finish the bottom and top edges of each page. It was what I had on hand at the time, and with an almost 1-year-old around you generally don’t just “run” to the store for something!
This was going to be the world’s longest, most photo heavy post – so I decided to split up the construction and the pages and post a few times in a row this week. I will update each post with links to the others as I go. What do you think so far? *Update: You can find the first 6 pages here and the last 6 pages here.
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 16, 2014
As I was finding out that Project Run and Play was on again yesterday (and simultaneously finding out that I have at least 200 unread blog posts in my Bloglovin’ feed!) I was inspired to make this little dress by loosely using the PR&P theme “Winter Wonderland”. I have been wanting to make something with lace for quite a while, but I could never find the soft, stretchable lace I was looking for. Thankfully I was able to get some in Texas (from Hobby Lobby) while I was on vacation – and I think I should likely have bought more than 1 yard. It is really amazing to sew with!
I started drafting with the dolman sleeve Skipper Top from Sew Much Ado. From there things went off in their own direction! I added 3/4 sleeves, a front pleat and made it into an A-Line dress with a (barely there) high-low hem. I like that it is a bit Valentines’ themed, but could be worn any time of the year.
Details?! The sleeves are shorter out of necessity. I should have remembered that I made these shorts twice because the gray knit is not very stretchy and they were too small the first time. Some added width in the bottom of the sleeve would have been good. The front pleat was copied from an adorable dress that my sister-in-law bought for my oldest. It crosses over in the front, which is simple to do, but looks different from the traditional-style pleats I’ve seen lately. I love pleats – they keep the simple lines of the dress, but add that extra “umph” to the design. If you are interested in a tutorial on how to alter a pattern adding the pleat let me know.
From the top, moving on to the bottom of the dress. I ran across this knit heart dress tutorial from Lexi Made on the Sewing Rabbit yesterday as well. She did such a great job on these little dresses, and I got idea for the lace heart on mine from her tutorial. All of the lace in this dress is overlaid and sewn on because thankfully it doesn’t fray much. Though I did fold the shoulder lace under by 1/8″ or so along the straight edge before I sewed it on.
I think I am going to have to eventually make myself a sweater with the same fabric and lace. Different overlay though. I purposely kept the lace away from the front of the dress since that is where most 3-year-old spills happen! The whole thing took about 5 hours – including pattern drafting/cutting and chasing after the aforementioned 3-year-old. Not too shabby, I think.
Are you participating in this season of Project Run and Play? I think I may wait and see if inspiration hits to sew-along again this time. We’ll find out!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 8, 2014
I’m excited to let you know that I’m over on Fabric Spot guest posting a kid’s infinity scarf tutorial! These are so cute and my 3 year old loves that she can put it on herself. I also talk about the amazing organic knit Karen provided for the scarf. Check it out!
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 31, 2013
I hope you’re not tired of hearing how amazing the Noodlehead Cargo Duffle is because I have one more project inspired by it to share with you today. Well, actually two projects really – matchy backpacks made for my girls with some amazing Ann Kelle fabric! The whole project came about because I really wanted to make the girls some backpacks to use on our plane trip from Toronto to South Texas. I didn’t want to drag along my oldest’s school bag and my youngest has a Made by Rae Toddler Backpack that was not as large as I wanted for this trip. That said, I’m not sure those are really great reasons for making these – but I deemed it a necessity anyhow! And, despite what likely was not-so-good judgement I stayed up until all hours until the last day finishing bits and pieces of them in between family holiday get-togethers.
* Edited (2015-03-04): I’ve posted a mini tutorial on how to make these backpacks! *
The pattern is based on the free Cargo Duffle pattern that Anna from Noodlehead has available on the Robert Kaufmann site. I made these taller than wide and re-did almost all of the measurements. They now have handles, straps, one pocket instead of two and a few other things inside. I also substituted elastic loops and buttons for the snaps because they are easier for my girls to use. I think it turned out just as cute as the snaps – much nicer than the single button I’m used to using.
The girls picked the Ann Kelle “Girl Friends” (in Bright) fabric themselves. Despite me having laid out my Tula Pink Acacia and Rashida Coleman-Hale Koi for them to choose from! Of course, since they both chose the same 1/2 metre of fabric I had to be extra creative cutting everything out. I used up every scrap of that fabric, the last 5″x6″ piece is behind the address card slots on the inside of each bag!
Speaking of the inside. I added a hanging loop so they can hang their sunglasses cases, and two water bottle pockets to the inside of each. I thought that outer water bottle pockets could be tricky to work with when we stashed their bags under the seats on the plane. I also added a mesh pocket so their friends (ie – teddy, buggy and zebra) would have a safe ride. I randomly already had some dollar store zippered mesh wash bags that were exactly the right size, so I cut the backs off of them and stitched them to the inside-back of the backpack. No zipper installation needed!
I think the only thing I’m not so happy with are the handles. I think I made them a bit too wide, but I didn’t have the time to re-do them – especially since the super-cute crowns from the selvage edge were already securely attached! I was happy though, to remember to use my Riley Blake chevrons and dots again. The green and yellow work well for the inside lining of the bags and make everything a bit more fun!
I have to say it was super satisfying flying around with all of these handmade bags! This pattern turns out so well and is really durably made. I’m in a huge debt to Anna for having taught me how to quilt these pieces together and I can see using this technique in a ton of other projects. Besides, it’s really fun to add a little bit of loopy free motion quilting to something and this project is full of possibilities!
I’ve got a few more Christmas projects to share this week, now that they have been given and received. I am curious – have you done a lot of free motion quilting? What is your favorite design to quilt?
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 20, 2013
Today I’m posting a little tutorial that Allison asked for earlier this week. She’s trying to make the Super Hero Cape for her older daughter and wants it to be longer than the original pattern. Thankfully it is pretty simple to lengthen – so you can make capes for all of your big kids. Perfect quick Christmas gift! (Hint, Hint – Just sayin’!)
First you will need to print out the free Super Hero Cape pattern pieces from the original post. Grab an extra sheet of paper, some tape, a pencil and a ruler. Cut the pattern pages along the outer border – not the lines of the pattern! – the ones that are closest to the edges of your paper.
Here we go:
(Step 1) Tape the bottom of the cape pattern pieces (4 pages on the right) together as noted in the Super Hero Cape tutorial (and see illustration below). Leave a space between the top of the cape (left) and the bottom 4 pages. This gap should be equal to the amount you want to lengthen the cape.
(Step 2) Tape the extra piece of paper into your space. Re-connect top and bottom of the cape pattern lines as illustrated by the red and blue lines below.
(Step 3) Cut out your new cape pattern along the outer edges of the cape and the new lines you just created. See the blue shape in the illustration for which lines you should cut. DONE! Easy Peasy! Now you can use the Super Hero Cape tutorial to finish your cape, just check your yardage – you might need more than the tutorial calls for now that the cape is longer.
Come on back tomorrow for Sewing Survey Saturday!
