by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 13, 2013
I made another Sunny Glasses Case a while ago with the most perfect fabric ever. It’s the Geekly Glasses line by Riley Blake Designs (from Double Decker Fabric). When Dorienne sent me this fabric I knew it needed to be a glasses case and I love how it turned out!
These glasses cases are about a 2 hour project – if that – and they work for anyone on your Christmas shopping list – Man, woman or child! Everyone that’s seen mine has said “You made that?!” Which is the universally known in sewing circles as meaning: “That doesn’t look handmade!” and/or “Can you make me one?!” If that is not convincing enough I’m not sure what is – ha!
Warning: If you decide to make one of these when you’ve gotten together with some friends – say at a monthly sewing night – make sure you cut your fabric the right way up! I was so mad when I realized that I cut my amazing deer fabric upside down…. argh! But, it happens – and it still holds my glasses safe and sound – and I’m not making another one, at least not right now! You can even sneak a peek of the case in the Mini Tote giveaway post from Monday – did you spot it?
I’m running to get my Christmas sewing wrapped up (hee hee!) and my wonderful husband is taking care of the kids tomorrow so I can have all day to sew – HOORAY! I’m hoping to finish before next week. But, I usually over-plan, so at least I will have next week to finish everything up! How is your holiday sewing going? What are you making? Really… I’m a super curious person!
Don’t forget to throw your two cents in for “Sewing Survey Saturday” – check out last week’s results and a new survey tomorrow!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 25, 2013
How was your weekend? We put our Christmas tree up on Friday afternoon and had a nice relaxing Saturday and Sunday. Then we woke up to find out that our youngest now has the flu. Too bad, I was hoping we hadn’t passed it along last week! Life goes on… and today I’m posting another Sally Dress while she plays on the tablet. I am so happy with this dress! Sometimes I sew something and it doesn’t turn out quite like I expected – this is not one of those times (hooray!) and I’m super pleased.
The fabric for this dress is one of the reasons I love it so much. The salmon pink/coral fabric is Dill Blossom by Robert Kaufman. I got it from Studio Fabric Shop at the Creativ Festival with this Sally Dress in mind. Since the interview with Devorah (owner of Studio Fabric Shop) was on Friday I thought I would finish and post the dress this Monday. And, just in case you haven’t signed up yet – you can win 10 fat quarters from Devorah’s shop. Just click over to the interview post and sign up using the Rafflecopter widget.
My second experience making the Sally dress was so much better than the first. I love my youngest’s green pintucked Sally, but it was tedious folding the pleats and it doesn’t slip over her head without some uncomfortable tugging. So, of course (again) without making a muslin first, I added a zipper to the back of my oldest’s version. It didn’t take a lot more work, but it turns out she doesn’t need it! Ah well. At least I was able to make this Sally fit the way it is supposed to. I see making quite a few more of this style with longer sleeves for the winter – since she insists on likes to wear dresses most days.
I added a Scirocco-style pleat to the centre front of the dress again. And some lace my mom sent to me that used to be my great-grandma’s. I don’t usually add lace to things – but the bodice seemed a bit plain without it. I was a bit worried it would make it look a lot like a nightgown, but dressing it up with tights and black shoes avoided that.
The sleeves on the original Sally dress pattern are elbow length – so I went searching for some woven sleeve examples. I’m always hesitant to add long sleeves to a dress made of woven fabric. My personal style has more to do with comfort most days than actual trendy-following style. So when I plan for my girls I want them to be comfy too. Woven sleeves generally seem tight and uncomfortable to me, but when I saw the A Happy Tunic tutorial over at Simple Simon and Co. I fell in love with the sleeves. They are perfect on the Sally dress. I extended the lines of the sleeve straight down to my daughter’s arm length and added 1″ to the straight side of the sleeve pattern for some extra room and so I could add some gentle gathers at the top of the sleeves.
Again, the large Sally pockets are really cute – they are made with the Lens Mills bow fabric I got at Creativ. I think they help to avoid the nightgown look as well. I used the same fabric on the bias tape to finish the sleeve ends and the bodice lining. I love that this dress turned out looking really appropriate for a little girl – but isn’t too little for her. My daughter loves the neckline since it matches her favorite square neckline knit shirts that she’s outgrowing. Maybe I could use this pattern to make her a few more.
I’m off to care for my littlest. Thankfully the medicine has kicked in and she’s up and about, albeit a tad wobbly. See you soon!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 21, 2013
Today we’re heading back into the folder of things I have photographed that I keep around for emergencies. It’s not a true emergency, but maybe a hiccup in bloggy terms. I have really not touched my sewing machine since last Friday so I don’t have anything new to post. I know – it’s crazy! I think I over-estimated my ability to do everything last week and then NOT crash this week! Anyhow, my daughter has also gotten the flu and so I have a little bit of an excuse.
A while ago I posted my oldest’s Banyan Tee with an exposed back zipper. I have had these tutorial photos available since the post and was just reminded I should actually write the tutorial! I love this look. It’s fun, and adds a bit of designey-oomf to the back of a shirt.
You’ll need a zipper in the length you would like and a glue stick. Preferably an Elmer’s Extreme glue stick as I’ve found it works the best. The length of the zipper varies depending on the size of the shirt wearer. I used one about 8″ long with super-cool kid friendly rainbow coloured teeth. Since I made this shirt from scratch these instructions are on an un-constructed shirt. You could do this with a ready-made shirt, but the process is a bit more difficult because the shirt can not open out to be flat.
Here we go:
(1) Stitch together 1 shoulder and add the ribbing to finish the neckline.
(2) Mark a line on the centre-back – you can easily lightly iron a crease into it and then mark over the crease. (It might not look centred because you have not stitched the seam allowance on the second shoulder yet.)
(3) Place the zipper so the to of the slider matches up with the top of the collar. Mark the top of the bottom zipper stop on your centre line.
(4) Cut down the back centre line until you reach your mark.
(5) Glue down the zipper tape that extends past the top zipper stop. Fold them over to the wrong side of your zipper tape and stick them down matching the sides of the tape. Make sure the tape stays clear of the zipper teeth.
(6) Turn the shirt over to the wrong side. Match the edge of the right zipper tape with the left edge of the opening you cut and glue it with the folded edge matching to top of the collar. Keep the glue within the 3/8″ seam allowance.
(7) Stitch the zipper with a 3/8″ seam from the top of the collar to the bottom of the zipper stopper along the right edge.
(8) Maneuver the zipper so the right side is laying against the right side of the shirt and the left side is attached to the wrong side of the left side of the shirt – matching the shirt and zipper edges.
(9) Stitch the left side of the zipper from the top of the collar to the bottom of the zipper stopper. Turn the zipper to the outside using the opening at the bottom of the zipper.
(10) Peel apart the glued seam allowance and zipper tape.
(11) Trim the seam allowance close to the seam.
(12) Glue both of the bottom edges of the zipper tape under in the same way you glued the top edges. Leave a little under the zipper stop.
(13) Top-stitch the edges of the zipper and across the bottom under the stopper.
(14) Here is a better shot of the stitching from the back.
All done! Take some fun photos and post them with the hashtag #alongforthreadride! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the tutorial. Could it be clearer? Would you do things differently? Thanks for the feedback!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 19, 2013
We had my oldest’s 6th birthday party over the weekend – the best/simplest party yet I think. She is growing up much too fast. I love that she wore her princess dress to open gifts in the morning, read all her own cards and properly thanked her sister for the hand-sewn “stuffie” she had made herself! We are so proud of her!
She decided we should have a Movie Star party… and as it turns out it is a really great simple party to host and the kids loved it! We got them all movie star sunglasses, decorated popcorn buckets with names and jewels and set out movie snacks – candy and popcorn of course, with flavoured popcorn shakers.
They got their take-away gift (can’t really call it a goodie bag) before the movie. I made them each a Star Stuffie – going with the movie theme here! – and each star had it’s own personality, introduction poem and adoption certificate. They each chose a numbered star from a bucket and then went to choose a gift bag in that order. We read the poem and named their star on the spot. Then they took their buckets and stuffies to watch the movie – and I got to clean up a bit, prepare for the cake and sit and hang out with a friend – hooray! Seriously – when do you sit at a kid’s birthday party?
I would also like to say a huge thank-you to Shannon from googiemomma, the whole idea is a great post I found when looking up the S.tuffed A.nimal C.hair tutorial. She has did this with owls – which are super-cute, but don’t match the “Movie Star” theme, so I got creative and made stars instead. Shannon got the idea from Anj, who writes Snowy Bliss and has the most ridiculous amount of patience and planning ability for her decorations and owls – seriously – you have to see them! And, since you are there – check out her Magic Party where she uses the same idea with bunnies – so cute!
I thought it would be fun to share the pattern pieces and a few notes on how each star was made. One would even be cute as a birthday gift by itself! As far as materials – each is different, except for the star shape. The best thing to do is to download the pattern pdf and then sort out the fabric yardage from there. I bought 1.5 metres of yellow fleece and still have about half of it left over. The clothing can be made with fabric scraps and the eyes and mouths cut from felt. I hand-stitched them on because it was the easiest option and it only took 2 hours to finish all of the faces. I’m not including the face templates because my husband cut and painted them for me so I don’t have anything to make the pattern from. I’m so grateful that he took the time to do it, and I think he had fun cutting out different “looks” for all of them based on their character.
Here we go! The downloadable pdf pattern pieces and the poem and adoption cards can be downloaded at the bottom of the post. I’m including sewing/other notes for each star in the pattern pdf as well.
Baker Star Stuffie
Ballerina Star Stuffie
Cowgirl Star Stuffie
Fairy Star Stuffie
Mermaid Star Stuffie
This one is my favorite. I love the ruffle fabric scales, the fins and the star eyes. The trim I kept for “something in the future” works perfectly for a necklace. I have to give all of the credit to my husband for coming up with this one. I can see a whole ocean of them in different colours for giveaway gifts at a Mermaid Party.
Pirate Star Stuffie
Princess Star Stuffie
Group Shot!
It was so hard to get these guys to stay still for the photos – this shot turned out a bit wonky!
Click here to download all of the Pattern Pieces and Instructions.
Update: * Please print the pattern pieces at their original, or actual size. Make sure you do not choose the “Fit to Page” option. *
Click this link to download all of the Poem Cards.
Click this link to download the Adoption Certificate Cards.
Hope you had fun checking these out! Which one is your favorite? I’m super-happy that these went well, but also that they are done and I only had to make seven of them! I have to admit that the star shape was a challenge to work with and the stars – though cute – do have a “body builder” feel to them. The wide shape of the star lends to some broad shoulders! The kids really liked them though. So they get a kid-friendly “Gold Star” of approval. Speaking of which, a “Gold Star” would be cute, as would a “Super Hero Star” complete with cape. Next time then?!
I’m off to clean my office so I can post my sewing space next week. See you again soon!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 12, 2013
My computer decided not to work last night – so you get Monday’s post on Tuesday today! Thank goodness it’s working now… (sign of relief!)
So. You have a ton of stuffed animals… and they are all over your house… what do you do? Put them in an S.A.C. – the S.tuffed A.nimal C.hair, it’s a genius idea that Shannon from googiemomma made and has a tutorial for. Hooray! In case you’ve seen this before, it is from 2011. Problem is I saw it BP (Before Pinterest) and bookmarked it – and forgot about it until my friend pinned it a while ago and reminded me how amazing it is. And… I had the perfect fabric (that I won, eek!) waiting on the shelf! I entered a Violette Field Threads contest this past May where Whimisical Fabric was giving away 8 yards of Riley Blake chevrons and dots in delicious colours… and all of a sudden it was mine. That never happens!
My youngest has a thing for green!
When I won the fabric I told Danielle from Whimsical Fabric that I would post whatever I came up with on Thread Riding Hood, and she offered to give me a discount code to share with all of you. And, as a bonus for you – since Shannon’s S.A.C. pattern does not come with a pattern piece, I volunteered to make one. And, I made it in two sizes because the first one I made is amazingly too big! (Imagine something so large it won’t hold all of your children’s stuffed animals.) I had to stuff one of our extra pillows and the unused (but still loved) nursing pillow in the top to fill it up for the photos!
Whimsical Fabric is just what the name says. I love the playful variety of fabrics that Danielle stocks. And she also has patterns, notions, packaging and clothing blanks – lots to use the discount on! Head over to Whimsical Fabric and use the discount code: TRH10% to get 10% off almost everything in the Whimsical Fabric shop from today until Wednesday, Nov 27th, 2013 at 12 midnight MT! You can even use it for most sale items. (Items that do not apply for the discount will state this in the description.)
I don’t think (if you have children) that I have to try to convince you to make one of these! My kids fully endorse ours and it’s super comfortable to sit on… I’ve tried it! Just don’t put anything too hard inside and you’ll be fine. We even have a mewing cat in there that sometimes goes off if you sit on it right and the kids think that’s hilarious. You can read Shannon’s very funny post about it for more information also, since that is where you will get the bulk of your instructions. On with the pattern pieces?
The large size pattern will get you a (roughly) 85″ around, 18″ high and 25″ across chair. The smaller size pattern will be aprox. 70″ around, 12″ high and 20″ across. Both of my kids like curling up on the large one, in fact they can both fit on it at once. And the smaller one is the perfect size for my youngest who is 3 1/2. As she states – “This fits my bum and legs perfectly.” How do they come up with this stuff?!
You will need:
- Fabric – Assuming it is 42″ wide prewashed, see “Cutting Your Fabric” below for cutting layouts & more information. You will need more for nap and one-way fabrics.
- Large size in 6 fabrics: 2/3 Mtr/Yds each of 5 Outer Top fabrics, 3/4 Mtr/Yd Outer Bottom and 2 3/4 Mtr/Yds Lining
- Large size in 1 fabric: 2 3/4 Mtr/Yds each of Outer and Lining
- Small size in 6 fabrics: 1/2 Mtr/Yds each of 5 Outer Top fabrics, 1/3 Mtr/Yd Outer Bottom and 1 2/3 Mtr/Yd Lining
- Small size in 1 fabric: 1 2/3 Mtr/Yd each of Outer and Lining
- Same yardage as lining in high loft batting if using (less enough for the bottom zipper pieces which do not need batting, more info about the batting below)
- Zipper: 25″ for large size, 20″ for small size
- Pattern Pieces:
Notes on my changes:
- I only made two changes to Shannon’s tutorial. The first was to add a pentagon shaped patch over where the points of the side pieces match up at the top. This is because I was in a hurry and didn’t take the time to line them up. The second was to adhere batting to the lining as I sewed it together. So the entire chair (except the zippered bottom) is lined with quilt batting. I found that the high loft cheapy polyester batting smooths out any bumpy edges and makes the chair smoother. Especially since I used quilting cotton. Shannon leaves a gap at the top of the lining for some stuffing – either way is great. I have included directions on how to do the optional changes below.
Before you begin:
- Print all pages of the pattern piece pdf in the size you choose on letter size (8.5″ x 11″) or A4 paper. Important: Make sure scaling is set to “None” or “Actual Size” when printing. Once you have printed the pages, measure the 1″ test square to ensure the pattern is the correct size.
- Cut or fold the pages on the outer gray lines and tape/glue the pages together, matching the letters in the gray half-circles.
Cutting your fabric:
- Cut your fabric as per the pattern piece directions and notes on the S.A.C. Tutorial Post on googiemomma.
- Visual layouts for each of the 4 options are below so you can see more easily how much fabric each option uses. Pieces are illustrated in full – not “cut on fold” shape.
- Please use the diagrams as a guide only, referring to the S.A.C. Tutorial for placement.
- You may need more/less yardage for one-way and directional fabrics.
Large Size OUTER Fabric Yardage for 6 Fabrics (see Large Size in One Fabric for Lining Yardage)
Large Size in One Fabric Yardage (You will need this much each for Outer & Lining)
Small Size OUTER Fabric Yardage for 6 Fabrics (see Small Size in One Fabric for Lining Yardage)
Small Size in One Fabric Yardage (You will need this much each for Outer & Lining)
Sewing Instructions:
- Follow the googiemomma directions on the S.A.C. tutorial post to make your Stuffed Animal Chair.
- A 1/2″ seam allowance is included in the printable pattern pieces.
- A 3/8″ seam allowance is included for the zipper seam.
Optional Instruction: Add the Pentagon Patch – Do this after stitching together all of the outer outside pieces. (1) Cut 2 the tiny pentagons out of your fabric (see pattern pages). (2) Stitch them together right sides together. Leave an opening on one side for turning. (3) Turn the pentagon, folding under the opening edges and ironing the sides. (4) Line the straight edges of the patch up with each side of the outer outside pieces and pin generously. (5) Topstitch the patch. (6) Turn the outer pieces over and CAREFULLY! cut out the centre of the fabric that is under the patch.
Optional Instruction: Add Quilt Batting to the Lining – Do this when stitching the lining pieces together. (1) Cut 5 pieces of batting using the outside pattern piece. I used my cut fabric as a template. (2) Place tape over the open edges of your zig-zag foot. This prevents the batting from getting stuck in the points. (3) When stitching the lining together, place 1 batting piece on either side of the lining before stitching, and while it is right sides together. Like this: Batting, Lining pieces Right Sides Together, Batting. (4) Stitch together following the instructions, making sure to stitch each outer outside lining piece with a batting piece.
Here’s wishing you many happy stuffie-free days ahead – and a comfy spot for your kids to sit too! Please share your projects on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – hashtag: #alongforthreadride so we can see them. I love to share my favorites too!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 8, 2013
When Warp & Weft introduced their Sewing Society I was excited to find three new Canadian bloggers that I hadn’t heard of yet! One of them was Cynthia Frenette, whom I’ve been following ever since. She writes cynthia f – a highly addictive blog – trust me I know! Aside from that she is a quilter, illustrator, designer and artist in general. If that is not enough, she keeps Made In Magazine going and has designed fabric for Robert Kaufman. And I’m sure there is more I don’t know!
As I was saying, her blog is addictive, and one day I stumbled on the post of her latest project – a pouch pattern – that asked for pattern testers. I’m super happy to have volunteered and gotten to make it! Aside from raving about how great this pouch is (truly!), I can honestly say it has great directions. I was excited to read through the well-thought out instructions and find they were very easy to follow.
The clear window gives this pouch the great feature of having two “fronts”! You can choose an amazing fabric for the back quilted panel and the lining – because it shows through the window. Score! I was excited to use my Fabric Spot Tsuru bundle for both pouches. Which is a good thing, because I only had one snap hook to use for the handle, and now I can swap it based on whichever I’m using at the time!
I love the size, it is even large enough to fit a regular sheet of paper – so you are able to carry printed pattern sheets and your sewing supplies at the same time! I really would like to make a few more of these to fill with “kid stuff”. It would help keep them occupied when we visit my family via plane in December. And it is easy for them to see what is inside – key to not digging through your bag too much in an enclosed space!
The pattern is almost available and I will most definitely tell you when it is so you can make 17 of these for yourself (or as a great Christmas gift!). Hope you have a happy Friday and a great weekend. See you on Monday!
