My First Dress

My dad got me a dress form for my birthday last week! Huck named it Cinderella, and I immediately started researching patterns and looking at dresses to make my first dress.  I really love this Beda Dress from Anthropologie:

So I went to Jo-Ann's and found this pattern:

It is Simplicity 2403 and is one of their "Project Runway" inspired patterns.  I picked up a pretty coral colored fabric, and I think I am going to do the first dress fairly straight from the pattern.  Then, once I am comfortable with actually having made a dress from a pattern, I'll pick up some white material and make something closer to the first image (flatter collar, fuller skirt, cap sleeves, etc.).  I'm a little nervous, as I rarely work from patterns and in the past I've messed up and gotten pretty frustrated when I've tried.  But I was such a novice sewer last time I made an attempt, I'm hoping to do better now that I have some experience under my belt.
I'm going to try to get my material all cut out tonight.  Wish me luck!

Another Egg & A Cry For Help!

What can I say?  These cute little guys are addictive to make.  I promise that my next project won't be another felted egg!  In fact, I'll give you a peek at my current work-in-progress and see if any one can offer some advice:

This is the case I made for my new Crackberry.  I like it, but it needs something to finish it.  Steve says I should continue the red from the button flap as a stripe down the middle.  I like that idea, but the case is already sewn--I don't know how to put a strip of fabric on there without taking the whole thing apart.  I think my options are fabric paint or iron-on applique, but of what?  A body for the head button?  Think about it.  Get back to me.

Friday Find: Summer of No Pants - A Declaration!

Jeans.  I wear jeans every. single. day.  A little while ago, I went to a play place with my boys and I looked around at all of the moms there with me.  Jeans.  All of them.  Jeans and no make-up and ratty t-shirts and limp hair.  Frump city.  I fit right in.  Little Miss Frumpy and the Dumpy Frumps!  It made me so sad.  I thought of my mother and how she would disapprove.
I left that play place with a resolution.  This summer shall be The Summer of No Pants!  No pants, no jeans, all summer.  Since my boys flank the seasons rather nicely, I've decided that from Milo's birthday (June 17) to Huck's (September 22) it will be skirts and dresses only, all summer!  Unless it would be dangerous or impractical (say, if I plan on doing handstands on a motorcycle).  Or laundry day.  I may wear pants on laundry day so that I can wash all of my skirts and dresses.  Otherwise, NO PANTS!  And thus, it hath been writ.

So, in preparation for The Summer of No Pants, I've decided to do a Friday Find! Gasp! Shock!  I know, right?  I stopped doing a weekly Friday Find because it took a lot of Internet research time that I don't have right now.  Plus, I ended up spending a lot of money because of all of the time I was on Etsy.  But I'll occasionally bring the feature back when something strikes my fancy bone.  I have been digging around for tutorials and inspiration on skirts and dresses.  I'll definitely be buying some new digs, but I would like to make some, as well.  I've got three months to crank out some cute stuff!
So here they are, my Friday Finds for The Summer of No Pants Inspiration:

High-Waisted Pencil Skirt from Pants
This is a great, simple tutorial.  I have a bunch of old slacks from my office days that are too nice to get rid of, but are not appropriate every day Mommy wear.  I think I'm going to hack up a couple of them and make some cute pencil skirts.  I'm digging the high waisted thing that's happening right now, too.

The Sew Weekly Blog
What can I say?  This blog is pure awesome.  The blog author is cranking out one dress per week, and by the end of the year she hopes to fill her closet with only handmade clothes.  Most of the dresses are made from vintage patterns and vintage materials.  And they are gorgeous!

Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics
I bought this book a few years ago when I was very new to sewing.  I enjoyed it then, but after awhile it got buried on my bookshelf and forgotten.  I recently dug it out, and I am once again excited to try out several of the projects. It is not a book of patterns, but rather a guide on how to measure, cut, ruffle, pleat and customize several different kinds of skirts.

The Marie Skirt on Burda Style
Burda Style is such a great source for free and almost-free patterns.  This one looks easy and versatile.  I just hope I don't end up all crooked like this poor girl!

Pretty Much Anything From Anthropologie
Alright, alright.  So this one's a bit of a cop out.  But, seriously, I love too many of the dresses and skirts to single out one as a "find."  Although, I do really like this ruched skirt, and I think I could make knock-off pretty easily. . . someday I will have bags of money and I'll spend it all in this store! *sigh*

Needle Felted Egg Family

More needle felting! I find this craft to be rather soothing. It's one of those thing where I can just get into a zone and jab, jab, jab at the wool until I form something I like.   Mostly, I have been making little felted eggs.  My little egg family are likely destined to become cat toys, but for now the boys seem to enjoy them.  And Horray! for gender-neutral dolls!

Someone in my comments on the Argus post asked if I was forming my felted eggs around anything, and the answer is yes--I discovered that you can needle felt polyester fiber fill (the stuff you use to stuff pillows, dolls, etc.) in the same way you can felt wool.  Of course, you can do this with wool, too, if you prefer to go the all-natural route, but I like the firmness of the poly fill.  This is how you make an egg form:

First, grab a handful of polyester fiberfill.

Then squeeze the fill down, compressing as much air as possible out of it, and roll it into an egg shape.

The fully rolled fill looks like this. Hold onto it tightly until you can secure it with the felting needle.

Finally, being very careful not to stab yourself, start jabbing at the egg until it is the the shape you want it to be.  Jab at it until it hold well and is larger than you want the final project to be--it will continue to compress as you needle at it when you add the wool roving.

And that's how I make the egg forms.  Easy!  I cover the form in wool roving and jab some more until they look good, doing large color fields first and adding tiny details last.

The other question someone asked me is if I plan to sell any of these, and alas, the answer is probably no.  I could do a whole huge post on why I don't do much with my Etsy shop or sell my wares at craft shows and consignment shops, but the short answer is that selling my crafts for profit as a business doesn't suit me.  I've tried it many times, exploring many avenues, and in the end I'd just rather not do it.  I keep my Etsy shop up as a place to put extra things that I make that need a nice home, but I never, ever, ever plan on making a profitable business out of selling my crafts.  And I don't do custom orders, so please don't ask.  There is nothing I find more stressful than a custom order! 

And Winner Is. . .

Random.org chose lucky number 19


That's you, Coffeedog!

Congratulations! Argus will fly off to his lovely new home this week.
Thank you to everyone who participated!

Fanny Pack

Check it out! I made a fanny pack! Man, it's amazing how every time I think those words, they make me cringe. It seems that the Artsy Fartsies over at Etsy call them "hip sacks" now, which sounds much more. . . hip. And you know me, I'm a hippy hipster!
I made this bag out of necessity. If there is one thing that I don't like, it is a huge purse. I have a tendency to fill up my purses with as much crap as I can fit in them. On more than one occasion, and this is true, I've found a half-eaten burrito in my purse. In order to avoid situations like that, I try to keep my purses small, but that's hard to do when you have two kids who could need a diaper, snacks, sunscreen or a toy car on a moments notice. In recent years I have found my purse/diaper bag getting bigger and bigger, and it had been driving me nutso. I finally decided that there are plenty of activities that we go to that do not require hauling around a massive luggage set. I wanted something that could hold one diaper, a small baggie of wipes, and my bare necessities: wallet, keys, cell phone and chapstick. I loved the Artsy Clutch from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, but I needed something hands-free. So I innovated a bit, changed the dimensions to fit my needs and added D-rings to the sides so that I could slip it onto my belt loop. I also squared off the bottom (using directions from the same book's Simple Tote project) and added a couple of pockets inside.
It's exactly what I need, and I use it all of time now, almost always leaving my massive diaper bag at home.

Next up: I've been playing more with needle felting and I'll answer some of the questions from the comments on Argus. Did you enter to win him yet?

Giveaway!

I was going to wait until next week to do this, but I'm so doggone excited about this one that I had to post right away! I recently had my two-year Blogoversary for this blog, and I hit 100 Google Followers, so I've decided to celebrate with a giveaway! And since Easter is about a month away (and I love, love, love Easter eggs) I wanted to make a cute Easter egg animal with my new needle felting kit.



This is Argus. This little peacock is my first needle felting project and he could be yours! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. That's it! No extra stuff this time. Also, please note that Argy here is for decorative purposes only and he's not intended for use as a toy (he's a bit delicate).

Here are the dirty details:

Giveaway closes on Sunday, March 14, 2010, at 11:59PM PST. (Comment datestamp must be recorded by that date/time)
Winner will be chosen by random.org and will be announced on Monday, March 15, 2010.
This giveaway is open to US participants only. (Sorry International folks, shipping will be a little higher on this one :)
I will announce the winner on my blog and make every attempt to contact the winner (you may wish to leave your email address in your comment, or a place where I can message you via facebook, twitter, etsy, etc.) If the winner doesn't respond within 10 days, a new winner will be chosen.


Good luck!

Monster Art Totes

We recently had some friends (twin boys) turn 3-years-old. Their mama is very crafty and always puts a lot of time, thought and care into entertaining. We were super excited about their monster-themed birthday party, but unfortunately The Dreaded Snots invaded our house and we were forced to miss the party. Boo!



In between wiping noses, I did manage to squeeze out these two art totes and get them wrapped and delivered to the party on time! They are very simple lined tote bags made from fabric from my stash. The monsters are made with polar fleece and eco felt. I stuffed each tote with a sketchbook and the monster teeth are made of six mini twistable crayons. There are extra little pockets next to the "teeth" that could accommodate a few more crayons, markers or pencils.

Cheddar Cheese Bread

Recently, my friend Miranda over at An Austin Homestead debated over whether to buy a bread machine or a pressure canner. I sang the praises of my bread machine, but, alas, I was outnumbered by the Dern Hippies who claimed that bread machine bread isn't as good as the stuff you shove your dirty little fingers into. You're wrong, Hippies! And I shake my fist at you and your wrong-ness!
Seriously, I LOVE my bread machine. Making bread without one is a messy pain in the what what? You have to totally sanitize your counters, then get flour and sticky bread dough all over them. The bread machine makes homemade bread easy. Generally, I do not actually bake bread in my machine. I use the dough setting, and then shape and transfer my dough to a bread pan, give it a final rise and bake in the oven. I also always keep an eye on the dough through the first kneading cylce to make sure all of the ingredients get blended in nicely, and that my doughball is the right consistency. Then I walk away and let it do all of the hard labor because, let's face it, I wasn't built for hard labor.

This is my recipe for Cheddar Cheese Bread. I adapted it from another recipe that had powdered milk and no egg in it, but I prefer to put "real" ingredients in my bread so I altered it. This bread, by the way, made the best sandwich bread for a grilled cheddar cheese sandwich I have ever had! Onward to the recipe!



Cheddar Cheese Bread
Bread Machine to Oven

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup milk, preferably whole milk
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 Tbs. butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. white sugar
1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast

For wash:
1 egg white lightly beaten with 1 Tbs. water

Warm milk in microwave 30 seconds - 1 minute, until warm to the touch, but not hot. Combine all ingredients in the bread machine according to manufacturer directions (usually wet ingredients, then dry, then form a well and add yeast). Set to "Dough" setting. Check dough during first knead to make sure doughball is the proper consistency. It should hold together well and roll around nicely in the machine. If it is too sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time. If it is dry and flaky, add water or milk one tablespoon at a time.

When the cycle is complete, punch down the dough, pull it out and shape it to fit into 2 greased loaf pans. Cover and leave dough to rise in pan until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375F.

Lightly brush dough with egg wash. Bake in 375F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when you tap it.

Eat two loaves of warm bread in one sitting. Mmmmmm.

My Etsy Shop

Thank you for your interest in my handmade goodies. My little Etsy shop is not a primary focus for me. It is a place for me to put the results of whatever crafty obsession I'm currently into, or to destash my overflowing supplies. Sometimes the shop is full, sometimes it is empty. It all depends on my mood and where I am in my life.
Please note that I do not take custom orders!
I find it super stressful. Sorry!

Thanks for having a look.