The Scrolly Dress

I'm sorry that I don't have a model for this dress :(

(I always love seeing how the finished project looks actually worn).  

I decided to make this dress for one of my friends' daughter (surprise, surprise it's not a baby shower gift!).  I wanted to make her something a little dressy and I've always loved how nice and lady-like shift dresses are.  Of course I couldn't make a plain Jane shift dress; I found some fabric with a cute pattern on it and added some ruffles and a contrasting hemline (I'm not really sure what you call the bottom piece?).

Cat Vomit Exercise

I noticed this in the core exercise library on Exercise.com  

I had to do a double-take when I saw that one!  

Freezer Paper Stenciling

I'm not going to reinvent the wheel and pretend that this is something new and great. Freezer paper stenciling has been around for quite some time now, and thankfully there are already a few really awesome and detailed tutorials already out there:

Made's "Tutorial: Freezer Paper Stencil, 'Makenna Loves Goldfish" 

Boss Sanders' "Freezer Paper Stenciling - A Tutorial"

Stay at Home Artist's "Stencil with Freezer Paper - (Harry Potter Tee)..."

LuluBelle's Couture "Liven Up Your T-Shirts with Freezer Paper"

As you know from one of my earlier posts, I made a few burp cloths for my friend's baby showers and wanted to make them a little less boring.  Here is how I did that:

I Will Never be a Professional Sushi-Roller =/

As my summer vacation draws closer and closer to an end, I decided last weekend that I wanted to take advantage of what little time I have left by doing a few things now that I won't have time to do during the school year.  

One of said things is practicing with my Grandma cooking a few of her recipes.  My grandma is a native of Okinawa, Japan and happens to be an amazing cook.  Not only will I need to literally practice cooking the food, but I will also need lessons in how to find and purchase the ingredients (being able to read Japanese would make this part much easier)!  My wonderful cousin decided to begin this process several years ago by creating a recipe book that included pictures of the cooking steps, as well as the ingredients.  My grandma has so many delicious recipes that my cousin is still adding to the book to this day!

I figured, if I'm going to be learning these recipes for grandma, I might as well document it so I can enjoy these recipes for years to come and share them with my friends!  

Spit Happens

Need a quick and easy baby shower gift?  Burp cloths are your answer!

I included a few great tutorials to get you started:

Table Runner with Pointed Ends

I've had some cute fabric laying around (for quite some time) that was meant to be used to make a table runner for my formal dining room table. I finally decided on a pattern and started on it a few days ago.  The pattern I chose was cute, but I encountered a big problem: I needed to bind edges that weren't exactly 45 degrees (not to mention that this is my first time trying to double bind). Thankfully I found AliciasAttic's YouTube video, which was very helpful in explaining how to do this.  I was also lucky enough to find a couple other tutorials on binding which helped me to visualize how to do it:

Sew4Home's "How to make a mitered corner with your bias tape" 

Diary of a Quilter's "Quilt Binding" tutorial 

Quilting in the Rain's "Binding & Blind Stitching Tutorial"

I wanted my table runner to be reversible, but I completely messed that up!  I probably should've extended the seam allowance another half an inch or so when I sewed the binding on the first side; I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I did it, but it didn't work. =/

Made by Rae's "Newborn Basic Pants"

More baby shower projects...I know, I know!  This has been an obvious theme for my posts this summer, but I really enjoy sewing baby items/clothing because they're: 

- inexpensive (depending on the fabric you choose and whether or not it's on sale)

- relatively easy  (which is great for some one who is new at sewing...aka me)

- usually not too time-consuming (imperative for goal-oriented people...aka me)

Finally, you can find online picture tutorials and free patterns for almost any baby project you can think of!

How great is that?