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?).

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:

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?  

New Bed for the Doggies ♥

I've wanted to buy a nice large bed for my doggies for some time now.  I looked around at various places (Petsmart, Wal-Mart, etc) for a reasonably priced and okay-looking bed. What I found were fairly priced beds that wouldn't match my decor at all or beds that were adorable, but way over-priced.  I finally decided to just make my own.  I stumbled upon this pattern on the Better Homes and Gardens web-site:

Newborn Babies = Lots of Diaper Changing!

As I briefly mentioned in my "Sweet Little Dress" post, I recently went to one of my good friend's baby shower. In addition to making her a couple cute dresses, I also wanted to make her a more functional gift.  I searched all around the internet for ideas, and that's when I stumbled on Sew Dang Cute Crafts' Diaper Stacker Tutorial!  I read through it and thought to myself, "I can do this!  How hard can it be?"

Here is what I ended up with:

(Edit: This project was featured on Sew Dang Cute - click here!)

leilia & ben "Sweet Little Dress for Babies"

Where does your inspiration for sewing start?  Mine usually begins while I'm surfing the web and happen to stumble upon (I mean literally, I don't use the "stumbleupon" site) a cute or interesting picture of something I know that I can sew!  My recent inspiration began when I came upon this picture on Pinterest:

Cupkateer's Pottery Barn Pillow Knock-Off's

I was over at Someday...Crafts and happened to stumble upon Cupkateer's guest blog post and thought, what a great tutorial!  The pillows looked ridiculously cute and I needed a unique gift to give to someone, so I decided to give it a try!

Here's what I ended up with:

Continue reading to see pictures of how I constructed it!

Baby Shower Gifts

I recently attended the baby shower of a good friend that I used to work with.  She is having a little baby boy soon and is going to be an absolutely wonderful mother!  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start on a fun and new sewing project!  I searched around the internet to find tutorials on various baby shower gifts.  I decided on making her a matching burp cloth, pocket bib and appliquéd tie onesie. I used Craftaholics Anonymous' tutorial here for the burp cloth, because I thought it was cute and practical (you're basically just "dressing up" a nice hand towel).  I used Prudent Baby's tutorial here for the pocket bib and Crap I've Made's appliquéd tie onesie tutorial here.

Pictures after the jump...

New Camera Strap Cover

I went to Joann’s yesterday to buy some material for another project, and they just happened to be having a great sale on fabrics! I wandered over to the clearance isle and this green zebra-stripped home decor fabric caught my eye. The home decor fabric was 50% off of the regular price of $9.99 per yard, so I snatched up a half of yard to use for a camera strap cover. I chose this fabric because it is a little more durable than regular cotton fabric.

I used Simply Modern Mom’s tutorial to create a basic cover that also included a small pocket for my lens cap. At first, I was going to attempt to try to make a strap that I had seen on one of I Heart Naptime’s Sunday Scoops that had ruffles on it (click here for picture), but I decided to stay simple with it so it wouldn’t be too difficult to add a pocket.

All-in-all, I’m very happy with the final product and my mother has already requested that I make one for her also! You can check out pictures of the process of putting it together after the jump.