Sunday, March 9, 2008

Bottom o' the pile

I was inspired to do some 'bottom of the pile' sewing. You know the stuff that has been sitting around fooooreeevvver. Well maybe not forever, but definately has been languishing only waiting for me to cut it up. So I completed not 1 but FOUR projects. The boys have conveniently decided to nap at the same time this last week, so I devoted this time to sewing. Ask my brother, he has been visiting and I think we had leftovers almost every night! LOL!

First up:
A very well used tank top, this was for recycling, reusing sew a-long. It has seams coming undone, but on a whole, in pretty good shape.















After! Added some fabric on the hem to finish it and add some pizzazz. I left the side open because the tee is stretchy and the print is woven, so not stretchy. :)





And the back! I love the green tree, I just did a straight stitch around the edge in hopes of the fabric fraying a bit and looking leafy.


Another Amy Butler Swing Bag. This is the BEST pattern for beginners, in my opinion, of course! Only two pattern pieces to complete the bag and super easy to follow directions. I have had this fabric for a bit, all paired up and ready to go, when I grabbed the orange dots to use in the bird bags from the previous post. I had juuuust enough to cut the swing bag, but man was it close. So I ended up getting three projects out of one yard of fabric!!

And on to the babywearing stuff:


This is a pouch that I had the fabric for a while, but just hadn't got around to making. The brown fabric is embroidered and has little sequins sewn on. Pouches are really easy to sew, but they have to fit, otherwise are a pain to use. This is the second pouch that I have made that fits, so I am pretty darn excited!!



This fabric hasn't been sitting around, but Kev got it this weekend for me so I would have something to do while he was gone! :D What a sweet guy!


This is buckle tai, like a mei tai but has buckle instead of long straps. Kev actually really likes this print and wanted a blue carrier so this is technically his. But I might not be able to give it up!! I ended up attaching the straps at the waist instead of the sides of the body of the carrier, because I was up sewing waaay too late and forgot about attaching the buckles. It worked out pretty good for an oops!
Last but not least I made a slipcover for the avocado mei tai. The reverse (red side) is super soft minky, very snuggley for the weather we have been having!

Whew! I am knackered now! Sorry if the pics and text are spaced funny, I am having a difficult time adding pictures and text and stuff keeps going all wonky.

Love Annmarie

Monday, March 3, 2008

It's in the Bag

That's right! The lovely minky and birds hint...it's a bag. Actually I made two bags from the Amy Butler In Town Bags pattern. Very nice pattern easy to follow and the results are pretty good (to toot my own horn). If you sew or want to sew, I can't tell you enough how much I enjoy Amy Butler's bag/purse patterns, all (that I have tried) are easy to follow and geared toward beginners.

I know what you are thinking, 'didn't she say she's making something for little i? Isn't he a boy? A bag/purse for a boy?' Well, he need to carry stuff like crayons and paper, or his little cars. And he apparently cannot just have one for each hand, nope he's gotta bring them all. He has been using mine, and well, I want them back!



In his favorite color: orange!


I thought if anyone can pull of a minkee lined bag it's a two year old!

I think he likes it!






















I stablized the minky with some lightweight interfacing, it is stretchy, not a feature I wanted for this project, and it helped control some of the shedding.



Here's the one for me! Yes you are seeing yet another fabric covered button... and a hair tie, I was feeling lazy and the tie matched the bag so I used it for my closure.

The inside. There is another pocket on the other side too.


Little i, my official bag tester. In case anyone needed to know, a legos combine fits in this bag!

















The corners of the bottom of the bag aren't perfectly crisp, but they are pretty good. Unfortunately, this bag doesn't fit all of the usual items I need when going out with two boys, but it will be nice for a day out by myself. :)

The whole lot altogether. The one on the left I did awhile ago, but I wanted to include it as it is the same as little i's bag. But looks so different (amazing what different fabric does for a project!)

Love Annmarie

Oh and happy March! March Madness will be upon us shortly!!