10 cool sewn things

Usually I’m not that into decorative pillows, but this one’s adorable. And bonus points for making anything out of a t-shirt.

Tutorial for an adorable smocked gingham dress. Smocking scares the hell out of me.

Easy kids pants from a t-shirt from Rookie Moms. Why don’t I sew more? I should just be sewing all the time.

Cloth shoe pattern. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no shoes that fit Grady. Every shoe we’ve tried is too big, too small, or just impossible to put on. Her feet live outside the constraints of physical proportions.

Make a clothespin bag out of a curtain. I didn’t do much air-drying this summer, but am so excited to get back to it next year.

Make a reusable lunch bag out of a shower curtain. There are a lot of lunch bag tutorials out there, and this is by far my favorite. The others use waxcloth, which is just rediculously expensive.

Pattern for a strapless summer top. Love it.

Pouf! This is another exception to my no-decorative-pillows rule.

Craftzine made this great lesson about hems, which I really need to look into more closely. I have about 10 dresses waiting to be hemmed, and I’m too lazy and scared to start.

Amazing idea for a tote bag. And making log cabin squares is so much fun.

Written Nov. 13.

10 cool sewn things

Three dresses for three girls from angry chicken. Pictures like this make me think I could be convinced to have more children if I could be promised a swarm of girls.

Anna Maria Horner did a long informative post about quilting which I should probably read, but it included this photo that is just impossibly beautiful – it make the words unreadable for me.

Heinously cute homemade dress from Wee Wonderfuls.

I don’t know where these darlings are from, but I love them. And they look like they’d be pretty simple to make.

Do you think Grady would hate me if I used the same reusable wrapping for presents each Christmas? It’s such a great idea.

Tender.

I love the stitching on the trunk. Ug. I am not in the mood to be excited about sewing – is it horribly obvious?

Girl’s shirt from Wee Wonderfuls.

I probably should have read a post like this one about hand-quilting before I started quilting my purple and green monstrosity, but, you know, I didn’t wanna.

I think Grady would like these fabric nesting boxes.

10 cool outfits

She is my favorite of this batch. Can I try layering a huge scarf over a coat? Please? Also, can I have her face?

The pictures are the links.

10 cool embroidered things

Yeah! Am I right?! Found over at craft.

This is just heinously beautiful. Click here and look at the detail in the hair.

Drunk-broidery

There’s something so sensuous about a French Knot. How can you look at this and not want to rub it all over your face? By Alexia Brown, found via Mr. XStitch

I had a really emotional reaction to this one. Moved to tears, to be honest.

Yeah! Antithesis!

Here’s a post on how to embroider a French Knot if you want to create your own little patch of sumptuousness.

Woah woah woah. There is just too much amazing stuff out there.

Mustaches always remind me of my old friend Spencer. Anyway, free embroidery pattern!

Ug. This use of white space is too brilliant. Doesn’t that look like it would be fun to make? Also, it is a unicorn. A UNICORN.

Yes, this is an eleventh “tenth thing.” There were two cool pictures on one pretty page, so you get a bonus. A Tesla bonus!

10 cool sewn things

What with the childbirth and the breastfeeding, I’m a lot more comfortable with my body. Probably a bit too comfortable, as every time I wear a skirt or dress I’m much less aware and careful of how many people accidentally see my underwear. And the numbers are rising. So maybe I should make some of these ridiculously cute bloomers and retain a shred of modesty.

Toddler dress from a shirt by kojo designs. This tutorial requires a pretty specific shirt to begin with, but I’m sure now that it’s in my head someday I’ll see a similar shirt in some thrift store somewhere. Because this is pretty cute and Grady needs it. Poor girl. She’s going through a phase where she wants everything so much that it hurts. She’s this constant hurricane of want, and she’s finding it really frustrating.

Felted sweater becomes a bag from Not Dabbling in Normal. This is the first felted bag tutorial I’ve seen that I actually like. Those flowers are adorable.

Upcycle a skirt with ruffles tutorial from Craft. I don’t really see myself pulling this off, but it would be pretty great on a skirt for Grady in a year or two.

Petticoat tutorial by alisaburke. Aaaah! I need this, Grady needs this, Winston needs this – everyone needs one of these immediately.

A compendium of maternity sewing patterns from luvinthemommyhood. I tried to sew my own maternity clothes a total of one time. And it was a magnificent failure.

Lace applique tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff. This blog is a bit too sweet for my disillusioned bitter tastes, but this is a fantastic tutorial. It’s giving me dangerous ideas.

Strip quilt from whipup. Um. This is amazing. I may have just had some sort of hemorrage because this is too freaking amazing.

Abe Lincoln seed bead portrait by Eleanor Pigman. I want to touch it.

Forest flower dress from Posie Gets Cozy. This woman makes little girl dresses that are  … just too perfect. I have a bunch more saved for you, waiting to be put in yet-to-be-written posts.

These “10 cool …” posts are so peppy. I only write them when I’m in a good mood. And usually, when the pop up on the blog after weeks of sitting in the “scheduled” pile, they seem so foreign. But seriously. This stuff is amazing. The internet is amazing.

Um, I went to a thrift store.

I never really write about shopping anymore, though I continue to do it. Dressing my new post-pregnancy body continues to be difficult – this doesn’t mean my body is better or worse than before, just different. My years of experience knowing what something on a hanger would look like on my body are now kind of useless. And excuse my over-editing-to-compensate-for-bad-photography. Anyway,

Here’s what you can get at Saver’s on Memorial day for $90. If you get there early like I did, and leave your baby at home, that is.

Clothes for myself:

Lightweight cotton printed Forever 21 mini-mumu.

Grey SO skinny jeans, black Xhiliration dress, grey Gillian & O’Malley nightgown, maroon plaid Westernwear snap-up.

Clothes for baby:

Cherokee dress with pockets, 24m.

Yellow Baby Gap caftan, 3T. A toddler caftan! Love.

Baby Gap dress (3T), Kenneth Cole Reaction denim dress (18m), Cherokee dip-dye dress (3T), Baby Gap pink floral dress (2T), Brandless pink courdoroy dress (24m)

Old Navy blue floral tiered dress, 2T

Baby Gap denim jacket (2T), The Children’s Place sweater (12mo.), Carter’s fleece jacket (24mo.), Baby Gap fleece peacoat (18-24 mo.)

Ralph Lauren t-shirt (18 mo.), Baby Gap polka-dot t-shirt (2T), Genuine Kids blouse (18 mo.), Cherokee henley (3T), Cherokee cardigan (24 mo.)

Old Navy tank (18-24 mo.), sprockets t-shirt (3T), Blueberi Boulevard smocked blouse (2T), Plum Pudding Ltd smocked blouse (2T), Cherokee blouse (24 mo.)

Nick Jr. green pants (18 mo.), b.t. kids jeans (12 mo.), sprockets jeans (18 mo.), Disney leggings (18 mo.), tagless leggings (12 mo.), Hanes sweats (12 mo.), and Okie Dokie sweats (12 mo.).

Etcetera:

Books: “Chrysanthemum” by Henkes (an adorable book for Grady), “The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat” by Eric Lax (a father’s day present for my dad), “The Book of General Ignorance” by John Lloyd and John Michinson, “Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live” by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, “The Heart of a Woman” by Maya Angelou, “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy, and “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand.
A pillowcase to be used for the material – probably made into a dress for Grady.
Some stripperiffic brown heels.