Craft Hope: Christmas stockings!

It has been awhile since I devoted some craft time to help others. I had a blast making Christmas stockings for Craft Hope's last project, stockings for tornado victims. The stockings will be filled with goodies and brought to families that lost their homes to a tornado. I can't imagine what that is like to loose everything to a natural disaster.




I used sewing instructions for the stockings in Ready, Set, Serge. When I first got my serger, I was able to watch a video of the author making a few things with her serger. I absolutely loved the way she layered the fabric prior to sewing. For the stockings, the lining and the main fabric are each layered right sides together and then placed together and sewn. Then the cuff is sewn into a circle and sewn to the top of the stocking...taking 3 seams total! I would have made two different stockings then stuffed the lining inside the main stocking. Thanks to this author too, I figured out why I couldn't fix the tension on my serger...life changing.

McCall's 5843

I got this dress pattern last summer thinking it would be great for maternity as well as normal Jenni size. I never got around to it while I still had the Jane belly and then I realized it had a side zipper which would make nursing Jane a bit of a chore. Even though I am still nursing Jane, it's obviously not as often as a newborn and I just really wanted to make this dress. I love it! It is so comfortable and relaxed. But I was right it is a pain to nurse in. Next summer, this dress will be worn often!



I have been loving using my serger for clothes sewing and I got a twin needle for my sewing machine. It's SO FUN!



Pattern: McCall's 5843, View B.

Fabric: 100% cotton from JoAnn's

Mods: I realized I was supposed to buy 60" wide fabric but only got 48" so I didn't have enough for the full skirt pattern. I had to reduce the middle of the pattern (center fold) by 15 inches. There is a lot of fabric in the skirt so I don't think it made much difference. If I were to make this pattern again, I would definitely add an inch or two to the length of the bodice.






It's supposed to cool down this week and be rainy. I don't mind the rain but I have so many green tomatoes still, I just want a little more sun so they ripen.

MADE sewing

I pretty much am in awe of everything that Dana of Made sews. It's insane what she busts out, with no pattern!! I have made a few skirts from her tutorials, the market skirt, simple skirt, and the circle skirt. I have been longing to try her 90 minute shirt and the flat front pants.

90 minute shirt. This was fun to make and sort of challenging to try. But it wasn't as hard as it looked and I do want to make more as I gained confidence from this first shirt for Jane. I used one of her onesies that fit her well now for my pattern and then added on a bit to the pattern to make it bigger. I ended up adding on too much and it is too big for now. I still really liked this technique and would like to try more shirts. In our move to Oregon, we had to get rid of a lot of surplus so we have no old clothes for me to doctor up. But I am thinking I could try with some fabric and do the hems myself.



Flat front shorts! I am a huge fan of this technique, HUGE! It was not hard at all and again I gained even more confidence for sewing clothes that don't scream homemade. Lilly is not a fan of jeans, anything that she can't bend down easily in to play or pants that fall off her hips and bum. After making these flat front shorts, I am feeling very confident that I can make her some "jeans" in a light weight denim. Those are on my ever growing sewing list.





Elastic dress. There are so many people who rave about elastic thread. I have tried a few projects with it and it is nice but it is not as easy as some of these tutorials rave about. I usually end up having to pull and gather the thread to get as much ruching as I want. But then I usually end up pulling too hard and break some of the gather stitch. I still haven't figured out what I am doing wrong or if it is the way my bobbin fits in my machine. But here is a dress for Lilly. It has some issues but I do love the braiding for the straps. I want to make myself a shirt like this.

McCall's 5613

There has been a lot of sewing going on over here. A LOT. I got this McCalls pattern awhile back at one of Joann's 99 cent sales. Lilly and I picked out the main fabric but then we decided that it needed more color so Lilly picked out some more fabrics. I love how she deems anything "so beautiful" that has a rainbow in it.





I really liked this pattern. It was so easy to construct and didn't need any special notions. Plus Lilly loves it! I think it will work for the the cooler months too with some layering.

Pattern: McCall's 5613, view D, size 6

Fabric: main floral fabric and blue pocket fabric, bought at Joann's; yellow and green solids, kona cotton; pink floral, given to me

Freezer paper stenciling and a skirt

I know that freezer paper stenciling has been done over and over but thanks to this Mama, I got to try freezer paper stenciling with the Circuit cutting my stencil! Such fun!! I could still use some more practice and I got paint off the stencil on the purple shirt which looks horrible now in these photos, I hope it doesn't look that bad after its washed, I didn't set the paint like the rest of the shirt.

Some shirts were gifts and I still have a few more to work on:

dad's high school football number, baby's dad loves his old number


a new big sister and her new little sister





Jane wanted one.



Lilly designed her own shirt. "Rarity" is her newest My Little Pony and she is in LOVE with it. obviously. She also designed that skirt. I was going to make her a 3 tier skirt but as I was getting the iron set up, Lilly positioned all the fabric and declared the skirt fabric so beautiful. So I made it as she requested, plus she wanted a super stretchy pocket so "Rarity" could come with her everywhere.

striped smock top

I have a bunch of yarn to use up from Lilly's rainbow sweater...red, purple, light blue, green, yellow. Thanks to a new vest for Jane, the yellow is all used up!




pattern: striped smock top (free on ravelry!), size 18 month, my ravelry project page

yarn: berroco vintage, yellow and light blue