Me Sew Crazy Projects

Good Afternoon, Jennifer here to report on two Me Sew Crazy tutorials I attempted recently. I follow Jessica's blog and love so much of what she creates! I finally took the plunge and tried out two of her tutorials.

For the first project, I made my Cupcake's Easter dress using the Spring Fever Dress tutorial. The tutorial was great, it provided a free pattern for sizes 2T - 5! For the most part, the tutorial was very clear. I did struggle with the back of the dress (which was one of my favorite parts of the dress!) but once I posted my question on the blog, Jess emailed me back with a more in depth explanation and I was able to work my way through it. Although the tutorial was clear and provided many pictures, I continued to struggle through the dress. I think I used my seam ripper more than I ever have on any other project. But, beside the back piece, all my mistakes were just not paying close enough attention while I was working - thank goodness for the seam ripper, right? If I made the dress again, I would probably make the skirt more of an A-line rather than straight, so it would look a little fuller. Other than that, I love how it turned out! Unfortunately, I was distracted and didn't take any pictures on Easter day of Cupcake wearing it. The next time she wears it, I will make sure to take some photos.

Close-up of the back of the dress

My second Me Sew Crazy project was The Bustle Backpack. I found this tutorial a while back and pinned it, knowing if I decided to make Cupcake a backpack, this had to be the one! With Cupcake being potty trained, I had less of a reason to lug a big diaper bag along, but I still needed something to carry a few items with us. I decided a backpack she could wear and I could carry would be perfect. I took Cupcake to JoAnn to pick out fabric. She originally chose a bright pink which I was fine with, then she pointed to several different colors and finally settled on a lime green.

This tutorial, just like the Spring Fever Dress was concise and clear. I was a little nervous that this was going to be a very time consuming project as I looked at all the little bustles all over the adorable backpacks Jess made. I went ahead and jumped in. Making the circles didn't take much time at all. It was a little monotonous sewing the circles on the backpack but it really didn't take too incredibly long. Once the circles were all attached, the rest of the backpack came together very easily. I got it done during two of Cupcake's naps and when I showed it to her she was very excited! She immediately wanted the bag and said she needed to put books in it. She filled it up with lots of books and carried it around all afternoon. It is a little big on Cupcake's shoulders, but I know that means she will grow into it. It has worked out really well when we are out and about and I love how it turned out!

Cupcake showing off her new "pack pack" as she calls it

Checking out her treasures

Thanks Jessica for two great tutorials. I can't wait to try more projects from her site!

Too Short Shirt to Dress

Good Afternoon, it is Jennifer. I am here to share a recent transformation I did for little Cupcake.

I ran across a tutorial on Make It and Love It, a blog I follow and love, on how to repurpose a shirt into a dress and decided I really needed to try it out! The dress she made was just way too cute and I couldn't resist. I found a shirt in Cupcake's closet that fit, but was just a little too short. I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I totally forgot. I had some fabric my Mom picked up for me (thanks Mom!) at Tuesday Morning, of all places, that I hadn't found a use for yet. I took a look, and thought it would match perfectly with her too-short shirt.

Looking super cool in her shades and new dress

Ashley's tutorial was great! It was easy to follow and provided lots of pictures that helped guide me through the process. She even taught me what a french seam was and how easy it was to do! I did struggle a little with getting the pleats right - I am not experienced when it comes to pleats. Because I struggled with the pleats, I changed how I attached the skirt to the shirt. Ashley's tutorial directs you to sew the skirt wrong side to the right side of the shirt, allowing the top of the pretty pleats you made show. It looks super cute on Ashley's version, but I realized mine would not look that cute. My pleats were not as pretty. So, I attached the skirt right sides together instead. I also decided to have the sash tie on the side, rather than the back, just for fun.

Perfect twirling skirt!

And that was it. A too-short shirt, transformed into a super cute dress! The first time I put it on my little darling, she said, "I look pretty in mine dress." Yes darling you do look very pretty :-)

Showing of the back

She insisted on wearing her necklace with the new dress

Big Boy Room...The Curtains!

My favorite part of the new big boy room is the curtains.  I really wanted to incorporate the road / car theme into the curtains, but wasn't sure how I was going to do that at first.  Then I thought about trying to make a road go across the curtains that then flowed into the vinyl stickers I had found.  At first I thought about making the curtains, but luckily found some at Target that worked out perfectly (saving me lots of time too).

Here is how I added the embellishments to the store bought curtains.

First gather your supplies:

Curtains (either home made or store bought), fabric for the road, and your normal sewing supplies.  (In this picture I show white fabric paint, but then after some experimenting I ended up using something different which I will talk about later.)

First I measured the width of the road on the vinyl stickers that I had bought.  I cut out strips of fabric a half inch bigger than that measurement.  I folded down both side of the fabric 1/4" and pressed to make a clean edge.

Then I realized that one strip of fabric wasn't going to fit the entire length of the curtain so I had to sew two strips together.  With right sides together sewing with a 1/4" seam allownce.

Press the seam open for a clean look.

Then press the top and bottom edges down again.

Here is what it looks like from the front, not too noticeable!

Lay the "road" out where you want it along the curtain.  My curtains had a hemline that worked perfectly to use as my guide.

I left about 1/2" overhang along one of the edges.

Then pinned the road down, leaving the excess only on one side.

I trimmed the excess off, and left a 1/2" to fold over the edge.

Top stitch the road to the curtain using a 1/8" seam.

With the two end edges, I folded them over 1/4", pressed, then folded that over the edge of the curtain to secure the raw edges.

Sew this down to finish off the edge.

The road is almost done!!  Here are the two curtains, they just need a little detail work.

To mimic the vinyl, I measured the white dashes and the space between them so that I knew how big to make them.

At first I thought I would use white puffy fabric paint, but I didn't like how it came out.  My mom suggested I use white iron on patches, since they already had the adhesive on them.  They ended up working out perfectly.

I cut the patches to the desired width.

Then cut them to the desired length.  I cut up a lot of these just to make sure I had enough.

I used a fabric marker to draw a line along where I wanted to iron on the patches.

Start the first patch along the line and about 1/2" from the edge.

From the first one I used the measurement I took at the beginning and started ironing on the next patch.

Repeat this step, until you have finished the entire length of the curtain.

The road is complete!  Now just add some cars and you are done.

I made the car out of felt using different Cricut templates I had cut out.  I used Wonder Under on the felt so that all I had to do was iron them onto the curtain.  The cars took a little bit of time, but I really liked how they turned out.

Hang up your new curtain and admire your work!

A quick note about the road on the wall: it's actually fabric!!!  I saw this tutorial on Positively Splendid (a blog that I love!) and knew I wanted to try this technique out.  It worked out perfectly and I am thinking of adding more....someday.

Big Boy Car Bedroom (Plus a Book Sling Tutorial)

Hello all, Sara here!  We recently moved our little guy into a big boy bed, which meant he "needed" a room makeover.  I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas to do in his room and found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest.

Here are some pictures of the finished product!

The play side of the room.  I made the book sling thanks to a tutorial from Pinterest (I am including a tutorial at the bottom of this post to show how I modified the original tutorial, thanks to Crafty Mama Beth's help!)

The accent wall with new curtains (tutorial to come soon!) and some fabric and vinyl decorations.

The dresser and nightstand are from IKEA.  They work out perfectly for his room, perfect size and colors.

Now for a tutorial on how to make this book sling.

When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew I wanted it in the new bedroom.  I even had some fabric that matched the color theme, I just hadn't figured out what I was going to do with it.

I used one yard of fabric, home decor weight.  It measured about 35" by 43" once I squared off the sides.  The original tutorial called for 1 1/3 yards of fabric, which I didn't have.  After talking to some of the other Crafty Mamas, Beth came up with an idea to make use of just one yard of fabric!!  Here is how I did it.

 Fold the short side in about half an inch and press.

 Sew along this edge with a 1/8" seam allowance (I always use the edge of my presser foot as my guide).

 Once both sides are hemmed, fold the piece of fabric in half, with the long edges matching up and right sides together.  If you have a stripe, like I did, make sure the stripes match up when you pin the side together. Sew using a 1/2" seam allowance.

I pressed this seam open, but you don't necessarily need to.  I just like the look of a pressed seam.  I also didn't finish the raw edges since I wasn't worried about fraying since the sling won't be moving.

Turn the sling so the right side is out.  You are almost done at this point.  I didn't get a picture, but measure how much seam allowance you will need for your curtain rod (I used a dowel rod, like she did in the original tutorial).  Mine allowance was about 1 1/2" as shown below.

Once you have determined the seam allowance, sew along both long edges of the sling where the curtain rod will go.  Then you are done.  All you have to do it put the curtain rods in and hang it up!!

Like the original post, we found the studs in the wall and hung up the curtain rod so the weight of the books and any potential pulling from kids wouldn't tear the sling down from the walls.  Now the sling does not hold that many books.  There are different kinds of double curtain rod holders out there that have different widths to them.  I was fine with having just a little space, since I knew this wasn't going to be the only place we had books in his room.

I loved making this new big boy bedroom for our little guy!

Sewing Machine Cover

Good Evening! Jennifer here to share my latest project.

I was sick for the past 5 days which was not fun at all! I finally started feeling better today and was able to get back to sewing. I have been saying for a long time I needed to make a sewing cover for my machine. Mine came with one, but it is big, bulky, and let's face it, not cute. I found a few tutorials on Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?!?). I ended up mostly using the tutorial from Naptime Journal while also checking out a similar tutorial from Stay-at-Home Artist. I used my favorite fabric along with another I really like both from Hobby Lobby. I had both in my supply so it was a super easy and fairly quick project. I say fairly quick, because I sewed the ribbon in wrong. Using my trusty seam ripper, I figured that out and fixed it. There were a few things I decided to do differently from the tutorials, I added quilt batting that I had on hand and top stitched it once I was done.

I absolutely love how it turned out!! It is so cute and was easy to make and will hopefully extend the life of my beloved machine by keeping dust away from it.

I liked the strap that Naptime Journal's version had that keeps the cover in place, rather than ties on both sides.

It's like a pretty present to open each time I go to sew - am I a dork or what??