Doorway Puppet Theater

We're still out and about visiting family and friends, but I have internet now!  Woo hoo!  Sorry for the no show yesterday.

Two summers ago I saw an idea for a puppet theater in a Country Living magazine.  I loved the idea and decided to make it for my niece and nephews.  I never took any pictures of it before I sent it off for their birthdays.  While we were visiting them last week in California, they put the theater up and got out their puppets.  Here is the one from the Country Living magazine.

{image}

And here is the one I made in action.

It was a really simple project!  Plus, what's better than a gift that inspires imagination and creativity!  For instructions on how to make a doorway puppet theater, see here.

Baby Blocks

I was going through some old posts of mine and found a link I had posted to a tutorial for plush baby blocks.  The post was titled "Distractions"...I was trying to think of ways to occupy my time waiting for Rilo to arrive.  I find it funny now because the date of the post was February 19th, 2010.  I went into labor later that night and had Rilo the next day.  Needless to say, I never got around to making the blocks until now.

They were really simple to make.  I think if I would make these again, I would make the squares a few inches smaller than the tutorial suggests...they are pretty big (but still fun)!  I added two bells inside as well.  Rilo loves them!

Paper Bag Skirt

Just another project to add to my list.  This skirt, in an adult version! 

{image}

Rilo and I are on our way to Arizona today!  Can't wait to see family (most of whom haven't even met Rilo Jane yet) and throw a fabulous party, for the fabulous Martha! 

I have two goals for when we get back:

1.  Finally take photos of my $200 Rental Redesign.  The summer is almost over!
2. Sew, sew and sew.  I'm feeling a little guilty about my fabric stash.  It's just sitting and collecting cobwebs (quite literally, Chicago is pretty buggy!). 

Early Birthday

Adam's Mom sent me my early birthday presents.  Two sewing books!  I've had my eye on this book by Martha for awhile now:

And she also picked out this vintage book called Sew Retro.

I've been flipping through them and I love them so far.  They both have some really great projects that I can't wait to start on!  Such thoughtful gifts!!

Dress Refashion: Part 2

I finally finished Rilo's portion of the dress refashion.  Originally I was going to make a dress, but after a few mishaps, it turned into a shirt.  It's not quite perfect yet, and needs a few little touches if she's going to wear it again, but I think it's cute.  It has a retro vibe to me.  Reminds me of Grease or something.

Before:

 After:

As you can see in the above photo, I had a little assistant.  Thanks to Josie for her "help"! :)

And in case you missed it, here's a link to Part 1.

Vintage Pillowcase Skirt

I recently picked up 2 vintage pillowcases that are a bit longer than a normal pillow case.  I was just fiddling with them a few days ago trying to decide what to do with them.  They're too long to make pillow case dresses for Rilo...I would just feel like I was wasting so much material.  I have found my answer and I am kicking myself for not thinking of it myself!  It's a woman's pillowcase skirt featured on May Arts.  So this is what I'll be tackling today!

  {found via One Pretty Thing via May Arts}

Dress Refashion: Part 1

I've finished the first part of my ripped dress refashion.  I'm still working on Rilo's little dress.  I attempted to sew it without my pins from my pincushion (it was missing!) and it was a disaster.  So I'm pulling out my stitches and trying again now that I've located the missing pincushion.  I just did a simple skirt for myself.  I'm not a red person, but I happen to like the primary colors of the skirt.

Before:

Part One After:

Sorry for the poor quality on both these pics!

Fabric.com Sale

Sadi gave me the heads up on a great sale on Fabric.com.  Hurry and checkout the sale on their Westminster fabrics.  They are $2.49 a yard!  Plus, if you spend $35 you get free shipping and you can use the code ANNV1 for an extra 20% off!  Here are a few that I ordered! 

I actually got this in 2 other colors too!  I'm sure I can find something to use them for.  Two others I picked up:

Sale ends July 26th!  Check it out before it's over!

Refashion

I picked up this red dress at a thrift store a few weeks ago.  Upon examining it more closely at home, I noticed a small hole near the waist.  Boo!  But luckily it was only $2, so it wasn't a total waste.  Plus, inspired by Melissa's awesome refashions, I'm going to attempt to turn it into a skirt for me and a dress for Rilo.  I'm blogging this now, in hopes that it will put pressure on me to finish it up today.  Hopefully, hopefully, I'll take some pictures of the finished product later today!

Here is the before:

The stripes are white, blue and yellow, thought it's hard to tell.   Wish me luck!

Fourth of July Dress

I was able to whip up a dress for Rilo just in time for the holiday.  I used the pillowcase tutorial again (except this time I didn't have a pillowcase, just some fabric).  I also added pockets from the scraps of the armholes.

I love the Joel Dewberry fabric...perfect for the 4th, but not too themey that she can't wear the dress again.  I also really like the pillowcase dresses because they allow room to grow.  I think she may be able to wear this dress for several months to come!

For more pics, see Rilo Jane's blog.

Pillowcase Dress

Woo hoo!  I broke my sewing dry spell!  I picked up this vintage pillowcase over the weekend and decided to use Susan's tutorial.  It is an extremely simple project...I think I spent maybe a half hour total working on it.  I can't wait to put Rilo in it!

Baby Girl Tutorials

I've been in a sewing funk I suppose.  I have all this fabric I've been amassing, but I haven't gotten around to using any of it.  I'm trying to inspire myself so here are a few tutorials around the web:

{tights }

{ man's t-shirt dress }

{pillowcase dress}

{bubble skirt }

Bow Pencil Skirt

Heart heart heart this pencil skirt with a big bow on it!  Kudos to Liz from Say Yes to Hoboken!

{images}

It's just the jumpstart I need for this week!  I picked up some fun vintage fabrics at the thrift store over the weekend.  Now I need to start on some sewing projects I've been meaning to do!

From a Bed Sheet to a Dress

After a good couple of washings, I turned the Salvation Army bedsheet in to a cute little dress for Rilo Jane.  I don't think I'm quite done with it...I want to polish it up a little bit but I love it so far.  I used one of her other dresses for a sizing guide.  The bottom piece of the dress is from the elastic of the sheet.  I attached it by sewing onto the original seam of the elastic.

I really love the print.  It has dahlias which are my favorite!  I think there is enough material left for a shirt for me!

T-Shirt Dress: Baby Version

Erica sent me a link to this great tutorial over on Smile and Wave.  It's a baby dress made just like the T-shirt dress, except using a onesie.  Adorable! (Did I have enough links in 2 sentences?!)

{image}

It's about time I start working on and posting some of my own sewing projects!  I amassed a ton of fabric the last couple of weeks...time to put it to use!

Last Chance

Today is your last chance to enter the skirt giveaway!  Winner will be announced tomorrow!

Burda Style

I was looking through some of my bookmarks and stumbled upon the link to Burda Style.  I had completely forgotten about this awesome site!  Tons and tons of sewing patterns for you to download.  You download them right to your computer and then print them out.  Some are free and the ones that aren't are usually around $5.  You can also look at pictures of what people have made using the patterns. With all of my new fabric I just bought, I am definitely going to try some of these out!


The Jenny Skirt

The Coffee Date Dress

Kristen

Desira

Here is the Desira pattern in real life!

{Image}

Giveaway: Custom Skirt

*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

Here's the thing...I bought this adorable Amy Butler fabric to make a skirt for our family photos.  But I have way too much fabric left over!  It will just sit and sit in my growing fabric stash until I eventually find something to use it for.  So instead, I thought I would do a little skirt giveaway.  Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a skirt, like the one I made for myself.  If you win, you'll give me your measurements (or the measurements of the person you want to give the skirt to) and I'll make the skirt custom for you and mail it out to you...near or far.  It's perfect for the spring/summer season!  Anyone is welcome to enter, whether I know you or not!

The fabric is from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern 2 collection.  It's the optic blossom in gold.

I think the colors look a bit bolder in the above picture than in real life.  Here's my skirt:

Leave a comment by Thursday, April 15th at 11:59 MST for a chance to win!  The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Friday, April 16th.

Family Photos

Melanie and I did our picture exchange yesterday.  It was so fun!  I finished my elastic band skirt just in time before the shoot.  I bought more Amy Butler fabric to coordinate with the fabric I used for Rilo's dress.  More on the skirt (plus a little giveaway) tomorrow!  For now, how cute is little Rilo Jane's dress?!

See more photo's on the baby blog here.

Happy Easter!

Hope you all have a great Easter weekend! Let's hope I can finish this little dress in time for our family picture exchange my friend Melanie and I are doing on Sunday!