Big Reveal of Small Sewing Room ~ Part 4

This is the final post about the "Big Reveal of Small Sewing Room" (are you guys tired of the same or similar pictures yet? I promise, there are other tutorial posts coming soon!). There are so many details in this tiny space, I just couldn't explain everything in one post.

Today I am going to talk about how I made the tiny clothes for the mannequin. She is only 3 1/4" tall, and I was contemplating how in the world I could make clothes for her. After thinking about it for a while I decided to do it just like a normal size dress, but with much simpler embellishment and help with glue. :)

{How to make the dress} --- Note: all the sewing was done with 1/8" seam allowance. If your mannequin is different size than mine, you have to adjust the size of the fabric strips.

1. Cut two strips of fabrics. One is for the top and measures 1 1/2"x 3" and the other one, for the skirt, measures 1 1/2"x 4 1/4".

* Top *

2. Take the fabric for the top and fold it in half and press with your finger. Open the fabric and make a small cut on the middle of the folded line. That will be the opening for the neck. Fold about 1/8" around the neck and the arm hole area as shown in the picture. Then sew.

3. Fold the fabric right sides together. Sew the sides.

4. Turn inside out. Press the sides with your fingers.

* Skirt *

5. Take the longer fabric strip and fold one of the long sides, 1/8th inch from the edge. Iron and sew. Then, using bigger stitches, sew the other side of the seam. Pull one thread to gather the fabric.

6. Fold the fabric right sides together and sew the seam. Open the seam and press with a finger.

*Putting it all together *

7. Slip the top onto the mannequin, and put the skirt on. It looks like the top is tucked in. Pull the thread to gather the fabric of the skirt piece and tie the end of the thread together.

8. I went through my laces and trims... in times like this, my tendency to "can't-throw-even-the-tiniest-things-away" comes in handy. I found a piece of lace and tiny ribbon flower. Use fabric Glue to glue them on. Oh! By the way, the pearl necklace she is wearing... I threaded 6 tiny beads to regular sewing thread and tied the ends. To keep the necklace on the mannequin, I used a small dot of fabric glue on the mannequin and set the thread of the necklace on it. In case you were wondering. :)

{Ironing board}

I bought the ironing board at Joann's. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but it was a really good deal. It had blue and white gin-gum check fabric on the board, but it didn't go with the room I was creating, so I peeled it off and added light gray fabric instead. The "quilt block" is 7/8". I guess from the ratio of the room, they are considered "big" blocks.

{Small quilt}

I didn't do a tutorial on this one, but the finished size of the quilt it 3"x 4". I also sewed this with 1/8" seam allowance. I used the same fabrics I used to make the fabric bolts, and they were already in strips, so zip, zap and zip! There is a quilt. I really enjoyed hand quilting this one.

Because I had so much fun doing this, I started looking at small objects such as bottle caps, toothpaste caps, spools... with a different set of eyes. Hmmm... What can I make them into for a tiny room... Ah, so fun!! I hope you enjoyed my posts about this small sewing room as much as enjoyed creating it. :)

Same Quilts, Different Personalities

I did it. I finally finished them. I pieced those quilts for my boys years ago, and they were in the drawer patiently waiting to be quilted... I have been in the mood for getting my hands on some unfinished projects, and these were one of them.

I am not really good at machine quilting yet and I didn't want to do tiny hand stitches on those quilts. Seriously, I know the boys will be making fortresses with them, drag each other on the quilts, eat with them; I wasn't going to spend hours and hours of my time.

I decided to hand quilt, but not with tiny stitches. I was inspired by some quilts in the book Material Obsession... I decided to hand quilt with big stitches (in the book, Kathy recommend to use perle cotton No.8 for this style of quilting).
It went fast, and I was able to finish both quilts in a couple weeks!

They are the same quilts, so I decided to do different quilting designs on them to make it easier for the boys to know which one is who's.

For Christopher, I did random circles...


For Michael, I did a cross pattern with quilting on the edges of the rectangles...


It is so interesting to see that the difference in quilting design gave a different feel to each quilt.
People often ask me if my boys are twins(they are two years apart), because they look alike; although, their personality is so different from one another.
Just like this quilt...they look alike, but they have thier own charactor. I think they fit perfectly for them.


They are trying out their new quilts. Don’t they look like a couple birds on a telephone wire? :)

Yard Sale Postponed and Finished Quilt

I announced that the Japanese disaster relief yard sale is on Saturday the 9th, but due to the weather (it snowed today, can you believe it?), whoever is in charge of making decisions had to postpone it ‘til the 23rd. So, don't go to the high school, we won't be there! :)

Meanwhile, we have been given more time to look for items to sell at the yard sale. We will be soo ready by the time the 23rd comes.

I was working my tail off to finish up the quilt in time. BIG thanks to my dear friend; she machine quilted it for me. She did such a great job; it would be a lie if I did not say that I was not tempted to keep it for my couch...



I finished binding, and I was wondering what kind of tag I should make for this quilt...and I came up with this;


When I first pieced this quilt, I didn't imagine that this quilt would be used for something like this. I am so glad that there is something I could offer.

Kelley (I don't think she has a blog that I can link to) emailed me one day saying that she would like to donate her quilt and matching pillow that was in a book called "Cuddle Up Quilt". She didn't specify what for, but I decided to use her items for the raffle too. Isn't she so nice? Thank you so much Kelley!


Also, Papgena Modeit emailed me to tell me that Nicole from The Sleepy Time Gal is doing great things for the children in Ishinomaki (the area many people died). She has a Japanese friend, and her friend who lives in Ishinomaki is a school teacher there (her name is Sachiko too). She told her friend that after the tsunami, many parent didn't come to pick up their children...how heart breaking is that for the children waiting...

She is taking care of those children, and there is a great need for supplies. Nicole is calling out to you to help send one box to Japan. Because of her effort, 170 boxes have been shipped so far. If you are looking for a hands on way to help, this is it. Head over to her blog to find out more details on what they need, and how you can do this. We can all contribute to make a difference!

I am just so impressed with many great people out there I didn't even know about.

Thank you everyone for being so kind, generous and wonderful!

Tying with Love

I went to the quilt tying service that April coordinated yesterday. I was only there for one hour or so, but I am so glad I went.

I was so touched that so many people were there to help. April told me at one point there were about 75 people tying quilts! Because it was basically an open house style, people came and went. I bet more than 75 people came.


Because of the lighting, I don't have many good pictures, but here are some I want to share with you all. April is busy sewing away. She must be so busy getting ready for the quilt market in May as is... I just admire her kindness and determination to help.



Look at these helping hands...



I know many of them had other places to go, or things to do, but they were here working happily. (You guys are so awesome!)


I also noticed many young girls too, how wonderful to learn the value of service at an early age.




I don't know exactly how many quilts were made (because some people took them home to bind them at home), but I am sure there were lots. I brought a couple quilts home to finish too.


Also, April wanted me to spread the word that she will have a bunch of kits for making quilts to donate. If you are interested in making them to help out, please contact her through her blog.

Let me say thank you all for doing this. Also to all the people out there trying to make a difference, I just want to say "THANK YOU!!!" on behalf of other Japanese people... The earthquake was a horrible disaster, and I wish it never happened, but seeing people come together to show compassion and help is amazing.

It gives me some comfort to know that (I hope shipments will arrive to Japan right away!) these quilts are made with lots of love and will warm some people in Japan. Now, I’m off to work on the quilts I brought home. :)