Up Cycled Basket with Vintage Trim

Several years ago, I spray painted this basket and set it on my shelf. I was looking at the left over vintage trim from my other project and I had an idea for what to do with it. I made this in to a ribbon to decorate this basket with added pom-pom trim.

I liked the basket before, but now I like it better! I would love it if I could find more trim like this. What is the best option to find unique ribbons and trim when I can't just jump on a plane and go to NYC to shop at the garment district? Do you have a favorite online shop you go to? Any tips? Please do share!

Summer Day Top Pattern and My Dress

Hello! I hope you are having a great summer. Seems like some people I have talked to are having a hard time finding the time to sew (or anything else for that matter) between family vacations and all the other activities with kids at home. If you are itching to sew something simple and quick with satisfying results, you should try Summer Day Top by Dana of Made Everyday. I was given a chance to play with her pattern and I was blown away. She pays close attention to detail and guides you through from choosing the right fabric and size to other sewing tips.

This pattern gives you five different versions of tops. I had a hard time deciding which one to go with and I almost made the tunic, then I found fabric in my closet I bought a year ago. I decided to extend the tunic a wee bit longer and make a dress.

I am in love with this dress and I wore it on our anniversary date! Ladies... It conformed what I knew all along; I have the best husband when he doesn't mind taking some pictures of me for my blog as part of our anniversary date!

I love this dress so much and I am thinking about making a top next. Check out Dana's pattern shop for Summer Day Top and other great patterns!

Have fun sewing everyone!

Simple Knit Dress from Thrift Store Fabric

What would you make if you come across a 20" x 2 1/2 yard of fabric at a thrift store for $3? I assume it was originally 50" or 60" wide fabric, but someone used a long strip and gave away the rest. I thought this would make a perfect summer lounging dress for my preteen: which is very hard to find a good size in a cute style. It took me only a couple hours and viola! The dress is done.

I added a sleeve on the back waist to put the ribbon through. This way the ribbon won't fall off and if she wants to wear it as a more relaxed boxy style, she can simply remove the ribbon.

She usually doesn't like to dress up and prefers to wear pants all the time, but she is wearing the dress all day long and even relaxing on the couch! I won't make a big deal about it, then she might stop (grin).

This was a another great find at a thrift store. It is a great time for yard sales and garage sales. Have you found anything good lately?

Floral Hues ~ Pullover Top

Have you already hear about Floral Hues designed by Sue Daley? She is a talented quilt and fabric designer. Also, she is well known for her amazing English paper piecing skill and knowledge. A few years ago, I had the privilege to meet her in person when she was in Utah. I will always treasure the night I spent looking at her beautiful quilts and talking with her.

I was given a chance to work with her new fabric collection, Floral Hue from Riley Blake Designs. I was so excited to find out that they are 100% cotton lawn. Lawn is lighter weight than regular cotton and great for making clothing as well. I decided to make a relaxed flowy top for summer and fall.

Searching for a perfect style, I came across a pattern by Simplicity; number 8417. There are several design options for this pattern, but I liked option B which combines a couple different fabrics. I chose Floral Hues Main Gray and Floral Hues Daisies Gray for my top.

I finished sewing it and I am ready to try it on!

I was wearing it at home at first, but I thought beautiful floral fabrics such as these deserve nice outside light for the photo shoot...

That's exactly what I did (Thank You Mr.Tea Rose Home!)

It was over 100 degrees outside and I was wearing this 3/4 sleeve top but because of the light weight fabric I felt fine. :)

I hope you hop on over to Riley Blake Designs to see the other color schemes. They are worth checking out!

Rustic Romance Pincushions

Look at this gorgeous new fabric line Rustic Romance from Riley Blake Designs. I had several ideas of what to create with these beauties and I finally decided to make pincushions.

My most favorite fabrics are these. I wanted to come up with the designs to showcase them better. I created small and large pincushions. I created a downloadable PDF for the hexagon in case you need it.

* Small Pincushion

1. Download the PDF and cut out the template. It would be great if you have thin plastic sheets to make the templates, but if not, you could still make the pincushion. Cut out 2 hexagon pieces for the top and the bottom and one 2"x 8" strip (seam allowance included).

2. Sew the strip to the hexagon pieces. Leave a small opening for stuffing. Slip stitch to close.

3. I added beads, ribbons and buttons to embellish the pincushions, but this step is totally a personal preference.


* Large Pincushion

I thought I would play with the hexagon for a little more and created this large pincushion.

1. Cut out 6 hexagon pieces, one 2 1/2"x 23 1/2" strip and 2 large circles for the top and the bottom. Again, you can use the printable PDF I have created.

2. I did paper piecing method for this one, so cut out 6 hexagon papers without the seam allowance.

3. Piece the hexagon side by side.

4. Place the pieced hexagon onto the circle piece and pin. The fabric I wanted to use for this wasn't wide enough, so I came up with the design and pieced it, but it will be much easier to do one solid piece for this. Stitch the hexagon pieces to the fabric.

5. Leaving an opening a few inches wide, sew the long strip to the top and the bottom circle pieces. Turn the fabric inside out and stuff. Slip stitch closed.

I think it would be fun to make a bunch of small ones as a gift for your sewing/quilting friends. With different combinations of fabrics and embellishments, you can totally make them unique. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Blue Summer Dress

I don't know about you, but I love dresses and skirts. Especially light and airy Summer dresses made out of cotton. I found this blue cotton fabric a few years ago for really cheap (I believe it was around $3 a yard) with the intention of sewing a Summer dress and I finally did it. I guess the hardest part for me is finding a pattern that I love.

I looked through my pattern bins and nothing caught my attention for this particular fabric. I started going through my old sewing pattern books I brought from Japan. If I remember correctly I bought the book 20+ years ago. Does that qualify for being called "Vintage"? Anyways, I found a dress made out of small floral prints in the book. I loved the shape of the dress, the pleated skirt, lots of buttons from top to bottom in the back, and the manipulated pleated front!

Measuring and creating the pleats was definitely more work than I normally do with other clothes making, but it was fun. I couldn't be happier with the results. I know I am going to wear this dress a lot this Summer.

Whatever you are working on right now, happy sewing everyone!

Jacket + Linen Skirt Refashion

What would you do if you come across a jacket and skirt that were from different companies but almost exactly the same color at a thrift store? This happened to me one day and I loved the texture of both. The Jacket is made out of a soft Chenille fabric and the skirt is made out of Linen. They are both one of my favorite materials to work with. What are the odds of finding something like these at a thrift shop in one day? I took this as a sign and decided to come up with a new refashion project.

I think this is kind of a unique refashion situation and not many people have exactly the same types of items to work on. I wrote a simple and brief tutorial for you to get an idea of what I have done and hopefully you can apply it to your own projects.


* How to

1. Cut 5 1/2" wide bias strips to create two rows of ruffles for the jacket.

2. Once you know the exact length of the strip, sew both ends of the strips.

3. Pin the strip to the bottom of the jacket and sew it on with zigzag stitch. Pin the second row where you think looks good and sew with zigzag stitch.

4. When I was trying the jacket on, I felt that it was a bit too boxy. I created four darts two in front and two in the back. With this I felt that the shape of the jacket was perfect.

5. Next it was time for embellishing the jacket! In my opinion, this is the most fun part. I found a floral fabric in my stash and the color and the style looked like a great match with the jacket. To start the applique, fuse the fabric to double sided adhesive (follow the manufacture's instructions) and cut out the flowers with the other side of the paper still on. Lay the flower pieces onto the jacket finding the best layout, then peel the paper and iron them onto the jacket. I used zigzag stitch to stitch around the shape and used the free motion setting to stitch the designs inside of the flowers and leaves.

6.Once I was happy with the result, I added a strip of lace combined with velvet ribbon to blend the top portion and the bottom portion of the jacket.

7. I also appliqued a small flower in front to carry what I did on the back of the jacket.

Spring is near but not quite. I feel like I finished making this jacket with perfect timing to enjoy it.

I wore a skirt in the photo, but I bet it would be fun to wear it with jeans to dress down. :) I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and are able to create your own unique piece!