Guest Post/ Me Sew Crazy

Hello, I have a wonderful guest here today... Jessica from Me Sew Crazy! I think I came across her blog about a couple years ago, and instantly fell in love with her style. There is always something fun going on at her blog and I admire how she ventures out to new things like Sew Set, you go girl!

I have never met her in person but through many emails, she has become one of my blogger friends that I can't wait to meet in person someday. :) She has a fun tutorial to share with you today, get cozy and enjoy!




Hi Tea Rose Home readers! Jessica here from Me Sew Crazy & SewSet. When Sachiko asked if I wanted to do a guest post on her blog while she was in Japan, I was honored. I have been a follower and a fan for a very long time now, and feel blessed to have become friends with the lovely Sachiko along the way. I jumped up and down with excitement for her when I heard she had booked a trip home!



For those of you who know my little place in blogland, I like to make Spring & Fall Collections for my children every year. Its just a little something that gives me joy, beefing up their handmade wardrobe while sharing with you the patterns and tutorials for them!

We are currently in the middle of going through my Fall Collection, and I decided to share the Petal Maxi with you...

Something about it is just so lovely, and it seemed like a natural fit for Tea Rose Home.



I chose to make mine a little less than floor length, because I worry about Chloe tripping and falling as she runs around (I have a very active daughter). But to make it an absolute full length maxi - simply add another ruffle on top of what the pattern instructs.



Let's get started, first off you will need to print the pattern pieces for the dress. Size 5/6 is offered for free at the end of this post.

You will also need about 2 yards of fabric, buttons, scrap knit for the petal neckline, and your other basic sewing essentials. A serger is not necessary for this pattern, but as with all sewing projects, you will want to finish your edges with either a zig zag stitch, pinking sheeres, or your method of choice to cut down on fraying.

Once you have your pattern printed & your fabric cut, simply...



To add your button placket along the front center of the dress, I always use the same tutorial found HERE by Made by Rae. It is easy to follow, and will have you adding button plackets to everything once you master the skill!



When adding the placket and doing the final finished stitches to secure in place. Only sew HALF WAY up from the bottom. That is 2" below the waistline mark in the pattern. Repeat this for both sides of the dress on the placket.



Secure bottom of button placket to dress, as Rae's tutorial suggests.



Secure the facing to the top of each dress piece.



Turn towards inside lining, press and edge stitch around neckline and arm for each piece. Notice how your facing goes over your button placket about 1/2" - that is good!



We can finish off the button placket now that the facing is in place. Sew down the top half, stopping at the waistline mark! This will leave you with a 2" opening. Repeat for both sides.



You will want to finish the shoulder seams. I also chose to press them towards the back and top stitch down to secure in place.



Now we will be sewing the side seams in place. You will want to match up all side seams right sides together, including the facing! With dress wrong side out, simply flip up your facing so that they match raw sides together, the center armhole seam should match up and then it continues down to the dress side seam. Sew together and repeat for other side.



Initially I said in the photo to cut the fabric strip on the bias. Upon further evaluation it is really not necessary. Just follow along with a 2" fabric strip, turning it into what looks like bias tape.



Do this with the bias strip right side up, so that the turned edges are facing your dress.



This will leave you with an open edge on both sides, underneath the unsewn portion of the button placket.



You now have a nice cinched waistline.





Repeat for other side edge, as well as the remaining ruffle pieces.



Again, if making this a full length maxi (to the floor), add another set of ruffles even longer than the bottom set! I would do approximately 60" in length (same width) each to give it a really nice full effect.



I was initially done with the dress at this point! But then it looked a little plain to me because I had chosen to do it in a solid color. And here is where the maxi earned its name, the petal dress...



I kept the dress form in front of me one night and started playing with little knit circles. Pinning them around the dress as spots, turning them into flowers. You name it, I tried it. Until I finally started placing them around the neckline as such, and loved how it looked. So by simply stitching around the knit circles on the neckline, the dress suddenly had a beautiful scalloped collar. I love it!



And there you have it, the Petal Maxi - part of Me Sew Crazy's Fall Collection.

I hope you will stop by and say hello sometime, we would love to have you in our neck of the woods! 




And be sure to check out my latest endeavor, SewSet! SewSet is a new on-line sewing pattern and tutorial search engine! Where independent designers can upload photos of their patterns & tutorials freely, and users can search and be found. See what you like, save what you love, sew what you need. With over 900 patterns in the directory and counting, you are sure to find exactly what you are looking for!

As promised, the pattern pieces for the petal maxi can be found here:



Petal Maxi Dress Pattern



Thanks so much for having me Sachiko, and ENJOY your vacation!!! Can't wait to see pictures!
Until next time...Happy Sewing!



Isn't her tutorial well explained and easy to follow? Thank you so much Jessica for sharing your talent!

Guest Post / Diary of a Quilter

Today, I have a special guest, Amy from Diary of a Quilter. I met her at a quilt tying activity for Japan after the earthquake back in 2011, and through various bloggers meet ups, lunch dates and emails back and forth, we have become really good friends.

I love the quilts she designs, she has an eye for coordinating colors and they are just so lovely. I would recommend her pattern shop as a "must visit" place.

I am so blessed to get to know her in person because she is not just a talented quilter, but also, she is one of the sweetest people I know. She is always ready to lend a helping hand to those who are in need and is very genuine and kind to everyone. No wonder she is loved by so many!

When you visit her site, you will see what I mean. :) I am so excited that she agreed to help me out and be one of the guest bloggers while I am in Japan.

Ok, everyone, here is Amy!

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Hello fellow Tea Rose Home fans! My name is Amy Smart and I write about my sewing adventures at my blog, Diary of a Quilter.

One of my favorite parts of writing a blog is connecting with other younger sewers/quilters out there. I love all the creative inspiration to be found in blogland.

I especially love to  bring people over to the dark side teach beginning sewers and quilters how to get started. I've written a whole series about choosing fabric, patterns, supplies, and actually beginning to quilt.  You can find the Beginning Quilting series here.





In addition to simple quilts, I also love to make bags, skirts, and baby gifts.  You can find other tutorials here.





I was so excited when Sachiko invited me to be a guest at Tea Rose Home. I am in awe of her gifts and talents as well as her generosity in sharing those talents. She is as lovely in person as she comes across on her blog.





Today I'm going to share a simple little project.  I like to carry portable sewing projects around with me - I'm especially productive on long road trips. But I have a bad tendency to leave stray pins all over the front of the car which is not a good thing, especially when you drive multiple car pools.

So I created a little magnetic pin box to help me keep track of my pins and needles, not only in the car, but in my purse and the rest of the house too.

Here are the very basic supplies you will need:

• a little bit of wool or woolfelt
• a small Altoids case (they're usually around 50 cents at the grocery store)
• Eraseable fabric pen
• a magnet
• notions: scissors, needle and thread
• optional: embellishments (button, etc.)

Trace the top of the Altoids tin onto your wool/felt and mark any letters, designs, etc. you would like to add.

Stitch over the writing using an embroidery needle and cotton floss.

Add any embellishments. Do this BEFORE you cut out your shape. 

 Using a hot glue gun or E6000 glue, carefully glue your embellishment on the lid of the Altoids tin.

Of course, you could leave the cute little embellished tin just as it is.  I decided to magnetize it, to keep those pins from flying when I'm riding in the car.  I ended up using a neodymium magnet (the really strong kind) from the craft store.  (Warning: you do need to be careful with this kind of magnets - keep them away from your credit cards as they might de-magnetize them.) 

I like these magnets because they are thinner than regular magnets and a lot stronger.  I did not even glue it in place - just attached it to the inside of the tin - which is nice because then it's easily removable if you do want to carry it in your purse. And there you have it - a quick project, perfect for your own needs or gifts for your crafty friends as well.

I've used the same technique for magnetizing bowls to create your own pin dish, also great for paper clips and other office supplies - not just sewers!


Thanks so much for having me Sachiko! It is an honor to be a guest at Tea Rose Home.


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Thank you Amy for the tutorial for your cute project! It is always a delight to see what you come up with. :)

Guest Post / Kristi from Lolly Jane

I have a special treat for you all! When I attended EVO (a blogger's conference), I had a chance to become roommates with Kristi and Kelli from Lolly Jane. They are such fun and cool girls and they are the type of people who make you feel comfortable and welcome. After talking to them for a while, I felt like we have been friends forever!

I am so happy that they agreed to help me out with my blog while I am in Japan. Infact, Kristi and Kelli provided me two separate posts. I will share the post from Kristi today, and Kelli's post in the next several days. :)

Enjoy their creativity! :)

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Hey there Tea Rose Home readers!

We met the uber cute Sachiko at a blog conference earlier this year and had a blast as her roommate; she is so sweet IRL and we are just thrilled to be her guesties today :)

To introduce ourselves, we are twin sisters Kelli & Kristi of Lolly Jane, an eclectic DIY blog with lots of craft tutorials, home improvement projects, furniture before and afters and even a tasty recipe or two.

We love to create and knock off overpriced retail items so when we saw a completed dress form jewelry stand at our local craft store for over $20, we knew we could replicate the look for less:

We picked up all of our supplies at Michaels Craft Store and used our 40% coupon on the dress form.

Supply list:

8" dress form, round base x2, finial, white acrylic paint, foam brush, skinny ric rac, spray adhesive, hot glue, fabric*

*fabric measurements roughly 12x10

To create:

1. Paint all wooden pieces

2. Wrap fabric around dress form and mark 2 creases underneath breast area

3. Stitch (2) 1.5" creases underneath the dress form breast area so fabric lays flat when pulled

{Warning: you get kinda handsy with your mannequin!}

4. Spray fabric glue on dress form and press fabric on, smoothing out any lines and/or bubbles as you go

5. Fold a small crease along each shoulder so fabric will lay flat

6. Fold all fabric underneath and secure with a dab of hot glue.

Once the dress form is dressed all pretty, simply hot glue the skinny ric rac along the sides of the form, covering any seams (see pics below*) and along the neckline.

*Note: I saved a 1.5" scrap of fabric to cover the back and make it look more complete.

Hot glue all the pieces together {see final product} and you're done! Pretty easy and now you've got a sweet little dress form jewelry stand to show off your bling!

Here she is all dolled up!

We'd love for you to stop by our list of current tutorials, FB, Pinterest or Twitter pages to say HI :)

Love ya Sachiko- hope you have so much fun at home in Japan!

XOXO

Kelli & Kristi

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The dress form is so pretty and looks like a fun project to work on. The great thing about this project is that, you can choose the fabric of your style, and the dress form will look so different. Thank you Kristi for the fun post!

Guess Where I am Going

So...when I wrote about vitality wins, I mentioned that I have a reason that I want to look good. Do some of you remember that?

Actually, there is something I have been keeping from you... That is...

I am going to Japan!!

I talked about wanting to go back to see my family a lot, but I really didn't have any plans. I haven't been back for 11 years, yeah, 11! Can you believe it? There were always reasons not to go in those 11 years, three pregnancies, it's so hard to go back with babies, loss of jobs, bought a house, hip replacement, other procedures, blah, blah, blah... And the year we were going to go back as a whole family, there was a terrible earthquake and tsunami; so we decided not to go.

I had been checking plane tickets since this summer, and a few weeks ago, I noticed that the price had dropped by quite bit. After Mr. TRH and I talked, he was able to make arrangements with work so he can take care of the kids, I am taking a break from the medical procedures (thanks in part to the slowness of our medical insurance); seems like everything worked out for me to go!

It is not life or death, but my mom's health has been a roller coaster ride, and I really wanted to go there and spend time with her.

The timing was just perfect, two days after I bought the tickets; I received a letter from my mom. Basically, it said how much she misses me and wants to see me. After I read the letter, I called and told her that I am coming, and at first her reaction was rather..."flat". I asked her, "Mom? Aren't you excited?" and she said, "I, I still can't believe it."

Later my sister told me that my mom called her to confirm that I am indeed, coming for real. :)

After my mom spread the new that I am coming home to a few of my friends, they called me with excitement and we talked for a long time! They also told me that how it looks so different where we used to hang out and drive around. Even though I saw the image of the area after the earthquake on the internet or TV, I am a little nervous to see it with my own eyes.

Because I want to travel light, I decided not to take my big camera. I am gonna take my small Coolpix and take lots and lots of pictures while I am there. People that I missed, things that I missed... I mean, I thought they will always be there and I took for granted. I want to document them for me and to share with my family. Of course I will take some pictures of new things that touch my heart too.

I will only be there for two weeks. It will be the shortest two weeks that I spend time with my family in Japan. It will be the longest two weeks away from Mr. TRH and our three munchkins.

A few days ago, there was a Mag 5 earthquake in Japan, and also, there was Mag 7 earthquake in the Philippines (because of that, there was a tsunami warning in Japan). Seriously, why now? Please pray for me that I can come home safely to my family.

I will share the pictures and stories from my trip to Japan when I get back. Oh! While I am gone, my blogger friends are visiting Tea Rose Home to share their fabulous tutorials with you. So please make them feel welcomed. I know I can count on you. :)

So, I will talk to you in two weeks, take care everyone!

Link Love No.82!

We had a crazy thunder storm last night which is rare in Utah. I slept through most (once I am out, I am out!) of it, but Mr. TRH and the kids woke up, and I vaguely remember seeing all three boys, I mean Mr. TRH and both boys glued to the window and watching outside. They were all so excited about it. I remember the boys saying things like "COOL, did you see the lightning?!" or "WOW, awesome!!".....Then, our little Ms. Rachel... came in half crying because she was scared.

Mr. TRH later told me that, after he popped Rachel into our bed all three of them went down stairs and watched the storm, they boys even played in the rain for bit (at this point, I said "WHAT?!") they were so wired up and couldn't go back to sleep, so they stayed up and played the Wii.

The kids didn't take a nap at all, and right now after 10:00 pm, they are still up! We are pretty relaxed on weekends- schedule wise, so I don't mind that they are up, but seriously, where is the energy coming from?!? If I am smart enough to invent a device to suck out their energy and bottle it up for me to use, I will be a millionaire, don't you agree?

I have the link loves for this month, are you ready for them?

Whether you own this IKEA chair or not, I thought this was a great tutorial to give you an idea of how to recover a simple chair...Mandy Made shared her terrific tutorial on her blog, doesn't it look fantastic?



The fall items are already in shops, I was thinking about wardrobes and accessories. Little Treasures created this pretty necklace, and I think it is nice for the upcoming seasons. LOVE the mustard color!




Grow Creative created these cute lanterns out of recycled tin cans. In her tutorial, there are some very helpful tips to create this lantern. This will be a perfect summer craft with the kids, but wouldn't it be fun to make Halloween lanterns as well?



This Half Moon modern baby quilt was linked from flicker by BGMom1. I love the happy colors and simple design of this quilt. I want it for my living room!



I love this multi colored crocheted rosettes wreath by Sweet Bee Buzzing. I would love to see something like this on the wall; it will instantly put me in a happy mood! :)



Which link inspired you the most this month? I bet there were many, and you are ready to create now. My next link party will be the last Wednesday of September; which is the 26th. I will be waiting to see your creations!