How To Change Serger Thread

For those that have a serger or overlock machine, it can be a pain to change the thread.  I'd always just use white on whatever I was making, just to avoid having to re-thread the thing.

But my little sister, Lynette taught me a trick a while ago that makes it so easy to switch your thread to a new color so it can match whatever you're sewing.  Especially since I'm not a perfect sewer, I don't want to draw extra attention to my seam allowances.

Hope this helps and excuse the fact for some reason I couldn't remember the name for the hand wheel...you get the point though.

Bonnets and Binky Clip Gifts

Two of my good friends recently had baby girls, and it was the first girl after boys for both of them.  So I made two little gifts each with a sun bonnet and binky clips.

I made Ellaria a sun bonnet earlier this summer using the pattern from Little Betty Designs.

This first bonnet I used white eyelet and a big wooden button.

Rather than the ribbon ties, I use elastic rope to stretch under the chin and stretch around the button on the other side. 

 The next bonnet used vintage floral fabric.

I lined the bonnet with a coordinating aqua.

  

 Then to add some function, I made a few quick Binky Clips, tutorial here.

The white one was lace sewn on top of white ribbon.  It added some texture and I thought the lace made it look a little fancy, although it is still a binky clip.

 You can pop over today to The Train To Crazy and check out my Dino Tail Tutorial if you've not seen it yet and see all the other handmade costume ideas Andrea's hosted!

Patio Wrap Up

Patio Wrap Up  

I've been posting a lot about our patio projects from this summer, and thought I'd put them all together in one post.

Laying the Rock Patio                 Scrap Bench

White Side Table              Whiskey Barrel Side Table

Corner Bench from Foot Boards             Chaise Lounger

Outdoor Pillow Covers           Decor Ladder       Lantern Fence Lighting

_________________________________________________________________

The Back Porch Projects

Outdoor Console/ Buffet Table              Ruffled Outdoor Lantern

Patio Dining Set          Patio Chair Cushion Tutorial

Scrap Outdoor Placemats            DIY Shade Sails

This has been a busy summer building lots of furniture.  Good bye summer! 

{yes both my kids are just sporting undies}

Hello Fall!

Outdoor Pillow Covers

I'm wrapping up summer with my last patio project.

I bought these blueish green outdoor pillows from Costco and decided they didn't really work with the blue lounger cushion.  So I made some quick envelope pillow covers.

Using this basic tutorial for an envelope pillow cover,

I had yellow nylon scrap pieces and created the vertical stripes by sewing white broadcloth on top.  The white stripes are 2" wide, and they're sewn 2" apart on the yellow square.

 Rather than finding a wide striped yellow/white fabric, I just made my own.

To make the white stripes, I used my clover 2" bias tape maker, so you can see in the center of each white stripe where it's just one thin layer and more transparent.  I didn't mind and thought most people wouldn't notice or if they did, hopefully think it was another intentional subtle stripe.

So I have the two outdoor pillows with my added yellow envelope covers.

We've been roasting marshmallows after dinner, trying to enjoy these last warmer evenings before autumn really sets in. 

Country Living Magazine: online

I'm a little shocked to share this news that my Halloween costumes have been featured on Country Living Magazine's online Craft section!!!

It's a collection of 16 handmade costumes:

Check out my Max here.

Ewok here.

And for those that may have forgotten about this one for my niece last year, 

Hot Rod here

and here's my original post if you want more info. 

{ Incidentally this costume has become quite the commodity in their small town, Brooklyn (age 13), the owner of the costume, has let high school boys borrow it to wear for assemblies and other skit things, probably making their own youtube videos or something.  Stunt it!}

There's tons of other cute costumes in the Country Living article, for a little girl I loved the peacock!

Happy Halloween!

Hedgehog Toddler Backpack

My good friend that I've been close with since I was just a kid has the cutest little boy named Finn.  She'd mentioned a while ago when I made my son his bulldog baby backpack she would like one for her little guy.  Once RJ was 18 months I had him carry his own stuff.  Diapers, wipes, sippy cup, fruit snacks, etc.  It's that stage you don't need a full on diaper bag, but you can't carry all their crap in your purse.  Plus they're big enough to wear a little backpack and sport around looking cute.  Win for mom and kid!

So I've made lots of different animal backpacks, which I used to sell on etsy. 

 This time around I wanted to make a new animal, and a hedgehog seemed like a boy and cute, and unique.

My hedgehog inspiration came from my artist cousin, Stephanie's onesies.

This backpack has rounded bottom corners and a magnetic clasp, where in the past I always used velcro.

The under side of the backpack has the straps that use buttons to adjust for different lengths. 

I design it that way so you can see the button detail on the front when they wear the backpack.  I don't know, being for toddlers, I like the buttons rather then real manufactured buckle hardware.

The actual hedge hog is made from fleece.  It's non fray so I could just cut out the shapes and sew them on.  The body is cut in "V" shapes with dark brown underneath to kind of give the hedgehog body some spiked texture.  The eyes and nose are buttons. 

I think it's a pretty cute little hedgehog.

But my favorite part is when you open the backpack.

 I added a personalized tag in case Finn forgets it somewhere.  

I just thought it was cute, fun, and made it extra special.

The tag is just 1" wide twill tape and with my free motion presser foot, I sewed the text.  Then to sew to the lining, I folded the raw ended and sewed around all 4 sides.

I love how it turned out, kind of a surprise when you open it up.

I hope my friend could tell it's a hedgehog.  

 I hope her little guy loves it as much as RJ enjoyed it the 10 minutes he got to wear it

 We actually saw a real hedgehog at the pet store recently.  They really are cute, but expensive $250!!  What?