No tutorial today!

I didn't work on any tutorials today. I was really productive though. I made three tops today. One for P, one for J, and one for my sister S. I know that P's and J's fit but I forgot to make a photo of it.  S didn't have a chance to see hers yet because she is still at work. I really like her top and I hope she will too. I will get pictures later on when they actually wear their tops. 

I also wrote detailed instructions down for a friend of mine. She wants to make a little tote for her son. She also needed help cutting the fabric. 

I also had to cram in a bit of work at the office otherwise my boss would have complained :-) 

Tomorrow we are driving to Nuernberg to visit our family. There will also be a huge fabric market. Some people might think that I planned our family visit around the date of the fabric market :-) I wouldn't deny it...  I'll post some pictures of it if I remember to make photos.

So have a good weekend and I'll see you next week.

Rice Heating Therapy Bag Tutorial

The Rice Heat Therapy Bag Tutorial is another tutorial that I have tried out for my tutorial month. I found it on the Sew , Mama, Sew! Blog. The instructions are very clear with photos accompanying every step of the tutorial.

I made the heating pad size as well as the Boo Boo bag. The Rice Heating Pad has been used already several times with great success. Also the Velcro didn’t seem to be damaged by the heat of the microwave nor did it stink like plastic afterwards. So it’s all good! 

I think those would make a great stocking stuffers for Christmas. So my dear friends don’t be surprised if you get one :-) 

The T-Shirt Dress Tutorial

M and I had a conversation when I first got a sewing machine about 5 years ago; M said that I should sew clothing. And I remember telling him that I would never, ever in a million years sew any clothing. Nope, I would never do that!

Well, I guess I am eating my own words now. I have started sewing clothes around Christmas time. I got inspired by the T-Shirt Dress Tutorial

on thelongthread.com blog.

The tutorial has step-by-step instructions. But there aren’t any photos showing any of the steps except for when you place the skirt part inside the T-shirt. No worries though – the construction of the dress is very, very easy. You basically take a t-shirt and cut off the bottom hem. Than you’ll take about half a yard of fabric (cut to your specific length) and sew the two short sides together. You hem one side, and on the other side you’ll sew a basting stitch to gathering the fabric to the same size of your t-shirt. The last step is sewing the skirt piece to the t-shirt.

The tutorial mentions that a 10” length would fir a 3 year old and a 12” will fit a 5 year old. I cut my length just a tad different. I made dresses for a 6, 8, 9 and 10 year old. I used a 13” length for the tall 9 and 10 year old girls, and a 11” for the rather small 6 and 8 year. They are wearing the dress with leggings and I figured that the dress shouldn’t be that long than.

It doesn’t take long to make this dress. It takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish. I would be a great present with accompanying accessories for any stylish girl.

The Gratitude Wrap

One of the tutorials that I have been using over and over again is the Gratitude Wrap from SouleMama. It can be found here: Gratitude Wrap (Did you notice? I am now able to embed links – yeah!)

Anyway, I used this tutorial to create the Christmas presents for the teachers and a few friends.

This tutorial doesn’t have any pictures accompanying each step. It might take a few readings of the instructions if you are a visual learner like me. But I promise that once you wrapped your head around it, it’s easy going!

I did make some modifications to the inside pockets and to the straps. On some of them I used buttons instead. One of the pockets is also larger to accommodate a pen.

The wraps were a great hit. I just made one for myself and I made a few extra to have on hand for when an unexpected birthday sneaks up on me. So now I am all set :-)

"Best Hairband Ever" Tutorial

I used to wear headbands as a kid all the time. They were all different colors and widths. They would compliment any outfit I put on and to my mother's pleasure kept my long bangs out of my face. Aren't all mothers concerned with that?! I used to be so annoyed when my mom told me to put my hair out of my face, and now I am doing it with my girls! :-)  

P doesn't keep the hard plastic headbands on her head for too long because they start hurting her behind her ears after a while. So I found the "Best Hairband Ever" tutorial from foofanagle - http://foofanagle.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/best-band-ever/

It is an easy and quick tutorial. It takes you step-by-step (with great pictures) through the construction of a headband. The tutorial gives you two template types - narrow and wide - something for everyone! I have created many to give away to many happy girls and women and even some for myself to keep. This tutorial has definitely come in handy over the last few months!

Enjoy!

Our new Baby!

I was trying very hard to keep up with posting a tutorial every day. Alas, I wasn’t able to on Thursday or Friday. You see, we had an addition to our family. No, it’s not what you thought – no baby - but a new vehicle. You see, when you leave overseas and you buy a new vehicle, it normally get’s delivered by the agency to your place of duty. That can take some time. Last time when we ordered the Jeep, it took about 4 months from the time we place our order. This time it took a lot less but that’s because we decided to pick it up from the customs warehouse ourselves! We left around 01.14 a.m. on Friday morning with a rental. M and I drove up 8.5 hours to Bremerhaven. We picked up the vehicle, turned in the rental and came back down. We made a little detour to Wiesbaden to pick up a very good friend of ours who had sold his car up there and needed a ride back down. We didn’t get back home until 10.32 p.m. It was a very long road trip. But well worth it - it cut off about 1 month of delivery time!

We couldn’t have done it without my sister’s S and my really, really good friend J. They took care of our three little ones and I am forever grateful to both of them. Life sure is good when you have a sister that is also your friend and a friend that feels more like a sister!

So on Monday I am back to regular tutorialing. With that I leave you to ponder if that is even a real word? J

Pink Penguin Basket Tutorial

I am what you call a chaotic organized person. I like to organize things however even after cleaning and organizing there is still chaos all around me! So I am always on the lookout for pretty containers in the hopes that it will help me to tame my chaos. So I found another lovely tutorial for storage baskets from the great Pink Penguin blog.

The tutorial is very easy to understand. A photo accompanies every construction step. There is nothing to confuse you. The tutorial is not only easy but also fast. A basket won't take you longer than an hour! And it is a great scrap stash buster as well!

Here is the tutorial:

 http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html. 

Check it out! The entire blog is so beautiful and full of inspiration.

Please excuse the low quality of my pictures. But the only way for me to remember to make pictures and actually post them is to use my Iphone camera. Heck, whatever it takes!

Frogs and Toads jumping all over!

T and J are in their first year at an American school. The switch from the German to the American school system was a great change for them. I know it isn’t easy to be in 5^th or 7^th grade and not always understanding what is being taught. Both make great strides in their learning and we try to celebrate the little milestones that they reach to give them a sense of accomplishment.

The first book that T was able to read on his own in English and actually understand everything that he read was ‘Frog and Toad’. He loves that even though the characters are somewhat different in their approach to experiencing life they are still finding enough in common to be friends. He has read all the books available in this series. That is quite a feat for him because he really doesn’t like reading that much!

So when I came across a frog tutorial I asked him if he would like one. His answer was: “I can’t have just one. I need two – Frog and Toad. See, there are two! Can I have two?” How can I refuse that?

So off I went downloading the pattern at http://www.purlbee.com/storage/purl%20frog%20pattern.pdf. The pdf file includes a little frog poem, instructions and the template. The construction of the frog really is easy peasy. The only tedious thing about these frogs is that the legs and arms are a pain to turn around. But oh well!

I didn’t like bead eyes so I drew the eyes on instead. I also didn’t have beans at hand so I filled mine with polyfil. The kids like a soft, huggable toy more anyway. So there have been no complaints! Rather the opposite – the girls wanted their own sets J

The Pyramid Purse

On Friday we made the Five Stone game. This fun game just called for a unique bag! I searched the internet and found just the right bag with a great accompanying tutorial - http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/tips/index.html.

The bags of the Five Stones game look like a pyramid that has been pulled to one side, and the pyramid purse is the perfect compliment to it. It is just the right size to fit the five bags and the instructions.

The purse might look intimidating but I promise it is not. The tutorial walks you step by step through the process with lots of accompanying pictures. It just makes perfect sense.

I even used this tutorial to teach my friend how to put in a zipper. She has very little sewing experience yet she was able to sew up a pyramid purse within 30 minutes.

It is definitely a gem to keep in your tutorial arsenal!

Five Stone Game

How often do you get to hear “I didn’t need a Nintendo DS to be entertained when I was a kid! No, I used sticks and stones!” from older people around you?
Yup, I heard that from my dad not too long ago. I tried hard not to roll my eyes when he made that comment. I decided to check out how many games could be played with sticks and stones and entered “stone game” in to my trusted Google search engine since he wasn’t the first one who said that.
The first link that popped up was a post on how to make a ‘Five Stone’ game on the Zakka-Zakka blog - http://blog.zakka-zakka.com/make-your-own-five-stones-a-traditional-game.html.
(What a neat blog with tons of ideas. It hasn’t been updated in a while with the last entry dating 1 Oct 08. However it is full of inspiration and ideas and worth a visit!)

Back to the Five Stone game: You basically make five little bags filled with rice. Very simple, very fast. It takes very little fabric – scraps are probably best! The tutorial is very easy to understand with lots of pictures guiding you from one step to another.

The rules are just as easy to understand. Here are the rules that we are playing by: The first player starts the game by throwing the five bags on the ground and then picking up one of them.
Using only one hand, the player throws the bag up in the air, picks up one bag and then catches the bag with the same hand before it hits the ground. The bag is then put into the other hand. This is repeated until all the bags have been picked up. The player then throws the bags back on the floor and starts again, but this time, two bags must be picked up each time. This continues on except for the third round, when obviously, first three bags and then only one bag is picked up. Once all bags have been picked up in the fourth round successfully, the player starts again by going back down.
When the player misses the ball or does not manage to pick up the required number of jacks, the turn immediately finishes and the next player has a try. The player who manages to progress furthest in the sequence of throws wins.

There are many variations on it and you can adapt them easily. I do have to admit though that the rules that we found calls for people standing. We tried that a few times and failed miserably. We couldn’t even get passed the first round. So now we sit on the floor ☺
The game is addicting! Everyone who has played with us ended up requesting a set for their personal use. I have made 12 sets already and given them away to very happy kids.

May Tutorial Extravaganza

I haven’t posted to my blog as often as I wanted to. I catch myself composing in my head what I want to write but once I get a minute to write it down I find myself at a loss for words. I also forget to take pictures most of the time. So what to do to get myself in the habit of posting regularly? Well, I was told that it takes 21 repeats to form a habit. So I decided that I should make the month of May the ‘May Tutorial Extravaganza’. The plan is as follows: I will post a new tutorial from Monday through Friday each week. I will not only post my tutorial find but will also make it. I will let you know if I thought it was a good one or not. I might even do a couple tutorials on my own. I have lined up quite a few really good finds like a fun-shaped purse, softies, clothes, bags and other things. Most of them are so quick and easy that it will only take a couple of hours to finish.

On Friday you’ll see my first post – stay tuned!

Tada for now

Karin

No Photos

I have been sewing and sewing and sewing. Yet I have not one photo! I always seem to forget that I need to take a picture of my finished project. I need to remember to make a photo as soon as I have finished it regardless what time of day it is. :-)

Ta Da for Now

K

It's finished!

I had a moment of genius! Nor really. But it sounded good! I was about to place an order for an extra yard of fabric for the Kaehra tunic - something just told me to look at it again.  This is what I stared at for 10 minutes:

Then I realized that I could try to cut just the front yokes again from the one front piece that I completely messed up! And no, I don't have a picture of that!

But it worked. I saved Euro 16 for that additional yardage and I was able  finish the top.  Well, except for the hemming and the belt. But we aren't too picky about that, are we! LOL...

Here is P in all her 70's glory:

By the way, P was mistaken in the date for the dance. It's actually next week. But it all worked out didn't it! Her top is ready and I can check of another item of my sewing list!

 

I was also able to finish J's skirt. She chose a black baby corduroy with cute skulls on it. She proudly wore it to school.

Here is a close up of the fabric:

Next up, another bath mat for my mom and a passport organizer for our trip to Arizona this summer.

Tada for now

K

Third Try!

Here I am - sitting in front of the computer instead of sitting at my sewing machine. I messed up. Big time! I promised P to sew her the Kehrae tunic from the Ottobre 01/2009 in time for her to wear it to the 70's dance on Friday. I thought - sure no problem. I have plenty of time and it looks easy enough.  Especially with three successful patterns sewn up from Ottobre. This should be so easy I could do it in my sleep. Yeah right! I traced the pattern on Sunday, prepped the fabric and read through the instructions as well. I noticed that I wasn't sure how the button part would work up so I decided to do a muslin of just that step. It had plenty of pictures with every step but it was still really confusing. I felt dumb! I begged M for an old Polo Shirt that I could take apart so I could understand what I was doing. It helped a bit but I had to modify it. I was still satisfied enough to get started on the actual project. But since it was already past 2300hrs I decided to wait until the next day.

Today during lunch I cut out the fabric. I had some extra time and started on the sewing. Mistake #1: I didn't read the instructions again and did step 4 right after step 1 - stupid me. I had to cut out the front dress pieces again as well as the button part again. Thank goodness I had enough fabric! I have less than a fat quarter left now.

Fast forward to the evening: I am getting started again. This time I made sure that I was following the steps and everything turned out quite nice! Step 6 arrived: I am supposed to sew the shoulder seams. Then I noticed that the armholes didn't look right. I am comparing the sewn pieces with the drawings, and then it hit me: Oh, no! I placed the front yoke pieces the wrong way!!! I looked if I could save it somehow but I already serged everything in to its place! I told P about my mess up... Needless to say that she was pretty upset about it. I found a fabric store that carries the fabric. I am going to call them tomorrow at 0900hrs and place my order and ask them to rush it. Hopefully it will get here by Thursday and I will get it done by Friday afternoon. I don't know how but it has to work. Wish me luck!

I don't like to post without a picture so I am going to show you the Siiri tunic I made from Ottobre 01/2009. I traced out a 146. It is two sizes too big and a tad too long. by the way, I send that picture to my parents. They said she looked lovely in it but next time not to choose a wallpaper pattern for her. I sure had to laugh about their comment! She chose it and she loves it and that's all it matters!

Tada for now!

K

i started sewing clothes!

Hi there,

I have been super busy this month. My job has kept me more at work than ever. Thank goodness that I love to do what I do!

But anyway, this blog is not about my work but about my hobby - sewing! I have started sewing clothes. I have been buying the Ottobre Design for about a year now. The kids magazine comes out 4 times a month and the women's twice a year. I have looked at these pages over and over again yet never found the courage to try it. But something in side of me just kept on taunting me about this so I decided a couple of weeks ago to just simply try it. And was I successful you wonder? Yes I was! In fact, my little success went to my head and I tried my hand on two more patterns from the same issue 01-2009. The fourth one is all traced and ready to be cut out

 I put up a review of the Sudoku Skirt on patternreview.com. 

Here it is - the Sudoku Skirt:

Pattern Description: Patchwork skirt

Pattern Sizing:104-140cm; I sized the skirt up to 146. However, it turned out that it was a tad big on her. So I cut the elastic by a couple cms and it turned out fine. I should have measured up my daughter first and it would have saved me a ton of time 

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?Yes, just without the bottom ruffle.

Were the instructions easy to follow?So easy that anyone (even people without much garment sewing experience like me) could be successful in sewing this one up.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?Like: I didn't have to match my seams perfectly. So even if I was off a couple of mms no one will notice. It is very forgiving. Dislike: there were 29 pieces to cut. Cutting and laying out the fabric took me a bit over 2.5hrs. Lots of gathering!

Fabric Used:Garden Party by Anna Marie Horner

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:I was a bit tired after I gathered 24 pieces of fabric. So after collaborating (a.k.a. bribing) my daughter she agreed that the bottom ruffle could be left off.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Even though it was really easy I don't think that I will sew this one again. 

Conclusion: A wonderful skirt pattern that is wonderful to sew up for all experience levels of sewers.

I am still working on my other ideas. I have realized that I need to write up a few posts in advance to get more organized. :-)

Tada for now!

K

I am still alive!

Hi there,

I am still alive. Even though I haven't posted anything in a while  - I have survived the holidays. I have been cooking up some ideas on how to structure my blog. I would like to designate certain days to certain features like Tutorial Tuesdays, UFO Sundays, shopping reviews and gadget finds, short cuts and much much more. I realize that I should have thought about this all before I even started this blog. I also have to develop the discipline to sit down and write something every day. I am working on something everyday, and while I am working on it I am thinking about what I want to write on this blog about it. But then I forget and other things take over and I didn't post anything at all! Shame on me :-)

So anyway, let me show you where my creativity takes place. 

It is total chaos. I am suprised that my husband hasn't kicked my stuff out of our bedroom! Love ya, honey!!! 

I never seem to have enough energy at the end of the day to put away my stuff. So it keeps on piling up. I need to clean up. So instead of devoting a lot of time to it and getting discouraged by the amount that needs to be put away - I am going to do only ten minutes or a tiny area. I am going to post my progress here :-)

Tomorrow I am going to drive up to Stuttgart to shop with my family. A must shop is our Arts and Crafts shop on Panzer. I will show you my loot when I get back!

Take care,

K