DVD Player Carrying Case

I saw this tutorial for a portable DVD player tote by Make It - Love It a couple years ago but never had either the batting or material to make it. We were using the box the DVD players came in for years until it completely fell apart and then we went to a reuseable grocery bag. We were always very careful with them but it was certainly not ideal. Someone was bound to drop the bag or step on it or such eventually.

I think this bag is a major upgrade! I just wish I'd made it a long time ago. It's all lined with quilt batting, and there's room for 2 DVD players inside with a divider in between.

I like the nice roomy pleated pocket on the back for cords, etc.

The tutorial on Make It - Love It was a little intimidating to me at first because she doesn't give you any measurements, only instructions, but if you measure your DVD players, add seam allowance, plus a little for the quilt batting you'll be fine. It was actually pretty easy to put together. I didn't have enough fabric for a strap so I just got a metre of nylon webbing and attached that.

Sewing 18" Doll Clothes - the Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt

Here's a couple of doll skirts I made for my daughter. This skirt is so cute, especially the jean one with the little bow I found in my sewing bin. Not totally sure where it came from, I was just saving it for a someday project. The second layer in the skirt is tulle. No problem right? Hah! That's a trick to sew with. It took a lot and the tulle for the jean skirt ended up a fair bit shorter than it was meant to be but at least I got it in the end. The pink skirt went together easier but that tulle is tricky.

The pattern is, you guessed it - yet another Liberty Jane one. I love those patterns. They are easy to follow and always fit well. The Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt from Pixie Faire is a fairly strait forward pattern, but if you haven't sewn much with tulle, take it from me and buy extra. At least it's cheap!

My daughter has a Newberry Doll (blonde) and a Journey Girl and when I made these clothes originally it was for the Journey Girl. I find that if I'm using a pattern for American Girls I can check off 'shrink to fit' when I print the pattern and add a little length and it's just about perfect. The clothes fit the Newberry doll as well, but some are a bit tight because she is closer in size to the American Girls.

The t-shirt below is inspired by the Peek-a-boo lace tutorial on Pixie Faire, but I didn't cut out the t-shirt fabric underneath. My daughter has a similar shirt so she is really happy with this one. I used my absolute favourite 18" doll t-shirt pattern that I posted about here.

Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt from Pixie Faire

Did you know? Pixie Faire gives a pattern away for FREE every Friday. Awesome, right? They also have free tutorials and patterns, so go take a look!

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways

Sewing 18" Doll Clothes - Stylish (and did I mention realistic-looking?) Jeans for your doll ... and a cute hoodie

The Liberty Jane Ruched Hoodie from Pixie Faire is my favourite thing I made for the dolls. It wasn't easy, there's a lot of pieces, but it was worth it. I usually 'shrink to fit' when printing pattern pieces and maybe lengthen them a bit when working from a pattern for American Girl dolls since Kelsey (dark hair) is a Journey Girl but this time I just made it full size. It still fits nicely and works for Allie, the Newberry doll as well.

The Liberty Jane Jeans Bundle from Pixie Faire is wonderful. They are easier to make than you would think, and the pockets would be functional if they weren't so tiny. They are adorable. You can use this pattern to make boot cut, skinny, shorts, capris, whatever length you want. To make them fit the Journey Girl I checked off 'shrink to fit' when I printed the pattern pieces, so that means that Allie the Newberry doll doesn't fit into the skinny jeans. She's slightly shorter and chubbier. Also, I had to add slits at the bottom to get them over Kelsey's feet. The shorts and the boot cut jeans are a bit big on Kelsey, the Journey Girl, even having shrunk the pattern down (if you do that, remember to give it extra length because the Journey Girls are tall) but they fit Allie nicely. The double stitching on the sides and around the pockets and fake zipper really add to the realism. 

Liberty Jane Jeans Bundle from Pixie Faire

 Liberty Jane Ruched Hoodie from Pixie Faire

Did you know? Pixie Faire gives a pattern away for FREE every Friday. Awesome, right? They also have free tutorials and patterns, so go take a look!

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways

Sewing 18" Doll Clothes - the best best best T-Shirt Pattern!

I've tried to make t-shirts a few times but none of them have compared to the Liberty Jane t-shirts. The Liberty Jane Trendy t-shirt pattern is free, and the The Liberty Jane T-Shirt Variations 18" Doll Clothes Pattern Pack gives you a few more sleeve types and two neckline variations. I love these little puffed sleeves and because they are so small, they're actually very easy. The white shirt above and the plain purple shirt below are both upcycled old shirts that my daughter outgrew. She loved those shirts so she was thrilled to be able to use them again for her doll.

Because I was making the shirts originally for Kelsey, a Journey Girl (below), I sized the pattern down by checking off 'shrink to fit' when printing. They also work just fine for Allie, the Newberry doll (above).

I made a sleeveless version, which is great for layering...

I'm pretty sure the tank top pictured below is this Spaghetti Strap Tank Top free from the Liberty Jane website. I wanted to make the ruched tank top seen here but I didn't have enough of the shiny pink fabric.

The Liberty Jane T-Shirt Variations 18" Doll Clothes Pattern Pack

Did you know? Pixie Faire gives a pattern away for FREE every Friday. Awesome, right? They also have free tutorials and patterns, so go take a look!

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways

Sewing 18" Doll Clothes - the Liberty Jane Flounce Skirt and Peplum Top

another version of the skirt...

My daughter has had Kelsey, a Journey Girl doll from Toys R Us for a couple years now and absolutely loves her, but she didn't have many clothes to choose from. I had whipped up a few when she first got the doll, but they were all made from free tutorials or my own ideas and they weren't great. Not that tutorials don't work, but they were all for American Girl dolls which are a slightly different shape and I didn't have much fabric to work with then. I decided to make her a new wardrobe for Christmas, and this time I had quite a bit of small pieces of this and that, most too small to work for anything child sized but perfect for doll clothes.

I discovered Pixie Faire patterns. They are fairly inexpensive and the clothes they turn out are impressive! My favourite are the Liberty Jane patterns. The Pixie Faire website has just added Journey Girls to the dolls they sell patterns for, but they weren't there yet when I made these before Christmas. I found, though, if I hit the 'shrink to fit' option when printing the pattern pieces and then lengthened them a tiny bit the patterns for the AG (American Girl) dolls fit Kelsey just fine. I didn't shrink the Peplum Top in the picture above, so it's a bit big. By the time I made it we had decided to get her another doll for this Christmas, a Newberry Doll from Sears, Allie. She's closer to the size of the AG dolls. We find all the clothes work can be worn on either doll and that's a real bonus.

Kelsey has a plastic upper chest as opposed to Allie's cloth body up to the neck so tops like this peplum one look better on Kelsey.

The skirt Allie is wearing came with her and the leggings are from the free pattern and tutorial by Sew Adollable. They are so easy I made a few pairs in different lengths. I checked off 'shrink to fit' for this pattern as well.

Peplum Top 18" Doll Clothes Pattern by Liberty Jane from Pixie Faire

Picture Day Outfit Flounce Skirt and Top for 18" Dolls by Libery Jane from Pixie Faire

Did you know? Pixie Faire gives a pattern away for FREE every Friday. Awesome, right? They also have free tutorials and patterns, so go take a look!

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways

Make Your Own Personalized Magic Heating Bag With A Cover

I've had a couple microwaveable magic heating bags now and love the idea but they just weren't quite perfect. For one thing, they were always ugly fabric, and they were just one long tube so all the filler slipped from one end to the other so it was difficult to get the heat exactly where I wanted it. One more thing they were missing was a slip off cover. Once they were dirty they pretty much had to stay that way or be replaced. How do you wash it when it's filled with corn or rice?

I don't know why it took me so long to try making one, it's not like it's a large project or very hard, but wow I love my new one! I made the purple flower one for me and they various others for christmas gifts. It's a great way to use up various bits of fabric you already have.

I did my research before I started - thank God for Pinterest! That makes the job a lot easier. I found out what fillers work best and it turns out flaxseed had the best heat retention and I figured the small size would be a nice feel. I would absolutely fill the next ones I made with flaxseed again. I'm very happy with it. Rice was the filler in my last one and it wasn't nearly as soft and didn't hold the heat nearly as well, even when brand new. I find I don't have to get the flax-filled bag nearly as hot because it holds the heat better.

I looked at a few tutorials and I followed this tutorial from howdoesshe? I absolutely love the patchwork covers she made for her heating pads but that would have been too much work since I was making about a dozen. I used her basic dimensions but changed it up a bit depending on the size of the chunk of fabric I was cutting up.

Filling them was the only part I was slightly nervous about but it was pretty simple. 

First and foremost, use a funnel and secondly, don't over fill the sections. You want it to be flexible and comfortable. I sectioned the bag into quarters and marked with pins, then filled it to about 3/4" below that and pinned across to keep the seeds in place while I sewed above. You could draw a line across in chalk but i just lined up my presser foot where the first pin is and sewed straight across. Depending on the length of the bag, as they varied slightly, I put in 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups flaxseed per section. I zigzagged across the very end a couple times to seal them off.

And there you have it! Time to go give it a try. 

What will you fill yours with?

Quick, Easy and ever-so-Sweet Baby Shower Dresses!

Petunia and I did some sewing last week for a baby shower. I made one dress and she made the other with just a bit of help. These two dresses were quick and fairly easy to make, and turned out so cute!

The smaller dress is the one that Petunia made pretty much on her own. It's the Summer Breeze Baby Dress by Shwin&Shwin. It's a free PDF pattern and tutorial. There's lots of gorgeous stuff on that blog, so be sure to take a look. The wonderful thing about this dress is that there a onesie sewn into the skirt to keep an infant's tummy warm and out of a draft, and it eliminates any need for a diaper cover. Genius!

The bigger size dress is based off the Shanty Onesie Dress Tutorial by Shanty2Chic. What I did differently is made the skirt a few inches longer because I was making it with a 6 month onesie instead of what I figured was a 3 month size. I used 15" instead of 12", and I made a small hem at the top and bottom instead of doing a rolled hem with my serger ... because I have no idea how! 

I also covered up the line of gathers with a ribbon and added a fabric bow to the top of the onesie because I had to take off a pink decoration that didn't match. Easy, quick, comfortable, but also very cute. We searched our local fabric store for cute fabric and I'm happy with what we came away with, but I was beginning to worry until we found this purple butterfly fabric. Pretty scary selection, sometimes!

Throw in some homemade hair bows and you've got a gift. The ones on the right are these Double Layer Chunky Hair Bows, which I love. I use them all the time in Sweet Pea's hair. 

The little ones on the left are mini velcro hair bows from this tutorial.

What have you been crafting this summer?

The Little Shift Dress by Favorite Little Things

I haven't sewn or crafted for so long - my crafty post was in March, the embroidery wrapped tangle free headphones. I've been on a roll this week, and I started off by finally sewing the pattern I had cut out in March - the Little Shift dress by Favorite Little Things - times 2! I was worried that the little dress might not fit anymore, but actually they both turned out a bit big which means they will fit next summer too.

I made little SweetPea's dress a size 2 with the size 3 length because both my girls are on the small side. It can be worn the way it's meant to be sans belt, but it is very baggy and the one strange thing about the dress in her size is that the neckline is so big, even though there's a button closure at the back. I'm hoping another size up in growth will fix that. Petunia is 10 and I made her a 9/10 and it's very baggy. It might be wearable without the belt next year, but it's huge. I was disappointed, but then again it'll fit for longer. I tried cinching in the elastic tighter before I fully secured it but it just made the dress hang funny.

The dress is easy to make and the directions are nice and clear, which is good when you're paying a premium for a pattern. The fabric is from my cousin in Tanzania, the same as I one of the Runaround Bag from. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and the girls love them, so that's a big plus.

Little Shift dress by Favorite Little Things

Runaround Bag Pattern by Noodlehead Rocks!

I was given some beautiful fabric from Tanzania around Christmas time and I wanted to find just the right project for it. I've made 4 of these runaround bags by noodlehead. I love them! I scaled the pattern to 80% because I didn't want a giant bag. Turns out it wouldn't have been massive, but that's ok, this is just the right size. There is a zipper pocket inside and I love the instructions for how to make it. It only sounds tricky until you try it. There's also a regular slip pocket and I added a tag and ring to hook my keys to so I won't lose them in the bottom.

Sweet Pea is 10 now and definitely interested in sewing. She's done a couple of projects now and she's currently making one of these bags. It's challenging for her (especially the gathering at the bottom of the bag and lining) but she's doing well. This is a great project for the 'advanced beginner'. :) Is that a category?

The lining fabric has a picture in the middle as well as writing and I wasn't too sure what I could make from it, but the lining from the bags is perfect. I love that I was able to keep the words.

You can find the pattern here.

A Learn To Sew Project - A Doll Dress

My oldest daughter is nearly 10 and is learning to sew. I've found it daunting to try to teach her the basics and then find projects that are fun and interesting for her but don't frustrate the heck out of both of us. This little dress worked out well. She was able to make it with minimal help from me.

We followed a Pillowcase Dress with Ribbon Trim for 18" Doll Tutorial by Leigh Laurel Studios. There's a very simple downloadable pattern and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

This is definitely something to keep in mind next time we need a birthday gift for a friend.

DIY Rollie Pollie Bean Bag Chairs - 3 years later

I made these Rollie Pollie bean bag chairs for my kids 3 years ago this month and someone asked me recently how they were holding up. They are called Rollie Pollies because I used the pattern by that name by Dana from MADE. It was easy to follow and they whipped up pretty quickly.

Here they are when I first made them:

and here they are today:

Still in great condition despite daily use and, of course, occasional abuse. I'm so glad we have them.

Ironman's blue Rollie Pollie is stuffed with regular bean bag pellets from Walmart and it could use another bag to plump it up again. That's a $15 fix, when I get around to it, and it's still very useable in the meantime. 

Petunia's orange Rollie Pollie is stuffed with pillow fiberfill and is still round - although right from the beginning it's needed an adult to sit on it occasionally to squash it back into shape. Otherwise it gets kinda flat, but still comfortable. It never seems to bother the kids.

I would do these again in a heartbeat. I was fortunate enough to get the material on clearance which was a big help. I didn't have a serger at that time so I reinforced all the seams by sewing over them twice and zigzaging them twice. I'm glad I did because no seams have ever split open yet. 

They have a cover over them so it's a lot of material, but they're washable this way. 

Awesome. Best ever. If you're looking for a pattern to make a bean bag chair, you should use this one. :)