Fall Artifact Globe Tutorial - Reggio Emilia Inspired

I've been crazy busy since our vacation, so no new sewing projects. However, I wanted to share with you a project that I did with the little boy I nanny for. We have been exploring the neighborhood all year, and he is especially interested in all the little details of nature: seeds, leaves, sticks, berries. We've talked about the leaves changing with the seasons, how berries and seeds make it from the tree to the ground (my favorite was talking about how birds eat the berries and plant trees through their..well, you know. :), and all kinds of separate discussions. To extend this exploration, now that the weather is getting colder, and to make this accessible to the 11 month old (while eliminating the choking hazard), I brought the idea of the wave bottles into play.

Instead of using the little bottles again, I found these plastic snow globes at Michael's for $3.49 a piece. I don't have to glue these shut, because there's no way the kids are going to be able to take out the giant plug (it was really hard for me!), so we can use these again and again. Today, we took a walk around the neighborhood and picked up some Fall Artifacts along the way, including leaves, sticks, seeds, dried berries, etc. I brought them home and made these beautiful Fall Artifact Globes in minutes! Here's how:

Take off the cap and plug.

Fill with your Fall Artifacts, sorted by color, type or size.

Replace the plug and cap, gluing if you are worried about supervision. These seal fairly tight, but it never hurts to be safe!

These are perfect for infant/toddler/preschool and beyond! Reggio Emilia inspired, bringing the natural world into the classroom (or home!) and really focusing on the beauty of the objects. I love these! I can't wait to see what the kiddos think. :)

I also forgot to share my last vacation dress with you! Here's the blue dress I made last minute.

Here I am at the Byodo-In Temple in my dandelion puff dress. I put some beautiful blue buttons as embellishment, and a faux train on the back, much like my tiered skirt had. I love how it turned out, but I don't have any photos of the back.

We had such an amazing time! :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

If You Like Piña Coladas...

My boyfriend and I are finally on our Hawaii vacation! Our friends get married tomorrow, but until then we are hanging around and enjoying the sights. I wore one of my new dresses today, one of two that I haven't shown on the blog yet because I made them in such a big hurry before the trip. I hope everyone is enjoying their three day weekend! Here are some pictures from our trip so far.

 My new sunny yellow dress for the trip. This is light, since I didn't line it, and has little flower details in the neckline trim and three buttons on the bodice.

Perfectly light for the hot day today!

I brought a bunch of my ribbon flowers, like this one, for the trip, but I also got some things at the shops. I couldn't help myself.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Third Dress for Vacation...and Creating A Bodice Block!

I am sooooooo proud of my final dress for vacation! Before I start my non-vacation projects, I wanted to finish this series of dresses, because otherwise I may never finish them. Well, once I finished this one, I caught the dress bug! Why so much excitement??? Well, Heather from Feather's Flights (fabulous blog, I learn so much every time I read it!) suggested I check out Burdastyle.com for dress patterns. I found this one by elegant-impressions and decided to download the pattern and try it out...until I realized that the pattern was for a size 2, and there was no way it would come out just right. But, luckily, burdastyle posted an article with links about creating the perfect fit, and I found a tutorial on how to create a bodice block. A bodice block is basically the basic pattern for a top based on your personal measurements. On Tuesday, I ended up in the emergency room with the abdominal pain...after chugging barium and getting my 8th CT in 7 years, I found out I have (again!) multiple kidney stones on both sides, the largest of which is almost 4mm. That is the largest one I've ever had...mostly mine have been under 2mm. They break them up at 5mm, so this is a doozey, but I'll have to pass it on my own, as well as the others. Needless to say, I stayed home from work and needed some distractions. Thank GOODNESS the ER doctor found a pain medication I'm not allergic to...not nearly as strong as my last one, but it won't cause heart problems....she did suggest the drug that killed Michael Jackson, but we went with something else. :) In any case, I spent the day creating my bodice block...it took a couple of hours but I am thrilled with it! You can use it to create personalized patterns in a snap, which I love to do. Yay!!

Here's the bodice (front and back) that I created using my modified block and the back of the Katjusha pattern. I made my block on plain white paper but plan to transfer it to a more permanent form soon. The back was easy to create...just a basic rectangle twice the width of your back, with quick elastic casings. I used a straightened wire hanger to thread the elastic through easily.

The elastic back makes the dress easy to slip on and off (my usual necessity in a garment) and I used the white lining to accent the hem and create the straps. I plan on making a fabric headband to go with it.

I was so pleased with how this dress came out that I went to Joann's and bought four more pieces of fabric to create some more dresses, perhaps for work with a longer skirt and pockets too. I've been really nervous to use non-knit fabric because of my large chest, but the bodice block has made this easy as pie! Tomorrow I am finishing the giveaway project (very overdue!) and I am excited for you to see how that comes out too. Then I am making a peach colored dress with white eyelet trim and pockets. :) What are you working on? Would you sew more dresses if you had a bodice block?

Second Hawaii Dress without a Pattern...or...The Day of Un-Picking

I am very happy with this second dress, although it did not turn out how I had envisioned it. Because it needed to be lined (didn't realize that at the store) I had half the fabric I planned for, so the very flowy, swishy, gathered dress turned into a short, cute, straight dress. Here's how I started.

This time I chose a three piece pattern, in a blue jersey (very cheap, and it definitely showed while sewing...ran like pantyhose when you nipped a thread). I chose a deep v neckline and cut the bodice big enough for lots of gathering, which turned out to be just way too big. I made the pattern by simply measuring my own body and where I wanted the different parts to hit.Even though I measured this time, I added a little too much. Better than too small! I didn't take a picture of the first draft, so to speak, but it had the right look, just needed lots of adjusting in the bust. That took forever! I cut the straps, and resewed them, but then the bust was too small (lengthwise), so I un-picked them and luckily had left a lot of fabric. Once the length was right, I started fiddling with the width. Being a large-chested girl is very frustrating, and tailoring your own clothes is even harder, I found out. With my last dress, I couldn't get the bust right and it turned out to be the size difference in each breast, plus pinning the clothing inside out (so measuring for the opposite breast). This time, I did a lot of sew-wear-unpick-sew-repeat. LOTS of unpicking, but I am very happy with the result.

The neckline has a great shape to it, thanks to the ribbon. You may notice that I added darts in the chest...I just had too much material. This was my first time darting, AND my breasts are different sizes, so it came out a little wonky. And lopsided. Will fix on another day when I haven't sat in my sewing room for 6 hours. Good enough for now! I also added some black and white polka dot ribbon details for the straps (original plan) and bow on the hip (improv).

Ignore the wonky boob-lines!!! I love this dress! :)

Literally as comfortable as a t-shirt. I had planned to bunch/gather the straps with another ribbon I bought at the store, but decided this was way cuter.

I really like the bow on the hip. I don't like that the waist bumps where it joins the skirt. I think this is from using a wider zig-zag for stretch, instead of my usual straight stitch.

Wow...hello butt. lol. The backside of this dress, especially on top, turned out much better than my first Hawaii dress.

There's the waist-bump again, but it's fairly minor. Each panel of the dress has two layers of fabric...definitely not a quick dress for me.

Ahhh...I can just imagine wearing this to the beach... :) Loving my new Little Blue Dress!

So...what do you think? I say not bad for not using a pattern! We booked our hotel for the trip yesterday, so I got to working on this dress right away. Surprisingly, I had the energy. I went to the doctor Wednesday and they put me on "watch" for appendicitis...scared the crap out of me! I couldn't get the CT scan to diagnose, since I've had about 7 already and the radiation is cumulative, so I spent a day sitting at home, in pain, taking my temp every half an hour. Luckily, my blood work came back ok, so appendicitis is ruled out, but that means it is likely a cyst. Not happy about that.

Anyhow, my point was that I haven't been up for much, but the hotel booking got me motivated. I am hoping this sewing streak will continue so I can finally finish my other projects. I also have one more dress to make...a cotton black, white and red floral that will need a lining. I am hoping I will have enough to make that one into the swishy dress, but I am worried about the bodice. Does anyone know where I can find free patterns online? Or maybe a good tutorial for a similar bodice to this one, only in a stiff fabric. I find that the hardest part, but maybe it will work if I do the darts and all. Straightly, this time, I hope. lol.

New Dress for Vacation Without Pattern

 I made my first Hawaii vacation dress from a bright, silky material I got at Joann's. I thought this would be so beautiful, but the material was a PAIN! It doesn't sit the way I like, it moves around so much that creating the pattern was just a nightmare, and I had to do a LOT of alterations just to get it to look like this. I am still unhappy with the hem, so I am thinking of making it about knee-length all the way around, like the original I patterned it after. What do you think? Here are the photos.

The original dress

My version (sorry for the blur) with a long back hemline and shorter front hemline. Not completely happy with the back bodice...still needs some altering, but I wore it for the 4th and enjoyed it!

I added elastic at the waist so I wouldn't have to belt it and be hot. The bodice has a modest neckline with some gathering...I need to make the back much smaller because the straps slide down...again...more tweaking needed before the big trip. 

 I do like the length in the front....hmmmmmm.

It didn't turn out exactly like the first...because it is hard to make a pattern from scratch, and it is a completely different fabric (stiff, not stretchy) but I am mostly pleased with how it turned out. What do you think???

It's Been A While But I Have An Idea

Well, it's been busy, busy, busy over here. We went to Orlando for Thanksgiving and had a great time at Sea World, Universal and Disney. I even enjoyed the super scary Harry Potter ride, which I agonized over while in the 90 minute wait, then went on anyway and it was my favorite ride EVER! If there was a shorter line, I would have gone again and again. Unfortunately, there was a line to get into the Wizarding World, then to get onto the rides, then to get into the restaurant, and finally, a long wait to get into the gift shops. One word, Universal...expansion!

We loved Disney, as always, especially all the Christmas decorations. We got a bunch of ornaments....again. We bought some last year when we went too, so most of our tree is somehow Disney related. Yet, we still managed to fit the rest of our ornaments. That's why I love our 11ft ceilings. Big. Christmas. Tree.

The whole tree. Not very impressive in this shot. We chose red and white lights. I absolutely LOVE Christmas, and this tree is really lifting my spirits. And I need it, because my last two checks have been small, and my job runs out in two and a half weeks. *sigh* My back is getting pretty cranky from all the hours I am working, so I'm going in for an acupuncture appointment tomorrow. Wish me luck! I do not like the idea of someone putting needles in my tush, but that's where a lot of my pain radiates from...I've got a little sciatica going on. Yuck.

Well, what are you doing/did you do for the holidays?? Any crafting? I'm looking forward to doing my Christmas gifts this weekend...all handmade. Or at least that's the goal.

Oh yes! I forgot about my idea. Matching totes to carry your plushie along on your outtings. Opinions????



Bright Pink Kitty is Here!

Here she is! Bright Pink Floral Kitty is the first plushie to be made with my new fabric. She isn't holiday, but she'll be making her debut at my next craft show in November. Can you tell why I love her fabric so much? *peeks around at the page* When I went to the fabric store, I was just looking for holiday fabric. When I came across this, and several other generic fabrics, I couldn't help but yank it into my cart! Instead of going for the soft, cute fabric, this fall/winter I'm going for vibrant, colorful patterns! Don't worry....more to come!

On the employment front, a long term sub position covering a maternity leave opened up in my school. My current position is finished on Friday, but if I get hired for this next sub position, I will be ok until around January. Then I will begin my job hunt again. What a long year this has been! I thought I wouldn't be writing about job searching anymore, but here we are. I am feeling a lot better this week, and I'm glad I had some time to work on sewing. I've got a lot to look forward to next month...my second craft show, my driver's license test *finally!* and a trip to Disney World and Universal (for Harry Potter!!!!). It's going to be exciting, I just hope I can keep up.