More presents!

So I haven't done a great job taking pictures so far. I made this diaper clutch for my sister-in-law and this awesome bag for one of my best friends, Amy. Maybe I can get them to take pictures for me... hint, hint. I do however, have pictures of the fairy dollhouse that I made for my niece and the fairies who inhabit it!

Here are the cutie fairies who will live in the house. I used the patterns in this book to make them. How sweet is that?



Here are my first attempt at sewing the sides together. If you click on the picture, you'll get a bigger image - at your own risk. I call these my frankenstein stitches. Ugly.



Here are the redone pretty stitches. Yay!

Christmas Time's A Coming

Here is the progress on the Christmas presents (that are safe to post). I'll keep taking pictures so that as people receive their gifts, you'll be able to see what I've been working on!

This is the Emmaline Apron from Meg at Sew Liberated. What amazing patterns!! This was more difficult than I had originally thought, probably my most ambitious sewing project to date. I wish I had better pictures, but I am really proud of how it turned out. It was for my Secret Santa at school, who loves to cook!

Its reversible! Please ignore my husband's pajamas in the corner.... And yes, those are chickens on the red side (you can see a bigger image if you click on the picture). Too cute! I got my fabrics from Asheville Cotton. They have the such an awesome selection. I wish my photography skills were better. Anyone know some good tips?



Here is my Secret Santa in her new apron! Yay!



Dollhouse and fairies coming tomorrow!

Busy (Messy) Bee

I have been a busy (and messy - my husband is so understanding...) bee since my last post! I found the link to this fabric dollhouse tutorial on Carmen's blog and I knew I had to make one for my niece for Christmas and I have been working ever since. I am having so much fun that I want to start another one and I'm not even finished with this one! What I really love about it is that I get to design and be creative. I've had a few snags, but I think that now that I've made one, it will definitely be easier the next time. Here are a few of the obstacles I've encountered:

When sewing the side panels onto the main part, it was difficult to keep them aligned in the correct position. I pinned it, but it kept slipping, I think because of the batting-wrapped insert. The seam-ripper was my best friend (or worst enemy...?) that afternoon. It took me three tries to get it lined up all pretty like this:

When I finally got it lined up, it was so thick - especially the second time when there were two panels sandwiched in - that even with my zipper foot, it was hard to sew around it. The stitches are not pretty, but at least you can't see them!!

Another thing I wasn't sure about was attaching the designs to the house. I think in the future it may be better to actually sew the felt onto the fabric before sewing it all together. So far I have been using fabric glue to apply the decor to the house. It works fine for the felt to fabric bonding, but it is not holding the felt to felt very well. I'll have to keep experimenting with that... Here is a little preview - some of this has not actually been attached yet, its just propped up.

I am really happy with the fireplace. I need to figure out how to put a chimney on the outside. Yay!

My next step (after I finish the house) is to make the fairies that will live in the house. I am using ideas from this book. Stay tuned for the next installment...

P.S. - I haven't fixed my fused plastic bag yet... It turns out that my iron is not keeping an even temperature, which is likely the problem, so I'll update when I get a new one...