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Tiered Dress

We had a brand new Walmart open up in the Heber Valley a couple months ago and there was a big bin of patterns on sale for a dollar by the fabric department. I decided I'd give this cute dress a shot. I picked some cute soft corduroy fabric and whala! A dress was born. I think it turned out pretty cute and she loves it. Aubrey is the easiest kid to please. She has such a love for life. The dress is supposed to have a bow on the front, but I don't have any ribbon in those colors, so for now, the dress is complete as is.

 I was a little worried about the length of the dress, I thought I might need to add another tier. But, it's about the same length as her other dresses and she can always wear leggings/tights underneath.

 My sweet daughter loves to pose for pictures. I think this is her favorite stance.

Piano Bench Cushion

We bought our piano from one of my Mom's friends for $250 when we first moved back to Utah. Tucker and I have been taking piano lessons from my Dad since January and I decided it was finally time to sit on a comfortable seat while practicing!

I used the tutorial from Do It Yourself found here. It was a no sew project that was super easy and I love how it turned out.

Hapari Giveaway

I'm trying to promote my new Etsy shop, www.littlelisalulu.etsy.com, and in the process came across a giveaway from Hapari Swimwear. Their stuff is seriously so cute, flattering and great! Check out their website at
http://www.hapari.com/. You can find the giveaway HERE.

Car Seat Canopy

I put together this car seat canopy last weekend and love the fabrics. I was able to use the same fabric line that I recovered the car seat with, so it all matches. I followed two online patterns and both called for a yard of fabric for the top and bottom, but I think my canopy is about 2-3 inches too wide. It sort of bunches around the sides - oh well, I'm not unpicking it and it's probably just me that really notices. The inside fabric is the same material as the handle straps. This was super easy to make. It's kind of fun that with each kid I have there is something new out there for me to make.

The Duck Towel

Baby Blake's Blanket

This is the finished product of baby #4's handmade blanket. I used a free pattern from Joann's online projects found here. It was fun to pick out the different fabrics and colors. The instructions or at least the fabric requirements were completely off for the backing fabric. It says it needs 4 yards of fabric - so not true! I bought that much, but probably only used 2 yards. I ended up making a crib sheet with some of the extra.

 The funny thing about this quilt is, I found a Carter's sleeper outfit that matches the backing fabric almost perfectly. Needless to say, this baby will be coming home from the hospital in it! I made the blanket the size for a toddler bed so that it will actually get use for a long time. I'm sure it will just sit on my rocking chair looking cute for awhile. I paid to have it quilted at a shop in Salt Lake. I've never done that before, but it was so inexpensive (only $34!) that it was definitely worth my money to not spend the time on it.

Infant Carseat Recovering Project

One of my friends recovered her infant car seat and at first I thought there was no way I was going to attempt that, but the more I looked at my old car seat, I realized how badly I either wanted a new car seat or at least a revamp on the old one. I found fabric I love from Seasons of Home, right here in Midway. The line is called All Stars by Riley Blake Designs. I love it so much that I'm going to make a car seat tent/canopy out of different fabrics out of the line as well. I bought the Etsy pattern from Puking Pastilles and with my 15 page colorful tutorial, I went to work. I'm so excited about the way it turned out and can't wait to bring home my new bundle in it, in a couple weeks.

Blue Monster/Dino

Alligator

My newest creation is probably one of my favorites! I was making a dinosaur towel and thought I'd try something different. I found a website that sells hooded towels and made my version of their alligator. My sister had her baby shower last Saturday so I gave it to her, much to the dismay of my children. Her husband is from Texas and grew up around "gators" so it was very fitting that their little guy have it.

I love making these towels because they are so quick and easy!

Last Bag

I bought fabric for this bag well over a year ago while still living in Colorado. I've been wanting to put my sewing machine away for awhile and focus on scrapbooking, so I thought I'd better whip out this bag, so that it wasn't lingering on my to do list. I wanted to make it more like a diaper bag, so I made it wider, not as tall and did a foldover closure on top.

For just making it up, I thought it turned out pretty well. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, save it for someone, use it myself, etc. But the project is completed, my sewing machine is put away and I'm back to scrapbooking. I can't even tell you how far behind I am on scrapbooking. Like, I've only got my honeymoon scrapbooked behind. : ) Oh well, I've got to start somewhere and with a 4th kid on the way, I know I'll never be caught up, so I'll just have fun slowly getting it done.

Bagging Time Again

My Mom and I bought fabric for me to make her a bag over 6 months ago. With Swiss Christmas I kept putting it on the back burner. I finally got around to making it and it turned out really cute. It will be great for spring.

Swiss Christmas

Swiss Christmas was a big success for our first year. My friends and I had no idea what to expect. We had a lot of fun, made some money and are planning on doing it again next year. I sold hooded towels, nursing covers and crayon rolls. Below are a couple of my creations.

My crayon rolls sold completely out in the first 5 hours, I should have made 100 of them! My nursing covers did so-so and my towels did great. I only came home with 2. I had a few orders for things before Christmas and feel great knowing I can make some money doing something I love.

These are a couple pictures of our table. It was a bit busy, but I think that was a good thing because people looked longer and had options of things to purchase.

If you are in the area next year, stop on by!

Aubrey's Room

Wow, I have not been good at updating this blog. I have done a ton over the past few months. The following picture is of our little princess's room. I finished her canopy bed and painted her room purple. She loves it and I love that she loves it. The bed was mine as a little girl and I'm so glad my parents kept it for me after all these years. She doesn't have a bedspread yet, I'm still deciding on whether I want to make her one or find her a cute one to buy. I figure there's no rush. She has plenty of blankets to keep her warm in the meantime. I am doing a booth/table for Swiss Christmas which is the weekend of December 4-5. I'm doing it with my mom and a couple friends. I'm been sewing like crazy the past few months and am excited to see how everything goes. It's a first for almost all of us, so we'll see if we have enough inventory. Of course we are hoping that we'll sell out of everything, but only time will tell!

Crayon Roll

I'd heard of these before and finally got around to making some. They are soooo easy! I love it! And the best part about making them right now is that you can get a pack of 24 crayons for a quarter. The crayon roll only holds 16, so I just divvy up the crayons from 2 packs to make 3! Watch out my little relatives and friends. You might find one of these wrapped up for you!

For my sister-in-law

More Hiders

I've been busy sewing lately. I made this hooter hider for my friend Leah that just had a baby a week ago. I LOVE the fabric. There is a cute fabric shop in Midway called Seasons of Home that has the best selection. I've made 2 more in the past couple days, but until they are gifted I won't show them. I'm thinking that it would be fun to get a booth for Swiss Christmas (kind of like Swiss Days except on a smaller scale) and attempting to sell some of my sewing crafts. I'm thinking of selling the hooter hiders (although I'll have to just call them nursing covers or come up with my own name) and maybe table runners. Anyone got any other ideas? or want to try this out with me?

Cole's Crib

Welcome to Cole's crib. It's taken me a long time to finally finish his bedding. I sewed his blanket back before he was born (he's 5 months now) and just finished everything else over the weekend. I got super lucky and found his exact animal print fabric at Walmart of all places. I bought his original fabric in flannel at a specialty shop in Colorado and couldn't believe it when I found it at the Park City Walmart. It's not flannel, but works and matches perfectly. I made the crib sheet, crib skirt and bumpers. One of the only things I would do differently if I were to do it over again would be to make the crib skirt gathered. It's a bit too straight looking for me, but oh well. My next project for his room is to buy COLE letters and modpodge or paint them.

Bandana Skirt

I've been wanting to whip this little project out for awhile. It was soooo easy. I made it in under an hour. I found the tutorial here. The wind and my model were not cooperating this afternoon. It still looks cute on her though and she loves that it's "puhr-pul"

The Bag Tutorial (Finally)

This is my first tutorial, so bear with me if it's long. Hopefully you will be able to make your own bag after reading this and following the instructions. Please email me if it doesn't make sense, or for those of you that do know how to make these, if you think I left out an important step or you do something different, let me know.

First off, you need to cut out your pieces. I used 3 different fabrics, but you can use 2 colors or more than 3 if desired. (My measurements are given width X length)

Outside dimensions:
2- 18 X 12 inches (my giraffe print)
1 - 18 X 14 inch (stripes)

Inside dimensions:
1- 18 X 38/1/2 inch (neutral fabric)

Straps
2 - 4 X 30 (I did 2 2 X 30 of each the giraffe and neutral fabrics and then sewed them together to get my 4 X 30 inch straps.)

Pockets
I used leftover stripe fabric to form my pockets. You can customize these to fit your needs. I cut my pockets out to 12 X 16 inches. When you are deciding how big you want them, realize that the size you cut out will be folded in half.

You will also need stiff plastic canvas and magnetic snaps (both found at Joanns). Also, I like to tie my fabrics together on the outside by sewing ribbon next to the seam. If you decide to do this, you will need a little over a yard of ribbon. 18 + inches for one side and the same for the other.

Lastly you need about 2 yards of stiff interfacing. It doesn't need to be double sided, you just need to iron it on to the wrong side of your fabric.

Alright, now that you know what you need to buy...now it's time for the instructions.

1. Cut out your pieces of fabric.

2. Cut out your interfacing. I lie my fabric on top of the interfacing and just cut around it. Next, iron it on, and trim the excess off.
3. Take your outside bag pieces and lay them out how you want them to look. (Giraffe, stripe, giraffe) Sew them right sides together. Iron seams open.

4. Next, sew your ribbon on.

(I usually sew mine right above the seam.)
4. Fold this new strip of fabric in half, right sides together, pin and sew down each side making sure to line up seams.

This is what it will look like inside. Iron open seams again. (I forgot to do this step, but it helps a lot!)

6. Next, press corners out and draw a line 2.5 inches up and 5 inches across on both sides. Pin and then sew along this line. It provides you with a flat bottom in your bag.

This is what it looks like after you sew it.

7. Turn bag right sides out and push triangles corners flat across the bottom of bag.

8. Take your plastic canvas and cut it to fit the bottom of your bag. It should be 18X5 inches.

9. Place in bottom of bag.

Now you are ready for the inside of the bag. First you will need to make your pockets.

10. Fold in half right sides together and sew each edge, leaving a small opening on the side or bottom.

11. Turn inside out. You can now tuck the open ends in and close the hole or wait and close the hole with the next step.

12. Pin your pockets on your inside fabric. Measure down from the top of each side for exactness. Remember that 5 inches will cover the bottom of the bag.

13. Sew down 3 sides of the pocket, leaving the top open that is nearest the top of the inside fabric.

14. If desired, sew down the middle of your pocket to form 2 pockets. I usually measure the size of a sippy cup, my wallet, diapers or wipes to determine my pocket sizes.

Your sewed on pocket.

15. Once your pockets are attached, fold in half, right sides together and sew down the sides. Follow step 6 again and make your bottom.

Now you have the inside of your bag complete. Place inside of bag in the outside bag. If you measured everything correctly and used the same seam allowance with everything, your bag should fit perfectly inside. Mine never does and I end up having to make my inside bag smaller by sewing down the sides again with a bigger inseam.

16. Next are the straps. Like I said before I used 2 different colors to make my straps. If you are doing this, sew them together and press the seam open.

Now with your 4X30 strap, fold in half, iron and then fold edges into the middle, pin and iron down.

17. Next you are going to sew along the edge of both sides of the strap. Your finished strap. Do the same for the second strap.

18. With your bag placed together, fold the tops in so they are facing each other. Measure so that it is even around the top. Pin in place.
19. Take your straps and measure in 4 inches from each side and pin in between the inside and outside fabrics. One strap should be on one side, the other strap on the other side. Measure your straps so that they are the same length.

20. Now you just need to add the magnetic snaps. I got lazy and didn't take picture of this step. Basically I measure down 1.5 inches below where my strap is attached. Take your seam ripper and make a little hole. (You will have to unpin where your straps are.) Place one of the snap arms in the hole and decide where the other hole needs to be. Use your seam ripper and make the other hole. Put backing on snap and push arms out to hold in place. Put the connecting snap on the other side under opposite strap. Make sure that it lines up and snaps together.

Your last step is to sew along the top of the bag, closing everything off. It can get thick sewing over the straps and the side seams so go slowly. I didn't do it with this bag, but you could add cording around the top for a more finished look.

All done! I hope you like your bag! For other bag ideas check out the It's All in the Bag link to the right and you can also see my bags by clicking here.