Shirring

Start with elastic thread.

Hand wind, barely stretching, the elastic thread on to a bobbin.



Mark your lines where you want to add the rows of elastic. Sew either a straight stitch or a zigzag stitch (both work fine), along your marked (or in most cases for me eyeballed) rows. I like to use a 3 1/2 stitch length. Make sure you have the right side of the fabric facing up so that the elastic thread will be on the inside of what ever you are making or the on backside of the fabric.

The Back

The Front

The more rows you sew the more gathered your fabric will be. Leave tails of the elastic thread on the ends of your rows to tie off so it doesn't come undone.

It is so much fun to experiment and play with shirring!

Father's Day

This was too cute. I added a twist, as most of my children are too young to read questions... Instead I added a favorite game with M&M's.... On the backside of "Don't Eat Dad" are 9 different pics of their dad. Still need to complete before Sunday. I just hope dad wears the tie to church... here is the link where I got the idea my minds eye

Also I have been etching glass pans...

refashion

This was a shirt of Todd's that he was getting rid of... Here is a blog with instructions and a lot of cute variations.

This used to be a skirt for me... now a dress for Lill Was velvet dress for Lilli and a scary sparkly shirt that my mom was getting rid of... Now a skirt for Lilli.

Was a skirt I got an clearance for about $3, but a size XXXX-something. Now a dress for Lilli and the old zipper became little rosettes. I also made matching hair flowers out of extra fabric.

Car Seats and Diaper Bags

4 years ago, when I found out I was having a 2nd daughter (after 3 boys a girl and 3 more boys) I could not hold back the girliness. I recovered our blue and red port-a-crib with pink, made new sheet and a comforter for it and I knew I had to recover our very worn out boyish navy blue car seat cover. I needed something that celebrated my baby girl. I took apart the old cover and used it as a pattern. It was a very simple look, but unique and my own thing. This was before the car seat makers even offered any thing other than the gender generic prints. I couldn't find a picture of that one but here are a few of the others I have made for family members. Some of the shots aren't great and some were not taken of the car seats themselves so you get baby pics too.

I wish I had a better photo of this one, because it had pink pom pom trim. It was so much fun with the green and pink flower print.

This one was more shabby chic. The canopy had a coordinating lining of pink and off white stripes and a green polka dot ribbon trim and bow on top. I also made a matching diaper bag with the same green ribbon trim.

Again not a great shot of the car seat but this was one had a darling retro feel to it, but still very girly. The top of the canopy matched the head rest fabric.

This is the first one I made for a boy. He was almost a 4th of July baby so his mom thought it would be fun to have a patriotic car seat for him. It turned out great and full of spirit.

I made another cute boy one but I don't have any pictures of it (Dandi if you have any feel free to post it for me).


This one was to celebrate a first girl so it had to be super frilly. I added a flower, ruffle and tulle to the canopy to really make it fun. Then I made this quilted diaper bag out of two place mats and some coordinating fabric. I love the size too. I am not a giant bag girl. I like it big enough to get the job done.



When I was asked to make this one it came with the request that it have blue in it but still be really girly. After MUCH thought and TONS of trips to LOTS of fabric stores I came up with this. Totally girly and a matching bag, again out of quilted place mats and coordinating fabrics.


I am giving thought to make them for hire. I have not settled on a price yet, but let me know if you or any one you know are interested. I just need the old cover and canopy to make an exact fit for your seat.

We've been framed!

Isn't it annoying to have to dig through everything to find a matching bow? That's why I decided to make this cute bow holder with a frame I saw sticking out of someone's bulk trash (think whatever you want about that) and some lace I got at SAS for $0.25 a yard. This whole project cost less than $0.75. Yeah!

Very cute and Very functional. Just hanging it up in the bathroom and we're ready to go!

Added Personality

For our family reunion, I wanted to make matching shirts with a "W" (for our last name) on them, for my daughter and me.

I traced a "W" onto the shirt and then pinned the fabric onto the inside of the shirt. Next, I sewed on the lines and then cut out most of the t-shirt on the inside of the stitches.

Then wash it so it curls the fabric back a bit.

Now we have cute matching shirts.

Of course you could do this with any shape or letter that you'd like.

Chenille Baby Quilt

If you can sew a straight line, you can make a chenille quilt. You layer 5 fabrics on top of each other, draw your diagonal lines, sew down the lines, cut in between the lines (only on the top 3 layers of fabric) and then bind. I have complete detailed instructions if anyone wants them.

Before binding and washing

After washing

I didn't actually bind this one, just sewed all the way around on the edge, to give it a more rugged look.