a little linen coin purse

After nearly 13 years using the same trusty black leather Fossil wallet, I recently decided I was ready for a change.  I snagged an adorable fabric wallet made by a friend of mine, but it didn't have a zippered compartment for my coins. 

 

This, of course, necessitated the creation of a coin purse.  I'm not sure how I came to settle on the design that I did, but after making the decision that I wanted some pretty french knots to adorn my new purse, I chose a graduating assortment of yellow embroidery floss and a scrap of grey linen from my stash.  This was the perfect in-front-of-the-tv project and took me several hours to complete.

I started with the darkest yellow and created a cluster of french knots on my linen.  From there I chose ever lighter shades and just made my way out, scattering the colors a little as I went so there would be no hard lines as they blended together.

I picked up a coin purse frame at Joann, and after checking out a few online tutorials for making these little bags, I cut out my pieces and sewed them together.  Assembling the purse and the frame was a little tricky, but I managed. 

 

The holes along the edge of the frame are so you can sew your purse in, but I chose not to and just used glue instead.  The inside edges are a little sloppy, but I don't care.  ;)

My coins now have a safe, cute home, and that makes me happy.

An attempt at dollmaking

A few weeks ago I got the itch to make something.  This happens to me a lot.  Sometimes I get the urge to make something specific, sometimes I want to use a certain material, sometimes I just want to make something for a certain person, and sometimes it's all of the above.

 

I wanted to make handmade Christmas gifts for my best friend's children, so I had to come up with what I could make for two boys (ages 8 and 6) and two girls (ages 4 and almost 2).  The idea for the boys ended up being easier than I thought- marshmallow shooters!  Seriously, if you have kids (boys or girls) aged 5 and up, they'll love 'em!  Check out Pinterest.  There are tutorials everywhere!

 

As for the girls, I knew I wanted to make something girly that both would like, and something I could do some hand sewing on.  That was the itch I needed to scratch.  I wanted to stitch by hand.

 

The thought of making a couple of dolls for them made me so happy!  I browsed the Internet until I decided on the look I liked, then made up some paper patterns.  This took a little trial and error, then I had fun choosing fabrics. 

 

This little gal was my first attempt.  And yes, I made her with red hair and blue eyes on purpose.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since this was my first doll, I hadn't gotten the assembly really figured out.  I stuffed the head and limbs, stuffed the dress, then pinned everything in place and hand stitched them closed.  I didn't mind that, but I didn't like how floppy this made her head. 

 

A friend of mine asked if I'd be willing to make her two little girls a pair of dollies, so when I started on those I changed my approach.  This time the assembly took more thought and there was far less hand stitching.  I struggled quite a bit on a few parts and realized that my pattern pieces weren't quite working this time (i.e. adding pig tails made it almost impossible to turn the head right side out through that skinny neck!)  Ugh.

 

They did turn out pretty cute, though. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two gals are the ones I ended up sending to my best buddy's girlies (as a surprise).  Again, LOTS of struggles on these.  I think I made the redheaded doll twice and she still didn't turn out quite right.  Oh well.

 

 

 

Clearly I'm new to this.  The dolls are all a bit wonky, and I still haven't worked out the kinks in my pattern pieces, but the particular itch I had has been sufficiently scratched.  And now both of my sweet friends' sweet girls have little look-alike dollies made by me.  That sure makes me happy!

Basic tee upgrade ~simple embroidery

I've developed a crush on Target's line of Mossimo tees. *sigh* They're cute, soft, nice and long, have a flattering feminine fit without being too snug, come in lovely colors and are CHEAP! Not "cheap" like, they're gonna fall apart after three washes cheap, but super inexpensive. Like, $6-$10 cheap. LOVE IT.

But, they're plain. This isn't necessarily bad, but I find myself wanting to fancify them a little. The other day I was browsing my Google Reader blog list and came upon this post by Eve over at evieivyoverstreet.

First of all, Eve and I are kindred spirits.  She's the crafty kind who loves thrifty goodness as much as I do, AND we both have 3 sons, one of which is named Finn!  We've even traded our crafts before.  Cool, girl, that Eve. 

Okay, back to the post.  Eve wrote about how she awesomeized a plain thrifted tee with a few notions that she had on hand.  While I didn't have any plain thrifted tees that needed some love, I did have a beloved Target tee or two that I felt could use some umph. 

Exhibit A.

Off to the craft store I went and picked up a skein of yellow pearlized cotton.  (You could also use embroidery floss for this, by the way.)

I plopped down in front of the TV that evening and during a few episodes of House Hunters on HGTV I added some pizazz to my previously plain pullover.  (Alliteration!  Love it when that happens.)

I stitched a couple of rows of running stitches along the neckline, some X's on the pocket...

...and some zigzags on the sleeve and hem.

Nothing too dramatic, but definitely more interesting than before!

Thank you, Eve, for the inspiration.

I have another tee shirt project coming up that was also inspired by her adorable tee, so check back soon! And be sure to pop into Eve's Etsy shop and see all the vintage cuteness she has for sale in there.

Tiny felt envelope

We had an exciting event take place at our house today- this young man lost his first tooth!


It was only a few minutes before it came out that I even realized it had gotten so wiggly, and that behind it a grown up one was peeking through, ready to take its rightful place up front. (That seems to be the trend with my kids.)

Of course he would need a safe place to keep that precious little gem until the Tooth Fairy makes her visit, so I postponed some furniture painting in order to do a little bit of sewing this afternoon. Instead of a tooth pillow like I'd made for big sister a couple of years ago, I decided on an envelope for my guy.

Here's what I did, in case you'd like to make one, too. (This may not be the correct way to make an envelope, but I was too lazy to look it up so I just kind of did what I thought would work. I'm sure there are tons of other better tutorials out there that you could use if this one doesn't make enough sense!)

Start with a 4"x4" square of felt. (You can adjust the size if you want it bigger or smaller.)


Round off two opposite corners (if you want).


Fold in the two remaining pointed corners so they're touching.


(I forgot to take photos when I did this for the bottom of the envelope, so let's pretend the photos below are actually of the bottom and not the top. But you'll do the same thing for the top as well.)

Fold the bottom rounded corner up and over the two touching corners. You'll notice that the folds at the top are a little bulky and unsightly.


Press those folds flat with your finger to create creases in the felt.


Snip along the creases.

I highlighted my cuts with green below to help you see it better, though your cuts will actually be a 90 degree angle.


Here's what your square will look like when it's unfolded. (See those 90 degree cuts?)


Fold your side corners back in...


... and your bottom corner up over those...


...and secure them together with pins.


Using some embroidery floss, sew the sides and bottom together using a simple running stitch.





Starting at the inner corner of one of the sides, make a running stitch that goes along the upper edge of the side, then over the top flap and down the top edge of the other side. (That sounds complicated. Just look at the pictures and you'll see what I mean.)


Almost done!


If you want to embellish your envelope you certainly can. How cute would a tiny embroidered tooth be on that top flap? I chose to add my little guy's initial.

And don't forget to add some sort of closure. A snap would be great, but I didn't have any handy so I stitched on a tiny button and just cut a small slit in the top flap for it to go through.
Press your envelope with a nice hot iron to get the creases to stay put.

Now hand it over to its new owner and watch their excitement as they bury it under their pillow in anticipation of that first magical visit from the Tooth Fairy!

(Then pray she doesn't forget...)

A few more things

The message board and furniture went to the consignment shop on Tuesday, along with these other little items.

My favorite blue and a bird. Still not sure how I managed to let this one leave my house.


These embroideries were fun. The words are French for "play" (jouer) and "work" (travailler).

The frames were from the thrift store. They got spray painted red and brushed over with black house paint, then rubbed to let the red show through.


The shelf is still on the floor in the garage, looking rather disappointing. Not sure I'll be able to get it done in time to take in for the consignment store's Open House on Friday night, but I'm going to try.

Today I cranked out 4 more pillows, which I'll show you photos of once I've stitched up the open ends. I'm really hoping to get a couple more projects done by Friday, but we'll just have to see how things go.

Cute just doesn't quite cover it.

Nothing new from me today, but I HAD to link to this post by Corinne that I just saw on her blog, so September.

Can you believe the insane amount of cuteness that's oozing from this set of hoops??!



Look at the little chains connecting the three. I. COULD. DIE.

Seriously, I just cannot get over the utter adorableness. LOVE!


You'll find the free pattern for this darling fellow on her blog.

I embroidered him a while back but haven't tried adding the patchwork to the sides yet. In my opinion, it just brings the sweetness level way, way up!

fabric scalloped bunting

Bye, baby bunting,
Daddy's gone a-hunting,
for to get a rabbit skin,
to wrap the baby bunting in.

My Mom used to sing us that song as children. Now I sing it to my kids. And every time I hear the word "bunting", that's what comes to mind.

I loved the idea of some kind of banner to string up in the corner around Finnley's crib. It needed something, and I figured this would be just the thing to fill up those walls.

I started by carefully selecting the scraps of fabric I wanted to use, then cutting each one into a sort of "U" shape and stitching them to a plain cream linen backing. You could easily make this a reversible bunting by choosing fabrics in a different color scheme for the other side. 2 in 1!!

Pinking the rounded edge made the curve nice and smooth once the pieces were turned right side out.

I couldn't resist doing a little embroidery on a couple of them.

Then each got sandwiched between some extra wide bias tape and stitched in place.

I'm in love with this bunting.

I found this sweet little canvas at TJ Maxx on clearance for $7. Isn't it darling??

The embroidered pieces repeat the sentiment I stitched onto the crib skirt.

It was amazing how quickly this project came together. MUCH easier than I expected. But I think what I really dig is how inexpensive this was. Practically free! All of the fabric came from what I had on hand, so the only thing I bought was the bias binding-- and even that didn't have to be bought, but I was just feeling too daggum lazy to make some. :)

Just for fun I added labels to this last picture indicating what other projects my scraps of fabric have been used for (click to enlarge). This banner has little bits of memories sewn into it, which makes me love it even more.


*EDIT: At the wise suggestion of my aunt, I re-hung the bunting higher to be sure that it would be out of Finnley's reach. If you make one of these, be sure to hang it so that your little one can't pull it down and become entangled.