Tuesday, July 3, 2012

I Really Have Been Sewing...

I've actually been doing quite a bit of sewing the last few days. Remember those baby shower gifts I made? Well, I knew I would be seeing my friend Sunday so I decided to get her gifts wrapped up and ready. My only problem was a lack of wrapping supplies. No gift bags, no wrapping paper, no boxes. So what was I to do? I didn't want to just toss her a generic plastic grocery bag full of handmade goodies. Of course I decided to just make her a bag! One can never have too many bags, and I've been wanting to try the Jane Market bag that everyone and their sister seems to have made, so I got to work...

Super cute and quick to put together, I already have fabrics set aside for another for myself. I used Decor Bond to interface the exterior fabrics and some lightweight interfacing for the pocket. I also lengthened the straps to 28" instead of the 20 or 21 the pattern called for. Does the center panel annoy you? I hate that the print on the panel and the pocket are going different directions, but didn't notice it until I was assembling the bag. And of course I didn't have enough of the print to cut them again. Oh well, my friend loved it and didn't seem to even notice. 

Of course I had to do a bit of sewing for Baby Girl, too...

Burp cloths made with random fabrics. For some reason I didn't want to cut into my "good" fabrics that I got for her, especially since they'll just be getting barfed on, so she just gets whatever I found. 

Let's imagine these squares of fabric are crib sheets, ok? Because they are now, but taking pictures of sheets is no fun so instead you just get to pretend. I used this tutorial, mostly because I did not want to have elastic around the entire sheet, just on the ends. There are plenty of other tutorials out there for either style if you are interested. For some reason I find it really satisfying to make my own crib sheets, even if they end up being more expensive than what you can buy at the store. 

And since I had done quite a bit of practical sewing, I decided it was time for something fun.
A baby circle skirt, using this tutorial from Made. Why yes, I do use a lot of her tutorials, don't I? 
The only thing I changed was to do a rolled hem at the bottom using my serger instead of turning the fabric under and hemming. I just could not get it to look neat that way, so I played around with my serger a bit and ended up with this. I'm not really sure if this is right, but it looks good enough for me. And if someone is looking at the skirt hem instead of the adorable baby wearing it, they've got issues.

12 comments:

  1. Looks like you have been very busy! Not much longer now and your little girl will be happily using her burp cloths!

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  2. Great projects! I love that you whipped up a bag when you realized you were out of wrapping supplies. I'm sure the new owner won't notice the panel--I don't think I would!

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  3. The bag and baby makes are lovely, the skirt is particularly cute x

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  4. Ooh, fab gift bag there, and cute wee skirt

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  5. Great bag and great goodies!!! (Just checked, cause, I'm a bit behind with blog reading ;-) That skirt is totally cute!

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  6. I really like your market bag - pretty fabrics!

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  7. What lovely gifts and the bag to carry them all was inspired!

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  8. boy you are so busy and accomplishing so much! Good for you! And the bag is perfect!

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  9. I love the bag :) the center panel doesn't annoy me at all!

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  10. What a lot of sewing! I think the pattern on the bag is fine. I actually like reversing prints in the same project sometimes to give some extra interest. Your little girl is going to be set once she arrives. :)

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  11. Wow you have been so busy! I love those markets bags. I really should make some for my mother in law. It's so much fun getting ready for girls. I love all of her sweet little things you've made!

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