More Rolled Fabric Necklaces

I love making rolled fabric flower necklaces! They're so simple, use up stash fabric, and turn out so pretty. I made three new necklaces today. I have them listed on whoopdwhoop, a "currency free marketplace" where people can list their homemade creations and swap them for other people's creations. Fun stuff!

Aren't they so sweet and girly?

Submitting this post to kojodesigns Spring Destash.

New Dresses

Something about Saturday, as the day before Sunday, makes me want to sew. I guess it's because I then get to show off my creativity when we go to church on Sunday, and if anyone asks I can brush if off and say, "Oh, it's just something I whipped up yesterday." I'm modest like that. This Saturday I made two new dresses, one for each daughter.

For Audrey's dress, I used an old pattern that I've had for a few years, and that my mom had for several years before that. It's one that I used to make a dress for my youngest sister when she was a little baby.

This sweet little dress is white with purple flowers, and a pale blue yoke. The dress crosses over pinafore-style in the back, and buttons to the yoke at the shoulders.

For Zaylee, I used this tutorial to make a ruffle-bottom t-shirt dress. Zaylee and I both love all the fun little ruffles on the skirt.

I wanted the skirt to come just below Zaylee's knees, so I added 12 inches to the bottom of the shirt, with four fabric ruffles. Flouncy ruffly fun! I didn't have to hem any of them, since I used knit fabric.

If I wasn't sure it would end up looking ridiculous, I'd probably make one of these fun dresses for myself!

The Sarah Hat

I seem to have bad luck when it comes to making things for myself to wear. They just don't fit right, or don't look right. Recently, a skirt for myself turned out so awful I had to cut it apart and turn it into skirts for Zaylee and Audrey instead. Hats that I try to make for myself usually end up too small and I have to give them to Zaylee. She makes them look way cuter than I ever could!

But this time I guess I found the right pattern, the Sarah Hat from BurdaStyle. It's a newsboy cap, with six triangular panels, a neat little brim, and a button detail.

I really love how this hat turned out. Especially the fact that it actually fit me. It's sassy, but with a dark color that's somewhat subdued, which really fits my personality as well.

I love my little guy. And my hat. :)

I'm submitting this project to The 12 Month Craft The World Challenge. The theme for February is Garden. This hat fits the theme because it is green, the color of plant life. Also, it would make a great hat to wear while gardening - you can look chic while keeping the sun off your face.

Pattern
Instructions

Rolled Flower Bib Necklace

I wanted a fun, romantic accessory to wear for Valentine's Day. Well, actually I made it to wear to church on Sunday, since we're not actually going to be going anywhere on V-day. I have seen lots of beautiful rolled fabric flower necklaces online, and wanted to try making my own. My inspiration:

From The Woman Who Couldn't Sit Still

From Mandipidy

From The Scrap Shoppe

Aren't they perfectly lovely?

So, armed with fabric, lace, and inspiration from these necklaces, I set out to make my own. I made several rolled flowers, glued them together, and added a few pretty buttons and a chain. Voila!

I liked doing these rolled flowers. They were simple to make, and turned out so cute. I can see myself making more of them, and using them for hair clips, headbands, etc.

A couple more pictures:

Pretty Pillows

I love toile. It's one of my favorite fabric designs. However, it tends to be one of the more expensive designs as well. So I was super excited to find a red and white toile fabric remnant in the discount bin at Wal-Mart the other day. I snatched it up, excited to use it on something pretty.

Then I remembered that I had a couple of ugly throw pillows sitting in the closet waiting to be pretty-fied. I covered one with the toile. I wanted to showcase the pattern on the fabric, so I kept the pillow very simple.

The other pillow I covered with a lovely dark red fabric, and embellished with a ruffled lace heart.

I love the effect of the pillows on my pretty pink wing back chair.

Such a lovely romantic chair now! This is the extent of my Valentine's Day decorations right now, I hope to add more in the next little while.

Dollies for Queensland

I've seen lots of news lately about the Queensland floods, and the thought of little children having to leave their homes kinda breaks my heart. Then I came across this dolly drive and realized that I can do something, even something small and simple, to help. Mon Petit Poppet is holding a drive to collect Hope Softies, handmade dolls or stuffed animals to give to children in the emergency shelters. It's not a lot, but it can be a comfort to these young children who have been affected by the flooding.

If my printer was working, I would have printed out one of the many softie patterns available (such as this one). But since the printer is currently good for nothing except as a shelf to pile stuff on, I created my own little pattern pieces for a simple doll. Just a body, a head, and a hair pattern piece, with seam allowance. The construction is very similar to the mini matryoshka softies I posted a while back.

I made the dollies out of flannel, so they're soft and a bit fuzzy. The flowers in their hair are rolled-up strips of lace or of fabric, and I drew the faces on with fabric markers. My three little ones, especially Zaylee, all think these dollies are sweet, soft, cuddly, and perfect for hugging, so they pass the kid test. I hope that the children they go to will enjoy them, and find a bit of comfort in knowing that a friend they've never met, living halfway across the world, is thinking of them.

Openwork Handwarmers

The other day I decided to do a little crochet for myself. I love the look of fingerless gloves/handwarmers/gauntlets/whatever-you-want-to-call-them, and thought it was high time I make myself some. I used a somewhat sparkly light blue yarn. I can't say for sure what kind it is, it's stash yarn. But I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

I used this pattern from Crochet Me. It was simple and easy to follow, and the mitts worked up quickly.


Best of all, Isis approves.