Happy Mother's Day!

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My baby girl had her "real" birthday party at the American Girl doll store.  If you get a chance to visit one of the stores, you should go.  You could easily spend several hours there.  As you can see, her doll Jessica and her friends had a blast, too!  Jessica even had her own birthday cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, baby girl!  Doggone, you're my girl! Pin It

Upcycled Skorts

Hello!  I hope you enjoyed Easter.  We had a wonderful Easter morning, church service, and lunch.  Then the rain came.  But that's ok - we can use the rain.  I will admit, after all the tornadoes that came through last week, I am a little weary!  The tornado that hit Arlington close to I-20 is only miles from my home. Scary, huh?  There was a lot of damage, but miraculously there were only minor injuries and NO fatalities!  Thank you, God!

Today I wanted to share another upcycling project with you.  I took two pair of skorts that  my daughter never wore from last summer and turned them into four skirts for 18" dolls!  Keep in mind that these were done quickly and the night before my daughter's birthday party at the American Girl doll store.  I wanted to make skirts for her friend's dolls as party favors.  They turned out just as cute and the girls loved them.  So, here we go.

Before and after.... you can see the size 5T pink skort and the upcycled blue doll skirt.

1.  Take the skort apart - cut off the waistband (the shorts will come out, too); then cut the skort straight down the middle and straight down the back.  This leaves one finished side seam already sewn.

2.  Cut off any excess from the top of the skort to the desired length needed for the doll skirt.  Leave about 1" extra for the waistband.  No exact measurements here, just eyeball what you like!

3.  This is the skirt after cutting and trimming.  We are now ready to add the elastic for the waistband.

4.  Using a 10" length of 1/4" elastic, find the middle of the elastic and pin that to the middle of the top of the skirt (on the inside).

5.  Now pin the elastic to each side of the skirt.  In the photo below, the material has been stretched out for a visual.

6.  You will now sew the elastic to the material.  Tack down the material to hold the elastic in place.  Hold the material at the middle pin with one hand and stretch out the elastic to the width of the material (from the top pin to the middle pin).  Only stretch the elastic, taking care not to stretch the fabric past its regular width.  Stitch down the elastic using a zig-zag stitch.  Continue with the other half of the skirt using the same steps above.

7.  When finished, the elastic will go back to its original length, drawing the material up.

 8.  This is what it will look like from the right side.

 

9.  Fold the elastic over toward the wrong side and pin to hold in place.  Using a straight stitch, sew the elastic in place, stretching the material out slightly as in the steps above.

 

10.  Shown after sewing the elastic down.  It isn't as finished as making a casing, but it is quick and the doll doesn't care!

11. The right side after sewing the elastic down.  Okie dokie, eh?

12.  The last step is to sew the sides together.  (Sorry, no photo.)  Pin the wrong side of the skirt sides together.  Sew together using a straight stitch.  You can use a zig-zag stitch down the side or serge to finish. 

All done!

I loved these particular skorts because of the ruffles.  Less work for me and so cute for the doll!

I hope you enjoyed the project and have lots of fun making your own.  I would love to see photos so be sure to email them to me!

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Easter Blessings

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. ~ John 11:25-26

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A simple gathering to celebrate

Baby girl turned six.  Six.  (sigh)  We had a small gathering of family and friends at our house on the day of her birthday.  She asked for pink and blue iced cupcakes and that's what she got, by golly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post pictures of her official birthday party soon!

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My baby girl's quilt

Well, I finally finished my baby girl's quilt... and I'm finally posting some pictures!  I really enjoyed making this quilt as I pushed myself to try some new techniques.  And even though I took forever in working through the process in my mind, drawing it out, taking notes, scribbling pictures, and so on, I still made a big mistake!  There is something to be said for planning, but I think diving right it might have worked just as well.  But, I was able to correct the mistake and it all worked out.

I used the GO! Baby machine I won from AccuQuilt to cut most of the flowers for this quilt.  When I was asked what dies I would like to choose, I specifically chose two of the dies for this quilt.  The little machine worked like a charm, too.  My baby girl even helped me cut out some of the flowers.  I used Lila Tueller's Soire'e fabric charm packs that were given to me a while back.  It was perfect for this project.

 

I used Bari J. Ackerman's book, "Inspired to Sew" for instruction and inspiration.  It is a wonderful book with lots of great projects.  Love, love, love it!  After I got the foundation of my quilt in order, I placed all of the flowers and leaves where I wanted them and pinned, pinned, and pinned!  Then, I used free-motion quilting to sew them on.  It did take some time, but I thought it was well worth it.  I found that using a fabric glue stick helped keep the pieces in place as I moved around.  I kept some pins in place except for the immediate pieces that I was sewing so that as I went along, I could reposition pieces as needed.  It also alleviated the hassle of trying to sew around the pins. 

Below are some of the close-ups where you can see a little more detail.  I wasn't too picky about perfect applique here.  I just moved all around at a fairly even speed and tried to make sure all the pieces were sewn down well.  I enjoyed making the bark on the trees, the clouds, and the grass.

  

I also added a few dimensional pieces to the center of some of the flowers.  One of my favorite parts to this quilt is the bunting.  I love the way it pops right off of the quilt!

 

 

 

 

 

The big blunder I made?  I didn't sew the border on to my quilt top!  When I finished all the quilting and started to make my border, I realized this.  I had to sew on additional batting so that I could add my border.  But, like I said, it worked out okay because I decided to add a ruffle and facing strip to the back.  Several new techniques later, and I was happy!

This is the back of the quilt.  I like the way it looks, too.  Fun.

And, here is baby girl's room.  I made the quilt to the dimensions of the width of the mattress and a little bit shorter to allow for the pillow (and a billion stuffed animals), but wished I had made it a little bit longer and wider.  I'm not sweating it now, though! I guess I better get busy on a pillow sham... and I think it might be time to put away the flannel snowflake sheets!

I'll come back soon to share a little more about the tree in her room.  Thanks for stopping by! Pin It