Eve (aka Eva) Pattern now Available!!!

You can thank my friend May for this :) I wasn't going to put it all together, but she convinced me to.

Now you can make an Eve (or Eva as Wall-e called her)! Have fun and if you make one, please feel free to add a pic to the Flickr group.

Go to download pattern pieces and instructions here.

They can also be downloaded at these two places as well:
Pattern pieces can be downloaded here
Pattern instructions can be downloaded here

Flower Puffs

And the last flower tutorial for right now.....

Flower Puffs!

You have seen me use this technique to make these hair accessories for my Etsy shop:

Now I will share how you can make them too.
They are very versatile.

You can use them as hair accessories and add jewels, feathers, and more to them.

You can make them into pins and add them to your clothing.

Or you could even glue them onto sticks or wooden dowels and create a beautiful bouquet (I would so do this for my wedding bouquet if I wasn't married and was getting married :).


1. Cut strips of fabric for your flowers. I cut two pieces of 17" x 4" for each of these flowers. The longer they are the more poofier it will be. The taller it is, the longer the petals will be. You can also use different fabrics in each flower for a unique look. In the ones I had made before, I added tulle.

2. Take your scissors and cut down short ways, making sure not to cut all the way down. The further apart you make the cuts, the wider the petal will be.

3. Then go back and cut the edges with a point on the end.

4. Grab your needle and thread and baste along the bottom (do all the layers of fabric at the same time).

5. Then gather it up and sew the ends together.

6. Trim any excess off at the end and finish the bottom how you like (this depends on whether you are making it a hair accessory, pin, etc).

Loopy Flowers

This is the second most requested flower. It's really simple and has two different looks. It works best with stiffer things like felt and lightweight cardboard (I put some of these on my fall wreath), but fabric and other things could be used as well.

To begin, take a piece of felt (or desired material)

and fold in half.

Then cut slits on the folded edge, making sure not to cut all the way down.


Then finish it one of these two ways:

1)

Hand sew a baste stitch, with a knot on the end of the thread, down the side where there are no cuts.

Then gather it and sew the ends together. This creates a flat flower. Add a cute button or some other embellishment to the center.

2)

Roll the strip up and hand stitch the bottom together.

I made a bunch of these and then glued them on my daughter's headband for a fun look.

And in the next day or two I will have one more flower that is requested for a lot. See you soon!

Rolled Rosettes

I have always received so many requests on how to make many of the flowers I have done, so I am going to do a few tutorials on how to make them now. I'm starting with the rolled rosette.

They are super easy to make. I usually save my scraps for these and sit and make them while the little one sleeps and I want something quiet to work on.

You can embellish clothing with them, decorate wrapped presents with them, make a ring/bib necklace/earrings/headbands with them, and so much more. It's nice to have a few laying around and they are a scrapbuster for sure.

Start with a long strip of fabric. The larger the width and length, the bigger it will be.

Tie a knot on one end.

Then begin to wrap the fabric in a circle around the knot, twisting randomly. Now, you can glue it while doing this with a hot glue gun if you like,

but I like to create my whole rosette and then sew together.

And that is it. Glue or sew them onto something. Everyone's will look a bit different, but it's the same concept.

The Ruffles Behind Dress Tutorial

I've been doing some sewing and it feels so good!!!!! I have been working on a new schedule for myself and it's working pretty good so far. I am managing to fit in everything I want to, within reason of course.

One thing I finally got around to was making a tutorial for this dress (see pic below) I made a while back. I know. I take forever sometimes. All in due time though :)

I decided to give it the name "The Ruffles Behind Dress." It was inspired by an Anthropologie sweater dress from last winter. And I must confess, after I made it, I did try to see if it would fit me (well, before I put the ruffles on). Unfortunately, it didn't fit.

So, I am definitely going to make me some shirts with the same idea behind it.

I just adore how it looks on my daughter. I made it a bit larger than the first one because I want it to last longer.

I used three old shirts of mine to create it, still trying to stick to the "don't buy anything unless I absolutely have to" plan.

The little decided to spice her dress up a bit too!

How to make The Ruffles Behind Dress:

Let's start by creating a pattern (or use one you already have).

I started by grabbing a t-shirt (I used one that was a little big so it would come out big and I wouldn't have to worry about adding seam allowances). I folded the sleeves in and traced it on paper. Make the top part as long or short as you like.

I cut out two, with one having a little bit extra in the middle so I could tape it together for one big piece.
*NOTE: You could make this part a lot easier and use a shirt that fits them already. Just cut off the sleeves and use that as a pattern. And cut down the sides of the shirt to make the other sewing parts easier. Leave the shoulders sewn together though and make sure to chop off the bottom half of the shirt.

To create the bottom, draw a line as wide as the bottom of the top bottom. Then draw lines straight down from each side. Make it as long as you want the dress bottom to be.

Then, draw a line over on each side to create an A-Line (I did 2", but make longer for bigger sizes and smaller for smaller sizes). Then draw lines to connect the top of the skirt to the bottom (it will be slanted to make the a-line). Then create a triangle in the very center. I made mine 6 inches at the bottom and had it meet at the center point of pattern.

Now you will create a small triangle on the top sides. Just make it the size you want. Mine goes down 8 inches.

****NOTE: Before cutting it up, make one more piece this same size for the back, which won't be cut up.

Now begin to cut up the front pattern piece. I highlighted on the edges that were cut to remind myself to add seam allowance. DON'T FORGET Seam Allowances.

For the sleeves, I just trace the curve of the front pattern piece and use an existing shirt sleeve for the length and size. The top of it can be cut on the fold for easier cutting.

Next I took the top piece and placed it on a shirt and cut it out.

The neckline didn't exactly line up, so next time I would cut each side of the shirt out separately, but it's an easy fix. Just match up the neck and you will see one side over hang.

Just trim off the excess.

The the bottom pieces, I suggest placing right on the bottom hem of a shirt so you won't have to hem it at the end. Cut one whole piece for the back. (For her dress, I ended up using the striped shirt instead).

Cut 2 sleeves for the dress. Place the pattern on the fold and have the end of the sleeve on an existing hem so you won't have to do that either.

Cut out all of your pieces for the front and sew together. Then sew the front top to the front bottom and the back top to the back bottom.

Place front and back right sides facing and sew the shoulders together.

Next, pin on the sleeves to each armhole, right sides facing, and sew in place.

Place dress right sides facing and match up the sides of the sleeves and dress. Pin in place and sew together down the sides.

For the ruffles, measure the bottom of the dress. You want to cute pieces for the ruffles that are about twice as long as what you measured. You might have to sew some pieces together to do this. Make the pieces as high as you want. Then baste down the center of the strips of fabric for the ruffles. Gather them and pin on dress. Sew in place. Remove thread from basting.

Sew on two buttons to the sides if you like as well.

Now it's all done :)