Sewing Projects: Cloth Napkins

 In an effort to use less disposable paper products, I set out to the thrift store to find an old tablecloth.  The plan was to cut them into cloth napkins.  Luckily, I came across a set of four cloth napkins, already finished and in a nice cream color.  All I did was embroider a couple running stitches in blue across each napkin to add a little character.  Enjoy a couple more photos below!

Sewing Projects: Sweater Vest Pillow

This project, a pillow made out of a sweater vest and some plaid wool fabric, was a Christmas gift for my dad, and I finally got around to photographing it while I stayed at their house last weekend.  I came across this 100% shetland wool vest at a thrift store while on the hunt for a wool sweater to make my brother-in-law's mittens.  I didn't yet have a project in mind for the vest, but with the charming argyle pattern, I couldn't pass it up.  Read on for more details and photos.

Sewing Projects: Fabric Book Holder

Last month, my husband and I were blessed with another beautiful niece!  Along with all the excitement of a new baby in the family, I also had a chance to make some cute things for the new little one.  Just before her baby shower, my sister-in-law mentioned these fabric book holders that she had seen online.  I had seen them too, and offered to make them for her as a gift.

Crochet Projects: More Glittens, and Lining tutorial

This has perhaps been my most popular crochet project!  I first blogged about it here, and have made 8 pairs of these mittens now!  I made a pair for my mother-in-law for her birthday in December, this time adding a flannel lining.  This helped to keep out the wind and it made the inside much softer (the wool can tend to be a bit scratchy).  When I showed off this pair at work, I received three orders from coworkers!  Here are some photos of those, plus a brief explanation of how I did the lining (sorry no photos of that).

Sewing Projects: Owls

Here's a fairly easy sewing project, inspired by this photo I found on Pinterest.  My niece happens to love owls, and her mother happened to throw a woodland-themed 2nd birthday for her, so these owls were a perfect present!  Here's a tutorial on how they were made:

Sewing Projects: Felted Wool Mittens

I've gotten a bit of a reputation in my family for making handmade gifts.  This is great, because I think my family is starting to understand and appreciate all that goes in to a handmade gift - the thoughtfulness and the time especially.

It's been harder to make gifts for the men in my family, given that they don't particularly like to accessorize or decorate.  So when my brother-in-law says, 5 days before his birthday, that he'd love a homemade gift, I was a little stumped.  Normally I would knit or crochet something, but I didn't have the time.  Luckily this idea came to mind:  felted wool mittens.  Read on to learn how I made these.

Sewing Projects: Fall Table Runner

Back at long last!  Sorry for my absence - I've been off discovering the world!  Well really, my husband and I were gone for six weeks in South Korea, teaching English.  Considering that time, when I was creating lesson plans (and some beautiful photos which I'll share soon!) instead of craft projects, I did not have much time or things to blog.

Now we're back in Michigan and excited for the fall season, which in the blink of an eye has already arrived!  To welcome the season, I tried out a new technique - reverse applique - to make a table runner/placemat for our coffee table.  Here's the how-to!

Crochet Projects: Mother's Day Totes

In the last year, my appreciation for homemade gifts (both given and received) has increased very much.  As a girl, I was always encouraged to make things to give to my mom and dad, particularly on Mother's and Father's days.  Without any income (besides an allowance which our parents gave us anyway), time to spend personalizing a card was all me and my sister had to give.

So for Mother's Day this year, I was really excited about another opportunity to make a homemade gift.  Both my mom and my mother-in-law really liked the Starling Handbag I made during the winter.  Why not make a springy-er version for each of them?

Sewing Projects: Infinity Scarf

It's been a few weeks!  I've been so busy making things that I haven't had any time to post about them.  I guess that's a good thing, although crafting under a time constraint is a little less than relaxing sometimes.  Anyway, before the busyness of Mother's Day craft projects set in, I had time to make this infinity scarf.  What's the bonus about this project, besides having a new wardrobe addition?  It cost me nothing to make!  Here's how:

Sewing Projects: Bath Puppets

This has really been a season for homemade gifts. Between Christmas and all the surrounding family birthdays, making gifts has saved both money and frantic time spent last-minute scrounging at the store for the perfect gift. Plus, it gives me a great reason to sit around crafting without being selfish!

The most recent homemade gift was some bath puppets for our niece's first birthday in January. The idea and pattern for these puppets came from Martha Stewart's website. I got the washcloths from TJ Maxx and the felt from Hobby Lobby. I wanted a more finished look for my puppets, so I made the pattern about 1/4 inch wider on all sides, then sewed 1/4 inch seams around and flipped it right-side out. The felt noses are glued on with fabric glue, and the eyes and pig's nostrils are just small french knots of embroidery floss. The kitty I came up with, and those ears were kind of a struggle! They are a smaller version of the pig's ears.

One difficult thing about the finished product is that the cut edges (which are inside the puppet) of the washcloths leave a little fuzzy snow wherever they go. Perhaps the original method of zigzagging all the edges would've prevented that. Oh well!

Overall, I think our niece loves the puppets at bath time, although my sister-in-law says they're too cute to actually use for cleaning!

Crochet Projects: Starling Handbag

A recent project, this one combines a few things I've been wanting to do:
(1) I finally get to try out futuregirl's Starling Handbag pattern.
(2) I get to use up the leftover yarn from my husband's glittens (post on those to come).
(3) I get to try felting.
(4) I get to use my sewing machine.
(5) I get to make something for me!

Sewing Projects: Lumbar Pillows

So we have this couch. My husband saved it from being thrown out at the local rescue mission where he worked. After a summer of wear-n-tear from a bunch of day campers, the couch had a large hole in the top. But my husband adopted it. It spent a few days on a friend's lawn, then was squeezed into a small apartment, then into another, then into a spare room at the grandparents', then into a skinny old house (where it left some scuff marks on the wall), and finally into our townhouse. The hole has finally been fixed (yay for handy sewing skills!), and although I like to complain about how big it is and how black-leathery it is, truth be told I will miss it if it can't come with us to our next residence. To make the back cushions a bit more comfortable, last summer I made a couple of lumbar pillows (aha, the real subject of this post!). I always like to learn something new with each project, and with this one I learned how to sew piping into an edge seam. I still plan to put buttons on the backs to close them up better, but I have yet to figure out the button-holer on my new sewing machine. Until then, the pillows still work just fine.

Sewing Projects: Tufted Pillow

Last summer, I set to the task of making our bedroom more cozy. To me, of course, this meant adding a decorative pillow (or two, or five) to the bed. To my husband, this seemed an unnecessary and undesirable addition to the room. Why add another step to making the bed? This pillow admittedly spends most of its time on the floor, as we rarely make our bed anyway, but it was still a fun project! And my husband doesn't mind it too much after all.