Just wanted to give praise where praise is due...

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD
~Psalm 150:6

This morning during my quiet time I realized that I had been letting the slightest bit (ok maybe it was more than that) of pride creep into my work and posts.

I LOVE sewing. I love making beautiful things for my family (and myself) and my friends. It is fun. I love sharing the work I've done with people. Lately I've caught myself 'showing off' my work rather than just sharing it.

I want to publicly thank my LORD for the wonderful gift He has given to me. He provided me with a beautiful machine to get me started. He also put people in my life that I could learn from in my new found talent.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father
~James 1:17a

Thank you, LORD, for the gift You have given to me. May I use it for Your glory and honor and praise.

Phoebe Bag with Pants-style Front Pockets

TA DA!

The Phoebe Bag (pattern from Rebekah of Artsy-Crafty Babe).

This bag is so cute if I do say so myself!! The pattern was very easy to follow and would not have taken long however....


....I have been seeing some very cute bags people have been making online with pants-style front pockets. I very much wanted to make my very own bag with those pockets! After searching and searching and searching and asking about how to make pants-style pockets on a purse and coming up empty. =( (Oh there were a couple of really cute patterns for sale that showed you how to do it but that takes $$$) I decided to strike out on my own and figure out how to do it myself.

As you can see I figured it out! It wasn't hard just very time consuming. There were so many pieces of fabric to cut out. Plus I wanted the bag to hold it's shape so there was also interfacing and thin batting to cut out.

AND to top it all off I wanted all the fabric pieces to line up. Both fabrics have the same design just different colors and I wanted it all to match up. Even the bag flap matches up.


There are only 2 things I would change on this bag. I would be more careful of my magnetic snap placement (it's a little too low so the bag can't be closed while brimming with stuff). And I would make the pants-style pockets a little bigger. The pockets just fit my hand going in but if you had a bigger hand you wouldn't be able to reach in.

The pattern called for a matching fabric strap that you make yourself. Since almost all purses you make yourself have those kind of straps I wanted something different. I found my cute silver link belt that I really don't wear much or at all and attached it to D rings on the purse. I can take it on or off. So if I wanted I could still make a fabric strap and add snaps to make the fabric strap removable as well so I can change the strap according to how I'm feeling that day. =)


I had a lot of fun making this bag! Let me know what you think of it.
Since I couldn't find a "how-to" for the Pants-style pockets I may post a tutorial in the future depending on interest. Let me know. =) Have a great day!! Go make something!

Join in the fun!

I'm having fun since I joined in on the Pillowcase Crochet Along hosted by Cassie at You Go, Girl!

I finally was able to get my supplies (most of them anyway) today and start on this project. I already had the fabric, appropriately from Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller.

This isn't the finished product of course but I am looking forward to giving it a test drive tonight. =)

Looking forward to getting to next week's step. Adding the crochet trim.

A Finished Gift

I wanted to make a journal cover as a gift for a friend of mine and found a very simple tutorial on Bloom. I wanted to make it more personal so I added some embroidery.

I love how the whole thing turned out! I want to make one for myself. Soon.


I thought this font was perfect for her beautiful name!


This journal was going to be used in our discipleship meetings so I wanted a verse just for her on it and my husband thought of Romans 15:4.


I added a pocket for the pen, a ribbon for a page holder, and elastic to hold it closed when carrying it around.


I added fabric to this pen to make a matching set.

Embroidery and Gifts

I started working on a journal cover Thursday night using this tutorial from Bloom. I found it using Google and I'm glad I did. She has some great follow up posts for the tutorial with some cute ideas. I had to tweak it a little to fit the notebook I bought but it's working so far. =) I would love to share pics but I can't yet because it is a gift and even though I believe the intendee doesn't read this blog I don't want to take a chance.

I'm keeping roughly to the same design that Bloom uses but I'm spicing it up with some embroidery. I've put the intendee's first name on the front and I'll be putting a Scripture verse my husband thought would be good for this person on the inside back cover.

It took me quite a while to get the verse laid out just like I wanted it but I like it. And while you're scratching your head wondering if I've lost it our something I just want to say, "Yes, I know it's backwards." lol I don't have the proper tracing tools for embroidery so I used a light pen and traced it on the backside of the project. After finishing the embroidery I just need to add a pocket on the inside front for a pen then finish the last steps in sewing it up.

I can't wait until it's finished! After I'm done I'll be making one for myself (sans embroidery, maybe).

Pattern Challenge and Double Layer Twirly Skirt

To keep myself on track for sewing this season I joined a pattern challenge at Come and See the Seitz. Here are the goals I've laid at for myself:

1. finish the jumper planned for Glory.
2. make matching skirts for the girls.
3. make a Sunday dress for each of the girls.
4. repurpose 2 shirts for Caleb.
5. make a tie for each special Sunday for Caleb. (Easter, birthday, etc.)
6. finish the planned shirt and skirt for myself.
7. And to do this all before Summer.
   

Ok now I can keep going on and on here but I better stop. There are so many other things I have on my mind to make but one of the things that Sarah states is to make these attainable. So I can't put too many things on this list or else I'd never get them all done.

One of the things that I wanted for this list was this Double Layer Twirly Skirt but I finished it before I was able to post about the pattern Challenge. I made this skirt sans pattern and I'm happy with how it turned out for the most part. I made the waistband too wide so I'll be fixing that later. I like how my gathers turned out. (I don't like gathering!)

I don't claim to be the genius who designed this skirt. I saw the Modkid Julia pattern pics by Patty Young and thought it was so cute but too impatient to wait to order a copy so I thought I'd try it out on my own. It's not exactly like the Julia skirt (remember, no pattern) but what do you think of it anyway?

A Project A Day

I've had a very productive week! And it isn't even over yet!!

On Monday I was finally (after being absent for quite a few months) able to visit the sewing class I love to attend. I took 2 different projects with me to work on but of course I had to browse the fabrics at the quilt shop the class is held at and came away with this project instead:


I finished almost the whole thing during the class and all I needed to purchase was 1 charm pack and 1/2 yard of backing. It now sits on our kitchen table. All that's left to do on it is to quilt it but I want to get some variegated (sp?) thread for that.

To continue on the fabric shopping spree I bought some pretty fabric from an online shop last night to make a skirt for my oldest. She's growing so fast and I've only made her 1 skirt and she's about out of it now so I thought it was time for another. However, waiting for the fabric to come in to make the skirt is another thing completely. Since I got the idea in my head I was itching to get started so I pulled out some beautiful fabric that I had gotten on sale last year. It was already washed and ready to go.

I didn't want to mess with ruffles and tons and tons of fabric that some of the twirly skirts call for plus she's getting older and she's so tall that I'm not keen on that style for her. So I went with a simple A-line. Used my Sew What Skirts book and made myself a pattern for her.

I thought it needed something extra though so I added some pretty bead trim that I got at Walmart on sale.




My only mistake was my bottom tier. I wanted it to be 4 inches but I forgot to factor in taking away for the hem. So instead of the 1" hem I wanted I had to make it a 3/8" hem so that my bottom tier wouldn't completely disappear. Other than that I love how it turned out. I can't wait to see it on her!

Next I want to make a red tutu with rose petals inside for a little girl's birthday present this Saturday.