Chalkboard place cards

This post was originally supposed to be a knock-off of these place cards that I saw in my parents' Williams-Sonoma catalog ($29 for a set of 4).  I now live dangerously close to a dollar store but when I went to look for mini-frames there, they only had them in a chrome finish, and that didn't really accomplish the cute country look I was going for.  So I abandoned the frame idea and went for a different approach to these. 

Williams-Sonoma place cards

 I found some wood plaques for 69 cents each at Michaels.  I got some chalkboard spray paint (about $5 at Lowes) and it was pretty self-explanatory from there.  (Please excuse the smeared chalk and tiny feet in the picture.  My daughter is now 2 and doesn't take naps, so staging good pictures during daylight hours is nigh impossible.  And when she saw the chalk she obviously thought this project was way too fun not to mess with.)

Why Batman?  Well, look at the shape and color of the plaque.  I couldn't stop the "Na na na na na na na na... BATMAN!" from going through my head.

So there you have it, four for less than $8 instead of four for $29.  And you could easily do the little frames if you were to find some in the right size and color.  They would also work great as food labels for a buffet party.  Now I just need to throw a party fancy enough to use them.  It may be awhile before I do.

And as for a product review on the chalkboard paint... it worked fine.  The chalk wiped off cleanly with a damp cloth.  It didn't come off too easily with a dry cloth, but that's probably because my base was made of wood and the chalk got caught in the grain.  That being said, I'm not sure if I could tell the difference between chalkboard paint and black matte spray paint.  I'll try it on another project before making up my mind on this product.

Back in Action

I know, a 6-month gap in between posts is inexcusable.  But I'm going to come up with some excuses anyways.  First, I had a baby.  And in case you didn't know, I tend to use the "I just had a baby" bit as an excuse to get out of pretty much anything.  But while I did get back in to sewing after about a month or so, I just never got up the motivation to blog about it.  I fully intended to but I just wasn't cranking out enough projects to have a steady flow of posts again.  After awhile I figured that nobody cared anyways and I may as well abandon all hope of being a productive sewing blogger.

Then last weekend I was having a friend take me to pick up something I found on Craigslist and she asked me about the blog.  I told her the same lame excuses that I just told everyone else and she said "Oh, you and your sister always used to post really cool things on there."  And then I got all teary-eyed and said, "Really? You thought they were cool?  You.... care about the blog?"  (Just kidding.  I didn't get teary-eyed and sentimental.  At least not on the outside...) I then told her about some of the projects I had been working on lately and being the supportive friend that she is, she assured me that they were cool and I should start posting again.  So here I am.

And I know, I don't have any project on this post.  But I have an old wingback chair, fabric, and chalkboard paint in my arsenal, so I can assure you that there will be some interesting things coming up soon.

Also, we now have a Pin It button, but it's only visible if you click on an individual post, and not on the main blog.  Lame, I know.  I'm working on it.

Crib bumpers: what I learned.

I never used crib bumpers when Violet was a baby.  Technically, the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't recommend them because the baby can roll into them while it is sleeping and suffocate on them.    However, when Violet was about 6 months old, she started doing this:

 Yep, that's Violet with her legs wedged between the crib slats.  When she was first learning to crawl, she would only go backwards and then this would happen.  At that point I started wishing that I had bumpers.  But I never got around to making any.

Until this pregnancy.  This is what I did with my on-sale designer fabric.  I love how they turned out.  I feel like they are gender-neutral enough to use with either a boy or a girl, since I don't know which I'm having.

They weren't as easy as I had planned.  I underestimated how many ties I would need (I ended up using 8 for each long side and 4 for each short side).  I also bought thick satin ribbon for the ties.  It looks pretty, but thinner, coarser ribbon is actually easier to tie.  I also didn't think about how expensive foam is (to fill the bumpers).  I resorted to cutting up an old foam mattress pad and  using that as the filling.  It actually works quite nicely.

I should let you know that you probably won't be saving any money by making these yourself.  You can find ones that aren't too expensive online.  But if you want to be able to customize the fabric and make them exactly match your room, this is the way to go.  Besides, if you buy them, you won't have the frustration of messing up and redoing fulfillment of making these on your own.

And as for the safety part of these, I have decided that if the baby starts to roll (which Violet never figured out how to do), then I will take them out.  Just to be safe.  But I have no reservations about putting them back in the second this kid learns how to crawl backwards.

Online store rave

I don't normally go for designer labels.  The budget-consious side of me simply will not let myself be won over by a brand name.  I do, however, LOVE designer fabrics.  (Amy Butler, anyone?)  Maybe it's because they're not really any more expensive than normal fabrics.  The only problem is that I can never seem to find designer fabrics in fabric stores; only online.  And I don't like buying fabrics online.  I like to be able to see and feel the fabric before I purchase it.  I like being super specific with how much I tell the lady at the cut counter to cut for me (I've been known to have them hold it up for me and show me what 1/2 yard would look like, and so on).  I like using the coupons that let you get anything in the store for 40% off.  And most of all, I hate paying for shipping and having to wait 4-7 business days before I can start sewing.

Okay, maybe I'm high-maintenance.  But I was able to let that all go today.  Today I found a site called quilthome.com.  It looks like any normal fabric site, and the prices are almost identical to other sites (because apparently someone decided that $8.75 per yard is the golden number for designer fabrics, and they seem to cost that much no matter what site you go to.)  But, they do have a huge selection of designer fabrics and if you look at the right side of the page, they have a bar that says "Specials" where you can get fabrics for up to 60% off.  These aren't fabrics that are on clearance because they're too ugly to sell, either.  The specials change every day.  Above that, they have a coupon special that changes daily.  They also let you purchase in half-yard quantities.

I was able to get this fabric for $3.58 per yard (normally $8.75)

I ended up saving so much money that I got coordinating fabric ($4.03 per yard) for the same project.  I had planned on just going to a fabric store and buying something solid to go with the fabric, but I'm pretty sure this is a better deal.

After that, I didn't mind spending the money on shipping.  Score.

Fancy little dress

Remember the dress I made for my anniversary?  I had a ton of leftover fabric from it.  For Violet's birthday I threw together this cute, fancy dress.  I put a liner in it (which I had never done before) so it was kind of tricky, but I'm glad I did because the fabric is not super soft.  I also added some sheer sequined fabric to the skirt to make it look less plain. 

 The flowers required a LOT of cutting and hand-stitching.  I hate hand stitching. 

 And I found the perfect buttons for the back. 

I can't wait for her to try it out on Sunday!

Happy Halloween! Costume review

I'm not sure I will ever buy a Halloween costume.  I mean, is there any other day of the year where you can just go nuts with creative sewing?  I think not.  Here's the lineup from this year.

Violet was a chicken.  My inspiration for her costume was her yellow, feathery hair.  I just sewed some felt feathers to a yellow onesie and stitched a feather boa around the neck.  The shiny pants were actually made by her dad.  He did a great job.

 And I was a cow.  I felt that it was an appropriate getup for a pregnant woman, and it went well with the chicken.  Plus, it was super easy.  I made an udder out of some pink fleece and sewed it onto a white shirt.  My husband made me a cute little ribbon that buttons in the back to hold my cow bell.  I also wore some devil horns that were spray-painted to make them look more like cow horns, even though they're not in this picture.

I suppose I could have painted black spots on my clothes, but I didn't want to ruin the shirt.  I would have done it if I had a cheaper shirt to do it on.

Oh well.

Maternity dress (sort of)

A couple of months ago, I inherited some clothes that my sister didn't want anymore.  Among those was this cute white dress, which at the time had no sleeves and a see-through-ish part that went a little too far down on the chest area.  All I had to do was make some sleeves for the arms and a bib for the chest and sew them in.  That's the great thing about white clothes; I always have fabric to match!  Anyways, I put a sash with it and it turns out that it fits me as a maternity dress.

 I did have "before" pictures, but I guess I deleted them before uploading them.  Oops.  And I know these pictures are cropped really weirdly, but it's because I am 7 months pregnant and having major body image issues.

My only question is, if this fits me NOW, when I'm 7 months pregnant, why did my size 00 sister ever buy it in the first place?