Bandana Skirt

After a long hiatus... yes, I was able to use my neglected sewing machine again. And I used it to make these:

I have this inspiration pinned on Pinterest for more than a year now. 

Hankerchief Skirt by Cami (tidbits)

Cami has a tutorial over at her blog so do check it out. I don't know why it took me so long to make it since it really is so easy to make. So easy that I decided to use the parts I cut off to embellish a top for Izzie (one of Andrea's dolly friends).

They like matching you know (see Matching Dresses).

I only had 3 bandanas of different designs, and they were a little small. Since I wanted Andrea's skirt a bit long so she can use it for a few years (wishful thinking here) I only divided my bandana into 2 equal triangular parts and Andrea's skirt is only made up of 6 panels. I folded each triangle into half, and cut off one side to give me the pentagon-shaped pieces like the one on Cami's photo here.

Since I only had a few pieces, I had to change how I sewed each piece together. Instead of layering them like this, I took 2 pieces, right sides facing together, wrong side out, and sewed parallel to one side of the pentagon. See diagram below.

I sewed along that side of the pentagon until all 6 pieces form a sort of circle. So I had something like a "circle" skirt. And then I sewed a black elastic for the waistband.

Happy campers (ignore the dirty feet... she was playing barefoot before I dragged her here for the photoshoot)

I still had a few small scrap pieces of the bandanas that I cut off when I made Izzie's dress and I made them into a little accessory to match the skirt. I will be sharing that project maybe tomorrow. Let me just say that only very few small pieces of those bandanas were thrown away.

Matching Dresses

Remember the Anna Dress I made for my daughter? Well... I made another one.

  

For her doll :) She doesn't have a name. Andrea just calls her 'Baby Doll'. 

A closer look.

The buttons in front are just aesthetic. The opening is actually at the back. The back opens from top to bottom and I used Velcro on both sides to close it.  

I am linking up to the following parties:

Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Pink Hippo Party at Pinkapotamus | Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Take-A-Look Tuesdayt at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesday at Ladybug Blessings | Tuesday To-Do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Homemade Projects at Tip Junkie | Link Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Confessional Link Party at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Cure for Common Monday at Lines Across My Face | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife |

Lined Paper Tee from Maybe Matilda

Do you guys know about Maybe Matilda? Rachel of Maybe Matilda has a lot of cool stuff and this is her second project that I'm trying out.

Click here to go to Maybe Matilda for the tutorial.

Rachel used paint but for my project I used this:

... Pentel's Fabric Fun  Pastel Dye Sticks (by the way, this is NOT a sponsored post... I just happened to pick these up from the book store a month ago). These are like your regular oil pastel but after applying to the fabric and ironing, it will not come off when you wash it.

My daughter has this old onesie that she rarely uses because she doesn't like onesies anymore. It's also size 12m... but at 22 months, it still fits Andrea.

First step is to make this onesie into a t-shirt. I simply cut off the bottom and cut the sleeves and sewed a zigzag stitch along the edges. Too lazy to hem :)

And then I used a ruler as a guide as I drew my blue lines.

One thing about these pastel sticks... they can be a little messy to use. I had to draw slowly to make sure I don't smudge. And the lines I made are probably not as straight's as Rachel's when she used paint.

After the blue lines, I drew red lines between the blue lines to make it look like the paper on notebooks being used by kindergarten and first grade students here. And then I drew the vertical line.

Rachel suggested embroidering or stamping your child's name on to the shirt. Great idea right? I decided to embroider since I think Andrea will outgrow this shirt soon and we might end up giving the shirt away. I can simply remove the stitches so that another little girl can use it. 

Cute! Can't wait to have Andrea try it!

I am linking to the following parties:

Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | It's a Party at A Creative Princess | Show and Share at Southern Lovely | DIY Diva Thursday at Mine for the Making | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baad Sunday at Lamb Around | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Ta-Da Tuesday at Mommy by Day Crafter by Night | Handmade Tuesdays at Lady Bug Blessings | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Tuesday To Do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Confessional at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Cure for Common Monday at Lines Across My Face |

My 'Anna Dress' from Craftiness Is Not Optional

When I first started sewing, my goal was so that I can make dresses for my daughter Andrea. One of my goals for this year is to actually make her a dress from scratch... you know, not one of those refashion projects I am so fond of (because they're easier). And not one of those simple A-line dresses... I want one made with patterns and with puffed sleeves and buttons and bias tape binding. 

I first saw the dress I wanted to make at Sertyan's Sewing Corner. I followed her link to the sew-along at Craftiness Is Not Optional.

Reading the instructions... it looked like something I can do so I decided to give it a try.  And I showed a preview of the finished dress last Saturday. I promised more photos today... but unexpected things that shouldn't have been unexpected when you're dealing with toddlers happened while my toddler was wearing it.  She soiled it while we were having lunch yesterday after church... and BEFORE I was able to take pictures X(

Preview of my 'Anna Dress' during the final fitting stage last Saturday

I am so proud of this one because this must be the most 'complicated' sewing project I have accomplished so far. With buttons and binding and lining and all! Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional did a good job on her sew-along tutorial. The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

Being a novice sewer... I made several a few monumental small errors. First... I envisioned this dress as a white and red polka-dot dress with red satin in the middle and binding the sleeves. Unfortunately... I cut the fabric wrong and ended up with several small pieces of scrap and not enough for the skirt. I tried looking for more of the same fabric I was using but was unsuccessful. I had to settle for any red print on white background and though the store I went to had a wide range of fabric designs, they didn't have a lot of red on white. The one they showed me reminded me of table cloths in rural areas here in the Philippines but I didn't have much choice and ended up using that anyway. That's the fabric I used for the skirt part.

Another mistake I made is that I forgot about the binding on the sleeves when I put the dress together. I was too excited to put it together because I wanted to see it finished. The sleeves, when sewn together, leaves only a small opening for the arms and it was difficult to sew the bias tape binding along the raw edge of the sleeves using the sewing machine. In the end... I had to sew it on by hand. 

I love the dress though and I learned a lot while working on it. I am so proud of me for finishing it and seeing that it looks the dress I was trying to copy! Even my top stitches are even.. and that's saying a lot because I usually have a hard time sewing straight and even lines. 

Andrea wearing the dress outside the restaurant before we ate lunch, and before she got it dirty.

After I finished it, I had it washed, dried and pressed so Andrea could wear it to church yesterday morning.

Now, I am so inspired to make more! Good thing my little girl likes wearing dresses. I went to the mall with my husband yesterday after we had lunch and I looked at some dresses at the children's section for inspiration. Here are some that I find pretty.

I particularly love that schoolgirl look at the bottom right. Can't wait to see if I can make something like those!

I am linking up to the following parties (it's been a while since I linked up a project, wow!)

Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Nap Time | Sunday Showcase at Under The Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around |  Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Made with Love at Sew Chatty | Marvelously Messy at A Marvelous Mess | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Make It Wear It at The Train to Crazy | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts |

Surrounded - Part 2

Since last week, nothing much has changed:

• I still don't have agate slices
• I still don't know how to crochet

But my first attempt at making a Surrounded-inspired necklace didn't go very well. When I wore the necklace, I saw that the white glass bangle was overcome by the black rope and silver rope chain and you could hardly see it.

So I decided to try again.

Those rectangle pieces are made of some sort of shell set in resin. They were once part of a cuff (8 pieces held by elastic to form a cuff). I guess I must have found use for 4 of them before because there were only 4 of them in my stash.

It's not very visible in the photo but those rectangle pieces are actually pale peach in color. I used white rope to surround the pieces to make this bib necklace.

Here's a closer look?

I bought several colors of rope and I still have those 4 pendants I showed you in my previous post. So if I find time... more to come!

Oh by the way, we are having another guest here tomorrow for our weekly Creating Success Around the World blog hop.

 

I interviewed another talented lady from Asia and tomorrow, you will get to know her too so check back again. Hope to see you!

I am linking to the following parties:

Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts |  Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Tuesday To-do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Tuesday Party at Running With Glitter | Confessional Link Party at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello |

Meet Tiffany

Last week, I mentioned that I was making toys for a 'project' I'm working on. Last weekend, I tried Jenny B. Harris' free Scotty Dog pattern and made...

I named her "Tiffany".

You know, because she looks these charms from Tiffany:

(photo source)

I also decided to give her a dog tag that says "Tiffany".

The heart tag is a knock-off. I bought a pack of these years ago for P45 (approx $1). The pack contained 3 of these heart-shaped tags. I never got to use them because I don't use knock-off items with labels on the jewelry I used to make. I don't even know why I got them... maybe because they look the one I have.

If you want to make this dog, you can get the free template and link to the tutorial from All Sorts. Click here to go to the free pattern and tutorial.

By the way, I showed this to Andrea and she squealed, "Horsie!!!!"... uh... um... *sigh* I think I need to adjust the pattern for her. Good thing this toy isn't really for her ;) The 'project' I'm working on hasn't kicked off yet. I will post about it here when I'm ready to unveil :)

I am linking up to the following parties:

Free for All at Young and Crafty | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S. at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success  | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Tuesday To-do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Tuesday Party at Running With Glitter | Confessional Link Party at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello |

Brook&Lyn-Inspired: Surrounded Necklace

I would like to say this is Anthro-Inspired... since more of you are familiar with Anthropologie and can relate to the concept. But the truth is, I got the inspiration for this first from Donatella of Inspiration & Realization. Have you been to her blog? You really should visit... I'm in love with everything she made!

I saw her tutorial for this necklace. 

Agate slice crochet jewelry. Click link for Donatella's tutorial.

These are inspired from Brook&Lyn's pieces from the 'Surrounded' collection. Then last week, while surfing for some inspiration, I saw that Brook&Lyn pieces are now being carried by Anthropologie.

Brook&Lyn necklaces on Anthropologie.

I love the necklaces! However, I don't have agate slices, nor do I know where to get them here. And I don't know how to crochet... I tried to learn when I was younger and my sister is really good at it... I am not. I might try again in the future, but for now, I will improvise.

I have these pendants in my stash and was initially planning to use them:

Bits and pieces of shell set in resin.

I got them for around $1 each, I think, from Quiapo, Manila back in 2007. I couldn't decide which one to use because I only had enough rope for one necklace. While rummaging in my supplies drawer, I found this:

It's a white child-sized glass bangle I also got back in 2007. Since it's small, I've been using it as a pendant for another necklace I made a long time ago. I thought the technique will work well with this too and decided to use this instead and got to work.

I used a glue gun to attach my rope around the bangle. And then, since I can't crochet, I decided to line the area between the bangle and the rope with some rope chain.

Attach the locks and ta-dah, done!

I love the simplicity of this. I think I want to make more using my other pendants. I'm buying more rope this week and get to work on the others. I think this technique can be used with any flat pendant you may have.

By the way, don't forget to check back again tomorrow for my first Creating Success Around the World interview! I will be having one very talented lady as a guest.

See you tomorrow! :)

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Show Me What Ya Got at Not  JUST a Housewife | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions |

Butterfly Pillow from Ruffles and Stuff

This project has been in my 'to-do' list for a while since I saw it on Ruffles and Stuff last year.

Butterfly Collection Pillow

I have these pillow covers:

I only realize now that they look a little retro. But I bought them because they're really soft and they fit my color motiff of blue, yellow and yellow green at the time. I wanted to make the yellow green match the blue pillow so I decided to use Disney's butterfly patterns to make butterfly appliques.

And here it is after I finished:

I'm not really happy with the colors... and please ignore my faded sofa. I plan to make pastel-colored pillows after I get my sofa re-upholstered (or if I manage to make a cover for it).

Click here for the tutorial and the butterfly pattern.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Hoo's got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | A Glimpse Inside at Catch a Glimpse | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Friday Favorites at Inspiring Creations | Saturday is Crafty Day at I Am Along For The Ride | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Mondays Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesdays at Lady Bug Blessings | Tuesday To Do Party at Blackberry Vine | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog |

Anthro-Inspired Bag: Ile Saint-Louis Bag

I saw tutorials for a knock-off of this bag from Anthropologie floating around some link parties last week:

Anthropologie - Knotted Tag-along Tote, $498 (Renamed by Anthro as the Ile Saint-Louis Bag with the reduced price of $288 ;)

The Little Appleseed posted a tutorial and a pattern at Someday Crafts! I checked it out and it looks easy enough to follow (except for the bias tape part... I have never tried using one before) so I decided that this will be my first attempt at making a bag.

After spending all my free time over the weekend...

... Mommy-and-daughter matching bags! After looking at the photos this morning, I only noticed that the folds along the sides are not as noticeable in the bags I made. I only made a couple of folds on each side and they were completely covered by the bow, but trust me... they're there! Also I couldn't find checked fabric in the fabric store at the mall so I had to use one with small beige stripes.

I mentioned that this is my first time to use bias tape...

Yes!!! I did it!!!

I didn't have time to make my own, though I saw a tutorial by Dana over at Made on how to go about making them. Maybe next time. The tutorial she posted on how to sew bias helped a lot though! And I did it the proper way, not the cheating way!!

I used soft cotton material for the bow so it was flopping around a little. I stabilize it, I sewed along the sides of the center:

I think the bag could use a zipper... but that's another thing I have never tried before. I think I will though, because I really want to have a zipped opening for this bag. But for now... my first attempt at making a bag and my first time to use bias tape! I think I learned a lot last weekend :)

Before I end this post, you gals might be wondering what my 1-year-old toddler needs a bag for. Well, every girl needs a place to put her 'essentials':

...you know, phone, keys and 'lipstick'.

I wasn't able to take pictures of us using these yet because I only finished last night (Sunday night my time). I meant it when I said this project took 'all my free time last weekend'. Andrea had no idea what it was when I first handed it to her... but when she saw I was carrying one just like it, her face lit up. She loves rummaging through my bag and I think she will love having one for her own to rummage through.

I hope you all had a productive weekend like I did. (In spite of the very sad news about Japan. Let's all keep praying for them).

Updated 3/17/2011:
We took Andrea to the doctor for a check up this morning and we used our bags!

Updated 04/04/2011:
I was browsing the Anthropologie site and I noticed that this bag is available again... but they are now calling it a different name: Ile Saint-Louis Bag. And they reduced the price, they are now selling it for $288. They have another bag they are now calling the Knotted Tag-along Tote.

I linked up this project to the following link parties:

Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime | Free for All at Young and Crafty | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft Couture Monday at Craft Couture | Made by You Monday at Skip to my Lou | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts |  Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST A Housewife | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Made with Love Monday at Sew Chatty  | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Crazy Cute at Between You and Me | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes |  Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello |  Keep It Simple Sunday at The Tattered Tag | Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings | Sew Crafty Saturdays at Wildflowers and Whimsy | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. |  Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do |

Anthro-Inspired Necklace: Trimmed Necklace

I first saw a tutorial for this on Flamingo Toes last December. I wanted to try it and was able to make a couple for me last weekend:

Made from turquoise and black faux pearl beads.

Made from rose quartz beads.

Looking at the tutorial again today... I realize that the beads I used might be a little too big... that's why I had a difficult time making the loops.

the flash reflected in the mirror... tsk tsk tsk... but this is the photo where the necklace is most visible so...

I am linking up to the following parties:

Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge |

Denim Corsage

I saw a tutorial for this at Tea Rose Home and I decided to make one for me. This time, my memory served me well because I was able to follow Sachiko's tutorial in my head.

For the center, I used a square pendant I had on my stash, and then attached a black teardrop-shaped acrylic bead. It's still a little flat in spite of my squeezing to give it little shape. But I think with time and a little use, it will get a little more distressed which is the look I want.

This post is linked up at the following link parties: