Bakery Box

To complete the bakery set, my son and I made a bakery box. He got bored with this project after about 3 minutes, so I ended up making it mostly myself. I had a sturdy hinged box which we covered in fabric and hot glued the edges on the inside. Then we lined it with scrapbook paper and trimmed it with rickrack. The window of the box is two layers of contact paper, sticky sides together. I am not sure how long it will last, but the gift was a huge hit, and has gotten a lot of use already!

Party Dress Butterick 5603

This dress was made using a vintage repro pattern (Butterick 5603). I made option B but left the ties off. The fabric is a polyester shantung from JoAnns. This dress is very fitted and I wish I had made a size up. I think from now on that is what I am going to do. Its easier to take things in anyway. The one issue I had with the pattern was that the front of the straps kind of gape a little. I think that if I had added the ties, that would have made the difference. Also, the neck line is low. I added some conveniently placed fabric flowers to cover things up a little, and I am happy with how it turned out. To make the flowers, I cut strips of fabric in various lengths and widths. I folded them in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and ran a gathering stitch down the raw edge. I gathered the strip and then formed the flower. I tacked them down on interfacing and then cut away as much as I could. That gave them a nice sturdy backing, and allowed me lay arrange them on the dress to see if I liked them before sewing them on.

Gifts Kids Can Make (With A Little Help): Native American Pouch

My daughter helped me make this pouch for her brother for Christmas. He is interested in anything related to the Old West, including Indians. To make the pouch, I cut the pieces from a piece of faux suede I have. My little girl helped me sew it up (her first real project!) and we then cut the flap into fringe...much easier than cutting it before and trying to keep the pieces out of the seams. We added a leather drawstring with a wooden bead pull. My daughter threaded pony beads onto the fringe and I tied knots to keep the beads on.

Ruffled Cuff

First of all, Nikia, if you are reading this.....STOP! :)










OK, now that we have that out of the way....I made this cuff for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I have been wanting to make this pattern for quite some time. Now I must make one for myself. While it isn't the quickest pattern in the world, it wasn't that difficult to do...just tedious. (Wait! Does that even make sense?) The beads are actually a dark purple, but it doesn't really show up in the picture.The buttons are from my stash o' vintage buttons.

Gifts Kids Can Make: Candy Cane Reindeer

I think we've all received at least one of these things during elementary school years. I actually forgot all about them til recently when I was looking for activities to do with the kids, in lieu of advent calendar treats. All you need is a candy cane, a bit of ribbon or string, a bell, a small red pompom and some googly eyes. We attached ours using a low-temp glue gun. Yes, I let my kids use a low temp glue gun. The glue is hot but not scorching, and they do fine with it. (I also think in this application, low temp is better because it won't melt the plastic wrapper.)

Gifts Kids Can Make: Play Cake Stand

This project is super low-tech and very easy, not to mention cheap! I got the the plates and bowls at Walmart, $1 for two plates or bowls. Apply E6000 glue to the bottom edge of the bowl. Glue to the bottom of the plate. Let dry and voila! You have a cute cake stand to display your pretend bakery goodies.

New Techniques

A little while ago I posted about a sewing class that I'd signed up for. I highly recommend spending the money for it even if you don't like the dress that's being made.  It's loaded with techniques like thread tracing, hand stitching, making a muslin, altering for your size, etc.  As you can see, I am still in the muslin phase which has been labor intensive but satisfying. I've used hand stitching and machine stitching on the muslin and am getting eager to be far enough along to try it on. Regardless of how this dress turns out (although it will be awesome!) I have a whole new appreciation for haute couture sewing. Even if I only use one technique per garment here on out, it will be so worth it!

Gifts Kids Can Make: Pretend Bakery Treats

This year, I am having the kids make Christmas gifts for each other. About once a week, someone gets to stay up 'late' from their nap and do a little stealthy crafting. I will be posting the projects as we do them. 

When I saw Frugal Family Fun blog's posts about sock donuts and sponge cake, I knew that would be perfect for my son to make my daughter. The donuts are made by cutting the toe off a dollar store men's dress sock. I flipped mine inside out so the 'nice side' would be out. Roll up the sock, smoothing as you go. When you roll the heel it will seem like it is too messy, but keep going. The top of the sock covers any lumpiness you may have. Hot glue the top of the sock down, cover with felt frosting and puff paint sprinkles. The sponge cake was made using a multipack of sponges from the dollar store. I couldn't find the ones with the colored scrubbing layer, so we used felt for the frosting instead. My son cut the sponges himself and decorated them using puff paint. We added pompom 'cherries' to the top of a few, just for fun. The total cost of this project was $3, and I think she is going to love it!