My wrappings.

Today I posted over on my personal blog...
I adore both Melody and this book so much that I had to join in! I made three gift boxes and added my own scrappy little felt project... A Happy Geese Garland.

See how I made it and check out the full post here: http://aprilrhodes.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-wrappings.html

Continue to comment for the chance to win another copy of Ruby Star Wrapping plus a bundle of trims and such to help with your own packaging. We'll post the photo of those tomorrow, but trust me, you want them.


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Left on the tour:

Tomorrow, Dec. 3rd - we'll post some of our projects here on the Sew To Speak blog plus show you what's up fpr the second win!!

Tues. Dec. 4th - Rae of Made by Rae

Wed. Dec 5 - Ericka of Low Beam Studios 

Thurs. Dec. 6 - Emily of The Boy Trifecta

then finally, on Friday  Dec. 7 - the final winner will be announced @12 EST!!

A foxy sort of day...

It started off with the post about Nigel and his awesome shirt... followed by my buying more of the white fox print for my own foxy garment and then finished by this little "Foxy Lady" craft with my girl Aelyn.

Aelyn turned five this past Saturday and today I set out to stitch something with her. She did quite well. She chose this fox from an older issue of Molly Makes that we have on our iPad. I printed it at 150% rather than the 200...and cut out all the paper pattern pieces for her. We pinned the pattern to the felt together. Then she cut around the paper while I helped hold it all steady. I cut the smaller pieces as they were much trickier. Than she wanted the foxes eyes to be blue and open rather than closed as theirs were and she also insisted upon limbs ;) which the original design was without. She first glued the little pieces to the face. I stitched the flower stem for her. She than stitched around the tail and body as I held it and help guide her along. She then stuffed it as I held and stitched it closed. We did it all in three sittings through out the course of the day and finished it just before bed time. Concluding with a photo shoot were she surprised me with her knowledge of depth of field. She sat the fox on one end of our dinning room table and went around to the other saying "take a picture with me here".... I said "I won't be able to see you very well back there" and she said "but I want to look small!"

Being that I studied a bit of photography way-back-when, I felt very proud at that moment. Proud of her thoughtfulness. Her composition. Her stitching. Her craftiness. And her adorable smile! (My only wish is that I'd gotten my real camera out instead of being silly and using my hipstamatic... but perhaps she'll let me take another photo tomorrow with the window open and the sunlight...)
Tonight she sleeps with her new friend.

Foxy Five and Fun!

G'nite foxes!
April

Fabric Friday

Felt!!!

April's Mini Matryoshkas

Little two and a half inch dolls, made to spread 

joy and cheer. 

These tiny girls love to be hung alongside the glowing lights of a tree or just carried in your pocket

strung amongst your keys. 

They're happy to be anywhere that they'll be smiled upon and praised. 

So sew some up for yourself and friends, and have 

Happy Holidays!

What you'll need: 

printed pdf pattern for Mini Matryoshkas

several colors of felt including skin toned felt for the doll's faces (I like to use 2 shades of the same color for the body of my dolls)

fabric marker or chalk pencil

pink (rosy) colored pencil

hand sewing and embroidery needles

applique pins - optional

fabric scissors (a small sharp pair helps greatly with the detailed cutting of little things)

paper scissors

clear, fast drying fabric glue like "Unique Stitch"

thread to match felt for doll body

black pearl cotton or floss

hair colored pearl cotton or floss

other bits of pearl cotton/floss to sew on flower embellishments

6 inches of complimentary yarn (or floss) for hanging

fiberfill/stuffing

How to make one:

First print and cut out all pattern pieces.

Choose the colors for your Matryoshka's hood, back and tummy. 

Next, you can either trace your pattern pieces onto the felt with a fabric marker or pencil, or you may opt to use itty bitty applique pins to pin the pieces down and cut around them. I use both methods depending on the pattern piece's shape and size.

Cut out you doll's face, hood, tummy and back of body. Be sure to mark where her hood overlaps her tummy piece.

Apply a tiny amount of glue around face and top edge of tummy. 

  Front view        -       Back view

Glue her face behind her hoods opening and then line hood up with the top of her tummy (along overlap line).

While the glue is drying choose and cut out your flower design. Feel free to play around and come up with your own flower and leaf combinations.

Click on photos for a larger view ;)

Attach your flower design to your doll's tummy. I use a single straight stitch to attach my leaves and either a french knot or cross stitch in the center of my flowers.

After the glue has dried, using a single strand of coordinating thread, take some small stitches around the base and opening of the hood, to secure your gals face and tummy.  

Next using a double strand of hair colored pearl cotton or floss, satin stitch her hair. Use the pattern as a guide for placement and stitch slightly under the hood as you go, so as to avoid any bald spots.

Now mark eyes, lashes and mouth placement and stitch with a single strand of black pearl cotton/floss. Use a twice wrapped french knot for the center of her eyes and straight stitches for her lashes and mouth. Draw on your doll's blushing cheeks with your pink colored pencil.  

On the back body piece, using a large needle, pass the 6" of yarn, knotted at the end, through center of felts loft and come up at the top of your dolls head, this will secure your dolls hanging loop, but you should not be able to see the stitch from the doll's back side (see photo bellow).

Wrong side/ inside doll    -     Right side/back of doll

Draw needle back through the center of the felt and out next to your original knot. It helps to hold the felt at the doll's head secure between two fingers as you do this, and you may need to reshape the felt a bit at the needles entry point. Knot the yarn an inch from the end, trim off excess and pull loop taut.  

Sandwich the two body pieces together.

Starting at the bottom right corner of your little lady's body, blanket stitch her front and back pieces together using a single strand of coordinating thread. Stop at the opposite corner, leaving the bottom open.

Stuff firmly. Use the end of your pencil to help push stuffing into her head and body.

Finish by closing her up with blanket stitch across the bottom.

Yay!! 

You've made a sweet little dolly to hang from your tree or anywhere that brings you joy.

Now make some more and give them to your friends. Everyone is sure to delight in their delicate cuteness!

Happy crafting! 

Lots of love, 

♥

April

It's been awhile...

a long long while... since my last post. And it seems the longer I go with out a post the harder it is to jump back in.

My hope is that you never mistake my lack of content here to mean lack of blogworthy material in our shoppe. This is quite the contrary. There has been many post-able moments, fabrics, patterns, and creations.

How about a little fabric recap:

Gorgeous fabrics for fall.

Now stocking Liberty of London!

New Alexander Henry Lawns.

Dots dots dots. Delicious new dots.

New japanese designs form Hokkoh, with sweetly hidden animals in each print.

30 lovely new colors of wool felt!

Hoodie's precious Teapots and other fun prints.

New organic flannels from Cloud 9, Forest Friends.

Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet 2.

Our beloved matryoshka dolls are back.

Helen Dardik's first fabric line, Mod Kitchen.

Castle Peeps by Lizzy house.

Colorful and fun Robert Kaufman prints.

There you have it... a little taste of what's been in. 

And a good jump-start to get us blogging again :) 

'til next time,

April

Stash

The other evening my husband was glancing over my fabric stash (which by the way is nothing compared to some I've seen.. or at least that's what I tell myself...) with an "mmm hmm" sound and you know that sort of face, insinuating that perhaps I have too much.

Too much?!?!

NEVER!

Are you kidding me?

but... well, maybe some of it could stand to be sewn up...

And then a spark was lit.

A little scrap buster! Yes, that's what I'll do.

I'll make something using bits and pieces of what I've been storing away and then he'll certainly see why I need more!!!

HA!

So that photo up there is a glimpse of the project I've started.

And here's a glimpse of my camera loving cat. He feels the need to help out with all of my photo shoots and sewing projects.


I'll share the full project and how-to soon.

'Til then,
April

A Turtle and his Grassland

We just received these precious new mini patterns from Heather Bailey and as soon as I saw them I knew I had to make one.

I've decided to call him Carl.

I originally set out to make a girl turtle, complete with corsage, but when I finished the body and set the shell on top, I knew it was a gentleman turtle I had made. So now I'll have to make Carl a lady friend to keep him company. Then she can sport the pretty corsage on her girly tortoise shell.

As far as using Carl as a pin cushion... I just couldn't bring myself to stick him. I believe that if he could talk, he'd tell me that he much rather be a toddler's toy.

For extra kicks I whipped up this little grassland habitat so that Aelyn could set out with her new turtle friend, graze and explore. Yes, it's silly and a perhaps a bit pointless but for a 5 minute project I think it's sorta humorous and whimsical. Plus Aelyn thinks it's fun.

A few tips if you set out to make a turtle too: Cut all pieces as precisely as possible. I prefer to iron my interfacing onto the wrong side of my fabrics before cutting. This cuts down on time and eliminates any discrepancies between your fabric and interfacing pieces. Also, be certain to transfer all pattern markings, dark and precise.

As for the stuffing, a chopstick helped but for the next one I intend get one of these "Stuffing Forks" she refers to. I have a feeling it will make the job much easier.

Finally, as a famous tortoise might say... slow and steady wins the race!

To Make a Grassland

You'll need:

one 12"x 18" piece or two 12"x9" pieces of green felt

matching thread

scissors

sewing machine (you could also hand-sew)

and a dry iron

First cut the large piece of felt in half so that you have two 12x9 inch pieces.

One of these will be the base of the grass land.

From the other you will free hand cut the grass. I saved some of my larger triangular clippings to use as free standing grass blades. Cut your grass any way you like. Note: it stands best if it is no taller than 3" tall. Also for stability, try not to cut past the bottom inch.

After cutting all your grass play around with the layout. Keep in mind your grass will be about 1/4" shorter and standup relatively straight.

Once you have all your blades where you want then, flip over and pin.

Sew to base using a 1/4" seam allowance. Trim all threads.

Using a dry iron, lightly press blades upward from base.

If grass flops over, it may be too heavy. Try trimming it down and finessing it upward a bit. This should help it stand for you (the grass will naturally be a little floppy but shouldn't flop completely over).

Finally introduce your herbivore to it's new home!

Have a happy weekend.

'Til next time,

April