Unfinished Business + GIVEAWAYS

This pattern was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I completely lost it on step 1, which is the pocket. Everything went fine until I had to do the actual sewing of the pocket hem. I started in the corner and the fabric wouldn't move causing a big ball of thread to form in that spot. After trying probably 5 times, I exploded with frustration and cut the pocket to ribbons. Clearly I over-reacted, and it's funny thinking about it now, but it just made me so angry!

This is where I had the most trouble. Clearly. My fingers are crossed it was just because of the sheet material. 

Ignore the man jammies, haha!

My second attempt has gone more smoothly. While making the first I followed the instructions word for word, causing a lot of unwanted frustration, but this time I did the shoulder and side seams my own way. Instead of leaving the seam allowance and pressing the seam open, I simply cut off the seam allowance and left it how it was. In my opinion, that really can't cause many differences. 

I got the pocket, no freak outs necessary! The stretchy-ness of the sheet made it impossible to pull through at the corner and the bulk from the hem added to the problem on my first attempt. This fabric went much smoother.

Step one, the easy part, of the neck binding.

I did notice that even though my first attempt was a sheet, which are pretty stretchy, both of these tanks are kind of stiff and hard to get on. Any suggestions on how to fix this or a type of fabric that's better for this pattern?

Even though I've not finished my second shirt (haha!) I embarked on a new adventure: slip cover.

There were better pictures taken, but I seem to have misplaced my memory card. I could have swore I put it in either my camera bag or sewing table drawer, but no luck. :(

As you can see, L has been pretty rough on this. Haha! She's only had it since April of last year!

I really don't know how she gets a hold of pens without me knowing, and she's smart about it too. She never leaves them in her room for me to find when I pick up.

Somehow managed to leave a hole. Since it's my first try and for my destructive daughter, I just patched it up. Haha!

For some reason the tutorial I used thinks that this (the photo above) is a sufficient slip cover. I've not yet attempted to finish it, but my fingers are crossed it won't be that complicated. It can't be any more complicated than the curved back, I'm sure!

Keep your eyes peeled for the post revealing my finished tank top and slip cover. (If I ever get around to them, haha!!)

GIVEAWAYS:

$100 Amazon Card ends Aug 26th | $500 Amazon Card ends Sept 7th |

$200 Visa ends Aug 14th | $500 PayPal Cash ends Aug 19th

Fabric ends Aug 14th | Fabric ends Aug 18th | Fabric ends Aug 15th |

Fabric ends Aug 14th

$25 Fabric Card ends Aug 19th | $25 Fabric Card ends Aug 17th |

$25 Fabric Card ends Aug 14th

Pattern Pack ends Aug 16th

In Need of More Bobbins!

On the 29th I was going crazy trying to find something to make L with her octopus fabric. I looked for what seemed like FOREVER! I finally found a tutorial for a simple skirt. I had to look around some more though, to find out how to size it up to 3T since the tutorial was for 12 months. 

Measured L's waist, doubled the number for the fabric, kind of. My fabric wasn't quite wide enough. Then cut the elastic 1 less than her measurements. 

I know the blue doesn't match the octopus fabric perfectly, but it still looks super cute! It's also a little big, I guess since she's tall and skinny I should always subtract an extra inch from her waist, haha! A little big isn't bad though, that just means she'll fit into it a little longer!

This is where the blog title comes up.

Ryan's grandma had dropped off a king sized sheet for me to practice my tank top pattern with on the 31st. It's a much harder pattern than I had expected, but I'll blog more about that once I finish my second attempt, and the second attempt is what brought on my next project: BUCKET HATS!

I cut out the fabric for my second tank top and then realized all of my bobbins were already full and I needed one for orange thread. I searched Pinterest relentlessly until I found this adorable pattern that I thought would work perfectly with the fabric I had.

The first attempt went awesome, until I tried to do the decorative stitching around the rim. I accidentally sewed part of the "body" of the hat into the brim so that when you turn it to the blue side it doesn't look so hot. As you can see below, I left out the decorative stitches on my second attempt, haha! L called it her "magician hat" and made her toys "magically" appear inside of it! 

Now for some rambling that DOESN'T involve sewing. ;)

L just loves to swing! She pushes it as far back as she can with her feet, then lifts her feet up so it swings so hard the swing feet hop up. It's hilarious to her that I freak out because it could flip over. :P

She actually let me do something to her hair! Normally the entire time I try to put it in a pony she says "owww" like I'm pulling it all out or something. I guess the trick is to do it while she's taking a bath!

Yesterday I made a trip to Pick L up from her "gamma's" house. Gamma, L, and I then went on a, very disappointing, trip to look at pricing on computers. I was hoping I'd be able to find something under $400 for just me, the only program needed on it being Photoshop Elements 10. I was informed by Mr. Nerd-of-the-Year that to have Photoshop I need a computer with at least an i5 processor, 750gb hard dive, and 6gb memory. At Best Buy my "best buy" would have been $600 + tax. Next we went to Sam's Club. They had a better computer for $550 + tax, which is awesome, but still too much. (Even for a Christmas present, which is what I was hoping for, haha!) Fingers crossed that Ryan keeps getting awesome painting jobs and that I get some photo sessions lined up!

L crashed on the way home, and since it was after 6pm she slept through the night. Poor baby must have been pooped!

When you're stopped at a train, boredom sets in and you do silly things like take a selfie even though you look like a grease-ball from sweating all day. Haha! :P

Impulse Buy

 Yesterday I decided to buy a new sewing pattern, and this one's for me! I have been looking at this tank top pattern since I first became interested in sewing. There was only one problem, it was $24 dollars! So I thought. Turns out, it was $24 because it was an ACTUAL pattern they mail to you and they have a downloadable version for only $10! 

Call me anal, but I have kept track of how much I've spent on sewing supplies. I also keep tabs on how much I make selling things I no longer want, things I've made, and photo session I've done. After my session with Kyleigh I was only in the hole -$59!

After my pattern purchase I read through all the instructions a few times and then put it away. That doesn't mean I stopped thinking about it! At about 8pm I had the urge to make some purchases, so L and I set out for Wal-Mart. (Don't worry, I plan to test out my new pattern on CHEAP or (wishful thinking) FREE fabric first.)

I bought fabric for a tank top and another for the tank dress. I also got L some super cute octopus fabric. I'm not sure what I'll make with that yet though, talk about impulse buying. :P I also got myself a Fiskars 2-piece rotary cutting set for $17. It came with a 45mm rotary cutter and a 6x18in self-healing mat. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to play with my new toys! After my small splurge I've brought my total to a whooping -$96.

The blue with mosaic swirls I bought for the tank dress, and the orange leopard print is what I chose for the tank.

The more I think about it though, the more I realize that's not bad at all. I have to keep in mine that includes the cost of the sewing machine and all the tools I NEEDED to get started. It has helped a lot that Ryan's grandma has given me quite a few large cuts of fabric and plans to bring me some more at the end of the week. Also, a wonderful woman on a Facebook re-gifting site gave me a decent sized box full of a bunch of different sized cuts of fabric. It's pretty awesome that there are still people out there that aren't just looking to make a buck and actually enjoy helping out other people for no other reason than to just help. I myself have actually given away a small bag different sized scraps that I didn't plan to use as well. 

These two boxes are filled with all different fabrics that I've been given. The back box is medium-large scraps and the front is all smaller pieces. The pillows were made from a fabric the woman on Facebook gave me and stuffed with an old pillow that got lumpy from washing. I ran out of stuffing, though, and the back pillow is only half full.

Now I plan to make another 12-24 month dress and finish up a couple more tissue covers while I wait for Ryan's grandma to drop off the fabric she's so amazing for giving me. Once I get my hands on that, I think I'll be making tank tops for a while. Hopefully not so much so that I get bored with them like I did the little dresses I've made so many of, haha! Although, if I'm being honest, I've made 14 tissue covers + my mistakes and am pretty bored with those too. They did give me a good break from those dresses though, which will give me good motivation to get a few more done before the weekend!

The cupcake has been sold, but the other 3 are $1 each. I may be making 1 that has ladybugs, but am unsure. Stay posted. :)

$1 each. There will be 1 more for sale that has the teal with a red color.

12-24 month dress I (finally) finished. It sat for probably a week with only the neck casing and elastic needing finished. I plan on starting the next 12-24 month today, using the fabric with pink flowers on it I used on L's dress with red-ish sleeves.

Modeling Mommy's Work

She sure does love to pick "yellow flowers." They are only dandelions when they are poof-balls, in case you didn't know. 

My (many) Projects Update

Ryan was working in Kansas for about 2 weeks and during that time, I got MOTIVATED.

I decided L's playhouse needed a new location, so I set to work. First, I cut down a dying rose bush planted by a trellis that was way too short. Then I attempted to kill the grass and weeds by covering them with a tarp. I'm impatient so, needless to say, I didn't leave the tarp down long enough to do anything. I bought 3 bags of river rock, went back for 3 more, and still need another! I put them down, moved the playhouse, and then started to frame it in with bricks.

I also started cleaning out a flower bed overrun by irises and in need of a weeding. Cleaning up the end that Zora has destroyed by walking through while on her outside leash wasn't too difficult. I just had to do some weeding and dig up dead iris bulbs. Then I posted a "free irises" ad on a Facebook re-gifting site and had a woman wanting 20. After doing my homework and learning that you can separate irises, 20 was not enough! It hardly even made a dent.

I finally put to use a tutorial I found before I even bought my sewing machine: travel tissue covers. I started by studying this tutorial and then got over excited and cut out 8 covers worth of fabric. Turns out I cut too soon! I thought the liner was optional. Well, it's not, haha! I had to scrap 4 covers worth of fabric because I didn't have enough to cut out a lining for them.

My premeditated cuts.

My first attempt without liner isn't pictured, but it was HUGE. I'm not really 100% how it ended up that way, but what can you do. The ribbon tab gives away the face that a liner is required as well. As L and Daniel Tiger would say "Keep trying, you'll get better!"

My second attempt (cupcakes) came out a little big and lopsided. Plus I missed a layer when doing the final stitching so there is a small area with the underside of the fabric visible.

Then came zebra! I did much better this time! It came out a little lopsided, otherwise perfect. This attempt made me realize, if I want one fabric type I don't need to cut a smaller piece, I can simply cut 2 pieces the same size. Fantastic!

Now I'm on a roll! They are all perfectly sized with (little) signs of flaw! Plus, I've found a way to salvage some of my very first cuts. Anyone that doesn't think Dollar Tree is amazing is CRAZY! I bought the largest white shirt they had and am going to use that as a liner. It's a genius plan if you ask me, but I guess I'm biased. Haha! While I was there I bought (2) 6 packs of travel tissues. The plan is to sell each for $1 and make a $9 profit after spending $3 on tissues and the t-shirt.

This is my most recent tissue cover, and once again, it's big! It's more of a coin purse size and I have no idea what happened.

 Look forward to see more travel tissue covers in a future post!


On a, practically daily, trip to Wal-Mart L decided she needed some markers. Fantastic! Markers and a 3 year old, what could go wrong? Lucky for her, we found these lovelies. Day 1: 4 master pieces! (Which were all made for Daddy as welcome home presents, of course, haha!)