The Making of the Christmas Pic

As we approach the date to our one way tickets to China we are trying to soak up all of the inevitable lasts, or at least "this isn't going to happen again for a long time." Over the Thanksgiving break some of my husband's family made the long drive up from Texas to cement the occasion and no family gathering would be complete without family pictures. Such extended family pictures are taken about every two years with a specific color theme. Such family pictures have never been taken in mine and Kelli's family. I'm not sure if we are too lazy, non sentimental, or just color coordination resistant. Regardless, this year's color theme for my husband's family was black and white. Thankfully my husband already had a nice black sweater and a 20 minute trip to Target found me a blousy, but not balloony black top to help hid the middle "I just look fat" pregnancy stage for me. That left the two kids.

For my daughter I did a simple shift jumper that took about 2 1/2 hours. I did make the mistake of not taking the print into consideration the first time I cut the front piece, so it became the back and I cut a new visually symmetrical front.

You wouldn't believe the trouble I had finding a plain white, long sleeve, T-shirt for my son. I went to 4 stores before I found one. I started at Walmart, but they apparently feel that a turtleneck is perfectly acceptable on a little boy, while my husband is absolutely sure they are not (I say it depends on the outfit). So, once again Target came to the rescue. I am sorry to say that there are no Targets in China that I am aware of and you wouldn't recognise the Walmart from the inside. Once the desired T was purchased I went about freezer-paper stenciling it with a tie. The directions follow:

Step 1 tape down your freezer paper, shiny side down (if I am making an image I think I will use again I will tape down 3 layers of freezer paper, it's just as easy to cut through, if your exacto knife is sharp)

Step 2 draw your picture or trace an image on the freezer paper

Step 3 cut out your image, it goes faster than you would think, so be careful (as you can see I use a self healing mat, I have a big one for fabric and a small one for paper crafting)

Step 4 iron your stencil, shiny side down to your fabric. you want to use the heat setting appropriate for the fabric you are using. I hold it down for about 10 seconds and then overlap onto the next section. when it is done there will be a tight seal, no bubbles, around the edges. Make sure you do NOT use any steam. My iron automatically adds steam to a cotton setting so I have to empty all the water out of my iron first.

Step 5 insert a layer of newspaper, etc.., in between fabric layers so the paint wont transfer to the other layers of your garment

Step 6 paint. I go back over it at least twice as the cotton soaks some of the paint in

Step 7 let dry according to the fabric paint manufactures instrustions

Step 8 peal off your stencil and enjoy!

I machine wash my painted garments inside-out and hang dry them to avoid cracking and fading.

Any questions? Hope you enjoy my new head shot. It is cropped from this same photo session. My lovely olive toned in-laws joked that I am so pale I could be a Cullen. Anyone know the casting agents for Breaking Dawn?

Fabric winner / January's Guest Blogger

The winner of this fabric to make the wasp bag by Alison of machenmachen.wordpress.com and our Guest blogger for the month of January is:

Holly P who said...

"This bag is so cute! I love the fabric you picked out and I'd love the chance to make it!"

Holly - send us an email at dearpresserfoot (at) gmail (dot) com with your address and I will get your fabric sent out to you asap. We are so excited to have you as our guestblogger this month.

In the meantime everyone check out her creativeness on her blog - www.bijoulovely.blogspot.com - she just finished making a great bag for her sister so I think she will have a lot to teach us.

Merry Christmas from Us!

Dear Presserfoot Readers,

Thank you! Thank you for joining Kelli and I on this journey. I would say sewing journey, but it has been so much more than that for us. Not only are Kelli and I forced to call each other and talk over the creative lively hood of this blog, but we get to chat over the everyday stuff that sometimes gets lost between sisters living so many states apart and soon to be countries and oceans apart. It has been an awesome experience to ooze in my creative juices with all of you and learn from you. As we are approaching our year mark as a blog, March 4th, I can't help but get a little emotional (pregnancy may have something to do with it too) that a dream has been realized and my sewing machine feels very loved. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Rian

January's Giveaway / Guestblogger

For January we are making the wasp bag by Alison of machenmachen.wordpress.com. If you would like to get the following fabric to make the bag and be our guestblogger for the month of January just comment on this post. The giveaway will end Christmas day at midnight. Here is a picture of the fabric :



The giveaway includes:

1 yard of home decor weight floral print for the outside of the bag
1 yard of cotton broadcloth in marigold for the lining.

As a reminder this is how our giveaway works:

What presserfoot will do:

• we will provide you with next month's pattern (unless it's free)
  
• we will provide you with some awesome fabric to make the pattern
• we will do a short feature on our blog about you and your blog (if you have one)

What we ask of you:

• we ask that you make the pattern in the month given with the fabric
• we ask that you be an author on our blog for that month and make at least 4 posts during the month about your experience making the pattern.
• you will need to get your own notions, interfacing etc...

Happy commenting and good luck!

Taking it in for the bargin hunter

I am a bargain hunter and probably some what of a cheap scape so when I look on the far back sales racks I not only look at my own size

s, but also the next two or three sizes up that are often even cheaper. The great thing about buying bigger is that you can then alter it for a custom fit.

I bought this Banana Republic dress for $14, but it is 2 sizes too big (It originally sold for $150 and this was the only size left). Here is how you make it perfect for you:

1. call over a friend who sews or pull out your dress form

2. turn the garment inside out and put it on

3. have your friend carefully pin it, following the existing seam lines (if you are taking it up into the armpit you will need to follow that line down into the sleeve as well).

4. carefully remove the garment with the pins in place ( you might think that you can just pin one side and make the other side match it, but I strongly recommend you don't do that, unless you are very careful it will end up too small).

5. baste stitch the pinned lines and try it on

6. make and remake any adjustments until it is just right

7. sew your seam line on top of the perfected baste stitch

8. serge off the excess

9. look like you paid $150 for your dress

After Christmas Sales are right around the corner!

Stocking #4

The last one, for now, is for the hubby. And, unlike his short, stocky stocking, he is really long and lean, but oh well. I followed the same directions from stocking #1, but did a little more appliqueing following stocking #2. Short and simple.

Next Month's Pattern: Wasp Bag

With my sister Rian and I both being pregnant right now I decided to forgo making clothes for ourselves and thought we would make something a little more "one size fit's all" and practical for our current situations.



I have been holding onto this Wasp bag tutorial for a long time hoping to find the perfect time to make it up. I love the large and roomy size of the bag and think it will make a perfect diaper bag/purse for my baby (perhaps with a few adjustments).

So for the month of January we will be making the wasp bag by Alison of machenmachen.wordpress.com. Click here to download Alison's free and wonderful pattern/tutorial.

Check back tomorrow to enter January's fabric/guestblogger giveaway.

Stocking #3

This one is for me. It might be from the extra holiday pounds, but for my stocking I just wanted long and thin. I also decided to go with a more organic piecing strategy. I simply sewed each scrap together as is, no straightening of the lines until it was long enough to completely cover my pattern. I then followed the steps from Stocking #1 and added a button. You can buy these coverable buttons at almost any craft store, even Walmart carries them. There are two metal brackets, one with teeth to grab your fabric as you stretch it over. Then the second metal piece just pops in place to hold it all together. Now I wish I had chosen a contrasting fabric to help my button standout a little more, but I don't think you can recover them. Anyone know? Regardless I am starting to feel a little skinnier at heart.

Hand Sewn Ornaments

This year I did an ornament exchange with some friends and friends of friends. It has been really fun going to the mailbox each day to find a beautiful handmade ornament waiting for me. For mine I made these little scotty dogs and I thought I would share them with you.

When I was young I loved scotty dogs (although I am no longer much of a pet person) and one of my most memorable Christmas gifts ever was receiving a stuffed animal scotty dog from my parents. So the sentiment in me decided to stick with the theme.

I used this free pattern online from www.allsorts.typepad.com and just shrunk it down in size quite a bit. While a bit time consuming, they were very easy to make and I am so happy with the way that they turned out.

Here they are ready to post. To package them I just cut up some old paper shopping bags and stitched around the edges to seal them.

Stocking #2

Stocking #2 is for my always wants to wear a dress and look like a princess daughter. I think it's nice and girly. I used just two fabrics for this one, the polka dot and a printed striped material with little messages written between the lines. I followed the same basic step process as stocking #1 but added the circle applique down the side.For the applique I used one of my favorite products Heat'n'Bond. You can buy it at most fabric stores. They have a no-sew and a sew-able option. I always use the sew-able option as I like the look of the stitching and get really bugged at future pealing that I feel is inevitable. Simply follow the directions on the package (I'm not going to walk you through those steps as there are probably different brands with different instructions). Once you have cut out your shape and ironed it the exact right spot I use the blind-hem-stitch to create a defined border and attach it at the same time, but really you could use any stitch. And that is that. any questions?

Stocking #1

I decided not to make my son a monster stocking, regardless of the pancake mix, so as not to label him as a two year old terror for the rest of his Christmas life. I instead did a simple striped patterns of some "boyish" scrap material and am rather pleased with the result. It was a quick project and totally unique. Step #1 make your pattern (click here for any help in the matter)

Step #2 assemble your scraps, making sure they are long enough or wide enough for your design

Step #3 sew you scraps together, they will not look like a stocking at this point, but should be bigger all around than your pattern

Step #4 pin on your pattern and cut it out

Step #5 cut out your stocking back (I just used a solid piece of fabric for mine)

Step #6 if you want a fuller or puffier look to you stocking you can also cut out a piece of fleece to line the inside as I did.

Step #7 make a loop of fabric for hanging. I just double folded a scrap and zigzagged it together.

Step #8 make your stocking sandwich with your loop in the center (position at an angle pointing up) the right sides of you front and back pieces together, with your fleece on the outside.

Step #9 Sew it all together and serge off raw edges if desired.

Step #10 turn right side out and fold in a half inch hem and sew.

Now you are done! A project this simple doesn't seem like it should have 10 steps, but there you have it.

Old Things Made New : Vintage Pillowcases=Dress

As many of you know I am currently pregnant with my first baby and we are having a little girl. I have found that I LOVE sewing for little girls and plan on making most of her clothes, at least for the first year.

One thing that I love about sewing for a baby is that it takes so little fabric. One thing that I have been finding myself doing a lot recently is scowering the thrift stores for vintage sheets/pillowcases and even large skirts etc... that I could use as fabric to make something for a baby. The other day I found this awesome vintage pillowcase for a dollar and found that it was the perfect amount of fabric to make a little baby dress.

I used New Look 6576 to make a simple baby jumper and it was perfect. I followed Leslie's suggestions for making a full lining instead of a half lining which turned out great. For that I used 3/4 of a yard of some old gingham that my mother had stashed away for the last 2o years. I think the most expensive part of the whole dress was the buttons. All in all the dress cost about $2.50 and took about an hour to make. I am very happy with the results and can't wait to whip up a few more with the remaining vintage sheet fabric that I bought.

Here is a picture of the finished dress. Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of the pillowcase before I cut it out, but you get the idea right?

Monster Stockings

Saw these online and it just made me laugh. Unfortunately everywhere I found the picture it didn't attribute where they originally came from. So, if anyone knows please comment. The originator needs some credit, because these are great! I was thinking one of these monster stockings would be very fitting for my two year old after he dumped pancake mix in my living room.
For all the lovable monsters in our lives, human or other wise.

Stocking Patterns

Today I am thankful for a gas fireplace and 4 wheel drive. With just a flip of the switch I have added warmth and ambiance. With just the turn of my driving wheel I actually turn, unlike many other drivers who start skating into the intersection as they brave the drenching snow storms. My couch is now vibrating as another snow plow goes by, or is it my kids jumping upstairs?

Christmas is sneaking upon me this year. I haven't bought or started a single gift. There isn't a Christmas tree yet. And not a single holiday decoration is up in my house, except for the couple of Halloween pumpkins that haven't found their way out yet. So today! Goals for today are all of the above, starting with my Christmas stockings.

For my patterns I use grocery adds. I choose them for several reasons. First they are a glossy print so the ink doesn't transfer to my fabric. Two, I don't have to buy anything. Three, they fold nicely. Four, I can multi task grocery sale shop while I work.

Things to remember when cutting out your pattern:

1. after drawing on your pattern remember to add your 5/8 inch seam allowance before cutting them.

2. You can do just one pattern, but you don't have to. I did three. One long skinny one for me, One short stocky one for my husband, and One average sized and shaped one to use for the kids'.

3. Before you pin your pattern to your fabric decided if you want your stockings to all point the same direction and cut accordingly.

4. If you mess up, or don't like your pattern just recycle it and start again.

A little stocking inspiration

If you thought there were rules to Christmas stockings, well, you were wrong. Can stockings be modern? Can they be different shapes and sizes? Can stockings use colors other than red and green? Can you show personality in a Christmas stocking? And of course the answer to all of these questions is "Yes!"There are really only two questions you need to ask yourself before starting this project.

#1 What style do you like?

Are you a traditionalist, modern, country cozy, or a little of everything? Just look around your house for the answer to this one, because your stockings should match your style. It wasn't until our fourth Christmas as a family that the stockings finally felt important. It was also our first Christmas with a baby and so I'm sure I felt a need to provide the appearance of family traditions even though she wouldn't remember it. And being a first time Mom I did what most of us do and brought the first stockings I found. They happened to be at the grocery store and looked like it. I then sold them for a dollar at our summer garage sale . . . just to solidify another family tradition. Moral of the story is make something you like and will love in years to come. Or just keep making new ones you like and have a garage sale.

#2 What fabric do you already have?

Hopefully the scraps of fabric you have you like. Please don't buy fabric you don't like. Really, with the endless selection there is out there you have no excuse. So, pull out the scraps you have and love and use them for your stockings. Anything goes! You'll see, I used some grey herringbone fabric on mine. And your stockings don't have to match each other either, just like pillows on a couch, when they hang together they go together. They can be patch worked or solid pieces. Anything goes!

And if I were to add a third question I guess it would be "What can you do?" Do you appliqué? Do you stencil or stamp? Do you quilt? Because...really, anything goes.