Fabric & Patterns & Quilts Oh My!

Recently I’ve gotten into sewing gifts for people.  I’ve always sewn a little bit, but nothing serious. My mom was a big sewer and I remember using her scraps to make a purse when I was really small. When I was in collage I decided to sew a quilt for my cousin, then I did one for my friend Christine then one for each of my brothers a few years ago. They were basic quilts-I'm def not a quilter- squares sewn togeather on a machine to make a large piece of fabric. I also attempted to sew a Cowardly Lion costume for my friends husband once.

Anyway when we found out about Kylie I decided I should make her a quilt. I went to Joann’s and picked out all sorts of really cute baby fabric and began the quilt back in December. Around this time my company, which also houses a Interior Design firm, was getting rid of fabric samples. Seeing a diamond in the rough I collected a stack of these 12 x 6 samples and thought these would make a great quilt. So I made a little “blankie” for Jill’s little boy, Ramzi. I mixed up lots textures with the idea that when he’s a little older he can "feel" the different materials. I remember (somehow) always liking to feel the smooth, the rough ect….so we’ll see if he does the same.


I finally finished Kylie’s quilt last month. It turned out pretty cute and I really hope she likes it ;). It's not a perfect square, but i'm sure she won't notice-Alyssa might.

I also made a pillow for my friend Erin’s new baby using the fabric samples. It ended up being a two sided pillow-I couldn’t see covering up the herringbone-ish pattern I had created with the “W” so I made a side for baby and a side for mommy.

I had bought lots of fabric for Kylie’s quilt and had some left over-Adam said now I needed to make a pillow for her too.

Then I started looking online at patterns. I thought-I'm going to make her some clothes! So I went to Joann’s and bought 2 different patterns for children’s clothes. They looked easy enough and if I could figure out how to build a building I'm sure I could make a simple dress. My mom told me I was ambitious and good luck. I had never used a pattern before.

So one Saturday I got started…took out the instructions….and cut out the pattern I was going to attempt. It was a little onesie romper. I had enough of the Mother Goose print left so that’s what I used. Seeing as this was my first attempt I thought bigger was better so I started cutting to the Large size. I quickly realized after I’d pinned the pattern to the fabric that I was a little short so I ended up cutting it to the Medium line.

I had all my pieces cut-only 4 in all-so I went to step 1. “Gather the front and back between the dots.” Gather? As in collect my front and back?? Wait what? Speed dial 4 to mom…. She laughed and explained that gather was a stitch and told me how to do it. OH!!! GATHER! Ok…onto step 2. Sew on the single fold bias tape. Put right sides together…..fold over… base…WHAT? Right as in right and left? Right sides as in inside out? UG…..Call mom again.

Finally realize they mean “the correct” side of the fabric AND the biased Tape (which I had no idea what it was until the really old lady in Joann’s showed me.-FYI it is not tape as in the sticky stuff nor is it shelved by the adhesives). So back to the story-I figured it out and got my arm holes all pretty and biased taped out. Next step the Yoke (no not an egg) I had cut my pieces and started reading the direction “Attach self adhesive interfacing” uh? Inter who? I didn’t buy that-it wasn’t on the required list….grrrr. Mom said that it makes it stiff , but I can do without it. I asked “can I use Wax paper?” NO! I start thinking and recall buying something at some time in my life some iron on fabric….so I pull out my fabric box and Voila! I have adhesive interfacing! Note: when ironing on interfacing make sure you don’t iron it to your ironing board…whoops.

Moving on, I manage my way through the front and back yoke and somehow attach it to the body of the romper. It’s starting to look very cute and I run into the living room multiple times to show Adam my progress. The next portion is the legs. Again it calls for the bias tape-only this time 1”. Now I know that a piece of ¾” elastic is going to have to be fed through this whole and I quickly realized that my 3/8” seam allowance will not work since 3/8” < ¾ ; yes I was good at math.

I make an executive decision to make the seam bigger and I'm glad I did. I start to try and feed the elastic through the small opening. Ok-I’ve got like 15” of fabric in which I need to feel 6” of elastic. After about 10 min of getting nowhere Adam says “you know how to feed something through don’t you?” Enlighten me… He instructs me to put a safety-pin on the elastic and just pull it though. Um ok. But I find a safety pin and sure as shit it goes right through! “Did your mom teach you that” I ask. “Yes, she taught me how to sew and I made myself a jogging suite and that’s how I got my string through for the hood”. My husband made his own jogging suite! I learn something new about him every day.

After the elastic is through I'm supposed to sew it the holes closed catching the elastic. Silly me though I sew the end together-making it impossible to change a diaper w/o striping the child. So I curse, pull out my seam ripper and start over. The next part was adding the snaps-I didn’t buy snaps. 1. They were too expensive & 2. They scared me. So I bought Velcro.

Velcro does not curve well-I cut notches and tried my best to sew it on like I should have the snaps. In the end it works, looks fine, but I'm sure if Kylie isn’t wearing a diaper when she grows into this she’s going to be unhappy with the bulky area poking her in the crotch.

So I got all the way through the pattern directions and realize not once did it tell me to add the buttons or cut the button hole. I also realized that there were markings on the pattern that show you where they go-but I didn’t not mark them, so I eye balled it. Luckily buttons are something I’ve done before. However my sewing machine doesn’t have a button setting like my mom’s does. After thinking about how to do it for a minute I decide on a stitch and in the words of Tim Gunn “Make it work!”

With my finished garment, cute as a button, I run into the guest room for my model and try it on him. I am over the moon with the results and Adam is proud of the results informing me that I can make all of our clothes now. HA! But we start discussing the next project and look through all my fabric.

I found this silky purple fabric and Adam stated: You must make her an ECU outfit!  Both Nick & Alyssa went to ECU and their colors are Purple and Gold (my H.S. Colors).  So I began my little ECU dress deciding on size small so it would fit in time for football season.
The fabric was a nightmare.  So slippery, even to cut.  But I made it through and although the ruffle is a bit uneven, it's still pretty cute.  Maybe it's just because it's tiny.  I also made some bloomers to go along with and put yellow lace on the back side.  I always loved my bloomers with the lace-I would walk around and show everyone!  Oh and I wore them backward so Icould see the lace too! ha ha  I sure they don't allow little girls to do that in North Carolina.

And here are a couple more pieces! I think her wardrobe is complete...for now :)

(Elf Bear makes a really good model-but I wasn't about to put him in a dress!)

I'm really excited to keep sewing and I'm happy I’ve found a new hobby that is handy (as Adam said). I'm becoming more and more the little wife I knew I could.