The Memory Book : summer

Finish It Beautifully -No Lining Required

db1921 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:15:00 GMT

I am in the mood for spring to get here. Really, it has been a mild winter so I shouldn't be so anxious but I am. So, what to do but start on an easy springtime project. My daughter loved the pillowcase dresses that the girls had last year. I decided that would be a nice project for this weekend and I could use up some leftover fabrics too. But last year's dresses were lined. Surely there is an easier way to finish off those seams. Well, I have been using French seams on some of my little snack bags and pillowcases so I decided to try them out in finishing the pillowcase dress. It worked and saved quite a bit of time as well. Here is the littlest one's dress:

First I'll cover creating a French seam in case anyone needs to know how to do these great little seams.

What you need to practice this:

Two rectangle of scrap fabric the same size.

Sewing Thread

Iron

What you do:

Place the two rectangles with the wrong sides together.

Sew a 1/4" seam down one side.

Open the fabric and press the seam open.

Fold the fabric with the right sides together and press the seam again.

Sew a 1/2" seam enclosing the raw edges of the first seam

The outside of the sewn fabric seam should look like this:

The inside of the sewn fabric seam should look like this:

So easy to do, so professional looking.

Now for the pillowcase dress. I didn't use a pattern - just an old dress in the size I wanted to make so I could get the right length and armhole size. But if you want one I am sure there are a number to chose from out there if you google it.

What you need (for a 24 month size)

1/2 yard cotton fabric (44" wide)Cut in half (18"X22" each piece)

5" strip of fabric for the border (44" wide) Cut in half (5" x 22" each piece)

2 yards 5/8" ribbon cut in half

Sewing Thread

Embroidery design if desired (you can download my appliqué flower here)

Medium weight tear away stabilizer

Embroidery thread

Scraps of fabric for the appliqué

Heat N Bond lite for the appliqué

Lapel Stick for the appliqué

Little trimmer scissors

Iron

What you do based on what I did:

1. Layer the two fabric pieces wrong sides together. Fold in half again so it is 18" X11". From the top edge measure down 2" and place the shoulder of the dress you are using for a pattern( on the raw edge side). Mark the armholes and cut them out.

2. Fold the edge of the armhole in 1/4" (toward the wrong side) and press. Fold in another 1/4" and press. Sew close to the open edge. ( Note: you might want to start at the top and pull a little as you iron around the curve to make it fit.) Repeat for the other 3 armhole sections.

3. Fold the top edge of the neckline down 1/2" (toward the wrong side) and press. Fold down another 1 1/2" and press. Sew along the open pressed edge to create a casing for the ribbon. Repeat for the other dress piece.

4. Embroider the appliqué design on the border. Decide where the design will go. (Using a template that you can print from Catalog Xpress or Alphabet Xpress is helpful.) Hoop the tear away stabilizer. Center the fabric and template in the hoop using the lapel stick to adhere the edges of the fabric well. Embroider the design. (For instructions on embroidering appliqué designs go to this blog.) Remove the excess stabilizer.

5. Here is where you begin to use your French seam. Place the border top and dress bottom wrong sides together. Sew a 1/4" seam. Press the seam open. Turn the fabric right sides together and press the seam again. Now sew a 1/2" seam to enclose the first one. Press the French seam down towards the border. Repeat for the other side of the dress.

6. Place the dress pieces wrong sides together matching up the border seam. Sew from the bottom of the armhole to the bottom edge of the dress using a 1/4" seam. Press the seam open. Turn the dress so the right sides are together and press the seam again. Now sew from under the armhole to the bottom edge using a 1/2" seam to enclose the first one. Repeat for the other side of the dress.

7. Turn up the bottom edge and hem as desired.

8. Run the ribbon through the casings at the top and you have one pillowcase dress -ready for spring - no lining required.

Next time on one this small I think I will try folding the fabric so that I have only one seam up the back since it uses the 44" width of the fabric. And later today I think I'll make a shorter one as a top to go with a long sleeve T and leggings.

Here are a few more quick projects in case you missed them:

Embroidered Baby Ts for cool summer fun

Valentine Candy Wraps

Infant Easter Goodies

Quick wristlet Bag

Whether you are iching to start your spring projects or still working on the fall and winter ones have a good time with your craft.

Take care,

Keeping It simple - Bandanas - Perfect for Summer and No Need to Tie

db1921 — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT

Our girls have longer hair but it is so fine. Pony tails and pig tails seem to last about 20 minutes before the hair starts creeping out and looks messy. We saw the teens at the park wearing bandanas to keep their hair back and the oldest commented that she thought they were cute. So, what to do but give them a try. They worked so well we have now made them to co-ordinate with many of their summer outfits.

What you need:

14" square of cotton fabric (Our two granddaughters are 3 years old and a very small 6 year old. If you want to make them for older children try a 16"-18" square.)

3 1/2" piece of 1/2' wide elastic

embroidery design of your choice

embroidery thread

stabilizer

sewing thread

What you do:

1. Cut the fabric square in half on the diagonal (you can make two from each 14" square).

2. With wrong sides together fold and press one short side in 1/4". Fold in and press in 1/4" again enclosing raw edge. Sew close to the inner edge. Repeat for the other short side.

3. Hoop and embroider the design as desired. I used a printed template pinned in place. Hooped tear away stabilizer and then used my Lapel Stick to hold the bandana in place on the stabilizer.

I love my Lapel Stick for sticking cotton on top of the hoop. I do lots of applique and little items that cannot be hooped. It works great for me.

4. Clip the extended corners.

5. With wrong sides together fold and press long side in 1/2". Fold and press the corners in 1". Fold and press the long side in 1/2" again enclosing the raw edges.

Note: At this point you might want to wrap it around the child's head to see if you will need to make any adjustments to the elastic insertion.

6. Insert about 1/2" of the elastic end into one end of the fold and sew it down.

7. Sew along the inner edge of the long side stopping about 3/4" from the end. Insert the other end of the elastic into the fold. Finish sewing the seam.

6. Sew along the end where elastic was inserted.

My eldest granddaughter is horse crazy so we used a little horse head from SWN Wild Horses collection on this one. Any small design will work so you can make each one unique and special. Emma wore one last week to a church gathering and now all the girls in my Sunday school class want one.

Here are a few other projects that might make quick and easy summer projects:

Hair Bows

A quick wristlet

Travel Strap and handle covers

Baby T's

Going Green Sunday Bag

Have fun with all your summer projects.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Big Kid Hooded Towels

db1921 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:22:00 GMT

The girls are growing fast. They love their baby towels with the hoods but are outgrowing them now. When they complained about being cold after their bath the other night mom and I decided to make them larger "big girl" hooded towels for Christmas. Then we remembered that Noah had a birthday coming and mom decided she wanted to make one for him. With it too hot to go out we started these the very next day. Here is the first one for Noah.

These are so easy to make and we think the kids will love them.

What you need:

1 bath towel

1 hand towel

embroidery design or lettering of yur choice

(We used this monkey applique without any fabric from Sew Many Designs.)

medium to heavy tear away stabilizer

temporary adhesive

wash away stabilizer

embroidery thread

sewing thread

Here is what you do:

Wash and dry your towels before beginning .

1. Cut the hand towel in half widthwise.

2. Center the raw edge of the hand towel with the center of the long side of the towel. Pin slightly below the edge like this.

3. Flip the hand towel up. Sew a seam along the edge so the raw edge is enclosed.

4. With right sides together fold towel in half and sew the top edges of the hand towel together forming the hood. Note: If the finished edges are too thick for your machine you can cut it off, zig-zag the edges and then sew together.

5. Decide where you want your embroidery and mark the spot with a printed design template or other method of choice.

6. Hoop the tear away stabilizer. Spray around the inside edges with temporary adhesive. Center the design area on your towel and press down lightly. Carefully lift all to the machine area and secure the hoop on the machine. Make sure your towel cannot slide underneath and get caught in the embroidery but don't let it hang down if it is heavy.

7. Place the wash away stabilizer on top of the hooped area of the towel. (you can secure with a little temporary adhesive on the corners if you like.

8. Embroider the design. Remove the tear away stabilizer carefully. Remove most of the wash away stabilizer. Wash the towel or spritz to remove the rest.

Have fun making towels for the kids. These make great pool towels too if you walk to the pool like we do.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - 4 Stars for July the 4th

db1921 — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:58:00 GMT

It all started with four little words. "I can make that." I only said it once. Now every time we see something that our five year old likes she asks, "Can we make that?" Sometimes I have to laugh because she currently thinks that we can make just about anything! Her mother said no to her request for one of those very hairy looking shag rugs. "Then I will ask Meesy to make me one." she replied. This week's list of ideas began when she wanted to decorate the front yard with red, white and Blue for Independence Day and the little stakes she saw at the grocery store were $3.00 each. We came back to the house and embroidered sparkly stars with glittered felt - lots of them. The next day a few went into the garden stakes to decorate the front step before she got tired of the project. Below are some quick ideas for the leftover stars.

Garden stakes

1. Simply hoop the glittered felt (We purchased at our local craft store 3 sheets for a dollar) and sew all of the appliqué star thread colors using the same color.

2. Cut around the outside of the stars.

3. We glued the medium sized stars back to back with a narrow dowel rod inside.

4. Tie it with some curled ribbon and you are ready to decorate.

Download all four star sizes here.

Since I had lots of stars left over here are nine more quick ideas.

1. Napkin rings by gluing to looped ribbon

2. Festive can cozies (Those free ones you get with ads on them work great.)

3. Cupcake toppers by gluing the small ones to toothpicks.

4, 5, 6. Fancy flip flops by hot gluing ribbon and a star on (Emma loves hers and cannot wait to wear them.)

Headbands and barrettes by hot gluing with ribbon onto a metal snap clip or plastic headband.

7. Pencil toppers (I used most of the little ones for these and will give them to the kids in my class on the 4th.)

8. A tin cover. You can see how to make more of these here.

9. A scrapbook page. (Yes, the pictures are from 2009. I really am that far behind!) Go here to see more on how to make these using embroidery.

And since these are real appliqué designs you could make:

- placemats

- napkins

- door quilt

- aprons

- t-shirts

and a whole host of other things.

On another note of summer, Annthegran has the pleasure of featuring these cool backpack towel sets by artist Ditteke Ederveen. Her company, Dpoppen, Inc., is dedicated to creating colorful accessories for girls of all ages.

To see these summer sets click here. What a unique summer gift.

Have fun with the stars and have a great holiday.

Take care,

PS: Here's a cool recipe for Independence Day. It is one of my favorite summer desserts.

Lemon Whip

2 boxes Jello brand lemon gelatin (3 oz. each)

2 cups boiling water

1 package Philadelphia brand cream cheese (8 oz.), softened

2 cups Sprite

1 container Cool Whip (12 oz.)

Blueberries and raspberries or strawberries

Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water. Using an electric mixer beat in the cream cheese. Stir in Sprite. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes. Using the electric mixer beat in the Cool Whip. Spoon into pretty glass dishes and chill. Top with red and blue berries and garnish with lemon or more Cool Whip. Serves 8.

Keeping It Simple - Fruity Towels & Coasters and Flourless Brownies too

db1921 — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:50:00 GMT

Hello, hello, are you still there? You didn't blow away did you? This is currently a common greeting in our circle of friends. I have replanted some of my flowers for the third time now this spring! And it is not because the deer ate them or the squirrels dug them up. Mother Nature has sent us the windiest spring that I have ever seen. Perhaps she got her M months mixed up this year. The 45 to 60 mile an hour gusts have played havoc with my gardens. I have given up on even trying to plant all the rail boxes around our deck for now. Even the herbs look windblown and unhappy. Oh well, on the bright side with the hanging baskets swinging so much the birds haven't even considered building nests in them.

I posted the cookie jar covers we made for the charity auction. I said that I would post the instructions for the coasters and tea towels in the basket shown. And I promised one reader my Flourless Brownie recipe so it is at the bottom this week even though it has absolutely no relationship to the project.

Here are some of the coasters and towels by themselves

For the coasters:

What you need for each one:

Two squares (5 1/2" each) cotton tea towel fabric (we used a leftover tea towel to make these for the auction but cotton squares would work just fine.)

One square (6") thin batting

Cut away stabilizer

embroidery designs (I used designs from Summer Picnic)

Embroidery thread

Sewing thread

What you do:

1. Hoop the stabilizer. Center one fabric square and use a little adhesive spray around the edges to secure. Embroider the design.

2. Place the batting on your work surface. Place the embroidered square face up on top of the batting. Place your other square of fabric face down on top of the embroidered square.

3. Using 1/4" seam sew around the square leaving an opening along the bottom edge for turning.

4. Trim off any extra batting and stabilizer. Trim the points off the corners. Reach between the two fabric squares and turn the square right side out. Press the opening seam in and the whole coaster if desired.

5. Topstitch 1/8" from the edge all the way around. Repeat for as many coasters as you desire.

Note: If you use cut away stabilizer you can leave it on and just trim off the edges as directed in step 4. If you use tear away be sure to remove it before sewing.

The towels were done using the gingham blanks and Alphabet Xpress. You just bring in the design of your choice, add lettering and save it back to your hard drive as a new design. Hoop the towel with some tear away stabilizer and sew the design. Yet these are so cute that Mom and I have made several sets as gifts and as you can see below for a charity auction.

Quick gifts are always fun to make and to give.

If I don't blow away I'll be back soon. Happy Spring.

Take care,

These brownies are completely flourless but no one will know I promise!

1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted dry

3 egg whites

1 egg

2 tsp instant coffee granules (optional)

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

Melt the chocolate chips until smooth. Let cool slightly. Place beans, egg whites, egg, coffee, oil and vanilla in food processor. Cover and process until smooth. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Add to bean mixture and process until combined. Gradually add melted chocolate and process until smooth. Pour into a 9" square pan or 7' x 11" rectangle brownie pan sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted near center comes out with moist crumbs. (Do not over-bake.) Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Add nuts before you bake or frost after cool. Or just leave as is and serve with ice cream. Yum!