Reversible Apron Tutorial.

So I had to make two special little girls Aprons to help me bake in the kitchen. They are both pretty baking obsessed so I figured they'd enjoy their own little Apron and Oven Mitt.
I liked two different Tutorials Mini Me Apron Set and Childs Apron, but ultimately took pieces from both, combined them, and made my own. ;)
The Mini Me Apron Set tutorial is 100% free. No fee at all but a lot of work due to the bias tape...
The Childs Apron is not free... You have to pay some sort of membership fee to download the pattern but if you can make your own pattern the Tutorial aspect of the page is just fine. It's a VERY simple pattern/apron.
And below is MY version ;)
I used the Mini Me Apron Set pattern to start off with.

 What you need
1/2 yard of Side A
1/2 yard of side B
2 yards of ribbon
1/4 yard of towel material
Other basic sewing accessories

Side A

Side B

Pockets A and B

 Place one A and one B right sides together and sew together leaving an 1.5'' opening at the top of the two pieces. Use a 1/4'' seam allowance at the top but for the curve you can switch to 1/8''.

Turn the pieces right side out and iron the opening to fold inward like the picture above.

Sew to top closed. Then pin one pocket with reserve side out. You'll see in the picture above I put the Pocket B side up and the Pocket A side inwards to match and Apron A piece. Sew the pocket in place following the curve using a 1/8'' seam allowance, increase to 1/4'' if desired. Repeat on Apron B piece with Pocket A side up.

Next comes the 'ties' I heat sealed my ribbon ends to prevent fraying. I then pinned the ribbon on to the wrong side of the apron. You'll see above that I places the ribbon 1.5'' from the arm curve. 

 I used a few 'tacking stitches' about 1/8'' away from the aprons edge. I did this to all four pieces of ribbon. Two for the sides and two for the neck. The neck ribbons were place roughly 1'' from the sides.

 You then tuck everything in and pin it Sides A and B together with right sides facing in and wrong sides facing out. Sew leaving an 1/4 seam allowance. Make sure that your ribbon is straight when you sew over it. It can become crocked if not checked.

Side A finished

Side B finished

Side A finished

Side B finished 

 Cut the mittens out. Place the right sides together like the picture above and sew leaving a 1/4'' allowance.

Clip around the curved part of the mitten and the fingers. Turn the mitten right side out. Stick the towel mitten inside the outer shell. Fold the rough edges inwards twice... then iron. I only folded ONCE... As you'll see in the picture below it leaves an unsightly mess to do it my way so I suggest folding twice. Sew using an 1/4'' to 1/2'' seam allowance depending on how much you folded inwards.

Inside few of mitten.

And that's my version of a Reversible Apron Tutorial + Oven Mit. :)

Baby Doll Diapers

Wow the 20th already!? OMGosh! I can't believe it's been so long since I updated last! Oh well I've been busy on Pinterest ;) The Gossamer Goddess Pinterest.
Well today I've been busy (Kinda) working on four projects.
I made Felt Baby Doll Diapers.
I followed this tutorial to the letter! It's SUPER easy and great for sewers, or non-sewers of all ages. If you can trace, cut and glue you can do this one!
Here's some pictures of my own version of the project!

And that's it! That's what I've been up to today... Among other things ;) But they aren't ready to post up yet! :) I'll get them up sometime in the future! ;) Promise! Till then keep it crafty!

Cute Reusable Bag!

Alright so I went hunting through reusable bag tutorials for the past few days. I wanted to make a multi-purpose bag. Nothing too big, you know 'I need to pick up a few small items' kind of bag but that could double up as a small purse if needed. So it HAD to be cute and functional. It sounds easy enough to find something like that but I'm picky so it took me a few nights ;)
Finally I found this: Little Bird Book Bag. It's SUPER cute and I fell in love with it right away!
I'm going to do my own walk through of this tutorial since I changed a few minor things with my own purse that you may want to do too. I love experimenting and trying new things and found I actually preferred my way - it was easier for me. Just remember that my changes were what was best for ME and MY skill level. If you're more comfortable you should try your own way, or if you rather do it to the original than do so. Always work with within your comfort zone or else projects that should be fun can turn into nightmare like chores :(

Anyways!

Now I followed the cutting of the sweater and the sewing of it exactly as the tutorial told me to.
I then proceeded to change the bird to a flower. I also used my machine to sew on the flower... I wanted it to be secure and find my hand sewing lacks when it comes to loose knits.

I added a button from the sweaters top

This is what it looked like after the flower was sewn on

The next couple of photos are just me lining up the fabrics and then sewing them. DO NOT SKIP THE IRONING!!! I will admit I'm bad and sometimes skip the ironing on some projects... This is not one of them!

 So being super awesome I managed to be short on material ;) I had two choices. Make a short handle...

 Or sew a few pieces together and make a longer one.

 I decided I liked the longer one. I four cut 2'' by 7'' pieces in the fabric I had left. I then sewed the pieces together, I didn't worry about lining up the fabric or anything. I thought it looked cuter being a little miss matched. I then ironed down the seams (pic below)

 I then sewed the piece of fabric closed with a 1/4'' allowance. I ironed 1/2'' on both sides upwards. So the good side was showing 1/2'' against the rough side. I then turned the piece of fabric right side out making sure to keep the 1/2'' ends in place so they didn't pop back out.

 I sewed all along the sides with a 1/4'' seam allowance. I then attached it to the purse in the same fashion that the tutorial used.

Close up of the strap

And wa-la! We're done! That's what the bag looks like 100% done! I took this picture with the other strap pinned down still (silly me) I can upload some pictures of the inside of the purse later. :)

Crafty Christmas

I can't believe it's here already! I thought for sure I had a few more days of 2011... Oh well 2012 is my year to be my craftiest ever! I promise ;)

So I guess I'll do a run down of everything I made for Christmas and share inks to everything that I made... ;)

I made my little ones Rag quilts. Now for those I didn't really do much in the way of 'research' I was just told how to do it and then I proceeded to well, do it ;)

Basically I took 16 squares that were 18'' by 10'' and made them into a rectangle by doing four by four. I then added a boarder around it with two long pieces that were 72'' by 8'' - folded in half to make 72'' by 4'', and one that was 40'' by 5'' for the 'ends'. Sewed them all together, clipped them and wa-la. I had two rag quilts made with love. ;)

I'll post pictures up when I can tackle the darn things down long enough for hold still. The quilts are a big hit right now and are taken EVERYWHERE around the house.

I also made this: Turn a Wipe Container Into A Toy My youngest is in love with this. It's a lot of fun for her to toss the 'wipes' around without being scolded. It also is really easy to clean up. Which is a huge plus for me.

Admittedly I had a horrible time with this next project... Fabric Doll House. I'm not sure if I was just tired of crafting or what was going on but this project felt like it went on forever. It turned out to be pretty cute for my daughters Calico Critters but I'm making another version of the Doll House because I wasn't completely satisfied with the way it came out.

I made some more of these too: Repurpose a Sweater These were loved by all! They are just so cute and for what you pay for a sweater dress brand new are totally worth it. It is a super simple project and I encourage EVERYONE to try it!

Now for you bakers I also made up nine dozen of these wonderful cookies! Chewy Chocolate Chip This recipe is GREAT but I suggest always making more than size dozen. I have no idea why - I'm sure somewhere with better baking experience can tell you... But for some reason larger batches just turn out better. Also I suggest putting the cookie dough in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to make it easier to work with. Also check it FREQUENTLY. It's a fine line between brown and burnt. These cookies are better the next morning/day too.

Well I'm pretty sure that's everything I made for Christmas but I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere ;) Till later!