My First Sewing Project

Whoever said to start simple and move your way up doesn't know me.  I always live by go big or go home.  So, I started sewing with making my boyfriends niece a bunny stuffed animal.  I got the idea from none other than Martha Stewart, and I just tried it.

Maybe I should have rotated it before uploading...

The Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, by Martha Stewart actually comes with an interactive CD that has patterns.  Unfortunately I don't own a working printer... ok thats a lie, I haven't gone and bought more ink. To adapt I made my own patterns using crayon paper I've had since I was a kid. For the fabric I used the reminants that I bought at Joanns on Saturday. Luckily, I found a nice cotton grey fabric, a pink polyester, for the ears, then I also had picked up some pink tulle.  At this point in time I didn't know what I would use the tulle for but I did come in handy.

I made the pattern a little chubbier to give me the opportunity to fail...
miserably :)

So I created a body, cut two bodies out with the grey.  Then I made a pattern for the arms and ears.  For each cut out four.  For the ears I cut out 2 from the pink so I could make the inside of the ears look real (?).

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the pink ears...

Let it be known that I have NEVER sewed before in my life... I understand the general idea but I had to learn while I was going with this project.  I knew that the bunny would look cool if I used thread that matched the ears along the body so when it got turned inside out it had a cool stitching.  I started with the body and it took me three tires to get the tension and speed right. HAHAHA

I didn't take a picture of the other side for a reason. Bad News.

Can you see that my practice happened a lot.  Three to be exact.

Apparently I did take a picture of the other side.  Ugh, don't judge me.

I moved on to the ears and arms and flipped everything back to the front, and surprisingly the bunny started looking similar to the ones Martha made. :) I attached the ears and now it was time to stuff and hand sew the rest. Score 1 for me.

bunny

Handsewing at 3 in the morning.

I decided the rabbit needed an accessory. So I pulled out the tulle that I picked up with the other fabric and it was the perfect amount for a ballerina tutu. I put snaps so the bunny could really wear it.  Also, if she wanted to put it on a doll, it was an easy transfer. Yay!

Time for the final look -

My boyfriends niece liked it!

It was a lot of work.  A total of 5 hours.  However, it was my first time and I bet I could easily drop that number in half.  Its amazing how rewarding making something from hand is!

I hate being like a cookie cutter

I am annoyed.  I can't seem to change my background, fonts, anything!! Argh.  I keep on researching, trying, then failing.  This is hard and annoying.  I need help.  I want my blog to be inviting and fun and now its boring and lame.

Any suggestions?

The Beginning of Beginnings

So I am feeling more and more excited about this blog.  If I can actually figure out how to make it successful and "follow" worthy I'll be on top of cloud 9.  

Today I feel as though I was very productive.  It started with the library, I decided  getting a little inspiration always helps.  While there I was lucky enough to find a Bible of sorts... Martha Stewarts Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, I was feeling pumped after that.  

After such a rush I decided I needed to buy a sewing machine.  You could say I am feeling inspired.  I would be lying if I hadn't already been feeling an itch to buy a sewing machine, but seeing martha's great ideas just gave me a push. So I went to wal-mart after reading some reviews on a Brother sewing machine they had there for $80.  I was sold.  I had $20 bucks left on a Visa gift card that I used and now I can say I am a proud owner of a sewing machine.  YAY!  Here is a picture  -

Then I needed to go to Joann's Fabric for a little more inspiration.  Note to all: Saturday afternoon is not the ideal time to go to that store.  I should have known with all of the minivans that scattered the parking lot but whew, it was a bit overwhelming.  I was not productive and I got little to no inspiration.  Oh well.  I did pick up some reminants that I'm hoping I can make something cool for my boyfriends niece.  I'll post when/if it turns out.  Either way, what's the fun in only seeing perfect products right??

When I finally got home I realized my new sewing machine comes with a DVD tutorial.  Lucky Me!!  Time to learn...

First Things First

So I have been doing a lot of blog reading and I've decided I should make my own.  We'll see if anyone follows it.  I am crafty, I am on a budget, and I want to share.

I'm going to start with the fact that Fall is my favorite time of year, (to my boyfriends demise) so I jump on the chance to decorate.  So here is my first fall decoration. A halloween wreath! I got the idea from Martha Stewart I think.

I wish I took a before picture but I might have if I were only thinking about this blogging thing earlier. Imagine a ridiculously tacky wreath. It had bright red roses, little white flowers and bright green leaves. I picked up the wreath for, are you ready (?), $1.90.  It was 90% off at Michael's and I got some black metallic spray paint for $3 at Wal-Mart.  Which I've been able to use on some frames too.  

Talk about a bargain!!  Needless to say I'm super excited!