Mermaid Dolly

Has anyone else noticed that there are only 20 days until Christmas?!?!

Last year I was super good about making as many gifts as I could. I also blogged a Christmas post every day leading up to Christmas. It was great! I posted most of the tutorials for the gifts that I made last year before Christmas day. This meant that the pictures of the gifts I was giving were on the blog before they were unwrapped by the people they were made for. I kind of figured that most of my family wouldn't read my blog and they would still be surprised. Turns out they do read it, and I ruined Christmas. Okay, maybe not ruined, but I learned my lesson. I won't be doing the same thing this year. I will, however, be posting some great Christmas tips so make sure you are following (Bloglovin', Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and by email!) so you don't miss anything!

I am really behind on my gift making this year. Really, really behind! I have made one gift. Out of 26. Yup. 26. I will have to average more than one gift a day to get these done on time for the big 25th. SCREAM!!! 

Oh well, it is what it is. My family is wonderful and they will all understand. Right, family? You won't be mad? Please don't disown me for not having your gifts finished in time to put them under the tree.

Because I don't want to spoil any surprises, today I am going to share a little dolly that I made for the Hubby's cousin's daughter. We saw them for Thanksgiving and that's when we gave it to her so she has seen it and I am not ruining Christmas by posting this. She is about 18 months old so I knew a little dolly would be just perfect! 

I've been so into mermaids recently. Who isn't into mermaids?

This is the cutest little mermaid dolly (thank you Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang!) I made this little treasure in about an hour and a half. Love it! 

I love making my own patterns, but I also love to find great patterns and tutorials that someone else has already figured out. I saw this little mermaid on someone else's blog and fell in love with its sweet style and petite size. Its perfect for little hands to love. It also makes a great stocking stuffer, in fact I am planning on making one to put in A's stocking (that is if I have time.) 

I would totally recommend this book. Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang (check out her blog, too!) is full of great patterns for really sweet little toys. I am so glad I got the book. Her patterns are really easy to follow and the dolls are so cute! I'm thinking about working through the book and making every doll, a la Julie and Julia. But not until after the holidays!

What are you working on this holiday season? Are you like me, and have bitten of a little more than you can chew? Are you going to finish in time to open on Christmas morning? 

Good luck!

XOXO,

Coco

Little Boys Bow Tie - Tutorial Review

I'm kind of obsessed with bow ties, especially on baby boys and toddlers. I made one for my son to wear to a family wedding last summer. I also made a few for a show I designed and I made one for a friend. 

This tutorial makes a bow tie that will be the right size for pretty much any age (I've made one for a 6 month old and one for a 16 year old) and if you want a hair bow, just skip making the neckband and add a barrette.

I have used this tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home every time I have made a bow tie  (also modified it to make an over-sized hair bow). The tutorial is really well done. Its really easy to follow and there are pictures for almost every step. 

The only thing I did differently, was use snaps instead of Velcro on the neckband. I made the neckband a little longer than my son's neck measurement so that I could add some extra snaps and make the strap adjustable. I have also made this bow tie with and without the batting/felt, I don't think it makes a huge difference if you don't have it for the added fluffy-ness. Although, the batting inside makes for a great drool catcher, no need for a bib!

Its always hard to find cute projects to make for little boys, but this one is perfect! It goes together pretty quickly (if you don't have a little person distracting you), and has turned out perfectly every time I have made one. I absolutely recommend  using this tutorial to anyone looking to sew up something for a sweet little boy. 

Camera Strap

Tessa, from Tessacotton, is a pretty awesome chick! We went to college together down in Mississippi, and I loved her then and love her now! She is one of those ridiculously talented and creative people. 

A little while ago Tessa asked me to make her a strap for her new DSLR camera. Aside from being kind of jealous, (I would love a DSLR!) I was really flattered that she asked me to make something for her. 

Finished Camera Straps

When we started talking about fabrics, she said she wanted "Something along the lines of too many colors to clash with anything..." HAHA! How awesome is that? So we looked for something that wouldn't clash with whatever she was wearing to her shoots. We finally found this great Spoonflower print. Check out my post about the fabric.

I wanted to make a real camera strap. Not just a cover for her existing strap. There are a lot of tutorials for covers, but I only found one tutorial for an actual camera strap. I would like to be very clear here, this is not my tutorial. Someone has done the hard work and I just used their tutorial. I believe that if someone has already invented the wheel, why try to reinvent? *I did not charge Tessa for this strap, so I am not stealing this woman's hard work for profit*

I did a lot of looking for a good tutorial and found a great one on ikat bag, How to Make A Camera Strap. It really is a good tutorial. She had provided a simple pattern and info on where to find the materials. I particularly like this tutorial because it produces a very stable strap, nothing flimsy here. It also has adjustable sliding bars, so you can make your strap exactly the length you want.

The only thing missing from this tutorial is a little pocket for a camera lens cap. I wanted to add a little pocket or something to keep the lens cap in so that it would be easy to store away and get to when needed. Tessa is often shooting outdoors, and I didn't want her lens cap to be lost in the grass. So, I made up a pattern. I will include that tutorial/pattern in a future post.

I also added a few inches to the original tutorial. I made one at the length that is suggested in the tutorial (roughly, 20"), and I made one that was the same length (roughly, 27") as the strap that came with Tessa's camera. After I shipped the strap to Tessa, she said the length was perfect. I think since the strap is adjustable anyway, it wouldn't be a big deal at either length.

I made two because I had plenty of materials.

I am planning on doing a GIVE-A-WAY!

Little Girl's Reversible Skirt (really quick and easy tutorial)

I really, really love my son and I love my nephew, but I LOVE having a niece! I love having someone to make little pink things for. She likes dolls and to play dress-up, she is a girl after my own heart. I think she would wear her princess dresses to church if her parents would let her. 

For Christmas (and birthdays  I try to give my niece things other than toys (kids -including mine- have waaaaaay too many toys.) While she is young, I want to give her little sweet things, like clothes and other treasures that she can keep forever and give to her kids one day. My mom made me and my sister so many cute clothes that I can't wait to put on my daughters (if I have any) one day. 

This year, I made my niece this darling little reversible skirt using the tutorial from Fashioned by Meg. It was really simple to put together. It only took me about an hour. The tutorial was very easy to understand straight forward. I love the way it turned out!

Thomas the Tank Engine Play Mat - DIY Sewing Tutorial

My nephew is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. He is almost two years old and he can't get enough of that blue "Choo choo!" He has shirts, and movies, and toys. For Christmas I really wanted to make him something that he would love. I took the idea of those travel Match Box Car road play mats and tweaked it to make a train mat.

Its a pretty simple idea. Just two pieces of fabric sewn together with a map on one side. I painted the train tracks and did simple felt appliques for the lake, houses and mountain. The great thing about felt is that you can just cut it and stitch/glue it in place. There are no raw edges so there is a lot less work. If you don't want to sew felt, just paint on whatever landmarks you want on your map.

That's the cool thing about this project, you can make the map look like whatever you want it to look like. If you want lakes and rivers, just put them on there! If you want a whole village, just cut out some village shapes (squares and triangles for houses are so simple) and glue them on the map. You could even have train tracks going from your home to "Grandma's," just paint labels under the houses. Its so easy to make this a totally custom play mat!

What You Will Need:

• mat background fabric (I used green to look like grass) cut a 21" x 21" square
• mat border fabric (I used blue clouds) cut four strips of 2" x 21"
• mat back fabric (I used Thomas the Tank Engine fabric) cut a 23.5" x 23.5" square
• snap fabric (I used the same as the border fabric) cut a 3.5" x 4" rectangle
• small bits of felt 
• fabric paint
• embroidery floss
• one button (optional)
• one square of Velcro (both male and female sides) or a snap set
• the usual stuff (sewing machine, matching fabric, scissors, ruler etc...)

Note: Use a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

Plan out what you want your map to look like. I did a very simple sketch so I knew what I was working towards. Once you have a plan you can get started with the map details. Cut out shapes such as squares and triangles for houses, an organic triangle for a mountain, and a blob shape for a lake. Either glue or stitch these landmark details in place. Add whatever shading or detailing you want. Now, paint on the train tracks. The tracks should be 1.5" wide. I used a small piece of paper that was 1.5" wide so I could make sure the width was even. Neither the landmarks nor the tracks need to be perfect. Let your paint and glue dry completely (overnight is best) before moving on.

 

Sew on the borders. First sew on the top and bottom borders, line the edge of the border fabric up with the edge of the map fabric, right sides together. Press the borders open (see the first picture). Then sew on the two side borders using the same method, these will be longer than the top and bottom borders because they will over lap the top and bottom borders. Press these open.

Fold the snap tab fabric in half length wise, right sides together. Stitch up the raw edges and one end, leaving one end open. Trim the seams to about 1/8". Turn the tab right side out, poke out the corners with a dull pencil or corner turning tool and press.

Stitch the male side of the Velcro square in place at the finished end of the tab. (If you are using a snap this is where you would attach the female side of the snap in stead of the Velcro.)

Stitch a button on the opposite side of the tab from the Velcro. This button is just for show and won't be functional, so don't worry about it being very tight.

Layer the back fabric and the map right sides together. From the bottom left side (where I have my lake) of the map, measure 6" in and lay your Velcro tab with the button facing up (like in the picture). Pin this in place in between the two layers of fabric. Stitch around the whole map through the map border fabric and the back fabric making sure to back stitch. Leave a hole about 4" for turning.


Trim the corners Turn the whole thing right sides out, pushing out the corners with a dull pencil or a corner turner. Turn the raw edges you left for turning inside, press. Press around the whole map. Top stitch, as close to the edge of the fabric as possible, around the whole map (making sure to catch the raw edges that were left for turning). Stitch the other Velcro square to the back of the mat 6" from the top left corner.

That's it! It such a cute gift for a little boy who loves trains.

Gift Card Envelope - DIY Tutorial

My mom always says that gift cards are impersonal. I disagree. I love gift cards. I love how easy it is to give them and I love getting them and spending them. Its like guilt-free shopping. When we got married we got so many gift cards and it was awesome! We were able to get so much stuff that we needed, even stuff that wasn't on our registry.

The only thing I don't like about gift cards is that they are impossible to wrap and the little envelopes they come in are ugly. There are some cute cards and little tins you can get to put your gift cards in, but who wants to pay extra for that?

So, my solution is to make my own little envelope! It only takes a little scrap of fabric and about 30 minutes to make.

What you will need:

• One piece of fabric (quilting cotton works really well) - 13" x 3.5"
• The usual stuff (a sewing machine, matching thread, scissors, an iron, etc...)

Fold the fabric in half length wise, right-sides together. Stitch around the three raw edges using the edge of the foot lined up with the edge of the fabric as a seam allowance, back-tacking and leaving a hole for turning. 

Cut the corners, being careful not to cut the threads.

Pull the fabric though the hole so that its right sides out. Poke out the corners with a corner-turner (or a dull pencil).

Fold the raw edges from the turning hole to the inside. Press all the way around, making sure that the seams are pushed all the way to the edge.

Stitch along the edge of the envelope to close up the hole that was left for turning. I did two lines of stitching, one using the edge of foot, edge of fabric and one as close to the edge of the fabric as I could get. If you want you can just stitch as close to the edge of the fabric as you can.

 

Fold up one half of the envelope 2 and 7/8" to form a pocket. Press and pin.

Stitch around three edges as close to the edge of the fabric as you can. Make sure to back-tack. 

Slip in a gift card and you're DONE!

30 Last Minute DIY Christmas Gifts

I'm an extreme procrastinator. We're talking final paper done 5 mins before class, Halloween done 30 mins before trick-or-treating, start making dinner at 6:50 with the goal of eating at 7, kind of procrastinator. I didn't even buy a baby gate until my son learned how to scale the staircase. Its bad. I am trying to be better.

Most of the time I can get away with being so last-minute. But today it bit me in the butt. My sewing machine broke. I was planning on making all of our Christmas gifts and now I am going to have to use my mom's machine. It sets me back at least a day in my gift making.

I am thinking of making a few changes to my gift making list. Maybe not so much sewing. Maybe more bulk gifts that can be cranked out quickly. 

If you are also a procrastinator when it comes to the gift- making I have just the list for you! Here is my list of Last Minute Christmas Craft Gifts.

Crafts to do with Kids

1. Foot Tall Christmas Tree
2. Helping Hands Oven Mitts
3. Potato Stamp Wrapping Paper
4. Scrapbooking Paper Strips Christmas Tree
5. Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees

Ornaments

1. Button Christmas Tree Ornament
2. Snowmen Handprint Ornament
3. Vintage Felt Ornaments
4. Melted Snowman Ornaments
5. Fragrant Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Gifts for the Outdoorsy Type 

1. Bird Seed Ornaments
2. Dryer Lint Fire Starters
3. Bird House
4. Marshmallow Shooters
5. Seed Bombs

Cooking and Baking Gifts

1. Hot Chocolate on a Stick
2. Reindeer Noses 
3. Honey Oat Bread and Honey Butter
4. Amish Friendship Bread with Starter
5. Gourmet Foodie Basket

Gifts in a Jar

1. Cookies for Santa
2. Pie in a Jar
3. Brown Sugar Body Scrub
4. Everything in a Jar
5. S'moores in a Jar

Gifts for the Fashionista

1. Peter Pan Collar Necklace
2. Cowl Scarf
3. T-shirt Infinity Scarf
4. Painted Wooden Bangles
5. Necktie Wristlet

Martha Washington - Colonial Costume

My grandmother is a very proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Remember Emily (the mother/grandmother) from Gilmore Girls? She was a high society DARer, they had high teas and judged everyone. Major gossiping and a lot of keeping up with the Joneses. My grandmother, Mimi, is just an endearingly eccentric member of a society committed to doing good in the community, spreading American pride, and restoring historic properties. From what I have experienced with her DAR chapter, its a really lovely group of (mostly) older ladies who just love this country and its exciting history.

While I was in college my Mimi asked me to make her a colonial costume for her to wear to her DAR events. They often have teas and social events where it is appropriate to dress up as your Revolutionary War ancestors. I didn't have time to work on it durring college and had totally forgotten about it until this summer when she asked me to tackel the project again. This time I was interested.

It took me a few weeks worth of nap time sewing blitzes, but it finally done. Just in time too! Mimi's DAR Christmas party is this week. I am so excited for her to see it and be able to wear it to her Christmas party.

Mimi said she didn't really care if it wasn't historically accurate (meaning I could use a zipper) so I used the Simplicity pattern # 2354. I had to make some adjustments and alterations. I added lace to the cuffs. The sleeves were ridiculously long, so I added some ruching to them. I didn't do the ribbom detail on the stomacher because I just didn't like it. I had to tea dye the bodice fabric because it was much to bright white. The pattern was pretty simple to put together and if I didn't have a little one tugging at me all the time it would have been done much more quickly. I think it turned out really nicely, check it out and let me know what you think!

Paintbrush Roll-Up (tutorial) - DIY Easy Sewing Project

My sister, Annie, is way cooler than me. She is four years younger and ever since she was able to be awesome she was as awesome as awesome is. I mean she had three Halloween costumes this year: Frida Kahlo, Max from Where the Wild Things Are, and Davis Bowie. I mean if thats not awesome, I don't know what is!

 

Annie is an amazing artist. She is an art major and one of her favorite mediums is painting. I have been meaning to make her some art supplies totes and cases. I want to make her a pencil case, a bag, a sketch book cover, a colored pencil roll-up, and so many other things! At the rate I'm going she will be graduated and on to living her awesome life before I get any of it made.

For Christmas I made her this awesome Paintbrush Roll-Up. Its really easy, a perfect beginning sewing project. It doesn't take a lot of fabric and can be put together in an afternoon.

Confession: Every once in a while (read: more often than I would like to admit), when I make up my own patterns, I have moments of sheer stupidity. With this project it was that I totally forgot to cut two pieces for the main body of the roll-up. It was a moment of "OMG! Corey, what were you thinking?" Thankfully, this was not a big oops, easy to fix, just cut one more piece of fabric. The only fabric I had that matched the other fabrics was a scrap from another project, so I stitched up the scrap and went with it. The only problem I had with this scrappy fabric was that it had a slight stretch. I would not suggest using anything with stretch.

Paintbrush Roll-Up
What You Will Need:

• two pieces of fabric cut to 22" x 19"
• one piece of fabric cut to 22" x 2.5"
• two pieces of fabric cut to 18" x 2.5"

Fold each 18" x 2.5" (the long skinny pieces) in half right sides together. Stitch up the long sides using a 1/4" seam allowance. Hook a safety pin in one end of one of the tubes, feed the safety pin back through the tube until it comes out the other end. Keep pulling the tube thought itself so that its all right-side-out.

Fold one end of the tubes inside and stitch it up. 

Pin the 22" x 2.5" piece along the right 22" side of the main piece, right sides together. It should be 1" from the edge. Stitch along the right side edge of the 22" x 2.5" piece. Fold and press the 22" x 2.5" over so that the right side of the fabric is on the right side.

Layer the two large pieces of fabric on top of each other with right sides together. Pin the tie strips, with the unfinished ends stitching sticking out and the strips on the inside of the sandwich. Make sure you leave a hole for turning, I make this with thee pins as I did in the picture. Using a 1/2" seal allowance stitch around the outside edge of the sandwich, leaving that hole for turning. Trim the corners. 

Pull the sandwich through itself so its right sides out. Press. Fold the raw edge that was left for turning to the inside and pin. Fold up the bottom (the 18") edge 5", pin in place. This is what will create the pocket for the paintbrushes. Top stitch around the edge of the whole roll-up, using the edge of the presser foot lined up with the edge of the fabric as a seam allowance.

Using chalk or a washable fabric marker marker the stitch lines for the pockets. These lines should run the full length of the roll-up. The lines can be the same width or various. I made the pockets varied from 3/4" to 2" wide. Stitch along these lines from top to bottom. Make sure you don't catch the ties in the process. Brush off the chalk or use a damp cloth to gently rub it off. 

Add paintbrushes (or pens, pencils and markers) and fold over the top edge (should be about 4").  Roll up the case and tie  it off. There you have it! Good to go to art class!

I just LOVE the way this turned out! I can't wait to give it to my sister. She will have many more paintbrushes than I do to fill it with. I am sure she will love this as much as I do. Yay for easy sewing projects that turn out so wonderfully!

Here are some more photos to show how great this project is.

 

P.S. This is perfect for pencils, colored pencils, markers, a highlighter collection, pens, crochet hooks, short knitting needles, etc...