Oh Baby!

Speaking of babies, making baby bibs is where its at! They are fun to design and fairly easy to put together. On previous bibs I have done I was just straight stitching right along the outer edge to finish it up but I have never been totally happy with the results. That being said I found a more suitable solution to this, going all along the perimeter with the zig-zag stitch, covering up the edge of the fabric makes for a very sturdy (maybe too sturdy,) finished look. I also used this technique on the strip for a more uniform look.

I used 3 different fabrics for this project and the way I cut out the fabric gives me enough for 2 bibs (a set.) The second, on hold for the moment while I work on pillow covers, will have the pink fabric on top and the rose fabric on bottom, same stripes in the middle, but more on that later! This bib has a Velcro closure, any moms out there, is that preferable to snap closure?

I also tried out a little applique on this bib and sealed it off with a blanket stitch. Not too shabby! Somehow the roses ended up perfectly placed, something I always forget to plan for :).

Thinking about selling these $10 for 2? Any thoughts?

Attempted the Whole "Quilting" Thing......

After some news from my boyfriend's sister I decided that I should get on the quilting train and see about making a baby quilt. I'm quite happy with the results and was able to get it done in one day. First attempts aren't usually the best and there are some things I need to work on like getting the squares to line up just perfectly.

Thanks again to Boone Walmart/Michaels for such a lovely fabric selection, not! Maybe I need to get into ordering fabric online. Thankfully babies are associated with bright colors and simple patterns because that's most of what they have. :/

I decided to go with anchoring the quilt with little bows, still some work to be done there.
I left a large section in the middle because I'm planning on learning to embroider at some point, or possibly applique there? Either way, there is some planning and research to do there.

I would really love some tips and advice from anyone out there who is willing to share!

Sew4Home "Strawberry Fields" pillow cover.

I was surfing around on the internet last night looking for a good sewing blog to follow when I stumbled upon sew4home.com. It seems really well maintained, with a variety of project ideas, tutorials, and sewing resources. I found lots of projects to put on my to-do list but couldn't resist the Strawberry Fields pillow cover! The tutorial was great and easy to follow, it was actually a very easy pillow cover to make considering how complicated it looks!

Here is the finished product:

My pillow was about 17.5" x 17.5" I was saving this pretty green (looking yellow in every picture for some reason,) fabric that I got from Walmart for something to make for myself, and this seemed perfect :). Honestly I didn't pay attention to what the tutorial said about the back of the pillow, I was really just following it to get the front done, (2 brown front pieces 5" x 17.5" and one green piece 9" x 17.5")

I went ahead and made the back of the pillow envelope style so that I could take it on and off for washing. I believe I had two back panels each 11" x 17.5" to ensure I would have a good amount of overlap, since my first ever envelope pillow cover barely met in the back and didn't look so great.

The only thing I would really consider changing about this design is that the brown lattice strips are only attached at the very edges which can make it kind of awkward to be anything but gentile with the pillow. I think it would be super cute with some matching buttons at each intersection or something to that effect, to keep the strips flat and taut against the pillow, but of course there is no where around here that sells that sort of thing. I suppose its something I could add later when I come across what I need.

I am planning on redoing the cover for the other pillow this evening in the same 2 fabrics but I might try a different look to contrast this one.