:: a happy nest ::

photo friday: a week in photos.

Happy weekend to you!

felt & tulle princess hat tutorial.

This weekend, we attended a little friend's birthday party. It was a "sprinkles & sparkles" party - a very pink, very girly, very sparkly affair! Thea and I decided that a pricess hat would make a fun gift. The hat you see above is what I came up with.

{on a side note, I am the mother of a {suprisingly} very girly-girl, and I have very reluctantly entered the sparkly, pink, flowery world of princesses and twirly skirts and all other such fancy things. since this seems to be all that my wee girl thinks about these days, I'm just going with it, trying to also emphasize the importance of independence, smarts, strength, and  a good old-fashioned mess. while it's far from my everyday, fancy is quite fun! so I'm letting my sweet one guide me on this sparkly adventure.}

Here's how to make it:

 

materials

large piece of paper to make pattern

pencil

piece of string at least 18 inches long

1/3 yard wool-blend felt

medium or heavy-weight fusible interfacing

1/4 yard of tulle or other material (for the top of the hat)

sewing machine (or you could also hand-stitch)

handsewing needle & coordinating thread

felt scraps, buttons, trim, etc. for embellishment

{And just a note, I often buy my wool-blend felt locally at Quilting Adventures, but I also frequently buy online from Erica's, especially when I need yardage of felt. They have a wonderful selection of colors at different price points and very reasonable shipping.}

 

the process

First, make your pattern.

Use your pencil and string to make a quarter-circle. I was going for a hat to fit the 20-inch head of a three-year-old, and my radius for the quarter-circle was 14 inches. You may need to make your radius larger or smaller, depending on the size hat you need.

To do this, I tied the string to the pencil, then measured 14 inches and held the string at this spot while I traced the arc of the circle. I then used a ruler to make the lines for the straight edges.

Cut out your pattern.

Place your interfacing on top of your felt.

(I only had light to medium weight interfacing on hand, but a heavier weight interfacing is really better for this project, as it will give you a much sturdier hat).

Pin the pattern to the felt and interfacing & cut around your pattern.

Following the directions on the packaging of the interfacing, iron the interfacing to the felt.

Trim any uneven edges.

If you have any trim to sew on, do it now, so that the ends of the trim will be sewn inside seam of the hat.

Cut your strips of tulle. I cut the following widths: 1 1/2 inches, 2 inches, and 3 inches. Then I cut the three long strips into shorter pieces of various lengths.

Layer your tulle into a stack.

Put your felt interfacing side down and then lay your tulle on top of the felt, with the ends of the tulle close to the top of the hat.

With right sides together, pin together the straigt edges of the hat.

Make sure you catch the tulle as you pin.

Sew the straight edges together. You can trim off any extra tulle if you like.

Turn your hat right side out. You may need to use something to poke out the tip of your hat (I used a large knitting needle).

Now for the really fun part - embellishing your hat! I'll show you how I made the flowers you see on this hat, but of course, there are endless options.

To make the flowers you see above, I used this template from the craftside blog. You could of course freehand your flowers or google images for "felt flower pattern".

Use a chalk pencil to trace your pattern onto your felt. For each of my flowers, I used one small and one large(r) flower in different color felts.

Use a running stitch to sew a circle around the center of your flower.

Pull on the long end of your thread, which will cause your flower to bunch up a bit.

Tie a knot to secure.

Once your knot is tied and the gathering is secured, you can spread out the flower petals if you like.

Do this for as many flowers as you would like to embellish your hat.

Now you're ready to sew them on! I layered a large flower, a small flower, and a flower button. I didn't take photos of this step, but I did sew the flowers & button together before stitching it to the hat.

And that's that! I hope your little girl loves this as much as mine does.

grateful monday.

feeling grateful...

for my hot water bottle.

for family dates.

for happy local coffee shops and big cups of my very favorite tea.

for sparkly birthday parties and four little girls having so.much.fun.

for a good week of thrifting.

to finally be well!

what are you feeling grateful for today?

 

 

giveaway winners!

Instead of two, I decided to give four scrap packs away!

I used random.org to pick the numbers - the lucky ladies are listed above. I'll be in touch soon to get your mailing addresses.

Congratulations!

vintage pillowcase sale!

See this basket of lovely vintage pillowcases?

It's overflowing.

I've got stacks and stacks of these all around my studio.

So, I'm having a sale on these pretties in my etsy shop.

For the rest of January {2012}, when you buy three pillowcases, you'll get one free. I'll refund the cost of your free pillowcase via paypal after I calculate shipping.

Pillowcases are one of my favorite bits of vintage goodness to collect. They are perfect to add a little retro prettiness to your beds, but they have so many uses as fabric as well. A pillowcase provides for two fat quarters, plus a little left over.

I already have many of them up in the shop, and I'll continue to add them just as fast as I can photograph them.

Enjoy!

reminder: vintage sheet fabric scrap giveaway ends tonight!

Enter by 9 pm EST by leaving a comment on this post.

Winners will be announced tomorrow!

grateful monday.

feeling grateful...

for homemade chicken soup and sweet friends that deliver jars of it to my door (mc, you're the best).

for a day of rest, thanks to my mister.

for my girl's wild blond curls.

for pandora and music that makes me smile.

for yards and yards of fabric leaving my studio.

for plans for new raised beds for this season's garden.

for the ways my body is healing.

what are you feeling grateful for today?

giveaway : vintage sheet scrap pack

I've given my etsy shop a little makeover for the winter months, and to celebrate, I'm giving away TWO one-pound bundles of loveliness from my vintage sheet scrap bin.

To see what you might receive, you can browse my current inventory as well as my sold items.

The scraps range in size from a about 3" x 6" all the way up to fat quarter size (18" x 22"), however MANY of them are larger, just slightly smaller than a fat quarter. Some of them may have VERY SMALL imperfections, such as manufacturer flaws or a tiny hole, but I have done my best to cut around these. They are in great condition - I would use them for my own projects if I didn't have so many!

To enter, just leave a comment and your email address so I'll have a way to contact you.

I'll close the giveaway next Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 9 pm EST.

Enjoy your day!

knotted t-shirt scarf tutorial.

During the cold months, I'm pretty much always seen with a scarf around my neck. Over the past couple months, I've pinned a few of these upcycled tshirt scarves, and this week, I finally decided to make my own.

My vision for this scarf evolved as I began cutting the strips of fabric: two of the colors I wanted to use didn't curl up after cutting like I had hoped they would. I started experimenting with knotting and braiding and ended up with this. I must say, I'm pleased as punch. And my neck is nice and cozy warm.

Here's how I made it:

materials

~ an assortment of t-shirts (I used a variety of sizes, some women's, some men's) - my finished scarf was made with 27 strips of fabric - and, I used about 4 strips for each braided piece (3 to braid, one to make the braid into a loop), and 3 for each knotted piece (2 for knots, one to make the knotted piece into a loop) - the more strips you cut, the fuller your scarf will be {obviously!} ;)

~ scissors

~ a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler (optional, but this is the route I took)

~safety pin

 

the process

lay your shirt out flat

cut off the bottom hem

use your scissors or rotary cutter to cut 1-inch strips of your t-shirt. you should end up with a number of "rings" or large circles of fabric.

I stuck with 1-inch strips for my scarf, but it would be fun to experiment with different width strips.

for the braiding, gather three strips, cut out the t-shirt side seam on ONE side so that you are left with three long strips.

tie a knot in one end of your bunch.

attach the knot to something to give yourself some tension for braiding. here i am using a hook in my studio that normally holds my shears, but I also used a safety pin and pinned the braid to my pants.

tie a knot at the end of the braid to secure it.

for the knotted strips, I just cut the seams out of ONE side of my strip again (see photo above) so that I was left with another long strip. for a couple of the strips, I randomly tied a knot along the length of the strip. for a few more, I tied knots one right after the other. when i got to the end of the length, I just tied another strip on and continued knotting.

after you've finished all of your braiding and knotting, it's time to make those strips into loops.

for the braided strips, I untied the knot at one end and tied the three strands to one a piece of a leftover fabric strip. I then hung that around my neck to determine the length I wanted that strand to be, untied the knot at the other end of the braid, and reknotted it with the single strand. I did this to reduce the bulk of the knots on those braided strips.

I followed the same process with the knotted strips.

My goal here was to have the loops of the scarf end up in a bunch of different lengths. This was accomplished through using different sized t-shirts and measuring/adusting the length of the knotted and braided loops.

after you have all of your loops, gather and arrange them. I gathered them so that one of the side seams was in my hand (the other hanging down). I fiddled with them some so that the braided strands, knotted strands, and straight strands were all mingled together, and so that the varying lengths seemed to hang together nicely.

take another length of fabric (with the side seam cut out, leaving one long length) and wrap it around the group of loops. center this piece so that you have two equal lenghts on each side of the grouping. tie a knot here to secure the loops.

once that is secure, wrap that length around the grouping until you're just left with a little - enough to make a knot. make sure to wrap the two strands in different directions so that they meet to make your end knot.

once you have wrapped the lengths, tie a knot to secure.

and you're finished! you can wear your lovely scarf long or looped around close to your neck. the stretch of the jersey knit makes it easy to loop it around.

enjoy your cozy warm neck!

a new favorite snack.

In the past few weeks, I've cut out grains from my diet. One of the things I was saddest to see go was a favorite snack - dates rolled in oat flour. I couldn't stop thinking of them!

So I decided to try a little paleo-friendly version. I chopped up some medjool dates and mixed them with some almond flour. The effect isn't exactly the same of course, but it's close enough for me! Yum. And the little one loves them too.

Happy snacking!