Wednesday, April 27, 2011

some finishes

I have a few things to show off today... yesterday I finally finished up my daughter's little ABC book.
ABC book
This was fun and she was excited about it the whole time I was working on it. Of course it's in a toy bin now.
Here's a shot of E and F:
ABC book
The instructions/recipe for this project are over at Moda Bake Shop. I would like to put the pages all on a ring but haven't found one yet. Oh, and I used Jacquie's grommet tutorial; it was very helpful! This was a project I started a couple weeks ago. I am not that great at just starting and finishing a project all in one shot, but I think that's ok (mostly). I work on what I like at the time and sometimes I need a break from something and need to make something else. Sometimes I wish I could be a no-UFO kind of person though.

Speaking of UFOs, I decided to give the tabbed zipper another go and finish up my very own gathered clutch. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this zipper, and I like how it turned out! I'm so glad I'm finally keeping one of these.
gathered clutch

A couple notes on how I made this/changes I would make for next time: (might not make sense if you haven't made one of these, might help if you have)
*Mine is a little smaller than the instructions are written for, but my front piece pulls up and distorts a bit when I pull the gathers so I trimmed all the other pieces to fit. Next time I'll start a little bigger than I want the finished clutch to be to account for the trimming.
*When I topstitch the fabric edges next to the zipper, I start about 3/8" in from the end.
*In the final step, I sewed the outer layer and lining separately, starting right at the seam allowance where they are sewn together but not stitching the seam allowance down.
*Next time I will work on making the lining a little smaller so it fits better inside the clutch.

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Finally I wanted to show off my kiddos in their Easter duds:
kids on Easter 2011
toothy grins... but none of them have all of their teeth.
I made my daughter's skirt on Saturday night, using the border skirt pattern from Little Girls, Big Style. (yes, affiliate link) I added the bottom ruffle; it was 2x longer than the skirt panel it was sewn on. The fabric is a sort of twill (what? yeah it's from that Target clearance tablecloth I bought a long time ago for fabric) and gathering it was kind of a challenge. Next time I do a ruffle on a twill or other heavier fabric, I'm going to go for a 1.5:1 ruffle ratio.

I am thinking about what I want to work on next and waiting anxiously for warmer weather tomorrow! Hope you're having a good week!


13 comments:

Audrie said...

I love the book! It's so sweet! Perhaps I should do this with a panel I have!

Your kids are too cute! Loving the faux-hawks hehe And is it terrible that I want to bite your little girl because she is unbearably cute?!?! That grin is too much :)

Anonymous said...

Wow the ABC booklet came out adorable! And great job on the zipper.

Betsy said...

Vicki, the alphabet book is adorable.

Eileen said...

Darling bok, cute cute clutch and darling kiddie. Was expecting to see the mohawky top notch on your girlie too! :)

Candied Fabrics said...

Cute cute CUTE!

Alisa said...

I like the ABC book. My kiddos would like that too!

Jessica said...

Love the abc book! How fun!

Terri said...

Great Easter picture of the kids. Can't wait to see them!!

Nancy said...

The book is adorable, and so are the kids!

Anonymous said...

Everything is darling, LOVE the ABC book!

Beth@seasonsofhome said...

What a great idea! So wonderful.

Nanette Merrill said...

Cute cute pics. Love the ABC book. Fun.

Jessica said...

I can't get over quilted and appliqued baby books! I just posted this one from Don't Call Me Betsy on my site last week:
http://www.favequilts.com/Quilted-Toys/Munchkin-Soft-Book

Yours is so adorable, and I love that you made it an ABC book!