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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:

  1. 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 :)

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

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  3. Vicki, the alphabet book is adorable.

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

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

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  6. Love the abc book! How fun!

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

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  8. The book is adorable, and so are the kids!

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  9. Everything is darling, LOVE the ABC book!

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  10. What a great idea! So wonderful.

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  11. Cute cute pics. Love the ABC book. Fun.

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  12. 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!

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