Sew love sewing for gifts!

I am excited to be going to a family baby shower for a friend.  This will be her fourth baby, so I wanted it to be extra special.  Since I have been trying to teach myself to sew, I figured I would try some baby items!  Thanks to the internet and Pinterest, I found the confidence and ideas I needed!

I made this small lovey quilt to fit right over the baby in a carrier.  I didn't have a pattern for this, but I did read tons of tutorials before I started.  I learned that cute bumpy fabric is not so fun to sew (stretches).

I wanted to sew something on a onesie, but I couldn't decide, so I just ironed on a few cute sayings.  

My favorite new things are these fun and complicated, but not too complicated, drawstring bags!  I have made several thanks to the great tutorial at In Color Order.  I used this bag as a grab and go for this busy family.  I put an extra onesie, wipes, a few diapers, ziplocks, and hand sanitizer in it for a quick alternative to a diaper bag.  I also found a great tutorial at The Blissfully Content Life for  a cute diaper changing roll that I created with matching fabric.

And of course, I had to create an owl for the new little guy!  I tried two new things:  I made a bow tie from ribbon and I upcycled a jean's pant leg for the back of this one.

My neighbor has a newborn and I can't wait to get started on his gift now!  Sew much Fun!

Flip Flop Flowers

Since I am one to love a great tutorial, I thought I should pay it forward with an original of my own!

Last summer I decided that I wanted to embellish some of my more favorite flip flops since I struggle to find ones that fit.  (picture a long flat foot)  Here is a super easy picture tutorial on how you can make your very own flip flop flowers!

Here are the supplies you will need:

inexpensive flowers (Dollar Store)

multicolored brads (Clearance at Hobby Lobby)

snap clips 

pair of flip flops & safety pins   

First take off all of the blooms.

Then deconstruct the flower by pushing stem through the front of the petals.  I save some of the smaller plastic pieces to add volume in between petals.

Then you just reconstruct the flower using as many petals parts (I always stick to an odd number) using the brad as the stem that holds them together.  

Now slide the brad's prongs through a small snap clip.

Use some pliers to wrap and smoosh (like my technical term?) 

the prongs around the snap clip.

Just takes a few minutes to make a whole bouquet!

Now just take those favorite (worn in) flip flops and give them some new life!  Just add a safety pin where you would like your flower to be.  Sometimes I wear it on the outer side strap as well.

TADA!

and TA-DONE!

I also make extras of each flower for pins, hat embellishing, and hair accessorizing.  

Sew much Fun!

My sewing machine is my new BFF! Check out all these things I've created with some very helpful tutorials!

First, I used several crayon roll tutorials like the one over at The Pleated Poppy to create a makeup brush roll.  I actually use this everyday!

After several of my friends and I received Kindle Fires for Christmas, I decided to use what I learned from several tutorials to create puffy pouches.






Here are some of the tutorials I pieced together to create these:

Six Crafty Cats   and this House on Hill Road pattern
Here is my attempt to place a "tag" on my creations...    

Then I put my big girl panties on and attempted a skirt.

The tutorial over at Made really "made" this happen!  I am so glad I have this cutie to wear my creations ;)

And yes, you can feel sorry for my lack of grass in my backyard.  It was a VERY DRY and HOT summer here in the Austin Area!

These two skirts were also possible because of the Made tutorial, but I morphed another tutorial from The Mother Huddle  and used the bottom of an old tank top for the waistband on the Love the Earth skirt.












The Paris Skirt is different because I used ribbon as bias tape.

So there you have it!  I have been too busy sewing to blog!  If I can do this, anyone can!