Monday, November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving dress

I have been hanging on to this pattern for about a year. I love the style and the options, but I didn't have the courage to try it until now.

I decided to try it when I found this really cute piece of Fall fabric. I got a great deal on it, of course. I decided to start with the dress and since the pattern was so busy, I looked through my stash and found the rust colored material to use for the sleeves and ruffle. The buttons were in the stash that my mom and mom-in-law gave me, thanks again!!! It was a little harder than I thought, but still pretty easy. Here is how it came out.

Little Miss was so excited about her "photo shoot". She really got into it. I probably took 30 pictures.

The pictures in the shade came out a little fuzzy. I think it turned out well for my first attempt. I probably could have made it a size smaller. I ended up taking in the side a little so it wouldn't be so big. I'm sure I will be making more of these in everyday prints. Here are some more pictures from our photo shoot. Enjoy!





Minky Chenille Blankees

I have been putting off this project for about a month.
I found a white piece of this fabric as a remnant and planned to make a blankee for my new nephew due in February. I am still going to make it, but a week later I found two more pieces of white and a piece of blue on remnant. Score!!! I payed around $2 for each piece and still have leftovers for bibs and burp cloths. The most expensive part is the binding. However, I have seen blankets similar to these selling for $64!!! Can you believe it. Click here to see for yourself. And that is without a binding. I think I spent around $10 for each of them.

As you can see, it looks great even without a binding. I haven't put the binding on the pink one yet because I didn't have the right color thread. I plan to get it done tonight or tomorrow. It is purple with Disney princesses on it. 
Here is a close-up of the material. It is so soft and comfy, but not too heavy. Being that we live in Florida, I didn't want a really heavy blanket for the kids. I did make it a little bigger than a baby blanket though so It will cover them better as they get bigger. The kids love them and now I am excited to get working on Baby Ryan's. It will have to wait until after Christmas though :)

Paper Bag Skirt

I found a great tutorial online for a "Paper Bag Skirt".

 I love finding cute ideas and it's a bonus if someone is going to show me step-by-step how to do it. It came out really cute and it was so easy. I found the Owl corduroy as a remnant at Joann Fabrics for $2 and only used half of it. The pockets were brown cord left over pieces from another project, so only $1 for this super cute skirt.

The shirt and leggings were on clearance at Walmart. I am not quite ready to make knits yet. That is a whole other level. I couldn't get her to cooperate for the pics, but you get the idea. I am so ready to make another one, but Christmas presents first. I am excited though. I found a really cute piece of Zebra print corduroy that I can't wait to use. I am thinking hot pink pockets for it. What do you think?

Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween Costumes

Here are the kids costumes for Halloween. This year I made a Tinkerbell costume for Chloe and Pirate Costumes for Logan and Gavin. I also made trick-or-treat bags for all of them and Sydney. Yes, I might be a little crazy, but I love it anyway. I am finished with everything except Logan's bag. I am going to whip it up tonight. Sorry if these aren't the best pics, but I plan to get the best shots on Sunday. I will update this afterwards and get some shots of all the kids.
These are Gavin and Logan's costumes. I wanted to make them the same, but not exactly so I switched the colors and patterns around. Mark thinks they look like theme park pirate costumes, but I think they look cute for a 3 year old and a 1 year old.
 Not the best picture of Gavin. I found really cute hats after these were taken, so the Halloween night pics will be much better.
This shows the back. Ignore the strawberry stains on Logan's face :)
I bought the pirate hat at Goodwill for 75 cents and this is the bag I made for Sydney. She is dressing up as Cinderella.



So I did a lot of bargain hunting for my materials and I really scored. I used remnant pieces for both pirate costumes, Sydney's bag, Chloe's bag (not pictured yet) and the tulle tutu for Chloe. These are just estimated, but here are my totals per costume.

Pirate costumes and bags for both boys - $3
Dress, tutu, & bag for Tinkerbell costume - $10
Cinderella bag - $1 or less
Accessories (hats, wings, wands and swords) - $3-4

Not bad for 3 kids considering store bought costumes are between $20 & $40 a piece. Crazy huh. Yes it did take some time and effort, but I love doing these kinds of things for my kids. Post your comments below and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

If you like the picture of fabric pumpkins I found for my background, go here for a tutorial on how to make them. They look really cute. Let me know if you make them and share your pics.

The Ruffle Purse for kids

I made my first sewing gift. I'm pretty happy with it. I made this purse for Taylor for her second birthday. Here is the link to the pattern and directions if anyone wants to try it out. It is pretty easy if you have some basic sewing know-how. It took me a few hours to make it after I cut out all of the pieces. Next time should be quicker though since I am familiar with it now.
I did find that I had a few glitches with the pattern. The next time I make it, I will wait to cut the fabric for the lining and fusible fleece until I have the outer layer done. I don't know if I made my seam allowances too small, but the inner lining was smaller than the outer layer. Not too difficult to fix though.
 Sorry about the lighting and picture quality. I forgot to take the pictures at home and had to take it right before I gave it to her. I hope she likes it.
I bought plenty of fabric, so I could make one for Chloe too. I'm hoping that I have enough material left to make a matching dress too.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Welcome to The Jennuine Article

I am starting this blog to not only document my journey as a crafter, but help myself and others. I am wise enough to know that I don't have enough wisdom in this area. I feel like I have been crafting my entire life, but there is som much I don't know. I know there are more of you out there that feel the same way. I also know, there are some very wise people out there that have been doing this much longer than me that I would love to learn from. I am new to blogging, so please forgive me if I haven't figured out all the specifics of this site yet. I am a quick learner and will soon get the hang of it. This is definitely a work in progress. Thanks for visiting my blog and come back often to see all the exciting projects being highlighted.