everyday backpacks
next month my mom and i are taking nora and etta to disneyland and universal studios. naturally I've decided to sew the girls a few things for the trip. first up: my mom requested some bags for the girls to have in the park.
having had such a good experience with the 'love your lunchbox' (blog post here) and 'on the go organizer' (blog post here) patterns i went to see what gingercake offered as far as backpacks. the day off backpack immediately caught my eye and since it was only $10 i bought it.
a few days later I was cleaning out my closet and came across this everyday skirt I had made a few years ago from the cotton + steel tangram print.
i don't know why, but i just never got a ton of use out of this skirt. however i do love that tangram print so i set about chopping it up to make the backpacks. it did take some planning and a little piecing but i managed to squeeze two kid sized backpacks out of one everyday skirt and a few random scraps from my stash. (probably helped that this fabric is pretty non-directional). waste not want not!
i went through my stash for coordinates but couldn't find anything that would work, so I jumped on my bike and made a quick trip to stonemountain & daughter to pick up the aqua and purple kona cotton, matching thread, and associated hardware.
the backpacks game together perfectly. i did end up skipping some of the edge stitching a because i didn't want to distract from the adorableness of the tangram print.
i added ribbon tabs to both the zippered pocket and main compartment, so the girls can hook keys or whatever on them.
i also added a patch pocket on the inside, complete with a mother of pearl button to keep it shut.
love,
aunt maggie
for my birthday last year victor bought me sewing happiness by sanae ishida.
it is a darling book with heart warming stories and 19 little sewing projects. i’ve already made the triangle tote bag (to be blogged) and the zippered pouch a few times (here, here, and two more times that haven't been blogged) from the bookand found the instructions to be excellent. so when maya told me she had her first loose tooth a few weeks before christmas and asked for a tooth fairy pillow i once again turned to sanae.
so i love harry potter.
i’m gonna say that again to really hammer the point home: i love harry potter.
next month my mom and i are taking nora and etta to disneyland and universal studios. naturally I've decided to sew the girls a few things for the trip. first up: my mom requested some bags for the girls to have in the park.
quick post on something I whipped up for baby wesley!
one of the oldest fabrics in my stash is this whale laminated oilcloth I bought back in cambridge at gather here in 2012. having never sewn with oilcloth before I was looking for an easier pattern that would provide lots of instruction and up my odds of a successful result.
cue the little things to sew book from oliver + s.
what is the longest you've ever left something as a work in progress before actually finishing it?
a few years ago i modified the much loved class picnic tunic pattern (from oliver + s) to make maya an apron. given that it was such a hit I knew one day I would need to make neela one.
sometimes you just want to have some premade gifts on hand, so two weeks ago i made this 24 piece memory game.
it's back to school sewing season!
first up is maya who is starting kindergarten this year. after i saw this post from gail over at probably actually i decided to make her a lunch box.
a few weeks ago i made my co-worker an owl backpack for her son. upon seeing it another co-worker asked if I could make something for her friend's daughter. so i took another stab at an owl pillow (my first one is here).
i'm always refining how i store my sewing supplies. a few weeks ago i rearranged my thread storage, and now it's kept in the box that formally held my makeup.
so I turned to my birthday present from victor, sewing happiness by sanae ishida for a solution.
in the summer of 2013 i made maya and etta owl backpacks from the little things to sew book (which is by the good folks at oliver + s.)
over the past four years these backpacks have gotten a lot of use, so i decided to make a lil' man version for the son of a favorite co-worker!
what's more fun than a flower girl dress?
oh I donno perhaps a miniature version of maya's flower girl dress for her doll charlotte!
my brother in law omkar (also known as maya and neela's dad) is a huge fan of the Green Bay packers. So much so that I decided to make some "go pack go" bunting for their house:
my obsession with making play food for maya and neela continues...
today i am going to show how i made some play bow tie pasta for them.
vic and i had a super bowl party this past weekend. he spent a week deciding on the menu and the better part of saturday prepping food (don't feel bad for him, he loves cooking).
meanwhile my contribution was cleaning the house, putting the cat in an amazing bow tie, and picking up some flowers from a shop in rockridge.
then I decided to start a new project three hours before guests arrived.
surprise! i've continued with making my family napkins and candles!
i made this set of napkins for my sister sammie, also known as maya and neela's mom.
maya loves toy food. which means neela loves toy food, or rather neela loves to put toy food in her mouth.
so for my first tutorial of the new year I am going to show how i made them some felt strawberries for them.
