Sewing – Page 6 – Thimbleanna

Drawstring Backpacks

23 Comments / July 11, 2016 July 11, 2016 / Sewing

Happy Monday! Did you have a nice weekend? We had a nice quiet one here in ThimbleannaLand — a little sewing and cleaning and not much else. These cute fabrics recently arrived in my little shop, so I had to get busy and make a few fun things. These are some of the prints of Trinket by Melody Miller for Cotton and Steel.

I’m hoping to do a little hiking later this summer, and I’ve learned over the years that it’s best to travel as lightly as possible when hiking. I used to take plenty of food and my big camera and just too much stuff. Not anymore. Now it will be lots of water, a little lunch and my iphone for pictures (ha, if I can stand not having the big camera with me). Anyway, we only have bigger backpacks and that just adds unnecessary weight, so I decided to make a few little drawstring backpacks to replace the regular backpacks. Trinket arrived just in time!

I didn’t really follow any one pattern. If you google “drawstring backpack” you will find lots of information out there. I got basic dimensions and then just did my own thing. I have a ton of old jeans that I’ve saved for recycle sewing, and I was happy to finally be able to use them. It was fun to even use a few of the belt loops for the drawstring loops at the bottom of the little bags. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the denim with these trinket prints.

But I think my favorite part was adding just a teeny bit of embroidery to the denim. I took the “5 (where’s the cent mark on my keypad?)” from the whistle print, but I had to think a minute about what to put on the telephone print. Then it was obvious. Hello??? Very Fun.

Hopefully these little packs will do the trick. It’s a lot easier to climb a mountain if you don’t have a lot of weight on your back! ;-D

Ok — I’m off to work — have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

Boppy into Spring

21 Comments / April 24, 2016 May 5, 2016 / Baby Oh Baby, Sewing

Ooooh, sorry about that post title. I couldn’t think of anything else. But, if you can get past it, I’ll show you this pretty picture of the phlox at the end of our driveway. Spring is finally here with the first little blooms, buds on all the trees, and a robin building her nest on top of one of our downspouts. I haven’t seen my favorite DuckCouple yet, but I’m holding out hope! Anyway, it was a stunning weekend here — perfect, sunny temps all weekend — just gorgeous!

MyDadLovesMeBestSister had a b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. baby shower for SweetiePie yesterday, and as soon as I sift through the pictures, I’ll give you a peek. Think Pink! ;-D In the meantime, here are a few pictures of another present I gave SweetiePie last week at the Baby Shower that her family had for her. I purchased a Boppy and then made a few covers for it. For the first one, I used a pink polka-dotted Robert Kaufman cuddle fabric on the top side. Oh man, is that stuff ever soft and cozy!

On the bottom, I used a little pink and gray fox print. And a really long zipper. ;-D . For the pattern, I purchased a cheap little cover at our local Meijer and used it as a model. I discovered that the pre-made ones are made out of such cheap cotton, and they make them large so that they’ll still fit after they are washed. Therefore, I had to make mine a little smaller than the sample cover.

For a fun little touch, I inserted Riley Blake’s Mini Pom Poms. SweetiePie loves her some pom poms!

I also made a second cover (in more neutral colors in case there might be a little boy some day ;-D) because, well, in case of a spit-up (or worse!) emergency. I love that cute little alphabet cuddle print!

Boppys are a pretty cool idea — I wish we’d had them when we had babies. They’re great for the mother to use when nursing that new little babe, and later, they provide nice padding for a baby learning to sit. I pressed Teddy into demo service, but he’s pretty short waisted, so the boppy almost swallowed him.

So, another fun baby project completed. I should just apologize for drowning you in baby makes, but a) I’m having so much fun sewing for baby, and b) hopefully it won’t last too much longer (except for the occasional gift as the baby grows, of course ;-D!)

More to come — I know you’re waiting on the edge of your seat LOL. Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

Baby Swaddles

23 Comments / April 17, 2016 May 5, 2016 / Baby Oh Baby, Sewing

SweetiePie and FinallyAGirl had their first baby shower yesterday and we had a lot of fun. SweetiePie’s family went all out on the baby shower decorations and food, and everything was just perfect! And now that she has received her gifts, I can show you a few of the things that I made for her.

I raided all the double gauze in my little etsy shop and made some baby swaddles. Back in the day, we used to wrap our babies up (but not as tightly as they do now) and we just called them receiving blankets. As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much the same thing, except that I made my little receiving blankets with two layers of fabric instead of one layer. Swaddles are so easy to make — I just cut big squares (50″ for the plaid swaddles and 43″ for the other two) and folded the edges in twice for a nice, neat edge.

The three plaid swaddles are from Riley Blake fabrics and the other two are Japanese fabrics. The Japanese double gauze is a little more expensive, but it’s thicker and a bit softer — it was interesting to compare the two types of gauze for quality — they’re both just great, but a little different.

After hemming the first swaddle with just a plain straight stitch, I got a little bored, so I decided to play around with some of the stitches on my sewing machine. I love the little pink hearts, but I really love the simplicity of the little wavy line on the gray plaid swaddle.

Since we don’t have any babies here yet, I asked Scruff if I could practice wrapping him in a swaddle. He retreated to his favorite cardboard box.

So, I decided to wrap up a teddy bear. This almost Grandma clearly needs swaddle wrapping instructions!

So, one fun little baby project all done and checked off the list. There are more to come and I better get crackin’ … sooo, see ya later Alligator!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy Spring!

27 Comments / March 20, 2016 May 5, 2016 / Baby Oh Baby, Sewing, Store

Yipee! It’s the first day of spring! We love the first day of spring here in ThimbleannaLand because it’s the day our beloved little SecondChild was born and we LOVE him to pieces. (Except, we wish he lived closer {sniff}{sniff})

I’m hoping Spring will bring lots of energy around here and help me get some projects done. I have several on-the-go, but progress appears to be at a snail’s pace. We did complete one big project this week. On Friday, TheManoftheHouse and I went to visit TheFirstChild and SweetiePie, and SweetiePie and I made curtains for the new baby’s room. She’s almost ready for the baby — just a few baby showers and 12 weeks to go!

Here’s the nursery before curtains …

And after. I love that happy pop of pink!

SweetiePie has done such a beautiful job on this little room and she’s given a lot of thought to every little detail. I should have taken more pictures! There’s another window with the same pink curtains to the left of the picture (behind the glider) and some adorable little book shelves (that used to be spice racks — SweetiePie is SO clever!) The C on the wall is a hint as to the baby’s probable name. I was thinking they’d have an “F” on the wall — I’m happily naming her FinallyAGirl because, FINALLY, we have a girl on the way! I checked the family tree, and going back along the male side of the family, there hasn’t been a surviving girl for 150 years — the last one was born in 1865. So, needless to say, it’s going to be all about the PINK around here for awhile!

In other news, while I’ve been working on random projects, lots of fabric has arrived here in ThimbleannaLand. A few random bolts — the top two are from Sweetwater’s Mama Said Sew Volume II. I love the super cute little flowers and, of course, I had to have the text fabric. All my favorite Quilt Shops LOL! Then, there is a PINK bolt — just because. It’s from one of my all time favorite fabric collections — Fresh Cut by Basic Gray for Moda. And, the bottom bolt is just a great neutral, also by Basic Gray.

Then, a few little Easter chicks helped me welcome a few bolts from Blend Fabrics. This is Born Wild by Ana Davis. I love these sweet animal prints and I think they’ll make wonderful baby gifts.

And, finally, for more baby gifts, three new double gauze plaids. Baby Swaddles coming right up!

All these prints are available in my etsy shop and hopefully soon, I’ll be sewing with all of them. FinallyAGirl will be here before we know it!

XOXO,
Anna

Liberty Bracelets

17 Comments / November 23, 2015 November 23, 2015 / Crafting, Sewing

Gosh. I’m sorry it’s been so boring around here. All work and no play makes Thimbleanna a very dull girl. Sadly, that’s all it is around here though — work, work, work. Work at work and then work at home. I listened to the Marie Kondo book on tape (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) a few months ago and I’ve been trying to clean up a little around here. It was an interesting book and I talked back to the tape a lot — half the time I was saying “Great Idea”, and the other half of the time I was saying “You’re out of your mind!”. I’d love to be able to live as simply as she does, but it’s just not going to happen. For one thing, I’m a fabric hoarder. And, somehow, I just don’t see myself talking to my clothes and shoes at the end of each day. If I had more time to pause and actually talk to them, maybe … but for now, life is too busy. Anyway, it’s going to take a loooong time to get through the closets and drawers around here. Maybe after Christmas I’ll start back up and take it a little at a time. Or not, LOL.

In between finally finishing up the 3-week cleanout of our jumbo bookcases in the basement, I took a little one hour break this weekend and made a few Liberty bracelets. I’ve been wanting to try this project for a long time. I raided my little charm stash for charms for the bracelets.

Needle and Thread:

A Thimble (of course!):

And “Be Kind”:

I experimented with a little wider ribbon and just once around the wrist vs. thinner and twice around the wrist. I think I like the twice around the wrist version the best.

Anyway, they’re quick and fun and I think they’d make cute gifts for the ladies in your life. This video was very helpful. And I still have plenty of fabric and trinkets to make more!

Ok, off to bed for me. Are you US girls all ready for your big cooking week? Ours is going to be a little different this year and I’m a little sad I won’t be doing my usual pie making. I’ll explain when it’s all over – Good Luck with YOUR prep.

XOXO,
Anna