New Shoes for Elliot and Friends

Made from the Stardust Shoes pattern, these baby shoes were easy to make and are so cute for Elliot to wear. He's gotten a lot of compliments on the camouflage pair. I made 10 pairs in all...just had to show off some pictures.

For the fleece pairs I used "jiffy grip" fabric for the bottoms, and it seems to work well. I didn't have any of the bonded fleece for the soles that the pattern calls for, but because Elliot isn't walking yet, I figured they won't get much wear anyway. The fabric shoes just have fabric soles, but I did use a layer of felt in between two layer of fabric to add a bit of padding.

btw, the pink pairs are for a couple of girl babies I know, not Elliot! =)

Cheers,
Jessica

Tofutsies Socks Finished!

Today on the drive to church I grafted the toes of the second Tofutsies sock, finishing the pair! The yarn for these socks was given to me on my last birthday from Jessica. I love this yarn! It is so soft. I admit that at times it was a pain to knit with because it tends to split somewhat, but really it wasn't too bad once I got used to working with it. I'm going to love wearing these socks!
~Ruth~


Yarn:
TOFUtsies
50% Superwash Wool
25% SOYSILK brand fiber
22.5% Cotton
2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells!)
Colorway: Get Your Feet Wet

Needles:
Size 1 (2.25 mm) Pony Pearl double-pointed needles

Pattern:
Baby Cable Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Garage Sale Finds

10 vintage metal zippers in a rainbow of colors.

Such fun!

A New Purse

As much as I like using my "Dorothy" bag, I am ready for a change. Time to sew a new purse! Voila! Here it is in all of its brown-ness:

Notice the little tag sewn to the outer pocket. Thank you, Heather, (my daughter) for the gift of the cute tags that match my fabric perfectly. The tag on the bag reads "euphoria."


Yes, I like pockets as mentioned in the past. I used a tutorial (there are several in blogland) for directions to sew the inside zippered pocket--a method I'd never done before--rather like welt pockets, which I have done before.

The magnetic snap is my favorite type of closure, and I'm thankful for the clearance sale I found a year ago where I purchased a number of these purse snaps.

Did I mention that I like pockets? The matching zippered pouch is really just another pocket. Think of it as a detachable pocket. Oh, these pouches are so fun to make! Again, I used another tag from Heather.

That's it for the purse, but take a look at Emily's hair! After wondering for so long if she would ever grow any hair, I am just loving her blonde curls. All sweetness, my baby! (Well, most of the time, anyway).

Until next time,
Ruth

Treasures, Part 4

These two dresses remind me of "back to school" outfits, and I intended to post about them back in August when we started school. It didn't happen. :-) Both of these dresses are once again something I pulled from the closet---treasures from the past.

I made the blue chambray dress for Heather in 1995 using a Kay Guiles pattern called "Elissa." The only picture I have of Heather wearing the dress was taken at a birthday celebration, and the snapshot is not that good.

The apple dress below was made in 2000 and is "Lee" from Children's Corner patterns. The piecework inset pattern "An Apple a Day," is also from Children's Corner. This particular dress was fun to make, and the paper piecing inset was something new for me. I loved how this dress looked on Katie when she was 11. Unfortunately, Ellen, who is now 11, won't wear the dress. So much for a "classic, never-go-out-of-style" pattern.

I've enjoyed rediscovering these dresses that I sewed so many years ago. There are several more in the closet that I hope to write about soon. One thing I have learned from doing this is that it's important to take pictures of my children wearing the creations I've made for them to wear. I'm finding that I didn't take very good snapshots, or very many snapshots, of my girls wearing their made-by-mama clothes.

That is one impetus I had in deciding to write out these special dresses---to have a journal or record of sorts of some of the dresses I spent so much time in making. I would highly encourage those of you who sew for your children or others to keep a record of what you sew and to take lots of pictures! It's something I wish now, that I would have done back then.

Ruth

County Fair Fun

I always enjoy entering sewing items in our local county fair. And I love to walk around looking at the textile displays to see what other people have been sewing and knitting. I feel so honored this year to have received 6 blue ribbons on 9 of the items I entered, including 2 "best of show" ribbons. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the "woolen article" trophy that I received for my blue socks, but someone did suggest using it for a bookend. :-)

One thing I've never done is to enter any sewing projects at the state fair. Our state fair is going on right now, and I hope to visit it one day next week. I'm sure to find lots of inspiration for future projects!
Ruth


Oh, take notice of the sweetest baby ever---my grandson! Doesn't he have beautiful eyes?!

A couple quick projects

A peek at what I've been doing in my sewing room...

A new clothespin bag for the clothesline. Not that I hang out clothes that much, like I should, but it looks pretty anyway. =) Made from vintage garage sale fabric. Squash yellow with little white roosters and milkmaids covering it. The curtain in my kitchen is made from the same fabric. It's a lot of fun.
A tweedy and velvety clutch purse for a friend's birthday present. I'm happy to say she was as excited to receive it as I was to make it. The super awesome tutorial I used is here.


And of course, my two favorite boys! They are the best!

Cheers, Jessica