No Naked Bears

So, Christmas has come and gone and Build a Bear Workshop was a  part of ours ;)  However, anyone who knows me  knows I am not paying what they want for clothing for these guys.  And my girlie wanted some of those clothes soooo badly. 

This pair of bear pants were only TWO....2....1, 2  two seams!  I used recycled jeans of my daughter's.  They were made a smidge bigger than this bear...but only by a hair ;)  I made them because this is not the creature they are intended for.  My daughter picked out the bulldog (and promptly named her Uga, as any good Georgia peach would).  And Uga is a smidge more pudgy than the average Build a Bear.  So, these directions might be give-or-take about 1/4 inch here or there.  Not too hard to manage when you are sewing too big and NOT too small ;)

Here is my template

Here we go with the tutorial....in as many pictures as possible!!

 I lined up the hems of an old pair of jeans with the bottom of my pattern piece.  This means no hemming required!  Easy Peasy!!

Lay the pattern piece (which is meant to be placed ON a FOLD) on the fold of the outer leg seam.  I slit my inseam so that it would lie flat.

The hem of my jeans are exactly on the bottom edge of my pattern piece.

 And outer seam is lying flush with the edge of pattern piece.  Pin then cut.

 This is what it should look like :)

 Repeat.  These jeans were purchased with embellishments already applied, so if you'd like something nifty on yours, apply it now!

 With the right sides together, fold each piece in half and pin.....

 then stitch.

 Turn ONE of them right side out.

 And slide that one inside the other to match up crotch seam

 Pin.

 Great time to remove this extra plate if you have a removeable one!

 Stitch the crotch..and it will look like

 this!

 Turn under about a 1/2" waist band.  PRESS.

 It will look like this.

 Stitch all the way around it, except for about 1 1/2 ".

 If you have a bodkin with which to thread your elastic through, use it.  Otherwise a safety pin will work just fine.  This piece of elastic is not the best one for this project..it just turned out to be all I had, after destroying my notions box.  Sooo....anyhow.....it is about 16"-18" long...

 When it comes through to the other side, pin it then size it on your bear.

 While I was sizing, I marked (with disappearing ink) where the tail slit will go.

 Once you've sized the elastic on your bear and pinned it at the size it should be...

 stitch it together

 and then complete the waistband stitch, which encloses the elastic!

 Ripping out the tail slit..

Thought it needed a bit more than I originally marked

 Stitched around it in buttonhole shape..NOT with the buttonhole stitch. Although you could, if you wanted to, but I don't expect these to last forever so I'm not putting a ton of effort into tiny details!!

 Here's my guy!

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture, so I won't worry about it now!

Spring Bag with Chicks

One of the first forms of support I found in my homeschooling journey was the message board at Five in a Row . I love the ladies there. :)  I've found much support, help, advice and prayers there.  The community at FIAR just can't be beat!  One of the most inspiring ladies I've met there is Paige Hamilton.  When I first chatted with her, she was a military wife and had lived in my hometown during her husband's time at the military base.  Since then, she's been through much....hard knocks , good times, scary moments and some very inspiring days as well.  I love reading her writing and hope that she continues to inspire us all by following the dreams God has put on her heart. Paige Hamilton's blog can be found here.

She recently shared that she received a scholarship to a writer's conference coming up this summer.  And now she just needs to come up with the money for her travel and associated expenses.  Times are tight for All of us, I know.  And I'd love to lay out the cash to just bless her with and it would bless my heart  to see her follow that dream.  I don't have that ability...I can only do what I can do.  I sew.  I love to sew.  These are a few of the spring projects I've been working on at my sewing table.  They aren't extravagant but they give me a creative outlet. 

So, for auction today, in support of Paige I am offering my spring chicks and this fabric tote bag.

The tote is made of three layers of cotton fabric and will get the "shaggy" look along the edges when washed.  The bottom is made of two layers of denim, to withstand being dragged around by children ;) .  It's just a simple library type tote bag in beautiful spring colors.  The chicks are just a cute project I made with some fabric pieces in my stash..I just thought they were a cute spring addition to a little basket around the house:)   

If you need a new tote, please bid and all the proceeds will go to Paige's travel fund:)  If you don't need a tote and you'd like to bid on it to send to someone else, feel free and I will ship it to the recipient of your choice.

Please use comments section to bid.  :) Bidding ends Friday, April 6, 2012.

Thrifty Re-Do Coming Soon.

I thought this was cute.  My 12 year old  daughter severely disagreed.  It's now wadded up in a drawer.  I will rework it for my other daughter.  And she'll like it. :)

Thrifty Re-do: Denim Cutoffs Turn into Girls' Skirt

My older daughter recently found a pair of jeans that she needed to give up and cut off just to wear as shorts. By the way, my children think cut-offs are fabulous!  I just couldn't throw the bottoms of those jeans away, though.  I hate to waste perfectly good fabric just due to sizing.

So, I took my seam ripper and did some reworking and now I have the cutest skirt for my younger daughter, for just the cost of my time, elastic and the few scraps that I used to accessorize it. 

Here's the tutorial:

First, I slit the non-topstitched side seam, usually the inner thigh seam.  I did not cut it open, only ripped the seam to allow the fabric to remain intact so that I had the most fabric available for size.

Then, open up both pieces and  match them together, right sides together.  I pinned from the hem back up toward the waistline. Pin and stitch.

I added a little patch here on the inside, just to keep one of the holes from getting to far out of control :)

Also, I turned under the waistline, pinned and stitched as you would for any simple skirt pattern.   Elastic is next and stitch closed.

This is what I drummed up to accent the front of the skirt. I attached it by hand by stitching through the button down through the denim. I made about 4 stitches and secured the threads off inside the skirt. Of course, you could do whatever you desire on this part, or nothing at all!

And here's the finished product, minus my elastic. 

My New Hideaway

Well, I can't hide from much because my sewing area is in the entry of our bedroom, but I can pretend :)  I just got down to getting it together and finding a place for the things that I keep nearby while working on projects.  It's not designer, but it is functional for now.  The cutting board is on top of an old desk which is painted pink so I just covered it with some fabric so that it doesn't catch the eye.  Hopefully one day there will be  real cutting table involved;). 

There's also my bestest Christmas gift there.  My sewing chair.  My mama made it herself.  Well, she bought the chair.  Then she refinished the whole thing and built a storage compartment into the bottom of it.  And she covered the cushion and made the ruffle, in a color that she would only choose for ME.  I love it. I mean I really love it.  I've been asking for one for twenty years.  Yep!  Twenty years.  I've been sewing for a looong time and I've always wanted to "earn" my own sewing chair.  That no one would dare touch.  It's  a love gift..a labor sacrifice...from my Mama.

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Re-Treasures: Hand Me Downs and Redos

I love repurposing things...it just goes without saying that it is a bit of an extreme hobby for me.  I try to keep balance, but that term is relative in this type of situation.

1.  Bought sheet to make chair cover for daughter's vanity chair.  Loved it.

2.  Used leftovers to create this simple skirt of other daughter.  Loved it.

3.  Used embroidery piece from stained capri pants to accent.

4.  Used hand me down fabric to create shorts (ran out of elastic for waistband..will put it on my list).  Love them.  They could even be worn under skirt above for modesty.
5.  Used hand-me-down trim from mother-in-law to trim hems for a  simple, feminine look.  Love it.

Little Girls' Dress-Up Skirt

Little Girls Dress-up skirt. Drawstring ribbon
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