A Bed For Emma

I haven't been doing much crafting lately, but I did manage to make an awesome bed for Emma! We'd been looking around for beds, but we couldn't find anything that we really liked. So, I decided to get creative and use some fleece and foam from the store to make a very unique bed.

Dylan and I found a square piece of foam at Joann's on Black Friday,

bought some thick cotton padding,

and made a slip cover to go over the foam.

(Now I have a bed with covers that can be CLEANED!)

She absolutely loves her bed.

She doesn't even come up to sleep by our bed anymore!

Anything that is white gets dirty within a day, 

plus Amit wanted her to have a Bears bed.

I cut out pieces of fleece and sewed them into a sort of pillowcase.

(Emma loves playing on whatever fabric I'm trying to measure.

Yes, that's a tennis ball.)

Here's my cover after piecing it all together.

It actually fit perfectly!!

Here's our lovely model showing off her new bed - 

(Looks just like Daddy in pictures, her eyes are closed.)

I love it!

Comfortable and surrounded by all her toys!

I'm still a little in shock that my project actually worked out, since I haven't been doing much sewing. But the bed was so easy, I have a feeling I will be making some pillows this summer to brighten up our home! I do have some big craft projects coming up, but those will have to wait for it to be a little warmer outside...

Sewing at Home

I was going to title this "Sister Sewing Day," but a more accurate title would have been "Sister Sewing Day Turns Into Sewing Marathon." Dylan and I spent a good two days sewing and working on various projects. Not surprisingly, I managed to fit in much less sewing than Dylan did. She is amazing!

The main reason for our sewing day was that I wanted to try my hand at sewing a cardigan. I didn't think I would be able to attempt it on my own, so I wanted her help. Dylan's been wanting to try some new projects, so on top of supervising me, she had to work on a few projects of her own (for me)! (I did manage to hem two of my existing skirts with minimal help from her, while she worked on these other projects.)

Dylan hard at work on my skirt.

Found the tutorial at Elle Apparel, 

but knew I could never make one myself.  

The nearly finished skirt!

(Photo of me in skirt to come ASAP)

I found this cardigan tutorial at the same blog.

Dylan agreed to finish the neck for me, 

so I can't wait to get it!

 Proof that I did most of the sewing!

We threw in a couple fun projects -

this work-out tank and this fun top.

I didn't like the tank top tutorial,

I think I'll try a different one next time...

After our first long day sewing,

we needed some food from Greek Fest!!

We had so much fun sewing! I still have a few things to finish, and obviously need to take photos IN the clothing that we've made, but that will have to wait for another blog post. She's also making me a very cute wrap dress, so I can't wait to see how that turns out!

Sewing Break

After one very busy semester, I could hear the sewing machine calling me back. I have so missed my crafting! I keep pinning all of these different sewing projects to my Pinterest boards and needed to actually make one (or two) of them. After much debate, I decided to sew some baby circle skirts and baby blocks. I thought the skirts were so adorable, but the blocks would be a good practice project for me (sewing straight lines can be hard)!

It took me about four hours to make the first circle skirt, but after I started getting used to the elastic, the others didn't seem so bad!

Such a fun skirt!

Isn't she helpful?

The baby blocks were fun.
I followed the tutorial and it actually worked!
(Ignore the slightly mismatched corners.)

I am so proud of how my projects turned out!! I might actually be good at this sewing thing after all (that would be crazy)! Tomorrow we leave for Pensacola by way of Chicago (to drop off Emma), then it is time for some more sewing and crafts (this time with family), and then a long weekend back in Rochester with Amit.

My Gift for Grayson

Our latest addition to the group was a great excuse to go buy some adorable fabric and try out a new (more complicated than what I am used to) sewing project. I keep finding the cutest dress tutorials online, so I decided to try one out for Graysie. I used this Pillowcase Dress tutorial from Prudent Baby , but changed it up by adding bias tape.

I had a few "issues" throughout my sewing, most likely due to my lack of sewing knowledge, but I am SO excited at how it turned out! Here's how it went:

Emma is so excited for baby Grayson,

that she just HAD to help make the pattern.

I made my own bias tape to match the dress.

I followed this tutorial  

and only had to remeasure my lines a few times.

,

My bias tape hanging out on my 

Schoolhouse Rock DVD.

I listened to it while I sewed, so I could "study". 

 Then came sewing time...

Sides together.

Bias tape around the hem and the arm holes.

Wow. 

Still can't believe I got all those lines so straight!

 

Grayson's navy and pink dress!
It's in the mail and heading to Florida -
hope they like it as much as I do!

I am still in shock that I managed to make this! It took me quite a while, but I had so much fun. I have a feeling I will have many more gifts for Graysie by the time I actually meet her... This whole "sewing for a sweet, beautiful, baby girl" thing is addicting!

Sewing Fiend

Check out what I got for Christmas!!!!!

I love the tons of fun projects and ideas I find on Pinterest and decided that I need to teach myself how to sew. I was so excited to get my new sewing machine, that I had to start some projects right away! I've been dying to make some scarves that I found online, so I managed to fit in a little bit of sewing in between all our crazy plans.

 The fabric was ready and waiting for my sewing attempts.

Finished product #1

American Apparel Infinity Scarf Knock-off

You can find the tutorial on Pinterest.

Scarf #2 

Now I'm ready to cheer on Michigan at the Sugar Bowl!

Tutorial linked here.

I had so much fun making these two scarves, though I need A LOT more practice. Thank goodness I have tons of Pinspiration to choose from! So stay tuned - I will be attempting many more projects and I promise I'll take pictures of my oops moments.