Floral Slide Headbands: More Options

I thought that I'd share a few different headband options that were made using the template that I shared on Monday.  The template is for the leaf base, it is a slide that can be removed, and can also be shifted along the length of the headband for different positioning.

These are all headbands that I made for my booth space.  I used faux leather material for both the flowers and the base, and some embroidery thread for french knotted centers.

The flowers were made using the rose of sharon die  for my accuquilt Go! baby.  The die easily cut through the faux leather.

You can find the template and tutorial for the headband slide here.

Just a little reminder that the template is for personal use only.  Please do not sell any product made using my tutorial or template.  Thanks!

Lace Belt Tutorial

Last week I showed you how to make the lace embellished top or tank.  During the photo shoot I accessorized it with a lace, faux leather, and ribbon belt.  Although the belt is not a top in and of itself, I think that it can do a lot for a basic top.  Today I'll show you how I made my belt.

Materials: Faux Leather or vinyl, a yard or so of satin ribbon, around a yard of lace, leather punch, sewing machine, and fray check

To begin you will want to cut a strip of leather, and one of lace, that are as long as your waist plus six inches.  I cut my belt material to be about 1/2" wider than the width of my lace. Once your materials are cut you will want to center your length of lace over the belt material.  You can pin along the length to secure the two layers.  I then machine stitched down the length of the belt.  The first rows of stitching were about an eighth of an inch from the edge of the lace.  I then stitched around a quarter inch inside the initial rows. The placement of your machine stitching should be determined by the shape of your lace.  I recommend using a lace that doesn't have much of a scalloped edge to avoid the edges from pulling away from the material.

I used a regular sewing machine needle on  my project, but a leather needle or heavy duty machine needle would worker on thicker or hard to work with material.

Next fold over the ends of your belt by two inches.  Pin them in place. Stitch around the entire perimeter of the tab (see image below).

You will next want to mark where you would like the holes of the belt to be punched.  I put three holes each 1 inch apart, the first hole being 1/2" away from the edge of the belt ends. You only need two holes on each end, but adding a third allows you to adjust the belt width a bit more (great for when you are wearing the belt over multiple layers).

Now cut a length of ribbon that is long enough to tie either in a bow or a know.  Angle the edges  of the ribbon and apply fray check to prevent fraying.

That's it.  I can't wait to make more of these belts in different colors and widths.

I'll be linking here.

Faux Leather Poopy Clutch

I decided to whip up a diaper and wipes clutch prior to babies arrival.  Melissa of I Still Love You, offers several free variations of her Poopy Clutch.  I decided to try out the scalloped edge poopy clutch, using some faux leather/vinyl that I had on hand. 

Source

I wanted to use only the supplies that I had on hand (saving for baby bills), so I decided to use a heavy duty  snap in place of the fastener that she used.

I also added a flower detail that I cut out using my Go! Baby fabric cutter.  I used the Rose of Sharon die, and cut out one of each of the three biggest flowers.

I stitched around all sides of the piece of vinyl, using an elongated stitch in contrasting thread. I then used some Fabri-Tac glue to secure the three bottom corners (a variation from Melissa's tutorial).  After the glue was fully dry I attached the bottom snap.

I punched a small hole in the center of my flowers, though I only ended up being able to use two of them.

Due to the thickness of the vinyl, I was only able to secure two layers of flower with the top flap of the clutch.  I attached my snap through the three thicknesses of material.

I then used my leather punch and hammer to punch a few holes along each scalloped edge.

 It accommodates several diapers nicely. Now I need to go hunt through my boxes of baby supplies to find my travel size wipes container.  The travel size pampers container was a bit too large for this clutch, but I think that the huggies container will be just about perfect.

Father's Day Gift Ideas: Leather ipod Case

With Father's Day approaching I thought that I should probably come up with some sort of gift for my husband.  He is a terrific father, and I sure do appreciate him.

I decided to use some materials that I had on hand to make him a protective sleeve for his ipod.  Clark loves his ipod, and is a little rough with it.  I figured that a sleeve would protect it, and possibly disguise it.

I used a scrap piece of black leather, one piece of felt (I just used craft felt, but wool felt would probably be better), a leather sewing machine needle, and heavy duty thread.  I cut the leather about 3/4" larger than the size of the ipod, and then used a spool of thread to trace a semi circle on one piece of the leather for a small cut out.  I  positioned the two pieces of felt on the inside of the leather, did some top stitching on the open end of the sleeve, and a couple of decorative rows of stitching in the center.  I then attached them together on the three sides, and I was done. It was such a quick project, 20 minutes tops.

Hopefully he'll appreciate the small gesture.  Now I need to find some quick projects for my father and father in law.  Any suggestions on inexpensive/quick gifts?

Thanks for reading, and happy sewing. I'm off to bind a quilt.

Double Ruffle Silver Baby Booties

I'm sure that you're probably a bit tired of having me post baby booties, but I post what I make.  I recently finished this pair of silver baby booties for a friend's niece.  They are just the standard mary jane bootie, with a double layered ruffle along the toe.  This particular silver material is quite thin, and a single layer ruffle just didn't do the trick. 

Thanks as always for reading. I sure do like you!

Brown Bow and Pearl Baby Booties

Included in the bag of baby shower gifts for my cousin's family, was a pair of sweet and simple faux leather baby booties.  I added a small bow with pearl to the straps of the baby booties. The edges of the upper shoe are pinked for a bit of added detail.

They perfectly match a sweet little dress that I made for their little girl.  Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait to see the coordinating dress, I'm saving it for something special later on in the month.

The booties are a twist from the Reversible Mary Jane Pattern from Sweet Pea Patterns.  Obviously these booties aren't reversible, but I think that they are just as sweet.

One added touch that I really like is stitching the sizing to the insole.  I wish that I had tags and labels for everything that I make, but I'm just not to that point.  Having the size of the shoe will make it so much easier for the new mama.  Thanks to my Brother PC-420 I was able to make it work.

Thanks for reading.

Silver and Aqua Baby Booties

This weekend we had a shower for my Sister in Law.  She'd seen most of the dresses and outfits that I'd made for her baby, so I wanted to add something to the gift that she hadn't seen before

I ended up making these silver faux leather mary janes. I added three simple flowers on the side of the booties, and used some metallic thread for the center of the flowers.

I also made a coordinating headband.  

Thanks for reading, and a big thank you for all of your kinds words about our expected bundle of joy.  We are thrilled about having another baby, we just wish that we could do without all of the pregnancy discomforts.

A Flower or Two For You

Along with sewing baby booties, I've also spent much of my "free" time crafting flowers for the headbands that will be making their way to my shop.

These faux leather beauties have really caused some pair to my fingers, but I sure do love them.

These felt flower headbands were made on a whim, and are designed to coordinate with several of the Mary Jane style booties that will be available.

 This last headband was made at a recent church activity.  I was teaching some of the young women at church how to make felt slides for their headbands, and this is what I came up with.  I kind of like her, but haven't been bold enough to wear her.

Leather Cuffs: For Boys of All Ages

I decided that I needed to put some of the extra leather that I have on hand to good use.  I was pretty pleased with the leather bows and belts that I made, but lets face it, leather can be quite masculine.  My Sister In Law and I decided that our boys needed some leather man bands.

Unfortunately when we sat down to craft our 3, 2,  and 1 year olds were less than cooperative.  Luckily these  bands can be quite simple and quick to make. Due to the lack of child cooperation we kept the bands relatively simple.

We added some simple stitching to a couple of the bands, and to the other we added some inexpensive  studs that I picked up at the saddle store.

I had some snaps on hand that worked perfectly for this project.  They are Anorak snaps from Prym.  They are heavy duty enough to deal with leather, but they aren't too bulky.  They're perfect.  I really like the look of them with the leather.  If you decided to go out and buy some you will want to buy the attachment tool as well.  For this reason I'd suggest buying when notions are on sale at Joann's.

Now I couldn't my husband when it came to making leather cuffs.  I made him this simple band with off set snaps.  Who knows if he'll actually wear it, but I didn't want to leave him out of the fun.

For a basic tutorial on making this grown man band click read more below.

Faux-Floral Headbands

 

Well I hope that you haven't grown sick of all of my faux leather projects, because I have another one for you.  I am pretty sure that the fabric ladies at my local home decor fabric store are sick of cutting quarter yard pieces of this stuff (in every available color), so if you have grown tired, you're not alone.  I actually have a real leather project lined up for next week...so be excited.

I spent yesterday with my sweet sister in law.  We made ourselves some lovely little floral headbands with one of my favorite materials. I'm sure you recognize it from these booties, this belt, and this table runner.  It is just such a versatile material.  I think that the red and brown combination create a nice color combination for autumn. 

 

This red flower was my first attempt, and is probably my favorite overall.  

  

I had to make a black headband, and I love the gray centers to these two smaller flowers.

 

 

This last one is a slight variation on the first.  I like that it is a bit smaller.  I feel like the larger flower is a bit overwhelming on me (but perfect on my great model). 

Jess made several cute headbands of her own.  She tried out a brown and cream combination that I am really liking.  Thanks so much Jess for spending the day with me, and for being my model.  

I'll be linking up here.  I'll be back tomorrow with the Halloween costume reveal!