Twin Kittens Scrap Project

I have been having an enjoyable time organizing and planning my projects for the new year!  In my sorting and arranging,  I came across a little Xeroxed pattern from my Mom's files, which I think she must have used for a bazaar project years ago--so I decided to try it out in her honor, and in honor of Baby K's second birthday this month.  And since I am doing the sewing, of course it had to be a scrap project!

I cut bodies for two little kittens from the pattern, using some 'tea dyed' muslin from my stash, and sewed all the way around each with a 1/8" seam.  After clipping all the curves and angles, I made a slash (about 1-1/2") vertically in their backs, turned and pressed them, and stitched across the base of the ears to keep them flat.  

I stuffed the kitties and sutured up their incisions.  Let me just say one more time how much I LOVE Morning Glory 'Cluster Stuff' craft stuffing!  The fibers are curly and springy, and fill stuffed spaces lightly and evenly with no effort at all!  I got mine at Walmart.  It's a must!

Even though there is no talent for painting in these hands of mine, but I did bravely paint on their little faces with acrylic paint according to the pattern, and made little whiskers with a super-fine Sharpie--this is far outside my comfort zone!

The fabrics for the kitties' tiny dresses also came into my fabric stash from my Mom's fabric stash, as well as the eyelet for their collars.  I hemmed the fabric rectangles, slashed the armholes and treated them with Fraycheck, and turned and hand gathered the top edges around the kittens' necks.  A stitched-on little bow finishes them off.

I'm afraid they look cold--maybe a little blanket. . .

Miniatures Monday--Little Red Dresses

Fiona, Marguerite, Antonia, Margery, and their new (and as yet nameless) friend are pleased to model their finished red dresses.

The little dresses close in the back with Velcro.  It's been fun perfecting the pattern--and making an entire dress from scraps of fabric and trim makes me very happy!  Their tiny buttons are from a lot which Care and I bought on line.  Many more little frocks are in various stages of completion!

Miniatures Monday--Tiny Bodices

Working on the bodices of a series of red dresses for the tiny girls--

sooo fuuun!

Part of the delight of this project:  making an entire dress from a little scrap of fabric.  And another part:  adding the little scraps of trims!

Finished dresses soon!

Dollar Store Dollhouse Furniture 5--The Dresser

The Dollar Store's little dollhouse dresser (or chest of drawers?--what do you say?)  is pretty cute as it is, but I'm unable to resist an update.  Plus, I still have that mirror, left over from my sofa table transformation . . . two pieces from one!

My little miter saw did a quick job of removing the dresser's bottom drawer, and a piece of molding left over from another dresser project finishes the raw lower edge.

A bit of wood from my craft scrapwood pile and some glue make a lid for the new low chest.

My leftover mirror is the perfect width for the top of the dresser--it's glued to a bit of the footboard of a bed!  (More on that later.)  A treatment with spray paint, and they're ready for my dollhouse shelf!

Miniatures Monday--Painting Project

Just a couple of pointers learned while painting my Dollar Store dollhouse furniture--it was a bit less straightforward than I had anticipated!

Spray paint seems to be the obvious solution for a quick paint job, so I got out the remnants of a can that was on hand:  less successful than I had hoped.  Since the furniture comes dyed and not painted, the grain of the wood hasn't been sealed, and the dye seeps through the paint:

Kind of pretty really, but not quite what I'm after.  Since I needed to replace my spray paint anyway, I picked up a can labelled 'Paint with Sealer'--and still had about the same results.

What to do?  Being reluctant to go out again,  I rifled through my disused nail polish and came up with a couple of mostly empty bottles of clear top coat. An hour outside in the shade coating the pink areas took care of the color bleeding, and another coat of spray paint did the job.  Here's the final version of two of the  narrow tables:

The little handles on this furniture are actually pegged into holes--easily pulled out and replaced with beads or jewels.  

(You can stick a piece of a Post-It note, cut to size, to the mirror before painting to keep it clean.) 

Next:  the dressing table.

Dollhouse Shelf--A Bed Project

 Little Ellery found an old crib at a yard sale, and is using its parts to make two beds for 

the dollhouse shelf.  I'm sorry to say she was so excited to get started, she forgot to take a 'before' picture!

We bashed the crib apart--the foot boards are the sawed-off lower sections from the headboards.  The sides of the crib are hot-glued between the head and foot, to support the box springs which Ellery is I am planning to make from scraps of dollar store foam core. 

 The beds were a just little too short for the girls to lie down, so I glued in two pieces of scrap wood to lengthen them.  Mattresses will be sponges from the dollar store!

The little crib was $1.00 at the thrift store, and  another dollar bought enough soft dollar-store  foam sponges to provide for a lot more tiny upholstery. 

And while at the dollar store, we made another great find for the dollhouse. . .

Thrift Store Thursday--Tiny Furniture Restyle

The tiny girls new apartment is slowly coming together!

Little Antonia is putting the finishing touches on the yard-sale hutch and chair--all their used furniture will be painted white, to tie everything together.  They're thinking pink, green, and yellow for the color scheme. . .

(I found this little unfinished hutch at the thrift store some time ago for $.25 and couldn't resist--I made the chair for my dollhouse back in the day.  I'm using acrylic gloss paint.)

Kids Sleep Masks

Deep into my annual pajamas-robes-slippers project for my grandkids, I have come up with a new variation this year--sleep masks!

I actually had all but two of these fleece colors in my stash, so it's almost a scrap project. I developed the patterns from a basic sleep mask pattern, with inspiration from Google Images. All credit to real artists!

Check out Care's clever, fast, and easy technique for working layered patterns in fleece--it's fun and works up fast! I worked the designs on a single layer of the basic fabric, then top-stitched the fronts to a second layer, sandwiching in the ends of the elastic at the sides--two rows of elastic help keep the mask on. The outside shape is cut out after the edges are stitched--much easier!

Merry Christmas!

Miniatures Monday--Tiny Teapots!

My dollhouse miniatures have been put away for a while now, but I was recently drawn to that particular row of boxes on the shelf, and had a happy time reconnecting with some of my tiny things.

I originally made this tiny teapot collection for the dining room of my dollhouse--it all started out as beads, jewelry findings, paint, and Fimo. And it occurs to me only now that some of them are small versions of my ceramic-fruits and-vegetables collection!

More Onion Bags!

Here's the next incarnation of my Onion Label Market Tote project!



I thought I might try a couple of labels from my onion bag collection with some of my vintage 1970's Levi-Strauss denim remnants, and I think these bags may be among my favorites.

These Levi remnants have indeed been around since the '70's--my dad got them from the factory way back when, used a bunch, and sent the rest home with me a few years ago. I knew I would come up with just the right project for them . . . eventually.

So, it is a true recycle project, fabric and labels both. I did purchase the red webbing handles (how I love them!), and I can assure you that I used a 50% off coupon for the purchase!

The details are still evolving just a bit--still having fun!

Onion Label Market Totes!

I'm all about re-using materials in sewing, and I was inspired a while back by the great graphics on my annual autumn bag of onions--how to utilize the bright, eye-catching, and durable label?

I started checking out onion bag graphics and collecting bags wherever possible! The labels can be delightful. With a little time, and a few incarnations, my idea has fully emerged from the back of my mind-an Onion Bag Market Tote! And I have to say it's fabulous. I've even opened my own Etsy shop and put a few up for sale!

I'm just finishing a couple more in denim--I'll try to post them soon. Back to the sewing machine!

Spiral Flowers, Part 2!

Further rumination on spiral flowers. . .

I decided to try making a flower with some blue vintage bias tape from my stash, pressed open and stitched along the middle. This flower is my favorite! I love the ruffly raw edges.

Here is a version made from torn strips of some pink silk organza--this one is my least favorite try, but it might be better in a color that contrasts more. I do love the torn edges, though.

Still contemplating a tutorial. . .

Wool Owlets!

I've been amassing a collection of wool fabric, both new and used, for years now--so when Linds showed me these charming little owls on line, I knew I had to make them for her birthday.

If you visit the above site, you will find an excellent tutowlrial for making these guys--the little ones, whoo are about 2-1/2" high, are made according to the pattern. I enlarged the pattern to make the parents, whoo are about 5" high. Note the squidgy-looking one--I thought I would try him as a little rice hand-warmer to heat in the microwave.

The grandkids had big fun helping me go through the button box to choose and place the eyes--I love their expressions!

Happy birthday to Linds!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate being a classic Valentine's Day gift, Ibu made me these fabulous crochet chocolates to celebrate the day--and they go so very nicely with my fabric Valentine strawberries, seen here with Care's tiny quilt.

Check out the candy's delightful details--you can just see the edge of the white chocolate-covered pretzel. The white chocolate has a pale pink flower on top, and they're all displayed in valentine papers--I'll try to post a link to the pattern Ibu used.

The two ceramic baking dishes were thrift store finds, found in different stores and months apart--I love it when that happens!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Uphostery Sample Heart--a Question!

My husband and daughter Lol once came home from a yard-sale outing with a gift for me--a BIG box, full of good-sized upholstery samples! I'm still having fun pulling them out occasionally for use in my scrap projects.

Last Valentine's day I saw a fun heart-shaped fabric door decoration--a slightly irregular-shaped, lightly padded heart. This year I decided to make my own version from scraps, so I pulled out my box of samples.

I love this floral--very romantic! I sketched a heart on a scrap of dollar-store foam core (mine is about 16" tall by 14" wide), and cut it out, then cut a couple of layers of scrap quilt batting in the same shape, plus one somewhat smaller to go underneath and make it more puffy. I cut out the heart shape from my fabric and added 1" all around to allow me to glue it to the back of the foam core.

I made 1/2" snips all around the fabric piece , about 1" apart, to help the back to lie smooth, layered it all together, and glued the edges of the fabric to the back of the foam core with my glue gun, then I hot-glued the whole thing to a heart cut from mat board to make it more sturdy and add dimension.

And now I'm a little stuck--it certainly needs some embellishment. I'm thinking fat cording around the edges? Green? A sheer bow at the center top? Tufting. . .?

Good Idea. . .? Bad Idea. . . ?

It occurred to me on a thrift store outing some time ago that this $1.00 plastic 'gold' charger plate might make a great mirror frame, combined with a round craft mirror. I've been thinking it over in the back of my mind for some time, while watching out for a deal on the mirror.

I have finally committed myself and settled on the above beveled craft mirror, here complete with image of my camera-wielding arm--plain, unadorned mirrors of this size (8" diameter) seem to be unavailable. Original mirror price, $5.00, with 40% off coupon, more reasonable!

Today I'll glue the two pieces together with my trusty E6000, and tomorrow I'll post the finished product. I still just don't know--I think it's a good idea, but maybe it's just lame. . .

Felted Sweater Slippers!

I dearly love my annual pajama project for my grandkids, carrying on the family Grandma Christmas Pajama tradition for the third generation. And I seem to have an parallel annual tradition--the one where I tell myself, "This year I'll just have that all finished early and be ready." And then find myself sewing madly in the middle of December.

This week, I'm sewing like crazy. (Family, avert your eyes!)

This year I thought I might change it up a bit--I've been collecting and felting wool thrift-store sweaters for projects, and thought they'd make warm and festive slippers. Martha Stewart Crafts has a great on-line pattern for slippers made of felt, which seemed adaptable (you can make any size pattern by enlarging with a photocopier). I added the cuff.

One big concern: this plan sounds slippery. Thinking of non-slip soles, I found a vinyl upholstery remnant at Hancock's ($6.00 a yard) in a very neutral gray-beige that seems durable and goes with other colors well, and also appeared less slippery than the others. My test pair proved it was a good choice.


Martha's pattern worked very well--I added an insole of felted sweater, basting the it to the vinyl sole right sides together, and the contrast band is stitched to the top of the slipper, right sides together. The seam allowance is then turned down inside and stitched in place.

I feel a tutorial coming up--but not this week!

Vinyl Revival Project #9--Speed Scrabble!

We do love our word games in this family! Scrabble is a big favorite, and when time is short there's always Speed Scrabble, which is similar to another commercial word game called Bananagrams.

Daughters Lol, Ibu, and I have collecting old Scrabble games from yard sales and thrift stores. We've come up with 4 or 5 games--some complete, some partial--to carry out our crafty plans. What better than our own Speed Scrabble game from our bounty of tiles, complete with it's own recycled vinyl pouch? And let me point out the Scrabble-box colored zipper from my stash!

This pouch is about 8" by5"--could have been just slightly deeper. I think that Speed Scrabble is another game where many people have house rules, but instructions are available on line. We tallied the letters from a Bananagrams game, and chose our tiles accordingly.

This will not be a fun and inexpensive gift--it's mine, all mine!

Vinyle Revival Project #8--Greedy Guts!!

One more vinyl recycle--our family loves to play a dice game we call Greedy Guts, which you may know as Farkle or maybe Zilch. When the dollar store had some clear, colored, luscious--looking dice this fall, I just had to make a Greedy Guts pouch to keep the game together.

I made the the little pouch (directions here) 5" by 2-1/2', and used a red zipper from my stash to set off the colorful dice. To play the game, all you need are dice, paper, and a pencil--I have a tiny pad of paper and a pencil that I'll add to the pouch.

This is one game where it seems many people have house rules, but directions (even video) are on the internet if you just search 'farkle'.

Another fun and inexpensive stocking stuffer!

Vinyl Revival Project #7--Manicure Set!

Okay, I do have a few more vinyl-recycle projects--I'll admit that I haven't put it down yet! Now for a few fun and inexpensive gifts inspired by the dollar store!

My original vinyl-recycle zipper bag was fun and fast to make, and I love the look of the exposed zipper in the clear vinyl--so when I found a cute, colorful manicure set at the dollar store I rifled through my stash for a matching zipper.

This little pouch is 6" by 3-1/2" and took only a few minutes to make. I'm just thinking I'll find a bit of pink ribbon or trim from my stash to tie into the zipper pull--a quick, cute, and inexpensive stocking stuffer!