Continuity

I think that continuity with your gifts to your little can turn a simple/basic gift, into a really 'wow' gift. I'm going to use the gifts my big gave to me as an example of using the same palate through all of the gifts.

I told her that I liked purple, solid colors (no patterns) and that's about it. And she ran with it. The main colors she used were a dark purple, light purple and gold. If you are going to use more than four colors, I think using one accent color per item is best and then for a couple items here use accent color 1 and a few items there use accent color 2.

My crate, pin box and 'hope' sign were only the 3 main colors, using mostly solid dark purple and middle stripes of the other colors. My letters were the light purple and twine. My paddle was dark and light purple, gold, wood and twine. My ribbon board was light purple and gold.

Notice how if there is a variant of the three color combination, it was picked up somewhere else. There was twine in at least two items.

When I made gifts for my little, since I used sparkle spray paint once, I found a way to use it in another item to make it look part of the same collection. Using the same paints in all of your crafting is the easiest way to make a set of gifts look part of the same collection and a lot more professional.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

My Fabulous Skirt

So ignore the 'me' in the photo and just look at my skirt. I still want to alter the waistline to a more natural waist and not at my hips. There's also a cute bow that the picture doesn't show well. I'm still proud and I got an A.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

Sparkle Letters

For my little I wanted to make her cute wall letters and I wanted them to be a delta and gamma, not a DG. My own letters had twine wrapped around the bottom edge and I liked that. My little has a sparkly personality so I grabbed some spray glitter and went to work.

I spray painted the letters with the glitter spray which was a little different than the normal spray paint I'm used to. It was tricky getting an even coverage so I had to let it dry and put on two coats. I also paid attention to spraying the edges.

I had left over white fabric from her T-shirt and so I layered it over half of the letters. I had to cut the inside corners to allow the fabric to lay flat. I hot glued the fabric on the back. It took a lot because the fabric didn't adhere well.

I've attached a photo of mid-process step when I was making sure I had enough fabric. It was the only picture I took because of my crafting fail.

Take care and do good,
Sarah

I Made a Skirt

As I've mentioned before, I'm in a costume design class. For our final project we had to take a pattern from the store and make it. I chose a pencil skirt with peplum and bow. I had a bit of a stumble with the back vent and how to insert the zipper when it came to it, but overall, I'm pretty darn happy with myself.

I've joked with my sisters that have seen my progress that I'm going to model the skirt around. They think I'm joking. Haha, jokes on you sisters. I am. I'm mega proud and I have to model it in class anyway so before I leave for class I plan on walking through the hallways saying, "Look at me sisters. Like my skirt? Oh ya - I MADE IT." Again, I'm really proud of what I've done in this class.

I'll post a picture of my complete outfit tomorrow but before that I'll include the instructions for how to insert a zipper. I think my teacher explained it really well for a person who has never done it before.

Baste stitch (the longest/loosest stitch you can make, it's not permanent) the seam closed (I overlapped my seam 1/8 inch)
Glue or hand stitch the zipper, having the zipper teeth following the baste stitch (the glue comes out with washing)
Using a zipper foot (it means change the metal foot on the machine so it has room for the zipper), stitch the zipper to the fabric
Using a seam ripper (you can buy them individually or they sometimes come in emery kits) remove the baste stitch

As my teacher makes sure my class knows, good pressing is good sewing - so iron afterward.

Take care and do good,
Sarah