8.03.2010

creativity and clarity...they're buds

wow, you guys really blew me away with all your awesome feedback on yesterday's post about room-sharing. hahaha. i can still hear the crickets chirping. i guess i'll just have to be the trail-blazer here and let y'all know how it goes by commenting on all of your blogs. is it that you don't have kids? they don't share rooms? or can i just safely assume that you hate me? well just for that i am never showing you pictures of layla once she's born. that will teach you to ignore my cries for help. jk. LYLAS/B

so after cleaning the living (and unliving) snot out of the extra room on saturday morning, i finally had a pristine area for sewing. so i tackled 3 of the projects i had found on other blogs recently and they all turned out way better than my usual stuff. i really think that having the space clean and organized helped me to be more deliberate and exact with my cutting, ironing, sewing, etc.

i really love all 3 of these. i have found myself at home just holding them and stroking them, looking lovingly at the seams and details until i remember that i have living objects to love as well, even though they don't always bend to my will like the fabric ones do.

first up. can we discuss how the prospect of autumn makes my heart feel? beyond the much looked-forward to reprieve from satan's boiler room that GA has been for the past 3 months, i ADORE everything about fall: the colors, the clothes, the football, the holidays...EVERYTHING. both my birthday and my anniversary are in october so i have always felt like i had a special claim on this entire season. she's a-mine! ok fine, i'll share.

so when i spotted this tutorial at cluck cluck sew for a autumn scrap-pillow, i HAD to try it, knowing i could cling to it during these last few (hmmm, 8-11 i am guessing) weeks of summer and wait for the first crisp wind to blow through and invigorate my sweaty world.

ta-da. i am SO happy with how it turned out. mine is even more fall-y than the one in the tutorial (i'm the fall-est, remember?).

it was pretty tedious doing the repetitive cutting and fusing and sewing for about 30 leaves, but the end result is so worth it. i just used a bunch of scraps from earlier projects as well as some thicker-weight khaki fabric from a shower curtain i found on clearance at target a long time ago.

i used an existing 16" pillow that we had with a yucky cover on it and stuffed it inside my new cover. since it was plump and downy, it kind of bulged out of the envelope pocket so i added some buttons to keep it contained. next time i will just make the shorter pocket a little longer for more overlap.


look at that crisp line of contrast. oooh baby.

it's new home. totally clash-tastic against our armchair (which was free along with its twin from my parents, so no complaints).

judah is obsessed with this new decorative element and i may or may not have made him cry because i was being so protective of it. i regained my senses and perspective and now let him go to town on it. it's also useful for teaching him colors. though it hasn't actually been successful at that just yet. he just likes to point to leaves with his thumb, regardless of how many times i say "RED, that leaf is RED, can you point to the RED one?"

second project. i LOVE my store bought "hooter-hider" nursing apron. i found a pattern that i loved for the fabric that wasn't too boyish/girlish or babyish. i have never seen anyone else with my same one. in fact, i actually left the one i bought at the hospital when we came home with judah and my parents got to witness my monumental teary breakdown when i discovered it was gone and my mom found me a replacement and the only place we could get the same print was on ebay. remember this old girl?

but see how it only covers half of my arm? i guess i am wider than the average bear as well as taller, because it didn't always give me full coverage. i mean, it covered the boob, which is all that really mattered, but i also want to be 100% sure i am not flashing the word my postpartum rolls. i want to let it alllllll hang out under there without fear of being crushed under passersby who are passing out after catching a glimpse of what appears to be jabba the hut's larval offspring.

so i decided to make a new one for myself. a spare. i was always fretting that i would forget the grey one whenever we went anywhere, so having 2 (well i have 3 now because of a hand me down from my friend tami) will really be a relief since i can station one in the diaper bag, one in the car and one at home for when people with eyes and naive media-infused ideas of the female form come into our house. wouldn't want to scar(e) anyone.

there are tons of tutorials online for making these and i kind of took a little from each one and mixed that with what i like and need and whipped up this girly/hippie little gem:


just hanging around...much like 2 of its 3 future residents

it's wider and longer than my current one, so i can really get rowdy under there with no fear.

i put in the terry cloth pocket for dabbing dribbles and holding paci's/breast pads like my old one has and even threw in one on the opposite corner to by extra fancy. i mean i have a boob on both sides, why not a pocket?

in case you were unfamiliar with what terry cloth is, here is a zoom-in

finally, i grabbed some more inspiration from the noodlehead blog and hit up her tutorial for the gathered clutch.

i didn't get the stripe centered like i was supposed to, but i still like it

another view. p.s. i didn't take these to a studio to shoot promotional photos of, its just that my new cutting table is black and makes everything photographed on it look like a formal senior portrait.

inside. fully, if baggily, lined

you can't reeeeeally tell, but the bag is lined in blue and the yellow part is a divider for organization. the striped portion it two smaller pockets that are credit-card sized.

all 3 of these projects were really simple to sew and the majority of the work was in the measuring, cutting, and ironing. which is really all you have to be good at to sew well. onward!

8 comments:

  1. That pillow rocks! I love trees and leaves. Also you know I love Fall too. That is season is all my colors! Keep up the sewing, it is so inspiring. I just told Justin a couple days ago we need a creative outlet. Photography can only go so far.

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  2. Remind me next time we meet up, I have some brand new bags of 'batting' or whatever you fill pillows with up in our attic. It was for our dog beds...so we no longer need it :( Plus it gives me an excuse to see you again!

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  3. I shared a room with my sister from 3 yrs to 18 yrs... it was awesome! But I have zero advice for baby sharing other than go for it... and maybe get a white noise maker for Judah?!

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  4. I am UBER impressed by your craftiness. I wouldn't even know where to start... The only reason I didn't comment on your room-sharing post is because I only have my one little girl so far. I'll look to you to see how it goes!

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  5. melissa fawcett8/3/10, 4:37 PM

    I could really use a hooter hider! Hint hint! :)

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  6. Must have the pillow! It so matches the painting in Violet's room (and my blog photo). Now please stop being so darn crafty and making the rest of us feel bad! Good Lord, is being a working, pregnant mom not enough? For shame!

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  7. I have the exact same hooter hider

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    ReplyDelete