Sewing

Playhouse to Clubhouse

We got a Costco playset in April, which has kept my kids outside most of the summer. I had this idea that I was going to make it more of a “clubhouse” by making curtains for it.

Fast forward to yesterday (aka 4 months later). I picked up Amanda’s red polka dot laminate at Riley Blake’s warehouse. I was so excited that I stayed up late into the night to pound grommets into the curtains (much harder than I anticipated). I’m hoping the laminate holds up okay outside. I’ll probably pull the curtains down before winter and bring them inside for a good washing.

I might have given in and decided it was time to just buy a drill (instead of borrowing the neighbor’s) to install the curtain rods. Maybe I was tired of digging in someone else’s garage. Or maybe I decided that a girl just needs a drill of her own. The three of us headed to Home Depot this afternoon to get some hardware for installing the Tacksam Curtain rod sets from Ikea ($3.99 a rod).

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Now Siri can sell in her “shop” better than ever. Although she has informed me that they will still be making potions down there (but now they can close the curtains so that the non-witches will not steal the recipes).

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Carina Gardner Sewing Pattern Giveaway at the Boutique Cafe

At Quilt Market this last May I had the opportunity to visit with Daria at the Boutique Café. She has the interview up and a giveaway of one my sewing patterns. You’ll notice I make a big announcement about where my fabric is going at the end of the interview (did you catch it?). We will officially announce and show you some yummy samples of the new fabric line in our next newsletter.

Speaking of sewing patterns, I’m in the middle of finishing up two more patterns! I hope to have them finished up by the end of the month (waiting on my Pinfeathers, Dress Up, and Baby Safari to arrive to finish them up!). I can’t wait to show you! So back to the sewing machine for me!

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June Salt Lake City Shop Hop

If you are in the Salt Lake area, you should check out the Wasatch Front Shop Hop going on this weekend. Fourteen shops (listed below) are participating and it’s a total blast!  I had a chance to drop by Mormon Handicraft over by Fort Union Blvd. on Wednesday to check out their display of my sewing patterns. Thought I’d take a moment to share some quick photos I took!

It makes me so happy!:)

All the shops participating have their shops decorated with the theme “The Greatest Quilt I Ever Read.” Here are the shops participating the Wasatch Front Shop Hop:

American Quilting (Orem), Mormon Handicraft (Midvale), Sew Sweet (Tooele), Broadbents (Lehi), Pin Needles (West Jordan), Stitching Corner (Orem), Corn Wagon Quilt Co. (Springville), Piper’s Quilts and Comforts (Salt Lake City), Thimbles and Threads (Draper), Elaine’s Quilt Block (Cottonwood Heights), Quilter’s Haven (Bountiful), Village Dry Goods (Brigham City), Quilts Etc. (Sandy), and Whimsy Cottage (Holladay).

I believe the shop hop runs from June 15th-18th. Hope you get a chance to drop by one of these wonderful shops!

XOXO-Carina

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A Bit Ruffled

…in the best way possible of course! Susan says I get bonus points for the pom poms on top (They are kind of hard to see on the top of the lamp in these photos).

This lamp shade is a breeze to make. I think I got the shade from IKEA (a couple of years ago) and the lamp from a consignment shop. It takes two 5″ x 43″ strips of fabrics to make each ruffle (I have 5 ruffles here using my Love Nest™ fabrics). Hot glue ruffles, pom poms, and a ribbon on top and you are done. How easy was that? Into my girl’s room it goes!

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Spring Quilt Market 2011

I was a happy girl at Quilt Market this weekend. Susan and Emily walked the show with me and we have a fabulous time! It was nice to have market in town (here in SLC). Here’s a sampling of my Friday (prepare yourself for a long and picture-heavy post!):

This was fun! My little bio at Northcott and a few of my patterns on display at The Pattern Peddler’s booth.

The absolutely delicious Riley Blake booth! And I feel silly because I completely forgot to take pictures of the Little Miss Suntop and Skirt model & the High Tea Soiree Dress model while I was hanging out. I’ll get photos of them when I pick them up.

(You know that Riley Blake is giving away this Beach Cruiser, right?)

Susan was cracking us all up with her enthusiasm! Here she is getting a Moda tattoo. Classic Susan!

And me forcing her to pose in a window frame.

Those gorgeous hats (above) are a new pattern by Amanda of the Quilted Fish. Seriously, adorable!

Here’s one of my new favorite people-Rebeckah Merkle. Here booth was fab and she was sweet too! She has a new line with Timeless Treasures.

This fabulous footwear belongs to Anna Marie Horner’s daughter. Anna Marie passed on some serious style to her daughter.

If you attended market, you might have joined in the All Dolled Up contest that was going on. This fabulous quilt was at one of those booths. And that flower…well, how could I NOT take a photograph of it? Of course, I have no idea what booth it was in.

Me with the extremely nice Joel Dewberry. The amazing frame and mini quilt are by Gigi’s Thimble.

Emily in total bliss as she picks up EQ7!

These lovely ladies (Megan of the Brassy Apple and Daria of the Boutique Cafe) are giving away one of my Ruffle Dress Patterns! Check out their podcast interview with me in a couple of weeks at the Boutique Cafe!

Finally, I had to show you a little goodness from the Seven Islands booth. I think Susan was drooling…literally.

That’s a pretty decent sampling of my two days at market. Hopefully, I’ll get some pics up soon of Josh and me in our 80’s gear for the Riley Blake party. If I haven’t scared you away yet, that post might do it.

Happy sewing!

Carina

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Machine Quilting Show

On Saturday, I did a quick run down to the Southtowne Expo to visit the Machine Quilting Show. It was a busy day, but I’m so glad I had a chance to go. My friends Emily and Laura spotted my Love Next™ fabric in this darling quilt…it made my day!

I’m pretty excited about this coming week…it’s Quilt Market! While you won’t see me with a booth at this one, you will be able to catch me part of the day on Friday at the Riley Blake and Northcott booths. You’ll be able to check out my next three lines due out this summer at the Northcott booth. I’ll also be wandering the show. Feel free to stop me and say hello!

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Easter Sunday-A Week Late

I’m finally getting around to posting photos from Easter. I’ve been making models of our first line of sewing patterns because the first samples I made are my girls’ favorite to wear (and therefore not suitable as models due to the daily wear and tear.)

Here they are sporting a couple of the sewing patterns with their Coquette™ church bags made from the ballet bag tutorial (photo above).

Flissa was being a stinker about taking photos, but Siri posed prettily. Mostly I just caught photos of them from behind as we walked to church.

I start work on our second set of patterns this week. They won’t be due out until July so they can be sampled up in Pinfeathers, Dress Up, and Baby Safari. I’m also hoping that I’ll get a chance to enjoy the sunshine and sit aimlessly outside a few afternoons this week. Fingers crossed!

XOXO-Carina

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Sewing Pattern Packaging

I spent part of this week sewing up samples for Quilt Market. This Love Nest™ Ruffle Dress is made in Cindi Walker’s fabric from Riley Blake. I still have to put in the zipper and make the ruffle flower. I’m so happy with how it turned out! Those coral flowers are divine!

If you get a chance to go to Quilt Market, be sure and drop by the Riley Blake booth to check out my pattern samples! I’ll be walking the show on Friday morning, but should be hanging out at the Northcott and Riley Blake booths too. Hope you get a chance to say hello!

We’ve also updated our distributor list and online retailer list. I also know that you will be able to check out the patterns at The Pattern Peddler’s booth.

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This has been the first time since shipping out the patterns, I’ve had a chance to make more samples. I completely forget that a website is a really difficult way to check out this packaging and after experiencing it first-hand, decided I’d better take a couple of pics for you to see how fantastic the packaging it.

If you haven’t had a chance to get your hands on one of these gorgeous patterns yet, then you haven’t seen how functional the packaging is yet. The heavy-duty package is the best way to keep your cut-out pattern safe and ready for use the next time you sew. I’ve got my patterns all folded up and tucked into each of these ready-to-go the moment I start a new outfit.

More sewing for me this coming week… I’m looking forward to it!

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Sewing This Week

This week I’m sewing up some samples of my new sewing patterns. These samples will be shown off at the Riley Blake/Christensen Wholesale booth (one of our distributors) at Quilt Market (just a month away!).We have been updating our distributor list for our sewing patterns, which you can find on our wholesale page. If you are shop that prefers working through distributors, I hope you are able to take advantage of buying our sewing patterns from this wonderful list!

My samples will be made with the fabric shown above. Can’t you just see the Love Nest™ Ruffle Dress in that darling coral floral? Or the Little Miss Suntop and Skirt in the whimsical pink Hoo’s the the Forest print? These fabrics are from the fabulous Stitch Studios and Doohikey Designs. I’ll give you sneak peeks as I work on these this week!

If your local shop isn’t currently carrying the patterns, feel free to also check out our online listings. We are still in the process of adding to this list so check back often!

Speaking of Quilt Market, are you going? I’m looking forward to it being a hop, skip, and a jump away from me. If you are going, are you doing something fun? What’s your favorite part? This is only my second quilt market and I’m still new to all the fun. Tell me what you know!

XOXO-Carina

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ABC Class Starts Today!

Today we start our second session of my ABC Inspiration Class. It’s fun celebration of our everyday lives in the forum of a digital scrapbooking album. I’m pretty excited to see what this new class comes up with!

Today must be “ABC” day because I also have a set of ABC Templates up in my digital scrapbooking shop. It’s 25% off (as all my new products are on Monday). I mention the templates because I recommend seeing my original blog post on these templates, which has a couple of yummy photos of the book I made.

Today I’m shipping out more of my new sewing pattern line. You’ll be able to purchase this line from your favorite online retailers pretty soon. We are hoping to have the list up by the end of this week. You should also see them at your local quilt shop within the month. Hip Hip Hooray!

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Little Miss Suntop and Skirt Sewing Pattern

It’s the end of the week, and I’m to my last sewing pattern! The Little Miss Suntop and Skirt is a very wearable outfit—ask Felicity, who refused to take it off the rest of the day despite the bits of snow still on the ground!

This outfit certainly screams, “Bring on the sun!” —something my subconscious was certainly yelling at me when I made this pattern. I was rewarded with a little sun today…I even managed to sit on my neighbor’s front porch for a couple of hours and soak it up while my kids played on the trampoline (and asked to put swimming suits on—I put my foot down at that request).

The top is so adorable with it’s “surprise” crisscross straps in the back. Place the buttons on the outside or sew them into the inside for a more modern look.

I put together yardage for using 1 fabric on the skirt or 3 (one fabric for each ruffle). I love the effect of both skirts! Should you get creative with this pattern, be sure and show off in our Flickr Gallery.

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(Felicity decided that some jumping was in order for a good portion of the photoshoot).

Check out our sewing pattern page if you haven’t had a chance to do so already. You’ll get a chance to look at the back and front of the pattern (click on the images to see them bigger). I hope you enjoy these patterns and please be sure to call your local quilt shop requesting these so you can get your hands on some!

Happy weekend!

Carina

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High Tea Soirèe Dress Sewing Pattern

If you are looking for sophisticated, you need look no further than the High Tea Soirèe Dress Sewing Pattern! I adore this pattern because the fabrics can change the look of this pattern in an instant. Make it fabulous and fancy or super sweet.

I only a had a couple of days to get ready for this photoshoot and once I had decided on the name, I knew that I needed the perfect tea set.

I wanted a mixed and match set so I went to a local antique shop. I pulled all my favorite teacups and pitchers into one area and came up with this precious set (I can’t image the antique shop owners loved what I was up to).

After the shoot I left the tea set out on the coffee table and my girls had great fun pretending to make tea. Of course, Felicity broke one of the plates after a couple of days of play (a pretty good record if you ask me). It was kind of a sad end to the antique tea plate, but I’m not the kind of mom who won’t let her kids play with a delicate tea set (or draw on the ceilings, or graffiti on the cabinets…sigh). What’s the fun in that?

And those delicious little cupcakes came from Mini’s. I heart their vanilla bean cupcakes!

All of the fabric used in this line is from my Love Nest™ Collection. It’s a tiny line with a lot of possibilities!

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This dress can be made with two or three fabrics, and you will need interfacing for the clutch. The bows on the side of the cross-over bodice is mimicked in the bitty bow clutch. I’ve been meaning to see what kind of crazy concoction I can get if I use only striped fabric and make part of the dress horizontal stripes (fabric 1) and the other parts vertical stripes (fabric 2). I’ll show you when I get around to making it!

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Playdate Outfit Sewing Pattern

While my passion is dresses, I absolutely adore a great little shirt and capri. The Playdate Outfit comes in sizes extra small to extra large (covering 2T, 3T, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ) and includes pattern sizing for a dress, blouse, capri, and shorts. It’s by far my most versatile pattern.

I’ll admit I had a tough time making sure that this pattern stayed simple and true to my own style. We even went as far to shoot this outfit twice…with the first pattern being changed in favor of this one.

What do I love about this outfit? I adore the tiny little ruffle sleeves and the small gather on the front of the blouse and dress. I like that I can see Flissa romping about in this dress with leggings all summer long. Or hanging out in a pair of capris on a playground.

My little model, Olive, was very sweet, and we had Felicity dress up to keep her company (although the Suntop and Skirt wasn’t shot until two days later).

Unfortunately, Flissa spent a good deal of time sticking a white mum in Olive’s face. Here’s the mischief maker doing her worst (As Olive diligently looks at her flower and obeys the photographer!).

Did I mention I bought A LOT of flowers for these photoshoots these last two months. It’s been a naughty excuse to have flowers constantly in my house.

Okay, now I’m off to finish off a free digital kit I’ve been making for my facebook page. If you haven’t joined in for a little chit chat, please drop by!

We are trying to reach 1200 followers after which I’m sending out a link to download the kit. If you’ve never digi scrapped before, this is a great way to get into it (because free rocks:).

Be back tomorrow!

XOXO-Carina

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Introducing My New Children’s Sewing Pattern Line!

Yes! It’s finally here! Everyday this week I will be unveiling one of my new sewing patterns!

I can hardly contain my excitement about this new line! I started thinking about this project over a year ago and to finally see it come into fruition…well, it’s a bit overwelming.

What’s my philosophy about children’s clothing? Well, I believe it needs to be

If my girls won’t wear it, there’s a good chance yours won’t either. So the clothing needs to feel special while being comfy. Siri and Flissa have tested out all the clothing (Man, it’s a tough life!) and have given the outfits two thumbs up! I hope your little ones like them as well.

The pattern featured today is my Love Nest™ Ruffle Dress. It’s so swweeet! I originally made the pattern for Siri. The bottom ruffle peek-a-boos along the entire bottom of the dress and the scrunchy ruffle flower is the perfect embellishment for the dress or headband.

This sewing patterns comes in sizes extra small to extra large and covers children sizes 2T, 3T, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

All sewing patterns come with a metric conversation chart, glossary of terms, illustrated instructions, easy-to-understand child sizing charts, and yardage.

Our first shipment of products will be on April 1, 2011 (I’m positively jumpy with excitement!). We are taking pre-orders now.

Want to make sure that your local retailer knows about these sewing patterns? Add them to our mailing list and they will get our latest discounts and offers. And feel free to email them or give them a call if you want them to carry our lines!

Retailers and Distributors: We do have a brand new site just for you! Please email us at wholesale@carinagardner.com so we can send you your password to login to the site. In the meantime, check out our wholesale site.

Can’t wait to see the other patterns? You can take a sneak peek at the sewing pattern section of our website. I’ll be back tomorrow with more pictures and info!

Finally, our  March-April quarterly newsletter will be coming out sometime next week. I’ll talk about my process for creating the patterns and my upcoming (HUGE) digi sale at JessicaSprague.com. If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter in the past or haven’t read previous issues, please check them out here.

Thanks for letting me share all the good news!

XOXO-Carina

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Highland Park Arts Night

I’ve been meaning to post these photos for a week now! Here is the finished quilt that Siri’s class made for the Highland Park Art’s Night. The kids did such a great job. Here’s the post about it.

This quilt will be up for Silent Auction at Highland Park’s Art’s Night on April 8th. It is a twin sized quilt and made up entirely of Love Nest™ with the pink paisley covering the entire back.

Here’s the math sheet I made for the class so they could talk about the different shapes made by the triangles.

I’ll check in again pretty soon since I am posting from the airport. I’m off to a little weekend with my sisters (Yippee!), which means I’ll have pictures to share.

XOXO- Carina

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Patience, patience

The “patience, patience” is more to myself than anyone else. Josh always has said I’m impatient.

I guess I am.

I’ve been dying to spill all the work that has been going on in my studio for the last month and a half. We have been busy, busy, busy putting together a line of children’s sewing patterns due out in the next month. Fingers crossed I will be able to officially let you in on all the good news, but for now, all I have are little peeks into the process.

Today we took photos for one of the patterns and the photo to the left is the little clutch that goes with the one of the dresses. Both of my girls have been playing with their versions today (Thankfully even the “sample” versions are still great play things for my girls.)

Somehow the photo shoot today has made me more excited than usual to “spill the beans” on this new venture.

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Here’s a few things I’ve learned so far about the wonder of putting together sewing patterns:

  • * It takes a lot more time than I had any idea…by the time I have proofed it, Jamie’s proofed it, the printer’s proofed it, and then I have proofed it again…wow.
  • * I spend an awful lot of time looking for props for the photo shoots.
  • * Much longer than the actual photo shoot.
  • * I learned that it’s much better just to ask on facebook and the “ask and ye shall receive” effect happens.
  • * I combed antique shops for the eclectic tea set I put together for today’s photo shoot.
  • * You can barely see it in the final photo.
  • * I don’t care because I adore the silly set so much now.
  • * Antique shops make me think of more patterns I wish I had time to make, but don’t at the moment. Sigh.
  • * A flower shop has passed through my house.
  • * I have completely enjoyed having that many fresh flowers in my home.
  • * I have learned to easily tear apart my living room in 10 minutes or less and put it back together in the same amount of time.
  • * Siri likes it when I do this because it means she can use her roller blades in the only open space in the house.
  • * I can sew together samples faster than I had any idea I could at ridiculous hours into the night.
  • * I’m having so much fun that I’ve having a hard time pulling myself away from my sewing machine.
  • * Which means my house is a perpetual mess.
  • * And my studio is much worse.

Excited to show you more very soon!

XOXO, Carina

P.S. All the fans on my facebook page will be getting a new mini digi kit (yet to be revealed) once we hit 120o fans. Have you joined the page yet?

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Quilting With Kids

Tuesday, I spent the afternoon in Siri’s first-grade class making a quilt with the students for the Arts Night Fundraiser. As it turns out, even first-graders can quilt…and quilt well!

Turns out that making a quilt has all kinds of math applications too (shocking! educational AND fun!). We looked for patterns and shapes (parallelogram, anyone?). After laying out the quilt, each student sewed together two blocks and then they helped piece together several rows.

You’ve got to love the kids’ reactions to the sewing machine…especially if they have never sewn before. Some were obsessed with seeing how fast they could make it go (we called it “zooming”) and others were trying to figure out how the thread worked it’s way into the fabric. All were obsessed with the string going at the top (really?). The magic of being a first-grader again!

If you want to make this simple quilt, the dimensions are 6.5″ x 12.5″ triangles to create (once sewn) 12″ x 12″ blocks (two triangles to a block). It is 7 blocks long and 6 blocks wide with a 4″ border (4.5″ cut for seam allowance).  It is approximately a twin-sized quilt.

I’m just finishing up the binding and this baby will be ready for Arts Night! Once it’s finished I’ll give you sneak peek of it before it goes up for auction!

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The 2010 Carina Gardner Blog Summary

2010 zipped by, didn’t it? Looking back, it was such a big year for me: a little first grader, a brand new preschooler, my first fabric line, getting comfy in our new home…it was a fun year and to celebrate, here are some of my favorite blog moments from 2010. Enjoy!

1 – Iron-on graphics on T-shirts for Siri’s Birthday Party favors

2 – How to Create a Layout From a Quick Page or Album in Digital Scrapbooking. My first freebie video tutorial!

3 – I still love and use these cute canister labels!

4 – It was the Designer Blog Hop with a super fun free digital scrapbooking download for International Scrapbooking Day!

5 – My Chinese New Year Party revisited!

6 – My first free pattern download – the Felicity Fabric Flower

7 – My first Quilt Market! Back to Minneapolis!

8 – Sew Important – My mom gives my daughter a lesson in sewing.

9 – CHA in Chicago along with fun at Spraguefest! A boat tour of the city, sewing fun, and a trip to Navy Pier I’ll never forget!

10 – The first CG Newsletter is released! Eye candy for all!

11 – Download for the Halloween Banner for my paper line Haunted™. I’ve been asked if that piano is just for display, but the answer is “no.” I actually play that thing!

12 – My first downloadable quilt pattern using Coquette™. A great beginner quilt!

13 – My move to Jessica Sprague.com. A new Desktop Calendar Class, Hybrid Project Fridays and One Dollar Wednesdays!

14 – A quick ballet bag using Love Nest™.

15 – A Partridge Pattern

16 – A Merry Christmas to You!

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Partridge Bird Pattern – Free Download

As promised, here is my cute partridge birdie pattern. I’ve got these little darlings sprinkled all over my Christmas tree this year, but I see a future for these birds in other rooms in my house. And not just in felt. Oh no. These birdies will be perfectly pretty in fabric…

Pattern and instructions can be downloaded below! Happy sewing!

XOXO-Carina

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Happy Fabric Flowers-Just Add Velcro

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I was invited to a craft night with a whole lot of mid-western gals. Who knew there were so many Minnesotan’s in Utah (escaping the cold no doubt)? The theme was t-shirts so I brought T’s for the girls and myself with tons of fat quarters, lace, and buttons. Inspired by Whippy Cake’s headbands (introduced to me by Kari Holt at CHA), I decided to add velcro to all the shirts and make lots and lots of flowers so my little girly-girls and I would switch out depending on our mood. It was an instant hit with my kids, and Siri is sitting next to me learning to sew rosettes as I type. Thanks for inviting me Kelly!


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Two Little Birdies

Northcott™ sent me these fun pictures of Love Nest™. I was thrilled to see the first bolt of the line, which goes on sale in a week and will ship out January 2011. Please send the link of the brochure (on the side bar) to your local quilt store to carry this line!!!

Simply copy this link in an email: https://carinagardner.com/studio/freedownloads/lovenest_webbrochure.pdf (Be sure and click on the brochure so you can see the line yourself too:)DSC06000

That lemony yellow is yummy!
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Sew Important

IMG_2180My mom was recently in town, and she gave Siri a sewing lesson. It reminded me of when I started sewing at the ripe old age of five years old by my mom’s side (I’m sure not unlike the way Siri was sitting by her in this picture I managed to capture).

The amazing part is I remember taking her old scraps at the age of eight and being completely unsupervised on the sewing machine (kudos to her for letting me go at it). I remember making Barbie dresses with big skirts (my introduction to learning how to gather). I remember cutting the fabric in all sorts of crazy ways and sewing them in even crazier ways. It was brilliant. The pure happiness of a little girl entranced in her sewing project.

Looking back, I appreciate more than ever my mom’s efforts to let me be creative…and let me try things independent of her. I must have made a mess…in fact, I can even remember some of the messes. I would dump out boxes of scraps of fabric and thread looking for the exact right piece—a mother’s nightmare to clean up.

This little trip down memory lane is just a nice reminder to myself that I need to create opportunities for my little ones to be creative (And maybe be okay with the messes. Ouch! That’s hard!). I hope that whatever crafting and creativity you have in your life is also a part of your children’s lives too—Because I think creativity is pretty important. Hope you do something fun this weekend with your loved ones and nurture that creativity!

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How to Change a Skirt into a Dress

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IMG_2509 copyI found these darling skirts at Gymboree clearanced out. So of course, the only sizes left were 9 and 10…a bit big for a 3 and 6 year old (and I wasn’t about to let these bad boys sit idly in a closet for a few years!). So I made these skirts into dresses.

With just a bit of ribbon and a giant flower (I got mine from The Lace Place), these skirts become dresses for my girls. Here’s what you’ll need to do a project like this:

+ 1/2 yard to 1 yard of ribbon that matches or contrasts your skirt (I went with the pink satin ribbon)

+ 1 yard of ribbon for a bow or silk flower

+ large safety pin

+ Fray check

+ small, squirmy child to try it all on

1. Fit the skirt to your child. Most likely you’ll need to bring it in a little. I’m not the kind to pick apart the whole thing and put it back together. I just turn it inside out and sew an inch (or whatever) into the seam. I don’t even sew the length of the dress! I just taper off after a couple of inches.

2. Cut the ribbon in 1/4 to 1/6 lengths and fit to your child ( you’ll need 2 lengths for each “sleeve”).

3. Sew the ribbon into the skirt wrong side out (You’ll do this four times…one at each point the skirt and ribbon connect). Sew at least two lines of stitches. Put fray check on the raw edges.IMG_2528 copy

4. Put the safety pin through the large flower or bow you’ve made. Then attach it to the dress. I like the safety pin because then you can take it off when you wash the dress or use it as an accessory on other clothing.

I think this project took me an hour from start to finish. Modeling for me is my darling niece Lola (I think my own kids have had it with me and the blog modeling!). She was actually excited about wearing Felicity’s dress (that’s a welcome change!).

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Felicity Fabric Flower Pattern-Free Download

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I’ve been making these fabric flowers for a couple of weeks now and named the little pattern after my sweet little red-head. I first made this pattern for Siri’s ruffle dress that I’ve been working on (pinwheel and pearls in the center), but I also like it with the big button on this shirt featuring Love Nest™ and this cute headband featuring Coquette™. It’s pretty easy to make and super versatile!

The headband uses both the little and large petal patterns and the flower on the shirt just uses the large pattern. I can see a whole string of teeny-tiny flowers hanging like flags in my office. I’ll have to get to work on that!

Think shirts, headbands, clips, and belts. This little flower would be cute on all of those! Okay, enough gabbing! Here’s the easy-peasy instructions for you. Download by clicking on the image below!

Happy sewing!

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felicity_pdfinstructions

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Working Draft of a New Pattern

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We’ve been a busy crew here at the Gardner house the last few weeks! Among other things we had family pictures taken (by the amazing Susan Haglund).Good timing too so that I could get these amazing photos of Siri wearing the first draft of a pattern I’ve been working on. Don’t you worry, I’ll be whipping this ruffly-thing up in Coquette™ too.

IMG_7069_filtered_1I ran into friend Melissa Esplin tonight (I was trying to sneak into JoAnn’s looking pretty awful and got caught!), who inspired me to try and get all those great projects I’ve been hoarding up on my blog. I have a few months of back log (I know, I know, did I mention I’ve been busy?), and I’m going to do my best to get them rolling out so you can be inspired too. Oh ya, and you certainly will be seeing a post from me this weekend: I’ll be reporting from Quilt Market in Minneapolis. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends there and attending this amazing show for the first time. I’ll be sure to snap a lot of photos of my favs!

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Sewing with A Ruffler

I have to take a little minute to chit chat about my new Ruffler. This amazing little device can save you minutes, nay hours of hand-gathering! I got this little baby when I started working on a children’s pattern with an absurd amount of ruffles (I just can’t help it! I adore ruffles!). The ruffles are perfect (you can choose a ruffle at every 1, 6, or 12 stitches thereby also creating the most perfect pleat).

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If you are an avid sewer + ruffle-person (please tell me I’m not the only one out there), you would love this device (BTW, Bernina did not put me up to this…it is simply my own little obsession. Josh is tired of me pushing guests into my studio to show them how amazing it is!).

Just as a side note, the MeadowLark™ giveaway ends tomorrow! Be sure and enter by adding a comment in the post below!

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