Sew special gift

The story of my increased interest in sewing begins a while back.  I think it really all began with my obsession with Pinterest, thanks to a creative and fun blogger I follow, over at Whatever, for introducing me to it!

I found a fun way to turn knee high adult socks into leg warmers.  Since Olivia was just starting dance, this sounded like a fun project.  At the time I didn't have a sewing machine, so I just brought the socks over to my Mother in Law's house and she did it for me.  Seeing my interest in learning to sew she brought me one of her old machines she wasn't using anymore.



Cute, huh?  I loved the retro look and blue color!  I didn't love that it didn't come with an owner's manual, although Pat found one for me on-line.  I managed pretty well, although had some trouble a time or two and set it to the side for a while since I didn't know how to fix it.

A few weeks later, Pat said he had an early Christmas gift for me.  It was a surprise since we hadn't exchanged Christmas gifts since our first Christmas together in an effort to save some money.  He had me sit on the couch and close my eyes.  He brought it up from the basement and set it on my lap.  I was so excited and totally surprised!  He had done some research (talked with his mom), and found a great model.  It added fuel to my fire with wanting to learn more.

I've started simple, finding inspiration and awesome tutorials on Pinterest.  First: leg warmers, for Olivia and a few as Christmas gifts.  Then came baby bibs, both made from fabrics and up-cycling some of Pat's old t-shirts.  These are some of my favorites because they cost less to make, recycle, and have more personality to them!

I just made two like this today to donate to our church.  With the church festival this weekend they ask for donations of homemade goods to sell.

Having craft days with a few college girlfriends, it has given me a chance to expand my projects a bit more.  Recently I made this painting smock for Olivia. 

And I made this simple bag for her.  It's used for everything from a candy bag at parades, to toting around her dolls and things when she plays pretend.

One day this July I came across this idea for up-cycling again.  I took an outfit Olivia wore when she was 6 months old and made it into a winter hat.  (I adored that outfit and was sad when she outgrew it, so was happy to give it another purpose!)  (Winter hat making in the middle of July- Great idea, yes?)

I wish I took a picture of it prior to the cutting, but you get the idea.

I've been ready to challenge myself, so I tackled a pillow case dress for Olivia.  I just finished, but don't have a photo ready to share quite yet.  I'm sure she'll be wearing it soon!  To match, I made her baby doll a skirt too.
Finally, I have been oogeling over the camera strap covers on etsy.  The fun thing about sewing is that I hear myself saying "I could totally make that myself!"  And I did!  There is so much satisfaction that comes from trying something new, and succeeding.  Now I'm no pro.  And I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable selling my work, but I can see whipping up more to make as gifts.

This has been a fun new hobby, and I'm already excited about what I want to try next!