Twin Baby Quilts

Now that my sister has had her baby shower (not to mention her girls!) I can finally show you the quilts I made for my nieces.

They both look like this:


You'll notice there are 3D yellow flowers in the top right and bottom left corners. I made each quilt the same but made one with yellow flowers and one with pink flowers:

That way they could tell their quilts apart from the front. The yellow flower one is backed in yellow snuggle fleece and the pink flower one is backed in pink.

They each have jumbo white rick-rack as a border in the front:


The fabric comes from the Lucy Fun Flowers collection by Lakehouse. I just love the happy, bright colors. The fleece was thick enough that I didn't have to use any batting. And I followed the tutorial for machine binding found here. If you are interested in trying to make a quilt, the Basic Quilt Along Series at Make and Takes is a great start. It's written by Amy of Diary of a Quilter and she is a great teacher! Quilting is really not hard once you get the hang of it and I encourage even novice sewers to give it a try. Make a table runner or a small wall hanging first so you don't get overwhelmed.

For these quilts I adapted a pattern that came with my new Flying Geese Ruler. I basically cut it in half and then added borders.

Halloween Costume: Part III - the Finale

Hermione Granger is finally complete! I spent the entire afternoon and evening of the Thursday before Halloween making her wizard robe. I used McCall's pattern 3789:
We did View B but I changed it up a bit. I didn't add the hood and I made it one piece in front (you can't tell from the pattern's photo, but the front of the robe is open). It took a little thinking on my part - something I don't enjoy, ha ha. But it turned out great and "Hermione" is happy:

Although she could also pass for a choir girl or a federal judge....

But for us, it's Hermione Granger with a purple wand and pink glitter shoes!


(And her personal copy of Hogwarts: A History.)

Halloween Costume: Part II

Hermione needed a Griffindor tie for her costume. Unfortunately, Harry Potter is not as popular commercially as it once was so it was impossible to find gold and maroon striped fabric to make the tie. I had to get creative.

I ended up purchasing a half-yard (more than I needed) of maroon cotton sateen and a spool of gold grossgrain ribbon. I figured I'd adhere the ribbon to the fabric to make stripes. Yes, I'm crazy. But it did work. Here's how I did it all:

I started by following the Little Tie Tutorial from Sewing in No Man's Land. I made my pattern on a piece of wrapping paper, cut it out and then pinned it to the fabric:

I ended up cutting it out with pinking shears to prevent any fraying. Now it was time to make the stripes. I cut a bunch of strips of Heat N Bond the same width as my ribbon:


Then ironed them to the fabric:

I cut off the excess so I wouldn't gum up my iron and ironing board. Then I removed the paper backing and ironed the ribbon on. For some reason I didn't take a photo...? Anyway, it was time to hem the bottom of the tie. I deviated from the tutorial and simply folded over the bottom, pinned it:

and sewed it together with a 1/4-inch seam allowance:


I did the same thing on the other side and then turned them right sides out and pressed:


The next step was to sew the back seam:


Then turn it right-side out and press:


Then, following the tutorial, I made a neck band with a strip of the sateen and some velcro. I followed the instructions for turning the tie, but because my fabric was so stiff with the ribbon, I didn't get the look I was going for:

No neat little knot at top. So. I scrapped that idea and did this instead:


Gasp! I just cut up all my hard work! But it's okay. I took that middle section and turned in the raw edges like so:


Then I threaded the neck band through it and tacked it in place with a few stitches:


Then I turned it over and tacked the tie at that back center seam:

And folded the bottom in half and tacked that in place:


And when you turn it around you have the illusion of a windsor knot:


Much better!