The Princess and the Pea Necklace Tutorial

"ONCE upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones."

~Hans Christian Anderson

We have been playing Princess and the Pea around here lately....and as fun as the story is I do think that there is an important underlying theme.  No, it's not that they are going to feel a pea under 20 mattresses (a fun part of the story) but the fact that I do want my girlie to understand that even in wet, ragged or old clothes that she is still a real princess.

So, a princess and the pea necklace was in order....with the reminder that it's important to be who you really are.

 

I had most of the supplies on hand from other jewelry making crafts, but they can all be found at your local craft store.

 

You will need:

1 eye pin

1 jump ring

1 small green felted ball

1 package white polymer clay

metal stamping letters (or alphabet stamps)

ball and chain necklace

skinny pink ribbon

 

 

To make the pea charm.....

 

Step 1: Push an eye pin through the green felted ball and place jump ring through the eye pin as well.
Step 2: Twist eye pin around the jump ring to hold it securely in place.
Step 3: Place pea charm on your necklace.

And to make the "real princess" charm, I used the same process that I did back here in the cabochon tutorial....

 

Step 1:Roll out polymer clay.  Cut into desired size circle.

Step 2: Using metal stamping letters, stamp the letters into clay.

Step3: Using a toothpick, make a hole big enough to slip through your chain (I didn't make it quite big enough so I used another eye pin and jump ring....but either way works!)

Step 4: Bake polymer clay according to directions on package.

 

 

I glued on a skinny pink bow onto the pea charm ...and that's it, you are done!

 

PS---I am putting a few in the shop if anyone is interested (Hannie and I went a little nuts making them!)

The Princess and the Pea Quilt Tutorial (and a surprise!)

Today we are over at U Create sharing in their Summer Fat Quarter Series, with our peggie version of The Princess and the Pea. 

 

Come see the Peg Doll Story HERE

(but then you have to come back and see our other project.) 

Promise? 

 

 

And for all of you who know us, once we get a theme in our heads---we can't quite leave it alone.  So we made a quilt for our own little princesses to dream of their own story.

 

 I love this quilt.  It is simple....and made with scraps!  What's not to love about that?

I did take a few pictures of how I did it....so that you can make your own too.

 

 

First I cut 2" strips of the leftover fat quarters from the Peggie people story.  The fabric is Riley Blake's Willow line.

 

 

 

Then I graphed out what I wanted my quilt to look like and then cut each piece to the sizes on the graph.  The strips that were smaller than the full 12 inches have white scraps sewn onto each end to make a 12 inch long strip with all the mattress pieces.  After you have made each of your mattresses sew them altogether into one long strip.  You will need a 10 inch by 12 inch white piece on top of your mattresses to fill in above them as well.

 

My finished quilt size is 43 by 43 inches.

 

 

I then added the left piece of white broadcloth (21 inches) and the right piece as well (10 inches) and then pressed all the seams of the quilt top open.

 

 

I had Melissa do the quilting on it...and she did an amazing job.  She free-handed the white space with swirls to make it look like a dream and then she free-handed lines in the mattresses.  I actually told her to do whatever she wanted, because I totally trust her at her craft.  Isn't she the best?  (And you can mail her your quilts!!!  She really is amazing...)

 

 

All you have left is the binding....and you are done!

 

AND one more surprise.....we have yet ANOTHER Princess and the Pea craft tomorrow!!!! So be sure to come and see that one too...

 

P.S. linked up here and here

DIY PVC Pipe Princess Dress Rack---A How To

Ok...I know!

PVC Pipes and Princess Dresses...it's a weird project...really weird.

But I don't care. And my girls are crazy about it so it's what I'm sharing today.

 

Here's the story:

Awhile back Deborah from over at Sew Much To Give posted some hangers that she had made for her granddaughters princess dresses.  Then she hung those princess dresses on a low bar so the girls had easy access to the dresses.  It was brilliant.  And I wanted to do the same thing

 

However, I didn't have a great area or nook to place a low hanging bar.  BUT, I did have some PVC pipe (I always have some PVC pipe.)  And the in less than 20 minutes I had myself a PVC Princess dress rack.

 

Sure it's a little ghetto, but like I said earlier, I don't care and my girls love it.

Now instead of all their dresses in a pile in a toy chest they are hung up nice and neat right where they can see and get to them.  (And we've had this rack now for long enough for the newness to wear off and they are still keeping their dresses hung up and tidy.  It's pretty great.)

 

Plus, we literally have had at least one girl in a dress at all times since we built the thing.

(Which is fine by me.  These dresses were bought to be played in...not kept tucked away...at some point this might get annoying but I doubt I'll get tired of it anytime soon.  Play away I say!  Play, before you grow up and I'm wishing we had spent more time frivolously dressing up.)

If you want to make a PVC Princess Dress Rack all you'll need are:

*8, 90 degree elbow joints

*4 T joints

*4 pieces of pipe cut 38 inches (for the vertical bars)

*2 pieces of pipe cut at 13 inches (for stabilizer bars on at the bottom of your vertical bars)
*2 pieces of pipe cut at 2 inches (to put with the other stabilizer bar at the bottom of your vertical bars)

*4 pieces cut at 7 and 1/2 inches (for stabilizer bars at the top of your vertical bars...and a place to attach the horizontal bar to)

*2 pieces of pipe cut at 50 inches (one for the top horizontal bar to hang your dresses on and one for the bottom to help stabilize your rack)

 

One you have all your pieces cut...just stick them all together like giant tinker toys!
(The top photograph shows best how all the pieces fit together and it really is easy.)
 



Sure, it's not the fanciest princess dress display in town but it was fairly cheap, easy to make, and it does the trick.  And it makes my girls happy.  What more could I ask from 20 minutes worth of work?

-liZ

 

NOTE:  You don't need to make your horizontal bars a full 50 inches wide...we have an excessive amount of princess dresses here at our house.  Grace is on a quest to collect every princess dress under the sun and I wanted to give her enough room to be able to hang up her dresses by herself without it being too crowded.

 

PS---Don't forget to stop by tomorrow---we have a little princess project that we are freaking out about and FINALLY get to share...and WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

The Hexagon Quilt and Invisible Thread

The hexagon quilt is finally finished, washed and on its owners bed.  Yippeee!  I know you have seen this hexie one before (it's been a work-in-progress with the binding for awhile).  But, I am so happy with the way it turned out.

 

And I have a binding tip that maybe some of you already know (and you should have told me a long time ago)....but INVISIBLE THREAD is the bomb dot com (okay I never say that so I have no idea why I just wrote it).  But, it really is.

source

 

I found this trick out when I was sewing the baby coin quilt and didn't have the right color thread to match the coral color for hand-stitch the binding.  So, I made a quick trip to a big-box store that had thread and of course, they didn't have the right color either.  But, they did have invisible thread.....and it worked like a charm. 

 

I really am amazed at how little of the stitching you can see (only a sew-er would be amazed about that).  But it's true. I compared it to another quilt where I thought I was using perfectly matched thread....and I can still see a bit of the ladder stitches.  With the invisible thread......nada.zip.zero.

 

YAY for invisible thread, YAY for Friday...and thanks again for all your nice comments about the Vintage Sundress Pattern.  You are all the nicest.....

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Elizabeth

The Vintage Sundress Pattern

Today we are over at We All Sew sharing our Vintage Sundress Pattern that I have been working on behind the scenes for awhile now, and I am very excited to be sharing it with all of you today.

 

I feel like this dress is kind of a momentous occasion around here (even though it's really not--I am totally being dramatic) but is the first time that I patterned-drafted completely from scratch for more than one size.  I think I tested it about 8 or 10 times and although I am still nervous that I've made the tutorial so it is easy and understandable for all sewing levels....I am hoping that it will be a fun pattern and a good fit for so many little girls. 

 

( So why am I still so nervous?  I think I just hope people will like it...)

 

The sundress was inspired by a 1950's summer of sun, root beer floats and lazy days at the lake.  It has a lined bodice with fully encased seams and bias tape armholes that make it a perfect fit for lots of ages and sizes. The back has buttons all the way down and I think it adds a cute detail.  I also absolutely adore a full skirt and this one is no exception.  It is full and fluffy and has the perfect twirling capabilities. 

 

And one other thing that I love in patterns is versatility.  Luckily I can totally see this dress made in every fabric from a beautiful white eyelet, to a satin flower girl dress with a big wide sash and everything in between.  They would all be so darling!  And it will also be perfect for a hot July night and just as darling with a tee under it for the cooler months of the year.

 

The pattern is free (our favorite kind!) and comes in girls sizes 3-8.  You can get the pattern for The Vintage Sundress here...

Thanks to the pattern testers who helped fix a couple issues in the tutorial....and thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for supplying the fabric, which is one of the softest cottons I have ever felt.  It is so amazing.

 

And a big thank you to all of you....who just keeping coming around here everyday.....I am just still amazed sometimes that you keep popping over.  So, thanks.

 

Ok, enough Academy Awards.....you need the pattern.  It is a downloadable PDF so you can print it out and begin sewing today (or make a trip to your favorite fabric shop for just the right material!)

 

Have a great sewing day!

 

~Elizabeth

 

P.S.  If any of you sew it....I really would love to see them.  Will you email me a picture or two (or a link)? 

 

Aprons for Mom & Me & Little Sister: And a Toddler Apron Pattern and Tutorial

Hello.

This week I was busy making my girls and I some aprons.  I liked the idea of making us something that all matched (Gracie is really into all of us matching) but not having them all look exactly the same.  

This is what I came up with:

Today I'm sharing the tutorial for Gracie's ruffled apron over at Riley Blake Designs and here I am sharing the pattern and tutorial for Ruth's toddler style apron.

 

As for mine...I can't post a tutorial yet.  After I finished up I realized it would be much cuter with a blue cherry pocket on the side so until that is finished we'll just talk about the two girls aprons.

 

To print out the pattern for Ruth's apron just scroll down to the end of this post and you will find the link. 

(I made it in two different sizes a 2-3T for Ruth and then I also made a 4-5T size for Grace so you can just print out which ever size you'd like.)

 

Once you have your pattern printed out cut out your apron and your pocket.

(The pocket is not included on the pattern but it is 15" wide by 5" tall.)

It should look like this:

 

Now fold the top and bottom hem of your apron back 1/4 of an inch and iron.

 

Next fold it back one more time iron and top stitch.

Now repeat that same process on the top and bottom edges of your soon to be pocket.

 

Next pin your pocket onto your apron about 2 inches from the bottom.

Sew along the top stitching line you made on the bottom of your pocket to attach the pocket piece to the apron. 

Now sew 2 straight lines from the bottom of your pocket to the top of your pocket.  (Each of these lines should be between 3 and 4 inches in from the sides of your apron.

 

And finally repeat the process that you followed on the top and bottom hems of the apron but this time do it to each side.

 

All that is left to do now is to attach the ties.

For this I used a package of red, double fold bias tape.

 

Put the middle of entire length of bias tape at the middle of the top of your apron.  Then measure about 8 inches on each side of the bias tape middle and pin it to the top edges of your apron.

 

Have the bias tape follow down the curve of the arm holes and then pin at the edge.  (Make sure the fabric of the apron is sandwiched in between the fold of the bias tape.)

 

Starting at the end of the bias tape sew the bias tape closed and continue sewing it together up around the arm holes, over the neck, down the other arm and off the end of the other side.

 And you are finished!

It really is one of those 30 minute projects!

 

*****

Now...here is where I'd planned to show you some adorable photographs of me and my girls in our aprons.  However....

 

This is the best photo that we got:

 ...which was quickly followed by a melt down when Ruth realized that Grace was wearing a hat that she wasn't...

 ...and couldn't be comforted...even when Grace gave her the hat...so her Dad took her to go find a banana in the kitchen...

 

...meanwhile I tried to take some photos of Grace by herself.

 

Unfortunately, right at that moment she had just finished announcing that;

"Look!  I'm The Little Mermaid!"

 And thought she was HILARIOUS.

After that it was all over.

 

Between the uncontrollable giggling,

and the angry baby chef in the kitchen

I realized that my vision of me with my domestic darlings was going to have to stay just that...a vision.

 

Oh well, maybe we'll try again when I redo my apron.

Until then you can make your own aprons...and send me the photos if they turn out better than mine.

(And really, how could they NOT turn out better than mine?)

 

So, to make Gracie's ruffled apron head on over to Riley Blake Designs for the full tutorial.

And to make one of Ruth's Toddler Aprons you can print out

The APRON pattern HERE.

 

Have a great Wednesday everyone and in the spirit of Grace and her spoons:

Thanks for letting us...be part of your world!

-liZ



The Art of Homemaking: Focus on the Significant



I ran across this quote the other day.

I think it was meant for me.

 

It's what I'm working on.

(What our whole family is working on actually.)

 

There are so many distractions...and obligations...and commitments...and things to do that sometimes it's easy to confuse what is going on with what is significant. 

And I don't want to miss what matters most.

Especially with those who are the most significant.

Here's to hoping that I can find some wisdom and clarity....
Have a happy Tuesday everyone.

-liZ