Organic Wooden Teething Rings

These bad boys are just too cute!  I started making them about a month ago and they're doing really well in the shop.  Made from 100% untreated, natural maple hardwood and sanded smooth for babies gums, these organic wooden teething rings make a great gift!  The fabric bunny ears are also organic cotton and backed with organic flannel.  My little chica bonita loves playing with these!  (Although, I think she prefers chewing and sucking on the fabric more the gnawing on the wooden ring but, hey!  That's ok too, right!?)  

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{TUTORIAL} - Reversible Car Seat Strap Covers

Here's a fun and easy tutorial for a rainy day.  Reversible Car Seat Strap Covers!  They're great for protecting your tike's sensitive skin and they look super cute too!  You can choose all sorts of different fabric but I like one side with a decorative cotton and the other side with either minky or chenille.  The minky gives them a decent thickness and I've made these with or without extra padding and both seem to do the job just fine.  For the purpose of this tutorial however, I will show you how to do it with a layer of batting in the middle.  

What You Will Need:

*2 pieces quilting cotton measuring 8"x5 1/2" each

*2 pieces of minky or chenille (or coordinating quilting cotton - whatever you choose) of the same dimensions as above

*2 pieces of fleece interfacing or quilt batting of the same dimensions as above

*velcro - 2 pieces, each about 4" long

*thread

*sewing machine

1. When the straps are complete, they measure about 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 for infant size and about 2 1/2 by 5 1/2 for toddler size.  I made my own pattern which you can download here, or just measure.  The template is roughly 8"x 5 1/2".  I like to cut my patterns from tagboard so it's easy to store and reuse them.  This template is for infant size.  If you want to make them a little bigger for a toddler, just add an extra inch to the short side.  

 2.  Now, trace your template onto your cotton fabric, and cut out two pieces.  Repeat this step for the batting.

 3.  If you're good at sewing with minky, cut your fabric exactly the size of the template.  If you've never sewed with minky, it can be a little bit tricky.  It's stretchy, and has a tendency to curl and pull back on you while your sewing so, I cut my minky a little bit bigger than my other pieces and trim off the excess after I've sewed all the pieces together.  This allows for a little room for error.  See picture below for an example.

 4.  All your pieces should be cut.  Now, it's time to make some fabric sandwiches!

 5.  Fuse your interfacing to the cotton piece according to manufacturer's instructions.  Some you can iron on, others you just sew together.  This particular brand that I am using you just sew.  Place wrong side of cotton on top of batting, as shown below.

 6.  Then take the minky piece and place right side of minky against right side of cotton with the batting.   Pin pieces together.  Minky also likes to slide around while you sew it, so it's a good idea to pin about every inch and a half.  I just pin each side and it does the job.

 7.  Now, with a 1/2" seam allowance, sew sides together leaving about a three inch opening for turning.

 8.  Trim off the extra minky.

 9.  Turn inside out and use a chopstick to poke out the corners.

 10.  Fold in the opening, pin together if necessary, then topstitch the opening closed, and continue topstitching the rest of the way around.

 11.  Now, for the velcro.  Sew one strip to the cotton side and the other strip to the minky side.  This makes them reversible!  Make sure they line up before sewing them on.  Again, pins are good.  I made this strap and the velcro on the minky side is a little too far in from the edge, as shown in the second picture below.

 12.  And, voila!  Repeat the process for the second strap and you're done!

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Nursing Clips

This is a new item in the shop.  I love these things!  They're such a great way to streamline that bulky diaper bag.  Attach it to a burp cloth, a swaddle blanket or even a cloth napkin at a restaurant and voila!  Instant nursing cover. Pin It Now!

Present for Grandpa

Well, the weather won yesterday.  It rained all day so, my little photo project got put on hold.  It was however, my father-in-law's birthday and I thought it would be fun to try and sew up a little gift for him.  But the question all morning was, what?  I searched the worldwide web for a little inspiration and came across this great idea over at Sew Fantastic.  A soft case for his shades!  First, I had to go through my fairly juvenile, slightly girly fabric stash and find something Grandpa-appropriate.  I came across some fat quarter scraps by Joel Dewberry that fit the bill.  This tutorial is very well written with nice, crisp pictures so it was easy to follow.  The only tricky part for me was topstitching the pouch opening.  I didn't do the most stellar job but, it came out pretty well.

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More Bibs and Brighter Photos

I finally edited some of my  photos to make a much brighter background.  I've noticed that when you're scouring through listings on Etsy, the ones I usually end up clicking on are items against bright, white, backgrounds with no other distractions in the photo.  I haven't had a chance to apply them to the shop yet, as I know it's going to take me hours to do all the edits.  I think it will be a really good thing in the end though.  After all, lets face it, the better your photos in Etsy, the better your sales.  

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Bibs

I've been trying to get these bad boys listed in the Etsy shop for a while now.  I'm having a hard time with my photos.  I can't seem to get enough light and certain fabrics always seem to give me trouble.  I've tried a light box and I'm still not satisfied.  This last series I shot outside on the patio over a piece of tagboard.  They came out fairly well but I would still like an even lighter background.  I see a lot of people photographing their cute handmade goods hanging from clothespins on a line, or against a fence or a distressed wooden door.  I have to admit, I like that look and am considering giving it a shot, even though I think it's pretty played out.  Natural light is certainly the best way to capture the trueness of fabric.  We have a great yard here in Kailua and I think tomorrow we'll have some fun with these kinds of pictures.

In the meantime, I've started a Flickr account.  I've been messing with their editing program Aviary, and can now create mosaics using Big Huge Labs.  You can see the start of my photostream here.  I'm still getting organized so don't judge me!

I've also added "Wicked Awesome" up there in the right margin of this blog.  This, of course, is in the spirit of my friends from Boston.  If you see something wicked awesome in the worldwide sewing web, send me the link and I'll feature it.  This button changes frequently! 

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Journal Covers

For over a week now, I've been obsessing over these journal covers I saw at Stitched in Color the other day.  Not a horrible first attempt.  The sizing turned out perfectly thanks to the tutorial.  I'm just not super stoked on my scrap selection or my patchwork job.  Anyhow, here's a shot of it.  They're made to go over one of those hard-covered, black and white composition notebooks.  Cute!  I think I'd like to make some for Christmas gifts this year.  Such a great idea ...

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