TV stand

What a great thing to do on a rainy afternoon...building a TV stand! Our dvd box needed to be closer to our TV and our bedroom door for the wifi to reach it good if our door was shut. So, I decided to go ahead and made a tv stand for us! I had some left over wood from the stage project that was still in great condition, and just happen to be just the right height! It was a pretty straight forward project. here is what I did:

1. made sure the wood was a good height to use and got two of those pieces.
2. I made sure I had at least 2 more pieces that were the same length for the top and bottom. 3. I made cleats for the shelves to sit on
4. I made sure I had 2 pieces of wood just slightly shorter than the top and bottom so they would fit between the sides.
5. I sanded the hole project.
6. I stained the whole piece :) 

Check it out! It really was as simple as screwing 4 pieces of wood together! I made sure to use 4 inch flush mount wood screws for the sides and put 3 in each connection. The stain is called Cabernet, which is a very dark brown/almost black color. I love the finished product!!

Here's to the next project :)

Christmas pajama pants and picture dress for school!

Wow, I have not written in quite some time on my sewing blog! I have, however, been buy making things :)

Below I have a pair of pajama pants I made for my daughter along with a dress I made for her for school pictures. 

The pants were super easy. I grabbed a pair she already had and made an outline on the fabric I wanted to use. I was sure to make it longer than her current ones so I could create the hem at the top and bottom. Then I cut out a two pieces. One at a time I folded a piece and then sewed down the side, but not up the curve or at the top. Then I repeated this step on the other piece. Once I had two leg pieces, I put one inside the other and sewed along the curve (crotch) area. this sews the pants together. Then I folded over the top of the pants and sewed almost all the way around, leaving a small undone opening where I stuck in the elastic. I measured the elastic about 1.5 inches smaller than her waist so it would stretch.  Once it was threaded in I closed up the hole! Done :)

The dress wasn't too bad, but again I started with a dress she already had and made a pattern on the fabric I wanted to use. I wanted this dress lined, so I also put the pattern on white fabric for the inside lining. I turned the whole dress inside out (all 4 pieces) with the outside fabric facing each other and then white on top of each of them. I sewed down each side and stopped at the shoulder straps. I used ribbon to make her straps, so I tucked in the ribbon at the desired length for her and finished sewing the tops on all 4 pieces (2 fronts and 2 backs). I went around the dress with a ribbon for an accent last and tied a bow on the front, but it was held on by a pin just in case she ripped it off! Last I made sure the hem was clean at the bottom of the dress and I was done :) 

These two were quick projects I did in one day. If you want to do something super quick and easy for kids in your life, try these out! Let me know if you have any questions! Here's to the next project :)

Puzzle Holder

So, Khloe decided that she wanted something to put all of her puzzles in. I decided, hey why not make her something! So, I began to conceptualize what a puzzle holder would look like. I thought about it for several days and once she was gone for a weekend I got to it! Here is what I did:

First: I counted the puzzles she has, that came to 25! Then, I had to decide how big to make each pocket I wanted to make. I gathered her largest puzzle and put the pieces under a portion of the material and measured and got a base for a large square. I drew it out as you can see below. 

Then I got to measuring. I made sure my inside and outsides would match when I put the batting in the middle. 

 After I had my large inside piece, I used my two smaller outside pieces along with the spine and sewed them together as you can see below.

Then, I cut out all of the squares for the puzzle holders. 

After that, I carefully laid out the holders to be sure they would all fit the way I wanted them to. Once they were good, I sewed some elastic at the top of each holder so it would squeeze together at the top. 

 Once that was done, I placed the buttons I wanted to use at the top of each holder and sewed them on. 

And then, viola! I had an excited little girl and huge puzzle holder!

FYI, one holiday later this became too small! Here's to the next project :)

Kneeling Pillows

So, it was brought to my attention that kneeling pillows would be nice for recruitment. "April, you can sew, can you make them?" Sure, why not! And off I went! Fabric was ordered, thankfully it came in a bolt! I ordered some great industrial grade compression foam!I got the tops monogrammed, and then went to work sewing three of the 4 sides first, then stuffing the foam into the pouch, then hand stitching the last side! Yes, I just said hand stitching!

The foam was ordered from http://www.foamforyou.com. We got the 3 inch thick compression foam cut in the shape of a diamond, 8 inches by 14 inches. And we ordered 60 of them! So, here is what I did:

I put the diamond foam piece on the fabric and determined my needed extra space to sew, which was an extra 1/2 all around. I am glad I did not cut all of the fabric at this point because that was not enough! The foam did NOT give at all once stuffed in, so I lost some precious space on being able to tuck under the raw side and sew the last side by hand.  Here is the beautiful fabric!And here is the foam on it :)

 My next step was to cut all my tops and get them straight to the embroiderer for the letters to go on them! This took seemingly forever! Once I got them, I could finish cutting the bottoms. Then, I placed outside to outside and pined it together and sewed 3 edges. I tried to make the hand sewn edge an edge facing an active instead of a potential new member (recruitment talk) so the new person could not see the seam.  

My goal was to sew all sides and then stuff all foam so that only the hand stitching was left. So, I began to have stacks upon stacks of almost completed kneeling pillows! Here are some on my table!

 

Once I got the foam stuffed in as far as I could I would pulled together the last two sides for hand stitching. You can see above my open piece and then the pinned together hand sewn part. I literally sewed until my fingers bled! But, I was all worth it! Once I was done, i would make sure all sides were tucked in, as you can see below. The edge that stuck out I literally tucked into the side to make it look seamless. 

Then, I was done! The completed pillows are awesome looking and were greatly appreciated at recruitment! Check them out! I LOVE them!! And I would do them again if asked ;)

Here's to the next project! Happy Sewing!

April

I built a stage!

So, to go along with what I am capable of, for recruitment I was also asked if I could build the ladies a stage. I of course said, "Sure, why not!" So, I embarked on stage building!

They needed a 14' by 7' stage. There would be nowhere to keep something that big, so I decided to do 2 rows of boxes. Each box was 3.5' by 3.5' Luckily, Home Depot or Lowe's will cut your wood for you! I could have done it at home, but it helped to not have to cut all of that!I cut 2x12's into my square pieces: 40 inch long. Then, I used 3/4 in plywood for the top and had 8' sheets cut in half. I knew I would need to cut the 4' x 4' sheets smaller, but I waited and did that at home. Check out all that lumber in my truck!

Here is a square in action. Since I got all 4 pieces the same size, I was able to put them on top of each other all the way around. Meaning I did not have 2 sides longer and 2 sides smaller. This way, they created a better support for the box without having to make cross sections in the middle. Khloe liked to "help" me make the squares :)

A few squares turned into a lot and before I knew it, I was ready to lay the top on. But, I noticed that once I jumped around on it, it really needed support down the middle of each square. So, I decided to do 20'' on center with a support beam.

 

Once I got all of the support beams done, I was ready to cut the top pieces. I measured them individually, just in case, and then numbered each box with each top piece. I also used the plastic Velcro to adhere the tops to the boxes. That stuff is expensive, but amazing! It keps everything in place! 

The girls were so excited! Check out that finished stage :) I think I am getting pretty handy with my tools! For those who want to know, after all of the wood, screws, and Velcro this project cost (for materials only) $543. I did not charge for labor, but I can really see how price can escalate quickly!

Here's to another great project! happy sawing y'all!

April

A bookshelf for Khloe

I have been vigorously cleaning out Khloe's room lately and I decided that it was more than over due time to finally build her the bookshelf I told her I would build. I thought for a long time on what it would look like, just like I do with sewing projects.

So, here is what I did:

I measured the spot I wanted to put the bookshelf
I measured her tallest book (Her closet has shelves and the tall one was 13 inches in the interior and plenty tall enough for her biggest book)
I decided on the wood width of the shelves
I decided on the design of the bookshelf (I knew I wanted it to be more open than an all enclosed bookshelf)

I decided on:

1x6 shelves that had a miter on the ends to give it more of an Asian feel
The bookshelf being approximately 55 inches tall (later I am going to put her Directv box and Blue-ray player on the top shelf and mount her TV above the bookshelf; that is where I got the height from...so it won't be uncomfortable for her to still watch TV)
I wanted the 2 lower shelves to be 13 inches apart for big books and the the top 2 to be 8 inches apart for small books
I wanted to use the paint I already had and since her furniture is mostly black, I went with black. This meant that I would need polyurethane to protect the color and our carpet!

Since I have been doing so much wood work lately, I decided to invest in a "saw-horse". This one below holds the wood for cutting and can hold a project in place for hammering and such. Underneath it is my new saw I bought about a month ago! I sure do love my power tools! 

Once I had my pieces cut, I sanded them with 220 sand paper. You will notice the pink wood below; this is wood left over from the treasure box project. I decided to use some small pieces for feet for the bookshelf. I used beautiful wood...so don't hate me for painting it black!!

Once I had all of the pieces painted, I took them to the garage to poly them.The smell was getting to me and I already did not feel good. Plus it was colder outside and it would dry faster out there. I added this step because my paint was a flat finish (paint I used for the pallet chairs). I got a semi-gloss in the poly and only put one coat on the wood. I am not a high-gloss kind of gal! 

Once I had the base done I went ahead and put the feet on it. This is the only part where I used screws. I used the self-taping screws like I did with the treasure box, but I got shorter ones (1 1/2 inches). Here are the screws I used. I got them at Lowes, but their website is not being nice and letting me select what I actually have. I bought the square head ones that are 8x 1-1/2''. 

Next, I tried to decide what kind of pattern I wanted to make with the supports. Below are the 2 options. I decided on the bottom one and then...I started thinking...how was I going to nail the next layer on if all of the shelves were exactly the same (in other words, if the supports were lined up). Answer: I wasn't!

After completing the above picture, I realized the dilemma and stopped for the night. This morning, feeling much better, I knew I had to change the pattern every other shelf. I also realized that every store-bought bookshelf I have ever put together (and there have been many) it was always built upside down! That was my *Duh* moment number 1! (Yes I numbered that because, yes, there were more) So, I started from the top and attached the supports to each section and then attached the sections together. Here are the nails I used. They are awesome...they say they don't bend...they lie...I can bend them! But they hold really well! Seriously, check out the link...it says so on the box! I also used  them in the treasure box. This first picture is the very top section. I flipped it over and then added the second shelf to it and so on...

Then...Voila! I flipped it over and it was complete! Notice it fits perfectly under the TV in our room...but, alas, this one is for Khloe :)

Below is her bookshelf in her room. After I finished it I realized that I should have used a center support on the second and fourth selves to create natural bookends. It's okay though, she absolutely LOVES her bookshelf! She is reading more now than she has been...why...because she can SEE her books!

Annnnnnd, my *Duh* number...well, we will just skip to my last *Duh* moment. If you think, "It would be dumb if..." then it probably will happen! See...

This is what happens when you are holding the wood while hammering and think, "It would be really dumb if I nicked my hand with this hammer." Yes April, it would be very dumb! At least I got all meat and no bone. It squished my skin and it broke in those 2 places. It actually doesn't hurt...but after hitting my index finger and my thumb I decided that this was kind of the ultimate *Duh* move! 

Happy New Year everyone! Remember, you can do any project you "put your mind to" as long as you are dedicated enough to actually do it!

Children's Blankets

Khloe asked me to make her a blanket a few months back. So, I did...then she said, "Mommy, you should make one for my friends at school!" Thus, the idea was born to make these little tykes blankets for Christmas! Including her I had 16 to do...not too bad...until I realized with cutting, pinning, sewing, flipping, ironing, closing-in, and top stitching it would be roughly an hour per blanket! So, mid-October I started with asking the parents I knew what their kid liked and the ones I didn't get to ask I asked the teacher to ask the child. After I had the character/colors they liked, I went on the hunt...and when I say hunt, I mean hunt! It took me days to find some of these prints! I had no idea that Thomas the Train was considered "vintage" fabric!

After a few weeks of searching it was time to purchase. I made a Google documents with the children's names, their color, their character, order date, ship date, received date, and made date! I would NEVER remember who had what color or which princess fabric if I had not written it down...but you better believe Khloe remembered! I tried to get all different fabric so none of the kids had the exact same thing. With that said, there are about 3 Spiderman blankets, 4 princess blankets, and others but none are the same...only some have the same color on the back in minky fabric (so soft!).

I tried to find as many panels as I could so that I did not have to cut that fabric any more, but basically I put the character fabric (face down) on top of the minky fabric (face up) and matched the selvage edges to get a straight line. Some fabric I had to straighten up and then cut out. Each blanket is about 36'' x 44''. Once I got all of the fabric in I immediately washed it all! I wanted it to preshrink if it was going to before I cut it and I wanted to make sure the fabric I ordered was clean before I gave it to anyone! 

Naturally, I did Khloe's blanket first just in case I made any mistakes. In the beginning, I cut each blanket and sewed it one at a time. However, once I had 10 blankets left, I decided to go ahead and cut all of the fabric and then roll the two pieces of each together and set it aside until I had to sew it. It took me an hour and a half to cut all of the fabric for 10 blankets! Goodness, it was taking me an hour to do just one complete blanket before this point! After that, I could sew, iron, and finish a blanket in about 25 minutes...maybe I got better at cutting and faster at sewing! 

So, without further ado...here are the blankets! 

Below is the fabric after washing and ready for sewing! Laying there is doesn't look like much...

Here is Khloe's blanket. I put outside facing outside with the minky on the bottom. Then I pinned the fabric in place and sewed all the way around 3 sides and then almost to the end of the 4th side. 

Then, I flipped the blanket right side out through the hole and ironed the seams down to prepare for my top stitch. Below is the hole I flipped the fabric through. I had to finish it on top. 

 Here is my top stitch when I was done. It makes for a nice edge and helps to keep the fabric in place :)

And finally, here is my helper/model! She LOVES her blanket!

 Here are the last 10 blankets I had to do. I cut them all and then rolled them together to prepare for sewing. 

And...here are the other 15 blankets I did for her class!

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

  

  

 

 

 

I have 2 left at this point! I will upload them after tonight when I finish them. Their party is tomorrow and I want them to be done by then :)

Here they are, the last 2! I hope they have a great day today at their party and enjoy these blankets for years to come :)

 

 

Below I have all of the blankets ready to go to the kids! I have already given one blanket to a little girl because she moved this month, but here are the other 15!

Here's to the next project! Happy Sewing!

April