Really Ugly Dress

So this was my first sewing project I made with my new sewing machine. I was so excited to make something I couldn't even breathe. I bought a couple books on sewing, but since I hate reading manuals, I had to jump right in to make something, anything.

I decided to make Mila Monster a dress using an old Marimekko fabric that I had.

I used an old beat up t-shirt from my husband to make a ruffly trim. This t-shirt was so old, it had holes everywhere.

Here's a closeup on the ruffly trim.

And here's a photo of Mila Monster looking like, "Get me out of this god awful dress."

I'm sorry Mila. I promise my next attempt will be after I've read a few chapters in my sewing books.

First attempt... embarrassing!

Fun Stockings

Ever since Jackie posted the library bag she made for Graham on Designing Moms, I've been thinking about a fun-with-felt project. I went to the fabric store and decided that I would make some fun stockings. My new favourite colour combo for Christmas this year is red and grey. I happened to find this gorgeous grey Italian fabric from their scrap bin, so I was giddy to start this project.

I wanted the stockings to have an elf toe rather than the traditional round toe. So I made a template for myself. Anyone is free to use this template. Just print to the size you want, pin to fabric and cut. Sew around the stocking, but leave the top open so you can fill it with goodies.

I made Mila Monster's stocking out of the red felt.

Kiril and my stockings are made from the italian grey fabric. I cut out the first letters of our names in a "times roman" font. Although my current favourite font is "eurostile", I wanted a serif font for this look.

I hope I get some nice surprises in my stocking. Fingers crossed.

Twisted Cinnamon Bread

Yum! Have to make again.

A - Pillow

Our friends Laura and John just had a baby girl named Athena. They live in Park City so we haven't had the chance to meet her yet, but based on photos Athena looks like a stunner. I decided to make her a little A-pillow. Athena's room colours are predominantly pink and green so I found these really great Japanese fabric in those colours.

Since I'm new to sewing this pillow is a little wonky... a buckle here, a lump there. But I don't think Athena will know the difference.

I also made a card with the left over fabric.

In fact this card was so much fun to make, I made a few more. Idea from Made.

I also made some matching envelopes.

Next time I will take better photos with a real camera rather than these horrible snap shots from my iphone.

Sock Kitty

I recently also made a sock kitty for our downstairs neighbors' daughter, Marginitte. She just turned one year old, so this was her birthday present.

This kitty was made from a pair of Marginitte's socks.

Sock Dog

Last week, I made a sock dog for my friend Lauren's son Dylan's first birthday. I got the idea from this great book called Sock and Glove. I plan to make another sock animal for the birthday of the baby downstairs, Marganitte.

I took a pair of my husband's tennis socks (which he was not happy about as these are his favourite socks.)

Cut, snip, sew, and stuff with cotton.

Crazy Octopus Costume

To kick start my Shin-Made blog. I'm posting about a Halloween costume that I made for Mila.

This was also featured on Designing Moms.

I made this costume days before Halloween. I had originally decided to skip Halloween this year. But one morning, I woke up and looked at Mila and thought, “I can’t deny Mila her very first Halloween. “ Of course, my husband Kiril added more quilt by saying to me, “You’re creative, why don’t you just make her something? ”

So I immediately sprang into a DIY baby costume frenzy. What could I make with materials that I already have at home and complete the project in one afternoon? I only have one day off, so a quick project is key.

I decided to make Mila an octopus costume (an idea I borrowed heavily from the October issue of Parents Magazine).

MATERIALS:

Four pairs of tights or socks. I used two baby tights and two pairs of adult knee and thigh highs. I decided to use the light blue pair for Mila to actually wear and the others will be her 6 additional legs.

I found this belt laying around that my friend Marie brought back from Paris. I thought that the colourful rivets were perfect for the tentacle suction cups.

If you want to make this costume at home and you don’t happen to have a French belt with rivets, here is your chance to use up all those extra buttons that come with sweaters and jackets. I think using buttons will achieve a very fun DIY look. Of course, pieces of cut out round felt will work too.

I also used a black ribbon, a long sleeve onesie, hot glue gun, lots of cotton balls, and a needle and thread.

STEPS:

First I cut the longer tights and socks to match the length of the actual tights Mila will be wearing.

I kept the waist top from the tights for a future project.

Then I cut the ends to pointy ends and sewed the seams from the inside. Of course don’t alter the tights that your baby will wear.

Then I stuffed the 6 legs with cotton balls. I couldn’t find batting in the art supply store nearby (which would have been preferable) so I hand shredded a ton of cotton balls. After stuffing the tights and socks, I sewed up the tops to close the openings.

Next I cut all the rivets off the belt and kept the buckle for a future project.

I then hot glued all the rivets to the legs to create the suction cups. After cutting off the blue bows, I sewed the pieces onto the light blue tights because I didn’t want the hot glue to itch her legs. I used 8 rivets per leg and had two rivets left over.

Then I measured Mila’s waist to determine the length of ribbon needed. Her waist is 17”. Imagine having a 17” waist?

I used masking tape and mapped out the 17” on the ribbon and added about 10“ to each side of the 17” for a total length of 37”.

Next I sewed all the legs onto the ribbon making sure that the legs stayed within the 17” outlined by the masking tape.

Remember the waist top from the tights? I decided to turn it into a hat for this costume. I sew on a couple pieces of white felt and added the remaining two rivets for eyes. I pulled at the leg openings to curl them back slightly.

I dressed her in a black long sleeve onesie. This one is from Imps and Elfs. The buttons spell out "LOVE". Tie the ribbon around her waist, add the hat and voila! Crazy octopus!