Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hoppy Birthday Cake



Well, sewing is still not in full swing as I get settled into our new house. The craft room has yet to be painted and put together and there are several other items on the to do list in front of it. It seems to take forever to get anything done, and now my husband has had to travel for work for two weeks and will be gone for another two, which means nothing will get done. One day soon I hope to be able to show you my completed, decorated rooms. Although my sewing isn't in full swing, I was able to break out some craft supplies to make a beer cake for my husband's birthday. He isn't in to sweets much but he is in to beer. He is a home brewer and you may have seen the beer flight paddles I created for him for Father's Day. For this birthday I thought I would try a new cake for him...a Hoppy Birthday Cake. He loves hoppy flavored beer. So I went to the store and gathered 24 cans of IPA style beer. My choices were somewhat limited since I needed cans, but luckily Colorado has lots of craft breweries so there were enough to choose from.

Then I began trying different layouts to get the cans to fit together in 3 tiers. I tried cutting out a cardboard circle to put each layer of cans on, but it wasn't strong enough, so I started scavenging my kitchen and decided on the "defrost" plate from my microwave for the base, a turntable for the middle, and a lid from one of my Pampered Chef bowls for the top.


After arranging the beer cans on each tier, I stacked them on top of one another and tied some orange ribbon around the cans on each layer. I also curled some green ribbon and added it to the top.
Finally, I used my Cricut to cut out the cake topper and added two straws to the back with tape. I stuck the straws in the top layer between the cans and it was done. I put it out on the table in the morning to surprise my husband...he liked it, and I am sure this cake won't have wasted left overs that get tossed like ones in the past :)

If you know a beer lover, I would highly recommend this easy and quick cake idea :)



Cheers, Shannon

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Boomer "Baby" Sooner


Over Christmas break last year we were visiting family in Oklahoma when I happened to notice a donation pile in my brother and sister-in-law's house. I asked if they wouldn't mind if I looked through it first for potential items to refashion. I know...I am that weird lady who does this! One of the first items I saw was this OU sweatshirt in the first picture below.

I instantly knew I wanted to make it into a zip up sweatshirt for my son. My husband and four of his five brothers all went to OU. So...football season is big in our house and I wanted to get a sweatshirt for my little baby Boomer.  **Because this needed to fit next fall, I made it a little roomy for growth.**

Here is how I created the sweatshirt:
First, cut the sweatshirt apart at the shoulder seams, arm seams, and up both side seams. Then, find a current Jacket or Sweatshirt that fits your child well for a template. I took the jacket and tucked the arms into the bodice to create my back and front pattern pieces. I simply laid the jacket onto the sweatshirt and traced around the jacket template (adding a 1/2 inch to the pattern for seam allowances). While tracing the back I made sure I placed the O in the center of the back piece. I then traced the two front pieces.
Next, create an arm pattern piece by taking your jacket template arm and tracing it on the sweatshirt (again allow 1/2 inch seam allowances). Finally, I created a stand collar by simply tracing the template jacket's collar with added seam allowances. I cut out this piece twice for the collar.

Now you are ready to sew them together.

1. Take your back piece and lay it on the table right side up. Lay your two front pieces on top of the back, wrong sides facing up and match the shoulder seams.  Stitch the shoulder seams together using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

2. Take your sleeve piece and mark the center top of the sleeve cap with a pin. Attach it to your front and back pieces matching the top center pin with the should seam. Pin the pieces right sides together and stitch all the way from one side of the arm piece to the other to attach the sleeve. **You could also attach the sleeve once the side seam is stitched by stitching the underarm seam of the sleeve and pinningthe sleeve into the arm hole. I just find this method to be quicker.**

3. Pin the sweatshirt right sides together, from the sleeve cuff all the way down the arm and continue down the body side seam. Stitch following your pins.
4. You should now have a basic sweatshirt. You could finish it off with your choice of collar and front closure. For mine, I chose a standing collar and exposed zipper. First, I took my two collar pieces and pinned them right sides together. Stitch around the two short sides and the top of the collar. Then turn the pieces right sides out and press. Pin one layer of the collar to the neck of the sweatshirt, right sides together and stitch. Press under 1/4 an inch on the remaining piece of collar that is not stitched on and enclose the collar/neck seam. Hand stitch the collar to the inside of the neckline.
5. To add the binding to the bottom of the sweatshirt, I cut off the existing binding and realigned it with the bottom of my new baby sweatshirt. I pinned the seams together as I pinned it to the sweatshirt bodice in order to get them to line up. I then stitched the seams in the binding and finally, attached it to the sweatshirt using a straight stitch.
6. Find a separating zipper and iron the zipper flat. Pin the zipper to each front side of your jacket/sweatshirt. I used an exposed zipper so I simply attached it to the outside front of the sweatshirt by stitching it on using a zipper foot. I would have preferred to have my zipper go all the way up the sweatshirt from the bottom to the top of the stand collar, but it was not long enough. Therefore I had to stop below the collar and this made it look a little odd...but you work with what you have!
And admire your little cutie!

Whew, writing this tutorial was wordy and difficult. I am sure there are easier ways to construct this, but this is the way I did it, and as usual that means figuring it out as I go. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Shannon

Sunday, September 9, 2012

DIY Infinity Scarf


I am totally ready for fall. It has been so hot this summer and fall is by far my favorite season. Although we have only had one day of fall like weather, I am hoping that this horrible summer heat ends soon. When the weather gets cooler one of my favorite things to wear are scarves. Last year I made several infinity scarves after finding this post: infinity scarf tutorial. I took these photos last spring and am still digging through my archives as my craft room is slowly being put back together after the move. (I actually sewed today for the first time in over a month, though :) This is progress people.)


This project comes together quickly and I love how soft and comfortable the knit feels. While I love making and wearing scarves, after recently unpacking and seeing the insane amounts of scarves I own, I pledge to not make any more this season and will try to focus on other areas of needed wardrobe items :) Shannon

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Baby's First Christmas

It's been a crazy last couple months!  I thought I would have all this time in the summer to do all these projects I had on my list, but my list got scrambled when we found out we are having a baby!  We are so very excited for her to join our family in December!  Until people knew, I couldn't post anything on here baby related, but now I can!  Yay!

Today I will share Baby's first Christmas outfit.  I know, it's only September, but since she is due a week before Christmas, I didn't want to run out of time after she was born.  Her clothing collection is growing (which is awesome), but I wanted to make her outfit for her first Christmas because we will also be taking her pictures in this outfit.  

I started with a long sleeved onesie I already had from my mom.  I cut out some ribbon and put it in the shape of a tree.  I glued it on with some fabric glue - I'll keep you all posted about how I liked it.  So far, I like the glue for the ribbon to the onesie, but not so much for the ribbon to ribbon.  It doesn't really want to stick for that. 




Then, I made her a tutu.  I couldn't find any bright green tulle, so I decided to use strips of ribbon in it's place.  I used ribbon at the top instead of elastic also.  I did find red and white tulle.  I cut the tulle and green ribbon into strips of 14 inches using a piece of cardboard cut to that length so I just had to wrap it and then cut the top and bottom.  Then tied it to the ribbon at the top.  I had to guess how big to make it.  I may have made it too big, but it is easier to take some of the strips off then put them on later.  








I am just on the hunt for some tights to complete the outfit and we are done!  I am excited to see it on her!  I will post a pic of Baby in it after she is here!

Betsy