It's Snowing! Advent Calendar & Bonus Table Topper + tutorial

I won a charm pack of Moda's It's Snowing quite a while back and I finally found the perfect project for it!

This year I'm hoping we can be more intentional in our anticipation of Christmas Day and what it means that Jesus came to earth that night. As part of that, I designed this Advent calendar, with the intention to put a card in each pocket with some scripture and an activity.

The charm pack had 37 squares, so after I was finished I had 12 left - paired with the same aqua and red that I used for the calendar I came up with this table topper as a happy bonus!

So here is a little tutorial in case you want to make your own Advent calendar this year!

Materials for Advent Calendar
1 charm pack (It's Snowing! by Deb Strain)
1 1/2 yard fabric for base/backing (53"x25")
26" long wooden dowel or narrow flat strip of wood
coordinating grosgrain ribbon
batting or interfacing
coordinating 1/2" single-fold bias tape
coordinating fabric for binding
Additional materials for table topper
18"x25" fabric for backing (will fit from the base fabric leftover from the calendar)
batting
12 coordinating solid 5" squares
coordinating fabric for binding

First decide on 25 squares of the charm pack to use for the calendar (the leftovers, 12 if you have a pack of 37, can be used for the table topper). Arrange them in 5 rows of 5 and then sew each row together using 1/4" seam allowance. Then bind the top edge of each row with the 1/2" single-fold bias tape.

All the pocket rows pieced together with bound top edges.

Turn under the sides and bottoms of each row 1/4" and press. I first basted 1/4" all around the edges to make it easier to press.

From the base/backing fabric, cut a piece that measures 53"x25". Fold it in half (hamburger-style) wrong sides together, and sandwich either a piece of batting or interfacing between the two layers. The fold will be the top of the calendar and a casing for the dowel. (Alternatively you could use two different fabrics for the base and the backing and seam them at the top.)

Arrange the pocket rows on the base and pin. There should be at least 1" of the base fabric on all sides of the pockets, excess can be trimmed later. Topstitch the sides and bottoms of each row about 1/8", securing at each end with a backstitch. (see white stitching lines)

Then topstitch down the full length of the calendar, through all 5 rows of pockets from top to bottom and then back up again, 1/8" on each sides of the seam lines, securing at the beginning and end.

Now you should have 5 rows of 5 pockets each, with the bound edge of each pocket open.

You can use applique, embroidery, fabric paint/etc if you want to put on the numbers 1-25 on each pocket. I still want to find some small chipboard numbers I can hang from each pocket with ribbon...

Trim the sides of the calendar base to 1 1/4" around the pockets and the bottom to 1". Then fold under 1/4" and press the edges at the fold where the dowel will be going through; stitch. (pic1) Trim 1/4" from the sides to meet up with the casing edges. (pic2)

Bind all around the sides and bottom of the calendar, folding under the binding at the beginning and end for a neat finish. Then push the dowel through the casing. Determine the length of ribbon needed to hang the calendar and cut. Tie a bow at the centre of the ribbon and hot glue or handstitch the ends at the back of the calendar. Hot glue or handstitch a bow at each side over the ribbon.

Your Advent calendar is now ready for the pockets to be filled and hung!

Table Topper
The table topper is pretty simple - just half-square triangles (I used method #2 here) pieced from the remaining 12 charm squares and 12 solid squares.

Cut 12 5"x5" squares from the coordinating solid. With fabric pen and ruler, mark a diagonal line across each solid. Pair each solid with one charm square.

Right sides together, stitch across each pair of squares, 1/4" on each side of the marked line. I chained stitched all of them one way, turned the whole line around and back up.

With rotary cutter and ruler, cut each stitched pair in half along the marked diagonal line.

Once they were all cut, pressed, and trimmed, I was able to play around with arranging them - I chose a chevron pattern, but you could also do pinwheels or diamonds or flying geese... Here are some of the chevron layouts I was playing with (excuse camera phone pics):

Sew each row of your chosen layout together, being sure to match points. Layer backing, batting and top and quilt! I did a simple 1/4" echo inside the solid chevron. Then trim and bind and you're done! Bonus Christmas table topper!

Halloween 2013 - Attack of the Gauls!

Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix came knocking tonight!

Ian chose Asterix when his school had Book Character Dress-up Day this month - Asterix is his favourite comic! Obelix and Dogmatix are obvious choices for the other kids.

Asterix's pants/shirt/belt were from my friend and I was just going to make the hat, mustache and sword and keep it at that - until the night before dress-up day when he was very sad there was no sheath and no magic potion bottle. So I spent a couple of hours sewing up some leather scraps and Asterix was very happy.

A paint stir stick with some carved detail and a bit of paint made a nice sword and I just sewed the leather sheath onto the belt. (ICK! sewing the sheath was a pain. I ended up handstitching the tip because my machine wouldn't make stitches through 4 layers of leather.)

Bottle with magic potion inside (just some scraps of leftover tshirt fabric):

I couldn't figure out why Benjamin was reluctant to be Obelix until he said, "I'm not fat. I don't want anyone to think my tummy is so big!" He changed his mind when I assured him everyone would know there were pillows stuffing his pants... Speaking of which pants, really simply made - I just took a pair of his pants as a pattern, cut the pieces kind of in gores, extended for the torso part, all bargain sweatshirt fleece. Obelix's "chest slipped" (heehee) till I added a pair of straps to hold the pants up. The belt circles are craft foam with fabric glued on, attached to the pants by snaps so if it needs washing they come off.

The helmets: I simply draped an old tshirt over each boy's head and covered it with duct tape. The knobs are balls of tinfoil covered in duct tape, the feathers are layers of white craft foam cut to shape. Both mustaches are yarn tied to clear elastic, looped over the ears. Obelix's braids are also yarn, tied with fleece bows and attached inside his helmet.

Dogmatix: I pieced together the hoodie from largish scraps of white and black fleece on the shelf, added ears with a strip of boning inside each, and pinned a tail onto her (bought) black pants. Abigail's favourite part was the black nose! Here she is, stuffing her puppy face with chocolate and drooling over her spoils of war:

Roses & Black Lace Tunic

(before I found a black belt to wear with it)

Finished sewing up this tunic for myself started during Selfish Sewing Week! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially as most ready-to-wear tunics end up being less tunic and more shirt with odd waist placement on me... YAY for getting back into sewing for myself!!

Details
Pattern: New Look 6915, view D
Size: 12 (even though I measure their size 16!!)
Fabric: Roses and black lace print

Fairly simple pattern. I think this style only works for me because I'm tall and have a small bust. It could very easily look boxy or shapeless. The front is cut on the bias and has pleats at the shoulders to help with the draping. I adjusted the pattern for length by adding 2" above the marked waistline casing. The only issue I find with this style is that it slips around a lot on the shoulders. Otherwise it's just how I pictured it!

Here is my only pic so far with a belt:

More Selfish Sewing!

My Uptown Coat is finished!! Been working on it most evenings since Wednesday and finally sewed the last button on just now. Phew.

I love it!

Details
Pattern: Favorite Things Uptown Coat
Fabric: Teal corduroy, gold, olive and teal paisley satin
Size: Medium, with length adjustments
Notes: This was a good first coat try. I first did a quick muslin of some random thin stuff I had, just to see the fit. The only adjustments I made were in length. I know I have to add 2" to any top already, but the muslin showed it would still be short so I added 3" to the bottom of the coat length and sleeves. As it turns out, I could have used another inch at least to do the proper pleat hem, but I made it work. The pattern directions are rather sparse, unfortunately, especially about the hemming.

Selfish Sewing Day 1

Joining in on imaginegnats' Selfish Sewing Week! 

Here's my Day 1 (+1/2). (excuse the weird poses - trying out the self-timer!)

Details
Pattern/tutorial: Ariadne Tunic Top by Tanit-Isis
Size: medium (with mods)
Fabric: super soft, drapey blue jersey leftover from this project (third photo)
Mods: Cut the top 1.5" longer because I have a long torso. Reduced the band width several times (maybe 6" total?). Tapered the sides at the hem about 3" on each side as it was just too blousy - looked like a couple of "spare tires" were hanging out. Overlapped the keyhole opening at the top before binding the neck edge.

I love it!! And can I just say: I LOVE my man! My machine sewed this jersey without eating it, stretching out the seams, jamming up into the bobbin - all because my very dear husband brought home the walking foot I have been thinking of for years! I nearly chortled (does anyone even use that wonderful word anymore??) with glee as it zipped smoothly through the seams and stitched on the binding without a problem. Look out, knit stash! Here I come - no more fear!


(also linking up to Go To Sew's iSew link party)

First day of Grade 1!

Can't believe my oldest is going to school full time. It was a little hard to be cheerful for Ian this morning. No photo of him ready with his backpack - it was full of his school supplies so when he put it on he nearly fell over backward!

He needed a paint shirt for school this year, so I got oliver + s: little things to sew out of the library and got to work on the Art Smock. (sorry for the crummy photos)

I also made one for Avery, his best buddy (girlfriend?) from kindergarten.

Both smocks are the medium size. The pixelated camo is a light canvas and the butterfly camo is twill, so they should hold up well. They close at the back with snaps.

And I had a little fun with my washi tape collection! Fairly simple way to label a pencil box - I just covered it with striped tape, then used an X-acto knife to cut the strips for letters and scissors for the letter B. Then I covered it with contact paper so it doesn't rub off.

(Not so) Skinny Jeans

Laura from Titchy Threads/CraftStorming has a new pattern up - her Small Fry Skinny Jeans in size 2T. I sewed along last week and am finally posting photos (new camera - yay!). (She will release a full pattern with more sizes in future.)

They are large. Not skinny (yet). And too long. But other than that, perfect! :)  Abigail will grow into them. Currently she's wearing 18months and some 24months in ready-to-wear.

I used some bargain bin fabric for $5/m - it's a lightweight stretch denim. The lining of the pockets and the waistband facing are scraps leftover from a home dec project. Plus a button and topstitching thread - total cost was under $7!

I made a template of the back pocket out of paper, drew on the design I wanted, then cut it out and traced onto each back pocket. Love how it turned out!

For the front pockets, I wanted a nice clean edge at the outside curve, so when I pressed the pocket I forced the lining to roll out at the inside curve. This project had several firsts for me - first time doing a half-fly, first time making manual buttonholes (without my magical buttonhole attachment :( ), first adjustable waistband.

This Titchy Threads pattern is well-written and drafted and I was able to follow the directions in reverse for a girl version, as she marked the differences. Definitely planning a second pair! In fact, I've already bought the fabric: kelly green twill with a green and yellow fabric for the linings!