Fall is Here

I love fall. I love it so much that I bought material to make outfits specifically for fall. I don't mean pumpkins or halloween faces or even turkeys. But beautiful fabrics of brown, pumpkin orange, yellow the color of garden squash and gray like the fall sky. It might not be for everyone, but I love it and it sure works for these beauties.

For my baby girl I made a tunic shirt and paired it with some great brown and white polka dot tights from a local department store. The shirt is longer so she can wear it now as a tunic and probably again next fall as a shirt. With the lace trim on the sleeves, elastic neckline and fabric rose with a button on the front, these fabrics look feminine.

For my older girl, I chose to use all the fabrics together in a strip work shirt. This jumper style is usually made in a dress (see pic below) but I chose to make this as a tunic shirt as well. I used the same white trim and velvet ribbon in yellow to coordinate their outfits without matching exactly. Again, I bought brown pants from a local store to make it a full outfit. She absolutely loved it and fit in great at the pumpkin patch. :)

Here's a close up of the back. A shirred back and button closure ensures a comfortable fit from now until next year.

As I mentioned above, this style can make an adorable dress. If you really like pattern and color, this is a great option for your little one.

Another close up of her dress with lace trim, velvet ribbon (can you tell I love that stuff?) and button front. Email me for sizing and prices. Only 2 available in the fall colors.

Sweet Grace

This is a precious picture of my sweet neice, Grace. Isn't she adorable? The shirt is shirred around the neck and chest and also at the sleeve. This makes for a comfortable, but flexible fit for all sizes. I then took the material and appliqued a design on each of the legs of the jeans and added a ruffle. I have several styles of this available and each shirt varies so your piece will be unique.

This is a great option if you have jeans that still fit your little girl but they have become too short. I have found most kids outgrow the length before they outgrown the waste size. So, if you have some great jeans, you can save by sending the jeans to me for embellishment and then you can pick a shirt style to coordinate with the jeans. More shirt styles will be posted soon. Email me for sizes, colors and pricing.

Key Chains and Bookmarks

I love the key chains I have seen out in boutiques recently. So I decided to make them myself (of course!) because I didn't see the variety in colors that I would want. I have teal, blue, red, brown, black, grey, pink, hot pink webbing with other colors coming soon. I also have a collection of fabrics and/or ribbon to coordinate with each key chain color. The key chains are for sale alone or you can purchase them as a gift set with these adorable bookmarks. I have covered a button and attached it to the end of the extra large paper clip. This one is teal, green and white. The material is sewn to the key chain and the same material is used for the bookmark.

With this style, I chose a ribbon and used a coordinating fabric to cover the button on the bookmark. I love this because I like more than one fabric or color option.

This is black, hot pink and white with a fabric in black with hot pink polka dots to match.

Here you can see the bookmark in my book marking my place....it is bigger than it looks in the picture! By the way, great book....So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore.

Email me for color choices and prices!

Beauty of Fabric

A sweet client in Richmond finished a beautiful remodel on their kitchen. It's a great blend of traditional and modern finishes and style. The finishes consist of anything from soap stone countertops (which my husband loves and wants to replicate in our kitchen---I don't think I can stand another remodel in our house right now!) to white bead board ceilings. But, for me, a room just isn't complete without a touch of fabric. She saw some neutral, simple fabric with an elegant pattern and decided roman shades were the best treatment in keeping with the look of the kitchen. Below are the pictures from our installation and I think the shades are a perfect compliment and a great finishing touch. So glad she loved them!

I LOVE corduroy

I'm so addicted to fabric. I could buy it all the time. It's a problem. As you can see from the picture, I got the fabrics listed here. This new corduroy(just in time for fall!) by designer, Sandi Henderson, has been catching my eye as I browse my favorite online fabric stores. I loved it so much I bought some for a new dress I'm making for the girls (and anyone else that wants to buy).

I loved this one, too. Also by Sandi Henderson. So this will trim the bottom of the dress and I might use some as a great accent on a hair clip. Who knows.

I love birds. Kinda over the top right now so I need to back off. But, this light pink fabric is so cute and now that I have purchased it and can see it in person, it's even cuter! So this will be the material for the sleeve. Add a little yellow velvet trim and it will be so cute. Can't wait... and as soon as it's finished, I'll post for you to see as well. And then you can tell your friends to order one for their cutie, too.

In Knots!

I enjoy making window treatments and home decor. No doubt. But there is something so fun about piecing together fabric and patterns to make a fun outfit for my daughter. This is an adaptation of the knot dress (first seen by Matilda Jane clothing line) with a little apron attached to the front. It's fun and airy and as you can see, my model loves it. The ruffled pants just complete the look but it can be worn alone. And I've got the cutest little shirt for her to wear as well so she can take this outfit in to her fall wardrobe (not that she has one yet!).

This outfit is sized from 6 months up to size 10. If you would like to talk about one for your cutie, email me for sizing, color choices and pricing.

Double the Blessing

A sweet friend of mine is having twins, double the blessing, right? Well that also means double the bibs and burp cloths at feeding time. So for her recent shower I gave her a set of handmade burp cloths and bibs with a coordinating blanket (thanks to my sis) in a bag of filled with wipes and diapers (major necessity!). I was so thrilled with how they all turned out and wanted to share.

I took a bib of my baby's that I really love because of the size and amount of shirt it covers when she is eating and used that as my template. I then bought several pieces of cotton material that coordinated and pieced them together to make the whole bib. I used the same fabrics or coordinating ones to form strips down the center of the bib and my sis used a large piece for the blanket. All in all, this is such a practical gift but with a personal and unique twist. If you have a baby or a shower gift to purchase email me at jenny_sew@yahoo.com for ordering info. You can't go wrong with this set.

I Don't Prefer Pink

It's true. Even though I consider myself a girly-girl I don't prefer pink. But, my three year old, Cora, loves it and wanted it to be all over her walls. Her daddy told her she could have pink walls if she wanted them, so the battle was over before it begun. :) She even chose her fabrics at the store that she really liked. So I took the agua and pink floral and used it as the color inspiration for the room and wall art. It became the main pillow fabric and roman shade material. The stripe was perfect for fan pleat drapes and a custom bed skirt, leaving the polka dot as an accent for extra pillows and a band of trim on the drapes.

I love the way the fabrics coordinate but aren't too matchy and add more color to the room other than pink. I tied the window treatment together by adding the pink pom-pom trim to the edge of the roman shade and between the two fabrics down the side of the drapes.

The inspiration for the whole room really came from a cute baby shower invite for a stylish friend. I had a print shop copy the tree to a transparency and then I changed the flowers and accents to my liking. A talented friend added butterflies (at Cora's request) and birds with a Bible verse I picked out for Cora: "Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow or reap, they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them all. How much more valuable you are than the birds. Luke 12:24" I used the colors from the floral fabric as the accent colors on the wall art.

I added her name on a ledge using wooden letters covered with different patterned papers and a precious chandelier. I bought white shades at a local home store, painted them the aqua color I used throughout the room and added ribbon and ric rac trim to dress them up. Cora could not be happier in her girly pink room and that makes this mommy happy, too.

Memo Board turned Bow Holder

So, I realize memo boards aren't that big of a deal. You can get them at any store and some are even pretty cute. But, if you want one to match your child's room or even your home decor, take a tip from me and just use scrap fabric and ribbon from your original project. I had scrap fabric from my nursery and decided to make her a memo board for bows, pictures, etc. I painted flowers on her wall (pictures of that to come) so I put a paper flower from my scrapbook supplies in each nail head that I used to tuft the memo board. I just used the various colors of the room for accent on the memo board.

Then for my other daughter's room I used one scrap piece of fabric, solid colored ribbon and then used different colored buttons to secure the ribbon in each spot. Her bows clip easily to the ribbon and there is tons of room to add more.

My son doesn't need a bow holder! But he still got a scaled down version and I hung this on his wall for pictures and art work.
This can be done in one night (I just worked on them while watching TV and hanging with my hubby) and cost less than a generic one you can buy at a discount store. Cora's hangs behind her door above her coat/hat rack so it looks really cute together. Just get creative and work one in to your kids room for function and decor. I'll have some to sell on my etsy site, whenever I get around to starting that. ha

Angles Don't Have to Be Awkward

A client recently wanted some window treatments for the windows over her large corner whirlpool tub in her master bath. She really like the Eleanor valance but knew she wanted to accentuate the corner and angles of her ceiling. So, I altered the valance to make each section hang down a little lower until it came to a point on each side. Because the windows were different widths, it was necessary to make each swag a different width and also alter the pleated parts. I also wanted to put the end points at the same length for each to give some continuity to the look. Originally there were only supposed to be two buttons so I also added buttons in the same increments down the middle to connect the swags as necessary. The finished look was perfect for the shape and look of this bathroom. Adding a little scotchguard to the fabric also helped to maintain the beauty of the fabric despite the steam, hair spray and other various things in the air of a bathroom.

Dressing my Dolls

I've been eyeing the Matilda Jane clothing line for kids for a few months now. While they are simply adorable and unique, I find them to be a little pricy. So, I started looking for patterns to make my own versions of their shirts, pants, dresses and jumpers. This is my first take at it and i'm so pleased. I had to try them on the girls just to make sure the fit was right before my final stitching was complete.

Cora chose a shirred shirt and stripwork skirt pattern (yes, she choose b/c she is already opinionated about what she likes!). I love all the different fabric options you can choose because you cut 6 different strips of fabric that repeat all the way around the skirt. I can't wait to get some cute t-shirts and then try to applique some of my left over material on them to go with this as well. It's pretty versatile.

Ellie is still a little too small for the skirt so I choose a dress pattern for her. It has the same shirring at the bodice and I used the same fabrics for her strips that go horizontal instead of vertical. All in all, the girls seemed to love them. Cora kept asking me with a huge smile on her face, "Mommy, are you making that pretty dress for meeeee?" Happiest customer I have had and one of my favorites!

A Welcomed Bouquet of Spring Colors

I couldn't have been more excited to open a package today. This "bouquet" of flowers is better than any reals ones could have been. A friend from college started her own business making hats, flowers, headbands and just about anything you can imagine to adorn a little girl's beautiful head. I emailed her to ask for some flowers to match two spring outfits I have for my girls. The first was different shades of green and lavender. The other is for their easter dress which is many colors, but I wanted to focus on the navy and blue to coordinate with my son's shirt (Cora wanted to put it on so I let her hold it up and take a picture). I gave her little direction, as I trust her creative talent and this is what I opened today. The fabric covered button in the center of the flower is an exact match to the flower on their dresses. And my daughter was in love with the lavender head band and coordinating green and lavender flower. As soon as I dress them up and take their picture, I will post with these beautiful Magpie's! Always want to support a fellow Mom running a business, so check out her website linked above!! Great work, SJ. Thanks so much.

Great Art Display for your Kid's Masterpiece

I bought premade canvas from an art supply store. I lined the back with self adhesive cork board. Here's a picture of the front of one and the back where it is lined.

I then got canvas hangers online. This is a great product and it's easy to install. You screw one side in to the back of the canvas hanger. The other section is screwed in to the wall and then the two pieces interlock. This way your canvas hangs flush against the wall.

I painted three different colors that cooridnate with the colors in our playroom. This was so simple and I used craft paint from a hobby store that only cost about $1 for one bottle. How easy!

I then bought some cute push pins (just google those words and you'll be amazed at the variety) and used them to hang my kid's art work. The push pin goes in to the cork board that I used to line the back of the canvas and also looks cute holding the pictures in place. This way I have a rotating art gallery for their most recent and favored art projects!

I have been looking for fabric that had my favorite color combo (red and yellow) with my husband's favorite color, blue, for a long time. You would think these color combinations were common, but not in the shade I desired. I found this fabric in SC on my last trip and knew I had to use it in our kitchen/living room area. If you have a large room or several connecting rooms and don't know how to start looking for a decor scheme, pick one fabric that you just love. Then use it to inspire your paint colors, furniture choices, and accesories. I already had several red and yellow (even brown) accents, but now with this fabric I started to add the blue.

Buttons are huge right now. They add texture and dimension to any thing! I recently saw some pillows in pottery barn that had banding of different material, buttons, etc. to add texture and I was inspired to do some new pillows for our living room. I got these large wooden buttons online

and used some contrasting fabric and trim as a banding across the first 1/3 of the pillow.

I then choose another fabric that just had the blue color to use in our living room windows. The floral was great for me and my style, but a little too much for my husbands if I had used it everywhere. The simple repeat of a geometric type print was more his contemporary style and the shape of the circles leaned towards my traditional taste.

This is the finished valance in our kitchen. I lined it in a contrasting stripe material that had all the color choices represented.

Then used the blue aforementioned fabric as goblet pleat drapes. I covered a bench seat in the floral and trimmed it in the contrast fabric from the valance. This just pulls all the fabrics together in each room. However, using the blue as the main fabric on the windows helps to divide this room from the kitchen while still allowing them to flow well.

Love, Love

This was a great valentine's weekend. I did so many things that I love to do. We took the kids out for dinner on Friday night to Jason's favorite place, Zaxby's. That was our valentine treat to the kids so we could share a night alone Saturday. We got some work done on our remodel project. I finished the work on my living room/kitchen. (I really wanted to update the color palette of my decor to include my hubby's favorite color, blue. I've been looking for some great fabric to spring board my plan and finally found it. New post to follow with those pics soon.) I had a great day with my kids, had a wonderful sitter to watch them and was able to spend some much needed quality quiet time with my husband. We went to Natasha's Cafe and enjoyed some interesting food, unique atmosphere and great jazz music. Jason also let me shop in a couple of stores before dinner which was a treat to do without a stroller full of kiddos. We shared two great desserts, i know....TWO!? But, I love dessert and that's one of the first things I found we had in common 9 years ago. Today we shared heart shaped pancakes for breakfast with three kids that I love more every day and a husband that is perfect for me. Top it off with a wonderful service at church where we are reminded that Jesus is our ultimate valentine because His love for us is more than we can imagine. I am one blessed girl.

Cute Baby Gift

I attended a shower this past weekend for a client. She has become a sweet friend and you can just tell she enjoys the personal detail I put in to my work. So for her baby shower I thought it was only appropriate to make her some personal gifts for Baby Caroline. First I put together some burp cloths. I picked some fun and colorful fabrics to add as bands around the bottom and side edges. Then I added ribbon or buttons to coordinate with the material. These are so cute and really great when you might be going out and don't want to take your regular cloths that are probably stained!





Then I put a pillow together for Caroline's room. Her curtains will be white with a green dot so I choose this green fabric with a pink dot, had her middle initial put on the middle and then added some fun trim. This will be such a great pillow to sit in a chair and can be used as she grows in to a big girl bed.







Then I added a hooded towel. These are great because you can pick any color, ribbon, button combination for a gift. I've done many of these to match a bathroom or for a specific team that Mom or Dad may support. The UK one seems to be really popular!




All of these pieces together, plus a cute name sign makes an adorable and persnalized gift. I just bought a basket at a local home store and displayed it all together.