I made rainbow plaid pj shorts in less than two hours today… there’s nothing quite like homemade pajama bottoms. They take no time or effort, they fit no matter how they come out, and they always feel so much comfier than anything storebought. Such instant gratification!

Since I can never tell front from back when I’m slipping on my homemade pjs, I added this nifty ribbon loop. Not only will I never put them on backwards, but I can hang them up! I’m very excited about this.

On Thursday evening I picked the first full batch of blackberries this season. They’re so perfect when they come right in from the backyard, mmm. After a few nibbles it was blackberry baking time!

These are mini blackberry custard tartlets, based loosely off a lemon curd tartlet recipe. It starts with a simple pie crust, rolled out and cut into circles then pressed into a muffin tin. The custard called for “farmer’s cheese”, a European thing… I used cottage cheese then blended the whole thing when I was done. Since I had neither lemon curd nor real lemons on hand, I poured a bit of lemon juice into the custard to make it taste less like, well, nothing. The lemon flavor wasn’t noticeable in the finished product, but I’m convinced it added something.

What made these super awesome was my blackberry treatment beforehand. Prior to starting any of the mixing, I tossed my blackberries in a bowl with some lemon juice and a decent sprinkling of sugar and let them sit as I worked. The soaked-in sweetness is an obvious plus to the finished dessert. I’m definitely going to be making these again!

And yesterday I bought these beautiful shoes for back to school. I’m not going to wear them until I get to Cleveland, so they’ll stay white for the rest of the summer (and get dirty instantly come August 15). It’s been a bright and happy weekend!

happy happenings is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Last night I went into “cut stuff out of magazines” mode, the mode I usually go into when I need to do something creative but can’t think of anything too extraordinary. Here’s a mirror in progress:

The mirror’s from Ikea; it started out with a wide, unfinished wood frame. So far I’ve just been glue-sticking circles onto it, but I’m planning on sealing it with modpodge or some varnish when I’ve covered it completely.

And today I made a pair of pajama pants, start to finish, in an hour flat! I think that’s a record. It’s always fun to have a new pair of pjs for Christmas! Brand new flannel just can’t be beat when it comes to coziness.

soft is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

At least two years ago, I cut out a sweatshirt. It was to be a lined, zippered hoodie. I put together each half, stitching up the lining and the outer shell separately. But when I tried them on, it was huge. As one of my first forays into the land of knits, serging, clothing, etc., I became very easily frustrated and discouraged. The sides weren’t the issue; the neckhole itself was gargantuan and I couldn’t think of a way to fix it without my hoodie having a seam down the back. So I did the easiest thing and the best answer at the time: I stuffed it in a drawer.

Last week, I found the thing, stuffed in a drawer with random knits and other forsaken projects. After inspection I realized that, if I were to add a band around the bottom as most hoodies have anyway, the hoodie pieces could be entirely recut to an appropriate size for my petite self. So I ripped seams and chopped away, figuring I had solved the problems.

Of course, I then realized what I was into: a lined, zip-front hoodie. My head has been spinning all week, trying to decide where to connect various pieces in order for it to look as nice as possible. Do I sandwich the zipper right-to-right? But then how would I do the hood? When should I put in pockets? and so on…

But finally, as of twenty minutes ago, it is finished. And entirely lovely, if I do say so myself. A ridiculously complicated garment for its simple appearance; no advanced sewing techniques required, it just took lots of brain power and thinking inside-out and around.

But I have won this battle, I have beat this challenge, I have conquered a small drawer-filling enemy. And it’s cute, and I’m triumphant.

invincible is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I must say that screenprinting is one of the most stressful arts I choose to dabble in. The entire time my mind whizzes through “oh no oh no i moved it wet paint! ah!” Of course, I lift the screen and everything’s fine and lovely and crisp and smooth and it’s all worthwhile.

I printed five shirts today with this lovely shade of blue… it’s almost turquoise, the second picture is more accurate color-wise.

I can feel my 14-year-old self telling me how awesome I am right now. Seriously, five years ago screenprinting seemed impossible, something I’d never try. Now I can do it, and it’s delightful in its hectic manner, and I just feel so cool.

whale tees! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

The past few nights, as I lie on my back thinking before I fall asleep, all I can think of is sewing. Jo-Ann’s is having a 60% off sale on all of their spring fabrics, so that killed my “no buying fabric” rule for the summer. But one of the fabrics had whales on it! So, of course, that was necessary. I also got some lovely fuchsia knit; I hate purple, it’s my least favorite color, but this sort of purple-y pink has been catching my eye lately. But I haven’t worked with knits much, so this is what I’ve been dreaming about. I want to make some sort of sleeveless top, but one that could be worn on top of a short-sleeve or even a long-sleeve shirt once it gets cold again. I love sewing summer clothes, because anything without sleeves is much easier than anything with sleeves… but my mother keeps reminding me to prepare my wardrobe for the cooler climate of Cleveland, Ohio.

So that’s my basic idea, on the left. I don’t like the tunic style that’s popular right now; I prefer to avoid looking pregnant. So rather than a flowy knit top, I’m going to use princess seams to keep it fitted, and in the princess seams i want to put little patch pockets. Hopefully these will be some fun print; I’m sure I have a scrap of cute knit somewhere that I can use. The straps would have big fun buttons to attach them to the top strip, thus making it a top that could be sleeveless or could go on top of a long-sleeve shirt without looking weird. I’m excited!

I’ve also been coming up with lots of new product ideas that I’m hoping to get finished this summer before I go off to college. The shop is really important to me, though, so I’m almost positive I’m going to keep everything going next year. But my favorite big idea (literally big!) so far has been these totes. They’re big and floppy, and comfy seems like a strange word for a tote, but they’re so nice for carrying things! Every time I finish one I want to keep it, but nope, they’ve made their way into the shop. They’re also a great stash buster, so hopefully I’ll make room for all my new fabric.

Speaking of the shop, the shopping cart script has been edited and upgraded. I don’t know if any of you have tried to order things lately, but for some reason the “add to cart” function stopped working. Obviously, this makes it pretty difficult to order things. But I’ve fixed it up, and not only is it repaired, but the entire shop is running more smoothly than ever!

Summer vacation is beautiful; I’ve been doing lots of biking, working at random little jobs, and sewing away. I’m hoping this summer lasts as long as I need it to… I’m not quite ready to head off for college. I’m excited, sure, and it’s not like I want another year of high school, but it’s just strange to think about. But I’ll be taking my sewing machine with me, so I’ll be prepared!

sewing in my sleep is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

As promised, here is a recap of my delightful costume adventures for my school’s spring musical, Beauty & the Beast. Or, as they say in Spain, “La Bella y la Bestia”.

After last year’s lovely adventures in Spain over Easter break, I was compelled to return this year. It was even more fun because of my additional year’s worth of vocabulary, and I really enjoyed speaking the language as best I could, learning about the culture, and, of course, shopping. I had a great conversation with a cute old man who owned a fabric store; I told him that I worked at a fabric store, too, and he said he had been working with fabric for 50 years! It was so much fun.

Spring break was conveniently placed a week before Tech Week (a.k.a. Hell Week), therefore even in another country, thoughts of the show and the costumes still flitted through my head from time to time. So when we reached our hotel in Madrid and walked around the corner where the La Bella y La Bestia marquee was shining, I was taken aback and unbelievably excited. Two of the other girls on the trip were my castmates, so we begged our chaperones to let us see the show, and they relented. It was even “La Noche de Los Teatros”, or “Theatre Night” in Madrid, so tickets were a great deal cheaper than usual. I was very grateful and felt extremely blessed for the miraculous circumstances.

The show was fantastic. Since I knew half the lines anyway, I didn’t have trouble understanding anything, and it was interesting to try and translate what bits I could. It was a Broadway-quality production, and I was blown away by the voices and the dances and, of course, the costumes. I brought home plenty of costume inspiration and was ready for my huge challenge.

From the start, I had known that this was a huge costume and tech show. But once the cast list was up in January, I was ready and willing to work. But somehow, my directors and I didn’t meet eye-to-eye; they always wanted to hear my ideas, and encouraged me to come up with new ideas, but after I worked on a few things they would say it “wasn’t quite right” and ask that I “please fix it up a bit” — basically, start over. So I learned quickly, and just did what they wanted. But they stopped telling me what to do, and didn’t want me working on my own ideas, so I was left to… sit, i guess, and contemplate life. Which doesn’t get much sewing done.

Luckily, a nearby community theatre had recently done the show, and were generous enough to share some of the big costumes with us. That was a lifesaver, because the process of “have idea” – “get it approved” – “work a bit” – “approve again” – “finish” – would have taken forever.

So by the last two weeks, I had fabric up to my ears and was sewing like a crazy person. It all came together, though, as it always does, and I survived. This was my last show, of course, since I’m a senior, but given the option I would never be in charge of costumes again. It was crazy.

My pride and joy was the little purple rug… she did cartwheels and such across the stage, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how her costume turned out. She reverse-adopted me as her mother, so she tagged along with me in the opening scene as well (sans-rug) as I delivered my famous, “I need six eggs!”. She also kept me company through all the hours of sewing, and she was a great friend.

I was also very pleased with how the silly girls (Gaston’s little stalkers) turned out. The other production only had three of them, but we had six. They provided plaid skirts and vests, so my job was to make 3 solid vests and 3 solid skirts. I just traced their vests and made up a new pattern as best I could, and it worked wonderfully! I was very excited. The skirts were just simple elastic-waist poofy skirts.

Unfortunately I don’t have any good photos of my spoons, knives, and forks… They all wore tuxedo shirts, purple vests, and black pants, and wore a corresponding utensil as a headpiece. The headpieces were cut from foam core (which takes a ridiculously long time) then covered in glittery fabric. There were plates, too, who wore their fabric-covered foam core as a backpack. The teacups had a rim made from a hula hoop covered in fabric then stuffed. Fabric came down from the rim and was gathered around the waist, plus they had handles. They still ended up very floppy, though, and didn’t look as good as I had hoped.

But it all came together, which, at one point, seemed more than I could hope for. It was a successful show and a very fun time.. everyone needs a bit of craziness, I suppose!

tale as old as time… is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Last summer, during my trip to NYC’s garment district, I found some gorgeous turquoise lace. Sheer, with embroidered swirly-leaf sort of designs plus some sparkle. I knew it would be perfect for my prom dress!

Of course, when I bought it, I was very proud of myself. I was buying my fabric almost a year in advance! Traditionally, if I have to sew a specific outfit for an event, I end up procrastinating to the point that I’m finishing stitches on my way out the door. But I had half of my fabric way early, so I figured I was set. But I got overloaded with responsibilites as costumer for Beauty & the Beast, and during tech week I began to worry. Every night I was at school past ten sewing my fingers off in preparation for the weekend’s shows, and suddenly someone decided to ask me whether or not I was making my prom dress.

“Yep,” I replied, “I already have half of my fabric.”

That had been my excuse for ten months; the thought of my preparedness kept me believing I that was even more than adequately prepared, that I was ahead of the game. But then I went over the dates in my head. Opening night: April 12. Strike: April 14. Prom: May 9.

We had less than a month until prom, and I hadn’t even started my dress. All I had was a pile of sheer fabric sitting in the corner of my craft room… the fabric wasn’t even opaque! The worries began to flood into the space they had tried to claim for months, the space that I had blocked out with my feelings of over-preparation.

The show was beautiful. It was very stressful, and although I am capable, I would not put myself through that again. I’ll put up all of my B & B photos in the next post. We did strike, we cleaned up, and I went home and expected some nice time to work on my dress, since rehearsals were over. But next came the Pope’s Mass, which I was fortunate enough to get to participate in when he came to DC. That evening, all of the music and band groups from school were packed into buses, and we sang in a competition in New York. We won first place in our category, and saw two Broadway shows: Spamalot and A Chorus Line. It was fun and exciting, but when we got home it was April 21st. And my prom dress was still translucent, shapeless, and sitting in a corner. Finally, on April 24, I got some real fabric, some real lining, and an invisible zipper. No more excuses; it was work time!

To make a long story slightly less ramble-y, I finished the dress. I used a princess-seam pattern that I love, Simplicity 6379, for the basics, but I edited it quite a bit as usual. I decided to use my pretty sparkle stuff on the center front and center back panels: just enough sparkle and pizazz. I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out. I love the color, it fit me perfectly, and it was completely unique. It all paid off in the end.

Plus, my mom jumped in to help me out. I had planned on making Adam (the adorable boyfriend) a matching bow tie, but as the days started slipping away I realized that the chances of that happening weren’t likely. My amazing mother made him a matching bow tie and vest out of the exact same fabric, so we were perfect. And cute, of course. Could you possibly disagree?

While we finalized plans on the phone two days before the big dance, I managed to make myself a little wristlet to match as well. Multitasking! yeah!

And of course my mom and I realized we didn’t own hooks and eyes on the day before the dance. You’d think, in this room filled to the brim with sewing craziness, we’d have a hook and eye somewhere. Nope. We hemmed my dress on the morning of the dance, and the hook and eye was sewn on about an hour before Adam came to the door.

The dance was ridiculously fun. It was on the Odyssey dinner cruise on the Potomac River. Dancing, eating, and looking cute: I’m good at two of the three, and even as a horrible dancer I have fun. I was fully rewarded for my sewing hours when countless people were simply awed at my dress. It was great.

Next up: Baccalaureate Mass dress! It’s about halfway done.. the Mass is on Sunday. Plenty of time!

sparkling with joy & relief is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Every Christmas, I make something new and (hopefully!) exciting for my friends. The challenge: finding the perfect balance between fun, functional, and easy. I want them to love it, I want to be able to personalize it for each person, I want it to be more than something they’ll just throw on a shelf… but I don’t want to go crazy when I have to make a bunch.

This year, I started early. In November, I started thinking. I wanted to use my embroidery machine; I wanted to come up with something cute and clever. When fleece went on sale the day after Thanksgiving, I had it.

With this adorable navy polka dot fleece, I made scarves! I drew the whale on the computer and turned it into an embroidery applique file. The appliques are fun and painless with my machine; I’ve been working on a few more that I hope to use in the future! So each girl got her own fabric for her whale, based on favorite colors and even with a dash of personality.
I used green minky, hot pink fleece, light pink, hot pink, then turquoise corduroy, lavender flannel, blue and blue & white stripe flannelette, and orange fuzzy mystery fabric (no idea what it is but it’s awesome!)
They were fun. They were cute. But after getting so many compliments on my pocket scarf, I realized it was lackiing. Seriously, seriously lacking in the pocket department.
So each end has a simple navy fleece pocket, handsized and cozy. No zippers this time; I wasn’t about to do nine of those, are you kidding me?

And of course, the happy ending; my fabulous sock monkey wrapping paper was torn into, and I got lots of hugs and smiles. I’ve heard they get lots of compliments. :) I’m happy.

And then, we get to the best part of my Christmas. Of course, I love presents as much as the next person.. but what I love most is when that next person loves the present I have made for them. Last Christmas, I made Ben a Goomba, the Mario character, proving that 15-year-old boys are not too old for stuffed toys. This year, I had to top the Goomba. Could it be done?

Andy, my 9-year-old brother, is obsessed with Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. I watch the show sometimes too.. it’s amusing, and I love the art/colors of the animation; it’s actually very inspiring to watch! Andy loves Bloo, the main character: an imaginary friend who is a joking, rule-breaking, sarcastic imaginary friend. He has an extremely simple shape, and I figured I’d be able to do it.

I cut four shapes out of fleece that I knew would make a good body shape, then made a circle to connect them all at the bottom. Somehow, his eyes took forever. I pinned and repinned, cut and recut, but they never seemed to be in the right place or stay perfect circles. I finally just sewed them on, feeling like they were in the wrong spot and would look completely ridiculous. I stitched a little mouth and began to stuff him.

And he was perfect.

Ben, Andy, and I always exchange our sibling presents for each other on Christmas Eve. When I threw Bloo at Andy, who saw only a big mass of wrapping paper, he said, “i wonder what this is!” and tore away the wrapping. When he turned it around to see Bloo’s face, he yelled, “BLOOO!” and squeezed him and wouldn’t stop hugging him. I was close to tears, I was so very happy.

That is the moment that made my Christmas perfect.

♥ p.s. i’ve added a few more pictures detailing steps 9 & 10 in the Starburst Wrapper Bracelet Tutorial; if you were having problems figuring out how to connect your links, hopefully this clears up any confusion!

winter weather advisory: whale flurries! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

the best of good christmas-y days include:
♥ baking pecan pies with papa while wearing my favorite handmade apron
♥ shutting myself up in the sewing room with music to finish presents for mumsy and andy
♥ lots of secrets and “no you can’t come in here!”s
♥ warm cozy moccasin-ed feet
♥ happy happy stuff

yay.

It’s still not feeling quite like Christmas, but I can’t determine why. There’s still a little bit of magic missing from the atmosphere. :) I guess that’s it.

The house is warm and cozy, though, and everybody’s pretty happy. My whole family is home, and we’re all having fun with random baking, lots of eating, and lots of laughter. We’ll all be having fun together one second, and one or two of us will disappear to wrap, or in my case, finish up presents.

I hope all of you are enjoying the Christmas season!

And speaking of Christmas – MERRY CHRISTMAS! Yesterday at work, rather than saying “happy holidays” to everyone, I said Merry Christmas. Yes, I kicked political correctness in the face. But I’m assuming most people are as sick of happy holidays as I am, because their faces all lit up and a few of them even told me how happy they were that I would wish them a merry Christmas rather than happy holidays. I don’t mean to be offensive to anyone, of course, but Christmas is what I’m celebrating and I’m pretty sure all of the people with carts full of red and green fabric are doing the same. So I’m happy to be celebrating the birth of Christ in the midst of the godless materialistic frenzy that has erupted through the years.

This is one of my experiments: a pocket scarf! Made out of cozy & adorable flannel, it’s plenty warm, and it has pockets at each end! I’ve always wished scarves came with pockets to warm my hands, so now mine does! One pocket is just a regular flap pocket and perfectly hand sized.. but the other one closes with a zipper! I can secretly stash my phone or keys or money in my scarf.. how awesome is that? It makes me really happy.. I love pockets. ;)

and a merry christmas to you, too! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

So far, life “as an adult” has been crazy busy. As I mentioned earlier, I was a lost boy in Peter Pan.. it was lots of fun. As a lost boy, I got to dance around, act like a little kid (which i’m quite good at), and my favorite line was, “I even brushed my teeth!” and I’d make an i-just-brushed-my-teeth smile, to which the rest of the boys would say “ewww!” It was cute.

I ended up helping quite a bit with costumes. When the costume committee was initially established, I wasn’t in charge or anything, but I told them that if they ever needed anything sewn, I’d do it. They didn’t need me at all, until tech week when we were rehearsing until 10 every night. I brought my spare machine in and was sewing whenever I wasn’t onstage.. it was stressful. Peter Pan’s costume was a very very plain green tunic, and it needed what I’ve estimated to be about 3 million sparkly leaves sewn on. I did it by machine, but it still took a really long time. I finished sewing on the last group, around the neckline, about 2 hours before the show started on opening night. I probably lost about five years off of the end of my life from all that stress! haha! But I was really really pleased with the final result, and it looked really great from the audience.

I also needed a hat so I could hide my hair. I couldn’t find one that was suitable; we have an Irish-type cap that my parents got on a trip to Ireland, but it was too small. So what would I do.. I made one. I’ve never made a fitted hat before, just a few simple fleece hats that I donated to Birthright last year at Christmastime. So for this cap, I modeled it after the one I had, but that wasn’t too helpful because I couldn’t cut it up or anything. But I figured out the basic shapes and cut them out of some tweed-like fabric, and made a lining out of felt so it would keep a good shape. With an elastic casing in the back, I managed to get it to stay on my head! It was very exciting.

Plus, now that I’ve gotten my hair cut, I can actually wear hats every once in awhile! This one doesn’t look too out of place if I wear it out, and I think it matches my coat pretty well!

I’ve also been applying for college and scavenging for scholarships; I’m applying to five schools and although I’ve got a pretty good idea of where I’d like to go, I’m not totally sure yet. But I’ll figure it all out soon; I’ve got to because I don’t have much time!

Thanksgiving was fun… I’ll have to tell you about my Black Friday adventures later this week.. yes I’m actually going to post again this week! *gasp*

Also, don’t forget about the Threadless $10 Sale! All of the tees are $10, just in time for your holiday shopping! I just ordered this one for myself, since my friend had gotten me a gift card for my birthday:

1. I love airplanes.
2. I love playgrounds.
3. I love the illustrations on the safety information cards. I always follow along, even though I’ve memorized the steps and typically have faith that it will be a safe flight, just because I like the art style on the cards. Maybe I’m weird.
4. I love slides.
5. Is that a good shirt for me? I think so.

forever in neverland is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog