It's a first for me, but I made real shoes.  I've made baby shoes in the past, yes, but never anything with real soles and now I can check that off my sewing bucket list (I don't really have one of those in case you were wondering.)  These espadrilles were made with Dritz Espadrille kits, which include the soles and pattern for the fabric top.  I was browsing the clearance section of Hobby Lobby one day and they were getting rid of all their kits, so I scooped up several toddler sizes for the bargain $1.99 price tag.  They didn't have my size, but they did have a kids size 5, which SOMETIMES I fit in, so I went ahead and picked up a pair, because why not? 

I knew that I wanted to use some of my canvas Riffle Paper Company fabric for the uppers and I chose a coordinating Cotton + Steel fabric for the interior.  I already had some large upholstery needles and I researched what type of "thread" to use for the blanket stitching and everything I found suggested a 100% cotton, so instead of ordering the overpriced Dritz Espadrille thread I just used some 100% cotton crochet thread that I already owned.  I cut a long piece and pulled on it as hard as I could several times and it was super strong so I figured why not?  See the theme here?  Now I had all my supplies and was ready to sew, so I will talk about the Toddler pair first.

These are a toddler size 7 soles, which my daughter is currently wearing, and I will start by saying the sizing seems pretty spot on compared to ready to wear shoes in the store.  The pattern was very easy to follow, cut and stitch up the upper parts and if any point you are confused there are plenty of online resources as to how to sew these up.  They are interfaced for extra durability and all of that is included with the instructions as well.  The back and top portion that rest on the top and back of her foot have 1/8" elastic, which you can kind of see on the back of the shoe where it is gathered looking.  This would be the only part I would change in the future as it wasn't gathered enough and these tend to fall off pretty easy.  Next time I would cut the elastic shorter and insert it the same, thus it would be tighter fitting above the heel.

Once the upper fabric is sewn and complete it is time to pin them to the sole and then stitch the two parts together using a blanket stitch.  This went surprising smooth and easy because I can honestly say I was pretty nervous as to how difficult this step would be.  You start by pinning the center front and back onto the sole and then work your way around the sides, and once again, detailed instructions are included how to do this step.  Once it is pinned you cut a long piece of thread and it is recommended that you wax it for durability and ease of sewing.  I couldn't find my normal thread wax but my husband has some sex wax for surfboards and I just used that, which worked really well.  I ran the thread through the wax around 5-6 times and got a nice smooth coating on the thread.  You start by knotting the thread and burying it into the sole and then you start your blanket stitch.  I was worried it would hurt my hand and be really difficult sewing into the sole and through the multiple layers of fabric, but it really wasn't.  The wax made the thread glide right through and I took my time being careful to not let the thread become knotted.  I worked hard at having nice evenly spaced stitches and sewed one per night, as I felt that if I had done more than that my hand may have started to hurt/cramp.  Voila!  They are finished.

This pair fit my daughter perfectly, with the exception of the back end being a little too loose, but she can still wear them.  She really likes to wear them because she watched me make them and she knows that these are "special" for just her.  I really liked these soles as they were wider and really accommodating for a toddler foot.  The pattern was clear and easy to follow and I'm so glad I picked up some larger sizes because now I can make her a few more pair in the coming years.

Now let's talk about the shoes I made for myself, in the kids size 5 that SOMETIMES fit me.  In the store I stood on the sole and my foot fit on it, but filled the whole narrow sole.  Narrow being the key work here.  I never took into account that once you stitch the upper fabric on the sole it "eats" into the sole all the way around and becomes even narrower.  Once I had stitched the upper fabric part, I "tried" it on by placing the fabric over my foot and pushing it onto the floor and instantly could tell that my toes would be too tight (like way too tight.)  I started to research what I could do to fix this and in the end found a pattern to make an open toe version, which i then used to modify what I had already made.  Basically I cut the open toe part and then carefully folded under the raw edge 1/4" and then stitched it closed.  I thought this would fix my problem and went ahead and sewed them onto the soles.  I sewed one of them and then attempted to try it on.  You guessed it, I couldn't even get my foot into the shoe, they were just too tight/small/narrow.  It wasn't happening.

What to do? What to do?  I had one shoe that didn't fit and one unfinished shoe.  I researched options on how to make it bigger but in the end I knew the sole just wasn't designed for my adult kinda wide foot but rather for a child's size 5 foot.  In the end I forced my self to finish the other shoe and here they are.  Aren't they cute?  I do love them and now I want to purchase my correct sole size and make another pair because honestly mother and daughter matching shoes is just too cute for words, or at least I think so.

At this point I just have to decide what to do with these?  Sell them, maybe?  Or maybe I should save them for my little girl because in 7-8 years she could possibly wear them.  What do you think?

Overall this was a really fun and fairly fast project and if you have the chance and can find some soles then I recommend stitching up a pair and having your own handmade shoes.

This project was on my quarter 2 Finish-A-Long list, number 6, which can be found HERE.  I'm happy to say that this one is now finished.  On July 1st (Sunday) the Q2 link up opens and I hope you have some finished projects to link up.

In an effort to not wait until the last possible minute to blog about my finishes, I thought it would be nice to actually do it ahead of time, especially since this one has been done for at least a month.  So without further ado here is my finished Once Upon A Time cross stitch that has been a work in progress for roughly four years.

This cross stitch pattern is by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and I purchased it with the intention of keeping up with the year long stitch-along, which of course didn't happen.  I couldn't even figure out how in the heck people could stitch one of these scenes in a month!  Apparently I stitch SLOWLY.  Originally I was stitching pretty often, then I lost interest, put it away for a good 1.5 years and then picked it back up as my car rider line project when getting my kids from school.  Slowly but surely I added a few little bits every day and now I'm done!

Instead of having the months of the year in each block I decided to make this a birth announcement for my little girl.  I blurred out her name on here but you can see how I added all the details like birth weight, time and day.  It took a little work to figure out how to fit everything in, but I couldn't be more pleased.

Once the stitching was finished I had to figure out how I was going to mat and frame this.  originally I was just going to purchase a mat (custom cut) and then find a frame.  I kept putting it off and then it occurred to me, what if I made the mat out of fabric, then I could really customize it.  I ended up using a Carolyn Friedlander crosshatch in this great shade of purple that matched one of the purples in the stitching.  I then decided to have the arched top to customize it even more.  I used a 1/4" seam and sewed it directly to the Aida cloth, I mitered the bottom corners.and then did the arch as the last step.  After it was all sewn on, I pressed it one good time and then stitched all around the outside edge as close as I could catching the Aida cloth underneath.  It took some planning but in the end I think the outcome was totally worth it.

I found the frame on a clearance rack and carefully stapled the fabric to the Masonite board that was the back of the frame.  All done!

It was beyond difficult to get pictures of this once it was framed, the glass reflected everything.  So sadly every picture is at a weird angle and in a weird place. Haha, I just had to get it to work so I could officially call this project done. It's finished measurements are 17" x 21".

Now I just need to gather courage to get it hung on the wall...

This project was number three on my Q2 Finish-A-Long list that can be viewed HERE.  Yay I have one finished.  Speaking of the Finish-A-Long, the quarter two finishes link up will open on July 1, 2018 so you still have some time to finish up a few of those WIPs.

Popping in today for a quick share.  I'm now a Blog Contributor for Peek-A-Boo Pages!  My first blog post went live last week (I was out of town, hence why I'm sharing late) and can be found HERE.  I'll share here whenever I have a blog post published, it will be worth a read for you guys as they will be sewing tips, general sewing information and tutorials.

My first post is how to seam rip regular, serger and coverstitch seams and it includes detailed photos and step by step directions to quickly remove these three types of seams.  I hope you will check it out.

I'm breaking one of my own personal rules here today and showing off my child, I felt these photos just turned out too cute not to and she was the perfect model.  This being said, what is going on here you ask?  Well I stumbled across a competition on the Michael Miller Instagram page that was being hosted by Candice Ayala.  The challenge was to recycle/upcycle an existing garment into a new wearable item and to use a new piece of fabric also.  The above photo of my three year old is her standing in a pair of size 14 ladies pants that were given to me by my Sister-In-Law as she no longer wanted them.  Draped around her neck was a 1/3 yard cut of new grey knit fabric that I had in my stash. 

I actually have a bucket of clothing items that are my future "recycle" projects each with a different idea in mind.  These pants weren't really on my radar, but when digging through the bucket an idea popped into my head that just couldn't be quieted down and I ran with it.

I made my little girl her first pair of bibs!  Starting with a Vintage Simplicity overall pattern that was two sizes too big, I created a pattern based on the vintage pattern and on the overall design of the Burnside Bibs by Sew House Seven Sewing Patterns, just a miniaturized version.

Look at that sass!  I was able to use the original front pockets of the pants as functional pockets on the bibs.  I used the original waist band as the waist band here and the bib and straps were cut from the legs of the pants.  I reused all of the belt loops from the original pants onto the back to create the look like the Burnside Bibs.

The new grey knit fabric became a top made from the Melanie Maxi Dress and More Pattern by Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop.  I made the top with the flutter sleeves and lengthened the top by 2 inches, making it just a shirt and not a dress.   Using the leftover scraps from the knit I created this big bow headband to make my little girl look a little more girly. (It's hard to look girly when you have so little hair!)

Once I was finished I started picking up my scraps from the pants and realized I still had a pretty good chunk of the legs left and decided to make my little one her own tote bag, perfect for some books and small toys.  I used the back welt pockets on both the front and back of the bag, making two usable outside pockets.  I then lined the tote with Peacock Lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics (an older fabric line that I've been hoarding.)

What do you think?  Successful?  I'm thrilled.  They turned out exactly as I had envisioned and the fit is spot on.  The best part of bibs like this is since the waist is so adjustable she will be able to wear these for a few years and there is nothing better than that.  I can pair them with lots of different tops and this color scheme is something we have very little of as my little girl is very girly and very into all things princess.  It's nice to have something so sophisticated.

I could not get over how "into" modeling she really was.  Quite the personality this little girl has.

This last photo shows the interior of the bibs.  I reused as much as I could from the original pants.  The waist lining was the back waist lining from the original pants. label and all.  You can see the pocket linings as well.  The thing about this upcycling challenge that was really surprising to me is how fast it all came together because I was using elements that were already created.  Didn't have to make pockets, waistbands, waistband linings, belt loops, none of that, recycled it all.  i now have upcycling fever and want to upcycle all the things!!!!

Now I have the fun task of narrowing down these photos so I can enter just FIVE into the challenge.  Wish me luck!

Yikes!  I've waited until the last minute to make my list, what was I waiting for?  Just busy that's all. Anyways, here we go, once again I've decided to only list 7 projects, though my list is really probably 30, but honestly I'm not even going to touch most of them, so lucky 7 it is.

1.  Bonnie & Camille Log Cabin - Something about this quilt just has me wanting to work on it, so it will remain on my Q2 list.  I have ALL of the supplies needed for it.

2.  Bee Sewcial Flower Quilt - I'm planning on starting this one soon, even if it just starts with adding more hand stitching in car rider line.  Can't wait.

3.  Once Upon A Time Cross Stitch - You can't tell from this photo but all my stitching is actually finished.  I just need to frame it and get it up on the wall, because it isn't finished until I do so.  This should be done real soon.

4.  Bee Sewcial Triangle Quilt - Yep dragging over from Q1, I just need to do it.  The top is done, need to work on the backing.

5.  Waterfall Raglan Woman's Shirt - I totally lied in my last blog post and said I wasn't carrying this one over, but then I got on Instagram and saw lots of gals wearing this totally cute style, so I'm totally doing it!  I also really checked out this photo and discovered the pattern here is the child's size, so maybe I never printed the adult version.  Well problem solved, I sent it to the printer this morning!

6.  Mother/Daughter Espadrilles - I have all the supplies finally and I need to make these pronto before my daughter's foot grows AGAIN.  I'm hoping this will be a fun quick project.

7.  Boys Pajamas - My oldest is in desperate need of more pajamas (growth spurt) and he still loves all his handmade ones, so I'm riding that train as long as it lasts.  Here are the fabrics, the black is cut out and I'm using my favorite PJ pattern the Sweetheart Pajamas from the book Sewing for Boys.

I thought I would share a scene from my sewing room, I bought one of these letter boards on clearance from Target and thought it would be perfect to keep in eye sight as a daily reminder to get to work!

You still have today to link up, so get cracking!  You can link up via a blog, Instagram, Flickr, no excuses people, link up those WIPs!  The Q2 link up can be found HERE.  For all of you who have already linked up, thanks for playing along.

I started the first quarter of the year with six items on my list, I have a TON more than six, but I only put down those that I think I might actually work on.  Though I didn't even touch 4/6 I'm still thrilled with what I accomplished.  Here is how I did:

1.  City Sampler - Complete!  This big 102" x 104" king sized quilt is finished and on my bed  This is the last time it will appear on my FAL list and I couldn't be more thrilled.  You can read about it HERE.

2.  Once Upon A Time Cross Stitch - I diligently worked on this the entire quarter.  I'm happy to say that all of the stitching is finished and it just needs framing.  I plan for this to be my first finish of the second quarter.

3.  Ladies Waterfall Raglan - I planned to work on this top for myself, and after literally moving all of my sewing stuff into my new sewing space I never ran across the pattern that I had printed and taped together.  This frustrates me immensely, totally not putting it on my list next quarter.  I'm not printing it again, I just don't even want to.

4.  Bonnie & Camille Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt - Didn't get touched.
5.  Bee Sewcial Flowers Quilt - Didn't get touched.
6.  Bee Sewcial Triangle Quilt - Didn't get touched

There we have it, one big finish, one almost finish and four that I didn't work on.  Now I just have to figure out what I'm putting on my Q2 list.  I'll figure that out and blog soon, but in the meantime you still have plenty of time to make your list and link-up.  The link up closes on Wednesday, 4/18/18 at 11 pm EST.  So you have almost a whole week to get it done.  I certainly hope you decide to join us.  You can find the Q2 Finish-A-Long Linky HERE.