Happy Halloween!

I hope you all had a great Halloween!  We had a fun day.  Although we got a late start to our festivities, we still managed to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters and Wyatt also had a great time trick-or-treating and visiting his Great Grandma.  Audy gave me the idea to make the icing for these homemade Oreos orange.  She also suggested using pull and peel licorice to make little legs so they would look like spiders, but Joel couldn't find any, which was fine with me since I HATE spiders.  Seriously, I sometimes have hallucinations at night about spiders.  I have also been known to wake up in the morning with a wad of paper towels beside my bed because I was "sure" that what I "saw" was real.  Too much information?

If you've never had homemade Oreos, you've gotta try them, they're the best.  And they're super easy too.  Here's the recipe that I use:

Homemade Oreos

2 packages Devil's Food cake mix

2/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Mix well and roll into 1" balls.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 min.

Icing:

8 oz block cream cheese

1/4 cup margarine

4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and place dollop of icing in between two cooled cookies.  Press cookies together to evenly distribute the icing between the two cookies.

Here are a couple pictures of my little Halloweeners.  I think I put Wyatt's costume on three or four different times because he kept taking it off.  Most of the kids that came to our door got to see Wyatt in his diaper instead of his costume.  Luckily he kept it on while he was trick-or-treating.  

I love Old Navy for their pajama sales.  I think Weston's jammies were $2.97 last spring.  Makes me feel better about the fact that tonight is the only night he will probably wear them, since I was too lazy to take the tags off until today.

S.Y.T.Y.C

So there's this new craft competition going on.  It's called So You Think You're Crafty.  Such a fun idea.  It's basically 10 weeks, 10 crafters, and 10 challenges, and each week one crafter will be voted out.  It starts on November 2, and our votes determine who stays and who goes, so let's all vote!  Go to the website to meet all the contestants and learn more.  Can you imagine the stress for the contestants?  I seriously got butterflies in my stomach just reading about the challenges!  Yikes.  One thing is for sure, we're going to see some great tutorials come out of this competition.  The winner each week gets to post a tutorial for their winning craft, so that should give us extra incentive to vote for our favorites!

I can't wait to see what Homemade by Jill comes up with, she is one of the 10 contestants and her blog is definitely one of my favs.

Ruby Lou Number Two.

I have been SLOWLY working on my pattern for the Ruby Lou doll.  For this second doll I changed a few things, thanks to all your feedback during the giveaway!  I made the hair a bit different so that it would be more durable and a bit more substantial, and also changed the way her body was sewn together.  I also shortened and fattened the arms a bit.  I don't think I will need to change too much more, I just need to get the actual pattern going now.  When I get close enough, I may be looking for some pattern testers, of all sewing abilities.  Anyone interested?  

This doll is going to a very special little girl, who will remain unnamed for now since I haven't given it to her yet :).  I still love the braids, but I think I like her hair straight just as much.

I think my favorite part of this doll may be the embroidered initial on her behind.  Hopefully that's not too much of a clue to who will soon be receiving her!

Guest Blogger: Jenn's Gorgeous Gathers Tutorial

I know I always say that I'm really excited about things, but I really am so excited! I've been wanting to have a guest blogger for a while, and I am so thrilled to welcome Jenn to Sew Much Ado for the day. I have to say that Jenn is one of those people who I really wish I lived closer to. We became friends while our husbands worked together one summer, and both happened to be pregnant with our first babies, who were both boys. You can understand my excitement when I learned she also loved to sew, and even majored in Family and Consumer Science Education (home ec ed) at BYU.  I knew she would be perfect for a guest blogger. She's got a brain full of sewing knowledge, and now we are lucky enough to share some of it!  Oh, and I have to mention that she recently was the Tennessee Senior Division winner for the Make it With Wool contest.  You have to read about her crazy and rewarding experience here.  Now she gets to compete in the national competition!  One last thing, although I often fight the urge to beg for comments on my own blog, I'll take one for the team and encourage you to visit Jenn's blog, Compulsively Creative, and leave her a comment instead!  With ALL that being said, thanks so much Jenn, and take it away!

When I was younger my sister and I would go school clothes shopping in my mom's fabric stash.  We'd pick patterns and fabric for all our new clothes for the school year and my mom would sew them.  That is how I learned to sew. I was only 7 or 8, but I would watch my mom and help her. She was always so patient and usually unpicked my mistakes so I wouldn't become too discouraged and give up.  I also remember when I was very little getting a sewing machine for Christmas. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was mine and I could do whatever I wanted with it!  That is when I really started to experiment and develop a love for sewing.

I am now the mother of two sweet little boys. I absolutely love spending time with them and teaching them.  They bring so much joy into my life.  I do, however, need a mental break from being a mommy and that is why I cherish their nap time.  I use that time each day to focus on myself.  I take time to read, write, nap, sew, craft, blog, etc.  My blog, compulsively creative, is an outlet and a motivation for me to rejuvenate myself so I can be the wife and mother my family needs me to be.

The Secret to Gorgeous Gathers

Gathering is a really simple and stylish technique that can either make a project scream homemade or be the finishing touch that makes it look professional.  So, what's the secret? How do you get it to look professional rather than homemade?  It's easy!  When gathering (assuming 5/8" seam allowance and fabric that doesn't pin mark) baste 3 rows of basting at 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" leaving long threads on each end of basting. Pull each of the bobbin threads, gathering the fabric to the desired amount. Put a pin perpendicular to basting rows at both ends of basting. Wrap pulled bobbin threads in a figure 8 around the pin to keep the thread from moving. Sew along the 5/8" seam line.  Pull out the 3/4" basting that is showing. It's really that easy! Here is a mini tutorial with pictures to help you get your gathers looking professional!

This is going to make 2:1 ratio gathers. The band is 7" and the piece being gathered to it is 14". For more full gathers do 3:1.

Baste at 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4" from raw edge. Be sure to leave long threads on each end.

Mark the middle of both pieces. If it is a long piece, mark quarters.

Pull bobbin threads to gather.  It's easiest if you pull all three at the same time.

To get the right amount of gather in the right spot, match the centers and the ends. Spread the gathers so they are evenly spaced. Wrap excess thread in a figure 8 around a pin on each end. This will keep the gathers from changing while you are sewing.

Sew on the 5/8" seam allowance from the band side (or the side that is NOT gathered) this helps eliminate tucks and keeps the gathers evenly spaced.  Hold the gathered piece out straight as you sew so you don't get it caught accidentally. 

This is after it's sewn. You will be able to see your 3/4" basting and maybe your 1/2". Just unpick those. It's easy to remove since you basted =).

Hooray! You have beautiful gathers the first time you sewed them!

Window Pane Mirror Before and After.

Before:

I found this window pane mirror a couple of weeks ago at a garage sale in my neighborhood.  She wanted $6 for it. I of course knew she wanted $5 but said she wanted $6 so that the buyer would think they got a deal when they offered $5 for it.  So what did I do?  I offered $1.  Just kidding, that would have really been a steal though.  Would have thrown her for a loop, that's for sure.  I really offered $5, knowing all about the psychological mind games that the lady was trying to pull, and of course came home with it.  Jokes on her, it was a good deal for $5.

After:

We sanded it, painted it green to match the dresser that we painted recently, and distressed it although it's hard to see that in the picture.  Distressing furniture is definitely a therapeutic release for someone like me that is OCD when is comes to things being symmetrical and perfect.  I'm learning to find the perfection in imperfection.  Seriously, you should try it!
I am still not sure if I'm loving the mirror behind the frame or not.  I think that when I get sick of the green in my living room, in combination with the dresser, it would be great for a boys room.  Should I keep it separate from the dresser on my wall for now while it's in the living room?  I also thought about either putting different fabrics or pictures in each of the panes.  I may make that change later, who knows.  For now I'm glad I have one less project on my list!

Conversions: Bed Sheets to Fabric Yardage.

Two days ago I had a conversation with my sister Audy (she's kinda popular around this blog lately, isn't she?) about using sheets for sewing projects.  She is making an owl toddler sleeping bag for a church activity, and told me she thought it was going to cost her about $150 to make.  Crazy!  I reminded her of all the cute things she could make for $150 and all the new Amy Butler fabric she could buy, and suggested that she use flannel sheets and cotton sheets instead of fabric by the bolt.  Then of course we had a long discussion about how many sheets she would need, their sizes, etc.  I was thinking about how it can be so annoying trying to figure out the conversion from fabric on the bolt to sheets.  Wouldn't it be nice to just have a chart to refer to instead of using those precious, and in my case, oh-so-few brain cells each and every time?  Yes, it would, so I made a chart.

(click to enlarge)

As I was making the chart, I kept thinking of more information that could be helpful, so I ended up including all of it.  For example, with 45" fabric you can often get two "lengths" out of the width.  If there was under 10" of extra fabric on the edges (96" wide fabric would have 6" of extra fabric since 45" x 2 lengths = 90"), I didn't worry about it.  In cases where there was more than 10" (you can only get one 60" width out of a king sheet which is 102" wide so there is 42" extra fabric), I also included the conversion of actual square inches.  That conversion would be helpful if you were making a project with many small pieces, such as a quilt top.  Yikes, I hope this chart isn't more confusing than helpful.  The extra conversions come into play mainly for the larger sized sheets.

*Another thing that's important to keep in mind is that these measurements are assuming you are using sheets that are either plain colored or that are multi-directional.  If you are using printed sheets for your project that have a one-way design, you may not be able to turn your pattern pieces sideways to get the most out of the fabric.  Make sense?

I hope this chart can be useful to some of you, I just learned that thanks to the Swine Flu Audy won't be needing it anymore.  Did you know that to test you for the Swine Flu they put a stick up your nose into your brain?  Okay, so it doesn't actually go up to your brain but Audy said it feels like it does.  The doctor actually asked her not to punch him just before he did it.  Feel better soon Audy!

Amy Butler NEW Love Fabrics!

Oh, the joy I had this morning when I learned about Amy Butler's newest fabric collection, Love.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  You can see her full brochure about it here.  One thing I'm really excited about is that the collection even includes some laminated fabrics, which you can see here.  

It's hard to decide which color pallets are my favorite, but here I think that the Heart line wins for now.  I love the turquoise and pinky tones that Amy Butler used.  Here are some pics of the Heart line so you can fall in love (pun intended) too:

More great news? The Amy Butler Love line also includes home decor weight fabric (available in Heart and Soul pallets) and some flannel!  I have a feeling that some flannel is the first thing I'll be ordering.  Or maybe home dec.  Or maybe both!

Penguin Cloth Bound Classics.

Aren't these books adorable? Maybe they would make me read more. And by "read more," I mean "read." They are Penguin cloth bound classics, and my sister Audy found them when she read this post at Design Sponge. I've been meaning to post about them for awhile. The only problem is that they seem to be super hard to find. I can't find them anymore on either of the links that Design Sponge posted, although my sister was able to find a few that were available to Canada only. I'll have to ask her where they were, but until then we can all dream about how cute they would look in our living rooms. If any of you find them let me know! The hunt is on...

Update:  Apparently my sister found the books on Chapters.ca.  She said you have to search by the ISBN to find them though, which is why they're so tricky to find.  I have also learned that the books are supposedly going to be available in the US in November.  The artist for the covers is Coralie Bickford-Smith.  You can find more info about which classics she has designed covers for here, at the UK Penguin Blog.

Button Throw Pillow Tutorial.

Description:
This tutorial will guide you through making a button-up throw pillow cover that will fit on a 14" pillow form.

Materials Needed:
1/2 yard home decor fabric

1/2 yard co-ordinating home decor fabric

3 buttons

fusible interfacing scraps (2 pieces approximately 1"x15")

14"x14" pillowform

Cut:

main fabric: one 15"x 9" piece and one 15"x14" piece

co-ordinating fabric: one 15"x15" piece

Directions:

1. Iron fusible interfacing to wrong side of front panels on middle side edge, where buttons and button-holes will be placed.

2. With each front panel, fold and press interfaced edge toward the wrong side 1.5". Fold and press another 1.5".

3. With each front panel, topstitch close to folded edge, which will be almost 1.5" from the edge of fabric. You will eventually place your buttons and buttonholes along these folded edges.

4. Mark placement for your buttons and buttonholes at 4", 7.5", and 11" from the top of each panel on your folded edges. These marks should be 0.75" from the edge, which will be in the middle of the edge and the topstitching you completed in step 3 (topstitching not pictured below).

5. Using the buttonhole stitch on your machine (if you're lucky :)), stitch three buttonholes on the left front panel, centered on the marks you made in step 4. I recommend doing a test buttonhole on scrap fabric to see exactly how long it will be so you know exactly where to start the buttonhole on your fabric to have it centered on your mark. Using a seam ripper, open the buttonholes and ensure that your buttons fit through.

6. Using a needle and thread, sew your 3 buttons onto the right front panel on the marks you made in step 4.

7. Attach the front left and right panels together by fastening the buttons. Baste the two panels and the top and bottom where they overlap.

8. Right sides together, pin front panel to the back panel of co-ordinating fabric. Sew around the entire edge using a 1/2" seam allowance.

9. Trim the corners as pictured.

10. Unfasten your buttons (can be a bit tricky from the wrong side) and turn the pillow cover right side out.

11. Slide the pillow form into the pillow cover and refasten the buttons. Admire your new throw pillow!

Button Pillow.

I made this throw pillow for the couch.  A couple of years ago I made a fabric wall hanging out of this Ikea tree fabric.  I only had enough fabric to make the fronts of two 14" pillows, so I used the corduroy that I used for my ottoman slipcover for the back.  I tried to think of a creative way to avoid having to put a zipper in, and came up with using buttons. I'm really happy with how it turned out, I was going for a "woodland" feel and I think I got it!  I guess it's probably not hard considering there are trees on the fabric.  I have a matching pillow cut out and ready to sew that I need to finish, and am also working on a tutorial for a button pillow, which I will post next week.