Book Signing in Austin, TX---Next week!

For all you local Texans, I'm happy to announce....an Austin book signing! Yay!
And at one of my favorite fabric spots: The Stitch Lab.
If you've never been there you're in for a treat. It's pretty much the coolest, funkiest, most colorful, friendly, and fabric-packed shop in Austin. Check out my post about it here.

And to top it off, they're having a huge fabric sale that night:
25% off all cotton prints
15% off all Echino
25% off Laminates and Oilcloth
25% off Linens, Kona, and Cotton Voiles

Plus....
April Kling Meyer from Fabricker fabric shop will be joining us to show and sell unique fabrics and remnants from her current store stock.

It's a total party.
And it's NEXT Thursday! Sept 6th!
Okay. Here are the details.....

I'll see you next week!

TUTORIAL: Scalloped Baby Bunting

My dear friend Katherine had a baby two weeks ago and I couldn't help but pull up some newborn pics of Clara to remember that tiny stage. What a difference six months makes.
Those first few days are so special and rare. I love thinking back on them, since my mind somehow forgets the aches and pains and instead remembers that cute heart garland we tied around her baby bassinet. It was so cheery!
So I decided that Katherine needed a garland (or bunting) to welcome her new baby as well.
You've likely made one of these before.

Garlands have been done and done, and then done again.
But it's just one more excuse to use up that cute bias tape! (this is actually the reason I made the icy blue tape but in the end liked the pink from Lucy's new Beach Robe better. Finicky)

So here's what you do...
Pick out a few fabrics.
• Trace half of a bowl to cardstock to create a pattern.
• Fold each fabric in half and trace/cut two scalloped pieces from each.
• Sew along the curve with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
• Use scissors to clip the curve just slightly in the seam allowance (do not clip thru to the sewn line). This will help the seam lay flat inside the scallop
• Turn it right-side out and press very flat
You can make the garland any size of course.
• So keep making scallops till you have the amount you'd like. Then lay them out on the floor or table and decide which order you'd like.
• Make or purchase enough 1/2 inch wide double-fold bias tape to hold them all (to make your own tape see my detailed tutorial HERE).
• Grab your scallops and tape and we're ready to assemble!
• Leave about an 8 inch tail at the end (so the garland can be tied to a bassinet or chair, etc)
• Sandwich the first scallop into the bias tape, with the raw fabric edge inside the tape. Pin it in place (we'll only do this for the first one to hold it while we start sewing).
• Start from the end of the bias tape and sew down the edge of the tape, sewing the tape ends together and then sewing the scallop in place.
• Sandwich the next scallop into the tape, hold it with your hand, and keep sewing (no need to pin them anymore; takes too long)
And....you're done!
One pretty little garland for any special occasion.
Hang it up and admire the pretty colors.
Or fold it up, wrap it up, and give it to a friend.
For a mom giving birth to her third little girl it's hard to think of a new gift idea. But everyone loves party decor. I might be making these for all my expecting friends.

Sleep tight little babe.
And speaking of babies, check out baby Owen playing with the baby basket 3 years ago. Same head, same haircut, just a wee bit smaller.

First day of School Skirt

As long as Lucy will let me, I see a future of homemade First Day of School Skirts (check out Kindergarten here). And by the time she hits Jr. High I hope we've moved on from the elastic waistband. For First Grade though....the Simple Skirt will do.
It was a crazy weekend (Lucy in the ER with stitches on her chin and Dad was out of town) so I almost didn't get one together. But last night we pulled it off. Lucy picked a fabulous 80s floral from my fabric closet and I got sewing.
She insisted on wearing my Forever 21 headband. I've never seen a bow that big on her head but it looked real cute. And for shoes....um.....we pulled out the same ones from last year. Haah. We actually bought a new pair of tennies for the year but her feet aren't growing fast enough. Way to reduce, reuse, recycle?
Lucy loved it all.
And, she was off in a blur.
With her oversized backpack and little sidekick.
What oh what is he going to do without her?
I love that our school is just one block away. Such a great morning outing.

And just like that, she was sitting in her desk working on art projects.
Happy First day to all you new school kids!
See you at 3pm.

6 months old

This little girl is growing up.
We're at the 6 month mark!
And she's totally changing.
She's no longer a quiet slug. She loves to move, wiggle, shift her head from side to side as the kids run circles around her. And she even loves to shriek, and drool of course. I love it all (except being the human jungle gym).
The two biggest changes this month...

• She can roll to her tummy, push up, and then gets stuck. Gotta teach her how to roll back. She seems pretty happy about it though.
• Her hair has fallen out in the back. Boo. But she's got a fabulous combover in the front.
I could tell the hair was thinning but couldn't see the real change till I looked at these photos, just one month apart. Bye Bye pretty baby hair. We look forward to new toddler hair.
Clara is still a very happy girl. She's starting to share her opinion and has her fussy times (can those teeth come in already?) But really, she still does a lot of this:
Here's the 6 month comparison:
Have a great weekend!

TUTORIAL: Short Skinnies

I love how easy it is to find colorful skinny pants these days. Forever 21, Target, H&M, GAP, Old Navy. Hooray! And when I was in Calif this summer I went crazy and bought 4 pairs from Forever 21. They're actually twill pants, rather than jeans and are so super comfortable (they fit in the back!...no low-risers).But the downside to all this fabulousness is that I live in Texas. And summer is still here for a few more months.
So my sister-in-law Laura (who also bought 4 pairs) had a brilliant idea.
"What if we bought some extra pairs and cut them off into skinny shorts?"
Um. Doi.
YES!!

(Oh, did I mention the pants only cost $15? )
Life just got better.
So I bought 2 pairs of yellow and got fixin' to cut.
(okay I never say that).
Voila. Short skinnies! or...Skinny Shorts
You have two options here:
- Simply cut them off, let the ends fray, and have good old "cut offs". Or,
- Give them a new hem so they look like store-bought shorts.

Here's what I did.
• First wash/dry your pants with the method you intend to do all the time.
• I wanted to see how the fabric would fray so first I chopped off the pants at the ankle, washed/dried, and the results are below. I liked how the edges frayed. But I wanted something more polished. So....
• Put the pants on and pin or mark where they hit the middle of your knee. You can make them any length of course but I think they look best at they knee (any shorter and they start to look like biker shorts, in my opinion).
• Give yourself padding and draw a new hem line at least 1 1/2 inches (or even 2 if you're nervous) below the knee mark.
• Cut them off, iron the edge under a 1/2 inch, then iron it under another 1/2 inch. Then try them on again to see if they're where you'd like. If not, trim a little more and repeat.
• Pin/sew the cuff in place using a matching thread color.
You're done!
Two different looks:
I love having options!
and a mini-me tagalong.
Now I need to go back and buy another pair of turquoise and teal.
Forever 21 you forever kill me.

baby blues

I absolutely love a little girl in blue. But I quickly learned when Lucy was a baby (and bald) that if she was wearing blue I'd have to field the "how old is he?" questions. Come to think of it, I got those when she was wearing pink...and butterflies too.
?
Well.
I've hung on to this soft blue peasant blouse from BabyStyle hoping baby Clara could try it out. It's fits her perfectly right now.
And matches all that bias tape I made the other day.
Oooo. Project!
I followed the normal steps for the Simple Skirt (love how little fabric it takes for a baby version). This time around I sewed my hem first. I wanted to make sure everything was straight and horizontal when I sewed the bias tape in place.
Then I took my bias tape and used it like a trim, sewing stripes to my fabric.
NOTE: Single fold tape will make your skirt less bulky. But all I had was double-fold.
And there we go. A cute bias tape Mini to go with the blouse.
I sort of forgot that babies often don't stand straight and keep those knees bent. I should have added more width to the skirt, making it fuller.
So....the skirt is a work-in-progress (I've already started another one).
But it works.
Definitely a girl.
No matter where I put that camera, she finds me.