Vintage Find & Inspiration - Child's Vintage Animal Quilt

We recently visited family in Minneapolis. While spending a glorious weekend at my sister Lisa's house, our daughters slept under this adorable vintage handmade quilt. Lisa's dad married my mom when I was 19, so I have never seen this child's quilt. I thought I would share it with all of you, as inspiration for your next children's project. These cuddly critters would look cute on curtains, appliqued onto t-shirts, painted on a bedroom wall, doodled and framed, the possibilities are endless...

...enjoy, and please let me know if you use these in a project. I would be happy to feature it here.

Making an Old Sweater New Again

I love hand knit sweaters, especially for kiddos. The bright colors, fun motifs, and love that go into the creation of them make me happy. The only issue I sometimes have are with the buttons; I never seem to like the ones the knitter chose and they often seem to be smaller than then the button holes so they pop open all the time. One UFO (Un-Finished Object) that has been in my sewing pile for a LONG time is this adorable sweater. Quin is now the perfect size for it but it was unwearable with the present buttons.


I started thinking about what kind of buttons I wanted a couple of weeks ago, then while in line at the local fabric store, Sugar Pine, I found them.


These yellow hearts are super cute and the orange embroidery floss makes them sing. Sweater - $6 + Buttons $3.25 = $9.25. I challenge you to take an item of clothing that you don't like and to change things about it that might make you love it. I tend to like anything I have personalized better then something I haven't. Now I have one more project down, and a delighted daughter to boot.

Tutorial - Camera Strap Cover - Revamp an Old Camera Strap Using Thrifted Upholstery Samples and Embroidery

You may or may not know that I hold two University degrees in photography (one as the major and the other as a minor to studio art). I am an artist, crafter, writer, and all around creative, but I usually say I am a photographer first when I am asked what I "do". Six months after I had my first child we moved across the country for my husband's job and I pretty much gave up my commercial photography business. I specialized in shooting black and white film images at the homes of my clients. I shot enough sessions that I would burn out motors and shutters so I would buy "new" used bodies for back ups. Last month, I started going through all of my analog camera equipment. I have 7 SLR bodies, from good working order to parts cameras, that I needed to test. I have gotten through 5 of them, with some of the results here. I love and miss shooting film and now that I know which cameras to keep, I will probably be doing more of it...

This brings me to the project. In the course of going through all my gear, I decided it was time to make my camera straps pretty. My recent sewing class has inspired me to find new sewing projects and a wide, boring, black neoprene camera strap volunteered to undergo a make over. This project can be adapted to your vision. The sky is really the limit on fabric and embellishments. You can even hand sew this project entirely if you don't have a sewing machine. If you don't have a camera strap you can find many boring and suitable candidates at the thrift store. I will walk you through a few simple steps and then off you go...

How-to Cover a Boring Camera Strap to Make it Pretty...

What you need...

- Wide camera strap
- Fabric, I used upholstery samples
- Sewing Machine and thread (or needle & thread to hand sew)
- Items for embellishment like buttons & embroidery thread


1) Using your camera strap to measure against, decide where to cut your fabric. My piece had some grommets I cut off. Here you can see I pinned the fabric up against the edge of the strap. You will need to make a tube around your strap that fits snugly. I think I only had about 1/2" of fabric beyond my strap on each side (so cut fabric 1" wider than strap).


2) If the ends of your fabric are not finished, finish them now. My sample had finished ends which I just turned under when I put my cover on. It was too short, however, to be used as one piece, so I did sew two pieces if it together. I didn't bother to line up the pattern because I knew I would embellish one end... I sewed the buttons where my obvious seam from joining the two pieces is.


3) You can embellish the top front side of your fabric (the part you will be able to see) now or at the end. I actually did all of my embellishing at the end, when my cover was already on, using a curved tapestry needle. I would suggest doing the embellishing before if you want to remove the strap (since I may have sewn through parts of the strap). I just embellished one end. I did it on the end because I knew that part would show while wearing my camera. If your hair is short you could embellish the whole strap, since it won't be hidden under your hair. I cut a flower and paisley from my fabric and appliqued them on, using embroidery thread.


4) Put wrong sides of fabric together, pin, and sew, using a straight stitch, reinforcing each end by front and back stitching. I used a 1/4" seam allowance. Turn your tube right side out.


5) Slide your cover onto your strap. If you already embellished, you are now done, If not, go ahead and do it now.


Voila! Now go, shoot something, and wear your camera with pride...

Tutorial - How To Make Baby and Child Leg Warmers, and Adult or Child Arm Warmers With Thrifted Scarves

Warning: Lots of cute photos of kiddos to come... all images by Tiffany Teske


Baby Leggings


Child Arm Warmers


Baby Leggings & Child Arm Warmers


Adult Arm Warmers


Child Leg Warmers

I have had the idea to make these for several months now. I have been taking a sewing class, one of several I have taken over the years, and my favorite part about it is that I am given THREE UNINTERRUPTED HOURS to work on whatever I want. That is about how long it took me to make two pairs of baby leggings, for my babe and for a gift, and a pair of leg warmers for my daughter, who is almost 4 years old.


Front of Child Leg Warmers

I love to work with thrifted materials. Some are given to me and others I seek out at the thrift store, yard sales, and rummage sales. There are so many possible places to find fabrics that I rarely buy new fabric. I always keep an eye out for materials that I can use in the future, especially vintage prints. This allows me to amass a stash so that when I have time to work on something I just go "shopping" in my studio and I usually find what I am looking for. I also stockpile materials for when I teach recycled art and craft classes to adults and children.


Back of Child Leg Warmers + Cute Baby

The two scarves I used for these projects came from Victory Thrift Store. They normally sell scarves for $2 each but they often have a buy one, get one for 99% off sale. It cost me $2.03 for these scarves. They are very different from one another. Since I had never made these I didn't really know what to expect when sewing the scarves. I looked for stretchy scarves but all scarves are different. I spent a long time touching, stretching, and anticipating. The important factor is that they stretch out and then back into shape. They need to stretch enough to go onto the baby or child's leg and then to stay there. As mentioned in the title, if they are long enough these can also be used a adult arm warmers with no modifications.

How To Make Baby Legs, Child Leg Warmers, and Adult Arm Warmers With a Thrifted Scarf

This is a simple project for even a beginner. The only trick is selecting the right scarf. Read through all of the instructions for tips on this and rest assured this is an easy project that will leave you feeling accomplished in the end.

What you will need:
- a stretchy scarf
- a sewing machine (or Serger if you have one, I don't)
- coordinating thread
- needle for stretch fabrics
- pins
Optional items for embellishment such as vintage buttons, embroidery thread, ribbon...


One of my two scarves before I started cutting...


Now with the ends cut off and cut in half.


Zigzag stitch at the bottom and top of one legging. I didn't fold this edge over and stitch since this material wouldn't hold like that. I just stitched around near the top.

Step One
Decide on the length you want the leggings to be and then decide how to cut your scarf. It will completely depend on your scarf and your needs. You will need about a 1/4" seam allowance on each end. For my fuzzy rainbow leggings I was able to get two pair from the one scarf, meaning I cut four pieces from the full length and I used the full width. For my argyle ones I cut the scarf in half for one pair and I guesstimated on how tight I wanted them. I did end up cutting a bit of the width off, so I used 3/4 of the width. Where and how you cut will depend on the fabric. For the stretchy fuzzy scarf I needed to sew a line, using zigzag stitch at each end of a piece BEFORE I did any cutting because the knit fabric unraveled once cut. This is all I did at the top and bottom to finish those edges. For the argyle fabric I could cut without any fraying.

Try stretching the ends of the scarf to see if they are finished, they probably are if the scarf is knit. The way they are finished may make them too tight when folded in half, around the upper leg, so it is best to cut the ends of the scarf off in this case and re-sew a zigzagged line across the bottom and top of your two pieces, stretching a bit as you sew. If you have a serger, use it. I had my instructor serge the second pair of rainbow leggings so I could see if there was a difference in quality. I think hers are more durable but my sewing machine and zigzag stitch did fine. The only thing I can say about sewing such a "hairy" fabric is to keep a seem ripper handy for when you get stuck. You will never notice where you have used it in the end. I had smooth sailing with the argyle pair.


Piece with finished ends folded in half and ready to stitch up the side.

Step Two
Now that you have your pieces, you are ready to fold them in half, right sides together, and to zigzag stitch up the side. My knit scarf didn't have a right and wrong side.


Stitched

Step Three
Turn your fabric tube right side out. I am finished with the rainbow pair at this point. I need to stitch the top and bottom edges of the argyle pair. I folded the fabric, which stayed without pinning, in about a half inch, and zigzag stitched around, near the edge. They are now complete and can be worn as arm warmers or leggings (see photos below).


Finished top edge.


The same arm warmers as above, now on my daughter...


Embellish

Some Possible Materials

You can embellish these leggings/warmers whatever way you chose. The sky is the limit. I decided to use vintage buttons, embroidery thread, ribbon.


Threading the ribbon from the "wrong" side out...

Because the rainbow leggings have such a loose knit I was able to thread the ribbon through them easily. I started in the middle of the front of each one (turning them so the seem would be inside the leg) and threaded from the inside to the outside, so there would be enough ribbon on the inside so that I could sew the button to it from the outside.


The "right" side of the legging with the ribbon coming out from the inside.


Front

Next I sewed the button onto the "hidden" part of the ribbon, using embroidery thread. In my mind, this is the front of the legging but of course could be the back...


Back

I continued to thread the ribbon in and out of the legging until I got to the middle part of the back. I then brought the two sides of the ribbon out the same hole and tied it in a bow. Voila!

If you have any questions or comments about this project please leave them here. I would love to know if I have inspired you to try this and to see your leggings on your blog. I will now leave you with a few more images of the leggings in action...

February 26th - Finished Piece, Using Portraits from Haiti, for the Women's Art Show

Well, I have always been able to work best with a deadline. I tend to wander off to other projects if I have all the time in the world. So, just in the nick of time, I finished my piece for the Women's Art Show at the Banff Public Library. I worked on it for about a week. I am really happy with how it turned out. I start with a basic plan but am not really one to lay out a project before beginning. I tend to have the best results when I just jump in. I know that seems strange but the minute I get hung up on something being perfectly straight or perfectly anything, it goes awry. This all went so well I am thrilled. You can see yesterday's post for the progression of this piece. Here are the photos of the finally step and the finished piece. It will be on display at the Banff Public Library for the month of March. All proceeds in the sale of this piece will go to His Hands for Haiti to build a home for orphaned and abandoned children.

February 24th & 25th - Women's Art Show Piece, Using Portraits from Haiti

(The beginning of my piece; I selected images from my negatives, had them printed, arranged them, added fabric hearts and collaged text from a vintage dictionary.)

Usually when I drop off the face of my blog for a few days it is because I have been busy creating (and I am probably under a deadline). My post to Thing-A-Day for February 23rd was the tutorial below, although I posted about the making of the project on the 22nd. And my last two posts to TAD have been about the piece I have been making for the Banff Public Library's Women's Art Show. I have been in this inspiring show with my fellow creative Banff sistas, for the past three years. I have been working on this mixed media piece for about a week, here and there.The show corresponds with International Women's Day on March 8th. There is always a theme but artists do not have to work within it. This year it is "Equal rights, equal opportunities: progress for all". I would have to say that I didn't work within the theme, at least not only in a women's rights sense. I chose to do my piece on Haiti. I have been there twice. I used images I shot for a child sponsorship program and collaged on them with text and fabric. I used both male and female images that I embroidered together. The next post will be the finished piece.




(I hand embroidered the photographs together using a variety of stitches)


(Once I had them all emboidered to one another I laid them onto handmade paper. The final steps will be in the next post).