Let's talk fabric (and then give some away)!

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am addicted to fabric.

I know I am not the only person out there with this addiction.  Just type in the words "fabric storage" on Pinterest and you will find thousands of other addicts like me looking for ways to store all of their stockpiles.   I can tell you, there is something even more fantastic than fabric- It's finding fabric at a GREAT price.  Now, I love designer fabrics and those don't often come cheap.  I know I am not alone in this either.  So... I have recently launched a new Etsy shop where I sell designer fabrics and reasonable prices.  I find fantastic deals and pass them on to other sewers!  
Check out the shop here...

Now let's get to the best part!  To help launch this little shop of mine, I will be giving away two fat quarters of brand new Riley Blake fabric- one polka dot and one chevron.   Don't you love these rainbow colors?  I can think of SO many uses for these!

To enter, all you have to do is go to my  facebook page, "Like" the page and "Share" the post.  To get an extra entry, you can "Like" the Etsy shop and then report back to the facebook post to let me know you have done that.   This contest ends tonight at 8pm so hurry up and good luck!

More pattern testing!

I love trying new sewing projects but always feel a little stressed out about selling them in my shop.  I get into this mentality that if I am sewing, it should be something to sell.  My kids rarely wear clothes that I make them and not one member of my family has a handmade quilt on their bed.  Terrible, I know!  This is why I love testing patterns so much.  Remember those cute Halloween treat bags I made a few months ago?  Adorable and my kids got something fun out of it.  This time I responded to a post by Tikatuly Designs asking for people to test her patterns.  Here's how it works... selling patterns on Etsy can be very successful and fun; especially ones that have lots of pictures.  They are similar to tutorials and usually sell for a few dollars each.  However, when you make a pattern, you need to know if other's can follow what you are saying.  It's like proof reading for sewing.  Here's where I come in!  I test the pattern out and in turn get to spend a little free time making something that I am not focused on selling.  This time, my little Sophie got a new skirt out of the deal!

Tikatuly Designs is owned by a super nice person from NY.  She makes patterns for really fun, modern, children's clothing.  Here is a peak at some of her designs...

Aren't they fun?!  They are different than most of the other kids clothing patterns out there and I just love the fabrics that she uses.

So, she asked if people would test out the pattern for her asymmetrical skirt.  Let me just remind you that I do NOT make clothing often and that is because I can not follow a traditional sewing pattern to save my life.  That entire section of the fabric store is off limits to me.  However, I love finding tutorials on-line or purchasing Etsy tutorials because they are so much easier to follow.

Well this pattern is no exception.  It is PACKED with pictures.  Every time you get a bit confused, there is a fantastic picture that shows you exactly what she is talking about.  The other great thing, if you get confused at all, you just email her and she writes you back!  Fantastic!

Well here is the skirt I made today.  Please note that pictures turn out better in natural light so I had my poor little one outside in the snow with dress shoes on.  Believe me, she didn't mind.  She had a new, funky, skirt and she was in heaven.

So here are some great things about this pattern.  Typically when you buy a pattern on-line, it is about 5 pages long.  This pattern was 40+ pages.  Not great for the ink/paper supply but you really don't have to print it if you don't want to.  The reason why it is so long is because it has OPTIONS.  And she explains each on in detail.

 There were many variations on the waist but I chose to use elastic.  I happened to have some extra so this did not require a store trip.  I left some of the fabric at the top to make it ruffle a bit more to mimic the ruffly, flowy feel of the skirt.

 Then there is the hem.  She gives great instruction on how to make handmade fabric ruffle which I know I will try next time but I chose to use some left over large ric-rac I happened to have had on hand.  I like it but I think I would change it up next time.

So there is it!  I would definitely purchase a pattern from this seller in the future and I certainly hope she lets me test out future patterns. 

Anyone else have any great patterns or tutorials out there?  I love building my stash of ideas!

Super Easy Painted Christmas Cookies

I love making (and eating) Christmas cookies but with three small kids, this activity usually turns daunting and overwhelming pretty easily.  If I make cookies that involve icing, the kids get to turn into little artists but the icing is hard for them to use and makes a huge mess. If I choose drop cookies or something that doesn't need icing, the kids don't really get to do much. So I turned to google the other day and found a couple recipes for painted cookies.  After tweaking them a bit based on what I had in the pantry, we got to work tonight.  This was such a FUN, EASY, and BEAUTIFUL cookie experience.  There was little to no stress and everyone was happy.  My kitchen even stayed a little cleaner than normal.

So here goes, first you make sugar cookies.  I cheated and used a boxed mix that I found on sale a couple months ago for less than a dollar.  We rolled them all out and cut out all the shapes.

As I filled a cookie sheet with shapes, we put them in the fridge to keep a bit better.  When they were all cut, we got to work on the decorating part.  Here is the best part- it's 2 ingredients!  I took a mini muffin pan (an ice cube tray works well too) and poured evaporated milk in each little spot.  The I added different colors of food coloring to each little area and mixed well with a toothpick.  Since I had both the regular and the gel coloring, we tried both.  They both worked really well.

 Each child got a small clean paintbrush and a plate full of UNBAKED cookies.  They painted all of them and then we threw them in the oven for a few minutes based on the box instructions.  Presto!  Fantastic, totally kid friendly, cookies. 

a Few Fun Finds...

I have come across a few really fun things on Etsy this week so I thought I would share.... Enjoy!

2 Hootie the Owl Plushies by AllThingsGranny 

(actually her entire store is one of the most fantastic shops I have ever seen!)

 Cream and Black Fall Wreath by HalieghannasHands 

This is a brand new Etsy seller but she seems to be on the right track.  This wreath is so different and made from recycled materials as well.

Crochet Christmas Stocking by mycrochetgarden

I stumbled upon this stocking in one of my teams.  I love the blue and red together to give it a different but still Christmas look...plus I am sure this stretches to hold all of Santa's larger goodies.

Fox Dress by wildthingsdresses

I would seriously own every single one of this seller's dresses if I could afford them.  I mean they are some of the best looking, unusual outfits, ever.  Love, love, love

Snarky Greeting Card by VixensEmpire

Sometimes you need something that Hallmark doesn't sell.  These cards are full of cuss words and not at all politically correct but I smile when I read them.

My New Sewing Studio!

Okay so perhaps it's not a "studio" but to me it's perfect.  As you may remember, we decided to finish our basement last year.  Up until then, I had been working in whatever section of the basement I could find that would hold all my stuff.  Because of a lack of storage and organization, my sewing stuff spilled out of bins and spread throughout almost the entire basement.  It was a mess!

My sweet and handy husband decided that we needed extra space in our house and that I needed a more permanent area to work.  Since my Etsy shop has really taken off, this has clearly become a necessity.  Even though I have a pretty successful business now, I still view sewing as a hobby so I had some serious guilt about using too much of the basement (our living area) for just myself.  My husband convinced me that even hobbies deserve their own spot, especially since I had been doing this for so long.  Clearly this is not a hobby that is just going to blow over when I find something more fun.

Last Wednesday the carpet was installed and by Friday I was at IKEA trying to buy the finishing touches for my space.  Now, my area is small (10' x 5').  My 7 year old refers to it as my sewing nook instead of a studio.  I really needed to use the vertical space as much as possible.  Are you ready for the reveal?  Here goes!

This is an overall look and I will show you the other areas a bit more close up.  The two main table areas are some inexpensive tables I had from Joann's.  One is a cutting table and the other is a sewing table.  I am not in love with them because they fall apart when moved but they are working well for me.  I still need to get some art and color on the walls to make it a bit more personal but you get the idea.  Now, I will admit that you are not seeing the bins and bins of finished projects, minky dot fabric, upholstery fabric, and off season fabrics that I have.  Those I am storing in the crawl space section of our basement so they are out of the way.  I am not sure how that is going to work since I do use that stuff almost daily but it's working out so far.  Now let's take a more in depth tour :-).

I have had this thread thing forever and never had a place to hang it.  I put my most used threads on here and it is so nice being able to reach up and grab what I need.  The best part, I actually put the threads back when I am finished with them.  Miracle!  I have extra embroidery threads in cases down below.  My small computer is right by my machine which is a must since some of my embroidery designs come off the computer.  I also have that magnetic board which holds all my product labels so I never forget to grab one when I am stitching something together.

This is the majority of my fabric.  I used comic book boards to wrap all the fabric which makes them stand up beautifully.  The tops of the shelves are a bit too short for the boards so I have all my pre-cuts and quilt bundles up there.

Welcome to my shipping area.  These IKEA kitchen storage things are perfect.  I have my rulers hanging since this is also near my cutting table.  Some of my rulers didn't fit quite well so the hubs promised to drill a couple new holes in them to make them work better.  The rest is all the stuff I need for shipping...business cards, thank you notes, tape, string, stickers, etc.

This is the rest of my shipping area and some more storage.  The drawer cabinet holds my poly-mailers, as well as half completed projects.  The magnetic board is perfect for hanging up my pending orders so I can keep track of what I need to work on next.

 The two shelves at the top hold all the bins of supplies that I have.  The bins are clear so I can easily see what's in them.  (What isn't shown is that the shelves fell down the night after these pictures were taken because I installed them wrong.  Oops!  My hubs has promised to fix my mistakes but he is going to let me live with a downed shelf for a couple days as punishment for not waiting for his help in the first place.  Love it.)  My ribbons were a huge problem before.   I used a curtain hanger from IKEA for storage.  Now I just unwrap a roll when I get it and put it on these cards.  This way I can see exactly what I have and what I need to buy.  The cards easily un-clip when I need to use them.

To the right is another kitchen storage bar thingy.  This holds my scissors, rotary cutters, and other necessities.

All in all, I am SO in love with my new space.  I have a ton of work to do and this makes it an absolute pleasure to do anything.   The rest of the basement has room for our new couch and TV (coming later this week) and some of the kids' larger toys.   Well, I better get back to sewing!  This room is screaming to be used.

I LOVE seeing other people's work areas.  If you have any pictures of your work space, please feel free to post them here.  I will be sure to check them out.

Halloween Pattern Testing

I have a confession, I can't sew from a formal pattern to save my life.  I see the books of patterns in the fabric stores and dream about the day that I create some spectacular formal dress for one of my daughters.  That's never going to happen.  Plain and simple, I just don't get it. 

Now tutorials, those are a different story.  These days the Internet is FULL of bloggers ready and willing to post their tutorials on how to make this or that.  Etsy sellers also sell their simple patterns and tutorials that arrive to through your email in simple clear instructions.  They put pictures, explanations, and sometimes even videos to help make the process smoother.  The other bonus, most of the time the items made from tutorials don't have to be that exact.  SWEET!  A small imperfection here or there doesn't really matter when you are making a one size fits all dress or a decorative towel.

When fellow blogger Sheryl from Sher's Creative Blog Space asked some fellow Etsy folks to test out one of her sewing patterns for Halloween treat bags, I was all in.  It's a win-win.  She needed to make sure that her tutorial was perfect before selling it on Etsy and I am always up for trying a free simple sewing pattern.

I am so impressed with the results.  The bags were extrememly easy to make, come in three sizes, and can be as simple or as decorated as you want to make them.  Here are some of the ones that I made...

The large one has a ghost appliqué which was included in the pattern and I added my daughter's name to it to add a personal touch.  It is the perfect size for a nice Halloween gift or even to trick-or-treat with.  The smaller one is adorable and great for Halloween treat bags.  These bags are so easy to make and are a great way to use up scrap pieces of fabric.  They would be wonderful for Birthday party treat bags or for goodie bags. 

The best part of having people test her pattern is seeing all the variations of bags people made.  Sheryl had 5 of us test them out and all 5 had very different and uniquely wonderful results.  Check out all the rest of bags here.

Now if you would like to make some of these bags of your own, head to Sheryl's Etsy shop and purchase the pattern.  I promise, they are super fun and easy to make.

Where am I now?

It's so much fun when other bloggers ask if they can feature you. This week Jeanna from Barnyard Chick asked if I would like to stop by for a visit.  She has a great blog where you can even get some adorable free graphics.  I am particularly drawn to her posts about organization.  Man I could use some of that!  Stop by Barnyard Chick and check us both out!