sewing • cooking • crafting • all things domestic
Even though I am all grown up now, a wife, and mother with two little girls, my mom still sends me the most special care packages for the different holidays. She always sends us beautifully packaged boxes with thoughtful things for the whole family. I SO look forward to these packages! We received a Valentine’s Day box from her last week with lots of fun Valentine’s treats, decorations and gifts and I just wanted to share a couple handmade gifts with you.
For Christmas I gave Mom, Amy Butler’s new book, Style Stitches, in hopes of getting her back into sewing. Well, I think it worked!! Mom is now taking a quilting class and has been spending her nights and weekends at the sewing machine. Above is a little purse that my mom made me from Amy Butler’s new book.
I love the coordinating broach that she added to the bag – it’s just the right touch and the color matches perfectly.
The inside has lots of fun little pockets for storing all sorts of things. The lining is a striped fabric that coordinates with the outer two.
The back of the purse has this super-cute handle. You can either carry it or slide it around your wrist.
And finally, I must toot mom’s horn a bit – look at those pleats and that stitching. Total and complete perfection! I was inspired to start sewing with all the memories of my mom sewing when we were growing up so I am thrilled that she has jumped back into this hobby.
In the same Valentine’s Day package she include these two matching play aprons for Savannah and Matilda. The girls love that they have pockets for them to carry around all their treasures.
We also received another fun package from my Grandma Ethel this weekend with lots of fun things and Valentine’s treats for the girls. Grandma Ethel works at a thrift store in her retirement community and saves me all sorts of treasures that she finds.
I love this vintage McCalls apron pattern – I definitely think I’m going to have to make myself one of this. How stylish will I look sporting this around the house?? I think the tic-tac-toe pot holder is too cute!!
Here is about 1/3 of the vintage linens that she sent me – such great finds!
I’m really loving these two vintage baby bonnets. Not quite sure what I’m going to do with them, but I’m sure I will find something. Perhaps the girls will like them for their baby dolls when they get a little older.
I have had a taste for fried zucchini over the last several days, so today I tried my hand a making a baked version of this popular appetizer and I must say it was mighty good! To be honest, I could not tell the difference between this baked version and the fried version that you would purchase in a restaurant. I breaded these zucchini chips with panko bread crumbs which I think really added to the crunchy texture.
If you have a taste for fried zucchini, give this healthier version a try. This is great as an appetizer or a side-dish. Your kiddos will love these too because, who doesn’t love dipping things into ranch dressing or marinara sauce? YUM!
So this is the second to last week of Project Run and Play and I’m still in the competition! Can you believe it? I feel so honored and privileged to have made it this far. Thank you guys so, so much for all your support – I couldn’t have done it without you.
For this week, we were told to come up with a Valentine’s inspired look. The idea for this dress popped into my head several weeks ago. I wanted to make something that could be worn for Valentine’s Day, but could also be carried through into spring/summer. As I’m sure a lot of you know, it’s such a bummer to work really hard on an outfit and only have it worn once. I thought the idea of “Love Bugs” (aka Lady Bugs) would shout Valentine’s Day, but would be neutral enough to wear on other days of the year.
I love a well-fitted, a-line jumper and this one fits the bill. The jumper is fully lined with coordinating pink and red fabric. There is baby ric-rac running in a curved shape up the front of the pink, inset panel and at each curve there is a little tiny lady bug button that is hand-sewn in place. The pink, inset panel is trimmed with a 1″ red ruffle on each side and the bottom of the dress is finished with a matching red ruffle as well. The dress buttons with two medium-sized, red buttons at each shoulder.
Finally, I wanted to add some accessories so I made a wide-brimmed, floppy style hat to coordinate with her dress. The hat has a matching red ruffle, black baby ric-rac and is finished with curly, korker ribbons in red, white and baby pink. My little lady is carrying her Valentine’s Day purse that has a variety of different trims. To finish the entire look, I layered the jumper with a pink and red polka dot knit shirt and paired it with a pink, ruffled ballet flat. There is no doubt that Miss Savannah is my “Little Love Bug”!
Here are a few more pictures from our Valentine’s photoshoot:
I think piping is one of the sweetest, most professional details you can add to children’s clothing. It makes a some-what ordinary piece of clothing into something extraordinary. There are many different colors and sizes of piping that you can purchase pre-made in the notions section of your local sewing store, but did you know that you can make your own?
Making your own piping is really fun, very easy, and super affordable. I love tying a garment together with piping in a coordinated, printed fabric. Last week in my vintage/retro “Project Run and Play” outfit, I added custom piping into the peter-pan collar and I thought I would share the how-to with you today.
Here is what your piping looks like after you have basted it together. Normally I would use a coordinating thread, but I wanted you to be able to see the stitching. After this step, I like to cut the raw edge of the bias cut fabric down to the seam allowance that I am using in my design (whether it be 5/8″, 1/2″, or 1/4″).
If you are making lots of piping to save for future projects, I would recommend going with a wider cut bias strip and then cutting down the raw edge based on the seam allowance for each individual project.
I made it to Week 4 of Project Run and Play! This was the week I’ve been waiting for – The Vintage/Retro Challenge! Now here is a challenge that is right up my alley. The hard part about this challenge was deciding what to make – I had so many options!! But since I’ve decided to use this competition to challenge myself, I decided to try a brand new design with some sewing elements that were a little new to me.
The bonnet is sleek in-style and has the fit of a structured hat. Since Savannah is almost three, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too baby-ish for her so I resisted the urge to add ruffles. Instead I added a tiny line of ric-rac around the entire front. The fabric tie is threaded through the bonnet through two buttonholes on each side (4 button holes total). The bonnet ties under the chin and is the perfect addition to this vintage inspired outfit.
For the pocket detail in the front, I added a red plaid gingham ribbon as well as a small, yellow piece of ric-rac. The pocket has a contrasting blue and yellow fabric for the top accent.
I think little puff sleeves are definitely a styling choice for the 1940’s – 1950’s and I’ve always found these to be so sweet on little girls. The dress closes in the front with four fabric covered buttons (again, another vintage-inspired choice).
I made my own corded piping and inserted that into the peter-pan collar. You all know how much I LOVE piping so there was no question that it had to be part of this design. I’ve got a tutorial coming soon about how to make your own corded piping!
I’ve had Valentine’s Day on the mind today. I’m not quite sure why (my husband and I don’t do much for the holiday), but whatever the reason, I decided to create some printable graphics/designs for you all to use for Valentine’s crafts, cards or whatever else you can think of to use these fun graphics for in your life.
I hope you like them. The first one is one of my favorites. My husband and I just watched the movie “Julie and Julia” and I cannot get this quote out of my head.
The following five graphics are all similar, but I’ve changed the “us +” number in each one so it is customized to the number of kids you have in your family.
First off, if you haven’t gone over to Project Run and Play to vote this week, would you mind heading over there and voting for #3 “Lindsay’s Girly Girl Twirl Dress”? I usually ask you guys to vote for your favorite look, but this week I need your help!
This was a particularly hard challenge for me (I’m not much into current women’s fashion trends). We are definitely at risk for being eliminated and the next week is the vintage-inspired challenge which I know I can rock!! So, if you all would please, pretty please, head over and vote, I would be so grateful! Voting is only open until midnight tonight.
This weekend I decided to take a little time to do some sewing for myself and my family. I started my very first string-block quilt and these are my first four squares.
For those of you that sew a lot of clothing, you know how many scraps you end up having left over. I thought this quilt would be perfect for using up all those skinny little scraps that I can’t bare to throw away. Plus, I love the eclectic look of all the different pretty fabrics.
In the picture above, you can see how the thin white strip forms a diamond when four blocks are placed together. I plan on this quilt taking me a very long time, but I love that I am using my scraps and I know it will be gorgeous when it is all finished.
I also decided to sew a quick peasant style dress for my daughter Savannah. I used the pattern that was given to us during the last Leila and BenProject Run and Play Challenge (the Sweet Dress pattern). I actually sewed the pattern the way it was instructed this time.
This dress pattern took me about 45 minutes to get sewn (garment label and all!). I would say if you are a beginner it might take about an hour and a half, but no more than that. It’s super-simple and only has two pattern pieces to cut! I would highly recommend this pattern to any new sewer that is looking to start to make children’s clothing.
The only thing I did different with the pattern was to add the ruffle detail down the front. I think this is going to be a great little dress for spring/summer. And what I really love about this pattern is that Savannah will be able to continue to wear this as a top when she gets taller – gotta love that!
Comfort is key when it comes to children’s -wear. I really wanted to create a look that was truly wearable for a child. She could run, jump, play or twirl and be incredible comfortable and stylish at the same time! And I know this dress fit the bill, because Savannah did not want to take it off – she told me it was “SO cozy and soft”. Perfect – mission accomplished!!
Lindsay Wilkes is the owner and designer behind The Cottage Mama. She creates timeless, vintage inspired sewing patterns for children’s clothes. She is also a fabric designer for Riley Black Designers / Penny Rose Fabrics, author of the book ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls’ and can be seen teaching nationwide and online in her video series ‘Lessons with Lindsay’ sponsored by Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery machines.
Welcome! My name is Lindsay Wilkes and I am the owner / designer of The Cottage Mama, a boutique children's sewing pattern company and the author behind, 'Sew Classic Clothes for Girls'. The Cottage Mama blog is where I share my love for sewing, cooking and crafting and all things domestic. If you like what you see, you can read more about me HERE.