I have to show you the coolest little pincushion I have seen yet!  This is from Cathrine at Cat on a Limb.

Check it out here.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!  I'm about to have three weekends off from all the weddings, but you can imagine how busy those three weekends will be with our family.  Oh winter... I hate the cold you bring, but how I miss the crafting.  sigh.

Kimono Shirt - TUTORIAL

A few weeks ago I shared with you the shirt that I made for myself.  I am FINALLY getting around to making a tutorial.  Sorry... it's wedding season.  What can I say?

You will need a couple of yards of a nice knit fabric.

With your fabric folded in half make sure the stretch of the fabric is up and down to you.  As shown in the picture above. 

Now fold your fabric in half one more time with the stretch still going up and down.

Find a t-shirt that fits you well and fold it in half.  Then lay it on top of your fabric.

Cut out the neckline.  I made mine the same on the front and back (pretty 80's!), but you don't have to.

Decide where you want the bottom waist band to start and mark it on your t-shirt.  I did this by putting the t-shirt on and placing a pin where I wanted it.  Then I marked on the fabric.  Refer to the above picture and below picture.

Now decide how wide you want your arm holes.  Keep them pretty wide!  Then make a slanted line just past the mark you made for your waist band will start.

Now pin two layers together.  We are NOT sewing all four layers, just two!!!

Sew your two layers together right over your marked line.

Now cut the excess fabric off, leaving a 1/4 seam.

Do the same thing on the other side.

Now cut off the excess fabric about a 1/2 inch below the mark you made for your waist band placement.

Now you are going to cut out your waist band.  I made mine about 13 inches wide.  For the length, measure your waist and subtract 2 inches.  

Make sure your stretch is going right to left for the waist band.

Fold the fabric in half and sew along this seam.

Turn your fabric right side out and fold it in half as shown above.

Take your waist band and put it over your shirt bottom.  You should have 3 layers of fabric now.  Pin it in place. The waist band should be smaller than the shirt. So, you will have to ease this together.  Sew it on!

Once you're done with the waist band, you should have this.

For the arm holes cut a strip that is a 1/2 inch longer than the circumference of your arm hole and 3 inches wide.  Now sew this the same way you did your waist band.  

Sew the short sides together.  Turn it right side out and fold in half wrong sides together.  

Sew it on your arm hole with right sides together

Run the seam through a server or do a zig zag stitch.

The neckline is the same thing, but instead of sewing the short sides together first, I folded them over each other like bias tape (refer to the above photo).

Now top stitch just below the seams on your arm holes and neckline.  This will keep the fabric from flipping the wrong way.

And.... you're done! 

I love the simplicity of this shirt.  Enjoy!

I did it - FINALLY!!!

I have been wanting to start making clothing for myself for some time now.  Every time I sat down to do so, I felt too intimidated.  On Thursday morning, I decided enough is enough and I did it!  I made a shirt and I LOVE the shirt.  It's my new fav.

The pictures are not super awesome, but whatever.  You get the idea. :)

It's a super simple construction and flatters any figure.  You can't beat that!

I want to try another one with smaller sleeves.  It's so versatile and easy and I have so many more ideas for it.

I totally screwed up the sleeves by pulling too much on the fabric.  Which is why there is such puckering on the hem of the sleeves.  Oh well.  It's the first time I've both made something for me and sewn with knit.  I love it anyway!  I'm thinking it would be cute with a white A-line skirt too, which I plan on making soon.

Tutorial coming SOON!

Wrapped ice cream sandwiches

One of my kids favorite desserts are homemade ice cream sandwiches.  They're so easy and oh-so-yummy!  But, they're messy.  So, I figured out how to wrap them in paper to keep them from getting too messy (not that they won't, but every bit helps).

YUM!

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is the back of the Nestle Toll House bag.  You know... Nesalay Tollhousa.  (If you loved friends as much as me, you get it)

We're bringing these for a cookout tomorrow so I doubled the recipe to make about 30 sandwiches.

Let your cookies cool completely! 

Once they are cool put one scoop in between two cookies.  You should let the ice cream soften a bit so it doesn't break your cookies when you push them together.

Now, cut a square from freezer paper or wax paper (I used freezer paper).  They don't have to be perfect.  Mine were about 8 inches, but no need for measuring.

Fold your square into a triangle.  If your corners do not match up, just fold it nicely and don't fret.

Now fold the bottom of your triangle up about an inch.

Put your cookie on top.

Fold the corner up to the middle of the cookie.

Fold your sides in to the center and slip one side into the other.

If you make your squares really big, you could fold the sides first and then the top triangle under and over to help hold it nicely.  This seemed to work just fine, though.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

Now, off to sew some outfits!

Potato Salad Recipe - Best EVER!

With the 4the of July right around the corner, I am crazy busy getting ready.  We're actually celebrating with friends tomorrow.  

This potato salad is worthy of sharing.  I usually HATE potato salad... especially from the grocery store deli.  YUCK!  This one is awesome.  Check it out.

Ingredients:

4-5 eggs

5-6 medium potoates

3/4 cup mayo

2 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. vinegar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tsp. sugar

1 green pepper (or 1 cup celery) chopped

1 small onion finely chopped or grated

paprika for color

salt and pepper

*Double the sauce for a single recipe because it is a bit too dry.  If you are doubling the recipe (as I did below), triple the sauce.

Boil your eggs and peel them.

This recipe calls for regular potatoes, but I used red potatoes so I wouldn't have to peel them.  You'll just need more than 5-6 as they are smaller.  I used about 20 potatoes for a double batch.

Cut your potatoes into cubes and boil until tender but not mushy!

 Once your potatoes are done, drain and let cool.

In a small bowl, add your mayo.

Then mustard.

Then vinegar.

Then milk and sugar.

Mix until smooth.

 You can simply chop your onion, but I grated it because there will be a lot of kids eating this.  I figure it might just help with the "I don't like onions" issue. ;)

 Finely chop your green pepper and add it to the sauce.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  Stir.

Cut up your eggs (I sliced them once length wise and then thinly width wise).

Poor your sauce over the top.

Stir.

Put it in a pretty bowl and be amazed!  Trust me, it's not just a boring potato salad!