Blood Drop Buddy

These are my Blood Drop stuffed toys. I got the Pilgrim one 6 years or so ago for giving blood, and a friend that works for the blood bank recently sent me the gold one. The gold really is not my style and I thought compared to the Pilgrim he could use some more style. After taking some suggestions the style that won was Lederhosen...




Here is the before shot

i took the bow off and measured for the circumference of the pants and sewed this together in a tube and did the same for each leg.

I then pinned the body and legs together along with an extra piece to join everything together. i pinned everything on the inside to keep the seams hidden.

the finished pants!

I then made some two straps by sewing a mini tube of fabric and sewed then so that they cross in the back.
final pants!

no more hat!

take a rectangle of fabric and fold it into a trapezoid by bringing in the corners to a point at the center line and running a few stiches to keep that point.


then you can kinda push the center down to make the shape you want to for the hat.


I used clear thread to sew the hat onto his head.

the criss cross straps


the buddies back together again!

Sweater One Reconstruction

The before shot

I cut along the center and added some extra fabric to attach the zippers to trying to follow the logic of this craftsters post

this is the sweater with the fabric added. where my sweater is different that the shirt demonstrated in the link, which i am trying to demonstrate in the picture is that you can pinch a roll of fabric along the center. most of my zip of sweaters have that so i thought i would try it.

this picture is showing how the length of the zipper was just a bit too long so i just hand stitched over it a bunch of times i link under where i wanted to just it off. I think the zipper package usually gives directions. my scissors were not being friendly this night so that's what i did. make sure you cut an even/level amount off each side

the cut edge!

close-ish up shot on the top.

close up on the bottom. which could use some finessing but that's for another night.

I also added pockets. final desired size was 5x5 inches so i cut 6x6 inch squares and put them about inch from the zipper and 2.5 inches from bottom.

The after shot

Simple Brown Purse

outside fabric

Lining fabric

Sew one side

sew the zipper in: just continue along one hand sewing one side at a time

here is how the zipper should look.

on the other side you will have to sew in the ribbon to serve for the strap. i think i got a yard because it was cheap, like .33 cents a yard and i just a tie a pretty knot at the top depending on how much i need. this way i would have plenty left to leave excess and sew into the bag. it will be visible from in the lining. also be sure you don't have any twists in the ribbon its not going to be fun to fix it later.

once the straps are in place continue sewing in the second side of the zipper.

once all that is done you can sew the final side of the bag.

if you turn it inside out this if what it should look like.

the finished bag from the top down.

the finished bag!

Cookie Monster and Flower Clay Beads

Christmas 2008 I made necklaces for some of the young ladies (under 5 years old) in my life.

The first beads I made were flowers.


The other beads were cookie monster and cookies :) There were even a few beads left over that i could make myself a cookie monster necklace.

Halloween Clothing Reconstruction

I wanted to make a Halloween outfit without spending too much money for the economics themed party that was being held at some friends house. this costume is for a "slutsky equation" were the costume design gave emphasis to the first word.

I adapted the directions for triangle camisole found on this site

first you take a regular t-shirt, it can be one that fits you or not. this one made it to the pajama shirt/rag pile because it had a run in with the bleach.



second you cut off the shirt under the armpits, this tube of fabric becomes the base of the shirt now. at this point you would size the tube to fit you, in this case i did not need to make those adjustments.

third you cut out triangles from the sleeves, so you can leave the upper part of the shirt to cut 1.5 to 2 inch wide strips to make the strings that hold the shirt up.

once the triangles are cut position them on the shirt while you try it on, pin it in place and then sew it down. also before you do this you may want to hem the top part of the shirt to give it a finished look.

next you need to sew the strips together to make them long enough to tie around your neck.

once you have two long strips completed fold it around one of the triangles as shown here, pin in place and sew up the whole length of the strap to give it extra stability.

here is what one looks like, then do the same thing for the other side and you are done.

tada the finished shirt!

now what is a shirt with out a skirt??

i had this skirt, i didn't really like how it fit me and the zipper had recently broken so needless to say i never really wore it, so i decided it would be a prime target to adjust to fit me better. my goal with this skirt was to make it wider so it would fall at my hips and not my waist and shorter to fit with the Halloween theme.

here is the skirt in its original state


task one was to take of the zipper and the back seam.

then i measured about where i wanted to cut the fabric, keeping in mind the construction of a skirt where the front is a little shorter than the back by a half an inch or so.


i cut off the bottom length and pined it in place on the sides, keeping in mind the grain of the corduroy, once these were sewed in place i made a final fit adjustment and sewed the back shut. i made this a slip on skirt for ease.

then i hemmed the bottom and the raw edges on the back and voila! a new shorter wider skirt

Warm Fuzzy "Full Slanket"

This is a variation on the slanket or blanket with sleeves. hence the name "full slanket" as this warm fuzzy has a back to it. It is made with 3.5 yards of Fleece.
Directions are forthcoming but the main feature that sets this apart from other similar products is the side drawstring to pull up the extra length from your feet when you walk.

60th Birthday Quilt

For my Mom's 60th birthday i made a "community of love" quilt with squares submitted from friends and family from all stages of life.

here is a basic step by step process of what i did.


this picture has all of the 12 inch squares stacked by row ready to add the boarder in between. you can see the boarder in the background on the back of the chair.

next the squares are sewn together with a navy blue boarder. I cut 3 inch long strips and sewed in the long strip and cut it to length after it was sewn in place.

Then i sewed a long 3 inch strip across each row to finish the basic front of the quilt, then i sewed a 5 inch wide strip around each edge with mitred corners

now it is time to assemble the quilt and cut the fabric to size. i had to move all my furniture to the side so fit the backing fabric on the floor. [note the fabric should be right side up, i had to flip it after i took the picture]

on top of the backing fabric add the batting

then add the front of the quilt good side down, so the good sides face each other. trim and pin around all the edges

then sew around all the edges

and turn inside out.

tada! the quilt just after it has been flipped out. note at this point you need to sew up the hole you left to be able to turn the quilt out. also you need to "quilt" each intersection so that the batting doesn't slip around inside the fabric. i just sewed along the initial sewing lines so that the look would not change.

the finished product

the finished product at the party.