Craft Day

Red Neck Wine Glasses

Photo Fabric Pillows

Hey, it's Susie from Sweetie Petitti.  Over Christmas, Christina wanted to make gifts for her friends, and of course I am all in, but she HAS to help.  I don't generally ask for help when the project involves an oven, but a craft project for her friends meant it would be a project for us both!  So a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby and a day in the sewing room.  It was the perfect ending to Christmas vacation!

The first project was redneck wine glasses.  Nic joined the fun on this one.  I came across these at a Dirty Santa party and everyone passed these silly glasses around.  When we discovered how easy and cheap they were to make, I had a group of friends over with glue and jelly jars and we made 4 dozen.  When the kids came home for the holidays, they decided they wanted some too.  You will need glass candle sticks, little short ones.  We found them at the dollar store and at Hobby Lobby.  You also need a jar for the top.  I saw them all over the internet with Mason jars, but the ones we had were the faceted jelly jars.  You will also need glass glue that dries waterproof, a little sandpaper and some fingernail polish remover with acetone.

You need to gently sand the top of the candle holder, and wipe with the acetone and wipe the bottom of the jar as well.  Lay a ring of glue on the bottom of the glass and place on table upside down.  Top with the candle holder (also upside down) and be sure it is level.  Keep it where it won't get bumped and dry overnight.  We found that setting the jars on the lids was more stable than the candle stick, they are top heavy, and can slip making it a little crooked.  We found some cool stickers that are all the letters, and Christina put her friends initials on the label section of the jars.  Pretty cute.  Then she put her glasses in some home made fabric bags and tied them with ribbon.  Of course Christina's aren't wine glasses, they would be soda glasses.

Then to the sewing machine for photo pillows.  We started with a photo of her and her friends that we printed on photo fabric.  The brand I use is no longer available, but we printed the pictures on various types of silk.  You should be able to find a similar product at the fabric store.  I should have paid closer attention to the types, because the thinner silk wasn't great.  We bought a black and white print for the back of the pillow, and she chose different solids for the fronts.  Everything was cut 15"X15" for a finished pillow of 14"X14", and we just appliquéd the photo to the solid fabric.  We also bought some white pom pom trim.

Basically you appliqué the trimmed photo to the solid fabric first, anchoring and stabilizing it with some fusible interfacing.  Then you need to baste the pom pom trim to one side of the pillow (on the right side) and then sew the two side together, right sides facing, leaving a small opening.  Stuff the pillow and then hand stitch it closed.  They turned out great, an easy and fun project for college kids!  So now, back to the kitchen, I have baking to do!

Applique the Grad!

So graduation has come and gone, and most years I am spending May behind my embroidery machine for the many friends who need gifts made, and for my own gifts. Monogramming is hotter than ever with everything on the store shelves bearing an initial, even toilet paper!

There is no doubt that a teenager heading off to college will use a nice set of towels. However, this is another of those generational things. I hate to tell you all, but kids are not all about the matchy-matchy things. My kids would never pay attention to the hand towel, bath towel and washcloth all out at once. As a matter of fact, one of my kids prefers shower poufs over washcloths. So I made a trip to Costco and bought these HUGE bath sheets, okay, beach towels, in vibrant colors. They will serve a college kid well. All summer around the pool or lake, and in the dorm, a big wrap up after a shower. They are also cost effective, so I can afford to give them to a big group (about $12) although the labor can be intense.

My daughter goes to an all girls school, so I picked the bright blue and a couple of purple towels. I have a stash of large wooden letters that I use as a template for applique, but you can freehand your letters or search online and blow it up. I finally figured out a use for that button on my printer that allows me to enlarge or shrink my copies. When I made the applique aprons here, I shrunk the letters.

You will want to copy your pattern onto the double sided fusible, on the rough side. Trim around (but not up to the letter) and iron on the wrong side of the fabric. Then trim around the letter. And iron it to your towel, or apron or whatever. Then stitch with the applique stitch around with a contrasting color. Cute as ever!
Other ideas for this applique is writing the name in bubbles, and cutting them out and overlapping on a pillow. (I'm doing this for the new dorm room and will post). You could use a complimenting decorator fabric and make the initial for a throw pillow for the couch. Or in a great outdoor fabric and toss it on the outdoor furniture. So many ideas, so little time. But the gifts are almost done ( I really need a rainy day!), my daughters graduation was truly memorable, and I have to get back to SweetiePetitti and get some baking done! Come visit sometime!

Gifts for Girlfriends

As my daughter finishes her Senior year of high school, the girls were all about "this is our last Homecoming, this is our last rafting trip" and other final events that mark the end of high school. We will have dozens of graduation gifts we'll have to make (always home made!) and certainly 4 amazing years to remember. She wanted to begin with a little gift for a few of her friends so photo pillows was our project.

In the digital age, girls photograph everything! Me, I take 10-12 photos at a time for one blog or another, and download them, delete them and start over. So when I told her she needed to find photos of her and her girlfriends, it was a scavenger hunt of digital pics. Once the photos had been chosen, she cropped, photo-shopped and enhanced to her heart's content and then we printed them on...wait for it...FABRIC! Love this stuff! Fabric, sold in sheets (at our Etsy store) that runs through the printer like a sheet of paper. As with paper, the clearer the photo, the better the quality of the fabric print.

Next we went fabric shopping, because, well, the 200 yards of various fabrics stashed in the sewing room just wouldn't work. A solid or tone on tone is best for the side of the pillow that the photo will be on, and then of course a fun contrasting fabric for the other. We also picked up ball fringe, a bag of batting and we were set.

We did our pillows 14" X 14", a pretty basic size. Using a rotary cutter and mat I cut my squares at 14½". Really, there are no rules. The picture was about 7X10 so we trimmed the excess and used double sided fusible to press it into place on the solid fabric. You could even embroider names, date or the event if you wanted. After the photo is secure, sew around the photo using an applique stitch in a great color, think of it as your frame! Then baste the fringe to this side of the pillow, to the right side of the fabric, fringe hanging to the inside. Trim any excess. Now put the front and back together, right sides together, and stitch around, leaving an opening of about 6" at the bottom of the pillow. Turn your creation inside out, which is now, right side (of fabric) out. And stuff it to your satisfaction. Ideally you will meticulously hand sew the bottom closed, but if you are a 17 year old senior who just finished your last year of high school, you will run it closed with your machine. What the heck. And seriously, it is a great keepsake for girlfriends. Or Grandmas, sisters, Aunts, dads anyone, right?
by Susie

Happy Mothers Day!

I am fortunate that on this Mothers Day my mother is only a phone call away. I just came back from a visit with her and it was lovely. Who could ask for anything more.

My mom is glamorous, right out of the pages of Vogue. When I was growing up she would look at the fancy magazines and say "I can make that" and sure enough she would go to her sewing room and churn out the most beautiful outfit. She made me great clothes - so cool that in High School girls wanted to borrow them. And my mother had constructed them with her passion! She was an inspiration then and she continues to be.


The picture at the right is my High School graduation and she made both our outfits. I remember my dress like it was yesterday. She let me pick out the fabric and she took her time fitting it and making it the right length. I wish I still had that dress. I still have a few jackets in my closet that she made - as good as Valentino, they are!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you and thank you for inspiring me to be the best I can be and Make it Myself!
xxo