So You Think You Can Sew Contest

I am so excited to finally announce this contest on my blog! 

It has been in the works for a while now and I have been on pins and needles with excitement ever since I dreamed up the idea months ago......

I love the show "So You Think You Can Dance" and decided it would be a lot of fun to do a sewing version on my blog called  

So You Think You Can Sew!

Obviously there are going to be lots of differences with rules and what not, but the concept will be the same.

 Before we get started on the rules and guidelines for the contest, let me announce the exciting stuff!

The Judges:

We have 5 very talented judges that will narrow the competition down to our top 12 contestants! I am SOOOO HAPPY to have these ladies to pick the cream of the crop! Click on their pictures and head over to their blogs and let them know how excited you are too!

The Prizes:

Before I let you in on what is up for grabs, I just need to thank the sponsors that are giving these prizes away. Every single one of these sponsors has been so generous and I am so happy to have them as a part of this contest. Make sure to click on each prize to check out where they are coming from!

Drum roll please...

Over $500 worth of prizes are on the line for this contest. There will be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner.

The 1st Place winner will receive:

The 2nd Place Winner will receive:

The 3rd Place Winner will receive:

Pretty awesome prizes, right? 

Contest Guidelines....

--Entries for the contest will be accepted now through November 30th, 2011. Enter by linking the best project (new or old) that showcases your sewing skills.

{Your entry can be anything you would like (using a pattern or not), but if you make it to the Top 12 no patterns can be used for the 4 weeks of challenges} 

--Our judges will narrow the competition down to the Top 12 by looking at these projects- so make sure that your projects, project names, and pictures draw them in enough to "click" onto your link to take a closer look. 

--The Top 12 will be announced in December and then in January there will be 4 weeks of competition. Each week there will be a theme and you will have 5 days to create a new project that fits within that theme.  

{Click HERE read more about the WEEKLY THEMES}

--Projects will be revealed every Wednesday morning and our audience/readers will have until Thursday evening to vote for their favorites. Contestants moving on will be announced each Thursday at midnight. Each week the bottom 3 will be cut, until the final 3 remain to compete for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. 

--The only rule for the contest is that you MUST become a follower of Mommy by day... Crafter by night to enter the competition.

So now the question is.....

Do You Think You Can Sew?

Enter your projects and grab a button for your blog to let everyone know that you are competing to win So You Think You Can Sew!

<a border="0" href="http://mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com/2011/11/so-you-think-you-can-sew-contest.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff384/ashleysharee/contestantbutton-1copy.png" /></a>


And for those who aren't going to be sewing, but are still taking part in the contest by voting, grab a button and help spread the word!


These buttons were made by Jamie from The Letter 4 Blog. Isn't she so talented?!?

<a border="0" href="http://mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com/2011/11/so-you-think-you-can-sew-contest.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff384/ashleysharee/Untitled-5.png" /></a>


Here is where you enter your projects...


--YOU MUST HAVE A BLOG TO ENTER THE CONTEST. NO LINKING TO FACEBOOK OR PHOTOBUCKET PICTURES--
(this is so that readers an click on your link and look at your blog to see how you make your weekly projects if you make it to the Top 12)
           
-- You can only submit ONE project... So choose wisely:) --


Click on the "add your link" button and paste the link to your post/project on the line called "URL" (make sure that you are linking to the specific post for your project, not just your blog home page), where it says "name" put the name of your project, and then make sure you add your email. Click on the button that says "next step" and it will let you choose which picture to display. That's it! You will be in the running to compete for the winning title of So You Think You Can Sew!


Email me if you have any questions, mommybydaycrafterbynight {at} gmail {dot} com.


TOP 12 WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON DECEMBER 14TH AT 10:00 PM EST

My #1 Fan

I am HOME! :) 

I had a great time visiting my family in Utah! 

While I was gone, my blog hit some awesome milestones! 

Before I tell you what they are, let me start with a back story. 

Since DAY ONE my husband has been my #1 fan. He was the one to encourage me to make my blog and he has been SO supportive to me throughout this whole blogging journey. During the summer when I started out, he took both girls on countless daddy daughter dates so that I could get sewing and posting about it. And was always willing to have little "helpers" color homework so that I could work on a project. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am one lucky girl to have a hubby that is so supportive of me and encourages me to have time for myself and to live my dreams with this blog. 

Back in July (only one month after starting my blog) my husband made a prediction that I would hit 100,000 views by Halloween. I had a good laugh with that one- but he was dead serious. I can remember him telling me "Mark my words... it's gonna happen." 

As time went by, I still thought it was a shot in the dark that I was going to be anywhere even close to that, but last Wednesday while I was home visiting my family, I got a text from my husband telling me that I was 1,000 views away from hitting that goal and that he was going to be my 100,000th view. How sweet is that? A few hours later I got another text saying that he had been so busy studying that he had missed being my 100,000th view by a couple hundred views and that he was so sorry that he had missed it but that he was so proud of me. Ummm.... Can you say "HE MELTS MY HEART??!?!?!?" I know that I am pretty biased, but I think he is the best husband in the world. (and not just cause he looks at my craft blog and cares about it) 

Also while I was away, Mommy by day... Crafter by night hit 500 followers. You guys are the best!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate every comment, every follower, and every person that has helped inspire me to create things and blog about it. The list is endless, so I won't even try to name you all, but I hope you know how grateful I am for you all!

While I was away, I had 14 very talented ladies guest post for me! Did you happen to see all the posts? If not, here is a recap:

Toddler Quilt by Patty Trends
ABC Love Book by Love Notes By Lauryn
Tube Top to Skirt Refashion by North Meets South
Tissue Pouch by Hand Me Down Designs
DIY Wedding Gift Idea by My Handcrafted Home
Quick Kool Aid Frosting by Bear Rabbit Bear
Intro to Family Ever After
Photo 101 by Kristen Duke Photography
Felt Flower Pillow Tutorial by Southern Lovely
Pumpkin Trio Set by Lolly Jane
Halloween Jar Labels by Lil Luna
Hair Tutorial by Split Ends and New Beginnings
Fold Top Snack Bags by My Very Educated Mother
Festive Banner Tutorial by Seven Pretty

Thank you so much ladies! You are amazing!
(If you didn't get a chance to guest post for me and you have an awesome tutorial to share, email me because I am looking for some guest posters in December)

So, to celebrate my milestones I have a big surprise for you all! 

Wondering what the surprise is???

Well you are going to have to wait a little longer to find out!

Don't you just hate when people do that-
leave ya wondering what in the heck they are going to say.

Me too.

Guess you are just going to have to come back next week to find out! :)

xoxo

Pleated Purse Tutorial

My 2 1/2 year old has been asking for me to make her a purse for a while and this weekend I finally got around to it. She uses it to put her scriptures in and was so proud to take it to church on Sunday!

To start you will need:

- 1/2 yard main fabric

- one fat quarter or 1/8 yard of coordinating fabric

-1/2 yard medium fusible interfacing

-thread

Get all the cutting done first but keep the fabric you cut separated into 3 different piles-

Outside pile:

For the outside you need to cut: 

5 pieces of the main fabric-

2 pieces that are 5x17 inches each

2 pieces that are 5x2 inches each

1 piece that is 8x2 inches

4 pieces of the coordinating fabric-

2 pieces that are 8x3 inches each

2 pieces that are 3x2 inches each

Interfacing-

2 pieces that are 8x3 inches each

2 pieces that are 3x2 inches each

Liner pile:

For the liner you need to cut:

Main Fabric:

2 pieces that are 8x7 inches each

2 pieces that are 2x7 inches each

1 piece that is 2x8 inches

Interfacing:

2 pieces that are 8x7 inches each

2 pieces that are 2x7 inches each

1 piece that is 2x8 inches

Straps Pile:

Main Fabric:

2 pieces that are 16x5 inches each

Ok... Once you have all the fabric cut put the liner and strap piles aside. We are going to start with the outside of the purse first.

Step 1: Take both of your fabric pieces that measure 5x17 and get your fabric pleated... You can do this any way you would like- having more or less pleats. I just kinda eyeballed it but started by marking one inch in the middle of the fabric and pleated each side of the fabric toward the middle. Pin your pleats in place. Make sure that when you are all done pleating that your pleated fabric measures 5x8 inches.  (if you are all done pleating the way you want it to look and there is excess on each side feel free to cut the excess off so that it measures 5x8)

Step 2: Take all your coordinating fabric for the outside and iron on the interfacing to each piece. (Throughout my tutorial you will have to imagine that the my blue and white striped fabric pieces have interfacing on them- I made my purse without it and then took it apart to add the interfacing on this step to give the purse more strength and body.)

Step #3: Take one of your pleated fabric panels and one of the 8x3 inch coordinating panels and put then right sides together and sew along the top. Do this to the other pleated panel. And then get the 5x2 inch main fabric and the 3x2 inch coordinating fabric and do the same to them.

When you are all done you should have 4 separate pieces that look like this and one leftover piece (8x2 inches) for the bottom of the purse.

Step 4: Take the sides of the purse and pin them right side together with one of the front pleated pieces and sew along the sides.

Step 5: Unfold the pieces and then pin the bottom of the purse right sides together with the main piece and sew along the bottom.

Step 6: After you have sewn all the side and bottom pieces of the bag to one pleated side take the other pleated side and put it right sides together with the bottom piece and sew it. When you are all done and it is turned right side out it should look like this.

Step 7: Pin the 2 sides of the bag together and pin and then pin the sides to the bottom of the bag and then sew. Make sure you have all the edges lined up so that after you are done sewing none of the raw edges are peeking through the seams. 

After you are done sewing, turn the bag right side out and make sure all the seams look good and put this part of the bag aside.

Step 8: Take the pieces for the lining of the purse and iron all the interfacings to each piece.

Step 9: Sew all the pieces together in the same way you put the first part of the bag together. It should look like this when you are all done.

Step 10: Put the liner of the bag inside the outside of the bag and tuck the raw edges of the top of the bag in between both pieces and iron to press each seam flat.

Put the bag aside and grab your pieces for your straps.

Step 11: Fold and iron each strap in half wrong side together. After it is pressed nicely so you can see the line, open up so that the wrong side of the fabric is facing up.

Step 12: Fold each of the edges toward the center and press.

Step 14: After you are done pressing the edges to the center, fold back in half. (All the raw edges should be on the very inside of the strap now) Press one more time really well.

Step 15: After the strap is pressed sew a seam as close as you can along each side of each strap. After the strap is sewn along the side edges, take each strap and poke each end of the strap down in-between the layers of the purse and pin in place so that each side is uniform. 

(Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step.)

Step 16: Sew all the way around the top of the bag. You may want to stay-stitch back and forth over each strap to reinforce it.

YAY! Now you are all done!!!!

If you have any questions about making this purse, email me at mommybydaycrafterbynight {at} gmail {dot} com.

Feel free to stop by and check out my blog too! :)

mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com

The Skirt of Armor

Last week as I was browsing the isles of Joann's I came upon a fabric that was so different and so cool. The first thing I thought when I saw it was- Armor. I instantly knew that I wanted to make a skirt with it. So here is what I came up with. (If you read or look at my blog you will find that I come up with random names to call my project and tutorials... I know it's cheesy, but I just can't help myself. So I named this skirt my Skirt of Armor. )

There are so many fun fabrics these days at the stores that are pre-ruffled, or just funky like this one that normally freak me out or seem too hard to work with and I finally just decided to go for it and went out on a limb and got this fabric on a good sale. 

This skirt would work with any fabric you wanted. Ruffled, bedazzled, or just plain cotton. It is the easiest skirt I have ever made. If you are an experience seamstress, you will be able to whip this out in less than an hour, and if you have never sewn anything in your life- this is the perfect first project!! Anyone can make this! :)

To start, take your measurements and figure out exactly how much fabric and elastic you will need.

(the fabric needs to be wide enough to go around the biggest part of your hips plus a few inches for wiggle room.)

For my skirt, since my fabric was so wide, I only needed a yard and I was able to cut in half width wise and use the halves for front and back. The elastic I used was black knit elastic that was 2 inches wide that I bought by the yard at Joann's.

Step 1: Measure around the biggest part of your hips and add 3-6 inches depending on how roomy you want your skirt. (you could add even more if you want it really full) and then measure where you want the hem to fall on your leg. With my fabric I didn't need to hem the bottom so I didn't have to figure in seam allowances, but if you are going to have to hem your fabric, calculate that into your length.

Since I used 2 pieces of fabric (one piece for the front and one piece for the back) I had to divide the total width measurement in half and cut a front and back. If you have enough fabric that you can just cut one big piece, that is one less seam you will have to sew.

Step 2: Put your fabric right sides together and sew each side.

 Step 3: Zig zag, serge, or clean finish the edges to prevent fraying.

 Step 4: Measure and cut your elastic for your waistband. Put the elastic right sides together and sew. Open and press the seam, and sew each edge down flat.

 Step 5: Once your elastic waistband is sewn- measure and pin it evenly around the top of the skirt. (I always start by finding the very center of the back of the skirt and lining it up and pinning with the seam of the sewn elastic band and then doing the same for the front middle and sides of the skirt. So it is pinned in 4 places. Then I find the centers between each pin and the fabric in between and pinning it as well. So all in all I have the fabric pinned 8 times equal distances apart around the elastic and skirt. This helps so that you get your gathers sewn evenly.) To sew you put the presser foot down on one pin and then hold onto the next pin and stretch as you sew and just go from one pin to the next pin until you have sewn all the way around. (This picture is what it looks like when the elastic is being stretched. Zig zagged around the top of the skirt as well before sewing it to the waist band)

 Step 8: Hem your skirt. In my case since I wanted to have the shape of the fabric be the bottom of my skirt, I just pulled up the layers of the "armor" so that only the bottom layer was exposed and zig zagged all the way around the very bottom layer to ensure that my skirt didn't fray on the bottom or start falling apart while I was wearing it!  

And that's it! Super easy!!! 

Linked up to these AWESOME LINK PARTIES!

Dora the Explorer Skirt

 Ok... Ok... Before you decided I have lost my marbles when it comes to fabric choices- Let me tell you why I made a skirt out of Dora the Explorer corduroy! 

I have been making my oldest daughter skirts for fall... So far I have made the Pom-Pom Skirt and the Rick Rack Ruffle Skirt. So I thought it would be fun to let my daughter pick the fabric for the next skirt I had planned on making her. So we set out in search of the perfect fabric. We roamed the isles of Joann... Everything I pointed out was a definite "Nope" until we went down the last isle. I had almost thrown in the towel and was ready to head home without any fabric, but her eyes spotted something... Dora the Explorer. My worst nightmare! ha ha I am definitely not a huge fan of the show just because I don't really like listening to it while my kids watch it (nothing against Dora- just my personal preference). But even though it is a show that is few and far between found on our t.v.- she LOVES Dora. 

I had promised her she could choose ANY fabric. How could I back down. I tried getting her to pick anything else, but her mind was made up. 

So I caved. 

I am so glad I did. I don't ever want to be that mom that is too cool to let her kids wear something that isn't the cutest or the most stylish thing in the book when they think that it totally IS. I want my kids to feel like they have a voice and that they are important. Does this mean that I am ALWAYS going to let her get anything or everything she wants- heck no! But every once in a while, it is important to me to do little things like this, that down the road will be fun memories for me and my little gal.

Of course we had to make a skirt for her baby with the leftover scraps. (I don't have issues with proportions... I made this for a bigger baby, but she insisted that this baby needed to wear it. So it is a little large on her. ha ha)

I did 2 rows of pin tucks around the bottom of the skirt. (This would definitely be a lot cuter on a fabric that was more plain, but I just rolled with it) And then I finished the bottom edge of the skirt with leftover rick rack from the Rick Rack Ruffle Skirt and bias tape.

So here is how I did it....

I used the extra wide double fold biased tape and the medium sized rick rack.

I sewed the bias tape to the back side of the skirt. If you have never sewn on bias tape before, here is a great tutorial.

After sewing the bias tape to the back of the skirt, I put rick rack along the bottom of the skirt and then folded the bias tape up and over the rick rack and pinned in place so I could sew it.

 Then it was time for the pin tucks. Pin tucks are a super easy and fun way to add detail to your projects. Here is the way I made my pin tucks. Once your skirt is all finished, turn it right side out. (you will need your iron and ironing board for this part) Put your skirt on your ironing board and fold the bottom of your skirt up into the inside of the skirt. I measured and folded it up 3 inches and pressed all the way around. Then I sewed one inch from the bottom all the way around the newly pressed bottom of the skirt. After I was done, I opened it back up and pressed that "flap" down. That created the first pin tuck. Then I did the exact same thing a second time, except this time measuring from the first pin tuck instead of the very bottom of the skirt. 

 That's it!

Have any of you ever had any "Dora the Explorer fabric" moments with your kids? Do tell:)

Linked up to these AWESOME LINK PARTIES!