Wipeable Fabric Bib Tutorial

Posted on July 14, 2013 by jewelsathome

Do you do this? We had several friends who had babies recently. I’ve been wanting to make something special, but I haven’t had the time, so the result of my best intentions is that I have not given them anything at all yet. Boo!

Well, I finally got motivated, because Lucas’ teacher is expecting her first baby this fall. She has been absolutely amazing. We were lucky enough to have her in pre-kindergarten and then again in first grade. She has that perfect mix of wisdom, energy, and affection that wins over parents and children alike.

I’ve sewn bibs before, but I tried something new this time, by making them wipeable. This is also a great project for using up those scraps of fabric that are too small to make a project on their own, but look great mixed together.

Materials:

fabric, including scraps
Thermoweb Heat’n Bond Iron-On Vinyl
Velcro

Instructions:

I created a bib template that is 17″ high (the width of the vinyl) and 11″ wide.

For the backs of the bibs, I used a single piece of plain fabric.

For the fronts of the bibs, I joined together two or three strips of coordinating fabrics into 11″x17″ rectangles and ironed on the Thermoweb Heat’n Bond Iron-On Vinyl according to the instructions.

I cut the template out of the joined and coated piece (pictured below)

Wipeable baby bib tutorial | Jewels at Home

Join together scraps of fun fabric to make 11″x17″ rectangles. Cut the bib template out from the joined piece.

I then sewed the fronts and backs together, right sides facing, with a half inch seam allowance and leaving about four inches open on the side to turn the bib right side out (pictured below).

With right sides facing sew the back and front pieces together, leaving a 4″ gap on one side to turn the piece.

To help create smooth curves, clip the seam allowances at all the curves, as shown below.

Clip the seam allowance around the curves, as shown.

To finish, turn the bib right side out and iron again, Stitch all the way around close to the edge, and add the 1.5″ velcro strips to the top.

Here are the finished bibs. I love the way the different fabrics work together!

To wrap it all up, I created another custom gift bag, like these bags I made for my nieces last year.

Congratulations to all the wonderful mamas and mamas-to-be in my life!

“Jewels”

Pillowcase Dresses for Girls

Posted on June 19, 2013 by jewelsathome

These little “pillowcase” dresses have been catching my eye for a while. The style is very simple to sew, and the results are so cute! Not to mention that for growing kids, you can’t beat a style that will grow along with them!

For my birthday, Steve and I went to an amazing fabric store in Berkeley, Stone Mountain and Daughter, and among other treasures, I found this cute Japanese-style rabbit print.

I have a weakness for anything rabbit-themed for my little nieces, who were born in the year of the rabbit. You may remember the custom gift bags and silhouette Christmas ornaments that I made for them.

For the basic pattern, I used this tutorial from the Aesthetic Nest. I did alter the pattern in a couple of ways.

Here’s what you will need to make your own unique designs in size 2T:

1/2 yard of 45″ quilting cotton for the main fabric, if the print has no direction or runs across the width of the fabric. You will need 2/3 of a yard, if the pattern runs the length of the fabric.
1/4 yard of solid fabric for the tie
bias binding to match your main fabric
thread to match your main fabric and tie fabric

Instructions:

Prewash and iron your fabric
Fold the main fabric in half and cut into to two pieces that are 18″ wide x 22″ long each. You can see here why they’re called pillowcase dresses. It would be fun to find some pillowcases with a great design for dresses, though the pattern is usually oriented the other direction.
Cut armholes from the top corners: 4″ from the top and 2″ from the side, as show below:

Girl's pillowcase dress tutorial. Sweet and simple design | Jewels at Home

Cut armholes from the top corners of the front and back panels.

Next, join the front and back panels using a French seam:

First, with wrong sides together, sew a 1/4 inch seam along the sides of the dress (top left picture below).
Iron the seam open, turn the dress inside out, and sew a 3/8″ seam with the wrong sides facing (top right picture below).
Turn the dress right side out again, and you can see your dress taking shape (bottom picture below)!

To finish off the edges, start with adding bias binding to the armholes. I didn’t get good pictures of this with the dresses, so the picture below is from the pillowcase top I made for myself:

Open the folded bias binding and line up one edge to the edge of the armhole on the right side. Stitch along the crease nearest the edge.
Clip the seam allowance in the curve, to allow it to lie flat. Fold the binding to the wrong side and iron the binding flat.
Sew around the armhole to sew down the binding.

For the neck casing:

zig-zag the top edges of both panels, unless you were able to line the selvedge up here (top picture below)
Fold down 1 3/4″ from the top edge and iron (second picture below)
Fold back up 1/4″, so that you have a 1/2″ casing (third picture below)
Sew along the bottom edge of the casing and voila (bottom picture below)!

For the bottom hem, fold up 2″ towards the inside of the dress and fold back under 1/4″. Iron and stitch the hem in place.

For the tie, I started with two 3″ thick strips of fabric, each 42″ wide.

I joined the strips end to end (top left picture below)
I the folded open the joint and sewed the seam allowances down (top right picture below)
I finished the tie all the way around by folding under a 1/8″ twice and sewing it down. I didn’t measure this part exactly, but I did put a piece of painter’s tape down on my machine, to make sure I was keeping approximately the same finished width all the way (bottom picture below).

And here are the finished dresses! So cute!

Pillowcase dress tutorial | Jewels at Home

Pretty dress for a pretty girl!

My cutie niece in her birthday dress!

Happy 2nd birthday, girls!

Auntie “Jewels”

Decorate Aprons – Gifts for Dad

Posted on June 16, 2013 by jewelsathome

As I have mentioned before, Steve’s birthday and Father’s day are very close to each other, and most years, he gets a combined Happy-Father’s-Birthday-Day celebration. Last year, we went low-frills when I helped the kids make some creative cards for dad.

This year, we’re making some practical gifts with a personal touch – paint your own mugs and aprons. We did the mugs last weekend, while Steve was out for a long run, and they are cute!

Next up: aprons for our amateur Iron Chef.

To make the aprons, I used:

Uchida Fabric Markers (I also used these for the kids to decorate their own quilt blocks)
Plain aprons in Khaki, which I thought would hide stains better than white but still allow the colors to show up well.

I prewashed the aprons to shrink them and remove some of the sheen to help the colors stay. I then ironed them and pinned them on cardboard, to make it easier to draw. I made two templates: a “tie” apron and a “medal” apron, the latter because Steve ran the San Francisco Marathon on Father’s Day this year!

Then, we each added out own embellishments, and I love how unique the creations turned out to be.

Happy Father’s Day to a loving, patient, and inspiring guy! We love you!

“Jewels”

Mad Men Party Wrap-Up

Posted on May 16, 2013 by jewelsathome

I did not want the night to end when we threw our Mad Men-themed birthday party a few weeks ago. There are more ideas in the first post about our Mad Men party and the retro menu can be found in another post as well. Here are some of the finishing details that pulled it all together – not the least of which were the fab costumes of our guests!

Lucky Strike cigarette boxes

Mad Men would simply not be Mad Men, without all the smoking, particularly the Lucky Strikes. At the same time, I’m not such a devoted fan of the show that I was about to start up a carcinogenic habit. As a compromise, I printed up some empty Lucky Strike cigarette boxes and filled them with Hershey’s Ovation Dark Chocolate Mint Sticks, which have that long thin cigarette shape.

There’s a great printable Lucky Strike box from Namida on Deviantart.com. It has a fun disclaimer on the side and otherwise looks quite authentic.

To save ink and paper, I printed two copies and then placed just the box images side by side, so I could make additional copies with two boxes per page. I printed mine on heavy Index Card Stock (110 lb paper) and then set them up in the front hall, under a vintage Lucky Strike ad, for guests to enjoy. I will say that this project was more time-consuming than I had anticipated, but they helped set the tone at the party and made a fun party favor, too!

Party favors: Lucky Strike boxes filled with mint chocolates and displayed under a vintage ad.

Mad Men Photo Booth

I love photo booths. I still have favorite strips from my school days and when Steve and I were young and goofy (now we’re not-so-young and still goofy). With today’s technology, it’s so easy to make your own photo booth, and that giddy sensation of not knowing exactly when the flash will go off, of trying to squeeze all your friends into the frame, is easy to recreate in your own home.

DIY photo booth with great accessories.

To make the photo booth, I used

large cardboard boxes spruced up with fabric panels around the outside
a custom Mad Men photo booth sign
iPad with Picibooth app, attached to the inside of the box with Command Picture-Hanging Strips
three different backdrops
- city skyline graphic (mine is Spirella Skyline shower curtain purchased on eBay. Another good options is this Design Home Cityscape / Skyline Print Shower Curtain)
- Mod 60s print fabric
- Solid green (our own curtains – clever, huh?)

I hung all the curtains from our regular curtain rod, so it was easy to switch backdrops, just like the traditional photo booths!

DIY photo booth with iPad mounted inside

DIY photo booth with three fun backgrounds hanging on a curtain rod.

I provided some props, like costume jewelry, a fedora, fake cigarettes, and Lucky Strike boxes, all arranged under Peggy’s breakthrough Belle Jolie ad. Our guests had plenty of their own themed accessories, too!

The photo booth got a lot of action that night. I loved going back later to see all the sassy poses, and I especially loved discovering that our seven-year-old had gone up several times to take pictures himself!

Guys and Dolls – Fab Costumes

I cannot take any credit for the following photos, but I just had to share all the great looks that crossed our threshold that night. Honestly, it was like opening a birthday present every time I opened the door! It was enormous fun for us to see how much fun our friends had creating their costumes. From crinolines to bouffant hairdos, bow ties to patent pumps, every one looked perfect!

More Mad Decor

I wanted to feel immersed in the Mad Men world everywhere I looked, starting with our front door, where I hung a large framed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce logo:

Another logo was prominently displayed over the buffet table:

This vintage typewriter sparked a lot of conversation!

Leading up to the party, I became obsessed with collecting vintage barware in thrift stores and on eBay. I love the collection of Dorothy Thorpe silver-rimmed glasses displayed at our kitchen bar area and the classic California-themed tumblers gathered on a tray.

Mad Men Party. A complete guide to decorating and entertaining | Jewels at Home

If you’re looking for some fabulous artwork to display, this book has fun illustrations Mad Men: The Illustrated World by Dyna Moe, including this one that I framed to put next to the dry bar area.

I said I didn’t want the evening to end, but it did end perfectly. After most of the guests left, some of our college buddies hung out with us in the living room to catch up some more, and one of them snapped this pic of me and Steve at the end of the night.

Good night!

“Jewels”

Stella & Dot Trunk Show and Romantic Afternoon Tea

Posted on May 8, 2013 by jewelsathome

I had so much fun last weekend hosting a Stella and Dot Trunk Show with afternoon tea for my girlfriends!

I’m especially proud that our stylist Stacey and I are each donating 10%, so 20% of the total sales, to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. If you feel so inclined, you can check out their beautiful jewelry, bags and accessories and participate in the fundraiser through May 25, 2013.

Here’s a glimpse at our fun girls’ afternoon, which I hope to turn into an annual event!

Decorations

I was excited to use my eclectic mix of vintage tea cups, plates, and serving dishes that I collected for a baby shower last year.

Fresh flowers are a beautiful touch. I clipped some Cala lilies from our garden, and on of my friends brought a colorful bouquet that looks beautiful on the coffee table. I’m brainstorming about something similar I can put there long-term.

Paper lanterns are so popular right now, and I’ve been looking for a way to use them. I love the garden feel these lanterns created for our tea party. I hung them using fishing line and clear Command Mini Hooks.

Tea cup garland – this was a fun and easy project. I was cutting out paper tea cup silhouettes to make signs for the food, and I was inspired to string some together with lace to make this little garland that I hung over the buffet. I love the romantic feel of the colors and patterns.

New table runner and trivets – I’ve been meaning to make these for a while out of the same fabric I used for cushions on our hallway bench. They worked perfectly for our party and will get lots more use in days to come.

Luggage tag party favors were a last-minute project using some of the same prints as the tea cup garland. I printed the names on cardstock backed with decorative paper and slipped the paper into these clear vertical badge holders and added luggage tag loops.

DIY luggage tags with beautiful paper backs. Party favors for a charming afternoon tea party. {Jewels at Home}

Menu

Cheese plate for a savory snack
Fruit salad in a watermelon basket – everyone said, “My mom used to do that!” My mom did, too!
Coffee cake – a great sour cream cake that my mom also made.
Cookies – classic Walker’s shortbread and some cute flower-shaped sugar cookies
baklava – hubby made this. SO good.

Drink list

Mimosas
Tea – LOVE this vintage candy tin I found in an antiques shop on my birthday. It fits a collection of tea bags perfectly.

Citrus water

Are you feeling inspired by our charming afternoon tea party? Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the Stella and Dot collection, if you’d like to participate in our fundraiser:

Red Ikat Bag, Julep Bangle, and Dot Bloom Necklace from Stella and Dot. Shop with 20% going to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer through May 25, 2013.

Thank you so much to all my friends who came out to socialize and shop for a cause. I’m looking forward to seeing you next year!

“Jewels”

Living Room Tour

Posted on March 26, 2013 by jewelsathome

After some peeks into the small spaces in our house – the powder room, the nursery, the laundry, the master bath – I’m glad I can show you our living room. It’s actually only one half of the original living room – we are using the other half of this enormous room as our dining room, and we turned the separate dining room into a family room.

I am not sure quite how to describe the style – it’s a little bit contemporary but classic. It has Chinese elements, but more of a Regency Chinoiserie feel than traditional Chinese. Is this the Asian fusion of the decorating world? Anyway, I love the cool soothing blues and grays warmed up with some green. It satisfies my desire for a grown-up space but is still a very comfortable spot to hang out.

Not much more explanation needed, so I’ll get to the pictures. I’ve included links to the many DIY projects in this room.

A view of the living room side of our living-dining room, from the foyer.

The bamboo brush paintings are by my mom. I sewed the living room pillows and repainted the vintage marble-top coffee table.

This picture was from the Holiday House Tour:

I love this elegant old Chinese chair that I picked up at the flea market. It’s sitting by the window, next to a craigslist-find chest that I painted in teal.

Here’s another sunny view of our living room. I love that it has so many windows.

Living room tour. Classic contemporary space with Asian elements. {Jewels at Home}

To the left of the piano is an antique wooden window screen that I painted, and on top is a repurposed shoe box, decorated with paper.

These nesting tables are from a consignment store, and the silver box is a rummage sale find that I painted in silver.

This vignette on top of a bookshelf includes some art from a favorite calendar, an antique Korean vase given to us by Steve’s parents, and a little Japanese dish I picked up years ago while shopping with my mom and sister.

The bookshelf on the other side of the window has a similarly sentimental display – art from a calendar and from an old friend, a small blue and white Chinese vase from my grandmother’s house, and some candle sticks I found in thrift store.

Thanks for visiting!

“Jewels”

Ninjago Birthday Party – Part 1

Posted on March 11, 2013 by jewelsathome

Pulling off a birthday party is like an athletic event (or at least I imagine it to be, not actually being athletic) – I work like crazy and then crash afterward. It’s always worth it to give our boys a day to remember. Here’s the first post on our seven year old’s Ninjago birthday party. I put details on the party activities in a separate post.

Ninjago birthday decorations

I still like the feel of a paper invitation, like the ones I made for our firefighter birthday party, but sometimes the convenience of an online invitation is hard to resist. Luckily, evite has this Lego-themed invitation, and I added a Ninjago drawing by our birthday boy, to complete the look.

Ninjago birthday party blog post with decorations, food, and activities, from Jewels at Home.

Customize an online invitation for your Ninjago birthday party.

For decorating the house, I hung our reusable birthday banners, customized with pictures of green Ninjago Lloyd ZX. I had in mind to do balloons with stuck-on Ninjago eyes, but I ran out of time!

Ninjago birthday party blog post with customized decorations and tons of ideas. {Jewels at Home}

Customized Ninjago birthday banner.

I printed signs for the activities using Bonsai font and mounted them on green scrapbook paper. Each child got a Ninjago eyes T-shirt to wear when he arrived. This was their main party favor, and the shirts were a hit! It was really fun to see all the little Ninjagos running around the house together!

I failed to capture the partying kids in any decent poses – they were moving too fast! but here’s the birthday boy’s little brother sporting his custom shirt. You don’t need to make your own shirts to have great Ninjago accessories. I have definitely picked up a lot of Ninjago and other Lego shirts and toys at great prices on Zulily.com!

Ninjago birthday food ideas

As you can see from the sign in this picture, I had wanted to arrange fruit into a Serpentine, one of the Ninjago enemies, but due to limitations of daylight savings time, I just piled the fruit on a plate, and it was all gone in an instant anyway – I told you those Ninjago are fast!

For lunch, we had a variety of Japanese and Japanese-inspired fare, including California rolls and avocado rolls from the local supermarket, homemade Spam musubi by Steve, and plenty of gyoza dumplings, which were the kids’ favorite.

Ninjago birthday party ideas, including decorations, food, and activities. {Jewels at Home}

Ninjago birthdy party food: gyoza, musubi, and rolls.

Instead of a cake, I made sushi using Rice Krispies. These Rice Krispy treat sushi are decorated with fruit roll-up for the “nori” and Swedish fish and fruit gummies for garnish. They were a lot of fun to make, though time-consuming. If you do it, I definitely recommend making a half batch at a time, as the Rice Krispy treats kept hardening before I could shape them all, and I ended up with several leftover globs.

Rice Krispy Treat sushi made from Rice Krispies cereal and candy. More ideas for a Ninjago birthday party at Jewels at Home.

Rice Krispy Treat sushi made from Rice Krispies cereal, fruit roll-up, Swedish fish, and other treats. So cute!

Tons of ideas for a Ninjago birthday party, complete with decorations, activities and food, from Jewels at Home.

Happy birthday boy at his Ninjago-themed party!

Ninjago Birthday Activities

These were a blast, and you can read all the details in this post!

Happy birthday to our dear son! I am glad it was such a fun day.

“Jewels”

DIY Ninjago Eyes T-shirts

Posted on February 13, 2013 by jewelsathome

Our Lego Ninjago birthday party is coming up, and I’m making t-shirts for all the kids as party favors.

I tried two different ideas for the shirts. First, I made stenciled ninja silhouettes for the older boys. Details on where I got the blank shirts and created the stencils are in that post.

Use contact paper and fabric paint to stencil your own T-shirts.

And for the younger kids, here’s how the cute Ninjago eyes T-shirts turned out:

Instructions for DIY Ninjago eyes T-shirts:

Create a template for the eyes and trace it onto contact paper. Cut out the template, including the eyebrows and eyes. I used a circle cutter – you could also use a large circle punch – for the eyes. You can print this image and enlarge or shrink it as needed:

Stick the contact paper onto yellow fabric, trace around the outside with a pencil and use black fabric paint and a stencil brush to paint the eyes and eyebrows.
When the paint dries, iron it on both sides to heat set the paint.

Iron Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive onto the back of yellow fabric.
Peel the backing paper off and iron the yellow fabric on to the T-shirt.
I used black puffy paint to outline the fabric, which also seals the edges to help prevent peeling and fraying.
Your design will last longer if you wash the shirt inside out.

Here are some close-ups of red Ninjago Kai and blue Ninjago Jay:

Besides red for Kai, and blue for Jay, I also made heather gray (because I’m not crazy enough to make a white T-shirt for a little boy) for Zane, black for Cole, and green for Lloyd Garmadon, the birthday boy!

Hope you’ll try some of these ideas and make shirts for your own little guys!

You can also always find great sales on Ninjago and other Lego shirts, games, and toys at Zulily.com!

“Jewels”

DIY Stenciled Silhouette T-shirts

Posted on February 1, 2013 by jewelsathome

Honestly, I don’t get tired of planning the boys’ birthday parties. This is different than saying I don’t get tired executing my own plans, which I do, but the ideas are so endless and inspiring, so I hang in there, and their happy faces are always the best reward!

This year, L wants a Ninjago birthday. I have to say that Lego’s marketing strategy is truly brilliant – combine Lego, a fantastic toy, with every possible boyish fad – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates, Lord of the Rings, and Ninjas! It’s irresistible, as the clutter in the boys’ room will attest.

I’ve mentioned that I try to do a larger and reusable treat in place of a goody bag of small items. This time, I wanted to make the boys Ninjago T-shirts.

You can actually find T-shirts for sale for a reasonable price, if you keep your party small, but 1) I wanted long-sleeved shirts, since our weather is temperate year-round and 2) I think everything is more fun when you make it yourself!

I got the shirts at BlankShirts.com. I’m not affiliated with them or anything – I just figured I’d share my research in looking for inexpensive blank shirts. You can get short-sleeved shirts for as little as $2. I got these long-sleeved ones for about $8. I’ve also found some on clearance at Lands End for as little as $5, but you won’t get the same range of colors there.

I’m trying two different ideas for the shirts:

stenciled ninja silhouettes for the older boys
ironed-on and painted Ninjago eyes for the younger ones

Here are the instructions for the stenciled T-shirts. I’m really thrilled with how well they turned out, and it was quite easy! I’ll post the Ninjago eyes when they’re done.

Choose a ninja silhouette from the Internet and enlarge it.
Tape the printed silhouette over some contact paper and cut it out with a craft knife. I was able to do two layers at once, to make two stencils. (top row of pictures below)
Stick the contact paper stencil in place on the shirt, with a piece of cardboard inside the shirt. (bottom left picture below)
Use a stencil brush or sponge to apply black fabric paint. Remember to use small amounts of paint at a time and “pounce” up and down, so paint doesn’t bleed under your stencil.
Remove the stencil. I was able to reuse it a few times.

Once the paint is dry, heat set the stencil with a hot iron. I used a thin press cloth on the front and then also ironed it from the inside. (pictured below)
Your pattern will last longer if you wash it inside out.

Yay! The pattern on these came out very crisp and looks great. I’m already thinking of other patterns to try!

More ninja-themed T-shirts coming up soon!

“Jewels”

Fabric-covered Magnet Board

Posted on January 21, 2013 by jewelsathome

It’s long overdue for me to spruce up my craft studio. It’s packed with piles of paper, fabric, and half-done projects, and I know that if I could just establish more order, I’d be able to get a lot more done. Not to mention, this space is also our guest room, and it’s a bit embarrassing to have visitors bunk up in the mess!

So, in my efforts to spruce up my craft space, I decided to cover some large magnet boards in fabric. The boards are from Ikea – SPONTAN. I got them many years back, but I am sure there is something similar available currently. For the fabric, I chose this large floral print that has the bright blues and greens I want to use in this room.

Here’s the step-by-step for this easy project.

Cut a piece of fabric about 1.5 inches bigger than your board in each direction. If you want to add some interest – or you don’t have enough of your fabric, or both! – you can join multiple pieces together. Iron it thoroughly. (pictured below)

Easy steps to create a beautiful fabric-covered magnet board. {Jewels at Home}

Easy steps to create a beautiful fabric-covered magnet board. Cut your fabric a little larger than the board you want to cover. I mixed two fabrics.

Coat the face of the magnet board with spray adhesive and lay your fabric on top, smoothing out the wrinkles. Use a glue stick to wrap the fabric around the sides and back of the board. (pictured below)

Use spray adhesive to mount your fabric on the board and a glue stick to wrap the fabric around the sides and back.

I added some ribbon as a finishing touch and ta-da!

Mix fabrics and ribbons to create a beautiful one-of-a-kind bulletin board.

DIY fabric-covered bulletin boards are a piece of art in this home office.

These feel like works of art in themselves, but they’re also great for organizing pins and supplies and displaying ideas and keepsakes. I turned a lot of sentimental objects – gifts from the kids and my friends – into magnets, so I get to see and use them every day.

Glue a magnet to the back of a sentimental object, so you can see and use it every day.

Here’s hoping these fabric-covered display boards kick start beautification of the rest of the studio! Also pictured are the Queen Anne chairs I painted and reupholstered and the DIY pencil tins upcycled from food cans.

“Jewels”