Baby Shower Gifts- Special Gift

One week ago the cutest baby boy entered into this crazy world. My nephew Zachary is finally here and the whole family is over the moon! We love him so much!

I'm happy I was able to make all sorts of projects for him, and for my brother and sister-in-law, to use. This gift is one that I am especially proud of. My sister-in-law saw a diaper bag that belonged to a friend of hers and wanted one for herself and my brother. It was made from an Air Force desert flight suit. I gladly accepted the project, seeing it as a special challenge in trying to figure out how to cut and take apart a flight suit, and put all the pieces together to make this bag.

I knew as soon as I got the suit, that I wanted to use as many pockets and zippers as I could. She also wanted to keep the Velcro at the top, so they could inter-change any patches my brother has. With that in mind, I took my scissors and seam ripper and went to town. After carefully mapping out the pattern pieces, I got to work, and this is what I ended up with...

 

Front View: Front Flap with Two Pockets with Zipper closure
These pockets were the front chest area of the flight suit. The center was where the front zipper was located.



Front Top View: Velcro Pieces where Patches can be inter-changed; Zipper Pockets
Again, the Velcro was already attached to the front chest of the flight suit.



Back View: Back Pocket with Velcro Tab Closure
Strap with contrast fabric
The emblem on the tab was on the sleeves. I also used one on the front Velcro tab (but you can't see it)



The inside fabric I chose is a neutral color pallet, that way my brother could use it :)



Under the front flap, the bag has another zipper pocket (you can see it on the right)
The sides have pockets as well. One is an open pocket with elastic that you could put a bottle in.
The other has a zipper pocket that I took from one of the pant legs.

 

The inside has two pockets on each side.
There is also a stabalizing piece in the bottom to help keep it flat.



If you haven't already, check out the other gifts I made!

Baby Shower Gifts #1

Baby Shower Gifts #2

I can't wait to make more things for him as he gets older <3

Enjoy

~JV

www.facebook.com/sewingpassion

Baby Shower Gifts #2

Here is #2 in my posts for the baby gifts I made for my sister-in-law. This project was my original plan for my gift. I wanted to make a collection of  items that had coordinating fabrics. So I made a burp cloth, 3 bibs, and a nursing cover.

Burp Cloth with Blue Terry Cloth Backing

Two of the three bibs I made have appliques on them that I cut out from scraps of the Quilt Motif fabric. I used an iron-on adhesive to attach them to the fabric, then stitched them to make them more secure.

Bib #1 Side A with Owl Applique & B Quilt Motif

Bib #2 Side A with Bear Applique & Side B Polka Dot

Bib #3 Side A with Strip Print & Side B Plain Green

Bibs Side A

Bibs Side B

Nursing Cover- It has a piece of boning (a hard strip of plastic) 

along the top to keep it away from the body so she can look down at the baby

If you haven't already checked it out, go take a look at the Baby Shower Gifts #1 post.

Stay tuned for the best gift of them all!! I was so excited to make this final gift so you don't want to miss it :)

Enjoy

~JV

www.facebook.com/sewingpassion

Baby Shower Gifts #1

I'm so excited to become an auntie at the end of this month!! I'm ready for my nephew to arrive and was eager to continue making gifts for him (check out the Christmas gifts I made: Baby Miller Christmas Presents). A few weeks ago we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law and I was able to spoil him a little bit more, even if he's not here yet.

I made quite a few items so I'm going to do several posts to show you what I made. 

My next post will be about the coordinating pieces I made, in neutral colors (just in case more babies are going to come later). So I also wanted to make something that says BOY!!! I thought this shark fabric was such a vibrant, fun print, that I had to use it.

I made a diaper cover, with elastic around the waist and legs, and a burp cloth, with a blue terry cloth on the back.

Shark Diaper Cover

Shark Burp Cloth

Shark Burp Cloth- Back Terry Cloth

This cloud fabric is a flannel I found from a long time ago. I think my mom made pajamas out of them. But I thought it was a cute fabric so I made another burp cloth, just for the fun of giving another gift.

Clouds Burp Cloth



Clouds Burp Cloth- Back Terry Cloth



Stay tuned for the next batch of gifts... you definitely don't want to miss the final one :)

~JV 

Scarves for Christmas

 Today's post is about some scarves I made as Christmas presents for a few people.

I obviously love making things for people as gifts and this year was no exception.

Here are all of the scarves I made this year... 

Pink Polka Dot- Jessica (sister)
We did Secret Santa for the siblings this year and Jessica was who I was buying for.  I made this as an extra gift, but it was a dead give-away when it was time for her to guess who her Secret Santa was :)  



Multi-Color Floral- Erin (sister-in-law to be)



Yellow/ Gray Floral- Heather (friend)

Blue Floral/Dot- Mom



Brown Plaid- Mother-in-Law to be

You can check out other scarves by looking through the Accessories Label on the right side of the page.

Or you can follow this link Accessories

Enjoy
~JV
https://www.facebook.com/sewingpassion

Baby Miller Christmas Presents

I'm ready to post about Christmas presents!!!!

I am so excited that I will be an aunt in the spring!! I couldn't help myself but start to stock up on baby patterns for the little guy! So I picked three projects to make for a Christmas present.

My brother is a fighter pilot in the Air Force and my sister-in-law is also in the Air Force, so what's more appropriate for a little boy with parents like that than airplanes!! But not just any airplane, it needed to be a fighter jet. So as I looked around JoAnn's I found fabrics that were perfect for the "theme". But I could not find the right applique to put on the projects. So I made them myself!!!

The first project was a bunting with attached mittens and a hat. I created the fighter jet applique to go on the bottom. I also cut out designs from the themed fabric to attach to the hat and the jet. They live in Arizona but it does get cold, so I made it out of ultra cuddle fleece.

Full View

Hat with Air Service Appliques

Jet Applique at Bottom of Bunting

Simplicity 5720 View B with Jet Appliques

I also made another project called a bunting. This one is actually a wrap for the baby. For this I used the fabric I found with the air service design on it.

The pattern also included a really easy diaper cover. It matches the wrap bunting but also has a jet on the butt that matches the fleece bunting.

Front

Back

Simplicity 2165 Views C & D

I can't wait to make more baby stuff for the upcoming baby shower!!! This stuff is sooooo cute and easy to make :)

~JV

Floral Yellow/White/Grey Dress with Belt

The beginning of Septmeber, two college friends got married (to each other) and their reception was on his grandparents beautiful farm.

I decided to make a dress out of some floral fabric I had bought on a whim a couple months ago (good thing I bought enough). I thought the colors and design were perfect for their theme of the wedding. Although I don't usually go for big prints, I was drawn to the colors and how it isn't a dramatic big print (at least not in my eyes). I think it was on sale too, so that helps.

That pattern I used is one of my favorites, a Cynthia Rowley. I love that pockets were incorporated into the design and that you had an option to use a zipper or just create a keyhole in the back.

Front View

Side View: Pockets at Hips

Back View: Hook & Eye Closures, Creates Keyhole Opening

With Belt



Cynthia Rowley 2406 View D

I figure I should add a picture of me wearing it, since my last post had one. Might as well show it as I wear it :)

~JV

Blue Vintage Dress

A few weeks ago my sister's best friend had a wonderful wine and cheese party. The theme was Mad Men (the show) so we were all encouraged to dress accordingly. Of course I needed to make something so I searched through my mom's old patterns and found the perfect one. How appropriate that it is a vintage pattern for a vintage themed party.

McCalls 5811 (Old) View A

I wanted to find two fabrics that went well together but also different so that you'd be able to see the contrast. I went with the Casa Collection of fabrics because it had a selection of different materials in the same color, but they have different textures. I chose a shiny satin and a muted crepe. I also shortened the dress (makes it a little more modern) so I could wear it again if I wanted to.

I don't normally like to post pictures of myself, but the dress wouldn't fit on my dress form.

Plus, she had a photobooth set up and the pictures turned out wonderfully.

Miranda is such a great photographer. Make sure you check out her blog about the party. Notice the black dress with the sheer flowing sleeves? I made that as well :)
 Also, don't hesitate to check out all of her other wonderful photos!!!

http://innercirclephotography.com/2012/09/wine-and-cheese-party-ii/

~JV

Purple "Express" Vest

This is a post I've been sitting on for a while, and I decided (since I have to urge to post something) to share this one. Especially since I'm wearing it today :)

This is a project I worked on when I was in school. One of my classes gave us a team assignment to design a line of clothing for Express. In teams of 5, we had to create a cohesive collection of 10 articles of clothing (2 per person). It was a long project that we had to put a lot of work into, but it all turned out beautiful. We also had an end of the semester fashion show in which all of the teams, from each class, showcased their collections.

I created a pair of pants (that I wore for the show, we ended up rolling up the bottom) and a purple, button down vest. The pants are a gray linen with a zipper closure, belt loops, with pockets. The vest is a pretty simple design that hits just below the hips, with four buttons to close in the front.



Front View of Collection
All the ladies, besides the girl in the gray dress on the left, were part of the group
The last member found a model to wear one of her outfits



Side View of Collection

View of Vest with Complete Outfit

This vest is what I am wearing today. I love the color and simple design. I wear it quite often and love how many things I can pair it with

Front View- Open



Front View- Buttoned



Back View



It was such a fun project to work on. It was a little stressful at times (especially since I was the group leader), but the final look of the collection was something we were all happy with. It's definitely a memory I'll have forever.

~JV

Bridal Shower Apron

A couple weekends ago, I went to another bridal shower, this time for my sister's best friend. Two bridal showers in one month can be overwhelming (especially on the wallet). But it's all worth it when you see how happy the couple is with your gift, and with each other, of course :).

This shower gift was the one my sister had suggested I make for the wonderful bride-to-be. And I took that suggestion to make the first shower gift (check it out here) which was earlier in the month.

This one I wanted to go with a vintage look and incorporate some of her favorite colors. My first idea on how to choose the colors was to look at the registry. I ended up buying some Moroccan style bowls that were blue, yellow, and red, and used that as my inspiration. But of course I started to second guess myself as I was fabric shopping, so I asked my sister what colors to use. Wouldn't you know it, she said to go with something like an aqua blue and mustard yellow. Of course that matched the look of the bowls :)

I didn't want to make it matchy-matchy with the bowls, so I stuck with the colors but went with this beautiful floral/bird print fabric.  The yellow fabric is a floral print, and the blue has a textured tiling look to it. The pattern is for the lower half of the apron so again I decided to add a top half, with an adjustable strap. It also has a tie strap that you can create a bow in the front, or leave it in the back. The lower scalloped edges have buttons to hold them in place. The top four buttons are blue, and the bottom four are yellow.



Front View with Top Added
Adjustable Straps & Bow



Close Up View of Front, with Bow



Closer View of Front with Buttons (Yellow and Blue)



Side View with Bow



Tied up and ready to be wrapped

Simplicity 0384 View A

I really love how this one turned out. My favorite color is blue and I'm in love with all of the prints of the fabrics. I was tempted to keep it myself, but I don't do much in the kitchen :)

I know she loved it and now she has the perfect accessory to wear while making delicious appetizers :)

~JV

P.S. Sorry for the phone pictures, the boyfriend took the camera when I needed it most :)