FABulous Home Sewn

I want to introduce you to my friend Fenna of FABulous Home Sewn, go on over to her blog and browse around, she sews lots of things for her kids, she has 5!!
You can read more about her in the Canadian Pattern Designer Blog Hop, where she was featured this summer as one of the Great Canadian Designers!
And she makes the most wonderful patterns that make up great gifts for children or even for yourself, she is working on a handbag right now the pattern should be out soon and it looks fantastic.

She is giving one of her patterns above, the winners choice, to my 4 Kids Christmas Swap Participants, who made their mosaics and posted them on IG.

Drumroll.......And the winner is: Threehoneybees,   Congratulations!!!

Here are a few more pictures and some links to more of what I have made with her patterns, I have the Perfect Petal Purse and the Pirates Treasure Wallet, all of her patterns can be found on Craftsy.

 It is so hard to find something to sew up for boys, I have made these for my nephews and 2 for my son, the picture below shows it in action, he loves being able to pay for things by himself.

I have made 4 perfect petal purses, now I cheat a little when making them, I sew the interfacing onto a strip of fabric when making the leaves and then I sew the strips right sides together around the cut out leaf interfacing and then cut the leaves with my wavy rotary cutter, it makes making this purse super easy and can be done within one day and looks super adorable!  See more pictures here, with that change to the pattern.

 A BEE-autiful Sunflower Perfect Petal Purse, I just doubled the petals on this one.

Do I have any money?

More photos can be found here, here, here and here.

For The Kids Christmas Swap

I am addicted to swaps, and now my kids are too!
They love it when mail comes in but get very sad when they find out that it's not for them (mommy gets most of the packages)
So how about we do a swap that is just for our kids or gandkids!

In order to participate in this swap you must have an OPEN IG account, I'm sorry no Private accounts, I realize some people don't want family/children's photos out there, and you can make an account just for swapping, but I also believe especially in this swap that you will want to see at least one photo of the child you will be sending too.  Thank you.  If you do not have IG, but would still like to play along, shoot me an e-mail and we can see what we can do, grecomara@gmail.com

Here are the details:

1. Sign Up for how many children you want to sew for, 1, 2, 3 or 4, if more than that, please send me an e-mail first, grecomara@gmail.com
2. Tell me the sexes you want to sew for, maybe you have all girls and you want to sew for some boys, or perhaps the opposite, or in my case I would like to sew for both boys and girls.
3. You will make one medium SEWN item, ie. pillowcase, hoop art for the wall, purses, bags, on the go art bag, etc.  I will be making a Pinterest board filled with inspiration, tag me on Pinterest if you find some great tutorials and ideas too, I am grecomara on Pinterest.
4. You will make one item that doesn't cost you money to make, I am in the bad habit of buying new fabric for every swap I am in, so this is the item where I want you to look for something else, that to a kid would be just as fun, maybe even more fun to receive than the sewn item.  Like today my son received some remolded crayons in the shape of Darth Vader and Storm Troopers, he has had a blast playing with these (she did buy the molds, but for very cheap on Amazon).  I made dinosaur eggs for some swap kids a few weeks ago, and those were with basic items we had in the kitchen, something like that for the second item in the swap.
5. Okay now we will spend money, $5 , purchase a small gift item and have it nicely wrapped for the child, this is a Christmas swap, in fact try to wrap all the items, this item can be a few things adding up to $5, say a small toy and candy.  But let's try not to spend more than $5.
6. Send some information about where you live, a post card is good, or maybe a magazine clipping, so they can see where in the world their gift came from.
7. For EACH child you sign up for you will also send a FQ (Fat Quarter, or same amount of scraps) for the sewing/swap addicted Mama/Grandma/Man.

Okay, got it, 3 gifts PER child, you sign up to swap with 2/3/4 children you will be partnered with someone who has 2/3/4 children and you will be sending 3 items to EACH child. You don't have to send a postcard to each child, but the gifts need to be separated AND labeled, but of course can be shipped in the same package.  The only time this is not the case is if you sign up for just swapping for 1 child and then you send 3 gifts to just that one child and one FQ for the mama.  For each child you sign up for you will be sending 1 FQ (or equal amount) of fabric to the mama, (hey I also like presents too!), sign up for 1 child/1 FQ, 2 children/2 FQ's, 3 children/3 FQ's, 4 children/4 FQ's.


RULES/DATES:  Very important and I am a stickler to rules and will contact you via e-mail if I feel you are not participating correctly or following the rules, you will have 5 days to respond to me and if not you will be dropped from the swap.  Got it okay!

1. Swap Sign Ups open between July 4th to July 26th (Parents Day, how cool is that!)
2. Swap Partners Assigned by July 31st (this is a SECRET Swap, but each group will be small so it will be an intimate group and you will be able to follow each other without detection :)
3. You must make a post about your childs/childrens desires and loves by August 15th, I love using Pinterest, but you can also write a blog post or make a mosaic and let your partner know about these options via a picture or post to your OPEN IG account and using your groups hashtag.
4. Post a fabric pull or a pattern design/ free tutorial idea that you think would look wonderful for the child you are making FOR by September 15th.
5. I want to see a progress shot by October 15th, this is important, if I don't see anything by this date, I will give you five days to contact me (I will be contacting you, trust me) and if you do not contact me with some kind of communication (really I am open with the communication, e-mail, IG DM, or just even a comment on one of my pictures to let me know where you are at in this swap) you will be dropped!!!
6. SHIP DATE: International shipping date is November 16th.  Same Country ship date: December 5th.  We want these packages to arrive before Christmas, so if you can ship early please go ahead and do so and let your swap mama or myself (mara_makes) know when you have shipped. Thank you.
7. Please, Please if you can respond/heart/comment on at least 1/4 or 1/3 of the photos shared to the hashtag you are a member of, input, praise, and friendship is greatly appreciated in this swap.  I will really love this to happen and if you feel you have an especially quite partner, please inform me and I will give a friendly nudge to them so they can participate in this fun for the kids swap!!!

Are you ready!

1. You are making something beautiful for a kid!
2. Please make sure that what you are sending to this child is of a quality that you would like your child to receive. 
3. Trim away all threads, ensure that all thread ends are tied off, sunk in. (a real pet peeve of mine, come on, how easy is this)
4.  That all seams are finished and stitched in properly. (kids are really hard on their stuff, and this is very important, they can't be constantly warned to be careful)
5. Have FUN!  I love creating something new and making my kids the guinea pigs is always fun!  I made these cute Hello Kitty purses for a swap, but I first tested my pattern on a bag for my daughter and realized that although I thought it would be a good idea to have the shoulder strap in front and in back of the ear, it in fact made the shoulder strap very twisty.
   

 So this way my daughter got the "dud" and I sent the 2 good ones, but she still loves her dud Hello Kitty Purse.

So after reading all of that (are you still awake) do you want to join in this Fun Swap, all about making something awesome for a child, so that your child also receives something wonderful, then sign up here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SIGN UP HERE! 

Swap Giveaways:

The really fun part, I will be hosting 3 giveaways during this swap, so be sure to keep your ears/eyes open and share this swap with all of your buddies!  Giveaway dates correspond to the deadlines listed in the Rules section: August 15th, September 15th and October 15th!

"this is an IG swap, but if you do not have IG and wish to participate, please e-mail me, maybe we can work something out."

Sewing for the kids!

The reason I started sewing was because I wanted to make my daughter some cute outfits.
My mom flew from America with a sewing machine in her overhead baggage, but it took me 2 years to pull it out and actually sew with it, when my daughter was born, something about little girls just makes you want me want to sew!  So of course she gets the majority of my sewn items, but every once in a while I will sew something up for my son, like this wallet.

This is the 5th Pirate's Treasure Wallet I have sewn up, this pattern is from Fenna of Fabulous Home Sewn, the first one was for my son, last year, and he loves it.

He thinks he is rich and uses it to buy himself treats, like ice cream above, he is also very sweet and even bought his sister a birthday present with "his own money" now those are quotes, because obviously the money is from me, lol!

The inside has 3 card slots, a clear vinyl slot (Nik likes to use this area to place his treasures) a zippered change pocket that comes in very handy, also a place to place bills (not going to happen).  He has used his little wallet so much, I have also sent all of the nephews one.  I thought I would sew up a new one for his first grade graduation present.

Graduation photo!

 See he is even holding his old one here, it goes everywhere with him, and it was time for a new one.

The month before I sewed up the Perfect Petal Purse a pattern also my Fenna from Fabulous Home Sewn.
 
adding extra long petals and an embroidered bee for the front.

Next up on my list is the long awaited Secret Garden Dress, I have had this pattern since the beginning before the designer named herself Audrey & Tiffany, and when she was selling it on Craftsy.

I've had these fabrics picked for the dress, well for ages, like I said, it's just my daughter is very hard to sew for since she is not a regular size so I have to fiddle with the patterns and it's kind of a pain, but this dress reminded me of butterflies and ladybugs (I have a second selection of fabrics with butterflies on them, so if this one works I will be making another one)
I hope to get to make this before the Canadian Pattern Designer Challenge ends, and if I do I will add the pictures here, but if not, just check out this dress it is a beauty and also check out all of the other Canadian Designers, you will recognize some of them I am sure!