Fabric on Facebook

 

Sometimes I realize that I just have WAY to much fabric!  I always like to over-buy because I would much rather have too much than too little.  But sometimes, enough is enough and it's time to clear out the shelves for new fabric shipments.  I just finished doing my second fabric destash over on facebook at near wholesale pricing for The Cottage Mama fans.  I love The Cottage Mama fans!!! 

Have you joined The Cottage Mama facebook page?  If not, you should come join us - we have lots of fun.   Click HERE to visit the facebook fan page - all you have to do is "like" the page to join in the fun!

Here are all the lovely bundles of fabric waiting to go to their new homes............

I'd much rather see these fabric put to some good use than sitting on my shelves just waiting for me to get around to using it.  I can't wait to see what these talented ladies create with these different fabrics.  There is a bunch of Amy Butler's new line "Soul Blossoms", Heather Bailey's "Pop Garden", Art Gallery's "Paradise" and Riley Blake's "All Star".

As most of you know, the majority of my sewing is children's clothing, so that means A LOT of scraps.  And yes, I'm starting to do a little quilting, but it would take me forever to use up all my scraps.  I did some destashing of scraps on facebook as well.  The pictures above are the 1 lb. scrap bundles that sell for $15.  Some pieces are larger quarter yards, some are smaller, but none are teeny tiny.  These are great for cutting bodices for dresses, using as pockets, quilting or for fabric hair pieces.  The scrap packs are 100% designer quilting weight cotton and include a variety of designers - Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Sandi Henderson, Art Gallery, Riley Blake.....just to name a few.

So we are done with this weeks destash, but if you are interested in further fabric buying opportunities, join us over on facebook.  You never know when I'm going to be in a purging mood!!

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Winter Wonderland Dress Tutorial

 

Well, unfortunately this was my last week on Project Run and Play.  I had a great time and am so thrilled how far I ended up going amongst these amazingly talented women.  This week is the last week and I cannot wait to see the final three designers "wild card" looks.  But for now, I thought it was finally time to start sharing some tutorials on my previous looks.  You didn't think I was going to leave you hanging, did you?

Of all five of the looks I completed, I'm going to have to say that the "Winter Wonderland Dress" was my favorite!  I love the fit, the whimsy, the warmth and coziness.  And I really loved that my daughter didn't want to take it off!  This dress is a "one-of-a-kind" piece so I am going to give you my basic technique and how-to, but this is definitely something that you will want to make your own.

Winter Wonderland Dress Tutorial

Supplies:

1 adult cashmere sweater (felted) - I got mine for $1.00 at the thrift store

1 crocheted collar (already made or made by you)

3/4 - 1 yard of 100% cotton fabric (depends on size of your child)

3-4 yards picot edging

1 shank button covered in coordinating fabric

2 small accent buttons for sleeves

Sewing machine

Iron

Thread

Hand sewing needle

Directions:

1/2" seam allowance, unless otherwise noted.

First, grab one of your little ones well-fitting long sleeved shirts.  You are going to use this for your pattern, but cut the bodice off below the chest.   I like to trace mine onto freezer paper for my pattern, cut it out and then use that for my pattern to cut on the fabric.  Trace the bodice and the arm pieces.  If the shoulders of the arm pieces are not gathered, make the arm piece 1-2" wider to allow for gathering.  Also, cut arm pieces 2"-3" longer to allow for gathering near the wrist.

Next, cut your pattern pieces out of the adult cashmere sweater that you have felted (see my felting tutorial HERE).  You do not have to use cashmere, you can use any fabric that you like.  If you are making this dress for warmer weather, try using a knit/spandex blend.  You could also use other sweaters that are made from natural animal fibers such as mohair, ect......you just want it to be soft and cozy.  Like I said above, I found mine for $1.00 at my local thrift store.

First you want to gather the sleeves at the shoulder.  Make marks towards the top of the shoulders about 3-4 inches apart.  See mine are in blue above (though they are hard to see).

Set your machine on a gathering stitch.  This is just a straight stitch set to the longest stitch length - in my case, 5.0.  Do not back-stitch at the beginning or end in order to gather.

Run your gathering stitch in between your two shoulder markings.

Pull the bobbin threads to gather the shoulders of the arm pieces.

 

Next, open up the arm hole area of the bodice piece to get ready to attach the sleeves.

Pin the sleeves to the bodice piece, right-sides together.  The sleeves will be pointing in towards the bodice at this point.

Stitch sleeves to bodice.

Turn bodice inside out and stitch up the arm and down the bodice on both sides to complete the top piece. 

Add collar around neck-line.   I used a vintage crocheted collar from my Grandmother and used a straight-stitch to attach it.  You could make your own peter-pan collar or use no collar at all.  If you don't use a collar, you will want to turn the neck line under if you have any raw edges and stitch in place.  You can always cut your neck-line wider to accommodate the side collar you have......that's what I did.

Where the collar came together in the back, I added a fabric covered button that matches the skirt fabric.  You can find fabric covered button kits in the notions section of your fabric store.

Cut the pieces for the skirt.  Cut TWO rectangle pieces on the fold, each 21" wide (so each piece once unfolded will be 42" wide).  The length is going to vary depending on your child.  Measure your child from below the chest to right at the knee, then add an inch.  Stitch both raw edges of the skirt pieces together - right sides together.

Cut the pieces for the ruffle.  I cut these pieces about 2 inches wide out of the cashmere sweater.  The width of your skirt piece will be about 84" total, so you want your ruffle to be 2-2.5 times that........168" or 210" (depends on how full you want the ruffle).

Once you have cut all of your sweater ruffle pieces, you will need to sew them all together to make one large circle.

Sew each raw edge together to form the large circle of fabric.

To ruffle the fabric, run a gathering stitch down the center of the fabric.  Do not back-stitch at the beginning or end or the gathering will not work.  Pull the bobbin thread to gather the ruffle to your desired length.

Pin ruffle in place and run another regular straight stitch down the center of the ruffle to attach it to the skirt.  Hem the bottom of the skirt.  Turn under 1/4" and then another 1/4"..........then attach picot edging to the hem if you are choosing to use this trim.

Now gather the top of the skirt.  Run another gathering stitch along the top edge of the skirt.  Pull bobbin thread to gather.

Now it is time to attach the skirt to the bodice.  Turn skirt inside out, slide bodice, right side out inside skirt.

Pin skirt to bodice, adjust the gathering on the skirt as necessary to fit to bodice.

Stitch skirt to bodice, then turn right side out and press.

Put dress on your child and measure how long you need the sleeves to be.  Mark with fabric marking pen.

Run a gathering stitch towards the bottom of the sleeve and gather the sleeve until you have reached your desired length.  Go back over the gather with a regular straight stitch to lock in place.

For the final touch, I reclaimed some of the buttons from the original sweater and added them on the top of the gather on each sleeve.

And there you have it - a one-of-a-kind "Winter Wonderland Dress".  If you decide to make one of these fun dresses or interpret it to make your own, I always LOVE to see pictures!

Again, I had such a great time working on Project Run and Play and feel so blessed to have had this wonderful opportunity.  I couldn't have done it without all of you, so a BIG giant thanks from me to you.  Love you guys!

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Valentine's Mail

Even though I am all grown up now, a wife, and mother with two little girls, my mom still sends me the most special care packages for the different holidays.  She always sends us beautifully packaged boxes with thoughtful things for the whole family.  I SO look forward to these packages!  We received a Valentine's Day box from her last week with lots of fun Valentine's treats, decorations and gifts and I just wanted to share a couple handmade gifts with you.

For Christmas I gave Mom, Amy Butler's new book, Style Stitches, in hopes of getting her back into sewing.  Well, I think it worked!!  Mom is now taking a quilting class and has been spending her nights and weekends at the sewing machine.  Above is a little purse that my mom made me from Amy Butler's new book.

I love the coordinating broach that she added to the bag - it's just the right touch and the color matches perfectly.

The inside has lots of fun little pockets for storing all sorts of things.  The lining is a striped fabric that coordinates with the outer two.

The back of the purse has this super-cute handle.  You can either carry it or slide it around your wrist.

And finally, I must toot mom's horn a bit - look at those pleats and that stitching.  Total and complete perfection!  I was inspired to start sewing with all the memories of my mom sewing when we were growing up so I am thrilled that she has jumped back into this hobby.

In the same Valentine's Day package she include these two matching play aprons for Savannah and Matilda.  The girls love that they have pockets for them to carry around all their treasures.

We also received another fun package from my Grandma Ethel this weekend with lots of fun things and Valentine's treats for the girls.  Grandma Ethel works at a thrift store in her retirement community and saves me all sorts of treasures that she finds.

I love this vintage McCalls apron pattern - I definitely think I'm going to have to make myself one of this.  How stylish will I look sporting this around the house??  I think the tic-tac-toe pot holder is too cute!!

Here is about 1/3 of the vintage linens that she sent me - such great finds!

I'm really loving these two vintage baby bonnets.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm sure I will find something.  Perhaps the girls will like them for their baby dolls when they get a little older.

Thanks for letting me share some of my goodies that I received from my family.  I hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love, hugs and kisses. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Baked Breaded Zucchini

I have had a taste for fried zucchini over the last several days, so today I tried my hand a making a baked version of this popular appetizer and I must say it was mighty good!  To be honest, I could not tell the difference between this baked version and the fried version that you would purchase in a restaurant.  I breaded these zucchini chips with panko bread crumbs which I think really added to the crunchy texture.

If you have a taste for fried zucchini, give this healthier version a try.  This is great as an appetizer or a side-dish.  Your kiddos will love these too because, who doesn't love dipping things into ranch dressing or marinara sauce? YUM!

Baked Breaded Zucchini

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 (1 lb.) bag frozen zucchini chips (or 1 fresh zucchini)

2 cups Japanese panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

For this recipe, I opted to use frozen zucchini since fresh zucchini is not in season.  The fresh was not on sale and can be kind of expensive this time of year.  Plus, the frozen version was already cut into circles!

Thaw frozen zucchini and allow the excess water to drain out.  If you are using fresh zucchini, you can omit this and the next step, just slice your zucchini into rounds.

You really want to make sure you get all of the excess water out of your zucchini so it becomes nice a crispy in the oven.  Place the rounds on a paper towel and place a second towel on top.  Press lightly to remove excess moisture.

Now it's time for the breading.  I love to use panko bread crumbs - I think they add a crunchy texture that can't be beat.  I use Trader Joe's brand, but you can pretty much find them in all your major grocery stores these days.  They are sold in the same section as regular bread crumbs.

In one bowl, mix your panko, Parmesan and Italian seasoning.  In another bowl, beat your two eggs.  I decided not to add any additional salt because I find the Parmesan adds enough, but if you like things a little saltier, then you might add a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon.

Next, coat your zucchini chips in the egg mixture and then dip in the panko mixture.  Coat thoroughly and add to a baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil spray or cooking spray.  If you run out of bread crumb mixture, that's ok, just make up a little more.

I love this olive oil spray from Trader Joe's.  If you can't find this, then a regular cooking spray will do the trick.

Once all of your zucchini chips are breaded, spray the tops with olive oil spray.  Place in oven for 6 minutes, then flip zucchini and bake for another 10 minutes.

Serve with ranch dressing (my personal favorite) or marinara sauce.  Enjoy!

Cottage Mama's Note:  This same technique can be used to make eggplant Parmesan. 

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