Fabric Storage

This weekend I finally finished a fabric storage plan I had been thinking about for quite a while.  My sewing room looks so much more organized and cheerful!  It isn't done yet, so I'm not ready to share photos of the entire thing, but I will share this one small area for now.  Someday, I will get the curtains made, the lamps recovered, and all the clutter cleaned up.  Then I will take photos of everything in the room.

The entire area.

 Here is where I am keeping all the fabric, ribbons, and ric-rac I use to make my dinosaur dresses.  The piece hanging on the wall on the upper right has always been there.  It is a quilt rack with a shelf and has been very handy for hanging fabric and ribbons and such.  Now it only holds the pieces I have cut and ironed that are ready to be added as the lower contrast bands on the dresses.  The dinosaurs that are cut out and ready to be appliqued are up on the shelf, but are almost impossible to see from this angle (on the far left, next to the frame).

Fabric rack.

 This is my new (to me) fabric rack.  It is holding the fabric for the main body of the dresses that have been washed and ironed.  The rack is 1/4 of my kids' old crib.  It was a round crib, so it is curved.  It is hanging from two curtain rod brackets and the lower edge just rests against the wall.  The crib had a cherry finish, so I painted it white to go with my room.

Ribbon and ric-rac storage.

The ribbons that are cut to length and heat sealed and the ric-rac are hanging on a cane that my grandfather made.  He worked with wood his entire life and when he had difficulty walking, he started turning canes.  Like the crib side, it is also resting on curtain brackets. 

Overall, I love all my new storage, but could already use some more.  I'm not sure where I would put more though.  Maybe once I get the rest of the room in order I can decide if there is room for another crib side or cane somewhere.  The best part?  Total cost = $15 for two sets of curtain brackets, and some spray paint.

Holiday Catch-Up

I made a few things for gifts this past holiday, but I was terrible about blogging about them, so I'm going to dump them all into this one post.

First up is a set of kitchen towels that I made as part of a wedding gift. 

I made a hand towel for each of Malcolm's teachers at school and the the director of the school.  They also received some home made jam.  The towels and jams were all different so that they could each pick their favorites.

A reversible dress for a friend's one year old.

What it reverses to.

I had a few issues with the reversible dress, like sewing closed the arm holes; twice.  Then I sewed the buttons on (it buttons down the back) much to tightly and could hardly get it to button at all, let alone on a wiggly child.  Once those issues were fixed, I was finally able to send it off to her.  I hope they like it.

I don't have any photos, but I also made two Kermit shirts for my cousin's sons.  I think mom was more excited than the boys, but hopefully they like them too.  One of them put it on while they were here having dinner, so that's a good sign.

Lastly, I was also busy making jam which I give out to friends, family, teachers, and just about anyone who teaches or takes care of my children in some way.  This year, I made two batches of cranberry peach and one batch each of blueberry peach, blackberry, and blackberry merlot.  A butter cracker, goat cheese, and blackberry merlot jam has become my favorite snack.

Snack Bags

A couple of months ago, I bought these snack bags. I had been planning on making some, but saw these for a good price and decided to give them a try before making my own in case I didn't like using them for some reason. Well, they are constantly in the laundry because we use them so much.

I finally dug out some washable home decor fabric that has been sitting in my scrap pile for years and got to work. I made them just a simple envelope pocket. I hate sewing zippers, so I made these with snaps.


I kept the seams to a minimum by having a fold at the bottom instead of sewing two separate pieces together.  Yes, I know the fabric isn't the best looking, but it cost me $0.00 to make them.  I would have made them a little wider, but I used all of the width my scrap had.  I have another scrap of the same fabric and will probably be able to get a little wider bag out of it.



Snapped and ready to go. I'm hoping that the corners will lay better once they have been washed a few times and soften up.

These are just the right size for those bags of Cheerios or graham crackers I am always carrying. They won't work for wet snacks, like apple slices or grapes, but if they work out, I can make a few more and we will use a lot fewer plastic baggies.