Monogram Letter Applique Pillows

My good friend, Mel, threw a birthday party for her sweet little girl a few weekends ago, which gave me the occasion to make these letter pillows that I'd dreamed up a while back but hadn't gotten round to doing.

The birthday girl has the initial C, but her older brother's name begins with M.  So, I thought why not bring them both pillows since in my house, good things always come in twos.

The pillows have envelope backs (see my post on how to make an envelope closure), and fusible-web applique letters.  You can put a whole set together for a nursery, use them to spell a word or just do special letters or dates.  Lots of possibilities here - so I daresay I'll be making more of these soon.

But on the subject of birthday parties -  check out this party favor that Mel put together.

She saved these baby food jars for months and turned them into favors by adding nifty personalized labels.  I totally loved how she found such good use out of an ordinary thing but more so that she was planning and thinking of celebrating her daughter's big day, every day that she would put one of these away.  What better way is there  to repurpose what you've got than by sharing your efforts with loved ones.

Valentine Lovebirds Onesie Tutorial - How to make a fusible-web and raw-edged applique

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Valentine's Day is just round the corner so I thought I would make a lovebirds themed onesie for Eden, who is always running out of play clothes.  While I was at it, I put together a simple tutorial for anyone who would like to try making this.  A hand-crafted onesie makes a sweet, personal gift for a birthday girl or new baby.

Materials

• 1 blank onesie or t-shirt
• 3 fabric scraps in red, pink and/or  red-pink combo
• Iron-on fusible web (eg. Wonder Under 805)
• Tear-away stabilizer (eg. Sulky iron-on or self-adhesive)
• Sewing machine needle for knit fabrics
• Sewing machine with satin foot
• Sewing machine thread in red
• Hand-sewing needle
• Embroidery floss in red

The first thing I do is to gather my scraps and put them together on the table to see if the colors will work well together.  Since this is a Valentine's Day design, I decided to go with a red bird and a pink bird, with some other accent fabric for the hearts.

Trace the outline of the birds on a piece of iron-on fusible web. (You will draw on the paper side of the web, the other side is the bumpy side which contains the heat-activated adhesive.)  Remember that you will be fusing onto the back side of the fabric, and then turning it over, so your applique cut-out will be a mirror image of your drawing.

Cut out the shapes of the birds from the fusible web, leaving a quarter inch surround.  Place the cut-out shapes of fusible web onto the back side of the fabric.  I like to do this over a light-table or hold the pieces up against the light in order to make sure the outline encompasses parts of the print I want to capture.

Set a hot iron (no steam) on top of the two pieces, and fuse the drawing onto the back of the fabric.  Carefully cut out the shape of the bird, along the traced lines. Do the same for the second bird.

Arrange the two birds on your onesie, making sure you mark their position with a pin.  In this case, I wanted the two beaks to be close to touching.

Peel the paper backing off the birds, and using a hot iron with a press cloth, fuse one bird at a time.  This is to make sure you have one fused in place so that you can reposition the second bird if you need to.

At this point, I decided to add some hearts, so I found a pair of Eden's old shorts with a cute polka-dotted print and cut a few out in various sizes.  I played around until I was happy with the composition and pinned the hearts in place.  The top three hearts will be fused onto the shirt, as I did the birds.  The bottom largest heart, I reserved for doing the raw-edged applique.

Turn the shirt inside out and apply the stabilizer (either iron-on or self adhesive) onto the back of your designs.  Make sure that the stabilizer is a large enough piece so that it provides coverage under both the birds and the hearts. Flip the shirt back right side out and prepare to sew.

I have a very basic sewing machine, so I used a tight zig-zag stitch.  If your machine has a satin stitch or other embroidery functions, you may want to use a fancier stitch. I love the scribbly effect of a zig-zag because it has that hand-made look, so don't sweat it if you don't stay perfectly on the edge of your shapes.  A little bit of a wiggle here and there actually gives it a personal touch.  Go slow and always pivot with the needle down.

When you are done, flip over to the back side and carefully tear away the excess stabilizer until you end up with something like this.  

Fuse and zig-zag stitch the remaining heart onto a scrap of jersey knit fabric using the same method as described above.  In this case, I'm using a scrap of heather grey jersey that matches the blank onesie.

You'll want to make sure the scrap is large enough so that you can securely pin around it.  Thread a hand-sewing needle with three strands of embroidery floss, and stitch around the heart with a tight running stitch.  You may use an embroidery hoop to help you, but I just sew it with the pins in place.

Keep the stitches even and close together.  Hide the knots behind the heart.

When you're done, carefully trim leaving an even allowance around the stitches.  Because of the knitted material, the edges won't fray and with washing, they will eventually curl giving it a quirkly, hand-made character.

The finished product!  Happy Valentine's Day!

More magnets - the solution to an increasing number of cute baby pictures on your fridge door.

I am convinced that you can never have enough magnets for your refrigerator door.  Especially if you belong to the demographic set of thirty-something year olds who are new parents of babies/toddlers that I do.  My friends send me the latest and cutest pics of their little ones, and I keep them up long after the original occasion is over.

Seeing these photos helps remind me that I am not the only one going through this rough and tumble phase of raising young kids, barely holding on to the edge of sanity.  And of course, the Poison Control phone number is a handy one to keep up there as well.

Hence,  my solution is to acquire more magnets - not just the office supplies store variety, mind you.  If you are going to have to look at it many times a day (think how many times you open and close your fridge door), it'd better be something worth looking at.  I'm tired of staring at that grimy bit of post-it note, stained with sauce, held up by a chipped plastic disc.

Here is my first attempt in making my own special magnets.  Looking at them makes me feel just a little bit happier throughout the day - especially since they spell out the reasons why I should still get myself out of bed in the morning and live each day the best I can.