Gingercake

Crib Skirt and Quick Bedding Makeover

When Elsie was born eight and a half years ago, my mom made me a beautiful crib skirt.  It was fully lined with a tiny print floral fabric that I chose.  At my old house, I decorated the entire nursery around this fabric- the wall color, the dresser color, the curtains.  I still love that skirt but this time around I am going for a more casual look. 

Sorry for all the wrinkles.  My other 3 kids have discovered that below the crib is an awesome place to hang out, read and have secret clubs.  Since I am officially PAST my due date now, I will not be taking apart the crib to iron the skirt again!

I created the chevron by cutting this sheet pictured below on the bias in 6" strips.  I had to figure out that one side had to be from one end of the sheet and the other from the other end of the sheet- like a make a parallelogram.  I only used 1/2 of a twin sheet but I felt like there was lots of waste!  I removed the solid piece and the trim from the sheet and basted them on to finish the look.  The skirt is lined like a curtain- meaning the lining is not as wide as the exterior piece so it folds nicely behind.

I bought the sheet at the thrift store for $2!

I added some classic Gingercake pillows to the crib for photos!  These are actually the big girls' pillows and that ducky quilt was mine when I was a baby.  The bumper and gingham crib sheet are from my old crib bedding.  I switched out the ties on the bumper with ties made from scraps of the skirt- already cut on the bias!

So not super fancy but sweet and I have been wanting to make my own chevron for awhile!  Like these awesome ladies did here and here.  This was a challenge since the stripes are not uniform, but I like the effect and feel like it was worth all the brain exercise.

Alrighty kind readers and friends- send me your "go into labor" thoughts and prayers so we can meet this girl!  I would love not to be induced again (althought that is not really a big deal).  I do have some other things to share on the blog (like did you notice that pretty crocheted blanket on the crib in the first photo?) but they can wait until after she is born so help me get this baby going!!!

 

 

Boppy Cover

I have less than a week until my due date!  I have been a busy little bee in the baby room.  I plan on having the baby sleep in with my 5 year old eventually but for now, she will be taking over my sewing room.  So lots of boxes of fabric and trim have gone to the basement and things have been consolidated and donated to make more space.

I love having my own sewing space so this is a little hard for me but it's also fun to set up for the new family member.  This week I'll share all my little projects.  First up is a cover I made for a boppy.

I used this tutorial and vintage fabric (remember this dress for Anne?).  This fabric is soft and lovely.  I just love the retro look.  I plan on nursing this baby even though nursing isn't super easy for me- especially at first.  So I bought a brand new "naked boppy" and made my own cover.  Trying to get in the mood, ya know??  Like I mentioned before, I put away lots of trims and sewing items away in the basement and realized that my zippers were down there too!  The boppy comes in a nice carrier and I just used the nice long zipper from the plastic carrier for my pillow!

Just a warning about following this tutorial (at least for me)  The fit was a little off and I just ended up doing my own thing with the zipper.  I guess I am not as zipper savy as I thought!  The main adjustment to the fit I had to make was in the inside curve.  I took it in about an inch and this made the fit more snug.

More projects to come in the next few days!

A Shared Nursery by AnnKelle

A few months ago, Kelle Boyd asked me to sew up a couple of my pillows for a shared sibling nursery she was doing for chic & cheap nurseries.  She chose the farbics and sent them to me.  Angela Crutcher took these beautiful pictures for Kelle.

I love the grey walls and all the mix of textures.  Didn't she do a beautiful job??  Head over to her blog to see all the links for the linens and decor she used.  I made the orange and yellow bird and also a Lola Owl and a coordinating Max Owl. 

The room is shared between a 9 year girl and a baby.  A real challenge to design something fitting for both!  Thanks to Kelle for thinking of me and my pillows to include in the design.  

Beautiful photographs Angela!  

 

Crafternoon with Rachel and Michelle

Last week I took a break from sewing up skirts and dresses from KCWC and my 2 friends Rachel and Michelle came over for crafternoon (name creation from Michelle!).  Really, crafternoon was all about sewing since we were at my house and as you may know, sewing is kinda my thing.

Rachel, a beginner, brought over her brand new One yard wonders book (pretty cute book!) and we chose a simple purse for her to make.  No pictures yet since she has a little bit of hand sewing to complete the bag. Michelle has some sewing experience and we went through my scraps and she made a really cute bird pillow to match her other throw pillows on her couch.

Didn't she do a great job on the bird wing?  I love it.  Photo courtesy of Michelle.

I made pillows for myself based on the ones I saw on Country living cover this month.

They look easy enough, right?  I swear my brain had to bend every which way to coordinate the stripes correctly!  The other girls tried to help me and after cutting many incorrectly, I finally got it right!  Although my pillows make squares and the country living ones make crosses.  I really like how mine turned out and they give a more modern touch to my decorating.

After I got that one together, I realized I had cut enough incorrectly to make a 2nd pillow!!  Can you see how the center of the above pillow is dark and the one below is light?

Yep- making this pillow was all about that center match up.  It was a delightful treat to realize that all the scrapped pieces were not a waster after all!  Anyone else ever casually attempt to sew something and find out it it much more complicated than you thought?  Well I love the look of my new pillows and would never have treated myself to finally making them if it weren't for crafternoon with Rachel and Michelle! Thanks ladies!  Hope to do it again soon!