thelongthread – Page 151 – the long thread

January 9, 2010

Gocco Printed Curtains

My five-year-old and I made these curtains this week with the gocco printer. I asked her to draw some flowers with the carbon pen as you can see below.

Then we got out the gocco and made some prints on the bottom of the sheer curtain panels.

I used regular screenprinting ink, so I think it was a little watery for the gocco, but it worked fine. Making prints with a five-year-old can be kind of a messy process, but I still like the finished result. My tiny gocco screen really isn’t conducive to fabric printing. I’d love to try one of these Yudu machines. I found myself watching about 20 minutes of an informercial one morning with my kids while they were asking me to change the channel.

January 8, 2010

Etsy Finds Friday

etsy-finds-1-8-10

Log Cabin Cushion Cover, $38 from Raspberry Fairy.

Baby Kimono Shoes Pattern, $4.50 from Sewing with Me.

feather brained Gocco Print, $18 from Lizzy House.

French Cross Stitch Book, $37 from Pink Nelie.

Mix Pack of Screenprinted Fabric, $16 from Melissa Bombardiere.

Vintage Tea Towel, $18 from Neato Keen.

Two-Faced Friend Doll, $35 from Beeper Bébé.

Organic Sandwich Sack, $14 from Country Life Naturals.

Wooden House Shelf, $26 from Hello Victory.

January 7, 2010

Baby Shoes

baby-shoes

After seeing these shoes in an Etsy shop, I decided to make some little shoes to go with the baby gift that I posted about yesterday. I mostly used the template and pattern for reversible baby shoes from Maked.

Well, this was my first attempt at making any kind of shoes. On the first go I tried to alter the pattern thinking “I don’t remember baby feet being that small.” But then I found some old baby shoes in a storage bin and realized that baby feet are that small. Adorable. Then I sewed a shoe correctly and decided that I didn’t want to fool with hand sewing the tiny thing closed and these didn’t need to be reversible, so I started over and used a different method for putting them together in the last step. I found this video helpful.

So once you get the hang of making these little slippers, they are quite fast and remarkable for something so simple. After all, who makes shoes? Factory workers in China, mostly. But that was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?

January 7, 2010

Winner of Giveaway #5

And the winner is…#381! Congratulations to Loralee. And thanks to Sew L.A. Fabric for sponsoring this giveaway. Be sure to browse their fabric and find something wonderful to sew in 2010!

January 6, 2010

A Quick Baby Gift

organic-bib-and-burp-cloth

I’m feeling a bit absent from this blog because I’ve been sewing a lot and can’t show you what I’m working on or it would spoil the surprise! But this week I did make a little bib and burp cloth for a cousin’s baby.

I used the organic cotton mushroom print from Cloud9 Fabrics that Amy from The Fabric Bar sent me last week. And I used this extra soft and thick organic flannel from Near Sea Naturals. I love this flannel and will use it for every baby project I ever make. I used my own patterns, but if you’re looking for patterns for baby gifts, check here.