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Favorite Beginner-ish Sewing Tutorials

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Happy Almost 4th of July!  Do you have plans?  We are having a bbq at my sister's house and who knows what else!  Enjoy your day and God Bless America!

I have been a sewing FIEND lately!  I recently sewed a skirt and a pillowcase dress for Molly and I'm hoping to make a matching dress for Ellie. I can't wait to show you all!

I'm sew (heh heh) proud of myself, to be totally honest. I have always had a strong interest in sewing but never knew how to get started.   Well now in the age of the world wide web you can really teach yourself to do anything if you find the right tutorials!  So I study the ones I like the best and see how real sewers handle craziness like armholes and fasteners. I thought I'd share some of my favorites and the ones I have found the most useful!  Being the mom of girls, most of what I am interested in are skirts and dresses. Sorry if this doesn't work for you!

Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom has some of my absolute favorites.

Great beginner simple skirt tutorial!





I love this tiered pillowcase dress because she has great directions on how to use bias tape. Always wondered what that could be used for!


 

 


This playground skirt is a clear and easy tutorial to make a skort with store bought shorts. Such a great idea for those of us who have little girls who refuse to wear anything but skirts and dresses. 




I made my first pillowcase dress today and this is the tutorial I used. She has opened my eyes up to the world of top stitching. It keeps your seams flat in the back and looks much nicer in the front.





I couldn't capture an image but trust me. Her curtains are lovely and look just like this expensive Pottery Barn version!   She teaches you how to make and layer ruffles.




This fat quarter baby skirt is a good basic skirt tutorial but I used it to learn how to make and secure a sash to a garment.





This is what I've been studying to make the girls' some custom bed skirts.  It contains a simple method for keeping the skirt attached to the bed.



So there you have it. These are the tutorials I come back to again and again. If you have any other good ones please share!  

Cheers!
Jenny

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Happy Surprises

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Today started out as a bland, what-are-we-gonna-do kind of day. I expected it to be a day with a lot of bored whining coming from all of us. But I was so surprised to have had a day filled with little bits of happy surprises.

A few weeks back I started powerwashing the deck and had to stop to do other things. I decided to fire up the powerwasher again and get back to it.  I started getting a bit weary after a while and longed to quit but we have enough unfinished projects around here. So I kept on going but alas, once again Jim has came to my rescue and finished it up for me! 

What do I see through the trees? 

Right. Jim following through. Love him.

Another happy surprise...my sister called and would we have my sweet nephew over for a playdate?  Ummmmm, heck yeah!  Send him over!  He and Molly spent a good long while playing, eating popsicles, and running through the sprinkler. Molly, who is usually the one who is bored all the time, was cheerfully occupied with her cousin.




Just when I thought my day was about through, we hear the doorbell ring. It's my favorite neighbors who are mack-daddy cool.  They walk in and plunk a STILL WARM peach and blueberry cobbler on our table. I mean a whole darn casserole dish of it. They had too many peaches and thought we may enjoy a cobbler.  Aren't they the best?  They have two of the sweetest, cutest girls that play so nicely with ours and really, they may be the best part of moving into the neighborhood!





And lastly, my silly little blog hit 500 followers today!  I am so surprised that 500 people (ok, 499 because one is my mom) choose to read what I write.  Amazing. I'm so grateful!  Thank you!!!
What happy surprises did you get today?  Did you give anyone a happy surprise?

Cheers!
Jenny

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