The creative juices were flowing at Made So Happy this month! Introducing the Sip and Spin Record Coaster Set. The fabric coasters are little retro and a lot of fun! It’s a perfect gift for the music lover in your life. Several designs are available on our Etsy site.
Time flies! I can hardly believe it has been 10 years since I opened my Etsy shop and started selling handmade fabric goods. I have been lucky enough to work with amazing customers on many unique special projects. In that time, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to create over 700 pillows, 370 pennant banners, 80 Christmas tree skirts and 150 tote bags! A big thank you to all of you who have supported my business in the last 10 years. I look forward to keeping the sewing machine running for you for many more years!
A father’s ties become gifts to honor his memory.
This past Christmas season, I had a customer reach out to me with this terrific and touching idea. She had dozens of neckties from her father who had passed away. He was a lawyer and so ties were a routine part of his wardrobe. She shared a story on how the ties hung on a back of a closet door. The ties would swing and swish as the door closed and that would make her think of him. She wanted to have the ties made into gifts she could share with the entire family and to help keep him close.
The pillow was made for her mother with ties carefully chosen for color and pattern. The key fobs and zippered pouches were made for the grandchildren and other family members. The pouches were sure to include the brand label which gave them a preppy flair. It made me happy to be able to work on such a special memory project.
Handmade dresses and skirts transformed into a Christmas tree skirt full of memories.
I had a client reach out to me with this very special project. She had a grandmother who was a talented seamstress. This grandmother made all her clothing with great skill. After her passing, my client acquired her grandmother’s garments. The memories were too precious to simply donate the clothing, so she approached me with the idea to use the garments in a Christmas tree skirt.
After selecting dresses and skirts that had enough fabric to work for the project, it was time to cut out the wedge shaped pieces. I wanted to preserve any trim and buttons from the clothing to use in the tree skirt as a reminder of the little details the grandmother used. Since there was a variety of fabric types and colors, I decided to alternate each clothing piece with a neutral cream snowflake fabric. This helped bring some cohesiveness to the tree skirt.
Now the fun part…sewing all the wedges together!
To give the tree skirt more structure, I treated it more like a quilt. A Christmas green floral fabric was used as the backing material and a quilt sandwich was made using cotton batting in between the layers. To keep the clothing fabric in the forefront of the design, I decided to stitch in the seams of the wedges for the quilting as opposed to a busier quilting pattern.
After trimming the edges, it was time to bind the quilted tree skirt. I used a speckled, metallic dark green fabric for the binding which anchored the front of the tree skirt and coordinated with the fabric on the back. I extended the binding into ties at the inner opening of the tree skirt.
I was thrilled to be able to make three of these skirts for this wonderful family. I am honored to have been asked to make such a treasured heirloom. I hope they enjoy many Christmas holidays with these memory tree skirts.
I recently had the opportunity to help my neighbor refresh her adorable seating area. This sunny nook lets in wonderful light and houses a roomy banquet. Originally, custom drapes covered the windows. She still liked the fabric, but not necessarily to cover the gorgeous windows. So I repurposed the fabric from the drapes to recover the banquette cushions and to create some throw pillows. New cream colored outdoor fabric was also used to balance the darker floral print. Two cushion covers were made for the seat so she can change the look whenever she wants.
Made Sew Happy