Minky Scarves

Last winter, I used some scraps of minky to make three brown scarves. One was for myself, and two were for a door prize for my Mops group. Then I decided I loved my brown scarf, so much that I made myself a white one, a camel one, and a black and white damask one.

So this winter when I started wearing my minkies, and getting compliments, and an order for one from a friend, it finally crossed my mind that I should sell them. Duh! So here are a few picture of what I have made. I still have more white and brown fabric, if anyone would like to order one! $15.

Bold and Bright Crib Bedding

I just delivered this today.....











Delicious, huh? Oh, and it's FOR SALE! At Sparkles in Flint.

Tween Room

This project.... I worked on in stages for about 8 months. I finally got some pictures of it! Dreadful, disgraceful pictures taken with my iPhone, but pictures nonetheless. Others may have heard me refer to this project as "The Minky Room" or even "The biggest mistake I've ever made," or even "The project from HADES!!!!!" But the end result is great, huh?

*Just pretend, for one minute, that the photos are decent.*

The photo above is floor-to-ceiling reversible curtains with huge black tassel trim.. altogether weighing 22 pounds! Below is the view from the inside of the curtains into the room. In the background is the left bed with green/zebra curtains.



The curtains under the loft bed.. also reversible and quite heavy!


The reverse side of the loft bed curtains.. makes a cozy little homework nook/cave!


By far the most unique (and difficult!) thing in the room.. a valance for an arch-top window. *Pardon the blinding sunlight*


And a straight version of the same valance..


I was pleasantly surprised at how good it looked. All I saw were giant mounds of orange, lime, zebra, and pink minky all over my office for months, and never got to see the end product all at once. I'm pretty proud!

Oh yes, and don't EVER ask me to do this again with Minky. Ever. At all.

Camera Strap Cover Tutorial

This one is very similar to the cord cover with one extra step at the end.

1. Measure your camera strap. Cut two strips of contrasting minky fabric to that length +2 inches, and about 4-5 inches wide. I allowed for more width because minky is a wiggly fabric and you can always cut off the extra. If you are going to use cotton fabric, you could get away with 3.5-4 inches of width per piece.

For this example, my strap is 24 inches long, so I cut two pieces of minky fabric 26 inches long x 5 inches wide.

2. With RIGHT sides together, pin the pieces together about every 2-3 inches (Trust me on this, when using minky, pins are your friend!) down one of the long sides. Sew using 3/4 inch seam allowance.



3. Open out the cover and lay it flat, RIGHT side down. Fold over one of the short ends one inch and sew. We're not even going to bother with sealing the ends since it will be inside the cover. Repeat this on the other short end.



Here's the sewn end:


4. Fold cover in half, RIGHT sides together, and pin every 2-3 inches again (or don't unpin it from before).



Sew a seam parallel to the first one, using the width necessary for your camera strap plus 3/4 inch. My strap is 1.5 inches wide, so my seam is 2 1/4" inches away from the first seam. This is one of those "eyeball" things for me, but you can mark it with a washable sewing marker if you are a perfectionist. :)



Trim the excess off.



4a. If you want, you can taper the ends a bit to fit to your strap a little better by sewing a diagonal seam from the open edge of the cover to the seam. I didn't take a picture of that, but you can see it on the finished cover.

5. Time to turn it out! Grab your loop turner or a large safety pin, hook one edge, and work it through itself until the end comes through. There are some good instructions and pictures on the cord cover tutorial.





6. Once it's turned out, topstitch down both long edges about 1/4" from the edge. This will give it a tailored look and keep the minky from twisting around, because minky is wiggly like that.



7. Slip it on your camera and you are DONE! I went c-raaaazy and made a matching strap cover for my camera case too. Same directions!

Spa night

I made these for my sweet niece's birthday for party favors.









The Birthday girl modeling hers:

Drum Roll Pleeeeeeez.........

It's done!! It's finally done! I took me six months, but it's done! Ok, well, technically it took about a week, but it took me six months to find that week. The black and white crib bedding set is finished!! I delivered it this evening to Jess at Sparkles and I *think* she liked it. I know she LOVED it! AND, even better. IT'S FOR SALE! Just wait till tomorrow or so when Jess gets her crib in the store and gets it all set up, and then run over and visit her!

I would just like to say how much I LOVED doing this set. Favorite set I've ever done! I hugged it goodbye when I left it, since I feel like it's become part of me these last few months. I stared at that box of fabric for three months (while I worked on other stuff), planned, drew, petted the soft zebra minky, changed my mind, redrew, and then created it with my own two hands. Every stitch is MINE!

And now, the pictures. I took these in Carly's room, which has yellow walls, so disregard that. Also, while editing the photos, I noticed how dirty the crib has gotten with a toddler sleeping in it. So disregard that too. Anyway, look at these!

New serger and pretty minky

I got a serger!! Woohoo! I am so excited to be able to do professional stitched edges now. I tried it out on this, which I also love.

Oh yeah, baby, it's Minky!