Muse of the Morning PDF Sewing Patterns

How To Have A Girly Crafty Party!

This post is sponsored by JoAnn fabrics and Crafts. All opinions are entirely my own. View my complete disclosure policy here.

I’m a little later on this project than I think they wanted me to be. I hope that doesn’t make them not choose me again because these projects are a lot of fun! It’s just been super busy with camping three weekends in a row and sewing for patterns and whatnot. It’s a fun busy time of year!

Anyway, this is my second post sponsored by JoAnns and I was really excited to be chosen again! The first time, they sent me fabric and asked me to create something from it. This time, they asked me to choose a craft from their large selection of kid’s crafts and then they sent me a gift card to use toward the supplies for the craft. I thought this sounded like a lot fun and Lil’Miss and I chose this pop-up book project. We planned to get several and invite some friends over for a crafting party.

Then I went to JoAnns to buy the supplies. I actually went to two. One in my parent’s town and one here in my town. Neither store had the pop-up books! I was really bummed because the pop-up books seemed like one of the few projects that would really allow some creativity to shine.

So we didn’t get pop-up books. I didn’t know any of the other specific projects that were on the list though, so we just got some stuff that looked like fun. I was initially inspired by these masks:

Lil’Miss and I decided we would have a little girly crafty party and we got a bunch of other supplies to go with the masks. When I got home, I noticed that the masks were included in one of the craft sheets- this one about a safari girl party – so hey! All’s well that ends well, right?!

Anyway, we invited a couple of Lil’Miss’s friends over and put together a little party. I planned 3 crafts based on the supplies we got at JoAnns. The masks of course, and then I got some felt frames to decorate and Lil’Miss had just won 2 big boxes of beads recently, so we decided to make necklaces as well.
From JoAnns, we bought sequins, glitter glue and foam and felt stickers.

I wanted to make a note about these princess things:

So I think this pack comes with some pages that you decorate with those shiny mosaic tiles at the bottom. You probably know that I don’t do character stuff, so you’re wondering what is that pack doing there, right? Well, they sell the mosaic tiles separately in the Kid’s Craft section. I was going to get some, they come in a pack with one sheet of shiny tiles, one sheet of glittery tiles and 4 or 5 sheets of plain foam tiles. Well, I knew that the girls would only want the shiny tiles, so when I saw this pack in the $1 area, I grabbed it, knowing I could just use the mosaic tiles and recycle or compost the rest! So the girls had no idea about the princess-y thing, they just saw the tiles- and they definitely used them, so I’m glad I got them:

Do you just love her little smoothie smile?

I was really impressed with the concentration that these girls put into their creations:

And I mentioned that we had smoothies, right? Mmmmm! I make my smoothies by dumping in the blender: a scoop of greek yogurt, probably a cup of pineapple juice, a handful of blueberries and a handful or two of strawberries. Then blend, adding more juice if it gets too thick.

Smoothie Mustache!

Then they moved onto decorating the frames. I really like these frames. The foam ones are generally flimsy. The wooden ones are nice but sometimes spendy and they don’t always come with a piece of plastic to cover the photo. These are made of some really thick felt, they have a piece of plastic to protect the photo and they have a nice back piece that keeps the photo nice and secure.

Then they moved onto the beading.

I was really impressed with their intensity. I didn’t make them do anything, they just sat and worked on each project for a long time.

The table got really messy with all of our crafty goodness:

And here they are with their finished projects!

I love how each one is so individual.

After that, they ran around like the crazy children that they are. Working off all that stored energy, I suppose.

Here’s the Girl’s Safari Party from JoAnn’s kids craft section, and next to it, Lil’Miss showing off her creations.

Check out JoAnn’s Summer Flyer for lots of kid’s craft ideas for this summer and if you sign up for their flyers, you will get a 20% off coupon!

So, what kind of fun crafty activities do you have planned for this summer?

And We Have Our Winners!!

I got so many awesome comments in the giveway post this past week. It’s been really nice to read them all and I was really happy to choose a winner… so without further ado…. Mr.Random Dot Org says the winners are…..
[Drumroll]

The first winner is Rebecca, who said:

“I’d love to try the practically perfect tee and billy bright eyes snappy tee. I haven’t worked with knits much but have some in my stash ”

The second winner is AprilShowers, who said:

“I’d love to try the Practically Perfect T and The Almost One Size Truly Scrumptious Pant Pattern. I can picture some fun sets!”

I will get right on emailing both winners with their patterns! Thank you so much to everyone who entered! I hope to see you around the blog sometime!

It's Giveaway Day!

(You can find the winners in this post.)

Sew Mama Sew has a great little thing going on- it’s Giveaway Day. Bloggers from all over are giving away all sorts of awesome stuff and you can join in!

If you’re new here, Welcome! Don’t forget to take a look around!

I would like to give TWO lucky winners the chance to try out 2 brand new patterns!

Here’s how this giveaway will work:

First, check out my etsy shoppe.

Then come back here and leave a comment with which patterns you would like to win and tell me why you’re interested in them.

On May 10th, at 5:00pm PST, I will close comments and choose a winner with random.org.

Make sure your email address is correct! After I choose a winner, I’ll email them with the patterns that they have chosen!

While you’re here, don’t forget to look around and check the place out. Consider subscribing or liking Muse of the Morning on Facebook. Also, take a look at my Pinterest boards – they’re pretty awesome!

Then, head on back to Sew Mama Sew and enter even more giveaways!

Here’s A Quick Serging Tip

Ok, am I the only one who stresses out about wasting thread when I’m serging? My serger manual says that after I serge a length, I should serge 4 inches off of just thread. It just seems like such a waste to me. I feel like I’m always going through so much thread! But maybe I just serge a lot of stuff. I don’t know. I’m weird about stuff sometimes.

Anyway, here’s my solution.

We use cloth tissues. I’ll tell you more about them another time, just suffice it to say that they are so much nicer on runny noses. We also use cloth wipes for the baby’s bottom. They’re both very easy to make, and we can always use more, so I keep a stack of unmade ones beside the serger. The tissues are a single layer of flannel. The wipes are 2 layers of flannel, or even better, they’re 2 layers- one of flannel and one of sherpa or terrycloth.

See? Back there, to the right in back of the serger? That’s my stack of unmade wipes and tissues.

You can see I’m working on the skirt from thepatchwork apron dress in these pictures and serging onto a tissue. When I’m serging an outfit or something, I will simply leave a tiny tail of serger thread, then start the next part of the outfit. Once I run out of outfit parts to serge, then I start a tissue or baby wipe right away. I’ll just leave the wipe on the serger when I’m not using it and when I come back, I’ll finish it up and move on to whatever I’m working on!

Sometimes things need a longer tail so I can fold it back on the item and secure it in place – like the end of a sleeve or a pants leg. In this case, I just leave a longer tail, like the one you can see above. I cut it close to the tissue to leave a long enough tail.

So there you go. Not a big deal, just a quick tip I found to help save thread! What sort of really simple serging tips do you know of?

Sweet Hippie Apron Dress Pattern & Tutorial

I actually wrote this tutorial a really long time ago, when Lil’ Miss was a lot younger. It had really tiny pictures and was generally disorderly, so I decided to write a new one and spiff it up.

These dresses are super adorable on little girls. I especially love to pair them with my Truly Scrumptious Almost One Size Pants sewn as big girl bloomers (only leave off the elastic for an even cuter look with this apron top). The dress can be worn over a t-shirt for additional warmth and modesty. Here in Oregon, it can really only be worn like this, without a shirt underneath, during late July and August. The rest of the time, it’s too cold!

Note: This is pictured on a 7year old. The pattern, as it’s designed will fit down to 3 or 4, but the back will meet more. Then as the child gets older, it won’t meet in the back. It’s still cute on the little girls! If you want it to not meet for a younger girl, just cut some inches off the back of the pattern and don’t use as many strips of fabric for the skirt. For an older girl, add some length onto the back of the pattern and add in some more strips to the skirt. The total number of strips equals about twice the finished length of the bodice, so use that calculation when adding or removing strips.

Materials needed:
- the bodice pattern piece – download here
- 4 different fabrics for the bodice and skirt
- 60 inches of extra wide (double fold) bias tape – see my tutorial here or use purchased
- 6 – 3inch long pieces of 1/4inch wide ribbon

This tutorial is told in 3 parts – Making The Bodice, Making The Skirt and Attaching The Skirt and Bodice. They’re all in this post, but you can click on the links to get to your spot faster.

Make the Bodice
Print out the bodice pattern and cut it out. Place the pattern on two folded layers of your bodice fabric, as indicated on the pattern.
Cut it out and mark where the straps go on the top, and where the loops go on the back. Set aside for just a second.

Now, grab your 60 inches of bias tape and cut it in half. On one end of each piece, open it up a little, fold the raw end down about 1/2 an inch, fold it back together and stitch that end closed. Now fold and stitch along the entire length of the bias tape. These are the straps.

On one of the bodice pieces, pin the raw edge of the straps in place on the right side of the fabric where directed on the pattern. I put the folded edge facing toward the neck and the sewn edge facing toward the shoulder.

Take your lengths of ribbon and fold them in half. Pin the loops in place on the back of the bodice, as directed on the pattern piece, with the raw edges toward the seam allowance. (I actually used thin double fold bias tape, which I sewed closed in the same manner as the straps.)

Place the second bodice piece on top of the first, with right sides facing. Pin in place. Carefully transfer the pins from inside to the outside if you wish. Sew along the side, through the arm and across the bodice, all the way to the other side with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leave the bottom open.

Clip seams through the arms, and on the corners.

Turn the bodice right side out and top stitch 1/8 inch away from the edge.

Set the bodice aside for now.

Make The Skirt
Cut out the strips to patch together for the skirt. They should be 5 inches by 16 inches long. I cut 3 strips of 4 different fabrics – meaning 12 strips. If you use more fabrics in your skirt, you’ll need to adjust. This photo is showing how I used the pink fabric as a pattern piece once I cut it out and then I just folded over the end of blue fabric to cut out those pieces.
You need a total of 12 strips of fabric for the skirt.

With right sides together, sew together the long ends of the strips to make one really long patchy strip. I used my serger so the seams would be nice and clean. If you don’t have a serger, you might consider using a faux french seam to keep those seams clean, since they’ll be exposed.

Here are all my strips sewn together.

On each end of the skirt, fold the edge over 1/4 inch and press. Fold over 1/4 inch more and sew in place.

Attach The Skirt

Gather one of the long edges of the skirt. I gathered on my serger.
Another method for gathering is to sew a line with your longest stitch length about an inch away from the edge of the fabric. Leave long tails on both ends. Sew another line about an inch away from the first one and leave long tails again. Pull the bobbin strings to gather.
Here are some pictures from the old tutorial, showing the two threads gathering:

The gathered skirt and the bodice. (I actually made a mistake on this one, and didn’t add enough strips in. Your skirt will have more patchy strips and will be more gathered.)

Mark the centers of the bodice and the skirt. Put the pieces together with right sides together (decide which will be the right side of the bodice). Match the centers and pin in place. Spread the gathered fabric out evenly over the length of the bodice.

Pin in place and then stitch with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

After the skirt is sewn in place, you can clean up the raw edges of the bodice (plus I always seem to undo the gathering serging) by serging over it. I don’t cut any fabric on this go over, just making sure the raw edges are encased in the threads.
Other options to clean up that edge are to sew a zig zag stitch along it or to sew bias tape over the seam.

Lastly, fold the raw edge of the skirt up 1/4 inch and press. Fold up 1 inch more and sew in place to hem the dress. (I actually serged first and then folded up the one inch)

And you’re finished! What a lovely dress for a sweet little girl!

Lace up the back by crossing the straps and then zig zagging back and forth through the loops.

And there you have it!

Here’s another one, sewn by Kerri of Little Moon Originals. She did an awesome job and it turned out so adorably!! Thank you so much for sharing, Kerri!! I love it!