It's My Sewing Anniversary!

It's hard to believe, but it's been 1 year now since I began sewing. It started with needing to make a bag to take on a vacation and grew from there. The only thing I'd ever made prior to that was a pillow. Sewing has not only been the one hobby that I've gotten more into over time, but it's also changed the way I shop, look at clothing, as well as my level of patience. I feel like I've learned so much and have truly enjoyed gaining such a wonderful skill. It's opened up a whole other world I never knew was out there! To celebrate I made these 3 items over the past few days:


Since I'm still keeping to my personal challenge of not buying any sewing stuff right now I made this shoulder bag with some fabric I'd bought a while back and a free tutorial from tiny happy. I threw it together fast to take on a trip to the zoo. It's a really great bag. I added interfacing to make the bag stronger and have decided on a few modifications to make so the next one I do will be my ideal diaper bag. I've tried a lot of diaper bags over the years and none really stood out as the perfect design for my needs. The dimensions were always way too big or small and the interiors were never easy to keep organized. Now I know exactly what I want in a bag and can make it using this as the base.


This baby dress is made from a fabric I chose with my winnings from The Fabric Fairy contest in May and using my fave layette pattern set, McCalls 8574. I think a lap-shoulder dress is a nice alternative to the usual gowns & sleepers for a newborn. I also used that same pattern set make this all organic onesie:

Adding all the organic rib knit trim around the brown french terry took a bit of time, but the lavender color perked up an otherwise plain onesie design. I used scraps of organic bamboo velour and a mint colored rib knit to make my own lotus flower applique, so it turned it from underwear to an outfit.