Mom-day

Trying to dress herself.

I have quite a few thoughts running around in my head. I'm not sure this post is going to make any sense, but I'm going to try.

Blogging is of necessity just a small glimpse into any one's life. Just as any reality show isn't the whole story- a blogger's post is edited, photo shopped and cropped to fit the space and theme available.

Whatever the genre a blogger is focusing on, she is trying to put her best foot forward.

But, I wonder, at times, if we are doing ourselves more harm than good. I believe in smiling through the tears, in looking at the bright side (remind me to tell you about my wedding reception sometime) in being optimistic and happy in the face of challenges and stress. But, I also believe in being real. I believe in being honest about the hardships and trials of motherhood/ wifehood/ womanhood. I believe that if we share those things, we strengthen each other. We remove the barriers of jealousy, competition, assumptions and misconceptions.

As I work on my photo-shop skills, and learn how to edit my photographs so they are more visually pleasing, I hope I don't learn so well that I photo-shop my life. Even though the Avon lady thought I was crazy- I told her that the big crease in my forehead didn't bother me. The laugh lines and the cushion around the edges aren't what I'm about. Erasing those things erases me. It erases the experiences, the compassion, the understanding, the empathy I have gained through those hard-fought experiences. And hiding them behind a veil of "perfection" isn't helping anyone.

I'm really curious how other people feel about this idea- Do you only want to see the magazine-worthy cropped and staged lives of other people? Are you only interested in the ideal because you already have enough of the reality at home? Or do you look for some oneness, some similarity between what you're seeing and what you are? Would anyone else like to see Martha cry, just to know she's human?

Leave me a comment- or a link to your own ideas about this. I'd really like to know what you think.

XOXO,

Amy

Luggage Tag Tutorial

This is the last week of our Love Notes month! Hard to believe February just up and flew by so quickly! I have been wanting to make these forever, and this last Love Note week was just the motivation to do it. I have to apologize for the pictures- it was late and no daylight was to be had.
My kids take hot lunch at school, so I don't have the opportunity to slip cute little notes in their sacks every day. But, I wanted something that I could use that I could swap out at different times to let them know I'm thinking about them and that I love them. So, yes, I've been thinking about doing this since school started, so we'll just say that I've got a jump on next year! Want to make a bunch? Here's how:

First you will need to trace your tag template onto the wrong side of your fabric. I then folded the fabric over and stitched right on the line, leaving the bottom short side open. Trace the same template on to some Pellon Peltex (it's super stiff interfacing, you don't need it to be fusible). Cut out the tag, just on the inside of your traced line.

Trim around your sewn edges, clipping corners and turn right side out. Slide your Peltex tag into the fabric casing. Turn under the bottom edges around the Peltex and edge stitch all the way around.

Now you will cut out a piece of plastic your desired size. You will want it to be slightly smaller than the width of the tag you are doing, and leave enough room at the top of the tag for the grommet or button hole. You will also need a strip of fabric 2" wide, by enough length to go around all four sides of your plastic, plus an extra inch or two. Take this strip of fabric, iron it in half, then bring the sides into the center crease, creating some double fold bias tape (but it doesn't have to be on the bias).

Slide your plastic into the binding, lining the edge up with the crease. Begin on one of the long edges, but leave part of the end unsewn. *If your presser foot or feed dogs touch the plastic, the piece won't move and you'll rip a big hole in the plastic. (any guesses on how I know this?) In order to solve this problem, I used binding at least as wide as my presser foot, then I moved the needle as far to the left as I could to get the stitches on the edge of the binding.* Sewing on the Inside edge of the binding, sew up to the edge of the plastic and backstitch. Clip your threads.

This is where we miter the corners. If you turn the binding 90* and line up the new plastic edge with the crease, most of the work will be done for you. Take the corner fabric and fold it down until it makes a right angle with the previously sewn side of binding. Start stitching where the corners meet and sew until you reach the edge of the plastic again. Repeat for all remaining corners. When you reach the beginning of the bias tape, you have 2 choices, the easy way or the hard way. I chose the easy way. I trimmed the loose tail of binding so it overlapped the end by about 1/2", folded under the edge and slipped it over the second edge. Stitch down and you're done. It's not the most finished look, but not so bad. I'll show you the hard way another day. :)

Edge stitch the top edge of your plastic piece. Take your bound plastic piece and center it on the bottom of your tag. Edge stitch around 3 sides, leaving the previously edge stitched side free for slipping paper in.

Now, for hanging. You could put a grommet in here. But since grommets are on my "wish" list and not my "have" list, I settled for a button hole.

Cut open your buttonhole, put some ribbon through and slip in a sweet note. Now your kiddo or darling or complete stranger will know how you feel about them!

I also did the same thing with a zippered pouch for my boy. He thinks we should continue the notes/treat tradition all year long. And even though I probably won't do it every day, I think it will still happen every now and then. Cuz that's kind of the point.

I have been working on the zipper solution. I'm almost there, but I still have a few more experiments to try. (I was a scientist, remember?) I should have at least the first installment this weekend.

So, the take away for February? Even though Valentine's Day is a whole year away, don't let that stop you from making sure the wonderful people in your life know how you feel about them!

xoxo,

Amy

A New Skirt

This darling daughter of mine has been so patient with me. She let me experiment with her clothes, and even wears some of the ones I make for her in public! She was in dire need of some new skirts, and the one thing I have is fabric- so we went about making this one. I really like how it turned out. I used a pattern I bough at Joann's when they were $.99 one time, but there are tutorials all over the place for skirts just like this one. This one at Crap I've Made is really similar. She's darling in it, and I'm glad she's not yet at the stage where homemade is a swear word.

Until then, I think I'll keep making her stuff. :)

xoxo,

Amy