Not bad for our first ever attempt. We learned lots. Ate lots. Laughed lots. Well…. not everyone did….
Someone was feeling a tad neglected and left out…. I hate it when that happens….. don’t worry… he was spoiled rotten later…
Jan
So one of the other things I love about Mercantile besides the good coffee, baking cottage and the fiestaware cottage is the fabulous fun towels they carry. It’s become a weakness. I keep picking them up in pairs thinking I’ll make the princess and I matching aprons. Here’s a couple I picked up probably close to a month ago.
This weekend I was busted because I have yet to actually make an apron. That changed this morning!
A really big thanks to Becca for sending me some good links last night!! We went with this one because I could just make some ties out of existing fabric rather than running up to the store. The ribbon they suggest definitely would have cut down on assembly time. Had I only been thinking that far in advance while shopping for the gingerbread house candy yesterday. But I didn’t. I did however score these adorable peppermint trees!!!
Hopefully we will get to baking the actual gingerbread house later today. If someone ever finishes her homeschool….. and today that looks like a really big if….
Jan
That’s right… first try. It wasn’t bad for a wing it morning project. I’ll show you what I did, mention how I might improve on it, and maybe some day show a very pretty one. Today is prototype day. Feel free to laugh along with me. Because I am laughing at my brain dead lack of coffee stupidity today. Here’s the end result.
This is for a spare room that was the princess’s play room and now is being converted back to a bedroom. Did you follow that? Translation….. I’m redecorating on a tiny budget. I stink at decorating. There is a severe lack of storage or table top area in this room and that isn’t going to change. The remotes were wandering out of the room because of all that. So this is a small remote caddy to tuck in between the mattress and box springs to corral them. Obviously a new quilt and bed skirt are needed. When those are done, I will make a new caddy to coordinate on in. For right now, this prevents lost or puppy chewed remotes.
What I did was grab the remotes that go with the room.
I then took the fabric for the front of the caddy and laid it over them to ensure there would be enough space.
I think I ended up with something along the lines of 16 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches. I then cut a scrap piece of batting a little bit smaller so I would be able to fold the top in for the final seam over it. Fold right sides of the fabric together, put the batting on the wrong side and sew up the sides. Turn it right side out and get those seams all out and pressed. I found this new tool last time I was at the quilt store that helped.
Not a necessary thing. It sure is pretty though! Worked like a charm. In case you can not tell, one end sharp point, the other end flat slant. Very nice!
Next I did press with the iron, turned in those raw edges and top stitched all the way around. For the backing, I measured the finished front piece, added in seam allowances, made a stab in the dark guesstimate on how much would be needed to secure it between the mattress and box springs.
Next, I took a small piece of timtex and put that across the bottom where the pockets would end up to give it some support. That was pressed and sewn to the wrong side of the fabric to hold it in place and then right sides together, turn, top stitch. Next place the front pocket in place and top stitch it to the back. Then grab those remotes and decide on the spacing. I went with three equal or darn close to it pockets. Ended up with this.
It works. It just isn’t as pretty as I would like. Next time I think I will have some sort of trim… bling… pearls… buttons… I don’t know…. it will depend on the fabric and quilt that end up in there, but something to make it pretty as well as maybe hide the fact that my top stitching is never as good as I’d like it to be. There has to be a trick to making that look good. But I don’t know what it is. The top stitching on the apron I won from Becca is amazing. I need to take some time to learn that skill. But over all, this will corral the remotes and keep them safe while I work on the rest of the room. Mission completion!
Next… back to the mystery quilt because apparently in my state of stupor, I missed the step where you sew the background strip on completely. And you all are so nice you didn’t tell me. Or laughing too hard at me. I’m going with you are too nice.
Jan
