Fast, Easy Sewing Projects

I try to sew for at least 15 minutes every day. Sometimes I am able to complete a project from beginning to end and those are the best ones! This week I managed to complete 3 projects on my to-do list.

1. Shorts for Little Man

2. Alphabet skirt for Little Lady

3. Infinity Scarf for SewCaroline's Handmade Scarf Swap

We all know that winter doesn't really make an appearance here in Southern California. There are some exceptions of course, but most of us experience some warm days sprinkled in through winter. This past week we had very warm weather for it being middle of winter. We had 80 degree days. Little Man was in desperate need of shorts! Sure I could run to Target and get him a few pairs for about $5 each, but that's not as fun as sewing him a pair. Not to mention I get to use up my stash and make room for more! 

I was inspired by this tutorial that I found on Pinterest. I made them out of knit fabric that I purchased from Girl Charlee. They are soft, stretchy, and comfy for my energetic boy! The fabric was part of the bargain lot sale Girl Charlee has every now and then. Those bargain lot sales are AWESOME! Especially for those of us who are new to sewing with knits. You get great pieces to work with, different types of knits, and all at a great price.

I also made a quick skirt for Little Lady. Fabric was also from a Girl Charlee bargain lot. She loves princesses and dancing and always asks to wear a long skirt or dress to twirl around in. She has been asking me to make her a long skirt, but I didn't want to make maxi skirt for fear that she would trip over it. I opted for a "midi" length I guess. I used this tutorial as inspiration.

And last but not least, the infinity scarf I made for the Handmade Scarf Swap hosted by SewCaroline.  I used this awesome, SUPER easy video tutorial. Since we have been experiencing warm weather I was going to make a lightweight infinity scarf using a jersey blend fabric (also from Girl Charlee). However, my receiver is from Virginia and when I looked up the weather in her town it said it was 17 degrees!!!!! My, my....the only time I experienced that type of cold was when I visited New York in December.....NEVER again. I'm spoiled, raised in Los Angeles and now residing in the Inland Empire, I don't take to the cold very well. Anywho....I decided to make her an infinity scarf out of this thick plaid fabric I purchased from JoAnn's about a month ago. I think it will be perfect to keep her warm during the winter.

All of these projects were made in 15-20 minutes from start to end. All very basic, beginner friendly sewing projects.

"Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near."  -Isaiah 55:6, NLT

New Year, New Machine, New Baby!

Yes, and the Vergara family continues to grow! We are expecting our third little bundle due July 3rd. Same due date as Little Man! He, however, decided to bake a little longer and met us a few days later. We are all super excited, except for Little Man, only because he is oblivious to the whole thing. He probably thinks I swallowed a watermelon seed.
BTW, if you have little ones, you have to check out The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pazzoli. Besides Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny books, this has been a top book in our house. Your kids will ask you to read it over and over again.

Picture Amazon.com

Picture: Amazon.com

Picture: Amazon.com

Picture: Amazon.com

Now on to the "New Machine"
Baby Lock finally decided to replace my broken Audrey. Since the Audrey is now discontinued, they replaced it with the Amelia, it is also part of the A-line series. I'm not in LOVE with it, but it gets the job done. I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy it. I don't know if it just my machine or if all the Amelia's have the issues I sometimes face. For example, sometimes it will continue to sew after I have let go of the foot pedal. It varies, it will go for 1 more stitch up to more than 5 and the only way I have of stopping it is by hitting the power button. It doesn't happen ALL the time, but enough to frustrate me. When sewing in the needle down position and I push the button once more to lift the needle and sometimes it will take another stitch instead. Not a big deal, but it can be frustrating when I want my stitches to end at a certain point. Why haven't I sent it in to get looked at? Because I am DONE sending my machine out for repair. I figure it gets the job done and that's what is important. When I am ready to purchase a new machine I will not be buying Baby Lock nor Brother, since they are both made by the same company, Tacony. I did receive excellent customer service when dealing with them over the phone, so that was a plus.

I had a goal to finish 4 Frozen-themed quilts by Christmas. I was inspired by Missouri Star Quilt's Illusion Quilt tutorial. Check out the video tutorial.


I managed to finish one quilt top before calling it quits.....for awhile.

This is the "Elsa" themed one.

The horrible nausea and utter exhaustion that came over me during the first 4 months of pregnancy kept me out of the sewing room. I yearned so much for a creative outlet that wasn't going to drain the little energy that I had left so I picked up hand embroidery. I had been wanting to try it for awhile, but felt a bit intimidated. I researched a bit, read some blogs, checked out some books from the library, and watched some videos on youtube. Luckily, Omar was on vacation and I had the time to do all this since I spent most of my days on the couch anyway. I'm so glad I gave it a try, it is SUPER easy and the best part is that I can work on it ANYWHERE! Here are a few pieces I've worked on so far...

This is in my sewing room.

This piece I made for my brother-in-law's bday gift.

I found the "inspire" on Pinterest, this one I made for Omar.

This was a small quilt made for a friend who had a baby girl.

This new year I want to sew a few things for myself. Within the next month I hope to have completed a new tote/purse, lounge shorts, and a tunic. I will start up on the Frozen quilts again, and hope to finish them by the end of this month. I also want to sew up a stash of cloth diapers for the new baby, I plan to take this on in May. In the meantime, I will sew up some new dresses and skirts for Little Lady and some shorts and T's for Little Man. In a couple of weeks we will find out the gender and you know baby projects will start to pile up too!


"'For the mountains may move and the hill disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you." -Isaiah 54:10, NLT