Spring Pillow Case Dresses

I know I've said it before and I'll probably say it again but sometimes having your own business is a bit like being on an island. Yes, it is wonderful to be on this fabulous sunny island but sometimes it can be a bit isolating. There isn't anyone to bounce ideas off of, as in should I really spend THAT amount of money on new fabric woven labels for the business? Should I invest in 16 yards of black fuzzy trim? Should I spend an entire Saturday at an art fair exhibiting and selling wares? This week my silent partner...the Muffin Man, husband extraordinaire had to help me choose a font for new labels. At about the 16th shade of pink, well, he sort of died on me and went back to selling widgets in HIS office. Poor guy.

So, what's a small business owner to do for inspiration? Well, invite the crafty preschool moms over for coffee and sewing time. This morning I had the pleasure of sewing with my friend Tanya. Her infectious enthusiasm was just that, infectious. She sews but wants to learn some techniques. And me? Well, I just wanted a crafty morning focusing on someone else's projects. Tanya chose a pillow case dress for her project today. This is her daughter's new dress. Isn't it too darn cute? And, yes it's made from a pillow case, some gros grain ribbon, a strip of material sewn into a fancy band and some buttons and bows.

She completed her new pillow case dress in under 2 hours and I must say I had to laugh out loud with how pleased we were with her project.

Since I scored bargain basement pillow cases at a clearance sale last week myself...Ava and Olivia got these cuties to wear this summer!

Tanya and I had a serious discussion about how young you'd have to be to get away with wearing one of these dresses. She argued that we could in fact get away with wearing a similar dress in grown-up size if we wore leggings too. Ha, I told her "Maybe YOU could get away with it." I suspect Tanya is a wee bit younger than I am. I think they will have to be made for the under 10 set here at this household.

Oh well, it was a fun creative morning, just spending time with a friend, the sewing machine and some really pretty ribbon!

Pink and Black on White

Here is what I spent my weekend doing.

This is the latest custom order. My client chose the material and then gave it to me to work with. She told me what she'd like and I had a ball molding three different fabrics into 5 little spring bags. She even lent me her favorite bags to use for sizing and pleating ideas.

Now she just needs some hot pink and black tee shirts and she'll be all set for spring and summer.

You know, this project has been making me think. I've recently had a few requests from people to work with vintage material that they have or material they ran across on a shopping trip. I really love this idea of making something new and beautiful out of something old or tired or unused any longer. (Of course this material in the picture was new, but she found it and fell in love with it, I only supplied lining materials and hardware, and the labor of course!) Maybe I'll think about using this recycle angle to see if people want to recycle old dresses, table cloths, vintage linens, favorite but battered clothes into new bags that they'd use more frequently.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

Come On Spring

Come on spring. Winter, love ya but it's time to move on out. We've had the cold and ear infection as a token reminder and now quite frankly, we've over you. Don't be offended, we did like the one large snowstorm, that was nice.

I'm busy hunkered down in the sewing room working with bright colors. Lots of bright colors. I've packed away all the heavy dark materials for July, when I'm craving a cool day. Seems like it will never happen right now, but we all know it will.

Look at the key fob goodness. I have one of these little babies attached to my set of keys and even though I still carry the mongo sling bag that ate New York City, I can always find my keys with a key ring like this. I'm not sure if it is the size or the cotton webbing but my keys seem to miraculously float to the top of two ton annie, the bag! Ahhh, what a treat when the 7 year old is six steps ahead of me out the door and the 3 year old is tossing a sippy cup my way as we skip out the door.

I'll be offering them at the craft shows I'll be doing this spring/summer and of course through internet orders. They can be made in any color and can match any bag. Speaking of matching any bag...if you buy one alone they are $6.50 but if you buy one with any other bag purchase they are only $5.00.

They will be up for sale very soon with all the new spring bags at http://www.pinkevita.com

Inspiration In The Craziest Places

My three year old, Olivia has been sick for almost 2 weeks now. Sniff Sniff. Just common variety cold for a week, 3 days of being well and then more fever followed up by an ear infection this time. I broke down, took her to the Dr. and got her the good drugs today, so she should be flying high again by tomorrow.

Liv has been snuggled up on a heat therapy bag to help her sore ear. She likes the warm lavender scented soft bag while watching way too many cartoons. Ahhh, it's winter time in the Midwest. I got the idea here for the bag. What a great tutorial and what a wonderful idea to use up some scraps of material from the ever growing stash of material that seems to be taking over the northwest side of the house.

While Liv has been recuperating I've been cutting out heat therapy bags. I couldn't seem to stop at just one for Olivia. At first I thought I would keep them for little homemade gifts but now I'm thinking I might take a few to a craft show I've signed up for in March.

They are so easy to make, just two sleeves. (Mine are larger than the tutorial suggested at about 16" x 8". I wanted it to be big enough to lay across the shoulders. (Can you tell where my tension usually sets in?) One sleeve sewed shut with lavender essential oil mixed with white rice and then an outer sleeve with a velcro closure to protect the inner sleeve and have something nice and snuggly warm to cuddle up with. This one is red flannel on one side and cow print flannel on the other. Who says when you are feeling sick or achy you can't keep your sense of humor with a cow print heat therapy bag? I've been to the grocery now two times for more rice. They are easy and fun to make!

Oh, if you are on the northside of Indianapolis on March 14th, 2009 and feel like stoping by the Carmel, Indiana Monon Center...pop on in for the craft show between 10am and 4pm. There is no cost to attend the show and they are expecting about 30+ vendors. I haven't done too many craft shows, they take away from family time and most of my business is word of mouth and internet...but hey, why not give this local show a try? It's practically in my back yard. I'm looking forward to showing some spring bags and accessories as well as meeting shoppers and other vendors.

All Things Spring

It's spring here at Pink Evita even if the snow is still not melted in the front yard. I have packed away the heavy chenille's and dark tapestries. I've made up a few very spring'y' totes and just the feel of light weight pinks and greens running through my fingers has been enough to beat the late winter time blues. Of course my living room has 1/2 inch of dust everywhere but there are lots of new Pink Evita's already in the works scattered throughout sewing room and on the website.

I dug through some older stash to see if I could make some sewing room space..for newer material of course, and pulled together this pink and green dragonfly bag. New this spring will be little accessories to match each bag. Yes, that is a matching little dragonfly zipper makeup pouch sitting in the tote. Of course they are sold separately for anyone who doesn't want the accessories, but really, who could resist?

If this pink dragonfly and ladybug captures your fancy she can be purchased over here.

One more thing that put a smile on my face when it arrived in the mail this week. Snaps. Colorful little snaps, I swoon.

I have a million ideas for these little babies. Wallets, pouches, dog walking poopy baggie carriers, golf bag clip on wallets...so many ideas, so little preschool time to create.

Working with snaps is next up on the docket. I'll post more when these snaps have been affixed to something.

Messenger Bag

I just finished this messenger bag for a barter deal. I'm sure I got the better end of the deal, even though I'm really happy with this great messenger bag.

It's for a personal trainer! Yes, I've made friends with an amazing trainer and we agreed to trade services. She would watch me work out (oh the joys of that one) and listen to my goals (Get stronger in 2009!) and then write up a plan for me. We've met twice and she has been amazing. She taught me several new tricks and I'm
sure that I might end up with a strengthened core and a muscle or two in a few months.

In return I would make her a messenger style bag that would hold her laptop and some personal files. Look at the back, more pockets. Lots of dots and lots of pockets.











Inside...even more pockets. Both sides are lined with various sizes and there is even some slots for pens and pencils. Don't you hate waiting in line at the bank and you can't find a pen? Argh.

Finally, I had a bit of coordinating fabric and thought she might like a key fob and zipper pouch to hold hand lotion and chapstick.

Have you ever bartered for anything? I absolutely love the idea and will try to do more of this in 2009.

What a treat to be able to experience something I probably might not have treated myself to otherwise.

The Swinging Sling to Beckon Spring

I ordered this Amy Butler pattern as a little Happy New Year's present for myself. I was skipping around the kitchen when it arrived. I knew I would love the bag made up. Of course the zipper pouch for makeup and 1001 goodies is not part of the pattern but since the set is for my mom for her birthday I couldn't resist.

Oh yes, I also have oodles and oodles of this salmon colored material that ironically enough, my mom gave me a while back. She originally bought 5 yards of this salmon decorator weight material from Calico Corners for a drapery project that sort of hit the skids. I found the strangely matchy-fied green material at a decorator street sale a few summers ago. I immediately thought, weird...I think this goes with that load of salmon material I scored at Mom's a while ago. It's been hogging up precious storage space for a while now and quite frankly spoke to me out of the depths of it's storage drawer. At the time I was comtemplating a de-stash project...but that one's on hold as I found myself cutting up the Amy Butler pattern instead. It's lots more fun to make up a new bag rather than clean closets, let's be honest.

I hope my mom likes this slouchy sling as much as I do. This will of course be my spring bag when I get around to making one for myself, which is usually about a month or two after a new season starts.

Also related to the Swinging Sling, I was thinking in the shower this afternoon, no, I didn't exactly shower until afternoon today..long story involving 2 hours I will never get back after speaking with 2 different banks about possible fraud hitting our checking account. Happy New Year some yowzers out there keep trying to access our accounts. But, back to the sling. I think I could make this reversible. Yes, reversible!

Next up, making this swingy sling in coordating materials, losing the inside pockets and making it reversible!

I'm off to package the new salmon bags up for my mom so they might arrive in time for her birthday.