I Heart Elastic Thread

I have never claimed originality, and I'm about as far from it as possible with this next project. But my wonderful new blog friends have exposed me to the wonderful world of ELASTIC THREAD!! I seriously can't believe I didn't know about this. But then I called my mom on the phone and she has NEVER used it - in 50+ years of sewing - so it's not so unlikely that I also wouldn't have used it, seeing as I learned everything I know from her.

I had a bit of left-over fabric from making a receiving blanket and decided to make a little smocked top and leggings.

And the best part - it was so fast and easy!! I'm not going to explain how I made the top because there are already great tutorials here or here that are far more detailed and better photographed than I could ever do. The leggings I made by takinga pair I already had a cutting a pattern off them. Too easy.
But a couple of things I did learn:

• winding your elastic thread tighter means that the fabric will gather on it's own as you sew and you don't have to pull the thread to gather it, which = BIG PAIN.
• Make sure you always have enough elastic thread in your bobbin to go all the way around, because unpicking it also = BIG PAIN.

So now go get some elastic thread and let the world of shirring open up!!

Fabric Dollhouse/Barn Tutorial

I realize that my intent was to have a blog of things I created, and I'm starting to lean towards just showing things created by others. But that is only because I've been swamped by that thing called work that actually pays the bills. However, I saw this Fabric Dollhouse or Fabric Barn Tutorial today and LOVED it, so I had to share. I think this will be my next quiet toy for car trips, plane rides or church.


Get out your fabric scraps!!