VK MADE Quilts: My Newest Endeavor!

Four months ago, I made this baby quilt for AA.  I loved making it; AA loved playing on it; naturally, I felt inspired to make even more.

I had this thought in my head that baby blankets weren't really just for babies.  They're for families.  Blankets go everywhere with babies:  through all the different rooms of the house, while they travel, to the park, to grandparents' and aunts' and uncles' houses.  Not only that, but eventually babies become toddlers, who become kids, who become teenagers.

With that in mind, why not make a quilt that a baby would love--using bold colors and a geometric pattern--but with a modern aesthetic that would fit into a family's living room as part of the decor after baby's gone to bed?  A quilt that could be well-loved throughout a child's life into adulthood, without being covered in cartoon giraffes?

I threw this line of thinking out to my friend Kendra, and she immediately shared my vision, so what else was there to do but partner up?  That's when VK MADE was born!


We designed and brainstormed and sewed and worked for months, and now it's a reality, up on Etsy and out in the world!  Here's our starting line-up of 6 quilts:

The Brighten Up Quilt

The Over/Under Quilt

The New Addition Quilt in Black

The Pixel Quilt

The New Addition Quilt in White

The Confetti Quilt














Kendra and I have had a fantastic time working through all this together and feel like we've created something we are proud to put our names on (or our initials, I guess!).  If you like looking at pretty little quilts, here are all the links where you can stalk us online:

Etsy:  VK MADE
Instagram:  @wearevkmade
Facebook: @vkmadequilts

Quilt for a Little One #3

I've been using up all my scraps like crazy making little baby quilts!  Here's a third in the very same design as this quilt and this quilt.

This time, I used scraps from several different places:  all the solid colors are leftover from various versions of Heart-Shaped Waistband Skirts from my Etsy shop; the white print and pale mint stripes are both from my 20-Year Quilt; the border, binding, and back are the spare fabric I had after making this collection of bridesmaid dresses.  What a mash-up!

The most fun detail is that it's quilted in yellow stitching!  Normally I just use off-white, but this whole thing was already so colorful and bright, it seemed only natural to have another happy little color contribution.

 And yes (obviously), this baby is a girl!  Hopefully a future very, very girly girl :)

Vera Aveline Tutorial: Sweet as a Peach Maxi

In an effort to continue making simple, quick-to-construct clothing that will suit this desert climate (we've already hit 100 degrees several days!), this week I took on Madalynne's Vera Aveline tutorial.

This dress is so simple--literally two rectangles of fabric sewn together and attached to straps--and the result is a super flowy, comfortable dress.  My fabric choice made this so light and airy as well (p.s. the print is peaches!).

While this isn't super practical for me right now in terms of my day-to-day, I think this dress is just begging to be worn while lounging poolside this summer, perhaps with some sort of cabana situation involved.  In fact, I already tested that scenario out and am wearing my swimsuit underneath in these pictures - holla!

 

My favorite feature is probably the t-strap in the back.  I love the way it hangs and the way it splits the shoulders.

Can't get much better than a two-hour make that turns out as floaty as this dress.  If I'm ever pregnant in the summer again, this would also be so fabulous to make again and again and again for every day of the week.

Thank you to Maddie for sharing this tutorial with the internet!  I'm so happy to add this one to my closet!

Summertime Dress: Take 3 - Romper Version!

I made another of my Summertime Dresses!  This time, in a kitschy little pineapple print.  And also, this time, as a romper!

I did wear this in public yesterday, but I'm thinking maybe it should be reserved for activities that are related to a pool or an ocean.  It just seems better suited for a cabana or a lounge chair than for walking the grocery aisles!

I've now drafted myself an actual pattern for the crossover top (on the previous two versions, I just kind of cut and prayed for the best), so I can make as many of these as I want!  The bottom half came from these previously made shorts that I used to sell in my Etsy shop.  Easy to combine into one romper!

At least one more version of this Summertime Dress to come now that I have all the kinks worked out!

Summertime Dress: Take 2

I attempted to make this very same dress almost three years ago (that seems so long ago!), but didn't do the greatest job.  I liked the idea of it, but in execution, it was too big and baggy and I hardly ever wore it.

But!  I decided to give it another go this week, with much better results.  Here it is, the perfect little summertime dress:


The front and back are identical crossovers (which I guess technically makes this dress reversible.  Spill mustard on one side at a BBQ?  No prob, just flip it around!).  This dress also features three of my all-time favorite things:  a wacky pattern (elephants!), pockets, and, of course, an elastic waistband.  Another bonus for me in this season of my life:  breastfeeding friendly!

More Summertime Dresses to come, now that I have the pattern down to a science!

A Homemade Baby Toy

A few weeks ago while browsing around Etsy, I notice an abundance of something called "crinkle toys."  I had never heard of these or seen them, but there were TONS of shops selling them, so I figured they must be something babies like!

Essentially, they are just squares of fabric with something inside them that crinkles and a few looped ribbons on the sides.  Seems easy enough for a seamstress like me!

I took about 20 minutes one day and sewed together 8 5" squares, cut up 2 plastic bags and stuffed them inside, and put 4 different colored and textured ribbons along the outside.  Simplest sewing project ever - and AA even watched me do it.

Verdict:  OBSESSION.  Turns out all a baby wants in life is to have his senses stimulated, and this thing appeals to AA's sight (bright colors), sound (crinkling), and touch (textures).  [And technically, it appeals to his sense of taste too, I suppose, since he puts it in his mouth all the time, but I can't imagine it's very delicious!]

It was fun to be able to make a toy for AA instead of just buying him another rattle or teething ring...and even more fun that it's one of his very favorite things.  Make this Mama feel like a winner :)

Another Quilt for a Little One

I'm on a roll with little quilts over here!

I loved the look of the rainbow quilt I made for AA so much, I decided to repeat the basic pattern for the upcoming 1st birthday of some of our dear friends' daughter.

I used 5" squares in 4 colors [mustard, coral, cream, and grey] for the center, added a 5" border in a very pale green with white stripes, and used a white & grey patterned fabric for the back and the binding.  [The border and back fabrics are remnants from my 20 Year Quilt I finished last summer!]
The center squares are placed completely randomly, and there were a few more each of the grey and the cream, so it took a lot of rearranging to get it to where no two adjacent squares were the same color.  Good thing I love a challenge :)

Hope this can become a favorite blanket for a very sweet one-year-old girl!

Crazy Pants: How to Bleach Tie-Dye Jeans

I love black jeans.  And I've been rocking the same pair from Stylemint for the last couple of years, but the downside of black jeans is that with too many washes, they become faded to a sort of dark-grey-wannabe-black.   Exhibit A:  my old jeans on the left.  Exhibit B:  those jeans compared to the new black ones I just got.  So faded!  (See what I did there?)

But I love, love, love these jeans and how they fit, so I wanted to find some sort of way to salvage them.  For some reason, the idea popped into my head to bleach them.  Tie-dye bleach them.

I looked up a few tutorials on the interwebs ("how do you bleach jeans") and every one seemed to have a different idea of how much bleach and how long to leave the jeans in, so in the end, here's what I did:

I balled up my jeans and held them with 5 rubber bands, then dumped them in a bucket along with that entire small bottle of bleach, which was about 10 cups, and 27 cups of water (I came by these numbers simply by what was needed to cover the jeans in the bucket.  Science!).  I left the jeans to soak for 3.5 hours.  Important notes when using bleach:  wear gloves and do it somewhere well-ventilated!

I took out my jeans and squeezed them out as much as I could, then refilled the bucket with clean water and let them soak for about 10 more minutes.  Then I squeezed them out again and laid them out to dry for a little while in the sun.  They looked insane:

Something about the bleach and the color of the jeans created three colors:  the faded original black, violet, and a dark ivory!  My obsession was immediate.

Then I put the jeans through one "rinse only" in the washing machine, followed by a real wash with detergent by themselves, and these wild things are the final result:

New favorite pants, NO DOUBT.

Rainbow Baby Quilt

I finished sewing something!!!
Just as I thought it would, this took me weeks to finish in between taking care of AA all day (and the fact that I go to bed at 8:30, right after he does), but despite how long it took me, I am so pleased with it!

Someone else seems to be pleased with it too:

I used 56 squares from a Michael Miller Charm Pack for all the colors (left out most of the bolder colors so it would be a little more subdued), and then just an ivory colored quilting cotton for the border, back, and binding.

I decided to quilt it diagonally and love the subtle triangles it creates all over the quilt.

Scott thinks there are too many "girl" colors, but realllllly there's almost exactly 1/3 "girl" colors, 1/3 "boy" colors, and 1/3 neutrals, so it's the most neutral colored quilt it could possibly be!

What a little baby model I've got.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I just may have been bitten by the quilting bug...

Bridesmaid Dress Collection: Karen

Last fall when I was still pregnant, I was sewing up a storm of bridesmaid dresses, and here's one more collection I haven't documented yet!

Karen wanted a black dress similar to this David's Bridal dress but liked the idea of having the dresses custom-made for each girl instead, which is where I stepped in, of course!

The prettiest feature of these dresses are definitely the neckline.  I based them on Sewaholic's Lonsdale Pattern but created a loop for the strap (which I also thickened by a few inches) to thread through instead of having the straps tie at the neck.

The other features - the cummerbund waistband and the pleated skirt - I created my own pattern for and then pieced it altogether. 

Since these dresses are made from black satin (basically the most classic bridesmaid fabric of all time, right?), they are (hopefully) timeless (let's check back in 10 years and see if they look obviously out-of-date!), and I loved the elegance the neckline added to an otherwise fairly simple dress!

Here's a pic I very creepily stole from Facebook - looked like a very fun group of gals!

AA's Best Blanket

When you are having a baby, you get a lot of baby blankets.  Like, a lot.  And you need a lot!  For the first 6 weeks of his life, AA was wrapped up in a blanket basically constantly, and thus many bodily fluids of various types ended up all over these blankets...which is why you need a lot!

But there was one blanket AA got that was a little more special than all the others, because it was crocheted by his Aunt Kelsey!  And it's basically the coolest baby blanket ever.  I mean, look at it!

It has raised adorable animals crocheted into its border.  I don't even understand how that's possible to make!  But I don't need to understand anything more than this blanket is so beautiful and so special, so I figured this blanket needed to be in as many pictures as humanly possible for the rest of AA's life.

So every Thursday, we take a picture on this blanket, and I watch AA grow before my very eyes.  To think he started out smaller than that middle square!

Here AA is at 1, 5, 9, and 13 weeks. 

(And my heart already hurts for the day he outgrows the outer square too...stay tiny, baby!!!!)