Sprightly Sewing

Dolls in my Etsy store! http://www.etsy.com/shop/Abigailshim?ref=search_shop_redirect I am working on patterns for the dolls that I can sell/share too. And some for the doll clothing I make. just wanted to share

So much going on! Holidays sewing, schooling, house repairs. No time to work on my blog. I am hopeful to start sharing projects in febuary, or when my sewing room is done. which ever comes first.  I was blessed with a new friend recently who helped me set up an official business page on facebook for my dolls. She is even helping with the giveaway I wanted to do. That is why I Signed in to this little blog, To share that. So if you see this post before friday, enter the giveaway. You can find it here https://www.facebook.com/abigailshimdolls  http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/abigailshim-dolls-waldorf-doll-giveaway-165-value/ Good luck!

   More dolls in the making Yep I am working on a whole new set. They will go up on my Etsy store soon as they are done. I really want to have a giveaway for one of them. But here is a sneak peak.    Fun fun times. Hope you all are having a great November.  A.M

Changing and organizing our home...    Our house is small but our yard is big. Having a small house is warm and cozy, I truly love it. What I don't love is the clutter and mess that comes with it. I get very stressed and worked up over it. My husband is a much calmer person then I am. God was so amazing in giving me a patient husband who is so lay ed back about our home.    Today he bought me two book shelves to help organize my living room. my sewing area is such a mess and it is in our living room. Eventually I will have a sewing room, but until then I have this spot. Our schooling is done at the kitchen table, which surrounded my school supplies like a printer, rolling stacking drawers, and a book case. This is going to change. These areas are going to be less messy looking.     We also bought paint for the boys room. Their room is awful for them. It used to belong to my nieces, which was great for girls. The sparkly blue butterflies and flowers i mean. For my super hero boy

So my blogs posts are all mixed up and out of date. When I started blogging I didn't know how to post and made a bunch of blogs. Duh moment for me. But I tried combining them today. So all the craft posts from 10/30/2013 are actually from 1=2 years ago. Nice huh...oh well Waldorf Inspired Dolls are my new interest. I have posted some of the dolls I have made before. Here are may latest four. I am even selling them. Two are on my Etsy site. which Ill share at the bottom. Two are on e-bay. Anyway, I am trying to develop a body pattern I LOVE. So far they are all good. I figure I can post the patterns up once I know how.  I am also working on some doll clothes patterns and a few other nifty Ideas. stay tuned. Here are the dolls, are they not wonderful? look for me on Etsy my shop is Abigailshim. 

Okay so I decided to make Tikvah a petti skirt for Christmas. She is 6 and loves dress up and make-up, and girly fluff. We are pretty conservative though, and my husband was concerned it may be see through. I explained with all the chiffon it shouldn't be, but even still I made it with the outside all satin.(I think that is what it is :P) Either way this is how I did it. We shall see if she likes comes Christmas. Please keep in mind, I have never made a tutorial before. There are many out there that are way better. But thank you for looking at mine if you do. :) First I looked on all the different sites at the pictures. Type in free petti skirt pattern on Google and you will find plenty. I didn't really measure out my piece, I kind of eye balled it. That is how i normally work. Lots and lots of strips of chiffon. Then a few larger strips of it, then some larger ones of the satin. then 2 pieces for the waist band. Then I started sewing the ruffle first. I don&#

All my boys have something to wear on the fourth of July, including my youngest who will be turning one on the 5th. But my daughter needed a tee shirt. I saw a really creative blog, I am following the person..., where the wonderful women made flags on the tee shirts. so i did a very similar thing. I didn't use any paint because i didn't have any. But i used red fabric and blue on top of a white tee shirt she had in her closet. Then I cut out strips of red and blue fabric, I used stuff that doesn't fray. spandex and jersey knit. Then I ruffled the fabric on my machine. After that I played for 15 min trying different ways I could position the fabric on the tee shirt. My daughter wanted a heart shape. So I sewed it into a heart shape, and made the other streamers. She likes it. How about you?  HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

So my sister in law brought home all these men's and women's dress shirts. They were all way to big for me. SO i made aprons. That's me in the top pic.  here is how ...look at your shirt and start cutting out your apron shape from the back of the shirt. then cut strips 1-2 inch thick from the arm's, or from the front of the shirt. you will need a alot. to go around the edge of your apron and for your ties, which cris cross across the back. whoa that was a mouth full. Then cut out the pocket from the front of the shirt, or you could cut out a different shape if you want. Sew the ends of your strips together to make one long strip. then fold in half length wise and iron, then fold again and iron to create a bias tape. or at least i think its the same. we will go with that for now. S ew just like bias tape around the edge of your apron. with the left over "bias tape" make some loops for the top of your apron and for the sides. th

For Christmas I  made simple capes and tool belts for my 2 older boys. Seth and Nehemiah.  Here are pictures of their belts. This was so easy, and worked out very well because grandma and grandpa gave them gift cards. they picked out the Black and Decker set of tools.   I cut out a long piece of scrap fabric, and folded it up. I measured it width wise according to their size. I then sewed bias tape on all edges and across the top for ties. I sewed a straight vertical lines along the front to create pockets. Then I sewed an "N" on one and used puffy paint to put an "S" on the other.  more pictures after Christmas. :) These were super easy.  And cost me very little.

I have been trying for about two months to make cloth diapers for my youngest son Luke.  I drafted my own pattern, that works great, but needed a little tweaking. So i used a pattern that wham supply sent me and combined it with mine. the differences between the two were so little it was comical to me. I think all pocket diaper patterns are basically the same though, differences take place in the tabs and elastic and such. and your pocket opening. I would love to post a tutorial on how I did it to share, but it will have to wait till later this week. for now just pictures of my finished pocket diapers. SO thrilled to finally have done it. And I have to say that i am so thankful that there are so many blogs and tutorials and info out there. and supply store for this. I am becoming a bit obsessed with these things. my original is the one with the extra snaps. I didn't like the tabs though and  thought the sizing could be a little better. I bought my material from

Wow! Christmas is already here. I have been searching for idea's of what to make my boy's. I make them something every year. This year was hard though, Boy's are simple and so it seems to be hard to find anything besides what I have already done.  Tool belts, capes (which they wear daily) or swords. I decided that since my husband loves ninjas...I would go with that. So I made some ninja stars, and some nun chucks. They were super easy and fast. I used scrap fabric I already had, so no cost! here is how I did the stars. First I drew up my shape on some paper. After that I used the pattern to cut 8 pieces out of felt. I cut the felt pieces larger to include the seem allowance. next I placed two of the felt cut outs together and sewed them around leaving a small opening... Then I lightly stuffed the star. After that I sewed the opening closed. Then I trimmed the edges and corners slightly , These are for my 3 and 4 year old. I tacked down the middl

I made my oldest son Seth some new pant's. what do you think??

                           Dolls Dolls Dolls! I have been working on my dolls. I plan on selling these on Etsy. I am so excited about them. My wonderful husband went grocery shopping with 4 of the 5 kids last night so I could work on them. I named the red head Autumn, because that's what she reminds me of, the Blond has no name as of yet, but she will. I just wanted to share my progress. They are that beautiful "Waldorf" style. I read somewhere that Waldorf just adopted from old German style doll making. I will have to look more into that. Making the head is defiantly part of the fun. But my favorite part is when I start adding hair, it brings the doll to life. Anyway, tell me what you think. Just leave a comment. :) Also I'd like to know if anyone would be interested in a tutorial or pattern for it? I would love to share

Today I turned 30. I certainly don't feel old, and 30 doesn't seem like much. Its funny how time fly's by when your an adult. Truth is though, I am thankful that I am alive to see 30. I am thankful that in the 30 years I have lived, I have been saved. I know who my God is. He is wonderful, and just. He is merciful and righteous. He knew me before he formed the earth and I am His. I am thankful that in the very small amount of time I have lived, God has given me a husband who I have been honored to see become saved. A husband who amazes me with all his brilliant jokes, knowledge, love and kindness, his ability to have patience with me when I need it. I am thankful for the 5 (and the one whom I only got to have for 7 weeks too) beautiful children God has given me to raise and love. fantastic little people I spend my whole every days with, laughing learning and growing. In this small amount of years I have gotten to do many great things and had many heart aches, and many bless

    I was asked at a birthday party for my nephew how I keep my sanity. My children are young. They are playful, smart, loving, funny, destructive, prideful and full of energy. They are just as kids should be. To the world it seems I have too many. I go to Starbucks and hear things like "you need that coffee with all those kids don't you? I know I would" Or "you must be tired with all those kids" I go grocery shopping and hear things like " Are they all yours? you're done now right?" With stares and nasty looks. My kids could be on their best and sweetest behavior and I still hear this everywhere I go. People ask how I do it, or say it would make them crazy.     I have 1 lovely girl, and 4 handsome boys. I hear comments like " you need more girls" people even go as far as saying to my kids, "your mom needs more girls."      I am fed up. So here is my answer to everyone... God the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, The God

Alphabet Flash cards     I decided to make a flash card matching game.  My little guys are 6,4,3, and 6 months. So it is perfect, plus they are a lot more durable then those paper flash cards and match games. Since I know the baby will end up trying to eat a few! hahaha So here is how we play, its just the same old basic games first lay the fabric cards face down.  Big A little a That is right, find the little letter that matches the big letter. Easy right. Then we play beginning sounds.A is for apple. Or B is for bee...   This is how I made them.    Step one is to gather your felt or whatever fabric your going to use. I used felt because it is cheap and thick, it kind of holds it shape. It is also super easy to work with.    Step two is to cut out your squares.               You will need two squares per card. Step three is to cut out your letters or picture pieces.  Step four is to sew them on one of the card pieces. The you will sew your second c

Doll making! I started making dolls. I had no idea they were so much fun. I made this pretty in polka dots one with my own pattern ...   I had made it for my cousins daughter. She loves it. Because little girls love dolls! God made them that way. :) So then I made another for my niece, but I don't have a picture of that one. :( Then this past week I made these two lovelies with a pattern I purchased on Etsy. I am now working on a new pattern of my own, making the head like the Waldorf dolls. Those are flipping cute. :P anyway I just wanted to share, and when I get my pattern how I want it, I'll share it with you. Have a great day and God bless ~Abby  

So this is not about sewing, This post I mean.  Since it is my blog I can post about other things though so it is okay :)    The house is ours! Do you know what means? It means that now we have a lot of work to accomplish in making this house a place we love to be. Today we planting many of my flowers, tomorrow and next weekend we are planting the big stuff, which include... grapes, oranges, apples, cherries, plums, almonds, peaches, berries and more. I am so excited. these plants have been in pots FOR_EV_ER. We have painting to do and things to fix. We even have some changes to make to our barn, to make it a nice place for our many chickens. Oh the yummy eggs!   So that's my post for today, just one of excitement. my next will be some other sewing project I felt like working on...maybe men's jeans (yep I' am on to my 4th pair for my hubby, who loves them!) or maybe... Baby dresses. Who knows! ~abby

  So your first step is to pick the fabric you want to use. Then you will cut out a piece of each the same size. I made mine pretty big so it could be used into toddler age. After you have cut your squares you need to decide how big you want your ruffles. I wanted mine about 2 inch or so. So I cut 5 inch wide strips. I cut enough to go around my square 1 and 3/4 times.   Now you place the strips wrong side together and sew on the ends. You will end up with one very very long strip of fabric.   Now you iron down your seems. prep is important for a beautiful outcome.   Then you fold your strip in half length wise and iron it down.   Now people have a few ways to ruffle. Some use a long stitch and pull the thread. Some use that insane ruffle foot. (I have one, too scared yet to try it!) I do it like this... I use both hands and gently bunch up the fabric as I feed it through the foot. You can look up how to ruffle on Google or You tube and find a method you are comforta