I decided to try and make this dress which is the Simplicity 3823 pattern. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I had to alter it slightly for it to fit my shape in the midsection. I used scrap pieces of white fabric and made the top so I could change it to how I needed. I also changed the midsection. I made the front midsection the brown and then added ties in the back. But for the most part I followed the pattern to the "T"!Just being silly!

Dog Leash

I decided to make Link a couple of leashes. We want to get him one of those retractable ones, but he's just a puppy and we decided to have these kinds first to teach him how to be on a leash. But I didn't want to spend too much money on them.

I went to JoAnn's and bought some belting found in the trim by the yard section. The blue and white one worked perfect by itself so I just took one of those clippy thingys, fed the belting through and folded it under and then sewed a square and an X to keep it in place. With the handle I did the same thing but left a loop big enough to put my hand through.

With the red one I decided to sew pieces of fabric on the sides to spruce it up. I took 2" pieces and ironed them in fourths then zig zaged the strips onto the belting. Then I made the clip and handle the same way as the first.

I got the idea from Anna Maria Horner's tutorial found HERE and just changed it to what worked better for me.

Another Camera Strap

When Lisa posted her camera straps she really inspired me to make one of my own!This is another great project for scrap material! I made a dress out of this material (which I'll be posting soon!) and loved it so much I decided to use the scraps for this. Also I learned how to do ruffles (which I've been terrified to do but they are actually super easy!) Lisa posted some great links for this, I used Nursery Rhymes and Sweet Times tutorial found HERE. I didn't used the fusible fleece and it worked great for me.

I used decided to put the yo-yo on here because my strap is pretty thin and I wanted to put in a lens cover pocket so the flower covers the bulging of the cover when it's in the pocket like the picture below.

Doggie Toy

My husband and I just adopted a cute little Chipin (Miniature Pincer Chihuahua mix). We didn't have many toys for him, so one day while I was making something else I decided to make a little tug toy for him out of some scraps.

He is a boy, but since I just used scraps I didn't care that I used pink and purple!

The scraps are about 12" X 28". I twisted all three pieces up and tied them together, then I braided them really tight. I only used thread to tie the ends up, but I used a ton. He's only a puppy so it holds, but once he's older I'll have to come up with something more durable.

Thus far he's loved playing with it. He loves playing tug of war with Brian. It's pretty darn cute!

Head Bands

Here are a few headbands I made with a friend. I got some good practice making the rosettes. And I always love making the yo-yo's! But I burnt my finger quite a few times trying to hot glue the flowers to the headbands. Oh well, I think they turned out great!

Date Night Jar

I have made other date night jars, but I just seem to find more and more that I like and that are cute! So I decided to make another one. I found a jar similar to the one above at Ikea for like 4 bucks. Well for how many "ideas" I had they all just didn't fit. So I went to Hobby Lobby and found a similar jar and used a 40% off coupon and got if for $3.50. So it wasn't a total loss. I'm sure I'll use that other jar for something fun! Anyways, so all I did was use scrapbook paper, cut it down to the size of a normal paper and print off all the ideas on the white side of the paper. Then I cut it up, folded it up, and stuffed it in this jar. I glued ribbons on as well just make it pretty! I got some of the ideas for dates HERE at My Creative Stirrings. The great thing is a lot of these ideas were either really cheap or free!

Hemming Workout Capris

I am only 5' 3" and it's hard to find capris that are actually capris! I normally just roll them up, but these I'm using to workout and for running. So rolling them up wouldn't work because I'd be jumping up and down and they'd come unrolled and then I'd just get bugged. So I decided to hem them.

First I measured where I wanted them to fit, then I cut off that excess portion.Then I rolled them up and inch and pinned as much as possible so the material stayed as flat as possible.

I don't work anymore so I've really been learning more and more about my machine. I've already learned so much, and I know there is tons more to learn! Anyways, I have this niftly stitch just for hemming. (I'm sure everyone does, but I just found mine!) (Oh, by the way it's the bottom stitch on the left in the picture).

Instead of sewing on the back, like I normally do, you sew along the front of it so the stitch shows. I am so happy with how it looks!

After you sew it, you flip it inside out and trim the excess material off.

And you have nicely hemmed workout capris, or any pair of pants for that matter!