May Giveaway Day (CLOSED)

Welcome! It is time once again for Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day! This time I am giving away two (2) charm packs of Bobbins and Bits by Pat Sloan for Moda (that's right one lucky winner will get both packs for a total of 84 pre-cut squares! Giveaway is open worldwide.

To enter simply leave a comment below (let me know where you are from, what's your favorite color? any comment will do!) and make sure I have a way to contact you (if a winner is selected and there is no email address attached to their entry, I will select a new winner). Contest is open through 5pm PST Friday May 16th.

I hope you'll take a look at the blog if this is your first visit, and consider following me on your favorite social media. You can get bonus entries by following the steps below:

Follow me on facebook and leave an extra comment letting me know you did.

Follow me on Pinterest and leave an extra comment letting me know you did.

Follow me on bloglovin' and leave an extra comment letting me know you did.

Follow me on instagram and leave an extra comment letting me know you did.

That is a total of 5 possible entries per person.

Comment moderation has been turned on, you comments will appear after they have been approved

Don't forget to check out all of the other great giveaways going on for Giveaway day! Good Luck!

The winner is new Pinterest follower RockSteadyEmme, check your email for info on claiming your prize!

How to Embellish Fabrics with Embroidery

I have quite a bit of fabric in my stash, I just can't pass up a good deal. Sometimes I just don't feel inspired by the fabrics I have when it's time to make a project. I have found that I can jazz up the stuff I have (or have had for a loooooong time) by adding some embroidery to the patterns.

I like patterns like this one with small leaves, because it is easy to add in some extra interest with a new color, by using satin stitch to fill in small areas. This is also a great way to create color combos you love without looking tirelessly for fabrics containing both colors. Love the gray and yellow color combo? Find fabrics done with only gray tones and stitch in some yellow!

This method is also great because you can decide how much of your stitched color you want to add. I like just adding a little red here and there with this teal fabric, but you could go nuts and fill in all of the outlined leaves if you want to.

I also love adding texture to fabrics with embroidery. This red fabric with multi-colored polka dots is already super busy, so I found a floss color that matches the yellow and added in some french knots to give it more dimension.

You can make french knots in a couple different sizes to add more texture, and since this fabric has so many colors you can do a few dots of each color if you want, or just pick out a few dots of the same color (like I did with the yellow). This is also a great little project you can take with you just about anywhere (and it's fun to use some fabrics from your stash without actually USING the fabrics from your stash). It might even inspire you to make some small projects with your cute new embellished fabrics!

Do you have any ways you like to freshen up your fabrics? I'd love to hear about them in the comments :)

Gift Bow Roundup

The holidays are fast approaching, and there is no better time to start making a batch of your very own handmade gift bows! I found the awesome sweater patterned paper above in a photorealistic package of papers and had to make some snuggly bows of my own. Below you will find a big list of options to choose from (and many can be completed by using fabric, felt or Ribbon instead of cutting paper). Settle down with a great holiday movie and some paper and whip up a stack of ribbons this week!

Paper Bows from How About Orange

Accordion Fold(Snowflake)Bows

Small Gift Bows

Jumbo Gift Bows

If flowers are more your style, you can check out these paper flowers or some easy tissue paper flowers. Happy Wrapping!

Shark Week!

Shark Week is fast approaching, and for those of you who don't read my newsletter you may be unaware that I have a bunch of sharky plans coming up in honor of Shark Week!

I decided to spice up my Spoonflower "Hammerhead" fabric design with my new favorite color combo: yellow, gray, black and white, so feel free to go check it out and purchase some for your own shark themed crafts. I will also be giving away some swatches of my sharky fabrics during shark week, so check back for your chance to win!

Scrap Project Roundup

I have been trying to finish up all of my Holiday crafting, so I got behind on my scrap fabric projects last week. To make it up to all of you, here are a bunch of super cute scrap fabric projects I found on Pinterest! Above you will see a fabric scrap Memory game, found at Babble.

This is a great wall art project using fabric scraps and embroidery hoops, from The Purl Bee. While this project just uses fabric swatches, you could certainly do some embroidery on your scraps to add even more visual interest.





Here are some garden flags from Design Sponge. I think these are adorable. Use toothpicks and the same idea to make cupcake flags!




A fantastic fabric mosaic, as wall art, by Cart Before the Horse. You could also Mod Podge fabric to a piece of furniture for the same mosaic effect, just make sure to seal your final piece.




This vintage chair rehab with scrap fabrics is absolutely gorgeous! I've recovered a chair before and it's hard work, but this is just amazing! Found at Dornob (they have several scrap fabric recover jobs, I highly recommend checking it out).




You can also use your scraps to make a cute pillow case, like this one from Cluck Cluck Sew.



What are your favorite projects to do with scraps?

Scrappliques!

Here is another easy scrap project: appliques. These can be permanently fixed onto anything you like, or you can turn them into pins, brooches, etc. and put them on something temporarily, you can even stuff them to make a more 3-d pin! They can also be made in any shape you have scraps big enough for: I chose a mustache because I had the pattern handy from my Portlandia Potholders.

To begin, select the scrap fabric you will be using. Make sure it is large enough to fit your applique shape.

I didn't do such a great job of step by step photos on this one, but it's pretty easy to explain anyway. I used no-sew Heat n Bond and ironed it onto a piece of felt to start (I use eco-fi felt which is made from recycled pop bottles. It is also washable, as opposed to wool felt which will get yucky if you wash it a lot). I would recommend using white felt, but so people can see what I'm doing in the tutorial, I used yellow-orange. The great thing about Heat n Bond is it has a paper backing that you can use to trace your image onto, it makes it easy to cut out later on. I chose to cut my image out of felt and then iron it onto my final fabric. If you wanted you could iron Heat N Bond onto both sides of your felt, then remove the paper backing on one side and iron on your scrap fabric, then trace several images onto the paper still in place, cut them out and iron them onto your final piece.

Here, I have cut out my mustache from the felt first, and then ironed it onto my fabric scrap.

Then, I cut out my mustache! Now it can be sewn or pinned anywhere. I think these would be adorable on some onesies for a baby boy (let's be honest though, I'd put it on a girl with no shame in my game).


Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a bag of scrap fabrics on my Giveaway Day post.

Giveaway Day

Welcome to the Craftinomicon! It is time once again for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! Above you will see a glimpse at my main prize this year: a quarter pound of fabric scraps (This is about 35 separate scraps of fabric)! These scraps are various shapes (mostly rectangles), sizes and colors, all cotton. Part of the fun will be sorting through them all when you receive them! Not sure what to do with them? I will be featuring projects on The Craftinomicon all week using fabric scraps!

Giveaway Details:

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
All entries must be received by Friday, December 16th at 5pm, PST
One entry per person, please.
Please make sure to leave an email so I can contact you should you win.
To enter simply leave a comment on the bottom of this post answering the following question: What is a favorite handmade gift that you have given or received? This doesn't have to be holiday related, it could have been a birthday, anniversary or "just because" gift as well.

Thank you to all who entered! A winner has been chosen and it is Lorraine:

lorraine said...

all my favorite things ive received have been handknit items..right now im loving the cowl a friend of mine made me :)


Congratulations Lorraine, I have sent you an email and am packaging up your prize right now!

Birthday Giveaway!

Whew! After a great birthday weekend, I am back with this giveaway! A bundle of six fat quarters (as picture above). I love the yellow/gray/black color combination. It's a great way to move from the sunshine of Summer into the rainy gray of Fall and Winter.

To enter:

Post a comment on this blog post. Are you looking forward to the cooler weather, or are you mourning Summer's departure? What would you do with the prize if you won? Or just tell me you really want to win! Make sure you include an email so I can reach you. You may enter now through October 17th at 9pm PST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on October 18th. Because I am feeling extra generous, giveaway is open internationally (winners outside US, please allow extra time for delivery due to customs).

This contest is now closed, thanks to all who entered!
Congratulations to Amy Vanderhoof! I will be contacting you shortly!
Everyone else please stay tuned for blog giveaway #2 this month, or join my newsletter for a chance at another prize as well!



There will be two more giveaways this month as well, one on the blog, and another through my newsletter. To make sure you qualify for both feel free to go here and sign up for the monthly newsletter. This month it will feature instructions on how to enter for the super special newsletter giveaway as well as an extra special recipe!

*This giveaway is sponsored by me, myself and I.

Also, a special thank you goes out to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! I had a great birthday weekend filled with food and parties. Here is an adorable little birthday cake two lovely ladies got for me, so there was indeed cake after all:

Have a great week and good luck!

Spoonflower Shark fabric contest!

What better way to celebrate Shark Week than a fabric design contest? Spoonflower is having a contest here and you can vote on your favorites including my hammerhead design. To see what mine looks like all printed out and ready to use, check out this post from earlier this week. I think this may be my favorite fabric design yet. Once again, the competition is tough, but you guys sure do show me some love and one of these days I think I'll make top 10. :D

Also, today is my wedding anniversary, so I hate to say it, but my Shark food craft may be taking a backseat this week to some yummy frosting I made for an anniversary cake. Maybe I'll shark it up food style for you guys next week, as I really did have a cute shark themed idea! It would be great for kids of all ages (even almost 30 year olds like me!).

Look What Came in the Mail Today!

Look what I got today when I checked my mail(okay so it came last night, but I forgot to check as I am rather absent minded)! These are some swatches of fabrics I designed on spoonflower.com and they came out even better than I imagined they would. :D I have a few more coming later this week, including a pattern I made with hammerhead sharks that I am very excited about. Have any of you ever made fabrics at Spoonflower? It is definitely an obsession of mine at the moment and I spend lots of time making my own patterns, looking at stuff other people have made and trying to decide what to do with any samples and orders I get.

That brings me to another question for you all: What do I do with these lovely fabric samples? Coasters? Pot holders? Itty bitty zippered pouches? Each square is 8"x8" so the projects need to be small, or I could piece them into quilty projects as well. Let me know what you think! This coffee fabric on the right is actually an entry I have in next week's coffee themed fabrics contest on spoonflower. I have a feeling that one will be tough, as I have browsed through a lot of other coffee themed fabrics and there is some seriously adorable stuff, including some Kawaii prints that are just awesome.

Speaking of contests, this is a color variation on my blue and red Roller Derby fabric that is in the current fabric contest at Spoonflower. I'm starting to wish I had entered this color combo instead, c'est la vie! If you haven't voted or even visited Spoonflower before, I highly recommend it. Voting on this contest ends Wednesday I believe, so gets your votes in now! Again, lots of great designs to choose from.



Also, all of my fabric designs that you see here and a few others are available here for purchase through Spoonflower. (This wasn't in my original post, but I have since had several requests and had a palm to the forehead moment that I hadn't shared the info with you all--my apologies!)

Finally, I will be having my first book review on the site coming up later this week, or this weekend. I recently purchased Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop and it is about the most adorable baking book I have ever seen! I am trying out a few of the recipes to share with you all, but so far I love it. The recipes are easy to follow, the book has lots of great information, and the book itself is lovely and every page has beautiful scalloped edges that I just love. It is published by Chronicle Books, and I have been a fan of theirs for quite awhile. They always find cute little ways to make their books stand out, such as these scalloped pages, and special bindings and whatnot on other books that really add to their appeal.

Roller Derby Fabric!

I apologize for the delay in posts, but I have been super busy this past week (as I'm sure you all have been as well!) I finally got off my lazy butt and designed some more fabrics on Spoonflower.com (as I have been meaning to do for quite awhile now). This one is for their current Roller Derby fabric contest, there are lots of great designs so feel free to go here and cast your votes for your favorites (even if it doesn't happen to be my design. I got some of this one in the mail last week and it looks pretty good. I have some swatches of different color combos, that I may or may not like better than this one in the mail so I hope to see them soon. I also did some coffee fabrics for next week's contest. They have lots of great design contests coming up, so I am sure you will see more fabrics from me soon, and feel free to join in the fun and design some of your own!

I will also be back to posting more regularly (I hope) in the next couple of weeks as I have many projects nearing completion. As long as I can get my photos taken and uploaded in a timely fashion the next couple weeks are just overflowing with new goodies, and I got a couple books in the mail this week that I am dying to look through and share with you!

Have any of you read or seen any great books lately, crafty or otherwise?

Adding to the Stash

Fabric Depot is having their Summer clearance sale, and I dropped by today to check it out. I don't get over there as often as I'd like, which is probably a good thing since I would be poorer than poor if I did. I can't leave without buying something.

If you are in the Portland area, I recommend checking it out. Lots of great fabrics, including a lot of heavy weight decorator fabrics (that I usually don't buy as I don't do a lot of upholstering or curtain making lately). They also have some great suiting fabrics for $5.50/yard. I even found some steals at $1/yard. I love fabric. Mmmm.

I also made trip to Cool Cottons on Wednesday and purchased a few things. Anyway, I wanted to share some of my new finds with you all and let you know I haven't fallen off the crafty planet.

If you have been following me for awhile, I am sure you have also noticed the new header and background image on the blog. I've been busy, and there will continue to be more improvements, so bear with me as some of my craft posts have been getting pushed back (but in good news, the Sun has returned so many pictures will be better quality--let there be light!).

Also, don't forget that Monday, May 23rd is Giveaway Day! I have a special project all ready to go and will be giving it away as part of Sew Mama Sew's promotion.