Hello again girlfriends! I feel as if we are over winter for the season! March is a fresh of breath air in Michigan! We had our share of snow days (4 to be exact) & since I work at the school that my youngest son goes to, I get a snow day too. I love it!
Okay, let's get started on our sewing project. It's simple & if you can measure & cut shapes & sew a straight line, you will be in business.
Today it's A Simple Pillowcase. It takes one yard of fabric. When my boys were little, they loved picking out a yard of fabric in a print that suited their personality! These are great for gifts too. I will share a bit more about that in my tips!
lay trim on top of base with raw edges facing away from fabric
lay cuff on top of trim with raw edges facing away from fabric
pin all three layers
sew or serge (if you sew, fold & press your edges so raw edges are not showing)
fold your pillowcase in half so the right sides are facing each other & your cuff is at the top
pin your sides & edges (only 2 sides are getting sewn because we folded it in half & cut out a step by having one large base piece). you are welcome.
sew
press your seams so they are crisp
insert pillow
congrats!
Katy's tips:
*Pillowcases are great as gifts for all the kids!
*They also make a beautiful wedding present! Find a beautiful white fabric that has a monochromatic stripe, dots or flowers. Buy an embroidered iron on letter for their first or last name (available at Hobby Lobby). Iron it onto the middle of the cuff. Trust me, I have made several of these sets & they are gorgeous!
Enjoy making A Simple Pillowcase! Please email me questions or your pics at lilalicesews (at) gmail (dot )com.
But don't think for a minute it just dropped in my lap! Nope!
Don't think for a minute that I wasn't disappointed when it didn't work out with another magazine & I thought it was going to.
Don't think for a minute that there was not any blood, sweat or tears involved.
I am reminded every day that lil' alice consists of me, myself & I. Those are the 3 employees of lil' alice.
When you want something, you make a way & that involves lots of research & more research.
When I am sewing away at my machine or pressing fabric, I pray for lil' alice. It helps me keep my focus. It keeps me grounded. It reminds me that I am not in this alone! Doors get closed & windows get open.
I love the above statement so much because it shows that "she" doesn't just dream up plans & wait for them to arrive at her feet. Work is involved in bringing dreams to plans.
Do you know how many times I have submitted things to various magazines? Do you know how many times there's not a reply (insert crickets chirping)?
When something like this happens to lil' alice, it's exciting.
When something like this happens to other small handmade businesses that I "know", I celebrate with them. There's not any room for jealousy & envy. Instead, I throw virtual confetti all over them & I get excited for their accomplishments because I know what it took to get there!
Do you celebrate with others in the accomplishments, big or small? Do you throw confetti their way & do the happy dance with them? You should!
Welcome to my sewing room. Grab a chair & pour yourself a cup of morning Joe! It's cozy in here, so I hope you stay for a bit!
Today I am going to share with you some sewing room tips that will save you time & help keep you organized while you are sewing.
I am a lover of all things organized. I love to organize things & I am pretty good at time management as well. If I think I can improve on organization or cut down time on a project & work more efficiently, I try to find a way to do so.
TIP #1
My first tip, is bobbins. I use to fill my bobbins as needed. My bobbin would run out, I would unthread my machine so I could use that same spool of thread to fill my bobbin. Rethread my machine, & pop the newly filled bobbin back in. Silly right? It is & once I realized I could & should fill several bobbins at a time, all with the same color thread & have them handy by my machine, I was going to cut down on time! So I will spend a few extra minutes filling up bobbins with a couple spools of thread.
TIP #2
How many colors of thread do you use? I use to color coordinate all my threads with my fabric. I liked it. But when I am sewing up orders like it's a production line, I am wasting time switching out threads. Now, I use a whole lot of white thread.
TIP #3
Does your house have one of those shelves with the 9 bins? Of course my boys had one. We organized cars, books, figurines, weapons, bouncy balls etc in all the bins. Eventually, they grew out of it & I realized it was easier to shove it in the toy box & sit on the lid. As I thought about getting rid of it, it dawned on me that I could use it to organize my sewing stuff..... & there was a lot of it!
TIP #4
Scraps. Large scraps, small scraps.
To put it simple.... I have lots tons of fabric scraps.
I bought recycling bins from IKEA. I keep one under my cutting table & as I am cutting the scraps slide right into the bin. I empty this often & pass the scraps to my talented girlfriends that love to make quilts.
I have a HUGE recycling bin for my larger scraps. I use these pieces when I need a small piece of fabric, which never seems to happen. I had an Open House for lil' alice & people were more than welcome to take all the scraps they wanted.
These are some tried & true tips that work for me.
I'd love to hear what great tips you have that you use on a daily or weekly basis!
At 91, my Granny (maternal) still resides in the house that she has lived in for several decades. She raised her 7 kids in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath ranch. She often tells me about the other Mothers on the block & how many children they had. None of the families had less than 5 kids. My paternal grandparents also raised my Dad & his 4 brothers right across the street from Granny. In the past, we have counted how many kids were running Hyde Park back in those days. Just a few families totalled more than 30 kids.
How amazing that their neighborhood was so close. Parents were watching out for kids that weren't even theirs. Kids were free to run from yard to yard until the street lights came on.
Are those days gone?
And then it hit me.
I don't have to live in the 50's to have a strong bond with my neighbors.
And then it hit me this past week.
I was reflecting on the winter break weekend. I took the boys to an indoor water park overnight. A neighbor was there along with 2 other moms from the village & their kids. We had 10 kids between the 4 of us, we can't compete with Granny's block that is for sure!
But back to what I was reflecting on.
Over the past few years, several new families have moved into my neighborhood. We are building relationships by doing things together..... on purpose. We have sat pool side on hot summer days & life guard kids as they play, we have gone on evening walks, the Dad's took the kids trick or treating for several hours on a hayride, we go to each other birthday parties, we get together for an evening of massages & pedicures, we wait at the bus stop with cups of coffee & wish each other a great day! Our kids run from house to house. I feed extra kids. We look out for each other's kids.
We do life together, just like Granny & all her friends did back in the 50's.
I am so thankful for the neighbors. I look forward to the days and years ahead & I hope my kids have great memories of running the hood & playing with their friends.
Are you living life on purpose? Are you building last relationships with neighbors?
Time? There never seems to be enough time in the day. But how much do we waste because time isn't managed well. Personally, I am always on time, even early. It was just how I was raised. I didn't even know that being late was an option. If I want to take myself to level "nerd", I was never late for a class, in jr high, high school or college.
Having a Handmade Biz, lil' alice is a one chick show & I like it that way. But that means I am doing everything & I like that too. But I also have a job outside of the home & I have a family to tend to. In order to accomplish all the things I need to do in a day, I need to manage my time & make great use of it.
One way that I do that is by scheduling my posts on my FB fan page. Did you know this could be done? So when you see my posts every hour on the hour, don't judge me & think that all I am doing is waiting for the hour to arrive so I can post another post.
They are scheduled.
You can save time too & I am going to show you how through screen shots. (My husband would be so proud that I took screen shots.) I'll be honest, I had to google "how to take a screen shot."
Please share this post on social sites as not many people are aware of this feature!
On your FB page in your status box, there is a clock icon. Fill in your status box. Click on the clock & begin the scheduling process.
First, pick the year.
Next the month.
Fill in the date. It's not just for the current date, you can fill it in for days to come!
Following the date is the hour.
And after the hour, the minute. Once everything is filled in, click schedule. There is an activity log that will pop up after each schedule post is complete. You can click on this and see all your scheduled posts!
Have you ever had a fear? Are you afrid to accomplish something because you may fail. Or it may not turn out how you envisioned it?
I have plenty of fears.
But when it came to sewing, I feared upholstery material. It might be to heavy for my machine. It may jam it. How many needles will I have to replace?
Just like I faced my fear of sewing a zipper and teaching myself how to use a serger machine {that was a garage sale find for $40} I had a desire to sew something made out of leather and vinyl type fabrics.
A few weeks ago I made the Pink and Grey Foldover Clutch. Which I liked. I added the flower and then it was love.
After I faced my fear, just me and the vinyl, I couldn't believe how easy it was so sew.
When you face a fear and you overcome it, you continually do it knowing the end result will be success. It then, is not a fear.
New to the shop is the Black Foldover Clutch w/Pink Flower. And the zipper is to die for. The heavy duty zipper with polka dots adds class and sass.
I have a fabulous new recipe that I made last week. I found it on allrecipes, but do you think I could relocate it? No. I usually do save it in my virtual recipe box, but didn't.
Husband loved it so much & told me not to loose this one, like I have done in the past. So this post is for my future reference as well.
Warning, this recipe is not healthy at all. It's not diet friendly, at all. It is a wonderful comfort food for these cold winter days.
I bought the ravioli at Sam's Club. They are yummy & much better than the frozen kind too!
Alfredo Sauce: 1 stick of butter 1 block of cream cheese 2 t garlic 2 c milk (we drink skim, any kind will do) 6 oz parmesan cheese (& then some more, hehe.....) black pepper to taste
In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Once butter is melted cut up block of cream cheese & stir in until smooth & creamy. Add garlic salt. Add milk a little at a time, stir. Do not boil milk. Add parmesan cheese. Stir. Cover & allow cheese to melt. Stir. Add pepper.
Pour over prepared ravioli. Top with Parmesan Cheese.
Today is the 2nd snow day in 2 weeks. I will take it but I can still see my grass thru the snow. It's nothing to write home about that's for sure. But you won't hear me complaining.
A busy day was scheduled but due to the snow it came to a screeching hault and I like that.
I have learned to enjoy the screeching hault in schedules when Mother Nature takes over or a kid gets ill.
I wasn't always that way. It's taken a little bit of sifting and a whole lot of God to make me okay.
See, when my oldest was young, he would get strep, ear infections and colds often. Then throw in the stomach flu during the winter and he was always putting a kink in the play dates I had arranged with him or a date I had with my husband.
I didn't take kindly to these spur of the moment upsets either.
It always entailed trips to the pediatricians office followed by a trip to Walgreen for the Rx.
Forward to last week.
My youngest told me on our way out the door that he didn't feel good. Headache and tummy ache. I had to sub at the school and I couldn't call last minute and cancel because he wasn't showing signs of illness.
I notified the office and said he didn't feel good and to keep an eye out if he makes a trip down.
Sure enough fever by lunch.
So we head home. The flu is vicious this year with a fever for days.
I texted the secretary to let her know he had the flu and we would be out the rest of the week.
Whatever was on the calendar got cancelled.
Over the years I have learned to slow down when life gives you a sick kid. I have learned to enjoy being home and to enjoy the people in it. I have learned too love doing laundry and cleaning and maintaining the house.
But it didn't just happen over night.
Today I embrace the snow day.
That's how I felt when my kids changed my plans. I'm a little bit more flexible these days. Just a little.
Hop on over to After Nine To Five to join her giveaway! It's amazing how many goodies YOU could win!
Almost twenty blogger's joined forces for a HUGE Valentine's Day themed giveaway to celebrate the month of love! Not only can you win tons of goodies for you, your loved ones, AND even your blog - but you can also win $75 to Amazon to shower that special someone (even if that special someone is you!) with gifts this year. There's a TON of ways to enter to win and TONS of awesome blogs and shops to check out. What are you waiting for?!
Lil' Alice essential zip pouches are one of the most popular items in the shop! For the sweetest holiday of the year, lil' alice has a limited edition set for YOU! The set includes 1 - 8x6 & 1- 7x4. Perfect for makeup, money, receipts, sunglasses & more!
Small clutch featuring two applique hearts in two darling prints. Great size for fitting all your essentials & much more, also great for organizing a bigger bag. Perfect for the sweetheart in your life, even if that sweetheart is you!
Similar to the one in the enclosed photo but only in Valentines Day colors and themed. Very warm but light, sturdy, and extremely cute. Perfect for Valentines Day.
A set of sweet coffee cup warmers with a sweetheart design from Of Woods and Words
One red and one pink - from my Etsy shop, Yes Sir, Yes Sir! Handknit from 100% wool yarn, these sleeve for your coffee cup will keep your coffee (or warm beverage of choice) hot and your fingers cool. A charming gift for Valentine's, but can be used year-round, because who doesn't love their coffee?!
Everyone deserves a little extra love + pampering on Valentine's Day...even your online space, so let's show your blog some love! We'll start with our Mini Social Media Design Package featuring a custom Facebook Timeline Cover + Twitter Background + then after reviewing your blog/social media platforms, we'll provide 5-8 personalized ideas on how you can improve/grow in the online conversation - we'll talk about design, reader engagement, content strategy, + more! We'll wrap it all up with a free enrollment + the necessary materials for an upcoming Blogger Playdate workshop - great for newbies to the blogging world to give you tips, tricks, + resources for maximizing your online space!
"Grink Splatter"" thank you cards, set of 14 from Gourmet by Janae
Show the love to someone you're grateful for! Give one of these stylish thank you cards to someone who has truly touched your heart. Blank inside, measure 3.5 inches by 5 inches, envelopes included.
Chocolate Lip Balm Trio + 3 Month Lip Balm Subscription from The Gnarly Whale
You'll receive three vegan lip balms - chocolate raspberry, chocolate strawberry, and chocolate banana - PLUS a three month lip balm subscription to help ensure that you have totally kissable lips even after Valentine's Day is over.
There are always ideas rolling around in my head. It first starts with an idea in my head. Next, I pick up fabric to try the idea out on but not totally sure with how it's all going to turn out. Then I can't stand new fabric to sit without a purpose, so I find time to pound out a new product.
That's right, no pattern necessary. Is that odd?
I look at my cutting mat & eyeball how many inches would be good. I know real professional! Then I jot it down in my notebook. If I adjust, then I cross it out & write down the new number.
The Fold Over Clutch came together pretty much with out any glitches. Yes that is odd. Especially since the fabric is a leather type fabric & needs a bigger needle.
Most of my products, although they look different, I use a lot of the same techniques.
This product didn't involve any seam ripping either, which normally happens because something gets sewn on backwards. Oh wait, I take that back, I did have to rip out the lil' alice tag because it was upside down when I fold the top over. But that was minimal.
The Fold Over Clutch is for sure the newest purse idea out there in the handmade market. I won't take credit for inventing it. They are all over the different sites. They can be made out of many different types of heavy material & fabrics.
I really like the Grey & Pink combo. Now that I know I can make this & I can sew this type of fabric, I will be making more & trying out different color combos & different fabric types.
What color combo would you like to see?
The Fold Over Clutch is available in the Etsy Shop! Use CLUTCH20 for 20% off! Coupon expires 4.8.2013, so hurry!
Welcome! Thanks for stopping by lil' alice ™
This is a peek into my Indie Biz & my life!
I sew in my studio, which is a glamorous word for room in the basement.
I am a self taught sewer who finds joy in fun fabrics & fancy feet (for my sewing machine).
************************************************* All information & pictures are property of lil' alice ™. Please don't steal! *************************************************
3 coffee sweater vests and 3- $5 Starbucks Gift Cards from 
A friendship set of forget-me-not bows from 
A custom-made, hand crocheted hat by 
A set of sweet coffee cup warmers with a sweetheart design from 
2 rubber heart ice cube trays from 
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