November 21, 2011

Can You Find Candee Cayne?

Honeybunch Boutique is very excited to announce that we are participating in the EtsyBABY, 4th Annual Candee Cayne Hide n Seek Holiday Hunt!

November 6, 2011

Custom Baby Quilt

I had an order come in a couple weeks ago for a custom baby quilt, so here is a little photo story of the process of making the quilt.

 My little helper picking out material at the store

 The chosen materials, prewashed

 A closer look

 I cut out 15 blocks and then added a strip on both sided to make it wider. I had an idea of the layout in my head, but put several different patterns together, to see what I liked best.

Original Layout

 I brought the rows of the multi-gray circles up in between the other pattern rows, 
and tried a dark center square

 I staggered the multi-gray circle material in with the other patterns, 
I liked this better, but still not quite right

 I changed the center square back to the dark, now we have a winner!

 Sew the pieces together, add the batting and the back piece and then a yellow satin border and you have a wonderful, custom baby quilt!

 
The final quilt

 Artsy shot in a basket

 Artsy shot #2

 Artsy shot #3

The back, you can see the quilting pattern here.

If you are interested in having a custom baby quilt made, the usual size is 36x40, pricing is $35-$65 and breakdown is as follows:
- solid pieces front and back $35
- solid back and simple block pattern $45
- solid back and complicated pattern $55
- binding 1: wrap around, the material from the back wraps around to create the binding, included
- binding 2: satin binding in a color of your choice, add $5

Email me at HoneybunchBoutique@yahoo.com to place your order. I will work closely with you throughout the whole process.  I will only make items that are of the same quality and design that I would normally sell on Etsy, so you are under no obligation to purchase the quilt. If in the end, you decide you do not like how it turned out, I will simply list it on Etsy!

November 5, 2011

Dress to Skirt Tutorial

I was doing some shopping the other day and found an adorable set of sundresses in the clearance section. My little girl can't wear sundresses anymore this year, so I figured I would make them into a skirt. Plus, it is pretty difficult to find skirts for little girls sometimes, so this is a way to make them.


 The dress, and it also came with a diaper cover, bonus!

 Have your little girl hold it up and see how long you want to make the dress

 Lay your dress out flat and square as you can on the cutting mat, this is where I am going to cut mine.

Note: This was my first attempt at this, and in hindsight I would do it differently. I had some trouble with my bobbin and it messed up the 1st row of elastic thread, so I had to go back and change the elastic waist.

Us a thread color that coordinates with your material, I am using brown. Use elastic bobbin, you can get this by winding elastic thread onto one of your empty bobbins. 

 Sew along the edge of the cut waist line

 You can see the elastic bobbin pulling the material in as you go

 When you get to the end, go back and forth a couple of times. You can stop, pull out your thread and bobbin, snip and tie the tails together, to make sure they don't unravel. I took a short cut and didn't snip the threads, but just jumped down to the next row, about 1/4-1/2 inch down, went back and forth a couple times and continued around with the next row. Either way you do it, just repeat 3-4 times.
 2nd Row

 My little model

 Close up on the waist

Now as I noted before, I had trouble with my bobbin being too loose, so I ended up just folding the material over a piece of elastic that I measured to her waist. Sew the two ends of elastic together, so you have a loop. Fold the material over the elastic band, stitch on both sides of the elastic to keep it in place. If you stitch over the elastic, make sure you stretch out the material evenly, so the material stretches evenly with the elastic.