I love knits!

I found a yard of this stripey colorful knit at a thrift store a few months back and knew it would make a great fall dress for my daughter. I haven't sewn sucessfully with knits in years (if ever), but the remnant was only a dollar so I decided to take a risk. I guess I never really learned how to sew with knits, or if I did then I forgot. But I studied up and whipped this baby out in less than a day. Honestly, 3 hours, maybe four at most. Cowl neck and everything!

Knits are really easy to work with and a super forgiving, which suits my slightly(understatement) imperfect style just fine. I'm hooked! Here's the secret - it's all about the zig-zag. Knits stretch, right, so you have to take that into account when aligning your pattern, and you also can't use an ordinary straight stitch. My sewing machine has a knit stitch - most should - but if in doubt, you can just sew with the zig-zag stitch, which allows the seam to stretch along with the fabric. I used zig-zag to hem this dress and the knit stitch for the other seams.

Last thing this dress needs is a belt. I'm torn between a double wrap belt in the same fabric, or a braided belt in a complimentary color, either blue, purple or orange... Please help me decide by commenting below :)

Fast Craft: Bracelets in 5 minutes

My daughter is obsessed with bracelets. It started when my husband came home wearing an event wristband that was colorered like a rainbow and must have looked especially nice to a 16-month old. The wristband came off daddy and quickly became her accessory of choice. She loved it and i was comsidering making her a rainbow friendship bracelet like I made way back when (high school) but was hesitant to put that much time/effort into something that might get easily lost...

Then, while rummaging through my ribbon collection I found some wide, stretchy trim and I thought, "ah ha, perfect bracelet material!" So I measured my daughters wrists, cut the ribbon, folded it in half and started sewing. One reinforced straight seam, a zigzag and a quick trim later equaled one bracelet down, one to go. I literally whipped these out in less than five minutes. Honestly, its taken longer to write about them then it did to make them! This is particularly great considering one is already MIA.

These are the perfect toddler accessory. She can take them on and off herself, and they look especially stylish when feeding the fish. And because they are so easy and inexpensive to make I'm not worried about losing or breaking them. Hey, I may just make a pair for myself... I'll be back in 5-minutes ;)

Follow me on Pintrest

So I'm totally obsessed with Pintrest these days. For those of you who don't know what Pintrest is, it's kind of like Facebook crossed with the "lookbook" of magazine clippings of recipes, design ideas, home decor inspirations, etc. that many of us have burried on our desks or in our closets. Basically when you see something you like online you "pin" it to your account, and all of your followers can see you pins and repin them to their own accounts. Click here to follow me! Its a great way to discover and share awesome ideas, like these:

Source: ohcrafts.net via Sage on Pinterest

Source: howaboutorange.blogspot.com via Sage on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Sage on Pinterest

These are all cool things I've pinned. Follow me to discover more :)