creative jewish mom

Make A Fun Freezer Paper Stenciled Pillowcase For Pesach!

Have you discovered the joys of freezer paper stenciling? There are so many wonderful ways to use this simple technique I see lots more of it in my future! As part of the Pesach Seder, we use pillows at the table to "recline" while drinking the four cups of wine (grape juice for some) during the reading of the haggadah.
I usually use simple pastel colored pillow cases, which look lovely, but this year I decided to take that idea one step further! 

To learn more about this project, with a complete tutorial, head on over to makeandtakes.com where I'm guest posting today. And thanks so much to Marie for inviting me to share a project with her readers!

If you have your eye on the felt rosebud bouquet, a perfect project for Spring, you can find my tutorial for that simply wonderful project here.

All the best, and do take a moment to enter my giveaway at the top of the page! And if you are a fellow craft blogger, take a moment and join my Craft Schooling Sunday international party below, (until Tues) I'd love to see what you've been up to!

A Cute Pillowcase Dress: A No-Sew Costume For Purim Or A New Dress For Spring

Before any of you wonder about this photo, let me just tell you it's seven years old! I usually do not post photos of my kids, but I'm making an exception here because well, she's just a baby, and secondly it's hard for me to even fathom that that was my baby. Isn't is weird how that happens? And I really wanted to share with you this wonderful idea for a cute almost no-sew Purim costume, or if you sew, even just a little, a great addition to any Summer wardrobe, for those who are pillowcase size that is!

Little Queen Esther Purim Costume (No-Sew Pillowcase Dress):

You'll Need:

• A patterned, embroidered or lace/eyelet edged pillowcase (mine was something vintage from the thrift store)
• Wide ribbon for the shoulder straps
• Additional ribbon, buttons and trim if desired
• Hot glue, or fabric glue, staples, a needle and thread

How To:

1. Measure height of child and cut off length from the closed end of the pillowcase.
2. Cut quarter-circle shaped armholes.
3. If pillow case is too wide at top, so gather in a pleat (see photo) and glue in place. You can also cut wider armholes to eliminate some of the excess fabric.
4. To finish raw edges either fold over and glue, or cover with ribbon.
5. Sew wide ribbon to front and back of shoulder area (two pieces of ribbon for each side) and tie in a bow.
6. To accessorize the outfit, sew pearl buttons on pink baby shoes, and make a crown with wire and beads, and then attach it to an existing headband together with a bit of shear fabric. (I would be able to do a much better job on this today, that was seven long years ago!)

Sewn Pillowcase Dress How To:

I just took a quick look around the web, and there are quite a few tutorials to choose from! This one, from ehow.com has no photos but is straightforward, and I like the idea of a gathered neck not created with elastic, but with ties. Here's a photo of a really great looking version, but with no specific instructions, though I think you could make it by slightly altering the pattern from ehow, and looking at the photo!

Have fun collecting some great pillowcases for this project, and hey, maybe you'll just want to save some of those pillow cases you collect to use as.....pillowcases!

Make Etherial Cherry Blossom Garlands From Disposable Tablecloths!

Isn't this just dreamy? I don't know why it never occurred to me that the chandelier in my stair well, as well as the banister are perfect places to hang seasonal decorations! In fact, other than painting this space peacock blue, (which I still love even three years later) I have yet to figure out how to decorate the space, so some beautiful garlands certainly give the space some life!

Sure looks like Spring time in this stairwell! And these would be great party decorations for just about any occasion, though I won't try to deceive you and say they were quick to make, because making a large quantity like I did (maybe at least 12 meters worth) requires quite a bit of time, though well worth it!

One of the really interesting things about this garland project is the material that I used. Disposable tablecloth yardage! If you're not familiar with this creation, it's the same fabric used in hospital masks and bibs, only available in every color to suit your party decor. The great thing about it is that it's not woven, so there is no unraveling, and it is semi translucent, so it looks a bit like tissue paper. And of course it's much cheaper than most fabric. And if you're lucky maybe you can even recycle some non-soiled ones from the next  party where they happen to be using such a thing. (Very common in Israel.)

Here's How:

1. Cut all kinds of shapes like flowers, circles, leaf shapes etc from disposable table cloth material.
2. Shapes needn't be perfect, and you can certainly cut at least 10 layers of fabric at a time, so the shapes add up quickly.
3. And now for the fun part: Sew the shapes together by running them through the sewing machine, quickly placing one after another, and not worrying about lining things up! The randomness is what makes them look like falling blossoms, at least to me!
4. Hang strings of blooms vertically or horizontally and enjoy!

Sewing On Paper: Too Much Fun!

Those of you who have been following my creative adventures here may know that I've recently started taking weekly sewing lessons. I can't begin to describe how happy I am to be expanding my repetoire of crafting possibilities! That said, I just wanted to remind you all that a sewing machine has quite a few possibilities as a crafting tool beyond actually sewing clothes and other fabric items.

• Use it to applique cloth to paper, or even to thin cardboard (cereal box) for cards, posters, calenders etc.
• Use it to add details to scrapbooking pages
• Use it to make bunting banners and garlands from paper shapes: just run the shapes through the machine one after another
• Use it for attaching pressed leaves and flowers to paper to create gorgeous botanical specimen artwork
• Do you have some more ideas or interesting ways that you've used your sewing machine? Please leave a comment, we'd all love to hear about them!

In case you are wondering about the picture above, well, I was asked to decorate some xeroxed drawings depicting historic Jewish events for the classroom of a neighboring 11 year old girl (she told the teacher that she has this crafty neighbor......) I honestly didn't know what I would do until it occurred to me to add details on the sewing machine! I had so much fun, and I hope I remember to use my machine for more projects like this one. Maybe I should subscribe to this blog! (And by the way, you really should too so you don't miss a thing! You can subscribe to receive posts by email or in a blog reader, it's up to you.)

A Felt Bean Bag For Alphabeans Alphabet Game!

Yesterday I promised that today I would post my packaging idea for the Alphabeans Alphabet Game I introduced yesterday, (post here) so here it is! A felt bean-shaped bag, with colorful beans on the outside, which will safely hold our alphabet beans. Sewing (I've just started learning) is certainly opening up a whole new range of crafting possibilities for me, and I couldn't be more pleased!

It took a bit longer than the 15 minutes I'd intended,  mostly because I decided that I just had to applique a few beans on the bag, and because due to my sewing inexperience I messed up a bit. I don't know what I was thinking, but I sewed the bag (leaving an opening for  the zipper) first and attached the zipper second. Big mistake and a bit difficult, especially since the zipper is on a slight curve. Well at least I learned from my lesson on a small project!e. You can't tell from this photo, but trust me the zipper didn't turn out so well, though it does zip and unzip, so we will be using it!

Just for fun, I made the designs on the two sides just a bit different, here's the other side:

Wouldn't this make a cute gift? And speaking of beans, guess what we're having for dinner? Baked giant lima beans (the same ones I used for the alphabeans) with tomato sauce and cilantro pesto!, a first for me, and if it turns out well, you'll certainly hear about it! I think I've got beans on the brain, so expect some more beany projects in the future. Thanks for stopping by!

Get Organized With Zippered Felt Pouches To Hold The Little Stuff!

Wouldn't you love to get organized? Have a cute way to store all your tiny sewing supplies or crochet hooks? Make a bunch of these zippered felt pouches and you'll be hooked. With their flat bottom they can stand up nicely on a shelf or in a deep drawer. Make them any size and and make a few extras to have on hand for ready-made gifts. A new mom could definitely use some of these to keep all the tiny baby stuff, at home or on the go. And don't worry if you're not the most experienced sewer, neither am I. Infact this was the first zipper I've ever sewn in my life!

You'll Need:

• yellow zipper
• two pink felt rectangles with width same as total zipper length (including the excess tape at both ends)
• small scraps of yellow felt

How To:

1. Applique yellow diamonds to one or two of the pink rectangles
2. With zipper face up, pin rectangles to zipper tape such that both edges of felt butt to zipper teeth line. (Generally one has to hem the fabric before this step, but since we're using felt I decided to make this simple and just leave the edge raw, which looks fine.)
3. Sew felt to zipper on both sides.
4. Open zipper, very important!
5. With right sides facing pin and sew side seams and  bottom seam. Your seam allowance should be the same as the amount of excess zipper tape before and after the teeth.
6. To make the flat bottom, do as follows: with bottom seam facing you, and positioned vertically, pull both sides out such that a triangular point is formed. Pin and sew across this triangle. Measure height of triangle, and sew across second side as well. The larger the triangle, the greater the upward slope of the pouch.
7. Turn pouch so that right side is out (if you hadn't opened the zipper you'd be stuck at this point!)
8. Bask in the light of having created something so cute so easily! Think about adding some handles and making cute little purses!

Quilted Fleece Scarf: A Simple Sewing Project!

If you've  been following my crafty adventures lately so then you already know that I love fleece. And now that I'm learning to sew well there are so many more options. (What took me so long? Honestly I've been waiting 3 years for my seamstress neighbor to give a class. I think it was worth it, there's nothing like convenience !) I made a few of these scarves for family Chanukah gifts and they were very well received.

All the boys in my son's class oohed and aahed and now they want one too! The over-sized argyle patterned fleece was a great find — a blanket that I used as yardage, and the two layers of fleece make this scarf particularly cozy. As you may have noticed, my sewing is far from perfect, but you certainly can't tell once the scarf is being worn.

You'll Need:

• two pieces of coordinating fleece, scarf sized plus 1/2" seam allowance all around
• a working sewing machine (and by the way, if there's a sewing machine repair person in your neck of the wood that knows manual machines, you can probably pick one up for practically nothing at a thrift store, or from a relative, have it serviced and start sewing for just a small investment. And there's definitely something to be said about non-computerized machines whose chip will never fail you!)

How To:

1. Place two pieces of fleece together, right sides facing each other, and pin if you like (My sewing teacher rarely uses pins and is trying to teach us to sew without pins as well! In garment manufacturing there is certainly no time for pinning, so I guess it would be wise to learn these time saving techniques as well!)
2. Sew seams on both sides, leaving ends open. and turn the tube.
3. Sew top seams according to photo, or however you like, stopping 3/4" from the end.
4. Turn in ends of tube, pin and top sew across ends.
5. You're finished!