Patchwork Pillowcase

I'm totally geeking out on my new project.  I know I said I would never quilt, but this is different.  It's patchwork.  Ian requested that I take the scraps left from all the pajamas I've made him for the last five years and put them together in a pillowcase.  I was seriously tempted to make it a blanket, but Ian insisted he has enough blankets and not enough pillow cases.  I've been reading books about quilting techniques and color work, so I was relieved to see that Ian's taste in color and pattern for five years combined nicely.

The biggest problem I faced with this project was something really stupid.  I didn't know how big a standard pillowcase should be so I googled it.  I should have just walked all the way to the linen closet to find out.  For some strange reason, I thought a pillowcase was 21"x32" and I cut my squares 6 inches square.  With a finished size of 5 1/2", I would need 6 squares across and 4 squares down to make a 22"x33" finished case (and doubled for the other side), so a total of 48 squares. I ended up needing a five by six grid for the entire pillowcase, so I had plenty of leftover squares.

I finished the edge by taking six extra squares, serging a loop, folding in half, and...

...running it all through the serger again.  I did not use my sewing machine even once for this project!

 I think it looks nice and manly, don't you? 

Layered Denim Skirt

We often receive hand-me-downs, and although I really appreciate them, the items that we need usually aren't in the bag.  Evie has piles and piles of jeans...but nothing appropriate for church.  Her last bag of hand-me-downs had several pairs of "skinny jeans."  Why anyone would buy skinny jeans is a mystery to me.  Although Evie is skinny enough for most skinny jeans, there were some pairs that were too skinny for any healthy child.  Instead of passing the unwearable jeans to the thrift store, I decided to repurpose them and fill in Evie's wardrobe gap!

I combined two tutorials I found online: one is from my friend's blog and the other is Dana's Layered Skirt.  The jeans were cut just above the legs (but under the back pockets) and the fabric (scored from my favorite thrift store) was cut from selvedge to selvedge in four inch strips.  Evie had a great idea about halfway through the sewing...I should have left some of the legs attached so she wouldn't have to wear leggings or shorts underneath.  Next time, I will leave some leg!

I serged, hemmed, gathered, attached, pinned, and sewed two layers of ruffles...each layer used three four-inch strips: two for the ruffle, one for the layer... (boy, do I hate gathers)...

 ...refilled my bobbin after I sewed the last ruffle strip...and then sewed the ruffle on for real the second time...

...and then made a little belt out of the seventh four-inch strip of fabric!  Not a scrap of the fabric went to waste.  The little edges I trimmed off before I started cutting the strips were just perfect for a...

...Scrappy Hair Flower!  I'm sure looking forward to Sunday! (The color is strange in the last two pictures. The actual color is better represented by the first three pictures.)  I love the feeling of getting two items out of the junk pile and back into serving a purpose!