Congratulations to the winners of Accessories Challenge 9

Congratulations to the winners of the accessories challenge this month!!!

The Voter's Choice award, by one vote, goes to Heidi, with patriotic hair flowers! She wins a tutorial of her choice from Birdsong Bows and Patterns!

The winner of of the Random.org drawing goes to...Lora! I was surprised when the number 1 popped up on the Random.org page...because Lora was in second place for the voter's choice award. Lora wins a $15 gift certificate generously donated by The Ribbon Retreat.

Thanks so much to everyone for entering! Both winners can contact me at birdsongbows [at] gmail [dot] com. I'll host another contest next month! :)

4-H Sewing: Front and back sewn!

Anna, with my help, has been working slowly on her 4-H sewing project - one 90-minute session each weekend, plus a short session mid-week (to do simple things like zigzagging the edges of seam allowances). This pattern (she's sewing View A) is marked as "Easy" by McCall's, but it's challenging for Anna! So far she's learned how to do curved seams (with clipping and notching included) and gathering.

The ruffled detail on the front, along with the two princess seams, are done. This weekend she created decorative ties for the back, and finished the two curved seams on the back of the garment.

On tap next week: Sewing the shoulders and side seams to connect the front and back, and gathering the sleeves/finishing sleeve edges to prepare for sewing them onto the blouse. There's plenty of "trickiness" ahead with the collar and the front band...and her first buttonholes. The project needs to be completed by the end of the third week in June.

Entries for "Summer Picnic" accessories challenge!

Thanks to the 4 women who sent photos for our ninth challenge! The theme of this challenge is "Summer Picnic," and I asked participants to send a photo of a bow, hair flower, or tote that fits the theme!

There will be two awards! The first winner will be chosen by Random.org. The winner will receive a $15 gift certificate generously provided by The Ribbon Retreat.

But there's another prize! The second way to win is to have your friends, family, Facebook friends, etc., vote for you! There's a poll in the upper right corner of my blog (in the sidebar). Voting will continue until 1 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, May 21. The winner will receive her choice of a free tutorial from Birdsong Patterns! :)

Enjoy the entries! And thanks again for participating. I will post the winner here on Tuesday, May 22! Please check back here and on the Birdsong Facebook page for an announcement of the winners.

From Lora:

From Kat:

From Deborah:

From Heidi:

Accessories challenge: Summer Picnic!

Photo from Patsysjoyon Etsy

The theme for our ninth challenge was suggested by one of our Facebook fans: Summer Picnic! You may make a boutique bow or bow set, a headband, a bowband, a funky loopy bow, a fascinator, a hair flower, or basket/tote-- basically, anything you've fashioned using a Birdsong pattern or tutorial -- following the them of "summer picnic." The design must be made from a Birdsong tutorial or pattern. You can focus on making your accessory to match picnics, barbecues, fun in the sun, ladybugs/plaids...anything that reminds you of a summer picnic!

There will be two prizes again. The first will be chosen by Random.org. The winner of this award will receive a $15 gift certificate generously donated by The Ribbon Retreat!

The second way to win a prize is through "Voter's Choice." I'll put all the submissions on the blog and will host a poll in the sidebar beginning Monday, May 14. Invite your friends and relatives to vote for your photo! The winner of the Voter's Choice Award will receive a FREE e-book from Birdsong Bows and Patterns.

To enter, E-mail your best photograph of your finished product (either on a model or not) to me at deanna [at] birdsongbows.com by 2:59 a.m Pacific time (11:59 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday, May 12 (so, basically before you go to bed Friday night). Please keep your photos around 600 pixels wide, so that they're neither too big nor too small. And remember: They must be recognizably made using at least one Birdsong tutorial or pattern. No more than one entry/photo per contestant, please. If you're on Flickr, feel free to post a photo to the Birdsong Flickr Photo Group as well, for all to see!

Good luck! I can't wait to see your entries. :)

4-H Sewing: Pinning and cutting the pattern

I spent the weekend on sewing projects! First, I enjoyed a "quilt retreat" and invited a friend to sew with me on Saturday - we were both happy to have completed several blocks. I'll post my quilt progress here soon. I continued working on my quilt blocks through Sunday afternoon, when I stopped to help my daughter with her 4-H project.

Now, who really likes pinning and cutting? It's soooo not my favorite part, and I expected she would dislike it (as much as she did last year, when she sewed a pair of shorts). But she was in a good mood the whole time, evening admitting that she had fun. Fun? With mom? Now, I can't "make" her do anything she doesn't want to do, and sewing - even sewing a structured blouse - was always her decision. But I didn't expect her to have fun with what I consider the "non-fun" part.

Next is marking the notches, and then I'm going to cut out the pattern again on the piece of fabric she chose for me to use. As I mentioned last week, I plan to make her a blouse as well, to go through the pattern so I can help her construct her own. For the past two years she went to a 4-H sewing instructor, but that's fallen through this year...so it's just me and my hopes that I can teach her the proper way the 4-H judges want her to do everything. I briefly considered making a muslin before she started, but the sizes on the envelope are pretty much "true" to her body, so I figured we'd wing it. Fingers crossed!

4-H sewing: Choosing the pattern and fabrics

It's 4-H time again, and my daughter Anna wants to continue learning how to sew. Her Level III project has several requirements, including either adding buttons or a zipper to a garment. Since she's always wanted to make a structured shirt, we chose this pattern together:

Anna likes her fabrics WILD. I'm going to make a shirt for her first, to see what the pitfalls and difficult parts of the pattern are (there always seems to be a minor stumbling block here or there). She chose the black print on the left, so I wanted to sew a shirt with a totally different-looking small print. However, she chose the batik on the upper right for me to sew with. I thought the two fabrics looked too similar, but it's what she wanted (and she's the one who will wear these shirts, ha). Anna is planning to sew Pattern A, with short sleeves and the ruffle:

I'll post some photos as she goes along!

Free bow instructions: Decorating a picture frame with ribbon

I had my youngest daughter's photo in this plain brown frame, and decided it was time to dress it up! This project is great for an existing, plain frame in your home, or as a wonderful project to give to an expectant mother of a baby girl.

Supplies you'll need, in addition to the frame:

Hot glue gun/glue

Hand-sewing needle/thread

A small amount of one or two 7/8"-wide ribbons; at least one should be the same on both sides.

A way to seal your ribbon, either Fray Check or a wood-burning tool

Directions

Warm up your glue gun. Decide how long you want the borders to be, and cut two lengths of ribbon to this length. Mine are 6" for a frame that holds a 5x7 photo (below):

Seal the ends of the ribbon, and glue to corner as shown. I also did a "V" cut in the ribbon along the part that will show:

Thread your needle and knot the end, then set aside. Take your ribbon (still on the spool), and seal the top edge. Create a six-loop tuxedo bow, as shown in the photos below, by folding back and forth ... you may have made bows like this for packages, because they're so simple. Note: This folding process will not work with printed ribbon, since it's not the same on both sides. Start with the smallest two loops, and keep folding larger loops until you have three on each side:

When you're finished folding, cut and seal the ribbon on the back, then sew the bow together in the middle:

Cut a piece of ribbon to 2 1/2 inches long, and seal both ends. Fold over the center of the bow and glue to the back:

Glue to the corner of your frame (see first photo in post), and you're done!