Category Archives: party accessories and ideas

Wedding or Holiday Chair Backs

 Another wedding repost.  Quick and easy to make, these chair covers could be embroidered for birthdays, Christmas or other holidays.  Any event that calls for a guest’s special recognition is a good reason to whip up a few.

The BRIDE and GROOM chair backs lived with the trunk show samples I displayed when I taught classes.  At every event, they got a lot of positive attention, with students measuring and making notes on the construction.  

Have you ever made chair covers?  Please share pictures.

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Sewing for a wedding is just about as much fun as sewing for babies.   It’s like the prelude to grandchildren. Continue reading

Slumber Party Pillowcases

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Laurel, out of the pool and ready for birthday cake

 

Granddaughter Laurel recently celebrated her 10th birthday at a resort hotel.   Five of her closest friends and a few mothers had a big time enjoying all the activities and amenities typical of a resort hotel.

 

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For party favors, a pillowcase was embroidered for each girl.  I have been reluctant to post these photos because there is sooooo much puckering in the embroidery.  It was caused by operator error–my use of  inadequate stabilizer.  But the girls were absolutely non-judgemental and seemed to love their personalized gift.

 

six pillowcase party favors

six pillowcase party favors

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Celebration

NOTE:  Several antique baby dresses and other items will be posted for sale Wednesday morning. 

“Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.” Leviticus 19:32

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All set up and waiting for the 11:00 service to be over (faces obscured because I for got to ask permission to post).  Gold  table toppers and table numbers were left over from our daughter’s wedding.

Today at our church there was a gala luncheon celebration for members of our congregation who are over 90 years old.  Sponsored by the deacons, this was an especially lovely event!  Twenty-two of the 46 eligible members were in attendance with their family and friends as guests. Almost 125 dinners were served.

Bob and I were both busy serving, so this is the only photo that we took.   After our church photographer posts photos, I will include more.  Fellowship Hall really did look very festive.  The theme was “fall,” though I thought for an event with so many elderly guests, “Don’t fall” would have been a better choice.

As each honoree entered Fellowship Hall, a boutonniere or corsage was pinned on and a photo taken.

The lady on the left, above, decided the honorees should have a goody bag as a sort of party favor.  On her own and with the help of her 11 yo granddaughter, she filled gaily wrapped bags with a word search booklet, a Bible scripture bookmark, a picture frame for the photo that was taken today, some hard candy, and a daily devotional booklet.  Each honoree was also give a souvenir booklet with a bio of each of the over 90 members.

I was in charge of decorations and was pleased to be able to reuse many things made for our daughter’s wedding and– much to my dear husband’s dismay– still stored in our garage.   Twenty gold table toppers, some sheer and some tapestry weight, were placed over the green cloths and the embroidered table numbers were once again put into use.

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at Rebecca’s wedding— same tapestry table cloth, same gold chargers, same embroidered table numbers, same linen napkins

When the table numbers were made, I knew it was a lot of time spent on a small detail, but Rebecca and I both liked the idea.  Since the wedding, these same numbers were used for four Mother’s Day teas at the church of my daughter’s mother-in-law and then for the wedding of a sweet family friend.  And in the next year, they will be used again for the wedding of another family friend.  So the numbers have been put to good use. Continue reading

Free Pattern for Must-Try Teepee Bags

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You can’t tell from the photo, but the fabric shows a variety of Girl Scout badges. I was tickled pink (ha!) to find this fabric on-line.

These FIRST AID bags were made for my 8 yo granddaughter Laurel. Next week, she will do a presentation to her Girl Scout troop as part of the first aid badge the girls are working on. At that time, she will hand out the bags and the girls will stock them with supplies.

UPDATE: Girl Scouts with bags:

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You can’t tell from the photo, but the pink fabric is printed with images of Girl Scout badges. I had only 1/2 yd. which should have been enough. But there was a wide, brown border with text and numbers to be sewn on for troop identification. That didn’t leave enough badge print to make 6 suitably sized totes. So the pink fabric was serged on the short sides and then centered and zig zagged onto a piece of a homespun sort of muslin.

After I got that done, I realized that the muslin created a plain strip on either side of the zipper, suitable for text.The border hoop for my Brother Quattro made this quick and easy, by hooping just stabilizer, basting the fabric to the stabilizer with the baste feature, embroidering the text, then moving the stabilizer in the hoop for the next bag.

The design is too large for the 4 x 4 hoop, yet by using the 5 x 7 there would have been so much waste of stabilizer–not to mention the time involved in hooping 6 times.The border hoop was a wonderful time saver. Continue reading

Spa Party Pics and Particulars

I finally got the pictures of the Spa-tacular birthday party and just have to share these with you.  What a fabulous 8th birthday Laurel had!  Of course, this is a sewing blog, but sewing projects played a part in the celebration.

Like all great events, it took a lot of planning and organization, areas in which my DIL excels.  Fortunately, within the homeschool community she has a strong network of wonderful friends without whose help the party would have been impossible.

 

When the girls arrived, they “signed in,”  indicated their dinner preferences, picked up their spa wraps and goodie bags.  For whatever reason, they decided to put their spa wraps on over their clothes, though that unspecified reason did not apply to their dolls.   Still, it was reported that the wraps saved a lot of shirts from being stained by facial mixes.  The dolls’ clothes were not at risk.

 

 

The girls were divided into groups to make it easier to rotate among the stations. Like the foot baths where they soaked their pretty feet and chatted…..

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Spa Wraps for American Girl Dolls

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The spa wraps for American Girl dolls are finished, waiting at the home of the birthday girl for the guests to arrive.

 

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hostess Laurel’s spa wrap

 

The big Spa-tacular birthday party is today so I quickly snapped a few pictures while the wraps were still in my possession.  Each guest is bringing her doll to the pampering party where they will dress in matching outfits.

 

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9 Spa Wraps Done!

NOTE: Spa wrap tutorial is posted here.

Cherries decorate Five Star Font's Lacey Girl Font "K."

I’ve just finished 9 spa wraps for my granddaughter’s Spa-tacular 8th birthday party.  These have been so much fun to make!  All the materials were on hand, except for the towels themselves and the velcro.   It was fun to match up the trims, buttons, embroidery designs and embellishments.  Using from my stash gave me a false sense of being frugal!

Two different fonts were used, both from Five Star Fonts.  Because each wrap is sized to the child, and because there were some duplicate initials, it was necessary to easily match up a child to the appropriate wrap. Continue reading

Come See~~2nd Annual AG Tea Party

 

Laurel’s Second Annual American Girls Tea Party is history.  After all the preparations, as expected, it was a huge success.  Last year the guest list was much smaller, but the past school year has brought a lot of new friends into my seven year-old granddaughter’s social circle.

 

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All the girls are enthusiastic owners of one or more American Girls dolls, all of whom were, of course, also invited to the festivities.   As is so often the case, sewing projects played a part in this special event. Continue reading

Second Annual American Girls Tea Party

Molly in her party dress, ready for tea

Molly in her party dress, ready for tea

 

Last year, my darling daughter-in-law hosted a tea party for her very own American girl, Laurel, , and some little misses in the neighborhood.  She even provided gloves and hats for dress up before tea.

 

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This is last year’s party, the first AG doll tea party. After plundering through the dress up box, they were ready for tea.

 

This week, by popular demand, the event will be repeated and likely will be remembered as  the Second Annual American Girls Tea Party.  Shelly and Laurel will entertain eight little girls and their dolls.

 

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When I asked Laurel what I could do for the occasion, she requested that I make these hats for party favors.  Of course, I jumped at the opportunity and tackled the task with the enthusiasm and delight that comes only from meeting a grandchild’s request.  I declare that child could ask for the moon and I would try my best to arrange for delivery, probably through Amazon. Continue reading

Party Sewing

Note the ever popular Happy Birthday tablecloth. Several years ago I made 3 or 4 of these. They have been through more parties than Thomas has been through tunnels.

The birthday boy chugs a cold one as he admires his birthday balloons.

Alastair’s Two-toot birthday party was a big hit with the children and as well as the adults.  The cupcake train delighted everyone and was so easy to make.  Typical of Florida spring, the sun shone brightly and a gulf coast breeze kept everyone comfortable.

 

My daughter Rebecca and I made the cupcakes and built the train cars the night before the party.  A Thomas train engine  pulled flatbed cars loaded with cupcakes.

The train cars were  built with a stack of two graham crackers with buttercream frosting holding them firmly together. 

Other graham crackers were  broken into “sticks” and stacked three high for the axels, with mini Oreo wheels.  Gum drops served as hitches between the cars.

We all enjoyed watching 2 1/2 year old Ethan surreptitiously pull an Oreo wheel from the train and pop it into his mouth.  His mother scolded, but  Rebecca assured her that the flatbed cars were there for the children to enjoy, just like  the cupcakes and their teepee train bags.  Continue reading