It is for a boy and ocean themed. Lobster, fish, sea turtle.
Jewels & Name
Buttons & Hippo
Tag quilts are really popular for babies, and so I made one for our little guy. It is basically three ovals, sewn in a tripod shape. This makes 3 "pages".
BULLDOG
This was the first time I did applique. I'm sure there are many ways to do these (bulldog, caterpillar, name) but this is how I did it and it wasn't too bad.
APPLIQUE: I drew my design on a flattened coffee filter in pencil. I put it on top of the fabric and sewed around the edges. **Remember these are the opposite so any lettering will need to be sewn backwards at this point*** After it's sewn on, I trimmed the excess fabric and coffee filter so I had the little shape. Then to attach to the page, sew along the edge in a zigzag stitch. You could also zigzag the shape the first time and then just straight stitch the applique to the page.
To do multiple layers like the bulldog, I did the background dark blue fabric first, the put the next color on top of the dark blue. I trimmed the light blue individual shapes, then the whole dog.
Most of the beads were in a big random pack from Walmart that was $2.00
I top-stitched the borders of all the pages to help hold the ribbons flat, and also sewed down the center to make the three separate pages.
I don't know if my explanation makes sense, and I'm definitely a novice with these, but if you wanted to make one, they are pretty cheap and easy...just make sure you sew the beads, buttons, etc. on well or they could become a choking hazard.
For my mom.
I decided to only attach the photos and background stuff to the page by sewing. So all the photos sketches, tissue patterns, lace, trim, was sewn to the paper and I even left some of the threads long hanging off the page.
I made each page and then glued it to the book. I didn't take pictures of the inside covers, but I made collages of sketches, patterns, photos and swatches and covered them with white net. So you can see stuff beneath the net, but not clearly. I guess in my mind it reminded me of a veil or something. Also, her three daughters wrote notes about her and what her sewing talents have meant/ contributed to our lives.
I think that is it that I can think of that went into this book. Except for one of the best things was the sketch. I was browsing through my Mom's old patterns of wedding dresses and found on one, a sketch she'd made. So I copied it to put in the book as a background piece and realized as I was going along that it was the sketch of her little sister's wedding gown. I was excited to have a copy of her actual sketch with the actual dress from the 1980s, and it just so happened the bridal photo is posed just as she sketched the dress. What a gem!!! It's the red page.
