Fabric ABC Fun!

Here are some cute sets of fabric alphabet my daughter made for her nieces and nephews.

It all started with this trial set that we have in our family room, created with black and white fabric scraps.

From there it branched out to one set for each of our "married with children" children.


Animal Print

Chevron






Bunting Love

Fish and Flowers

Puzzled
(though I didn't get a finished pic, I'm just using the scraps here)

We had fun choosing and purchasing the fabric for each of these sets - we didn't want to stop.  However, this project does require a lot of time, so for that reason we were happy to be done for awhile since there were other things in need of our attention.

These would make a cute garland in a play room or child's bedroom.  Clip them on some ribbon or twine with clothes pins so they could be played with and rearranged to make names or some fun words.

A Graduation Party

A graduation party for our daughter ...


If you have been watching this blog for a while, you've seen parts of the look here, here, and here, but there were a few other things I want to share now to help complete the look. 


The food/buffet tables.


















I purchased some black 10x14 inch plastic trays from Amazon to help guests carry their food - we did not use plates.  They were the perfect size for what I was looking for.  They have larger trays like we see used at schools and other buffet lines, but they were too big for what I was hoping for.

               
We added a paper doily to each tray.  Here is a close up so you can see the sample tray we put together at the beginning of the line.

FYI - here is what we served:
wraps (Turkey BLT and Roast Beef Coleslaw),

pasta salad or lettuce/pear salad in berry boxes lined with waxed paper,

individual bags of assorted Sun Chips,

Banana Slush, and ice water. 

For dessert we had Cheese Cake (one of our daughters favorites), candy (including some of those fun rock candy on a stick) and an assortment of Ice Cream Bars and Fruit Bars (from Costco).


FYI - Those cute Rock Candy on a Stick came from Amazon, of course!

Between the two buffet tables we had this pedestal with flowers and B for BrittanyJo - our guest of honor.

The tablecloths (vintage sheets cut up into squares, laid over white cloths) needed some coordinating solid color napkins. 

I have purchased from Table Linens for Less before and liked one set I got (but they don't carry them anymore) but most of theirs are fabrics I don't care for.  My desire was to find 100% cotton.  I found some in perfect colors on Etsy but they were expensive - 2 for $18.00.  I could make them much cheaper but just didn't have the time.  I found a few on Amazon, though the colors were just a little different than I really was looking for, but they worked fine anyway.  I chose from two different kinds so that I could get the correct colors (or closest to the correct colors) -

Cotton Craft Napkins - 100% Cotton - 20" x 20"
(I purchased Lavender at $16.99)

DII  100% Cotton, Oversized Basic Everyday  20" x 20"  Napkin
Prices change by color and count - some come in sets 4, others in sets of 6, and white in 8
(I purchased the black 6ct for $18.00, 6 ct Guava for $24.00.)

FYI:
The napkins by Cotton Craft are lighter weight than those by DII and I liked the softness of them, though both are quite nice.  I washed all the napkins before we used them and there were slight wrinkles in all of them.  After washing them the second time (after use) I noticed that the Cotton Craft (lighter weight brand) were a bit more wrinkled than the DII - mostly around the hem areas.  It will be interesting to see what a third washing will do to them but I don't have time to wash them to find out.  If you don't like the wrinkled look both would have to be ironed, but the DII are a bit less wrinkled coming out of my washer and dryer.  I would buy either brand again and be happy.



At the entrance was this cute little bicycle we painted and adorned with a great inspirational quote -    "Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving."

A few of the gifts were placed on the shelf under the bike.

We have used this tent twice now (the first event will be posted here) and forgotten to take pictures of the tent itself when it was up and complete.  The closest we can come to a full view from the outside is this photo with my brother and his grandchild.  We have enjoyed the tent and are planning on having it up at least one more time this year.  Maybe we can get a full view then ..., maybe! 

We purchased the tent from Amazon too.  We have been pleased with it, though the plastic (rope cinch) pieces have broken - my boys have just tied the ropes instead of using those pieces.  Here is what we purchased, but I noticed before I posted this that it is no longer available.  That makes me sad because it has been a great item for what we have been using it for. There are other sizes and options still available, but this is what we purchased.

40'x20' PVC Pole Tent - Party Wedding Canopy Shelter by Delta
($919.98 = cheaper than a rental + mileage; but I only checked out two places to rent from - and we live many miles from the city that offers them.)

It looks grey or taupe in their photo, but it is white.

We had a wonderful event, thanks to the family and friends that showed up, and to those who helped with all the preps.

Bunting and Tablecloths from Vintage Sheets

I have been collecting vintage sheets for a few years now.  Every time I can go to a thrift store I check out their selection and purchase any that catch my eye.  
(There is a piece of fabric or two and a shower curtain and maybe a window curtain as well in this collection, but they were all great pieces with great color for something I might want to create some time.)

I chose from my collection a few that worked well with the ideas we had for our daughters high school graduation party and created some table covers, then with the leftover portions I created some bunting - as many pieces as I could fit.




I purchased a serger (from Amazon) for this project because I knew I had a lot to do and didn't want to ask someone else to do this for me.  It worked like a charm for me, but I didn't try to learn any other stitches because of the time it took to do what I had to do ..., so maybe I'll have more fun with that later when I have some extra time (but I'm not holding my breath).

I serged the four sides of each of the 10 square and/or rectangular table covers and each of the three sides of the bunting pieces (I think one section has about 44 pieces and the other has about 47 pieces). 

I spent all of one day with this project - I had no idea it would take sooooo long, so I was especially glad I hadn't asked someone else to help me out here.  Though it was time consuming, it was so much easier and faster than folding and ironing and sewing and turning right-side out and ironing again ..., and I loved that the serger cuts and finishes the edge at the same time ..., and I really do love the finished look.

When the serging on the tablecloths were done they were complete so I washed and folded them, ready to use.   They looked lovely in a pile and they looked lovely on the tables, ready for the event.  You can see here that I paired them up with solid 100% cotton napkins in assorted colors, each to match the cloth they were on.  And those cute striped paper straws were placed on top the napkins. (RePurposed Book Centerpieces)

Serging the bunting took a little longer than the table covers did ..., I had several.  I used some of every tablecloth fabric, including pieces from the buffet table cloths I had prepared (I think there were a couple I didn't end up using).  When I was done serging the edges of each triangle piece I sorted them and sewed each piece onto a folded bias tape.

 

The bunting is double sided so that it could be hung in the center of a room and look nice from any view.   

Our tent doesn't have tall enough walls to put it back and forth across the room from one side to the other, so I wrapped it around the side walls and I love the touch of color that it gave to the walls and the way it brought everything together.  It gave the area character.

It was a little long for the wall, so we just folded it back a few feet ..., and that was cute too.

... I was so happy with the overall look ...

Vintage sheets helped us create a great look for a HAPPY GRADUATION!   (A Graduation Party)

And ... when I washed them after the event was over I realized how great sheets are for table covers because they don't come out all wrinkled, in need of ironing.  AWESOME!    They are folded and stored away for the next use ... some day!



Christmas Decor

A great look

from Shanty 2 Chic

 

 

 

and from Molly Mo's comes this great look.



 

 

Use Up Your Fabric Remnants

Fabric Remnants can hang around for a long time if you can't think of what to do with them. Sometimes it seems that throwing them away would be a good choice.  Here are a few ideas I came across and thought I'd save for a rainy day - just in case I need help remembering what to do with all of my scraps.

 Drawer pulls - made with fabric scraps.   I think they are pretty cute!  From Anna Maria

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A hand bag is another idea - patch together some pieces and then create a bag like this from Crafterholic.

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Tipnut has a post with 50 ideas for using fabric scraps.

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Another post from Tipnut shares 40 fabric flowers to make.

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One idea from The Art of Homemaking shares a fabric wreath.



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I have seen and created my own paper covered clothes pins, but here are some fabric covered pins - sure wouldn't take a very large piece of fabric.  Maybe we should keep some clothes pins on hand to make up some of these with the tiny scraps after our sewing projects are done.  Collect them in a pretty glass bowl or vase or bottle and give an assortment for gifts when the need arises.
These are from etsy

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Decorate your gift cards like these from Art and Blog.
These could be hearts, stars, flowers, or bear shapes, or any outline shape including a simple circle. How about a men's tie for Father's Day?

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Personalize a picture frame with scraps of fabric like this from Moda Bake Shop


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Or, leave the frame as it is and decorate the inside of the back board like this from Little Big Town Designs

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