Childhood Stroke Awareness day

Childhood Stroke Awareness Day is May 7th and I am working on a special project for a special little survivor!  I will post pictures when I am done!  Please wear your purple on Saturday may 7th !!!

Here is the finished project:

Gone so long....

So sorry that I have been gone for so long.  My family has been going through a trying time as of late.  I lost a Niece and Nephew over the last few weeks and my family is still mourning their loss.  You don't realize how precious life is or how much you take for granted a healthy pregnancy till you live through the heart ache of loosing a baby.  This is when we turn to God and ask for the peace that expands beyond our understanding!  My Brother, his family and extended family have a long road of emotional ups and downs to work through but we know that if we hold God's hand, he will help us through it!  Thank you to everyone for your words of encouragement and all your prayers for my family.  They were felt and appreciated!  Love you all!

Knock off Purse- Finished

I got the purse done!!!  The kids did really good today.  I had to take a few breaks and give them some personal time, but they then rewarded me with time to work!  Here is the final steps.

First I cut the lining using the main purse pieces so that they would be the same size.  I surged then like I did for the rest of the pieces and stitched them together.  Then I started the ruffles.  The main purse did pleates, but I prefer to do gathering.

I then stitched it on to the center piece. Then stitched it to the front of the purse.  

 I also stitched the sides of the purse to the front as well.

Then I added the second ruffle to the purse.

Then the third ruffle.

Then I attatched the lining to the purse. Both pieces turned inside out leaving a hole so that I could turn it right side out and not have any seams showing.

I then stiched the top closed and added a velcro closure.  The original purse has a snap closure.  My purse ended up bigger so I felt it needed a bigger closure.

I added the button detail and the purse is done!!

Here are the two purses.  Mine ended up bigger. Hopefully my friend wont mind, she has kids and when you have kids your purse can NEVER be big enough!!  Hope you like it.  I think it turned out GREAT!

Ruffle Purse Knock off...

So, a friend of mine saw this purse at the store and wanted it only cuter.  She of course asked me if I could help her out.  I took one look at it and said, "sure"  So here we go....

 Here is the purse that she wants me to make, only cuter!

 The ruffles will be a little tricky but I think that I can handle it.  So, in order to make the knowck off we went and got some fabric that she liked and I guessed about the amout we needed but I think that we got about a yard and a half.  We still need to get the linning so that is why this is not done yet. Well.... not entirely.  There is the fact that we were gone this weekend...

 So, I layed the purse down on the fabric and cut the shape out leaving about an inch or two extra for seam allowance.  I cut the main purse shape first.

 Next, I cut the Base of the purse that goes all the way around it so that it has some depth.  This I cut on the fold of the fabric.

  I cut the largest ruffle and the shoulder strap off the finished edge so that I had less to serge.

 Then I cut the middle ruffle out of only one layer of fabric.

 Next the smallest ruffle and then I used some of the length to cut a piece for the center piece to anchor the ruffles in the center.  We found an awesome boutton that we are going to add to ours.

 I then cut the shape I needed for the center piece, allowing for extra to fold under.

 I then serged all the pieces.  Now I am just waiting to get the lining so I can copy a couple of the pieces and then start construction.  More to come.....

The begining of Precious Monkeys Apparel and Designs

So, I am going to attempt to enter into the world of blogging.... I am not so sure about this so I am entering in with just my toes right now.  I am thinking that the water is freezing and it will take some time to warm up.  Brian, my husband, thinks this will be a good way to get people to see what my new business is all about and get more people interested.  So, here I am asking you if this is interesting enough for me to keep doing.