The Great Closet Purge

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Cherie

While I was participating in Me Made May, I spent time looking through my closet to find things that I’d made and as I was digging, I realized how much stuff I have that I just never wear. I think most of us are in the same boat. We hold on to clothes that we think we might wear if we have the right occasion, or we hope it’ll fit us again after we lose that 10+ pounds. Maybe we are holding on to that shirt for sentimental reasons. Regardless, they sit in our closets or drawers being passed over every day and whether we realize it or not, they weigh us down and take up space both physically and emotionally. For anyone who has done a purge before, you know how freeing it can be. How it feels like a weight being lifted.

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Life is strange: part 2 and Me Made May

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Cherie

So back in February, I posted about how I decided to take on a new writing opportunity to blog for mom.me. Well, after two months of that, I quit! Shortest writing “career” ever? Haha, maybe. I tried it. I liked some of the things about it. It definitely pushed me to write about different topics and in a way that’s completely different from how I write here on this blog. I got to connect with some new people. I liked the paycheck 😛

But it was stressful. For a slow writer like me, and a maaaajor procrastinator, it was too much. The second I finished one piece, it was time to start another. When I had submitted all the posts for one month, I had to come up with new ideas for the next month. Continue reading →

Life is strange

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Cherie

Life can be strange sometimes.

I recently posted about how I wanted to spend less time blogging because it wasn’t bringing me as much joy as it used to. I wanted to focus more on family and health and simplifying my life and spend less time on the computer and dealing with social media and all the things that come with blogging (like stress and lack of sleep).

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The year of less

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Cherie

So I have been thinking a lot about my plans for the coming year. In years past I have felt motivated to do more with my blogging: blog more often, do more tutorials, get sponsors, redesign the site, go to conferences, make patterns, the list goes on and on. But in recent months I’ve felt very strongly that I should do less. I realized that all those things don’t come very naturally to me and are just not a priority. I don’t think I’ll ever be a professional blogger, sewing competition winner, book writer or a pattern designer, but for now, that’s okay.

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Happy Homemade Kids Sew-along!

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Cherie

107

It’s time for a sew-along!

I’m so excited to announce that I’m teaming up with the amazing Meg, of elsie marley, to bring you our first Happy Homemade Kids Sew-along! We’re picking one pattern to sew from the ever popular Japanese pattern book, Happy Homemade Vol. 2, which has also been recently translated to English (Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids). You can use either version of the book to sew along with us!

So which pattern will we be sewing together?

We thought the Pull-over Parka would be a great pattern to start with. A great wardrobe basic for boys and girls, appropriate practically year round, plenty of room for modifications and embellishments, not too tricky, but not too simple. What do you think? Do you know a kid who needs an awesome hoodie? The book includes Japanese sizes 100 – 130, which is approximately US sizes 3/4 – 7/8.

The sew-along will be from June 16-20, so put it in your calendar! Between now and then we’ll be back with tons of information about where to buy the book, what types of fabric we recommend, along with other materials you’ll need, hoodie inspiration and modification ideas. Once the sew-along starts, Meg and I will be taking you through every step of the process from tracing your pattern and adding seam allowance to constructing the garment.

When you’re done, we want you to take a picture of your pullover and share it in the sew-along Flickr pool. Enter your project into the pool by Monday, June 23 (corrected from an earlier typo – my apologies!) so you can be included in our round-up AND be automatically entered in a great giveaway!! More details on that to come!

To get the fun started, the generous people at Tuttle Publishing is giving away THREE copies of Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids!! This giveaway is open to US/Canadian residents only. And though anyone can enter to win, we do hope that these books will go to people who are planning to participate in the sew-along!! Enter the giveaway by Sunday, June 1st, 5pm PDT by following the link below {GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. CLICK LINK TO SEE WINNERS}:

>> CLICK HERE FOR GIVEAWAY <<

I’ll be back later this week with some places you can buy the book if you’re an international participant or are super eager to get the book in your hands!

We’re really hoping that you’ll join us for this sew-along! If you’ve always wanted to try a Japanese sewing book, but wasn’t sure where to start, THIS IS IT.

And if you’re sewing along, be sure to grab this awesome button that Meg made and post it in your sidebar or share it on Facebook or Instagram so everyone knows you’re sewing along! #happyhomemadesewalong

Bookmark it. Pin it. Don’t forget it!

It’s gonna be awesome.

STYLO Issue 2 is here!

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Cherie

STYLO is a new online magazine aaaalll about handmade kids fashion. In the words of Jessica Abbott, one of STYLO’s creators and editors, “Stylo is a modern kids sewing magazine, aimed at bringing you the freshest sewing patterns designed by indie designers worldwide.”

I can’t tell you how excited (and scared and intimidated) I was when I got the email to be a contributor. Issue 1 was phenomenal and all the talented people behind it set the bar HIGH.

I made an outfit for each girl and started with completely blank canvases. White knit fabric for Yuki and off-white woven cotton for Kaya. Then they were painted in various stages and with a couple different mediums. The idea was that you don’t necessarily have to have access to designer fabrics, you can create your own absolutely one-of-a-kind fabric at home!

One of these days I’ll do a dedicated post on the outfits I made for my daughters, but for now, I’d love for you to head over to STYLO and check out the AMAZINGNESS that editors, Celina and Jessica, have created along with designers and seamstresses from all over. You won’t be disappointed. I’m seriously at a loss for words at how incredible the work in the magazine is. I feel ridiculously inadequate and humbled to be among them.

Miss Matatabi Makers and a Big Bow Washi Dress

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Cherie

It’s no secret that Miss Matatabi is one of my favorite online sources for fabric, especially Japanese fabrics like Nani Iro. Frances always has an amazing selection of high quality fabrics and she’s a total sweetheart on top of all that. So I am really excited to announce that I get to be one of the regular contributors on her site, sewing up a new project every month with some fabulous fabric from her shop, along with 3 suuuper awesome ladies!

We’re the Miss Matatabi Makers and you can read all about us here.

My first project as an official MM Maker is up on the blog now!

I made a big bow Washi Dress in some gorgeous voile AND it has a secret modification to make it nursing-friendly! Head over to Miss Matatabi for the full post with all the details and how I nearly ruined the whole dress with an accidental serger slice!

And while you’re over there, be sure to check out the other recent posts from Leslie, Angela, and An. So much fun inspiration and gorgeous fabric!

Happy Monday 🙂

Introducing mohr studio

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Cherie

Hey! Anyone still need to do some Christmas shopping? I hope I’m not the only one! I’ve barely gotten started and I’m in denial about how quickly Christmas is creeping up on us! At the start of the season I have the intention of making handmade gifts for everyone. But a couple weeks out I realize that’s not going to happen, but still want to give special and meaningful handcrafted gifts. Well in case you’re in my boat, I wanted to tell you about my friend’s Etsy shop, mohr studio.

Ashley, the creator behind mohr studio, blogs over at everything else we do where she shares the gorgeous sewing and knitting she does for herself and her cute kiddos. She’s recently opened up shop and I absolutely adore everything she’s made! She’s got stuff for babies, kids, women and the home. Everything is made with such great skill and style.

Ashley reached out to me awhile back through email and since she lives not too far away, we’ve gotten to meet up a few times and do some of my favorite things together – fabric shop, talk about natural birth and drink beer. 😛 She’s such a sweet, funny and generous person! Last time we met up she gave me this perfect little sweater for Kaya. It’s honestly my favorite thing to put on her now.

Anyways, go check out the shop. How ridiculously cute is this sweater and dress? Definitely wish this tunic and this hoodie came in my size. And this or this would make perfect gifts for me some lucky lady in your life. 😛

OH and I almost forgot, Ashley is offering a holiday deal of 10% off everything in her shop (code: MERRYMOHR)! What other reason do you need?

Happy shopping!

Time to Vote!

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Cherie

Yesterday, my Sunki Flip for the Flip This Pattern series was revealed and today, you get a chance to vote for your favorite of the four pattern remixes! You can check out all four and vote over at Frances Suzanne. I have to say, my fellow competitors did a phenomenal job with their flips and coincidentally, we ALL decided to make jackets/outerwear! I’m not entirely sure which one I like best – they are all so great! 🙂

I decided to take the stylish Sunki dress and make a comfy knit hoodie for my toddler. The original pattern is a beautiful dress with some really unique and fun elements like the very visual pockets, the overlapping shoulder seams, and the pleated sleeves at the shoulders.

I love the shape and style of the original Sunki Dress and those oh-so-identifiable pockets. So I wanted to keep the general silhouette and modern feel from the pattern. But my daughter really will only wear comfy knit clothing and with the weather getting colder, I thought a little zip up hoodie would be perfect!

To flip the original pattern into a zip up hoodie, I made the back one pattern piece and omitted the zipper. In the front, I left the pockets exactly the same, but split the pattern into two pieces. I added width to both the front and the back, since this was meant to be outerwear, I wanted to make sure it would be roomy enough to wear over layers. I changed the shoulders from the overlapping pieces to a regular shoulder seam since I wanted to add the hood and omitted the facing pieces.

I left the sleeves pretty much the same except instead of pleating them at the shoulder, I did a slight gather. The fabric I used is a thick and cozy sweatshirt knit, so it would have been too bulky to pleat. But the gathers still give it that slightly poofed look.

I shortened both the sleeves and the body of the “dress” and added cuffs for a more casual and fitted look.

I chose an exposed zipper down the front for an added visual element. It was my first time using an exposed zipper and I love it!

The oversized hood is lined with a warm flannel and is perfect for bundling up when it gets chilly! I used one of my daughter’s store bought hoodies to draft the pattern for the hood.

I decided to sew up a pair of Sunki leggings to go with the hoodie, but stuck with the original pattern. They were a really fast and easy project to make and I can see myself making a bunch more of these for my daughter!

And that’s my Sunki flip! I really enjoyed sewing this hoodie and the leggings and I hope you like them too!

Thanks for letting me be a part of this fun project, Ashley and Emily! And thank you to Shelly of Figgy’s for providing us with the Sunki pattern to flip.

Now, if you haven’t already, head on over to VOTE for your favorite Sunki flip! Voting is open from now until Sunday, October 27th at 11pm (CST). Happy Friday!

She’s here!

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Cherie

She’s finally here! Our new little addition finally made her appearance one week ago on September 24th, 1:53am (at 41 weeks and 6 days)! She was 7 pounds 7 ounces at birth, 20 inches long and is perfectly wonderful.

Her name is Kaya . . .

three days old

We had a planned home birth and it was actually quite a looooong long labor. I had been going through waves of regular and irregular contractions for days – some mild, some really intense and by day 6 or so I was exhausted and discouraged and really considering heading to the hospital to be induced. Hideko and my awesome midwife kept me hopeful though, and I’m so glad they did because we were able to have the home birth that I had imagined and in the end all that hard work was totally worth it, of course.

six days old

I can’t get enough of all her little baby parts, her soft skin and yummy smell. I’m trying to spend as much time snuggling up with her as I recover and we get to know each other and bond and redefine our family to include one more.

But to be honest, this whole 2 kid thing is kinda kicking my butt. On one hand, I want to just get lost in goo-goo-ga-ga land with Kaya all day long, but I also want to be there for Yuki especially during this huge transition. Physically I just can’t keep up with a 3 year old right now, and she is also so emotionally needy. Poor Hideko is running around trying to take care of everybody – it’s going to take awhile for us to find our new family groove I guess.

But Yuki is super sweet to her baby sister. The first time she met Kaya, she was scared – she told us so. She likes to gently touch her face and give her little kisses. But when Kaya starts crying, Yuki says, “can you put her back to sleep?” Haha!!

Kaya is very lucky to have such a fun, spunky and loving big sister. I can’t wait to see how they grow up together.

I’ll be blogging here and there, though not quite as often, I’m sure. I’ve got so many projects I want to sew and share, but we’ll have to see how that all fits in with family and life. Until next time . . . take care and happy sewing! And be well!

you and mie

let's make things

Category Archives: announcement

The Great Closet Purge

Life is strange: part 2 and Me Made May

Life is strange

The year of less

Happy Homemade Kids Sew-along!

STYLO Issue 2 is here!

Miss Matatabi Makers and a Big Bow Washi Dress

Introducing mohr studio

Time to Vote!

She’s here!