A Sunny Apron & Chef's Hat Tutorial

When I was a kid, I had my very own child's size apron and chef's hat that I would wear whenever I helped my mom bake or cook. Although my mom kept essentially every item from my childhood, I can't seem to find my apron and hat among my things in storage.  Since Ella has been wanting to help me cook and bake more, I decided it was about time that I make her some proper kitchen attire!

After only about an hour and a half of sewing, Ella finally has her very own Sunny Apron and Chef's Hat to wear when she is my sous chef.

This set was so simple to make and took hardly any time to sew. Plus, I used fat halves from this very appropriate fabric collection, Tea Garden from Blend Fabrics, to make both pieces.

Here's how you can make your child his or her own Sunny Apron and Chef's Hat, too! Just follow my tutorials below. And while I'm mentioning tutorials, I want to give a big shout out and thank you to Anne Weaver at Craft Gossip for featuring my tutorials often. Anne and Craft Gossip have done so much to help bloggers and readers alike--you help spread our projects to a wider audience and in return, more people enjoy our craft!

Sewing Blogger Secret Gift Swap

Recently, I participated in a secret gift swap with a group of sewing blogger friends. We've done this once or twice before, but this year, we decided to wait a few weeks after the holidays to exchange our gifts.

Here's how the secret gift swap works. Those who want to participate sign up and provide information on their favorite colors, fabric shops, or other useful information (like favorite chocolate). Then a designated organizer (that was me this time) uses a random method to assign each person someone from the list to make a gift for (the recipient).  Everyone gets a couple of months to decide what to make or buy and then ship it off to their recipient, but not before sharing a few little sneak peeks of the gift first! The recipient doesn't discover who sent the gift until it arrives.

We all love getting gifts in the mail, so it's a fun, fairly inexpensive way to brighten the day of a friend or even a stranger. My friends and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few years, and the gifts we all exchanged with each other really showed that this time!

My Cool Butterfly Sling Purse

A few months ago, I participated in Purse Palooza at Sew Sweetness and shared the first Butterfly Sling Purse I had ever made. Today, I'm bringing home my post and sharing this awesome bag with you all here in case you missed it! Plus, you'll get to read a little history of how I started making bags!