Here are some of our new fall favorites at Poole Party Designs!
Burp cloths, get your burp cloths here!!
Shop now and receive Free Shipping during the month of October! Just use the code: FALL2012 at checkout!
Because who doesn’t love receiving mail… and a pretty package at that? All Poole Party Designs packages come “ready for gifting” with beautiful tissue and bow. Gift wrap included. Why, you ask? Because I love making pretty packages and hopefully it takes one thing off of someone else’s to-do list.
This clearly is a family affair. My assistants went with me today to the post office to mail the first round of shipments out to our customers! My what a great help they were! I know you are jealous. These guys are the best in the business.
Thanks everyone for all your wonderful words of encouragement! I appreciate it so much in these early days!
Based on the all the fun I have been having sewing and the positive feedback from both Inspiration and Product Testing, I decided to open an Etsy shop to sell my handmade items! We’re pretty excited around here!
Click on the above page titled Shop to see what we’re up to!
Thanks for visiting!
~ Lesley
Poole Pirate Picnic success this weekend! We celebrated Sam’s 5th birthday this weekend by treasure seeking with a bunch of little scallywags! Despite being under the weather over the past few weeks, we pulled off a pirate picnic like we were a bunch of true buccaneers! From hand drawn treasure maps to hand sewn burlap treasure bags to crafty Solo cup and aluminum foil hooks, we outfitted ourselves for mutiny! Our kiddos became pirates over the course of a scavenger hunt that led them all over Luther Burbank Park, using their treasure-map reading skills to discover jewels (ring pops), booty (pirate booty snacks), weaponry (glow-in-the-dark swords), and pirate costume (hats, eye patches, and hooks). All ages got into this pirate extravaganza – the eye patches were especially popular (thanks, Target!). The last treasure of the evening was a beautiful firework show, sponsored by the city of Mercer Island as part of their yearly Summer Celebration. What a fantastic evening! Yo ho ho, me hearties… Until next time!
In an earlier post, after the baby shower and onesie extravaganza, I was saying something about a new sewing project. As happens quite a bit in my life, I got distracted. But, I’m back at it and ready to show you my first stab at a really great (and simple) placemat design. This design definitely showcases the fabric. As I have kept things pretty straightforward and without much detail, it is important to choose a fabric you love! I went with Gotcha in Summerland in grey and natural. It gave me just the modern and sophisticated, but unfussy look I was going for! All in all, I feel successful! I think these placemats will look gorgeous on a summer evening with lots of bright white and maybe some yellow flowers (or orange, or pink, any color really…) to punch it up a bit.
The quick and dirty on how these were made is below if you are interested in trying to sew some fun, mod pacemats of your own! I would not call this a full tutorial, as it is not quite perfect yet. I learned a few things in the process, so those thoughts can also be found below. As you will see in the photos, they turned out well – even if baby doesn’t know the difference between a sophisticated placemat and her usual burp cloth! At least they are reversible!
Now, that I have scratched this itch, I think I need to start getting out my canning equipment! Summer has finally arrived in Seattle! To pickle or preserve, now that is the question! Any requests?
My Notes:
This project used 1 yard of fabric, almost exactly for four placemats. Next time I would give myself a little more fabric to play with, as I would like my mats to end up larger and I could be a bit choosier with the print layout. The mats I made measure approximately 17.5″x13.5.”
First, I measured out my fabric. I just looked at a placemat that I had bought along the way and used that as a rough guide, adding a few inches for seams. I cut my fabric to be about 20″x30″ (this is a guesstimate – I promise to take better notes next time!). The main idea is to sew this like a pillowcase on three sides, while the fabric is inside out. Then, I turned the fabric right side out, pushed out the corners with a chopstick, and finished the last seam with the top stitch that goes all the way around. I went with a ¾” seam, but choose what looks right to you. I pressed the fabric with an iron at every stage and that worked well. I didn’t remember to wash the fabric beforehand, which I will do next time (to take care of shrinkage) and I had a hard time keeping things completely square. Again, something I will be more diligent about next time!
So did I mention that my baby spits up? There are many words for this: burp, spit, spit up, puke… you get the idea. Whichever name you like, it is a total mess. As a mother of three, with two kids who didn’t spit, I didn’t understand this element of parenting. It is part preparedness and part spontaneity at all times. You learn the signs and you learn the best way to hold the baby, as well as where every type of towel resides all over the house.
In addition, you learn the value of a burp cloth. I had been given burp cloths with the other children and found other uses for them… rag for wiping down counter, lovey, face wiper after spaghetti, but never spit up. Now I get it. Now I am a pro. Now I know burp cloths and understand the merits of what makes one good and what makes one great. There are many burp cloths out there. From plain old dish rags to embellished treasures, I believe the magic lies somewhere in between. Having a background in clothing production, I am a self-proclaimed stickler for details. I notice the small things and there is a part of me that is always ready to give my feedback:
Through months of daily product testing and market research, I’ve found that there might be some room for improvement in the category of burp cloth. I’ve come up with a solution that incorporates my love of style and cool fabrics with the function of a truly absorbent (read: boring) diaper. I have been having fun experimenting with this and have been so inspired by the incredibly fun fabrics from a local business, Drygoods Design in Ballard, WA. (Check out this site if you have a hankering for some great fabric: http://www.drygoodsdesignonline.com/.) I’ve come up with some winners and we are getting plenty of use out of each and every one I crank out. If you come over for dinner sometime, feel free to hold the baby ~ we’ll arm you appropriately…
Inspiration comes in all forms… in this post you will see what actually inspired moving the sewing machine out of its box. Today we celebrated one of my dearest friends and the upcoming arrival of her first baby. K has applauded all of her friends’ babies in the last few years and today we got to return the favor by honoring her. K is a planner and appreciates both parties and details, so it was clear we needed to raise the bar. Teaching myself to sew in a month seemed like a good idea at the time… Debatable, but fun! Keep in mind I am 5 months postpartum and possibly a little cuckoo.
I was in charge of decorations and focused my energy on creating custom onesies and burp cloths for the new babe. We displayed these with hand-decorated clothespins and lots and lots of polka dots… my favorite! As the party neared, I thought about sewing place mats and a runner for the table and quickly became overwhelmed, so came up with a pretty creative solution (if I do say so myself) and used wrapping paper to create our table top decorations. It worked beautifully in a pinch – lots of pop, plus I can use the paper again. It was a lovely day and I believe K felt celebrated and special – total success!
So the moral of the story is that K and baby have been my inspiration (muses?) and I thank them for all the fun that I have been having over the last weeks! And now, anyone for some place mats?
My fingers feel itchy. As a mother of three children under five, this is a bit unexpected. It is not as though my hands stay idle for long – there is always something to attend to. But this is different. This is the desire to work on a project that allows for completion. I have noticed as a mom, it can be wonderfully satisfying to dive into something, other than dishes or diapers, that has a beginning, a middle and, thankfully, an end.
Over the last year, this quest to find something to quell the itch in my fingers has covered a number of areas, from learning to preserve foods through pickling and canning to my newest endeavor, sewing. It is not that I am trying to win the star of Molly Homemaker, but rather, I see that these types of projects have a timelessness. They have been around for ages and are activities that our mothers’ mothers had available to them as well. Moments in time that are both productive as well as soul satisfying.
About a month ago I broke open the box of my new Singer sewing machine. It had stood in the corner of our house for about a year and a half silently mocking me, or possibly just waiting for the right time to be discovered. This was something I bought myself at Costco, on a whim, for Christmas; on some level knowing that there would be a time when I would find space (in house and head) for this new craft. My intention was that I would teach myself to sew and that I would love it. During my pregnancy, in addition to getting the nursery ready, the area of house that we chose to “nest” was the creation of a laundry / project room. I consider this new space my office and am so excited to have it. My tendency to leave projects rolling (read: messy) is something that can drive my husband crazy, so I believe that the evolution of this room was for his well being as well as mine.
It is amazing to me how sometimes things just come together and work. My little Singer and I are getting to know one another in my new room and are developing a beautiful relationship. I do love it. Sometimes I can only turn it on for a moment or two before there is a wailing cry from another room, but even that is enough to feed my soul… for now.
Now, onto a new project to help these itchy fingers!
Poole Party of 5 