Toddler Apron & Oven Mitt

My last sewing project was 6 months ago. Yowzer. Amid the low-level chaos of life/work/pup sewing was a bit too mentally involved so I've spent more time with old friends like knitting. I decided to get back to my machine to make an apron and play oven mitt for my (almost) niece, who loves to help her parents in the kitchen. I had a ridiculously fun time picking out fabric—I didn't find any cool train/plane prints (those are her faves) but I was thrilled when I found labelled planets and constellations. I'm definitely hoping she's inspired to be a little space nerd like her auntie.

Pattern: Sew Much Ado Little Apron (modified to be double sided) in cotton and chambray from Joann Fabric. Peekaboo Patterns Tiny Chef Oven Mitt with cotton/chambray exterior and fleece lining from Joann Fabric.

New skills: Quilting. Installing and using a walking foot.

Lessons: Bias binding tape has one edge that's slightly wider than the other so if you sew with the narrow side up, it drastically improves your chances of catching the other side.

Read before you cut, ugh, I skipped the pocket but accidentally cut lengths of bias tape for it.

American Patchwork & Quilting has an awesome tutorial for splicing bias tape.

A walking foot is 100% necessary for sewing/quilting multiple layers—I ended up with misaligned layers when I tried without it and had to rip my stitches.

The remnant bin at Joann is magic—I found the both the fleece for the mitt lining and the chambray.

Make sure to cut notches in tight corners before you turn a project right side out—I had a very sad looking thumb on the oven mitt.

What I'd do differently: Chalk in guidelines for quilting—I just eyeballed and some of my lines are definitely not parallel.

Pay more attention to how much bias tape I need—I was short and had to make an extra trip for another package.

Infinite Curtains

By far the best part of the new apartment is having a guest/sewing room. The old place was very small so I sewed at the kitchen table, ate at the coffee table, and lived with a mess. I'm especially stoked about how the curtains turned out (marathoned 6 sets in a weekend), but I won't talk about the bedroom curtains, which had a 2in difference b/w the left and right side. (Oops.)

Technique: I marked each curtain where it hit the floor, then added 1 1/2in to give a 3/4in seam (turned twice). Then I cut, pinned, and pressed the seam before sewing.

Lessons: Pro tip from my mom: use a longer running stitch when sewing with thicker fabrics to avoid puckering.

Ikea sells blackout curtains, which you can easily hang behind cute patterned curtains (hooks included).

If you're going for floor-length curtains, aim to have the bottom to be within 1/2in of the floor to avoid a weird cropped look. (Remember that bedroom curtain?)

What I'd do differently: Don't measure a curtain on the bed instead of a firm surface. Ugh. My mom—her wisdom is infinite—suggested reattaching the cut edge and making a box pleat to tidy it up so I'll give that a shot.