Tara Miller Designs

Black Friday Cyber Monday Discount!

This weekend, Black Friday through Cyber Monday everything in my Shops is 20% off, just use the coupon code "blackfriday" to ge the discount! happy Shopping. 

Lining the [wool] hat

 

When I was pregnant I made several hats for my new little one. Two of those hats were knit from wool because being a Sept. baby, Emily was due for some cold days early on and I wanted to make sure that her cuteness not be diminished by some warm hand knits. However, my pregnancy brain didn't trigger that babies don't like to wear  a lot of wool because it can be itchy. This is true for my baby. Two seconds after donning her new hats Emily would imitate our Wednesday Tornado Siren. I quickly decided to line her hats with some nice cotton jersey knit fabric. It was a piece of cake but I wanted to share a quick picture tutorial in case any other babies have moms as forgetful as Emily's. 

First lay out your hat on a big piece of paper and trace all around the hat. 

Remove the hat and add a small seam allowance. It doesn't have to be perfect since this is just the lining. I added 1/4 in. 

Cut out your pattern piece and trace it onto a folded piece of cotton jersey knit fabric. Make sure the stretch is going width wise. Cut out your hat liner- you should have 2 pieces. 

With RS together, serge or zig zag stitch around your hat, leaving the bottom open. 

Fold up the bottom of the hat 1/2 in. toward the wrong side and stitch around the hem. Insert lining into hat and pin in place. Starting on the back of the hat and using a narrow zig zag stitch begin sewing the lining to the hat. Stitch in between rows if you can to hide the stitches. Since my brim was garter stitch, I was able to stitch between purl bumps to hide my stitches- you can barely see them in the bottom picture. Trim your threads. 

Your baby, toddler, or older kid is sure to enjoy their hand knit wool hats much more with a nice smooth lining. I am even considering lining my wool hats for the extra warmth and to prevent itching. I deserve something nice too :)

Pinterest Pass/Fail

I have been a long time Pinner on Pinterest and I LOVE it but the one thing that really irritates me is the lack of ratings or success rate for many pins. Other than dusting off google and searching for the Pin subject on blogs there is really no way to learn if that DIY, recipe or product is any good. So for my own interests and maybe for those who follow me on Pinterest I have started a Pinterest Pass/Fail board so I, at least, can remember. 

The rules of my board are pretty simple (and may be subject to change later on) but when I try something from Pinterest and it is successful I leave it on its originial board but also pin it to my "Pinterest Pass/Fail" board with the word "pass" in the description along with the subject of the pin and any comments. I might add some suggestions for a recipe, add why it was so good/fun or suggest tips for making the project/DIY a little different. 

Now should the Pin be unsuccessful then I remove it from its original board and just pin it to the Pass/Fail board, add the word "Fail" to the description along with a short snippet on why it failed. 

I am hoping other's might follow suit with their own boards so we can weddle out the bad, unsuccessful pins to keep Pinterest fun and full of worthwhile Pins. 

Let me know if you are intersted in joining my board and I will add you. 

Shop updated!

Hi All, 

Just a quick word to let you know I have added new Out of Print patterns to my Etsy shop! I am cleaning out my sewing room trying to get organzied for baby. Patterns range from $1-$4 with shipping low!

Quilt: Baby Steps

I'm making my first quilt, y'all! I am so excited because I have long wanted to make a quilt. It doesn't (really) need to be sized or fitted. You really can't go wrong with the colors. Unlike clothing it will always fit and has the potential to be passed down for generations. That last bit is mind blowing to me. 

My grandmother made a quilt each for my sister, me and my brother and we all still have them. Mine needs repair due to love damage but it is still in great condition and I still use it for an extra layer of warmth in the winter. It is twin size so I don't have to burden my warmer blooded husband with an extra layer on his side of the bed. 

I am actaully making 2 quilts, one for each of my girls. Devon's will be a twin size but Baby #2 will be a crib size. I envision using the crib size for at least her first 3 years (unless it becomes a comfort object then a few more years) as a playmat, outside seating until she walks, a car blanket and stroller blanket so I can justify not making 2 twin sizes. I am using Deyse Schmidt's Hills N' Hollers quilt pattern which  calls for hand appliques of 85 hills (60 and 25 hills per quilt) so I am looking into shortcuts. My first option is to add 1/4'' seam allowance to each hill, baste around the edge and then press using the basting stitch and topstitch in place. The second is to use heat n bond but I am afraid of the edges fraying. The second method was used by Blair Peter of Wise Craft so maybe I will send her an email to see how her quilt is holding up. Wish me luck!

Making for baby!

I have been feeling the 2nd trimester energy surge and thus have been making all kinds of goodies for babe #2. First, we watch a good bit of Bones here so when I saw those cute top knot knit baby hats on Brennen's baby, I had to make some for my own little one. I need to invest in some funky knits so I just started off with a really great heather blue so see how the pattern from Prudent Baby worked out.

Umm, the hat turned out Amazing and I am really pumped to make some more. The hat took maybe 10 min to make and it is exactly what I am looking for. 

I have started what I hope will be a collection of chevron stripe hand towels for the girls bathroom. First up is green and I hope to follow with blue, teal, red and maybe a yellow. 

Then I created a knit hat inspired by the Chickadee Hat found on Land of Nod but based on the Kim's Hat of LMKG. I am pretty sure this will look awesome on the new baby. 

 

Lastly, I was inspired by some pricey muslin baby blankets I saw at a boutique in Charleston so I set out on the Fabric.com blog to make some of my own. Needless to say I can wait to swaddle my new baby in these new blankets!

Sun Hats from Christmas

We went on a beach vaction early in April with extended family including some of Devon's cousins. I gathered since she was gettting a cool new hat from my Oliver+S book gifted to me over Christmas, that I should put my rotary cutter to the test and cut out 4 (1 for D plus 3 for her cousins) and set to work. The cutting was the easy part and making Devon's was super easy too. Her medium size hat went together like pie (hmm, I could go for some pie!) but the 3 larges didn't. The hang up was stitching the top of the sides. The top of the hat was just too big. So I grabbed my medium pattern piece and it fit perfectly. Not sure how this mix up happened but in the future I marked the medium piece: "Med/Large". Once I had that figured out the rest of the hats fell into place. The results were amazing and an equally big hit.

The red and pink is one hat and the dark blue and light blue are another and the spider/octogon are the last of the cousin hats. The last is Devon's floral and sort of abstract in green and pink. She wears it all the time and I can honestly attest to that considering I made them over a month ago!

We've Moved

Hooray! After having our house on the market since April we have finally found a renter and have moved across town. Our new place is 10 min from Garrett's work and 20 min from my parents house. Perfectly situated. We moved just 2 weeks ago so creative production has been at a slow crawl but I am getting back up to speed. Of course I have still been doing my regular posting for Fabric.com's blog but I have some of my own things in the works. A few new knitting patterns are almost ready and I am in Home Decorating Mode (Red level). Our new place is zero property line so some of our windows look into our neighbor's back yard. While they do have a fine yard, I think we will be better neighbors with a few curtains up. I have sewn up some super cool Cafe Curtains for the mud room and am only waiting on the hardware to hang them. Then I am planning som cafe curtains/roman shade for the master bath and closet. It will be amazing and of course I will post pictures as they come. Now here a some links to some of mmy free projects over at blog.fabric.com

Halloween Dish Towels (pictured above)

Pumpkin Bucket Cover

Ellis Square Square Crochet Cowl & Hat Pattern

Tybee Coverup Knitting Pattern

Back to Blogging

 
Everyday I have been thinking of blogging but when it gets down to it I have not made it the priority that it should be. Many of you may know that I have been blogging over here and not so much here on Gruenetree. The tide is turning and I am dedicating more time to my own projects so there is more for me to blog about here and more projects to come.  

One of my most recent projects that I am still super excited about is my new Cardigan Bay Jacket from Interweave Knits Fall 2011. I have been over the moon since this issue arrived. More and more I have been disappointed in the patterns the past few seasons but this issue makes all past transgressions forgiven. I love so many of the patterns and I could not wait to cast on for the Cardigan Bay. It took a little over a week to knit up and while I am still waffling over buttons, it is done and awesome. Too bad it is months from being cool enough for me to wear.

Next I knit up the Pembroke Wrap from Interweave Knits Fall 2011. This was also a fast knit and super cozy. I know I will be giving it as a Christmas present but I am not sure to whom yet. I used Lion Brand Wool Ease with US 11 needles so it is a little bit smaller than the pattern but still a good size. At the time I didn't have my size 13 needles (see this post on prepping for the move) so I ordered some new Harmony needles from Eat, Sleep, Knit (more below). Thus I used my 11's. I will definitely be making this again but maybe in 2 colors.

This issue has inspired me to branch out with the chunky yarns and I have 2 patterns in developments. One a shawl and one a jacket. I just received my yarn for both today so I will be casting on this evening once the child is asleep. Now more on Eat, Sleep, Knit. I have just discovered that this cute LYS is in my neck of the woods. But even better are all the deals they offer and the wide selection of yarn colors! Like I said I order my Knit Picks needles from them and the order shipped that day and was in my box the next! PLUS they included a Yarn lottery ticket and I won $100 store credit! So I ordered more yarn and then with that order I won a skein of Sploosh! Plus, they have a yarn marathon where you can win even more yarny goodness! To top it off shipping is cheap and fast ($3 and $5 or free if you order over $75). So I am in love now.  

Kid Tents- a double take

A recent birthday party got me back into the tent making game and I created a few shortcuts to make it painless to make these great kid toys!

1) get your self a 6 ft straightedge. I use a 1x4 that was used for a valance but now is reserved for an extra long straightedge. This will make it really easy to draw your cut lines. 

2) do not turn your raw edges under to make the rod pockets. This was too much ironing and too much hassle when sewing. I cut my tent with pinking shears and then leave the edges exposed. It looks great and is so much easier.

3) Because I cut with pinking shears, I also don't hem the top. This just shaves a little bit more time off and makes it that much easier. 

4) I use 1/2 in. PVC pipe because it is more bendy and thus fits into my car. The home improvements stores sell them in 10 ft lengths and don't cut them anymore so I had to bump it down from 3/4 in. to 1/2 in. but I have not noticed a difference in strength. This makes the rod pocket at 1 1/4 in. 

5) I use a strip of blue painters tape to mark my seam allowance for the rod pockets. The bright color makes it very easy for me to notice and keep my seams lined up.