A Productive Memorial Day...

Since it was a holiday yesterday and we had lots to do before our open house this Thursday, we decided it was upgrade day for Bella Jean Boutique...My brothers Chris and Isaac did more of our trim and crown molding in our new area. It's amazing how nice you can make something look with crown molding!

Crown molding!

My dad and I took a trip to our local fabric store and got material for our fitting room curtain, as well as material for a project my dad wanted to do. (I don't think I could have gotten him to go with any other reason). We then headed off to Home Depot to get the materials for a new cutting table in our work area. I was so excited! Our old one had been around a little too long!

Materials for Cutting table

We found a picture of a cutting table we liked and copied it, with our own dimensions. If you want to make one, it actually is pretty easy! All you do is buy 2 cube organizers in the color of your choice. Then we got a melamine board for the table top...we made ours 3.5' x 6'...then we got a trim for around the edge to make the top look thicker.


We assembled the 2 cube organizers first, adding some wood glue in all the dowled areas to make it stronger.

We then placed them in the area we wanted them and set the melamine on the top. We centered it, marked it in case it shifted and began drilling holes up through the cubes into the top. Veronica went behind me and screwed all the screws in (of course using screws that were short enough to not go through the top).

Chris then put the painted trim all the way around in his professional contractor way. My dad painted the backs of the cubes white, as well as touched up the trim! We were done! A couple hour project and there you have a beautiful cutting table and much more needed storage space!

So don't forget to come check out our new area and improvements on Thursday and Friday June 2nd and 3rd from 10am-5pm...

Instructional Video - How to Sew an Invisible Zipper into a Dress

Sewing an invisible zipper in a dress has never been so easy. Our instructional video will walk you through it step by step. Let us know if you have any other suggestions for instructional videos you would like to see.

Creativity in Your Decor

Lately we've been searching the internet for new and interesting ways to add to our decor that doesn't cost alot but makes a big difference and a lasting impression on our customers. One small decoration i found is rolled paper flowers. They are really simple but they dress up a small area. Here's where I found it. This website is full of amazing decor ideas and tutorials for different things you can make.

Another little element we added to our walls was the decorated embroidery hoops. We've had the plain hoops sitting around for a long time and finally decided to look for things we could use them for. There were lots of websites full of different ways you could decorate them. Here's how we did it. We put fabric in them and then found out how to make fabric flowers and added them with other embellishments. The Jones Design Company also has tutorials for these kind of flowers.

Today we got this dresser which, you can obviously see is our favorite style; shabby chic! We put the green shelf on top to create a hutch and there you have it, a great display area. We are using the dresser drawers for much needed storage.

One other website I wanted to share with you is called Pinterest. It is full of pictures and pictures of decor, fashion, gardening ect... that you can add to your board and easily refer back to. You basically just type in anything you want for example "dresser displays" and it comes up with loads of pictures to help you with your decor. I found it really helpful! It also leads you back to the original source (usually blogs) of the pictures so you can usually find out how exactly its done.

More Pictures from Our Latest Summer Styles

Yesterday was so beautiful that we just had to get outside and get some photos of our newest styles. Actually, one of the dresses I especially wanted to photoshoot had just sold last week in the shop so maybe we will have to make another one to sell! Enjoy!

The back is shirred for an easy fit!

The colors give this dress the wonderful feel of summer!

What a little poser :)

This is our new 4th of July outfit

Ruffle top and button skirt

what fun it is to push a wheel barrow

You're Invited!!! June 2nd & 3rd

Come join us for our grand opening of our newly renovated sewing studio and boutique shop. See where we create our unique children’s clothing, home decor items and custom formal and casual apparel. Enjoy our other local sellers handmade jewelry, greeting cards, baby gifts and more. See a variety of our students projects that they created to see the possibilities you could create! Bring a friend and both will receive 20% off your entire purchase!

Let all your friends know about it! We want to make this the biggest turn-out in our company's history!

New Summer Children's Apparel

Yesterday was so beautiful (which can be very rare around these parts) I had to get outside and take some pictures of some of our newest line of summer clothing. This included a skirt with a ruffle along the hem, a peasant top and a coordinating hat. One of our sewing class students made the perfect little model, and her friend was over so we got her in it too! We are still coming out with some 4th of July clothing too so check back soon!

Attention to Tiny Details...My Hat Renditions

Today I ventured out of my usual seamstress ways and made some little doll clothes. When I say little I mean tiny! My customer wanted me to come up with creative cute dresses for these dolls and they are 6" tall. I didn't think I would be able to sew something that little but, when I got to it, it actually turned out really cute! Now I only have 2 other dolls to go in this size and then a couple of Cabbage Patch dolls.

  Here's a picture of my hat renditions after seeing them on Make it Love it.

 

I also just finished up a new summer dress! I also added in some small detailing on this dress. Right above the hem I added 3 pintucks and then put ric rac under each layer. It adds dimension to the dress. This dress has a shirred back and sleeves so it is easy to get on and off a little girl. When you sew little girls dresses I think little added details make all the difference!

dress front

pin-tucks with the ric rac added

shirred sleeves

shirred back

Creative Tutorials...They're All Free!!!

I stumbled upon a blog today as I was looking up patterns for baby knit hats. This blog is full of sewing tutorials for baby and kids sewing projects to home decorating tips and recipes. I looked up the baby and kids stuff and found lots of easy projects like hats, bloomers, headbands, cat seat covers, pillows and lots, lots more. Have fun checking it out! It's called Make it Love it

Here's a few pictures of some things I liked -

what a great idea for a bib!

diaper and wipes holder

what a cute owl pillow!

felt headbands

cute pillows

these are the hats I really like - and they're so easy! I like the blanket too.