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12 weeks

2011-08-19T19:41:00.010-06:00

I'm sorry for the very long absence. I have been not feeling well due to a little baby who is now the size of a plum. Each of my pregnancies have been harder than the last & this one definitely takes the cake. For the last few months I have constantly felt like I just got off a twisty, turn you upside down ride at an amusement park. You know the kind that are usually called something like "the hammer" that after going on once you vow to never go on again. With my daughter I felt like that, but it would come & go so it was more doable. I've also had the weirdest food aversions. You know most of the things I should be eating & drinking like meat, dairy & water. Food I couldn't stand before (like nachos from taco bell) are suddenly very appealing. One good thing though is soda tastes bitter so I have been soda free for a while now : ) But despite all the misery we are so very happy to have one last baby!!! And for the last week I have been feeling a bit better. In fact for 2 or 3 hours in the morning I feel great! I have had three ultrasounds so far & it has been so comforting to see our baby with a good strong heart beat, the cutest little hands & feet & profile, and wiggling around like crazy. I am so grateful!!! Anyway the cropped cardigan I'm wearing I made & it was the easiest thing! I took a shirt in my closet that I've only worn a couple of times because it just seems to say "mom" when I wear it. My husband thinks it's funny when I say that, he says "but you are a mom!" Which I am & proud of it, but I like to be myself too & try to look nice. I cut off the bottom right below where the tie is. I've done this shortcut before and after I wash it there will probably be a few loose threads that I can just pull off. Next I cut up the tiny part in between the two ties to make it a cardigan. I was going to fold this part under and sew it down but that seemed kind of bulky so I just painted the raw edge with clear fingernail polish (fraycheck would work too). Easy right! To dress it up I cut off a strip from the scrap piece and made a bow. Then I hand stitched it onto the cardigan. I also have enough left to make my daughter a little skirt. Hopefully I can post more as I start to feel better : ) Linking to these parties. Be sure to check them out!

Tee Tuesday - Dress with Ruffled Underskirt

2011-06-01T20:36:00.021-06:00

Sorry this is a day late, Memorial day threw me off a day. This dress was actually made from some a knit fabric remnant I picked up at Joann's. You could easily make it out of a t-shirt though. The skirt was made from scraps from two t-shirts that I had already used for another refashion. For the dress I folded my fabric in half on a diagonal so that the stripes were slanted. Then I folded in half again so that I would be cutting out the front & back pieces at the same time. I used one of my daughters sleeveless dresses as a pattern, making the bottom of the dress flare out slightly. Then I took off one of the pieces and with the other piece still folded in half I cut a v-neck at the top. At the bottom, starting from a few inches in, I cut a curved v that ended a couple of inches below where my daughters waist is. The skirt pieces I cut so that the bottom of the skirt would have the existing hem from the t-shirt and the waist would end up being about 1 1/2" bigger than my daughter's waist. I also made sure the skirt would end up about 1/2" longer than the dress. One of the shirts had a hoodie so I measured out about 1 1/2" longer than my daughter waist from where one side of the tie on the hoodie came out. I cut very carefully so that I didn't cut the string inside. Then I cut that part off of the hoodie as the waistband for my daughter's skirt. I cut a new hole for the other end of the string & pulled it through. Next I sewed the two ends of the new waistband together so the two strings came out about 1/2" apart. I hope that makes sense because I forgot to take pictures. I sewed the sides of the skirt (I ended up having the skirt flare out only slightly). Then I sewed the waistband down on the top & bottom edge carefully so I didn't sew the string down at all. After that I sewed three ruffles on the side of the skirt where the string ties were, leaving the other side plain. As you can see this dress is reversible. You can have the v-neck in the front or the back. With the skirt I just make sure the side with the ruffles is on the same side as the v-neck so they will peep out. The reason I didn't put ruffles on the other side of the skirt is because I didn't want it to look bunchy under the dress. I can't decide which way I like it better. What do you think? Be sure to check out these linky parties I'm linking to! & this one too!

Tee Tuesday - Ruffle Pants

2011-05-24T17:00:00.021-06:00

These pants were made from one of my long sleeve tees. The sleeve becomes the leg so you need a shirt with sleeves as long as a pair of your girl's pants or you could make shorts or pedal pushers. I used a pair of knit pants of my daughters as a pattern and cut the top line about an inch and a half higher so I could fold over for an elastic waistband. I later realized that the turtle neck was the perfect size for her waist & ended up using that as a waistband (without elastic). After I cut out the pant pieces I cut up the shirt into about 2 1/2 inch wide curved strips. I did curved strips so they would naturally fall in a ruffle. Then I started sewing the ruffles on the legs starting from the bottom. I would do three or four rows on one leg then do three or four on the next leg making sure they were somewhat even with the other leg. When I was done sewing around the leg I would trim off the excess fabric on the strip & then about every three rows I would use the shorter scraps and just over lap them. Also when sewing down the rows every so often I would add a little pleat to give some extra ruffling. I stopped when I was about 1/2 inch from the crotch. Then I sewed the crotch part together (the reason I hadn't done this earlier was so it would be easier sewing the ruffles on the legs). I added a couple rows of ruffles around the front & bum part of the pants. On the top row when I got to the back side I added little pleats less than 1/2 inch part to make the bum extra ruffly. Next I took the waistband piece I cut from the turtle neck and pinned it on with the top of the pants tucked in between (I had to stretch the waistband piece a little to do this which is how it should be so the pants will stay up). Then I sewed it down about 1/4 " from the raw edge (you could tuck under the raw edge if you want, but I like raw edges : ). If you cut the pants to have an elastic waistband you would fold the top down enough to fit your elastic & sew 1/4" in from the raw edge & leave an opening to feed the elastic through. My daughter loves these pants (all see every wants to wear is knit & she hates to wear jeans) and wears them all the time. I think I'll have to make some more, definitely some shorter lengths for summer. That is if warm weather every decides to come our way! Spring is almost over & we really haven't even had it yet since it was snowing last week, raining this week and we only seem to get one nice day every so often to tease us. I miss you sun! Oh & when I was done sewing these pants I noticed this (see pic below) in our backyard. I guess my boys were pretending to go camping (I'm just SO grateful they didn't try to light their campfire! I'll be linking to some of these linky parties & here & here.

Felt Crowns

2011-05-23T11:22:00.012-06:00

Here are some crowns I made a couple of weeks ago out of felt. They were fun & pretty easy to make. For the back I used I used stretchy lace on one & on the other I cut into an old baby headband of my daughters that she never wore. She loves wearing hers & pretending she's a princess. In fact while wearing her "princess" crown she'll start wrestling with her brothers & do other unladylike activities. I like to call her Mary Mary quite contrary, because you never know what to expect from her. She'll go from singing sweetly to screaming for no apparent reason or from playing with dolls to digging in the garden with her brothers (we recently found one of her little Blythe dolls buried in the garden as you can see in the picture). Anyway tomorrow I'll post a tutorial for the ruffle pants you can see in this picture. Linking to these parties & this one & this one

Easter Dress

2011-05-02T20:23:00.012-06:00

Well I'm finally posting my daughter's Easter dress. She loves pink, she gets mad when we tell her that she has blue eyes, she insists that they are pink. I was more into purple & yellow when I was little so it's a little weird for me. So I caved & made her a pink dress. I bought 3/4 yard each of two shades of pink & used almost all of it. I did an a-line sleeveless dress in the lighter pink & cut out tons of circles for the front. Here is a picture of what I cut out for the body of the dress. Then I sewed & serged the sides. Next I hemmed the neckline, sleeves & bottom of the dress. For the circle I cut a bunch of 3" circles, then 2 3/4" circles & 2 1/2" circles. I layered them large to smallest. Then I pinched the circles & sewed it down in the center. I kept doing this about 1/2" apart until the circle "flowers" went just over the shoulder. I wanted the back to be flatter so that she could wear a cardigan if it was cold. So I layered two bias cut strips one about 1" wide and one 3/4" wide. Then I sewed the strips down with pleats along the back neckline. I didn't get a picture of the back but next time she wears it I'll add a couple pictures to this post. After I tried it on I realized it was a little too full so I sewed in elastic in the back to gather it, but it would have also been cute to have her wear a pettiskirt underneath. It was also a little sheer so I made a simple slip out of one of my white t-shirts (she loves to wear knit so I figured she'd be more comfortable with a knit slip). The hat is from Claire's I just changed out the ribbon & flower. I also made myself a skirt & cardigan, but didn't get any pictures so I'll post that later this week. I am also working on some ideas for Mother's Day & teacher appreciation week so look for those this week too. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We are getting this guy a smaller cast tomorrow! : ) Linking to these fabulous sites.

Borax Crystal Easter Eggs

2011-04-23T09:44:00.009-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. Between spring cleaning, a long spring break, and a kid who broke his arm I've had no time to sew. But I did make some Easter clothing I'll share on Monday. Have you seen these eggs on Martha Stewart? As soon as I saw these I knew I had to do make them with my kids. They love to make crystals. The directions call for alum and the only alum I could find locally was $4 for a little container making the cost $8/ each egg. So I followed the directions & used Borax (you find Borax in the laundry aisle & it is very cheap). All you need are eggs, easter egg die, cups (I bought the easter egg dye that came with cups), borax & white school glue. In Martha's directions you are supposed to allow the eggs to dry overnight before putting them in the crystal solution, we only waited 10 minutes. You're also supposed to let the solution cool for 30 minutes before putting the eggs in & we didn't wait at all (the kids were too excited). They still turned out great & my kids LOVE their crystal eggs! Borax crystals aren't quite as cool as alum ones but they still looked good & the kids had a blast making them. Linking here & here

Braided Tee

2011-02-22T17:48:00.009-07:00

I love the print on this shirt but other than that it's kind of boring so I've never worn it. I decided to dress it up a little. See the bottom of this post for the before. I cut up some knit scraps I had leftover from another project into nine one inch strips. Then I pulled them until they were all curled up & much longer. Then I braided three different braids leaving about a foot unbraided. I braided the three braids together still leaving the unbraided ends. Next I hand stitched it to the shirt where I wanted the new neckline to be. The ends of the braids meet on the left side. I left the loose ends hanging & tied four of the strips into a bow. Then I trimmed off the shirt right above the braid to get my new neckline. This was a very easy way to dress up a shirt & best of all FREE! : ) I made my boys some monster pillow pets that I'll post tomorrow. Before: Linking here

Fabric & Yarn Wreaths

2011-01-26T22:46:00.005-07:00

These wreaths were easy and fun to make. I bought a foam wreath & a straw wreath at Michael's. The foam wreath I wrapped in yarn & then crisscrossed ribbon over the top of the yarn. Next I made some flower & bird hairclips. I clipped them onto the yarn in a way I liked. The idea was to have lovebirds for valentines day but I couldn't get the wreath to look right with both bird clips so I only used one. You can see the other bird clip in my daughters hair in yesterday's post. I hot glued the fabric flowers & the birds onto hair clips instead of gluing them onto the wreath so I can change them out if I want. The bigger straw wreath I just cut strips of fabric with my scalloped pinking shears (you could also just use regular scissors). Then wrapped them around the wreath, using a dot of hot glue to attach the end of one strip to the start of the next. Since I was layering both wreaths together I left it like that. You could also embellish the wreath if you wanted. You could have a lot of fun with these by wrapping contrasting colors of fabric, yarn or lace to the wreath. You could also wrap a doily or tie bows or have a cute doll or animal. The possibilities are endless! Linking here

Tee Tuesday - Beatles Onesie Makeover

2011-01-25T21:41:00.015-07:00

My daughter loves this onesie but it she is growing out of it. So I cut off the bottom part. Then I cut off the bottom of an old tee of mine. I pinned it onto the onesie with pleats. Then I sewed it down. In about 15 minutes I gave one of her favorite shirts a new life! : ) The leg warmers I made last year out of socks & added ruffles to the bottom (cut from an old white t-shirt). I had to bribe her with a cookie to get her to hold somewhat still for pictures. She sure is cute! Linking to these parties

Tee Tuesday - Gold

2011-01-18T22:40:00.012-07:00

Today has been a busy day so I'll post something I made in December. I embellished a couple purple dresses for my shop & one for my daughter. Since it's winter I made a gold shrug to go with it. I used an old gold shirt of mine that had a boxy unflattering cut. I used cut the existing sleeves down to her size by using one of her long sleeve tees, that had a tighter fit in the arms, as a pattern. Then I cut out the front & back pieces using the same shirt as a pattern and cutting the front pieces so the curved to a point in the front and used the existing tie from the shirt (sorry I forgot to take a before picture). After I sewed all the pieces together I cut off the bottom edge of the shirt and sewed it along the bottom edge. Lastly I sewed the tie down the bottom piece so the the front came to a point on both sides. Hope that all makes sense since I didn't take pictures of the process. For the dress I cut strips of gold fabric on the bias (so it will only fray a little). Then I sewed the strips down the center in circles, each layer of the circle close together folding the strip upward as a went. I started in the center leaving a small blank circle shaped space in the middle. When I had the right size I wanted I stopped and clipped off the excess. Next I sewed down gold ribbon in the center and as leaves around the outside. I know the dress part of this isn't exactly a "tee" but you could use the same concept to embellish a tee. I have two of the dresses that I'll list in my etsy shop later this week (in a size 18 mos & 2T). I also hung the other pom pom garland & found a place for the felt garland. I hope everyone is having a lovely week! : )

Valentine Garlands

2011-01-12T17:30:00.012-07:00

These garlands are very easy to make. The felt one below I made last year using Made by Rae's tutorial. I ended up thinking it was a bit too much so I took it down & I'll hang it somewhere else in the house. The love garland I made today using vintage sheet music (it was hard to cut into it, but I used some sonatinas by Clementi that I have other copies of). I cut the triangles using scalloped edge scissors. The glitter hearts and letters are from a garland I bought in the dollar section at target last year (they have had them the last few years, so they might have them again this year). Next I used different scrapbooking frames, tags, stickers & paper cutouts on the music paper. Then I hot glued the letters on & different scraps of lace and ribbon on the top. I measured out how long I wanted the ribbon then laid it all out on the floor to get the right spacing. Then I glued the ribbon onto the back. For the pom pom garland I bought two bags of 100 pom poms (one red & one white) & two white embroidery threads from Michaels. It was all under $6 and makes two garlands. I just used a needle & threaded on the pom poms in a random pattern using about half of each bag. Then I trimmed off the excess thread. Voila! An easy fun project that I did on a snowy day. The kids were home from school (thank goodness because in Colorado they are terrible about plowing the roads!) I planned on doing this project with them but they were preoccupied with trying to build a fort out of snow that didn't want to stick together. But they sure had fun trying! linking here

Tee Tuesday - Love tee

2011-01-11T13:13:00.010-07:00

I wanted to make a valentines tee for my little girl. I had this onesie that is too short that I've been meaning to cut off the bottom to make a regular tee. I started with the onesie, some felt, felt embellishments from the dollar section at Michaels and some heat-n-bond. I also grabbed some little snap clips to make matching hair clips. First I ironed on some heat-n-bond to the back of some felt and after it cooled I cut out the word "love." Then I ironed that onto the shirt & let that cool. Next I cut off the bottom of the onesie straight across and stitched on some lace (from a bag of lace I bought at the thrift store). I used blue embroidery thread to hand stitch on the lace. I did a slanted stitch because I meant to come back around the other direction so the stitches would make x's. I liked how it looked with just the first slanted stitches so I left it like that. Then I hand stitched on the little felt embellishments (you could also hot glue them on). I also hand stitched some of the felt pieces onto the snap clips (you don't want use hot glue with snap clips or they won't snap shut). This was an easy project and only cost about $4.50 with lots of embellishments left over for other projects. I made some valentine's garlands yesterday & am working on some wreaths & art work. So look for those tutorials through the rest of the week. : )

Gifts & Tee Tuesday

2010-12-28T14:50:00.019-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We stayed home & I always love just having a fun day at home with the kids. The boys all got different Harry Potter Legos, so we had fun putting those together. My daughter got a shopping cart to go with her play kitchen we made her last year and I really should make her some felt food. If anyone wants to share some play food ideas or links I'd be grateful! I wanted to wait until after Christmas to post these since they were gifts. Most of them are necklaces since my sewing machine has been acting up. But my husband surprised me with a fancy new one for Christmas! (Thanks babe!) I'm just itching to try it out some more. Anyway here is what I made for gifts this year (sorry the pictures aren't great I took them with my cell phone): (an embellished cardi) ( I wrapped this present in a vintage pillowcase and tied a necklace around it) And this tee I sewed for my daughter out of one of my old shirts. I used the existing bottom hem & reattached the sleeves after making them skinnier for her tiny arms. The neck is very wide like a boat neck with a cowl neck piece. It is made from two wide strips (with the pattern going the opposite direction as the rest of the shirt) sewn together to be one circle the same size as the neck opening. Then I folded it in half and sewed it on. It only took 15 minutes and she loves it so much that when I took it off of her she insisted on taking it to bed & carrying it around the next day. (and yes that is chocolate milk splattered down the front) linking here

Tee Tuesday - girls bow top

2010-11-23T16:22:00.010-07:00

I really didn't mean to disappear for two weeks! I've done projects, just have been to busy to take pictures. Anyway I found this shirt at Target for $2, but I wasn't a big fan of the vest thing. First I cut the vest off from the armpit straight across on each side, and the down the side as close as I could without cutting the shirt. Next I gathered the still attached vest piece half way down the side & attached to the shirt (you can do this by hand or machine). Then did the same thing again in the center, clipping off the excess fabric. I did the same thing on the other side. Using the pieces I cut off the shirt I cut two identical strips that started out wide, then tapered off to a point. I also cut a smaller strip for the center of the bow. I formed a bow with the two pieces (you can either machine or hand stitch together in the center). Then I took the little strip and wrapped it around the center of the bow, trimmed off the excess fabric, and hand stitch shut. Next you hand stitch the bow to the center of the shirt (right over where the two gathered pieces meet). Voila! I dressed up shirt quick & easy!

Falling Leaves Knit Dress

2010-11-08T09:39:00.015-07:00

I had a lot of fun making this dress & you wouldn't believe how easy it was! I took a long sleeve tee from my closet that I never wear & a looser fitting simple dress from my daughters closet. Next I folded my shirt in half and laid her dress over it so the middle of the dress hit the fold mark & the bottom was I little higher than the bottom of my tee (I wanted this dress a little longer than the one I was using as a pattern). The dress I was using as a pattern is sleeveless but the edge hit her shoulder right where a sleeve should start. I cut around the dress about a quarter of an inch out making sure I was out to the existing side seam at the point where I wanted the belt to go. The reason I did this was my tee I was using was a really tight fitting tee so it was already small enough at the bottom for the skirt part of the dress & it had a cool serging detail along the sides that I wanted to show on the bottom half of the dress. The dress I was using already had a v-neck in the front & the back like I wanted. If you're using a dress for a pattern that doesn't have that you can go back and cut the v-neck now. Next sew side seams together & the top shoulder seams. Turn dress right side out. Line up the bottom (wrist part) of your shirt's sleeves with the seams at the bottom. Lay your dress over the sleeves where you want your sleeve to start (I had it so the sleeves were pointing down at an angle instead of going straight out & were long enough to be 3/4 length sleeves on my daughter). Cut with the curve of the sleeve opening through both sleeves. Since I was using the wrist area of a tight fitting tee & I wanted the sleeves a little loose on her, my sleeves were perfect as is. If you need to make the sleeves tighter than turn each sleeve inside out and sew above the bottom seam where you need it (you can always use one of your child's tees to figure out how tight you want the sleeve to fit). Then just trim off the excess & turn right side out. Now turn your dress inside out again & put your right side out sleeves inside the dress through the sleeve opening (so the right side of the dress & the right side of the sleeve are together). Line up the edges & pin (you want the side seam of the dress and the bottom seam of the sleeve lined up). If you have a little excess on the sleeve pin in tucks at the top to give it a little bit of a puff sleeve. Now sew together & when done turn it inside out! Now you have a new little dress & you can stop here or embellish it! I did sewing in some loop and zig-zag detail with elastic thread in the bobbin (this is why I used a loose fitting dress as a pattern because I knew it would be gathered in a little bit with the elastic thread). I went down the dress a little ways in the center of the front & on the side in the back. Next I cut a belt from what was left in the sleeves (I just cut two long strips leaving the edges raw & sewed together two of the ends). Then with what was left of the shirt I cut out a bunch of leaves with some of them slightly smaller than the others & some random circles, oval & triangle shapes. I laid out how I wanted them on the front of the dress and carefully hot glued them down (making sure the hot glue wouldn't go through to the back of the dress). I only glued down the top tip of each leaf, giving it the flowy falling look. I did the "flowers" only on the left shoulder by first putting a small glob of glue on the center back of each shape & then from the front pinching it different ways to scruch it up. Then I glued it onto the dress, the bigger flower pieces first & the smaller ones either on top, in between, or towards the edges. Next I did the back the same way using only leaves except for one "flower" on the left shoulder. I also made I lace rosette hair clip with felt leaves to tie in the pink from her boots (the boots are from Old Navy). My husband LOVES this dress! As soon as I had her dressed he just kept raving at how cute she looked & how I need to take her picture RIGHT NOW (she does tend to get dirty & pull out her pony tail & hair clips). I love that we got a girl for my husbands sake, now he understands how I feel about our boys! linking to these parties

Tee Tuesday - Lacy Tee

2010-11-02T16:42:00.008-06:00

For this tee I just grabbed a long sleeve tee from my closet & a lace doily thing that I got at a garage sale. I really lucked out getting a huge box full of handmade lace, doilies, vintage fabric, notions & even a gorgeous hand sewn quilt top for $10! So I hand sewed the vintage lace on, gathering it a little along the neckline to make it curve. That's it! : ) (she had to get her picture taken to wearing one of mommy cardi's) linking here

Owls

2010-10-29T11:02:00.006-06:00

My first grader's classroom is the "owl classroom." So I decided to make his teacher some owls. One of them is going to go in a backpack for the kids to take turns bringing home. They get to take the owl on an adventure & tell the other kids about it. He had fun helping me pick out the fabrics, sew & stuff them. Now I need to make one for him. My first grader is all boy (when a couple of girls chased him at recess he got his revenge by drawing a picture of them falling into a lava pit), but he has this sweet side & isn't in any hurry to grow up like his brothers. I hope his class enjoys them! Parties I link to here

Tee Tuesday - Little Black Tee

2010-10-26T16:26:00.006-06:00

I know this looks a little more like a "little gray tee" but I adjusted the photos so you could see the detail more clearly. I was noticing all my black tee's in my closet are pretty plain. So I decided to dress one up. I pulled a too short black tee from my donation box and cut it up into a bunch of circles of different sizes (I used my die cutter which made this very quick). If you cut the circles by hand I would cut through several layers at once & the circles don't need to be perfect. Next I strung the circles onto thread, squishing the circles in different random ways. I knotted the thread on the first and last circle of each strand. I also made some strands longer & some shorter. Lastly I pinned each strand on the shirt in a way I liked and then sewed them down with my sewing machine. I made sure that at least a corner of each circle got sewed down. You could sew the strands on by hand if you don't have a sewing machine. I really like how it turned out & I have a red & black cardi in my closet I think it would look cute paired with! Parties I link to here

Munchkin costume

2010-10-21T19:15:00.014-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been visiting family for our two week fall break. I have a lot of fun projects planned for next week! My sister's kids are being munchkins for halloween & I made her daughter's costume for her. She is only one year old, so it is a little small on my daughter. My sister knew exactly what she wanted & bought all the materials. The purple shirt had a skull on it so I covered it with one of the flowers. There is also a flower on the hat and the tip of each shoe.

The hat & shoes are made of wool felt that match the shirt perfectly. The tutu is shorter in the front and longer in the back with strips of ribbon sewed on every couple inches.

The leggings are made from some flare pants that I made skinny & used the excess for the arm warmers. A while back we met some of the original munchkins at Oztoberfest in Kansas (we were in the same hotel). If you are ever in Wamego, Kansas (it's near K-State) you need to check out The Oz Museum. I just had to throw this picture in. We went to Frightmares at an amusement park near my parents. My six year old wanted to go on the scariest ride in the park. It goes straight up then straight down and around several loops FAST. His hair was combed straight down that day & this picture was taken by my sis-in-law right after. I think the ride was a bit more than he bargained for, but he says he wants to go on it again next time we're in town. Parties I link to here

Tee Tuesday - Mustaches & Eyeballs

2010-10-12T15:10:00.008-06:00

Last week on Glee, Kurt was wearing a mustache tee & I just had to make one! I thought we'd do a mustache tee for one boy, this eyeball tee for another & either a large beetle or a bunch of bats on the third. However two of my boys REALLY wanted the mustache tee. I googled mustache silhouette & clicked on images to get some mustache shapes. Then I let my boys pick out the ones they wanted & I traced those onto black felt. I let my boys cut them out then I touched up the edges so they weren't so rough. I used Fabri-tac to glue down the felt after putting a piece of paper inside the shirt. For the eyeball shirt I just followed Creative Kismet's tutorial except I let my son paint his own eyeballs. Her's are way cuter than mine so be sure to check them out. The boys LOVE their shirts & they have gotten a lot of attention as we were out & about.

Yes! More Cardigans

2010-10-06T15:18:00.011-06:00

Okay, Okay I promise this will be the last cardigan post for a while. Here are the rest of the ones I made: This one was made from a sweater from my closet. I cut straight down the front folded the bottom edge up to where I wanted it to be and pinned it down. (I put it right below the neckline in the center of the front & the had it gradually go down so at the sides it was a few inches below my armpit. This made the already low cut neckline even lower so the shirt underneath would peek out more) Then I carefully serged together, letting my serger cut off the excess & feeding it through so it wouldn't be stretched out. Even though I sewed very carefully & set my serger to the right tension for knits it still puckered a little bit. To fix that I attached my matching bias tape over the seam so you can't see any puckering. Then I put the bias tape over the two edges in the front & attached hook & eyes for the closure. Next I ironed out some of the remaining bias tape and cut three strips, each one slightly longer than the previous one. I layered them and gathered them in the center. Then I took a small piece of the bias tape and glued it around the center to create a bow. I pinned it on my cardigan (so I can remove it if I like). I got so many compliments when I wore this & no one guessed that I had made it. I washed it before I took these pictures so you can see the bias tape bow held up really well. Best of all it only took about 35 minutes to make! This one I took a long sleeve shirt with two buttons & cut off below the buttons. Then I cut the rest into strips of equal width. I used the strips to make one long ruffle along the bottom & two extra ruffles going up the back. So cute & easy! For this furry cardigan I took a long sleeve tee & cut fur the fit over the front & back, leaving the sleeves, collar & bottom edge out. I sewed this down on all edges. Then I cut through the fur & tee right down the center of the front. I zigzaged the tee & fur together on both sides. I plan on adding a zipper & a hood to it later. It kept her toasty warm for our little trip to see the fall colors last Saturday! I took a 3-6 month size cardigan that finally fits her in the width but the sleeves are now 3/4 length on her. It's funny because she can still wear some baby things, but she can also wear 3T tops as a short dress or a tunic. Anyway I dyed it blue to match her Easter dress last spring but there were a couple of ink spots from the dye. Easy fix, just attach a lace doily over the spots! I love using doilies for other things. I've been collecting them for snow flakes to hang from my tall ceiling at Christmas. Well I am working on some velvet pumpkins & trying to finish my fall curtains so I should be posting those in the next couple days!

Toddler Backpack & a Doll

2010-10-04T14:53:00.007-06:00

My little midget loves to wear backpacks, but they are almost as big as she is. I finally got around to making her one. It turned out looking like an easter egg & I made the straps a little to long, but she LOVES it! She won't take it off. I thought she also needs a doll to go in the pocket. I like the dolls with felt hair but she likes to comb her dolls hair so I used yarn. I still need to give her a face & make her some more clothes. She was SO excited while I was making it that she was having a hard time waiting. I love to make something that makes her so happy! Oh & I know I said I'd post the rest of the cardigans today but one of them is a t-shirt refashion so I decided to post them tomorrow for Tee Tuesday.

Fall Colors & Lace Cardigans

2010-10-02T19:23:00.019-06:00

Yes, I know I have done a lot of cardigans lately. I love them right now because it's hot during the day but cold in the morning & evening. These are some cardigans I did using lace. The two I did for me are lacy shirts I got thrifting. The one for my daughter is lace added to a cardi from her closet. The best part is I made all three in under an hour! I do have a couple more cardi's for me & my daughter that I'll post on Monday. See the before picture at the bottom of this post. For this one I cut down the middle and added a zipper. this one I cut down the middle and cut a lower neckline. Then I sewed each edge of brown ribbon down adding a small pleat about every inch & a half. I did this along the bottom, front & neck. for this one I added lace just like I did the ribbon (except no pleats) Here are some pics of Echo Lake in Colorado. We drove hwy 103 in Colorado to see the fall colors. It was a pretty drive. I only wish I didn't get carsick so easily! My boys tried panning for gold in the lake with paper plates they punched holes in. I love kids imagination! my husband thinks this looks like an album cover a little smile please? there it is! (he really was having fun, it's apparently not cool to smile) before picture Parties I link to here

Tee Tuesday - Girls Rosette Necklace

2010-09-28T11:34:00.005-06:00

I made this necklaces last week as a prize for my two piano students. They are 7 & 10 years old. They necklaces look adorable on them, not so cute on me, so sorry I don't have better pictures. I used fabric scraps from my t-shirt refashions & on one of the roses I used a denim scrap. The 10 year old was also trying it as a belt & a headband. It looked cute all three ways!

Tee Tuesday - Felt Flowers Cardigan

2010-09-21T11:58:00.006-06:00

This cardigan is made from cutting a long sleeve t-shirt straight down the middle of the front (I do this by matching up the two side seams. This is one of my favorite long sleeve tees because it is a soft warm knit. Unfortunately it had a fabric softener stain on the front, so I'm so happy to give it a new life. I hand cut different flower & leaf shapes from felt and sewed them on by hand with embroidery thread. I wanted bigger flowers on one side & smaller simpler flowers on the other. Lastly I added upholstery trim down each side. I sewed mine down, but if you don't have a sewing machine you could use heat n bond or fabric glue to attach the trim. I love having these hand sewn projects since I like to be doing something when I watch TV with my hubby (well not always because I like to snuggle too!) I probably won't be wearing this for a little while since we have had record breaking temps this week. Colorado isn't supposed to have 90 degree weather in September! Parties I link to here

Mindy Gledhill - Anchor

2010-09-17T09:14:00.000-06:00

I LOVE this music video. Makes me want a beat up piano like that. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been getting ready for fall. I have some fun furniture projects I'll post soon.

Tee Tuesday - Tutu Rosette Tee

2010-09-07T10:47:00.012-06:00

I hope you all have a fun labor day weekend! We visited a couple of old mining towns; Leadville & Idaho Springs. We had a lot of fun! In Leadville we went shopping (the boys LOVED the rock store where they had rocks, arrowheads, fossils, petrified wood & so on), went to the mining museum, the fish hatchery & went on a nature trail. It was fun seeing my daughter hike in her tutu & the boys love rocks & fish so they had a blast! They also kept thinking they would find gold in the stream. We also stopped at Idaho Springs on the way home for Beau Jo's pizza & walked around to see the sights. They have seriously good pizza & lots of fun stuff in their decor that kept the kids entertained while we waited for the pizza. We were seated next to a faux mining shaft & a wall of mining pictures so my boys were happy. They had a map with pins in all the places people have visited from & the restaurant is solar powered. Well on to the shirt. Since yesterday was Labor day I did a quick tee makeover all hand stitched. I love gray with pops of color so that's what I had in mind. I also wanted a little bit of shimmer so I used some tulle I had on hand. For the top two I just did rolled roses. Then the yellow one is another rolled rose but I didn't twist the strips & made it more of an oval shape. The pink is two strips gathered up & tied tight in the middle to make a pom pom type shape & then a bow below that. I used pinking shears when cutting the strips to give it a funky touch. They were all just hand stitched on & it only took about 30 minutes.

Tee Tuesday - Teal Tunic

2010-08-31T10:49:00.006-06:00

I can't decide if I like this one or not. It did not turn out the way I pictured it. I meant to make a belt for it but haven't yet. Anyway here it is (sorry for the bad pictures I used photo booth since my ten year old photographer is at school). I used a men's t-shirt and cut off the sleeves which made it like a cap sleeve. Took in the sides & cut out the neckline the way I wanted it. I used the sleeves for the ruffles. Then I used a few different fabrics & heat n bond for the applique. I added a little embroidery too.

Tee Tuesday - Fall Cardigan

2010-08-24T14:09:00.012-06:00

Today is one of those crisp cool days I love Colorado for! Then tomorrow it will be warm again. I love the variety of weather we have here! I love fall & made this cardigan from a long sleeve t-shirt to wear on cool days. I started by taking in the sleeves about half an inch so they would fit a bit tighter. I cut off the excess & turned the shirt right side out. I carefully folded the front in half so the side seams were lined up. I cut straight down the fold. Next I took what I had cut off the sleeves and pinned the raw edge in between. I snipped off the excess at the top & bottom. Then I sewed it down. Next I made two fabric strips about two & a half times longer than the front of the cardigan & about 3 inches wide. Hem all the sides of the two strips. Next I pressed pleats into the strips, making sure it ended up the same length as the front of the cardigan. I then pinned this onto the shirt with the two edges lined up & a velvet ribbon going down the center. I sewed down along both sides of the ribbon. Then I sewed on a piece of ribbon at the top of each side to tie together. The t-shirt I got at walmart a while back for around $2 & the ribbon a dollar. The fabric was from my stash, so my new cardigan was only around $3! : ) Parties that I sometimes link to here

Winner!

2010-08-23T19:49:00.004-06:00

The winner of the Rose Petal Dress is McKell! Please email me (yobaby@me.com) what size you want (newborn up to 4t) & your address. I REALLY hated picking just one winner! Thanks to all that participated & all the sweet comments! I used a random # generator to pick the winner. (this isn't the rose petal dress just one I made a while back)

Rosette Tee

2010-08-20T17:45:00.008-06:00

I have been wanting to do something like this for a while. So this afternoon while my daughter was napping I just grabbed a shirt that I don't wear very often & went to town adding rosettes. It was very easy. This shirt was too low-cut so I cut off a little more than half of the 3/4 length sleeves & used that fabric to add to the neckline. I sewed this part on but if you don't have a sewing machine you could easily hand stitch it on (or if your shirt isn't too low-cut you can just leave it as is). Next I just made 7 rosettes the same size & two slightly smaller. I used a fabric that I liked the colors but wasn't crazy about the print. I love when I can find I way to turn something not so great into something pretty! I alternated from twisting two strips & braiding three strips for the rosettes. I have links to some other ways to do roses here. I hot glued the roses together & was going attach them by hand, but I decided to hot glue them. I guess I'm just curious what will happen when I wash it. I'll update this post once I wash the top & let you know! I really like how it turned out & I like the length of the sleeves now. I had the idea of changing every top in my closet that I hardly wear into something I really love. Have a fun weekend! I love the end of summer, not too hot & so pretty! :) Parties that I sometimes link to here

Tee Tuesday - Rose Petal Dress Giveaway

2010-08-17T09:12:00.014-06:00

I made this dress with two things from the dollar store. A link pink girls t-shirt (size 12/14) & a bag of white rose petals. I bought two of each so I have extra for a giveaway! I can make any size from newborn up to 4t. You can enter up to three times the following ways: 1. leave a comment 2. become a follower & leave a comment letting me know (or if you're already a follower) 3. Link back to my giveaway & leave a comment letting me know where you linked back from. I will announce a winner on Monday! Now for the tutorial: Cut the neckline about twice as big as you want it to end up. Next cut like you're cutting off the sleeve but curve in with the curve of neckline about 3" down for a baby size, 4" for a toddler size. (For a baby size you would start cutting about 1/2-1" in from where the sleeve starts. Sorry I thought I took a picture of this part, but I guess not. I did this with the shirt folded in half so both sides would be the same. Next cut out at a gradual angle until you are even with the edge of the shirt so that you have an a-line. (For a baby don't go to the edge just cut it a skinner a-line.) Turn the shirt inside out & sew up both sides until you hit the curve (this is the sleeve part). Turn it right side out and starting at the bottom sew down rows of overlapping rose petals. For the bottom row make sure the tips of the petals are hanging over the bottom of the shirt. Do as many rows as you want the length of the skirt part to be. When you are sewing the last (top) row fold the top of the petals under. Try it on the child or compare to a dress that fits them. (If the dress is already the right length skip down to the paragraph under the next picture) Put a pin where the waist should be on each side making sure both sides are pinned the same length down from the bottom of the sleeve. Fold the skirt up so that the top of the petals hit just above the pins. Pin together (Right sides will be together so you are looking at the inside of the skirt. Stretch so it is straight and add more pins. Wrap you elastic thread around an empty bobbin (not tightly only pull slightly). Put in the new bobbin. (For more detailed shirring instructions look here or here (look for shirring madness in the sidebar) With your elastic thread now in the bobbin sew just above that top row of petals to create the waist (even though it's inside out you can see the top row of stitching and just sew 1/4" above that.) Turn right side out and make sure it looks okay then turn back inside out & trim off the excess fabric. Turn back right side out & sew one more line with elastic thread just above the waist line to cinch in the waist a little bit more. Now go to the neckline & sew 5 lines of shirring (4 lines for a baby) with the curve of the neckline & sleeves. To keep them evenly spaced you can do the inner & outer lines first, then one right down the middle of those two lines. Then down the middle of each side. Or you can just eyeball it or mark with a disappearing fabric marker (or chalk). Now all you have to do is steam the elastic thread to scrunch it up even more & enjoy! If you have any questions just let me know! I linked up to these parties

Tee Tuesday - Knots & Gathers Tee

2010-08-10T10:42:00.011-06:00

I am trying to use t-shirts I already have. These however are from Forever 21. I was there last Friday & you can't beat $3.50 for a nicer quality t-shirt. I cut the neckline & sleeves the way I wanted them leaving the edge raw. On really cheap t-shirts when you cut them the raw edge doesn't look very good. On these ones the raw edge looks good. I cut one shirt into strips around 3" wide starting straight across just above the bottom hem & going up to the armpits. Then I started randomly stitching the strips down. I actually did it by hand which took about an hour and a half, but it would be super fast with a sewing machine. I wanted to show another project that didn't need a sewing machine. I would gather parts by pinching the strip together & stitching it to the shirt. Other parts I would knot the strip & tack it down. I would tack the strip down flat with no gathers in between knots & gathers. I also would twist the strip in some places. I got my inspiration from an Anthropologie top. The picture above shows the color best & I really love the green color (another benefit of getting tee's from forever 21 - fun colors). If you have a t-shirt refashion you'd like to share go here: Parties I link to here

Love Bugs

2010-08-09T14:29:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was my last day teaching the 4 & 5 year olds at church. I wanted to give them a gift & since our lesson was "I can Be Kind" I decided on making them love bugs. They were really easy. For this wings I fused two pieces of fabric together with the strong hold Heat N Bond. Then I folded it in half & cut out the wings. I ironed on a heart shape on the front and sewed on the wings in the back. Then I put the right sides together (fold in the wings) and sewed together leaving 2 inches open at the top. Turn inside out & stuff. Next I cut fuzzy pipe cleaners in half and when I stitched the top closed I stitched them in. Use embroidery floss to stitch on the mouth & button eyes. I printed out a little message saying bye & asking them to "Love one Another." They loved them! I am going to miss those little ones! Now I am a Webelos leader or den mother or whatever it's called. I don't know much about cub scouts so this will be really good for me since I have three boys! Parties I link to here

Frock by Friday & Girls Day Out

2010-08-08T21:25:00.022-06:00

I decided to do Grosgrain's Frock by Friday this week. Except I did it all on Friday night since the boys were away. I also made a little one as a top for my littlest rascal. I used a hand me down linen curtain for the fabric on my dress & appliqued on some antique lace I bought at a yard sale so my dress cost 50 cents & I love it! My daughter's cost about the same since the fabric was $1/yard at Walmart. It isn't very good quality but a liked the sunny yellow print. I added a felt flower made from scrap felt. We enjoyed our boy-free day! We went to the mall & looked at the puppies... went shopping.... had some yummy greek food..., played at pottery barn kids..... got her ears pierced (she's been asking for earrings for a while now). The girl at Claire's was really sweet & kept saying how cute my little girl was (so she of course took right to her). They did both ears at the same time & she looked in shock for a minute & then started crying. But it was short lived because she was handed a mirror & as soon as she saw her sparkly earrings she was in awe! went home for a nap & picked up brothers from the bus. As you can see my oldest managed to already get a hole in his jeans & grass stains on his first day! She kept trying to show her brothers her new earrings. After they left for the father/son campout we watched Sprout (her big brothers always groan when we turn on Sprout) while painting our nails. And of course after bedtime I stayed up & sewed our Frocks while watching random things on hulu. Then the next morning the boys came home all muddy & stinky & telling tales of catching frogs. (Hubby looked exhausted, three boys can do that!) And of course I forgot to have them change their shoes before they left so their new shoes were only nice for one day! Parties I link to here

Back to School Bleached Shirts

2010-08-06T09:48:00.006-06:00

Today was my boys first day back to school. They started on a Friday?!? We lucked out with awesome teachers this year! The boys are always wanting to sew & do crafts with me so we decided to do some bleached shirts. I had them each pick out two plain shirts from their closets. We then googled different silhouette images of things they liked & they each picked out two. I traced the image outlines onto freezer paper. We decided to do three with soft scrub with bleach & three like these at under the sycamore. So when I cut out the images I had to keep in mind which way I was doing each image. The soft scrub ones I needed to keep the negative pieces & the spray bleach ones I need to keep the positive pieces. On the Dr. Who space machine (Tartus?) image I put x's on the pieces I needed to iron on so I wouldn't get mixed up. If you have boys that are into all things strange check out the new Dr. Who, my boys LOVE IT! Next iron on all your pieces & keep the shirts flat so the edges of the freezer paper don't peel. For the soft scrub shirts put a piece of cardboard in between the shirt underneath the image. Dab on soft scrub over the image (I just used a paper towel, but you could use a white washcloth). Let sit for 5 minutes then rinse off very well & peel off the freezer paper. For the other shirts I just used Ashley Ann's instructions except that I didn't use the cardboard and I used a hanger & hung them by my dead tree (I'm not sure if bleach can harm trees or not). I did one shirt at a time so I could supervise my boys better. The first two the bleach soaked through the freezer paper and so I colored in the edges with colored sharpies. The last one I had my son spray it first telling him to try to not hit the freezer paper. Then after he was done a lightly misted around the image. That way the bleach didn't have as long to soak through the paper. This shirt turned out perfect. On the spray bleach shirts I only left them in the sun 2-3 minutes before I rinsed them off. I washed all the shirts with the extra rinse cycle right after we were done too. My boys had a blast & two of them decided to wear the shirts they made on their first day of school! My oldest was so excited about his new Tony Hawk shirt, so he wore that. Now I only have a two year old at home & tonight is our church's father/son campout so we are off for a girl's day out! Have a great weekend! Parties I link to here

Tee Tuesday - Pleated Plum Tee

2010-07-27T08:18:00.006-06:00

Since I have been doing a lot of t-shirt refashions & I have many plain tees in my refashion pile, I decided to do a new one every Tuesday. The idea for this one has been floating around in my head for a long time. I'm not really crazy about extra long shirts. I like them to hit just above my back pockets. Since this one was long I folded up the bottom of the shirt to where I wanted it to hit. Then I sewed right where the top stitch line is. After that I cut along about 1/4" away from where I had just sewn. I also cut off about half of the sleeves (have I mentioned that I like cap sleeves). This gave me extra fabric for embellishing. So the bottom hem would lay flat I did a zig zag stitch along where I had just sewn. Plus it gave the shirt a little more personality! The front piece of scraps I cut into strips varying the width. Then with the rest I cut varying sizes of tiny circles & used my die cutter to cut small ones. First I did a wider strip right down the center with a zig zag stitch and folded in some pleats as I went. I kept adding strips of fabric using a straight stitch with two strips to the right side of the center & all the way up the left side. On the thinnest strips I just sewed straight down, on the others some I folded in pleats & others I layered the tiny circles over the strip with pleats thrown in here & there. On the left sleeve I added a pleated strip. Then on the right side (while you are sewing so when I put the shirt on it is on my left shoulder) I stitched down one of the wider strips in loops adding layered circles here & there (on most of the layered circles I would stitch loops or zig zags in the center so they won't curl up to much). I did this all closer along the collar with one of the layered circles going onto the back side of the shirt. Next I did a little thinner strip closer to the sleeve & going onto the sleeve with more loops & only 2 layered circles (with one of them on the sleeve). For an extra touch I barely cut the top edge of the collar off & the cut a little less than half of the front layer off. It gives the neckline a cute double raw edge. Voila! A new shirt that I really love! I had cut off about 3" off the bottom & still had scraps left over. So this one is great if you don't have a lot of extra fabric to work with!

Burlap & Ruffles

2010-07-26T09:46:00.012-06:00

I haven't made my daughter shoes in a while so I decided to make her a cute neutral pair. I used burlap with felt underneath. I get my my suede for the soles by buying leather scraps from the craft store or cutting up old ugly purses after washing them. I was still in the mood to sew so I also made ruffled denim shorts from the bottom of some jeans her brother tore. To make shorts you just take a pair that fits well turn it inside out & use that as a pattern to cut the pieces. Then for the top I took a long sleeve top & used the sleeves to make ruffles along where I cut the sleeves off. For a fast easy hair bow all you need to do is tie a bow out of ribbon, lace or whatever you want, then slide a snap clip through the knot in the back. Easy! Oh & I'm now contributing to Thrifty Garden Robe! Check it out here:

Jeep Dress & another refashion

2010-07-17T19:51:00.010-06:00

Here's another t-shirt refashion. I made it from one of my shirts that was a little short & had a high neck. I took pictures of the process so hopefully you can tell how I made it. I reused the neck part by cutting it 1/4 below all the way around (for the seam allowance. Shortening it to length I needed & reattaching it. Originally I stitched on rows of gathered tulle on the skirt part, but I decided I liked it better without the tulle. Maybe black chiffon ruffles would be cute? I really love it & she does too! I think my favorite is how the sleeves turned out. I left them the original length, just made them a lot skinnier for her tiny arms. Comfy & cute!

(no she didn't wet her pants, she was playing in the sprinklers)

That same day I also turned one of my way too skinny & very long tanks into a long sleeve top for her. I just used the bottom part I cut off to make the sleeves & took it in under the arms. Then sewed a scrap piece behind the lace so it's not see-through. Why does Aeropostale make their tank tops so tight?

Boys Tees & a shirt for me

2010-07-14T15:20:00.005-06:00

I made these shirts for my boys for the 4th. Unluckily most our fam ended up with the stomach flu. Luckily these shirts can be worn year round. I started by finding simple images of things my boys would like but were "American". Originally I had cut out a drum set for my youngest boy & I really liked how it came out. But he decided he wanted a firecracker instead. The process is simple but a little time consuming. You print out the image you want & try to keep it simple since you'll be cutting it out by hand. It will end up in reverse from how you print it out, so if you need to, reverse the image before printing. Next cut out some heat-n-bond a little larger than the image. Hold it up to the window with the image underneath & trace (I used a permanent marker). Next iron it on to your fabric, I used old t-shirts for my fabric. Then cut out the image (you might want to use small pointy scissors for the small pieces you're cutting out). After it is all cut out iron it on to your t-shirt where you want it. Last stitch just inside all edges to attach it better to the shirt. I used a straight stitch but you could also use a zig-zag depending on the look you want. My favorite is the eagle. My boys love them & they really like it when I make something for them! This is a shirt I picked up at a yard sale even though it was a couple of sizes too big. I took in the sides and shortened the sleeve part so that it wasn't too low cut. Next I stitched on the ric-rac & leaves with my sewing machine. Then I hand stitched on felt circles with yarn & thin ribbon. On some of the flowers I stitched on a bead in the center & I stitched on pom-poms on the tips of the ric-rac. Now I have a cute shirt that only cost a couple of dollars.

Pretty Accessories

2010-07-13T13:38:00.012-06:00

Back in May I made a bunch of necklaces for birthday gifts. I only got a picture of one of them. They are wooden beads tied in a fabric tube. For the last bead on the left side I took a fabric flower and punched out 2 holes. Then after the knot I pushed the fabric up through the hole, put in the bead, then pushed the fabric down through the next hole & tied a knot. For this toddler sized necklace instead of tying in between each bead I just tied invisible thread after wrapping in around several times. The fabric belt has a felt flower on it, and then I made a matching hair clip. She is always trying to put on her brothers belts, so she just loves having one of her own! Oh, and both of these necklaces have a large bead in the center with each bead getting gradually smaller.

Denim flowers Tee - No sewing machine required

2010-07-10T14:01:00.014-06:00

I found this shirt at target for $2.50. So I looked through my file of inspiration pictures & found this picture from Ruche. This is an old photo I think from last fall. Anyway I didn't want to copy it exactly. I started by hand stitching lines down (with embroidery floss) a couple of inches to the left from the center. I started with shorter lines and had them get a little bit longer until I got a little bit past where I wanted the first flower to be. Then I had the lines get shorter until I had stitched all the way up the shoulder. I wanted the sleeves to be shorter so I also stitched a line up each sleeve then when I tied it off I pulled it tight so that it gathered up. If you click on the picture below to see it bigger you can see the stitching a little better. Next I ironed together some green fabric I had on hand with ultra hold Heat-n-Bond. I cut out random leaf shapes. I took an old pair of torn jeans & cut 6 strips for 6 rolled roses. After I would roll up a rose I would hold 3 or 4 leaves behind the rose, place it where I wanted it on the shirt & hand stitch it on. Be sure to make sure each part of the rose is securely stitched down & also part of each leaf so they don't fall off. That's it. A great project if you don't have a sewing machine or if you want something to do while watching T.V. I wasn't sure how I liked it at first because to shirt fits big even though it's an x-small. However by the end of the day it had really grown on me & I love it!

Baby Gift

2010-07-08T18:14:00.009-06:00

I made these dresses from some t-shirts in my stash (when I find t-shirts for cheap I buy them to refashion into something). I also made some baby sandals (my own pattern) from some suede scraps for the soles & silver vinyl for the top part. I cut the outer edge with scalloped pinking shears. The gray dress I made teeny tiny because it seemed like my babies never fit any of their really cute clothes until they were a couple of months old.

The Warhol Dress from Made

2010-07-08T17:52:00.005-06:00

When I saw The Warhol Dress over on Made I was so happy because I was wanting to make a dress like that (I saw something similar from some French designer). I had this vintage fabric that I have been dying to use. I made a couple of adjustment making the front more of a v neck, adding a waistband & a full skirt. I did the waistband similar to the one on The Shirt Dress at Made. For the skirt I measured where the bottom of the waistband would be & cut out at an angle for a full skirt. Next I cut the bottom at a curve so the when the dress was on it would all fall to the same length. I hope that makes sense because I didn't take any pictures. I used some white blanket binding for the neck piece with bow & for the waist band. I used white double fold bias tape for the bottom hem since I didn't have enough fabric to hem it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. Mostly because I just love the fabric. My husband kept saying all day how pretty she looked in the dress. She kept twirling around & walking around on her tip toes, so I think she felt pretty too!

Spring Necklaces & Shoes

2010-04-21T20:28:00.010-06:00

I made a couple of bib necklaces recently in some lovely spring colors. The first one was a gift & the second one for me. I also added flowers to some flats for my shop. I'm so happy it's spring! Our house actually got hot yesterday. It's funny how when you have a long cold winter it surprises me when it's actually nice outside. I guess I figured it was never going to get warm! I'm potty training this week & it is going really well. When she took off her poopy diaper and started wiping her own bum (right when I was in the middle of teaching a piano lesson), I figured it was time. My boys weren't ready until they were three & it was a nightmare! So nice to have a easy time of it for once & she's not even two yet! Well enough rambling, Happy Spring! : )

Vintage Inspired Swimsuit & Cap

2010-04-12T19:42:00.004-06:00

Ever since the show Pushing Daisies I've thought about how fun it would be to wear a swim cap. I think I would feel really silly actually wearing one though. Then it dawned on me, why not make one for baby sister. I ended up making her a swimsuit as well, but since the cap is white it goes well with most of her other swimsuits as well. Making a swimsuit really isn't that hard. You just use one you already have as a pattern and adapt it the way you want it. This one I made with a shoulder strap then attached the white ruffle with two rows of elastic thread so the strap will stay on snug. Now we just have to wait for the pool to open! : )

Ruffled Jumper Refashion

2010-04-04T22:46:00.004-06:00

Here is another dress shirt refashion. I just love the little one piece knit jumpers for little girls. I thought it would be cute to make one out of a boys dress shirt. I added pleats & a ruffle to each side of the top part. For the bottom ruffle I cut the bottom edge of the shirt & gathered it before attaching it to the shorts. There is an elastic in the waist band and in the top seam on the back piece. I am so ready for summer!

10 minute apron

2010-04-01T19:28:00.009-06:00

This is the easiest apron ever. All you need is a cute pillowcase (I love vintage ones), blanket or quilt binding and a fabric napkin, placemat, hankie or something of the sort. I used a napkin. Center the napkin over the pillowcase 4 or 5 inches above the bottom edge. Cut the pillowcase so the top is even with the napkin. Fold the ends of the blanket binding in at an angle & start sewing along the bottom edge. When you have sewn along far enough for one of the ties, stop. Then put the top edge of your apron inside the binding. Then keep sewing until you've sewn enough for the tie on the other side. Stop, cut the binding about an inch from where you stopped and fold in the edge at an angle. Finish sewing the binding together & you're done! Makes a cute, easy gift!

Easter Sewing

2010-03-31T21:08:00.004-06:00

Here are a couple things I made for Easter this year. I refashioned a men's suit jacket from goodwill & sized it down to a boys size. It was a lot easier than I expected. I used another jacket of his as a pattern. I made little sister a hat to go with her dress. Easter is usually a little chilly in Colorado. I dyed and old cardigan & t-shirt blue to match. Then cut flowers out of the t-shirt with my die cutter for the hat. Her dress has blue embroidery at the bottom that reminds me of vintage pillowcases.

Easy Headband Cover & Some other stuff

2010-03-30T23:03:00.017-06:00

A couple of sundays ago I realized I didn't have a hair clip for little sister to match her new dress she was wearing. I grabbed a old ugly cardigan from my refashion stash that was made out of t-shirt type knit. I realized the bottom band would slide perfectly over a headband. So I cut off a strip off right above the thread line, slid it over a plain headband & trimmed off the excess. Then I plugged in my hot glue gun & while it heated up cut out some flowers from the same cardigan using my die cut machine (I got it off craigslist for $20). I hot glued the flowers on & voila a cute headband in 5 minutes! The dress ended up being a little short, more like a tunic, so she wore it over a denim skirt. It is in the picture above. I love how it turned out! I just love elastic thread! I also whipped up some headbands for prizes for my piano students. They were so easy! I just hot glued silk flowers & a ribbon to some headbands. The shirt with the yellow collar is a shirt I made recently too. I don't like it as well as the tunic & it took twice as long to make! (because it has buttons down the back) But I'm still pretty happy with it. Sister is also got a couple of new hats that I ordered from here. They took a while to come, but I think worth the wait!

Baby Gift

2010-03-01T09:50:00.006-07:00

Here are some pics of a recent baby gift I made. I used leather scraps on the shoes & the lace on the onesie I actually purchased from the scrapbooking section at Michaels. The elastic on the skirt & headband I had on hand. I originally got them from lace heaven, they have a great selection of lace, stretchy lace & elastic. Best of all they are cheap! I fused together two layers of knit fabric for the shoes & used the same fabric to cut out flowers for the headband. The shoe pattern is Heather Bailey's bitty booties.

Last Minute Gifts - Headbands

2009-12-23T23:26:00.005-07:00

I made up a bunch of headbands for gifts this year. I just dug through my fabric stash & started cutting up flower shapes, circles, ovals, etc. Then I layered them, sometimes folding them for extra dimension. I just played around with it until I liked how it looked. I picked out beads or buttons for the center. Then you just either stitch or hot glue it all together. You can make 4 of them in about 45 minutes. I just might have to make some for myself!

Last Minute Gifts - Cloche style beanie

2009-12-23T23:17:00.006-07:00

I was wanting to make something for my niece. I had in my fabric stash the bottom of a polo shirt I cut up. I used the bottom for the bottom edge of the beanie. I determined how long & tall I wanted it making sure I had extra for seam allowances. I wanted it to be a little loose for a cloche style & so I could gather it up in one spot. You cut it to look like 4 peaks all the same size. Then sew the "peaks" right sides together. After that I turned it right side out and gathered it with my sewing machine about 2" up from the bottom edge. Last I hand stitched on a felt flower w/a purple bead in the center right over the gathered spot. Voila! I cute gift in about a half an hour!

Last Minute Gifts - T-shirt Scarf

2009-12-23T23:07:00.003-07:00

I am on Christmas vacation & was trying to whip up some last minute gifts. I remembered a scarf I had seen on Ruffles & Stuff made from knit pants cut into 4 inch squares. You sew straight down the squares on the diagonal while overlapping them halfway over the previous square. It was very easy. I had a grey t-shirt from a brand new PJ set that didn't fit my husband, so I cut it up. I also alternated every other square with a sheer gray fabric I had on hand. I'm pleased with the end result & it was oh so easy!

dolls & mermaids

2009-12-09T15:36:00.014-07:00

I thought I'd share some hand made dolls. The mermaid one I made for my niece & the flip doll I made for an adorable little girls 1st birthday last spring.

Vintage Inspired Rings & Things

2009-11-07T20:53:00.016-07:00

A while back I made some earrings for teacher gifts with vintage lucite flowers. I liked them so much that I decided to make some more. I also have some of my grandmothers old clip on earrings that I have turned into stud earrings. To start you need earring backs, ring blanks & bobby pins. Then grab whatever you have that would look cute. You can use buttons, vintage earrings, scrapbook embellishments, whatever you like. If you are using vintage earrings you'll need to break off the clip-on part by bending it back & forth until it breaks. The rest is easy peasy. Just glue it on using whatever glue you prefer. I used hot glue, but you might want something stronger, especially for the rings. These rings are made from some larger clip-on earrings I had & from some red buttons. My favorite is the teal floral one. I was so sad that I only had one of them, but then I realized that it would make a pretty ring. I think they would have also been cute on a hair clip. A vintage brooch would make a very pretty hair clip too! With Christmas coming up these would make some fun gifts & stocking stuffers!

Fall Craft Festival

2009-10-21T10:09:00.005-06:00

Some of the stuff me & my incredible sis-in-law made for a craft fair. Pink fleece jacket by me. (above) halloween banner, table runner, ties & mommy & me apron set all made by the fabulous aforementioned sister-in-law. (below) Halloween onesie, skirt, & leg/arm warmers above & another pair of leg warmers below. This is just some of the stuff that was left, and is now in the shop. Happy fall! :)

New Boots

2009-08-15T09:11:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I had this idea for baby boots. So I made them with a tunic to match. Maybe some white leggings will look cute with the outfit. Or another pair of skinny jeans. I'm really happy with the way they turned out, except I'm going to go back and add an elastic to the back of the heel so they stay on better. I think the next pair I'll make in brown, with snaps on the ruffle so I can change the ruffle out. She was not in the mood to have her picture taken!

Wardrobe Refashion

2009-08-09T17:58:00.014-06:00

I was pulling stuff I never wear out of my closet and came across these three tops. I bought them cheap at Target a couple years ago and they looked cute on the hanger. However when I tried them on I didn't like how they looked. They were too short to wear as a dress and with jeans they looked bulky. Anyway I decided to try and shorten them. Now I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner. Before: I know I keep using my porch swing for pictures. My camera takes crappy indoor pictures. I cut just below the bust and just above the waist. Serged the top piece and the bottom piece together. Easy! I also used the scraps to make a little dress. All in just over an hour.

fun vintage garage sale finds

2009-08-01T21:09:00.005-06:00

I found some great stuff at garage sales this weekend that I'd like to share. This one house had boxes of sewing, embroidery and other handiwork that must of come from some grandma's attic. They hadn't even looked through them. I don't think they knew or cared about the treasures hidden away in those boxes. I got vintage fabric, thread, buttons, embroidery work, doilies, gorgeous pillowcases, notions, patterns and even some brass knobs. Also found a gorgeous hand sewn quilt top in bright cheery colors! At a couple of other houses I found some fun stuff for the boys, office supplies, more sewing notions, glassware,polaroid camera, books, fisher price toys, and a food processor. I've been wanting a food processor for a while and this vintage one works great, is much cuter than a new one & best of all only cost $3. Here's some pics of my finds:

Vintage Wall Art

2009-08-01T15:14:00.005-06:00

I love the ideas of using vintage books and records as wall art! Especially when you can do it without damaging them. My dad has a incredible record collection and as a kid I loved to look at them, they had the coolest pictures. Since they were alphabetical the first one I would see was this Abba one. For a very long time my top girl name was Abagail, Abba for short. However any time anyone asked what girl names I liked and I said Abagail they would immediately go "Oh, I love Abby." Not that I don't like Abby I just liked Abba better. I also LOVE Vivienne and Evelyn but my husband though they were too grown up for a little girl. Anyway enough rambling, here are some ideas I like (Now I just need to talk my dad into displaying his collection). found here. Love how you can switch them out! found here found here

Skinny Jeans for baby

2009-07-30T14:32:00.005-06:00

Last winter I made my little one a couple pairs of cute baby boots. It was a little cold for leggings and I didn't want her cute boots hidden under jeans. So I took a pair of her jeans and made the skinny jeans. The pair I used had some stretch to them which worked great, but I'm sure regular jeans would work too. I put her jeans on inside out and marked where to take them in on both sides and around the inside leg and crotch. Make sure both legs are marked the same. I took them off and sewed on the lines I marked. As you can see in the picture there is more fabric in the back of the leg than the front. Then I turned the right side out and made sure they looked good and looked like they would fit. Next you could cut 1/4" from the seam to trim away the excess fabric. Or if you have a serger you could serge right next to the seam. I don't have a good picture of them on her, but every time she wore them she got so many compliments!

Fabric Roses

2009-07-30T14:15:00.005-06:00

I thought I would share some of my favorite fabric roses tutorials! I would love to sew one of these on a headband! DuhBe fabric roses Portabellapixie has a fun tutorial here and I just love these roses!

Past Sewing Projects

2009-07-29T22:06:00.020-06:00

Since I am just starting this blog I thought I'd post some pictures of past sewing projects. I didn't take pictures of some of my favorite baby gifts and other projects. I'll have to dig up my past halloween costume pictures off of my old computer. I really need some photography lessons and a new camera.

headband, tutu slip and pleated booties

skinny jeans and boots (I'll have to post a tutorial on the skinny jeans)

baby booties

jacket and headband with refashioned shoes

robot shirt refashion (great for shirts with stains) sweater refashion

reversible dress with jacket flower mary janes Baby legs

toddler shirt refashion tutorial

2009-07-29T20:52:00.011-06:00

I'm sure you've seen a lot of men's shirt refashion ideas. This one is from a toddler shirt for a baby. If you want to make one for a young girl a men shirt would work too.

First you need a dress shirt 3-4 sizes larger than the girl you're making in for. I used a size 4t for a small one year old (she wears a size 6-12 months). You also need elastic thread.

Next cut off the collar and the sleeves as close to the seam as possible. Take off the pocket with the seam ripper and if there are collar buttons take those off too. I decided I wanted blue buttons instead of white so I took all the buttons off.

Turn the shirt inside out and decide how big you want the armhole to be. Sew or serge down the shirt from that point down to the bottom corner (you will be sewing at an angle so the dress gets wider as you sew down). Do the same thing one the other side making sure to start at the same point so both armholes are the same size. I started mine at the same place as the yolk in the back. I thought I got a picture of this step, but I guess not.

Turn the shirt right side out. Now for the shirring. You take your elastic thread at wind it by hand around your bobbin. Put in your machine and make sure you have a long tail.

Dress shirts shoulder seam are usually towards the front of the shoulder. If that is the case start sewing 1/4" above the shoulder seam at the neck. Be sure to stitch forward and back a few stitches 3-4 times to make sure the elastic thread is secure. Sew straight to the other edge and sew back and forward a few stitches to secure. Then move up 1/4" and put the needle down and turn the shirt around with the needle still in. Sew to the neck edge keeping your stitch 1/4" above your previous row. Do this one or two more times depending how many rows of stitching you want. Make sure you backstitch a few times at the beginning and end of each row.

If the shoulder seam on your dress shirt is at the top of the shoulder do the same thing as above except below the seam instead of above. The shirring should be at the front of the shoulder.

Do the same thing on the other shoulder.

Now sew one row of shirring around the dress starting from just to the side of the buttons. You want the shirring to go just below the arm hole so measure from there to the front by the buttons so that the shirring won't be too high. Since my arm holes started where the back yolk is my shirring ended up just below the yolk in the back which looked nice. Sew straight all the way around making sure you end on the other side just before the button holes. Also make sure the beginning and the end line up so that when you button up the dress you shirring runs straight across the chest. Of course stitch back and forth for a few stitches at the beginning and end to secure the elastic thread.

Clip all your threads and steam the elastic thread and watch it gather!

Next you can embellish the dress if you want by sewing the pocket on the bottom corner, sewing an applique onto the dress, tying a ribbon around the waist, whatever suits your fancy!

If you took off all the buttons sew the new ones on.

When you wash the dress you'll get some loose threads at the collar and sleeves, just clip them off.

Enjoy!

Simple Apron Tutorial

2009-07-21T14:04:00.016-06:00

This is a simple apron I made for one of my son's teachers and I thought I'd post a tutorial. It was very easy to make and turned out quite cute. Especially if you're making it for someone who doesn't like ruffles. It took me about 45 minutes with several interruptions, so I'd guess it would take about 1/2 hour. Supplies: 1 yard of fabric (I made mine 30 inches long so if your a little short of yard that should work) 1 rectangle of fabric in a coordinating print (about 10"x16" size depends on how large you want your pocket) or to make it even easier a fabric napkin. 1 package bias tape in a matching or coordinating color about 2 yards of coordinating ribbon Fold your fabric in half so that folded in is at least 10" wide. Starting at the fold at the top cut straight across for 4-5" (depending how wide you want the top (8-10")) the curve down for an inch then cut diagonally down so that by 10-12" down from the top you will be 10" in from the fold (10" down for a shorter person, 12" down for a taller person). Then cut straight down until you are 29" down from the top then curve down towards the fold until your apron is 30" long. Cut straight from there to the fold. If this is confusing just look at the picture and remember the top is 4 to 5 inches from the fold, then angled down to the natural waist (about 10 to 12 inches) and at the waist you should be 10 inches out from the fold. Then you can cut straight down until 30 inches and straight across. Just go back and make sure your corners are curved. Next open up your bias tape and press out the folds from being in the package. You might want to press your apron piece to at this time so it's nice and crisp. Now starting at the waist on one side put the bias tape on with the edge of the fabric inside the fold. Now back stitch and sew the bias tape on all around the apron. When you reach where you started cut the bias tape a little longer than where you meet the starting point. Fold the edge of the bias tape down. Sew down the end making sure it overlaps where you started and off course back stitch. Now take your ribbon and cut a piece long enough to attach to each end of the top of your apron and still fit over your head. I cut my ribbon 20 inches long the apron easily fit over my head but I ended up wishing I would have cut it a little shorter (maybe 19"?) Sew the end of the ribbon on behind the each edge of the top of the apron. If you want to be able to tie behind the neck just cut two ribbons instead of one and either heat seal or sew down the ends. Next cut two lengths of ribbon for the waist ties (I cut mine to about 28" each). Sew behind the edge where the waist is (the point where the apron started to go straight down) on each side. Heat seal or sew down the ends of each ribbon. Now take your rectangle and press under the edges. I pressed all my edges folded over so there would be no raw edges, but you only need to do that on the top edge. I made sure that after wards my rectangle was now 15" wide so that I could divide it into thirds and make three pockets later on. You could also just have it as one big pocket or two pockets. (If you are using a fabric napkin you can skip this part but you'll want to press it folded in half to make a rectangle) Now sew down the top edge. Then pin it onto the apron where you want it (I centered mine about 3" below the waist line). Starting at the top of one side sew down the edge then across the bottom and up the other side. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and the end and of course don't sew down the top edge. If you wanted just one big pocket, you're done! Otherwise for two pockets sew straight down from middle of the top to the middle of the bottom of the pocket. For three pockets, divide the width of your pocket by three (mine came to 5" since it was 15" wide) and measure in that much from the top edge of one side of your pocket. Start there and sew straight down to the bottom edge. Now do the same thing from the other side. And of course always start and end with a backstitch. This is my first tutorial so I hope my instructions were clear enough. Enjoy!

Linky Parties

2008-08-08T09:23:00.016-06:00

Here are parties I link to:

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