{Sewing Adventures} The perfect Baby A-line Dress.

Happy {late} 4th of July!  

We had a blast going to a parade. 

This one has become a family tradition; I've been going since I was a little girl.  Z got to experience funnel cake, marching bands, trucks, bagpipes, even elephants. He loved the whole experience.

We also got to spend time with family, barbecue, and drive home through lots of traffic while fireworks went off in the sky above our car.

And of course LJ needed something to wear.

The Perfect Baby A-line dress from Tie Dye Diva Patterns was...well, perfect!

Bonus: the instructions were very easy to follow. I made it in Riley Blake red and blue chevrons, and some leftover material from Z's new big boy bedding.

Toss in a matching headband,

 add coordinating bloomers,

some DIY Baby Barefoot Sandals,

And of course a t-shirt for big brother, 

And they were ready for their closeup.

{a new sewing adventure} Baby Bow Sandals!

Well I've had a not-so-brief hiatus, due to a pregnancy that made me very sick but resulted in a gorgeous baby GIRL! Then there was the whole trying to balance two kids thing, but I'm back in the swing of things and hope to keep up with {super important things like} my blog this time.

Now that I have a little girl, there's been a whole new world of crafty fun around here. The first thing I made her was a pair of open toed sandals from a pattern available over at I Think Sew. 

I think they turned out great, so I whipped up a matching hairbow real quick.

Then I realized she has absolutely nothing to wear these with, so I just listed them both in My Etsy Shop.

I'm working on a pair of these in white to go with all her summery dresses, and a pair in red for her fourth of July outfit. You can mix up the toe accents (or make them interchangeable) and the possibilities are really endless.

{The Big Boy Room} Part One- Child's Name Bunting with tutorial.

Since we're expecting our second baby in January, it's time to clear the nursery! Accordingly, I've taken on a new project: decorating the toddler's new big boy room. Unfortunately, this also means giving up the momcave (AKA my sewing room). So before we paint or make any major changes to the room, I want to get all of the sewing projects done before my machine gets evicted and relocated to the chilly basement. So far, I plan to do a set of coordinating flag pennants/buntings to hang from the ceiling, this name bunting for the wall above his bed, and a matching bean bag (photos coming soon!). 

I started choosing my fabrics and colors with a trip to IKEA. Z picked this bedding, and since we got a smokin' deal on it, I bought a second set to use for bunting/beanbag fabric. We picked some coordinating curtains that were (lucky me) way too long, so I was able to hem them and use that spare fabric as well.

If you'd like to make yourself a snazzy bunting like this, you'll need the following:

• A few different coordinating fabrics (good project for scraps)
• (Optional) White fleece or felt for backing.
• Black (or your choice) fabric for letters
• A computer with a printer (unless you're lucky enough to have a silhouette machine or cricut)
• Paper/cardstock/cardboard/etc and a pencil to make your pattern
• A ruler 
• Fabric scissors and (optional) rotary cutter.
• Heat 'n Bond or Wonder Under (to attach letters)
• 2-3 yards of double fold bias tape or quilt binding in white. (Can also make your own bias tape from fabric or ribbon)

To make the pattern:

1. Decide what size you want your pennants to be. I went with 6" wide by 9" long. Using your ruler draw out a triangle according to your measurements. This is your pattern. Cut it out.
2. Choose how many flags you want of each color, and trace your pattern on to the wrong side of your fabric. If you turn the pattern upside down every other time, your triangles should fit next to each other with no fabric wasted in between. Cut these out using your rotary cutter or fabric scissors and set aside. 
3. Iron a sheet of heat n bond or wonder under onto your black fabric. The size you need will depend on the name and your font size, but 8.5"x11" worked well for me. Leave the paper backing on for now.
4. To create your letters using a computer, open up your word processing program. Choose a font you like, and type in the letters of the name. If your name has repeat letters, you only need to type one of each letter. I used a font size of 200, but you might need to experiment and see what you like best. Once your letters are printed, cut them out and trace them **BACKWARDS** on to the heat n bond paper (see below).

Don't forget to trace it backwards!

   5. Cut your letters out carefully, leaving the paper backing on. You should have something similar    to this:

 

      6. Once you've cut out all your letters, lay out your pennants in the order you'd like them. Peel the paper backing off each fabric letter,  and place them in the center of each flag, leaving enough room on top of the pennant for your bias tape to overlap.  Iron them on one at a time.

      7. If you've opted to put a layer of backing on your flags, now's the time to attach it. Pin flags and backings, wrong sides together, and sew around your flag using a 1/4" seam allowance.

      8. You're almost done! It's time to attach the flags to your bias tape. Place flags in desired order, end to end so that corners are touching, but not overlapping. Unfold your bias tape once, and place flags in order at the crease of the tape. Be sure to leave a few inches of spare tape at the beginning and end of your bunting for hanging. When you fold your tape back over, you should have the same width of tape overlapping the front of each flag as the back. Pin in place, then stitch the entire length of your bias tape at the open end.

      9. Hang in desired location to make an extremely adorable space.

Thrifty Gifting Part 3: Embellished Cowl Tutorial.

Fabric Flower Cowl

Yoyo Cowl

These cowls are one of the easiest items you can make. They're great as inexpensive gifts or as a treat for yourself! First, head to Target or Walmart. Peruse the $5 scarves, and choose the color/pattern you want.

$5 Walmart Scarf

I was able to score this one for $3!

 

Next, remove any tags.

 

And any frills...

 

or tassles.

 

Fold ends together so the right sides of your fabric are inside, and stitch together about 1/2 inch from the edges. 

That's it! Your cowl is finished. Embellish with a fabric flower, or yoyos.

 

Remove any leftover cats from your gift boxes, and place your awesome gift inside!

 Gift giving made easy.

{getting crafty} Fabric Flower Tutorial

 

Like yoyos, fabric flowers make a great embellishment to all kinds of sewing projects. I love them because they're quick and easy to make.  They can even be a no-sew project for those who prefer using craft glue.

Note: I have an updated and improved hot glue fabric flower in this post. 

The first step is to determine how big around you want your fabric flower, and find a circular item around the house that's about the same size. I find that a regular soup can makes the perfect size to embellish a lot of different items.

Yeah I eat spaghettios; wanna fight?

Lay your fabric out flat, wrong side up, and trace 9 circles using a water soluble pen or chalk. Cut them out carefully.

 

After they're cut, take 8 of your circles and fold each in half, right side out.

 

Fold in half again. Your circle will look like the photo above.

 

For the ninth circle, fold so the wrong side faces out.

 

Now, choose your own adventure. You can secure each folded circle with a few stitches on the inner corner, or with a dab of craft glue. Repeat until all nine are secured in this fashion.

 

Set aside the circle with the wrong side out for later, and line four of your circles up like the photo above.

Overlap the inner points slightly, and secure all four pieces together. If you're using glue, you may find it easier to trace a felt circle and glue your petals down to that.

Your flower should look similar to this.

Repeat this step with your other four petals, so that you have two disc shapes.

 

Stack the two discs, alternating the side gaps, and secure by hand-sewing or gluing.

Top View

 

Take your last petal (wrong side out), and set it straight down into the top of your flower. The pointy corner should be pointing to the ground. Stitch or glue it in place.

 

Now you have your finished flower. If you like the edges frayed, you can rub it briskly against your palm or a pair of jeans. The flower in the next photo has frayed edges.

 

That's it! Now hurry up and pin it onto something cute!

{getting crafty} yoyo tutorial.

 

Fabric yoyos are a great way to embellish almost anything. They add color and texture to sweaters, shoes, pillows, scarves... cats, you name it. They're incredibly quick and simple to make too!

Start by deciding how big you want the diameter of your yoyo to be. You will need to cut a circle of fabric approximately twice as large as you want your yoyo. So for a 4" yoyo, I would need to start with a circle that is 8". You can use a compass if that's your thing. I prefer to find things around the house that I can just trace.

 

This large soup can works great.

 Once you find your circular item, you can do one of two things. You can trace it on to paper, cardstock, or old cereal boxes to use as a pattern in the future, or you can just trace it directly onto the wrong side of your fabric. I clearly prefer the latter.

 Once you have your circles traced, cut them out carefully and start stitching all the way around the circumference of the circle, about 1/8 of an inch away from the edge. You will want to use enough thread so that there is at least an inch of "slack" left over on each end.

For a closed center, these stitches are about 1/4 inch long.

Determine what type of yoyo you want before you determine your stitch length.  Longer stitches give the yoyo a closed center, like the ones in the title photo above. If you want an open center (see below), use shorter, closer stitches.

Shorter stitches will result in an open center, similar to this one.

Get the stitch all the way around your circle...

 

Then pull the loose ends together so that your yoyo starts to close like a drawstring bag. Make sure the right side of your fabric is on the outside when you do this.

 

Continue pulling to your desired tautness, and smash the yoyo flat. Sometimes you will have to reach through the hole in the top in order to get it just right.

 

Once you get it to your desired shape and tautness, tie the loose ends together tightly as close to the fabric as you can, and cut off the excess thread. 

And there you have it: your finished yoyo!

Just sew, pin, or duct tape onto whatever you want to embellish!

Thrifty Gifting Part 1: Baby Sweater Boots.

Total Cost: $0, plus fabric I had on hand.

I absolutely love giving gifts. However, my husband has been laid off for almost two years now. Needless to say, we don't have a lot of cash after we pay our bills, but I didn't want that to stop me from giving thoughtful gifts that the recipients will (hopefully) use.

Personally, I love handmade gifts because they take a lot of time and thought. I'm hoping the people on my Christmas list feel the same way! The first thrifty gift I made was inspired by this photo I saw on pinterest.

 

This pattern is on sale at I Think Sew for a pretty decent price, but as I am trying to keep costs down I decided to make my own pattern. Hopefully, I can perfect it and post it here someday. From the photos, it appears that the sleeves of a suit coat were used to make the boot tops. I wanted my baby boots to be sweater boots, so I figured why not use the sleeve from an old sweater? This one to be exact:

 

Rescued just in time from my trusty "to donate" box. Lately I've been feeling the grey and yellow, so I had a few coordinating fabrics to choose from for my boot liners.

Once I chose my color, I constructed the liners and outers separately, and then attached them at the toes and the "rims" of the boot tops. I wanted a bit more color, so I rolled the outer boot top down a half inch and let the liners show out the top. A couple of yoyos (tutorial here) in contrasting colors made a great embellishment.

 

Bonus: Little Z was more than happy to be my chunky baby leg model.

Finished baby sweater boots: may be coming to a Christmas tree near you!

I had a lot of sweater left, so I made a second pair for my Etsy shop. I can't wait to try this pattern out with my old worksuit coats.