What's New On Etsy: Child Aprons

Well I did it again.  I participated in a holiday boutique with my good friend.  It was much more successful.  I was able to clear out some of my stash of towels and I added a new item this time.  Children's aprons.  I figured they were a simple project and a good way to use up some of my larger scraps of material.  They have elastic in the neck straps and snap closures at the hip for the back strap...making it super easy for children to put on and use without too much help.  I'm thinking that my girls will definitely be getting their very own this Christmas.  In the meantime here are some great pictures and the aprons are available here at my Etsy shop.

Free Craft Friday -- Keepsake Pillow

My husband and I first met in person on August 14, 2006.  He work a t-shirt from his favorite band at the time (Lagwagon) and I wore a black shirt with these camoflauge cargo shorts.  We had an amazing first date.  He took me to a restaurant that his family visited every Labor Day weekend.  I joked it was a dive as it was the first time I'd eaten there although I lived much closer to it than he.  We laughed over "stupid ash chicken" they had burnt my orange chicken and went on to enjoy the movie Goonies at the movies in the park in Ogden.  A little over a year later we were married in October 2007.  The t-shirt and shorts were still frequently worn and finally this summer (2012) they both had enough.  His t-shirt had developed holes at the seams and armpits and my shorts finally split down the inseam.  I didn't really want to get rid of either item.  So I asked my husband if he would mind if I turn his favorite t-shirt into a keepsake of our first date.  He agreed and this totally awesome pillow was born.

Keepsake Pillow

Materials:
-significant clothing from dates, special occassions, etc.
-scissors
-pins
-thread and need or sewing machine

Step 1.  Determine the size of pillow you wish to make.  Make sure you have enough material to cover this size.  You could a pillow form but I decided to just use some extra batting/stuffing I had left over from another project.

Step 2.  Piece your project together.  For me this meant measuring my husbands t-shirt to include the image as well as some material for bordering.  I was then able to piece together a back on the pillow with my shorts.  I cut them apart at the seams and tried to use the least worn pieces for the pillow.  I then pinned the back together and sewed this first (really a mesh of different sizes and shapes).  I pieced the back together making sure that it would oversize the t-shirt piece (size of pillow).

Step 3.  Trim down both from and back pieces of material to be the same size.  In my case I trimmed the shorts to be the same size as the t-shirt piece.  I laid out the t-shirt on top of my sewn shorts and then trimmed off the excess.

Step 4.  Pin both pieces with right sides together and sew along the outter edge with a 1/2" seam.  Leave a hole approximately 2 to 3" in order to stuff the pillow.  If you use a pillow form this "hole" will need to large enough to put your pillow in.

Step 5.  Stuff your pillow.  To finish use needle and thread to sew up the opening in the pillow with an invisible stitch.

*I'm sure there are other ways to form a pillow with remnant clothing, etc.  I simply went with the simplest of ways and one that I knew I would have enough material for.   And yes the pictures are crap on this one...serves me right for using my less than desirable camera.

Free Craft Friday: Applique and Disney Outfits

Every leap year my husband's family celebrates their tradition of going to Disneyland together.  I have enjoyed this tradition twice with his family now and I think it's a great way to not overdo Disney and still keep it magical.

For this trip (February 2012...old project haha) I decided to make the girls a Minni Mouse shirt.  I had found some red with white polka dot material in the remnant bin at Hancock Fabrics a few months before and knew I could put it to use for a fun Disney outfit for them.  A couple weeks before the day I found that I hadn't even touched the project so I went to work.  I searched online for a template for Mickey Mouse ears and discovered people wanted to charge me $4 or more.  No thanks.  I hopped on a Google Docs and made a super simple template myself in about 10 minutes. Mickey Mouse Template here (let me know if it doesn't work).

Next I looked up a few different tutorials on doing applique (Plaid Apple and Sew Mama Sew were my go to blogs on this). 

materials needed (polka dot material not present)

Minnie Mouse Onsie / Applique

Materials:

-onsie or shirt

-red and white polka dot material

-black material

-Wonder Under or other fusible interfacing

-stablizer or you can use lightweight interfacing (keeps your stitches from puckering)

-sewing materials (sharp sewing scissors help a lot)

-iron

Step 1. Prewash your fabrics and onsies. I am horrible at this but it's an important step especially with applique and sewing different fabrics together.

Step 2.  Trace and cut your template for applique from the Wonder Under.  Mickey made it easy as I didn't have to reverse the image or such but keep that in mind depending on how complicated you get. Iron on the Wonder Under peice to the wrong side of your fabric.

 Wonder Under cut into pattern and ironed on to "wrong" side of fabric"

Step 3.  Peel off the paper backing of the Wonder Under once your peice has cooled.  This was my first time doing applique and I swear this was not a step in any tutorial and I tried to iron the peice on with the paper attached (silly me). 

peel off the paper leaving the adhesive behind

Step 4.  Iron the sticky side down of your fabric peice to the shirt or item you want it attached to.

Step 5.  Iron on stabilizer or pin it to the inside of your garment.  This will keep the stitching even and prevent ruffle and other uneven looking applique messes. 

Step 6.  Using a sewing machine or by hand, sew around the outside of the applique.  Try to keep your stiches close to the border and very even...overlapping to prevent fray or allowing for fray if you wish, depending on style.

Gathered Skirt (Addition)

After the applique onsie/shirt was complete I used the red and white polka dot material to add a simple gathered skirt to each onsie. Then I simply put a pair of red and black leggings under each girls' outfit and we were good to go. Literally finishing touches (the bows) were added only hours before our flight.

Step 1.  Sew hems on both top and bottom of skirt.  Then sew a long "baste" stitch with your machine along the top of the skirt.  DO NOT reverse stitch or "lock" your baste stitching.

 gather material with a basic sewing machine..."baste stitch" and keep your thread long at both ends

Step 2.  Keep the thread long at both ends of the peice of fabric.  Once you have the baste stitch complete find the bottom/bobin thread (bottom of hem/stitch) and gently pull on this and gather your skirt across. 

pull the bottom thread or threads in this case and voila...cute gathered skirt

Step 3.  Pin the skirt to the shirt or onsie to get your spacing/gathering just right and then sew the back seam together with right sides together.  Once back seam is complete then sew the skirt to the onsie or shirt.  

finished product without the bow

Basing my under $10 estimate on $3 onsie, $2 remnant fabric, $5 Wonder Under (not using nearly all of it) and having some other supplies on hand.

My girls living it up in Disneyland with their Minnie Mouse themed outfits

Free Craft Friday -- Seat Belt Covers

We recently transitioned the girls into convertible car seats (still rear facing...they don't even weigh 20 lbs if we wanted to turn them around haha).  I thought this would get rid of the "belt burn" that Seren often got on her neck when we tightened the belts down with the infant seats.  It didn't.  Kendall even got one or two with this new seat style.  They weren't a fan of them of course so I went online and found these adorable seat belt covers and an awesome tutorial by Jess at CraftinessIsNotOptional.  Once again I'm not going to post a tutorial because this one is awesome...no need to even modify.

-3 3/4" long; fit and used on my Evenflo Tribute carseats

-P.S.  Most instruction manuals will say that you can't add anything to the seat or it compromises the safety.  I feel okay putting these on the seat as they are small and don't seem to change how the belt or harness works or fits (I'll try to snap a picture once in place...or check out the tutorial pictures).  Anyone with more experience or knowledge have more to say or feel on this topic?  (I'm curious and not out to argue;  I think we can safely say we are all in it for our kids' safety)

-my under $5 estimate is based on the fact I bought materials to make 2 sets of seat belt covers for around $8...so one set would be relatively cheap (plus I bought too much fabric and have quite a bit left over).

Free Craft Friday -- Rag Quilt (part one)

Okay I admit it.  I was slacking off this week.  We have been dealing with two sick babies and although I have some projects in the works...they just aren't happening anytime soon.  So instead I'm sharing a rag quilt that is in process (ie all over my family room floor).  I made one of these for my friend's baby shower last year using this tutorial and love how it turned out.

Step 1.  Determine the size of quilt you want to make.  I typically decide on the size of square I want and then based on that determine how many squares and yards of fabric I will need.  For this quilt I'm working on I did 8 inch squares and did a 6 square by 8 square size (4 ft by 5 1/3 ft).  Also keep in mind that you have a 1/2 seam that will be sewn and snipped around each square and the outside.  

Step 2.  Lay out your selection/pattern (one front and one back) with squares.  You can do the same pattern front and back or change it up on the back or do a solid (too many choices).  Once you have determined the pattern pin them together with wrong sides together.  Sew an X through each square (picture below).

Step 3.  Keeping your pattern in order pin strips horizontally together (as pictured below) and sew a 1/2" seam with "wrong sides"/back squares together.

Step 4.  Once you have your horizontal strips pieced together and sewn your next step is to pin them together.  Pin the same way (so that 1/2" seam is toward the front of blanket).  Pin the seams from Step 3 together so that the underside seam (held by my forefinger) goes flat on the machine and the top lays toward the needle (held by my thumb).  This will keep your material thinner and save your needle.  Also by laying it this way the underside will not bunch and you are able to see the top and prevent bunching.  The video tutorial explains this really well.

Step 5.  Your blanket will look something like this once you have the horizontal strips sewn together.

....stay tuned for how my rag quilt turns out.

Free Craft Friday -- Fabric Ball

I am playing with the idea of doing what I like to call Free Crafting Fridays.  This will be me finding or coming up with various crafts (sewing, home decor, etc) that you can do for free or at least on the cheap.  I have been finding so many fun craft ideas online recently and this has lead to a little obsession with pinterest.com.  I'm sure many crafters have been on this for years (has it been around that long?) but I'm just wetting my feet.

Anyway I want to try out some of the free sewing patterns and other DIY (do-it-yourself) projects that I've been finding.  Of course I will be giving credit to the people with the original tutorial and will not be listing any tutorial credit myself just tips on what I learned or liked from the project.

Sooooo... to start off I am introducing my fabric beach balls care of Purl Bee's tutorial.  Awesome awesome awesome...thank you for making it so simple and easy to do.  As I was playing with my almost 9 month old twins I realized they were missing something from their arsenal of toys...a ball.  So I hopped online and found this tutorial from Purl Bee, ripped out my flannel scraps and I kid you not had my first ball complete in the space of one nap (an hour and a half).  And now with practice I am even a little faster at making these.  My girls (and hopefully my friends' girls as I'm thinking Christmas presents) are going to love these to play with.

 What 9 month old doesn't have a ball to play with...not my girls anymore that's for sure

Hmmmmm...with that question comes this...I wonder if these could be used as a humanitarian project??

Infant Sun Hats

I made it my summer's ambition to make my girls sun hats.  I didn't want to buy a pattern.  So I found a free downloadable pattern online.  How hard could it be?  That's what I thought.  But after more than half a dozen hats "finished" and only one or two that were moderately okay...I broke down...I bought a real pattern.  We were going to visit my parents in Florida in less than a week.  Nothing like cutting it down to the wire.  I finished up the last hat of two the night before our flight.  They turned out pretty darn cute.  I plan to use the same pattern to make fall/winter hats.

 I added a ribbon on the inside so the we could tie the hats on for windy days and boat rides

 I did a zig-zag stitch in order to catch the underside seam also (I missed it the first try)

Crib Bumper Pads

For this project I used the Nu-Foam Baby bumper pads.  These were super simple to use and retain their shape without quilting the bumper pad.  You can fancy them up or simple them down (as I call it)...adding piping, notions and other details.  A friend of mine also used the same pre-made padding and had her mother make the bedding.  Both of our sets turned out very well but are very unique also.

**My apologies that this was also a completed project at the time I started this blog so there are no step-by-step picture instructions**

Crib Bumper Pads in place - these have been used and kicked for months at this point

I have twin girls so I made these in two different colors with black and white

Similar but different...just like they are

Finished Product - Front of bumper pad

Materials Needed
3 1/4 yd total fabric
thread
ribbon or 3/4  additional fabric for ties
notions (optional)
Nu-Foam Baby bumper pads (6 panels in a package) 26" x 10"

Instructions
(pattern included in the Nu-Foam package found here)

1.  For the bumper pad style I chose to do I determined to make one side solid and one a simple panel style. 

Two panels (solid and pieced) joined together

 2.  Cut fabric into 12 separate 27" by 11 3/4" panels.  For my design, I drew up a separate idea for my paneled side and determined how many inches wide each piece would be and totaled them to 27" (allowing for seam allowance to join the pieces).  For the solid side I simply cut out 27" by 11 3/4" panels.

Back of bumper pad

3.  Construct your ties with the additional fabric or by using ribbon.  These need to be 2" x 20".  Lay one panel down and pin the ties/ribbon to this piece.  First fold them in half and press flat then pin to the 4 corners of the piece.  I found it easier to pin the ribbon to the corner with both panels in place.  Also pin the excess ribbon away from the edges to avoid sewing over it.  

4.  Pin the fabric bumper panels with right sides together.  Do not insert the bumper pad until the last step.  Sew a 3/8" seam around all of the sides, leaving one side open to insert the foam.  The directions state to leave a long side partially open.  I decided to leave one of my ends open on each panel to slide the foam into. 

5.  Turn the panels right side out and insert the foam panels.

6.  Once you have completed the panels and have slid the foam into each panel then stitch each panel closed. I did a press around my open end and then sewed them shut.  

Left side shows sewn end method -not the neatest but I am amateur after all 

7.  To keep your ribbon clean and stop fraying singe the ends of it with a match or lighter. 

Ribbon with singed ends to prevent fraying - I have used these bumper pads for a number of months now...thus the ribbon is quite wrinkled from tying. 

Dust Ruffle...

This is a dust ruffle for a baby crib.  You could easily modify and complete a dust ruffle for any size of bed if needed.  I purchased two patterns (found here and here) for my babies' nursery and didn't end up actually using either of them.

Materials needed:

-Muslin fabric or other cheap fabric (this will be under the mattress and unseen so color isn't necessarily a concern)

-decorative fabric (I chose black and white fabric in various patterns with a splash of color for my nursery decor)

-notions (I used a 1 1/2" ribbon;  one different color to accent each crib)

-sewing machine

-thread, scissors, measuring tool and other materials for sewing.

*I am a very novice seamstress so I typically do not use high-tech or high priced sewing tools*

Instructions:

1.  Measure your box spring size or crib size (mine was .  Also measure the distance from edge of box spring to the floor length (if you desire a longer dust ruffle then measure accordingly).  I added on about 1" to each measure to allow for seam allowance of the dust ruffle and seam of muslin to dust ruffle.

2.  Cut out your muslin fabric according to the box spring or crib measurement 

3.  Cut out your decorative fabric according to measurements.  I cheated and cut out 4 separate pieces (as the brackets to hold the mattress up didn't allow for one solid ruffle piece).

the whole picture at completion...white goes under the mattress and then 4 panels that hang off the edges for the dust ruffle

the bracket support on my cribs that caused a need for 4 panels

4.  Sew a 1/2" seam to the 2 shorter sides and 1 long side of your decorative fabric (the side left not sewn will be attached to your muslin/cheap fabric).

seams coming together at the bottom corner

5.  Once all of your dust ruffle panels are complete, sew your right sides together with the muslin (so that the seam will fall underneath once your dust ruffle is laid out).

6.  I added on my ribbon last but it could be done before step 5.  I layed out each panel and carefully pinned the top edge of the ribbon down (frequent pinning to prevent bunching or curling).  I sewed the very edge of the ribbon with matching thread.  I did not sew the bottom edge of my ribbon as I was worried it would cause it to be uneven or bunch.

I wrapped the ribbon around to the wrong side and sewed it along the previous seam

ribbon added as my color accent

**This is my first time trying to instruct a sewing project;  I hope that there is enough detail and instruction to make it simple and easy**