Flower Girl

I made this cute little outfit
for a little girl who was turning 4.


Two picked out the shirt
and the fabric was a find from the remnant bin
of Joann's Tutti Fruitie line!

Hurray!

I cut out one of the larger flowers
from the skirt fabric
and appliqued it onto the t-shirt
with some green fabric from my stash
to create a coordinating outfit.



I also used my hem foot to make the skirt hem!


It turned out nice but let me tell you,
I felt like I was doing it wrong
the entire time!

I found several tutorials that showed you
how to sew with the hem foot,
but none showed you how to start
sewing with a hem foot!
So that part was a disaster
and when I sewed the sides together
I just left that part out!

Morning News

So on the morning news today
I heard that today is the
100 yr birthday of the modern bra.

Random.

But speaking of bras,
I did take my favorite one
and turn it into a nursing bra.

It's been the best thing!
Here's the tutorial I used.

You just might want to try it!

Ruffle Baby Hat

I made this little ruffle hat
using GraceViolet's tutorial:


Super cute but needed something more:


How cute it this?!?


It's got that cute boutique look but...
it's bigger than her head!


Bummer, I don't know why I'm so surprised.

I think I'll take the flower off
and put a cute little bow on it instead.

Red Baby Gift

Two's best preschool bud's mama
just had baby girl #3.
She already has all things pink,
tons of clothes, etc but I happen to know
that mama's favorite color is RED
and I have really never seen her
with any red baby gear
so rather than buy her something
sensible, like diapers,
I'm sticking with the homemade route
and went for some RED!

Here's a red burp cloth:



Some red and pink baby legs
using this tutorial:
(Target has a ton of cute knee high socks for $2 each that are just perfect for these!)


Some red fabric sewed onto a 3x5 card
made for a super-fast, super-cute card:



Wrapped it all up cute with a red ribbon:

And had a seriously cute RED baby gift
that cost me under $5
but made up for it in personalized
homemade goodness!

Mama was so excited about it.
She goes, "Did you know red's my favorite color?!?"
Uh, yeah, I had an idea.

I love giving homemade!

Burp Cloth & Onesie

I bought a package of cloth diapers
awhile back at the resale store.
They were brand new and quite a steal.
I'm not getting into cloth diapering
but I'd seen them turned into some super cute
burp cloths in blog land.

Here's my version:


I used some leftover fabric from this pillowcase
and the letter and yellow circle fabric are leftover
from this cute birthday shirt.
It's the ultimate "green" gift!

Here's a close-up of the letter:

I cut slits in the edge of the yellow fabric
so that it will fray with washing.



I also embellished a onesie
with ribbon and some fabric circles
from my scrap pile:

I love it!
Considering I have yet
to actually make anything
for my own baby girl coming soon,
I'm tempted to keep it,
but this is my friends'
first baby girl
and it's so fun to help load her up
with such girly cuteness!

St Patrick's Day

Two came home from school
worried about having to wear green
or you'll get punched!

You better watch out for those Baptists!
(She goes to a Baptist preschool.)
I've always heard it as "pinched"
so I don't know if she heard it wrong
or if they really said punched
but either way,
I can't pass up a chance
to give my Baptist friends
a hard time.

Moving on...

I hate to admit it
but I used to own
a pair of green lounge pants.

So when wearing something green
suddenly became super important to Two
I gladly pulled my green pants
out of the goodwill bag
and chopped them up
to make this cute skirt:

And ruffled the edges using this tutorial:

The whole thing took about 5 min
and Two should escape any
pinches or punches that come her way.
Safety first!

Personalized Shirt

Personalized shirts are so easy!
You'll need:
Prewashed shirt
Iron-on letters


Super duper easy!
The possibilities are endless!


Make them as party favors,
Make them as presents,
Make them for your team,
Make big brother/big sister shirts
for your kids.

This is not the one you want to make:

But that's the one I made.

In a kids size.

If you're reading this,
say a little prayer
for kids with cancer,
okay?

Red Pillowcase Skirt

Now that Two has switched
her favorite color
from yellow to RED,
(did you see Sunday's picture?)
some new clothes were in order.


After the success of the yellow
pillowcase skirt from last year,
I found a pair of red pillowcases
at my favorite store for $2.

Cut them the length I wanted
(including waist seam allowance):

(I did 16" total for a calf length skirt.)

I wanted it to twirl
so I cut in the ends at an angle:

(I did 2" in on both sides.)

Sewed everything together,
slid some elastic in the waist
and......

$2 worth of fun!


PS. You know it's a hit when she wore it
for 4 days in a row!
And yes, I let her do it.
It's the simple things in life, you know?

PPS. When measuring your child's belly,
make sure she's not puffing her stomach out!
It might make your skirt
a bit too big!
But if it's in her favorite color,
I promise she won't care! :o)

Tie-Dye & Youth

I love our youth!
And they love my kids!
My kids love them too!

So at the End-of-Summer Party
they play soccer together,
take them down HUGE homemade slip-n-slides
made even more slippery with dawn dish soap...
(hello, that totally counts as a bath too! :o) )
and help them make tie-dye!

(tie-dye kits that include turquoise and/or fushia will always be bright and vivid!)

Everyone wore their shirts to church yesterday
(We are a fun church!)
and here's what my kiddos sported:

As a tangent:
Any babysitter I've had,
which I admit is not many,
are all from our youth group.
When people ask for babysitter suggestions,
you guessed it,
it's always someone from the youth group!

I've often wondered how people
who don't go to church
find babysitters!

So here is my unsolicited advice:
If you ever need a babysitter, ask
a) high school teacher
b) a church go-er

Knitted Beach Top

Where better to wear a "beach top" than to the beach?!

You can find my knitting-in-progress post about the sweater here,
but it is so gratifying to see Two wearing a sweater
THAT I ACTUALLY KNIT FOR HER!!!

I knit that!!!

Two loved it,
the pattern was easy (and true to size),
and the sweater's already made a few rounds
through the washer/dryer
and holding up great.

For a list of other FREE knitting patterns,
go to the Lion Brand Yarn site here.

Cut & Paste Yellow Dress

This dress was so easy
it really was just like
cut & paste!

I started out with a yellow adult t-shirt (from the Goodwill Outlet where everything is sold By The Pound!!! yes, so it was probably 10 cents or so) and a child's yellow tank (from GAP, by way of the Salvation Army store, for $1.19)

Then I cut both shirts off at the armpits and sewed the bottom of the adult shirt onto the top of the child's tank --

viola! That's it! And it's yellow, so naturally it's for Two.
Not bad for under $1.50 and about 30 minutes of my time!

99 cent Tommy Hilfiger Dress

I don't think DaddyMan was thrilled when I wanted to take time today to make Two a special 4th of July dress (you know, last minute and all). I'm sure he was envisioning hours and hours but this outfit came together in no time! It's the basic pillowcase dress with a felt flower inspired by flowers Kimba used to have in her shop. Two is all about double french braids lately but didn't want to wear the two red, white, and blue korker hairbows I made last year in her hair. But she was all for putting them on her dress! I just clipped them onto the ribbon at the shoulder and I think they look so cute!

Best of all, since this dress started out as a Tommy Hilfiger pillowcase for only 99 cents....

I'm pretty sure that now makes it Two's 99 cent Tommy Hilfiger DRESS!

:o)

Taking a break

I took a break from birthday crafts to make something for myself!
Check out my new skirt!

How else was I supposed to get a picture of myself?

Anyway, I started out with a pattern but after cutting out an almost complete semi-circle of fabric, I realized that the pattern I had was not at all the kind of skirt I wanted. Soooo, I got out a skirt I already had that I liked the length of and liked how it hung, laid it out on my new fabric, and cut around it, leaving room for the sewing edges. In that moment, I was feeling very brave!

It turned out great! I love it, I got lots of compliments on it, and I'm sure I'll be posting another skirt soon!

Birthday Prep Craft #2

One has asked for a Darth Vader costume.
Dark Vader, actually.

Which reminds me of the time he asked my mom to buy him some life savers.
She of course agreed and the next time we were at Goodwill
One thought he hit the jackpot when he found a light saber...
(can you see where I"m going yet?)
and I said I was not buying it for him
- did I mention it made obnoxious noises? -
to which he replied, "Gran said she would get me one"

A very confusing phone call later
Gran realized that while she thought she was agreeing to buy life savers
One couldn't have been happier at how easily she agreed to buy him a light saber!

Uh oh.

Gran, however, would never want to disappoint her sweet One
so she made the trek to our Goodwill
bought the light saber and promptly declared it
An Outside Toy.

Did I mention how smart she is?

Anyway, that was a huge side step.
I'm not quite sure One realizes that Darth Vader is a bad guy.
I know I am not a fan of my child dressing up like a bad guy.
So I made him these pants:



To go with this shirt
to ensure they become Batman pants.

I made them with the same pattern as the pajama pants from Christmas. They are SO EASY! They might just be My Favorite Thing to sew right now. Seriously people, they were like a 30 minute project.

Birthday Prep Craft #1

For some reason, One has decided it's time to turn SIX!
Seems like craziness to me, but with his party just two short weeks away, it's time to get crafting!

Here are my supplies to make a batman logo shirt, including
this awesome batman pattern (she also has superman and princess):

(black shirt, marking chalk, fabric fusion (best stuff EVER), batman pattern, yellow and black felt)

Five minutes later (that's my kind of craft!),
here's the finished product!

That's one down,
and about a kazillion more to go!

Knitting for Two

I was knitting tonight and watching tv when DaddyMan came in and asked me what I was working on. I can't believe he couldn't tell what it was!

Isn't it obvious? No? Okay, it's my new project!

(picture and free project from lionbrand.com)

Isn't it cute?! I'm so excited! I'm not quite sure how a knitted sundress works (because I wouldn't wear a sweater in the summer)....but there were a ton of free patterns for sundresses online soooooo - my fingers are crossed! If anything else, I can see it being super cute with jeans and a turtleneck in the fall.


Here's the swatch I worked up.

I love color so I think it's going to look great and hopefully encompass any new favorite colors that pop up during it's lifetime! :o)

the "lellow" un-80's

If you know anything about Two, you probably know her favorite color is LELLOW!!! For a surprising two years now! Did I tell you she's not even 4? We're talking half of her life here. Amazing. Not so long ago I saw a tutorial for a pillowcase skirt and at a recent trip to my favorite store (Goodwill, you really should know that), you know I was looking through the pillowcases. Well, how could I pass up a yellow pillowcase? You know I couldn't! So today, this pillowcase became a cute skirt. And....for the big finish.....a too short pair of tights (a la Target-a-few-years-ago), became....wait for it....leg warmers! Oh my! Two loves them! A little girl in her ballet class wore leg warmers last week and that was that! She had to have some.

I have a sweater that I had planned on chopping up to make her leg warmers (yellow, of course) but as I was going through old clothes to pass on, I came upon these 24 mos tights. It was an ah-ha moment, I tell you! Of course all leg warmers are easy to make, but my big concern was how I'd make them stay up. With old tights, it was perfect! And best of all, these didn't fray! I don't promise that with all knit tights, so make sure you test first, but cutting up tights and then you're done? I'm not sure it could get any easier!