a little bias

I saw this skirt over at no big dill, and I fell in love with it.  I had never tried sewing with bias strips (other than binding a quilt), so I was excited to give it a try.  My daughter needed a white dress for pre-school (she is going to be the white rabbit for their Alice in Wonderland play), so I just grabbed some muslin and went to town.  Since muslin is so affordable, I was not too worried about messing up (this dress probably cost me $3 to make). I made sure to pre-wash all my fabric, because I know muslin shrinks a lot. I simply traced the outline of another dress she had, adding half an inch for seam allowance. then I followed the same procedure on no big deal to cut and sew on the bias strips.

The  pictures are taken after I washed and ironed the dress, so you can see that there really is hardly any fraying when you cut on the bias.

I felt like it needed a little something extra, so I cut a bunch of cirlces out of satin and tulle and I singed the edges with a match.  Then I layered them with hot glue, and put a blob of hot glue in the middle.  I have a few bracelets that have broken, so I grabbed some of those pearls and stuck them in the blob of glue.  I just hot glued a few pins on back, so I can pin it on the dress anywhere I want, and take them off when I wash it. I really like how they turned out

I was not worried about the back having clean lines, I was going for a messy look with the dress.  I just wanted to make sure that all the ends were not all lined up.

we just got a new camera, and I have a lot to learn about it, so my pictures are lacking.  I figure if I wait until I learn how to take good pictures, this post might never go up, so it is what it is.  On the other hand,  I can't wait to learn more about our camera.

knit toddler dress

I saw this  tutorial yesterday and I had to make one right away.  I could not get over how cute that dress is.  So, I started last night, and I finished during nap time today.  I made mine more of a jumper style, because I am too lazy to do Sleeve's.  I used left over knit from other daughter's room.  I got the knit at Hobby Lobby.  I only bought 1 yard and there was just enough left over from my daughter's room to make this dress.  I used an old t-shirt of mine for the pink jersey knit.  I am very happy with how it turned out (good thing no one can see the inside, it is sloppy).  It is the first dress I have made though, so I am pleased.

mittens

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I saw it on another blog. I have looked everywhere to find where I first saw this brilliant idea, but I can't. If I ever find it, I will give credit where credit is due.

My daughter's mittens do not stay on her hands, I am constantly putting them back on. They also get snow in them easily. When I saw this idea, I knew it was for me. The best part is that it cost $2 and took no more than five minutes for two pairs of mittens.

I bought two pairs of socks at the dollar store and cut the feet off

Put right sides together

sew

and there you have it. The socks extend the gloves, and are elastic enough to hold the mittens on. They are stretchy enough to go over the coat, or under the coat. no more falling off mittens, and no more snow inside the gloves. Hopefully no more cold hands. Thank you to the brilliant mystery blogger for this simple idea

pj pant tutorial

well, I said I would write a tutorial the next time I make p.j. pants, but I found this tutorial and it happens to be exactly how I made these. so now I don't have to write my own tutorial. Now go make yourself some p.j's

crochet hats

I wanted to make my baby one of the cute flower crochet flapper hats, so I hopped on Etsy and found the pattern here. Since I bought the pattern, it wouldn't be fair for me to tell it to you, but there are so many cute hat patterns, and just crochet patterns on etsy.

I wanted to be able to switch the flowers out on the one for my toddler, so I made a white one, with five different color flowers, and hot glued some pins to the back, I am happy with the result.

here are some more I made with attached flowers

I actually completely did this one wrong, and I did a lot of finagling to make it work, but it the end, it looked fine on my baby, and I learned a lot in the process.

jacket

I could not resist buying this pattern, and I am so glad I did. I am so proud of this jacket I made for my toddler for Christmas. I love how it turned out (I found this cute fabric at Hobby Lobby). It was a pain to cut out all the pieces, but worth it. It took about three hours to make. I used fusible fleece pellon interfacing, so it would be heavier and warmer. I love that it is completely reversible. I think it will fit her for a long time, I am definitely making one for my baby too.

skirt

about a year and a half ago I bought a pattern for this super easy toddler skirt at a bookstore, of all places, but the pattern (and many other cute ones) can be found here. I finally got motivated to make one for my toddler today, and I loved, that it only took about one minute to cut all the pieces (that is always the worst part) I took about an hour or so to make, it was really easy, the most time consuming part was my embellishments. I added a ruffle by cutting a two inch piece of fabric, making my own bias-tape out of it, and sewing a basting stitch down the middle (securing at the beginning, and not the end). Then I pulled on the bobbin thread to ruffle it, and I sewed it on to the skirt. I followed this tutorial for the flower, but since I was using fabric instead of paper, I doubled it up, to make it thicker.

tutu

I was inspired by my sister-in-law's tutorial a few years ago, and decided to make one of these for my toddler (she is getting dress-ups for x-mas) I did not have all the same material as her, but I used her tutorial as a guideline and made do with what I had (I had a roll of tulle, because I was at Robert's and did not want to go to the fabric store for tulle by the yard), and I also had some satin from Robert's (both found on the wedding isle). I am happy with it, and it took me about 15 minutes to make, plus I have a lot left over, enough to make about four or five more tutu's. I could have gone really cheap and bought all supplies at the dollar store (yes, they have rolls of tulle, and petals and flowers), but they only had white tulle, and I wanted pink)

P.J. Pants

I made a pair of flannel P.J. pants for my toddler for x-mas. I did not have a pattern, or a tutorial to follow, but I remembered making a pair in my high school sewing class, so I just decided to dive in a try it (I got the fabric on sale for $1 for a yard) so I figured I didn't have much to lose. I used a pair of her everyday pants for a guide. I forgot to take pics, but I plan on making another pair for me, so I will post a tutorial then.

these were one of those "errors" I was talking about, because I spaced it when I was cutting the fabric, and the backside or the pants has the fabric upside down, I was too lazy to cut two new pieces (I didn't want to waste my cheap fabric)