pin it

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bib Embellished Onesies

Are you sick of bibs on things yet? Sorry, this is the last one for a while…I think!

I’ve got a baby shower tomorrow for one of my friends. This is her 4th child so she’s pretty well covered in the baby items department, but I wanted to give her something personalized that just says “I made something especially for you”.















I bought some onesies, grabbed some fabric scraps and got to work! The second one went a lot smoother than the first! I had forgotten how hard it is to sew embellishments on something that’s already been sewed down the sides! It was all I could do to not sew the front of the onesie to the back!
 















I traced the front neckline onto my bib fabric so it would lay pretty close to the neck, and then just drew out a bib shape and cut it out in half so I had 2. Then I sewed right sides together and leaving a little hole opened, flipped it right side out so I wouldn’t have to worry about pressing it under all the way around. Ya know what I mean? Then I sewed the buttons on the bib (before I put in on the onesie) so that I didn’t have to sew them through the onesie and have scratchy thread on the baby’s chest.
 

































For the ruffles I just made fabric tubes and gathered them and sewed them down. I will tell you that the second onesie went sooooo much better when I used fusible interfacing (I think this was pellon, the ones you can buy on bolts) I just used the interfacing to secure the bib and then sewed the ruffle, catching the bib at the same time. I would definitely recommend this! 

Anyway I think it turned out pretty cute! I know everybody doesn’t like their baby girls with poofy ruffles all over the front, but I do and my friend does too! I hope she’s happy with them!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you’re having a wonderful day!
XOXO
 















Thursday, February 17, 2011

Love Birds Bib Shirt

Obviously it's no secret at this point that I love bibs on shirts. I think it dresses them up and gives them a touch of vintage. I had this adorable bird fabric that I was dying to use for a little top for Evie. I didn't have much of it so I tried to make it stretch as much as possible.



















I felt that the bib needed some dressing up but didn't want to do the typical buttons that I've done before so instead I decided to bust out one of my machine's decorative stitches. I loved this stitch! I felt like it gave a little nod to those vintage Norwegian design. 














I shirred the end of the sleeves....I know big surprise! What can I say? It's easy and gives the sleeves a girlie puff!













I also shirred the button to give it a cute little ruffle and suck it in on Evie's waist.













Even though I think the third line of decorative stitching is off (even though I measured it!) I still really like the shirt. The only problem is I tried to get away with 1/2 yard of this fabric and apparently 1/2 of a yard is not enough to make a 18-24 months size shirt! The sleeves are a little too tight for her and it's just a tiny bit short so this will have to go in the pile of 12 month stuff she's outgrown for the next baby. Sad huh? Oh well, I still like it!

I'm linking up to Tea Rose Home's link party. 


Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!
XOXO

Monday, February 14, 2011

Spring Jacket

I know it sounds crazy that I'm thinking about Spring right now since I know most are still reeling from that crazy snow storm a little bit ago, but I live in South Carolina and it was 70 degrees today. I'm sorry, I'm not bragging!

Anyway it's getting too warm already for Evie to wear her fleece coat I made her so I decided it was time to make her a spring jacket. I bought this pattern from Etsy and I cannot praise it enough. (I didn't get any compensation for saying that) 


Besides the fact that the pattern only costs $6 and you get the pattern ages 1-6. I can totally see myself making a coat for Evie every year as she gets bigger! It was so easy! You guys know I'm pretty beginner and I found it so easy to follow and all the sewing and construction was very basic!




















It has an adorable collar and it's fully lined! It was definitely a great learning experience for me since lining things makes me nervous!
 




















Wanna know the best part? The red outer fabric was the basic broadcloth from Hobby Lobby. It was on sale for like $1 a yard and this is a 2T which took around 1.5 yards. The lining fabric is from Walmart and was $3 a yard, also using about 1.5 yards.

Guess what else?!? It's reversible!!! I just have to buy some more white buttons and sew them directly opposite the ones already there and I can flip it to the floral side for a little more pattern!

I had never done buttonholes before this but I got out my manual and some practice fabric and went to town! It was so easy (on my machine that is!) but there will definitely be more buttonhole projects in my future now!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful Valentine's day filled with people you love! My husband and I are having a dorky Valentine's day with pizza, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and X-men. Yes, I am a total dork. I'll understand if you don't wanna hang out anymore! ;)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Potholders are kinda hard!

Is anyone else making potholders for the Prudent Baby potholder contest? I made one and it turned out alright, except that me and bias tape for this particular project HATED each other! For some reason I could not get the corners to turn nicely and whatnot. If anyone has any tips I'd be glad to hear them!



So here is mine. Don't look too closely, the stitching is weird in a few places and it got messy.  All in all I didn't feel like it turned out too bad until I looked at the other ones uploaded and there are some amazing and incredibly clever ones!

So did any of you try one? How did they turn out?  If not you've got one more day to churn one out and you could win a new sewing machine!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Covered Button Earrings Tutorial

 











I picked up a button cover kit because I wanted to have them on hand to make matching buttons when I start my next shirt for Evie. If you have a child, you understand that you never know when you're gonna get that chance so you need to have everything already right?!?

When I was getting dressed this morning I put on my chunky green necklace and realized I didn't have matching earrings for it! I knew I had (pretty close) to matching fabric and thought "Why don't I make earrings with the button covers!"

I think you guys are gonna like this project a lot! It's very customizable to whatever your preference is. I picked up the button cover kit at Walmart for around $1.30 and the cool thing is they make these button kits in tons of different sizes, so if you want them a little smaller or even bigger than these you can choose whatever you like! Cool huh?!?

This is the perfect scrap busting project too because who doesn't have a bag filled with scraps that you can't bring yourself to throw away? Plus you can get all the stuff you need at Walmart!

Ok, enough chattin' ya up about it! Let's get started.

You need:
A scrap of fabric twice the size of your buttons in your kit
A button cover kit
Scissors
Earring posts (also got mine from Walmart and they come with backs too)
And E6000 glue (I had this from a previous project but trust me, you will use this stuff more often than you think.)
pliers (optional but very helpful)





































 Lay your button out on your fabric and cut a circle twice the size of your button. 












 












Lay your fabric circle over the mold (or white holder thingy if you like scientific terms). Lay your button over the top. Make sure your button is directly center so there's an even amount of excess fabric.













Now take your giant hand (well yours probably isn't giant, just mine) and smoosh (still using scientific terms) the fabric into the center.













See? Smooshed!













Grab your E-6000 glue













And add a dab of glue to the center. This step really holds the button and backer together well and secures the fabric inside our little button sandwich! Also be careful not to add too much glue because this stuff is STRONG (think cement) and you don't really want it on your fingers or oozing out the sides and gluing your button into the mold.












Lay your button back on top













Taking your pusher (their term, not mine) and squish (not smoosh) it down really good. Make sure you spin and push to get every corner secured. You should feel a little click when it locks in. 












 












Pop your button out of the mold. Doesn't it look great?!?













Take your pliers (scissors also work but don't use your fabric scissors!) and pull the shank out. It will be a little tough to do because of the glue but trust me it's way easier than doing it before you glue it down!













Now you have a flat back to glue your earring post onto.













Dab some E-6000 onto the earring post













Now do the same for the other side and lay them out to dry. They need about 3-4 hours to dry really well.


























Then grab some more of your favorite fabric and do it all again! This is my coveted Nicey Jane scrap by Heather Bailey. I love it so much I haven't had the strength to cut into it, but this uses such a small amount I could justify it. ;)


  












I also found these buttons while I was getting out my supplies and decided they would make super cute earrings so I glued earring posts to those too! 














Can you imagine the possibilities with these?! Any fabric you like in any size earrings you like! So if you want to embroider something cute onto fabric and make it into earrings you can do it! You want to draw on fabric and then make it into earrings? You can do that too! Cool huh?!?

Thanks for stopping by again! It's been amazing having so many sweet comments and followers!  ;)

Have an awesome day!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Are you Pinning?

So if you're into crafting at all (which you probably are if you are reading this blog) than you probably have a zillion ideas bookmarked on your computer. This is just a small section of what mine looked like:












And then there was light. And by light I mean pinterest.com. This site is awesome and let's you organize all your ideas onto virtual "pinboards". Here's what mine look like:











I have a board for: things I want to make for kids or babies, things I want to make for me, things I see online or in stores that I want to make my own version of, craft room inspirations and home inspirations. But your boards could be anything you want and as many as you want.

So you wanna know how it works?

When you sign up for pinterest, you download the "pinmarklet" and drap it to your toolbar. Mine looks like this:












Now when I'm on a blog or website and see something I like, I pin it. For example: say I was on Zara kids website and saw that adorable red flutter tee I previously posted about. I would hit "pin it" and this would pop up:











It searches through the website you're on, and pulls up all the possible images you may be wanting to "pin" or save to your boards. As you mouse over the picture you want to pin, a "pin this" button will appear which you click on to pin. Ovbiously, I chose the shirt rather than the pinterest logo.

Then you get this screen:











It asks you which board you want to pin it to. See how there's a drop down to choose which board?













You also get the option of creating a new board. Pretty great way to organize your ideas right?!?

Once you pin something, it remembers where you were. So if you pin from a specific blog post, and then a month later click on your pin, it will take you to that exact post again instead of just the newest post in the blog. 

The other cool part is you can find other boards you like and follow them. Now when I go to pinterest, my home page pops up with updated pins from me and the boards I follow, like this:












You can also search through the various categories like fashion, home, products and (my personal favorite) diy to find other boards to follow. You can also "repin" something if you see something on somebody's board that you want on your own board.

I probably should have told you earlier but I didn't receive any compensation for this, just once again really love this site! It's such a fantastic way to find new blogs, websites and inspiration. Whenever I get in a crafting lurch, off to pinterest I go!

Right now you can only join by invitation (I know, very exclusive right!?!) because it's in beta mode but I happen to have 6 invites left for any of you that want it! Just leave your email address in the comments and I'll send you can invite. You can also request an invite from pinterest, but that takes a little while to receive.

Once you're there (or if you're already there!) come find me and we can share pins! Here's the link: http://pinterest.com/olympicsleeper/

Oh and I want to apologize to those of you who are already on pinterest and are totally bored with a post about it because you've been on there forever!

Thanks for stopping by and happy pinning!