Littlest and Biggest

Remember THESE dresses I made? Well, Big Sis Addie has grown out of hers, and now that there is going to be a Littlest Sis, she will need one to! Good thing I still have A LOT of fabric left from the original dresses. I would still like to add a little fat ric-rac still, but I haven't gotten around to that yet!

For the littlest sister's dress I used Made by Rae's Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern and tutorial. SUPER easy, and so tiny, and FREE. I love that it will fit her this summer. I added the apron, and the band around the bottom.

For Biggest sister's skirt, I made this one up. I know there are plenty of patterns out there, if you don't dare wing it, or at least here are a few free tutorials HERE and HERE if you don't want to buy a pattern. It is similar to THESE skirts I made a few years ago. Very Twirly!

My hubs always gives me a hard time for matching my girls, but it is just SO dang fun. I hope he is prepared for 3 matching girls... hee hee.

A Brief Costume How To!

I had fun making our Halloween costumes this year, I don't know if I will ever be able to top these. I will start with the Mad hatter (who is checking college football scores on his phone)

I got most of his costume from Savers, a local thrift store. His Hat was my first purchase. It was intended for a leprechaun, so I had to unpick a four-leaf clover and add a tag. (which if you are wondering what it means it is the price of the Hat! Ten Shillings and a sixpence.) I just got a piece of card-stock, wrote on it with a marker and used a straight pin to attach it. It worked out great.

I made the bowtie out of some old fabric I had, and the green shirt was also a savers purchase. .99 cents thank you.

Now getting the jacket right was as key as getting a good hat. But, I did NOT want to sew a jacket for an adult man. it just didn't sound fun. So I got this one at savers for .99 cents and SPRAY PAINTED IT!

I went with orange, because I thought it would go better with the Hat and shirt combo I had purchased. I also didn't spray it evenly. I meant to do that. Seriously. I wanted it to be a bit messy, more like the Jonny Depp style Mad Hatter.

I also discovered the best low budget painting tool you could ever purchase. A spray painting gun. You attach it to any bottle of spray paint and shoot it like a gun instead of cramping up your pointer finger. It also helps you to get the paint on evenly. The best part... it cost me $2.89 And it is reusable. I got this one at Lowes.

What kind of spray paint did I use? the kind you get at walmart? I wasn't too picky, but I will say DON'T get the cheap 99 cent spray paint, it does not work as well. Promise. I tried and failed. Although I didn't use special spray paint, I did discover they make FABRIC spray paint. I would like to try it sometime. If you have tried it, let me know what you think.

For the Cat, I used a roll of masking tape to create the stripes. Put the tape on, Spray painted, and when it dried, I removed the tape. It worked REALLY well.

Maybe if I get some of that fabric spray paint I will make a striped shirt this way. Since I LOVE stripes. I think I got away with having the most comfy costume. I made my tail out of an old T-Shirt, and attached some little cat ears to a headband. My girls were concerned that I had no purple stripes, well kids, I couldn't find purple sweats ANYWHERE (or pink ones that I could spray paint purple) So, this cat was pink and white instead!

They dried really fast, or at least faster than I expected. I did these the day of our trunk or treat. I was lucky it was a warm day, which sped up the drying. I hope my neighbors didn't mind my costumes hanging everywhere!

I was SO glad and THANKFUL to my little Liza for wanting to be Alice, since I had already slaved over a costume for her once this year. This picture is from her birthday, but for Halloween she had tights, and I put a pettiskirt underneath to make it nice and puffy. This is a pretty basic dress, with a double layered gathered skirt, and a collar. I love it. So it made me so happy to see her wear it again.

Oh now Addie's Costume.... This one was so much fun to make! I decided to use a pattern, one i already had, and just add a few details to make it my own.

I used this pattern size 3 (which was a bit big and had to be taken in for my small framed girl), I did pattern B, the pink on at the bottom. I decided to do the bodice out of a stretchy fabric so i wouldn't have to put in a zipper. I added the collar and several embellishments and trims to make it queen worthy.

I got in a fight with the collar trying to get it to stand up like the Queen's does, in the end the collar won, and I know how I would fix it if I were to do it again. But I was not about to do it again! The crown and the Wand were GREAT finishing touches. I also had a few trial and errors with the crown, I ended up finding an 8 x 10 sheet of sparkly craft foam which I basically stapled together and slid it onto a headband. It was so easy, I was mad for trying the vinyl and the spray paint, and the cardstock. Duh. Why do I make things so difficult? The wand is similar to THESE but with a heart on top instead.

YES! Your MAJESTY!

(I am hoping to add more detailed pictures soon. we will see if it happens!)

Felty Bow Tutorial

Remember these? Well I thought I would show you how to make your own!
As far as bows go, this one is pretty easy! You will need:
glue gun
alligator clips (I get a box of 100 clips at Sally's Beauty supply)
1/4 inch ribbon
felt
scissors

Start by cutting a rectangle shaped piece of felt. The size you cut it will depend on how big or small you want your bow. Larger bows I did about 3 x 2.5 smaller bows I did 2 x 1. (these measurements are guesses!) And also cut a small strip, as shown below.

glue ribbon around the top prong of your clip, this is how I do mine.

Find the center of your rectangle, and pinch it like this....
Then I add a little dob of glue on the back to hold it in place.

Take your smaller strip of felt and glue it over the TOP and only the top of your bow.

It will look like this on the bottom... (I need to paint my nails. Boring!)

Using a small dab of glue, attach it to your clip like this,

Now put a small dot of glue on one side of the little strips that are sticking out, and wrap it around the clip, and then do the same thing to the other side. You may have to trim a little of the felt off each side after you glue each side down. Let it dry, and TA DA! You have your own felty bow clip!

And since Last Time I didn't have any pink bows, I thought it only appropriate that this tutorial would be done with a pink bow!

Crepe Paper... REALLY!?

Who ever thought Crepe paper could make something so pretty!? I saw THESE over at House of Smith's, and have been dying to make a wreath version ever since! She has a tutorial HERE on how to make your own flowers. I want to make a really BIG one, but thought I should do a practice first.
So I headed to the dollar store, and got 1 package of pink crepe paper (it came with 2 rolls) and a green foam wreath and went to work while I watched Hero's on Netflix. I will admit it was a bit time consuming, but not difficult at all!
It matches our bathroom quite nicely!

Reverse applique tutorial

So, most of you probably have this one figured out, but I thought I would share it anyhow!
For this you will need:
knit T-shirt
cotton applique fabric
sewing machine
scissors
matching thread


Start by turning your shirt INSIDE OUT
Cut out the shape you want your applique to be. (Stars, Anchors, initials, numbers, etc. would all be cute!)
Then pin your applique face down to your shirt which is inside out! I recommend plenty of pins to keep it in place. However don't let them get too close to the edges of the applique so you don't have to take them out while sewing it on.

Now use thread that matched your T Shirt, and sew around the edged of your applique. I do this twice. After the first time around I take out the pins, so it is easier to do the second time. I leave about 1/2 an inch around the edges.

I am not a perfectionist when it comes to the second time around, because the matching thread hides most imperfections when you turn it right side out.

Turn the shirt right side out, and lift the knit shirt away from the applique and make a little snip in the fabric so you can cut out the knit.

Cut all the way around your shape.

And there you have it! My new favorite way to applique!
(that rhymed. not on purpose.)

Ode to Disney.

I know I am not the only one sad to see this crafty, brilliant lady leave the blogging and cyberspace world. But I wanted to give her a shout out and a Thank YOU for all the wonderful creative ideas you shared with us all! I know it wasn't an easy decision and I am proud of you for following your heart!
Before she left she taught me to make one more lovely little craft.... The Lauren Headband. Go HERE if you want directions on how to make them!

Here are the ones I made, I LOVE THEM! They are comfy and I wear them ALL the time!

Thanks again Disney! We will all miss you!

(picture at top taken from Disney's blog, ruffles and stuff)

Frilly Great Tutorial

You need about 1 yard of knit for this little number! Start by finding a shirt or a dress that fits your child well. You will use this to determine how wide to make the main bodice of the dress. It will also determine the length, as the length of the bodice hangs about 1-2 inches longer than a T-Shirt. I folded my fabric, and put the dress on top to measure, and since I am using the fold, I will only have one seam to sew.

After cutting the bodice, you will need to cut a bunch of strips, here are the numbers and approx. measurements of strips

2 strips that are about 6 inches wide and 24 inches long (these are for the skirt, you can make them wider if you want the dress to be longer.)
4 strips that are 2.5 inches wide and about 14 inches long (these are for the ruffles along the top of the dress)
4 strips that are about 1.5 inches wide and 8 inches long (these are for the straps you tie in bows at the top of the dress)

Now, get out that sewing machine. Start with sewing up the side seam on your bodice piece. Sew the side opposite the fold. Put that aside...

Now grab the 2 skirt pieces, the ones that are 6 inches wide. Sew them right sides together on each of the short sides... this should create a large circular piece of fabric.

Now on to the gathering.... Here is how I do it, but you may have your own methods. Do what works best for you.
I set the stitch length on my machine to the longest length possible, this is usually a 4 or 5 on most machines. Then sew along the edge of the fabric, all the way around. DO NOT BACK STITCH!

When you are done sewing around the edge, find the end of the BOBBIN Thread, and gently pull. It should start to gather your fabric. Space the gathers out pretty evenly, keeping in mind you will need to adjust the gathers when you get to the next step.

Attach the skirt to the bodice. Start by pinning the skirt to the bodice so you can space out the ruffling from earlier so the skirt is the same size around as the bodice. Then attach them. Oh and don't forget to fix the stitch length on your machine before you start sewing this part!

Now more ruffling... get the 4 pieces of fabric that are 2.5 inches wide. And gather these on one side, just like you did with the skirt. I rounded off the bottom corners on each end of these ruffles with my scissors.

Take 2 of the ruffle pieces and pin them around the top of the bodice. I started in the middle front of the dress, having the ends of each ruffled piece of fabric overlap about 1 inch. This overlap will happen in the front and the back. Once it is all pined, sew it on to the bodice.

Time for the second ruffle! Lift up the top ruffle, and measure about 1-1.5 inches down to start pinning on the next layer of ruffles. Sew them on. I left all the edges raw, and I DIDN'T put right sides together because I wanted to see all the raw edges on the dress.

You are almost done! Get your last 4 strips, the ones that are about 1.5 inches wide. Find the center of your dress, mark the front and back. This next measurement will depend on the size or width of your child, but for mine, I pinned the straps on about 2.5 inches from the middle on each side... Do this for the back as well. Sew those straps on! (Lets try to ignore that huge bandage on my thumb. I get the stitches out today!)

Slide it over your child's head, and tie those straps up in bows and ta da... you got it!

Tutorial for the 1 yard Skirt!!!

When I make the 1 yard skirt, I use... 1 yard of light weight fabric and 1 yard of THICK elastic! You want your elastic to match your skirt fabric as best as possible, because it will be a visible waistband.

Now depending on how full and long you want your skirt you may need more or less fabric. If you buy 45 inch wide fabric that is 1 yard then your skirt will go to your knees and be moderately full... Like THIS one.

To see if you really need 1 yard of elastic, measure your waist here. This skirt is meant to be worn high on your waist, so measure your natural waist. You can use a measuring tape, or just use the elastic for this!



Once you have your fabric, fold it selvage to selvage. The selvage is going to be your hem, so you will need to cut your fabric along the fold at what will be the top of your skirt.

You will now sew up each side of the skirt right sides together. Starting at the Selvage, and going to the top. Now your skirt looks a little more like a skirt!

Next measure your elastic around your waist, you only need to leave about a half an inch for seam allowance. Sew the elastic together like this... To attach the skirt to the elastic, you will need to gather it first. I think the quickest way to do this is with elastic thread. You need to hand wind it around your bobbin, not to tightly, and you only use elastic thread on your bobbin. You use regular thread for the top. (this is also called Shirring)

This is how it will look....

When attaching your skirt to the elastic, you don't do it right sides together. You sew the right side of your skirt to the wrong side of the elastic, like this... The elastic is going to be visible, so you don't want the seam to show.

Now, when pinning the elastic to the skirt, I folded them each in half and marked it, then in half again so I had 4 pins in each. (Divided into quarters) I then matched up the 4 pins, with the seams lining up in the back. You will stretch the skirt to line up with the elastic. (This is one reason I like using elastic thread to gather my skirt fabric.)This skirt I gathered by hand, I just wanted to try something different, they were actually more like pleats. I think I like regular gathering with elastic thread better though!

Once they are all pinned together, you can sew it! I sew from the inside, like sew... (nice pun right?)

I do a second stitch on the top of the elastic right along the bottom edge for reinforcement.

Then hem your skirt to the desired length, and Viola! You are finished!

I bet you have 1 yard of fabric sitting around somewhere to try this!

Let me know if you have any questions, I hope it all makes sense!