Child's Apron Tutorial

Does anyone else remember those kids' aprons that were sorta like sandwich boards and tied at the sides? I always loved those. And as a parent, they seem like one of the best ways to keep a busy crafter or gardener a little less dirty.

 

I sketched out a pattern based on memory and some photos I came across. And I decided to make it reversible in case of massive staining. There are a few patterns out there already. I'm hoping to get my own uploaded for your use soon!

 

I cut out my pieces, two for the front and two for the back, as well as four 8x3 inch strips for the ties.

Folded each tie in half the long way, right sides together, and stitched a 1/4 inch seam allowance along the edge, curving to a point at one end. Trimmed the curve, turned rightside out, ironed, and topstitched.

 

On one of the front pieces I placed two of the ties as shown.

 

Then with right sides together I pinned the two front pieces and stitched around the edge with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, leaving a space at the bottom for turning. Clipped the curves, turned rightside out, ironed flat, and topstitched the edges. Repeated for the back pieces.

 

I put in a buttonhole at the top of each of the back piece straps and stitched on my buttons at the top of the front piece straps. I used four buttons, one on each side, for a reversible apron, but you could use two buttons for non-reversible.

 

And there you have it. An apron that should stand up to even the messiest toddler!

 

 

Men's Button-down Shirt to Toddler Dress

I did this project a few weeks back, but the weather has been so contradictory since then that I haven't had the chance to do a photo shoot. But, we've finally had some pretty days around here, so here goes! (Sorry in advance for the lack of decent pictures. I didn't take proper photos as I was working.)
 

The Men's Shirt to Toddler Dress. Who doesn't have a few men's button-down shirts laying around just waiting for a project? Personally I've got quite a few due to random rips or stains that relegated them to the scrap bin. And I've got a daughter growing taller every day with spring coming on, so time for some new dresses!

There are lots of great tutorials out there for these and many different variations. Due to the nature of the yellow linen shirt I was working with mine had to be modified to fit around some rips, but seeing as there's so much fabric to be had in an XL men's shirt, I had no problem making it work.

 

For the main body of the dress I cut off the bottom half of the shirt and gathered it. Since I wanted to use the buttons in the final design in the back of the dress, I also cut a piece from the upper half of the shirt the width of the bodice (chest measurement divided by 2 plus an inch or so for seams and ease of movement).

I sewed the front and back pieces together at the sides and attached the gathered skirt. One more folded strip of fabric provided a top hem for the bodice. And two wide strips of fabric were folded and sewn up the long half, turned right side out, and attached at the top for straps.

My girl loves pockets and it seemed a shame to let the one on the original shirt go to waste, so I removed it from the remaining shirt and stitched it in place at the front of the skirt.

 

 

I think it's a hit!

 

My First Quilt!

I've toyed with the idea of making a quilt for many years, but never had sufficient motivation until now. Since every Teddy Bear picnic needs an amazing blanket to sit on, I used Nia's birthday party theme as an excuse to make my very first quilt. Using scraps I already had I first cut them all to complementary sizes and then laid them all out to establish my design.

 

Then it was just a matter of attaching all of the pieces together using 1/4" seams. Since it was such a mishmash of sizes this took a little bit of maneuvering.

 

I then layered my back piece, which was an old fitted sheet, with my batting and finished quilt top, pinning them all in place. And starting from the middle, I slowly quilted the three pieces together using a diagonal crisscrossing square pattern.

 

 

I trimmed off the excess batting and backing sheet, and bound the edges with double fold bias tape.

 

 

Finally it was done! And I think it was well appreciated! It will be the centerpiece of her birthday party and we will use it for years to come both for picnics and snuggles. :)

 



 

 

 

Teddy Bear Ears

So, Nia's birthday is in a week and the party theme is a Teddy Bear Picnic. Therefore, I figured I'd make some bear ears for all the kids to wear and take home. This was super easy and only took me an afternoon to make six. Probably could have gone faster with a sewing machine for parts of it, but I love the effect of the hand stitching.

After a bit of searching I found a six-pack of fabric covered headbands for a couple of bucks at RiteAid. I wanted something comfortable enough for a bunch of small children to wear. The oldest child attending is around 4 with the youngest around 15 months. So, a pretty good range.

From there it was just a matter of deciding my ear colors, making a paper pattern for the outside and inside ear pieces, and cutting them all out of felt.

4 outside pieces and 2 inside ear pieces per headband did the job.

Stitch each inside piece to the front of one of the outside pieces and then stitch the front and back outside pieces together. At this point you could add a little bit of stuffing, but I liked the shapeability of the flatter ears so I left that out.

 

 

Then it was just a matter of attaching the ears to the headband. This is where the fabric covered headbands were very helpful, otherwise you could cover the headband with felt or maybe just hot glue them in place.

 

 

And voila! Six different little bears to totter around our party. Don't worry, I'll post pics of the cuteness next weekend!

 

 

Three Tee Refashions

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time finding tees that look formal enough for work, but also are flattering. I'm very picky about sleeves and necklines. My mom gave me a few really nice heavyweight and extremely soft tees, but the sleeves were really short and that is just not a good look on me. Plus, the neckline was your basic crew type. So, for my first attempt at altering these I just redid the sleeves. (Oh, and put a fun graphic on it, courtesy of Pointless T-shirt Designs). After using my seam ripper to remove the original sleeves, I laid them out on another black tee I had, leaving a few extra inches at the outside hemline and adding some fullness to the shape. Then I cut out my new sleeves utilizing the original shoulder line and the hemline on the scrap shirt. (Wish I had a picture of this, but it was a while ago.) Stitched them on and used the hems to put in my elastic for a gathered sleeve. Pretty basic. And here's the finished product. (Sorry in advance for the tipsy aspect of these pics and the wrinkliness of the shirts!)

 

 

So, for the next shirt I decided to change the neckline as well and put on a little embellishment. For this one I made the new sleeves the same way except that I made them elbow-length straight sleeves. Then I cut down the neckline. Taking a two-inch wide strip of fabric I folded it together and pinned it to the wrong side of the neckline, making sure to overlap my seam at the back of the neck. A stretch stitch to secure it in place and a topstitch to hold its' shape and the neckline was finished. As far as embellishment went I wanted something fairly simple, so I cut out a couple of feathers and stitched them on with contrasting thread. After a wash the edges rolled up nicely and gave it a ragged effect.

 

For the third shirt, I decided to redo the same neckline as the second, but wanted to change up the sleeves and embellishment again. This time I went for an elbow-length bell shape. And found a great tutorial on Pinterest for some cute flowers. Each flower involves 6 equal circles that are then folded into thirds and stitched into a circle. The stitches make a nice effect on the inside of the flower. I'm really happy with how this last one turned out. The flowers will curl up more with each washing!

 

 

 Lots more to come, so stay tuned!

Let's Get This Party Started!

I've been meaning to start a blog for my sewing projects for a while now. I taught myself to sew at the age of ten, made various items of clothing over the years, took every costuming class offered when I was in college, but only with the birth of my daughter and interaction with my step-children has my sewing really taken off. Thankfully, as a self-employed massage therapist my schedule is flexible enough that I can spend a lot of time on the sewing machine! Plus, we get lots of opportunities for costuming since we attend Dragon*Con, the sci-fi convention in Atlanta, every year.
 

 

 

 

Obviously, we've had a lot of fun with this over the years and no one has benefitted so much as the youngest, Nia. We did a Victorian/Steampunk theme one of the last times we went and I made her a little dress for the occasion.

 

 

 

And a little something for myself, as well.

 

 

I tend to make my own patterns or adapt ones that I've found or purchased. This seems to work best as no one is the exact same size. Lately I've been having a lot of fun with t-shirt knits. They're just so easy to work with and forgiving. Here's Nia in her rainbow dress also holding the one we sent to her cousin (who's 4 months younger).

 

 

I've got a couple of t-shirt alterations that I've done for myself as well, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. See you then!