Fun Stitching on a Baby Blanket

I decided to try out my new sewing machine and all these new FUN stitches I have that I never did before (I used to have a very basic sewing machine but will be giving it to my daughter as a gift).

I made this for my new nephew and thought it would be fun to made a double sided baby blanket and then add decorative stitching on the top and bottom edges.

If you have never made a double sided blanket before, just cut out your fabric (2 pieces) 1/2" larger on all sides. Pin the right sides together and stitch a 1/2" straight seam using a regular stitch and all 4 sides, but leaving about a 2" unstitched gap on the 4th side. Pull your fabric through the gap so that the right sides are out. Fold in the edges of the gap and pin in the place.

I did my decorate stitching on this 4th side so that the gap was stitched closed, then also did it on the opposite side.

In case you are wondering, my new sewing is this Singer 7256 Fashion Mate 70-Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine. I am just loving it so far!

DIY Dinosaur Felt Bow Tie

My son is a HUGE dinosaur fan, which you probably have been able to figure out if you have been reading my blog for a while. I tend to foster my kids' interests and since he loves dinosaurs we are all about dinosaurs here. Honestly, I never thought I would learn so much about dinosaurs beyond knowing the name of about a handful. I know I have Soooooo much more dinosaur stuff to learn, but in the meantime I will keep crafting dino things for and with my son.

I had made my son an Easy Felt Bow Tie a couple months ago, and I did the same basic things for this one, except I did NO SEWING at all for this one. I bought some Fabric-Tac and reading about it in some other tutorial and thought I would try it on a small project (this one) instead of embarking on the bigger project I had intended it for. This stuff is amazing. Not only does it dry super quick, but it is very strong and supposed to be able to be washed (I haven't used it on anything I need to wash yet). I have made my daughter some beautiful loopy hair bows with this as well.

You can read the post on the Easy Felt Bow Tie to see just how that was constructed, but basically you just glue where you would have sewn previously. And it worked so easily to embellish the tie to make it a dinosaur. Oh, I guess I did sew on the googly eye because I had sew-on ones and I wanted to make sure that in anything came off it wasn't the eye.

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This holiday season our family has received so many awesome homemade gifts from friends and family and I wanted to share with you the hard work others have done. Maybe these ideas will help give you some ideas of your own for gifts that you want to make in the future.

This is my son with his Stegasaurus backpack and hat that my parents gave him.

This is my wooden door mat that my parents made for me.

This is my daughter with the quiver my parents made for her. Her arrows are all at home and weren't available for this picture, but she is anxious to use this with them when she goes to Archery practice.

Some yummy ice cream toppings that my parents made (well, probably just my mom.)

This is some homemade lavender-mint fabric softener that a friend made. I have already been using it so the cute tied on label is gone, plus 1/4 of the fabric softener is gone.

My MIL made me this present, which will go to the cabin with us. It is a table runner (folded in half in this picture), a button on towel, napkins, and potholders.

My parents made this wooden slide-in sofa side table for my husband. He actually has one they made him a couple years ago but we use it so often (usually the kids have confiscated it) that he really wanted to have a second one.

My MIL made this beautiful dress for my daughter and a matching one for her American Girl doll. 

My daughter made me this bracelet.

My son made these bird feeders for his grandparents.

What is missing from these pictures of homemade gifts we received are:

* Winter Survival Kit (we have already taken this apart to use, it had in it Kleenex, Airborne, Ricola cough drops, lip balm, hot cocoa, and tea) - from my parents

* Homemade Candies - caramels and peanut clusters made and given by a friend in book club

* Homemade Playdough with a cookie cutter- for my son from his preschool teacher

* Handpainted Snowman Jar filled with a tealight and candies made by my son while at preschool

* Elf/SantaCandy Jars filled with Hersey kisses and a little felt hat on top and black belt for the kids from my parents

* Hand painted picture of our cabin from one of my friends (this is still in process, I was just given a picture of the work in progress so I haven't actually received it)

Plus, I wouldn't want to forget about the gifts of time a couple of friends have given me. One friend treated me to a pedicure at a local spa and another friend took to to a dinner at a winery with thieving from the barrel. 

Gosh, I hope I didn't forget any homemade gifts. They are all wonderful and I really appreciate the time people have spent making those gifts and thinking of us. 

We also received lots of other wonderful gifts that we are extremely thankful to have received and feel very blessed to be gifted with. We are very fortunate.

12 Gifts of Christmas: Super Hero Cape

I wanted to make my son a cape for Christmas and I wanted it to be minimal sewing since it was just a costume. I had made my daughter one for Christmas when she was about the same age as him and she still uses it today but now has other longer capes.

If you didn't want to put a picture or emblem on the back you could easily make this a no-sew project.

I used felt and cut out a cape pattern, making sure to have a head hole area. Then to keep it no-sew I used sticky velcro to on the ends of the neck of the cape. Eventually I may handstitch this velcro on place, it depends upon how loved this cape becomes.

I took a picture of the cape on my sewing mat so that you can see the measurements I made the cape for a 3 year old.

To add the emblem on the back, I used pieces of craft felt that I cut out and pinned in to place and using simple straight stitches around the edges of the green and through the center lines of the H secured them in to place.

I stitched the H on to the green shield first, then stitched the shield on to the cape.

Here you can see how the velcro closure works around the neck/head area.

Try It Tuesday: Washcloth Travel Pouch

This homemade Christmas gift is quite simple in its concept, but very practical in its use. I made the three pictured above for my children and husband and thought these would be perfect to bring along with us on our camping trip. After the holidays I will have to make myself one so that we each have one. I made sure that I chose different ribbon colors so they could tell whose is whose.

Here is what the finished Washcloth Travel Pouch looks like when it is rolled up and tied. This is one of the two that I made for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.

This project is just a few simple straight stitches. You can determine the number of spaces you have but I made four so that there was room for a bar of soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a washcloth.

I folded the washcloth so that the bottom third was covering the middle third. Cut a piece of ribbon to 24". Fold the ribbon with 8" over 16" with right sides in. Pin in to place between the layers on one side.

Be sure to pin the ribbon in to one edge before stitching so that you can have it stitched in between the layers. It looks more finished that stitching it on the outside after the fact.

Stitch the other side closed and stitch in the number of pockets you want. I stitched in 4 pockets, which I think is about the maximum # you could do and have enough space to put in toothbrush, toothpaste, soap & washcloth.

These are the three for my family, all stacked up neatly.

A close up view of the inside.

Making an Easter Applique Shirt

I sometimes struggle to come up with boys crafts and clothes. I shouldn't be surprised because when you look through a pattern catalog, there is only a handful for boys but the girls patterns are pages and pages and pages and well, you get the idea

To make it even harder, I have this fantasy of having coordinating outfits for my children for Easter. Not easily done when you have a boy and a girl. And I don't want to fall in to the rut of making the same thing year after year.

Last year I made my daughter this beautiful pink and black dress with some fabric she helped me pick out. So, for my son I bought him a black dress shirt and then made him a tie in the pink & black fabric. It looked cute without being too feminine.

This year I made my daughter this twirly skirt (mainly because I thought the fabric was too busy to make a whole dress out of it, plus she has been wanting a twirly skirt.) For my son, I thought I would take some of the fabric and applique it on to a shirt.

I started with a store-bought pre-shrunk t-shirt. I then cut out an image from the fabric that would give a nice representation (of Easter - showing the bunny, eggs and flowers.)

I chose to cut a circle because it was the easiest to cut out and stitch around. You could do other shapes.

I cut out the same shape of heat-n-bond adhered it to the fabric and shirt following the instructions on the package. I have used this heat-n-bond before and know that even though its says NO-SEW that is just not true. It only last no-sew for a few washings and then it peels off. It says on the package that you should not a sew through it, but I have never had any problems with that. It has neither left any residue, nor has done any damage to my needle. 

Using the heat-n-bond to secure it in place makes it so much easier to stitch a zigzag stitch around the perimeter. I only have a simple basic sewing machine, nothing fancy and certainly no serger (although, maybe someday).

And obviously, this is before Easter and I don't have a picture of my kids in this year's outfits yet. So, stay tuned to see them! Maybe next week's Wordless Wednesday!

Making Handmade Cat Toys

These will be gifts from the big guy! Santa Claus! I don't know why, but he always brings the cats a little something. Why he bring them and the kids stuff, I don't know either because all that any of them want is the paper (kids and cats), boxes (kids and cats) and tape (cats). I should just make a long strand of tape that has been fold sticky sides in for the cats to chew on. There is something about tape and it's texture and crinkliness that make them just want to toss it around a room and chew on it. But I didn't do that this time. I made them stuffed catnip mice.

To start with I just cut pieces of felt in to 3 triangles of the same size. I made the triangles 1/4" bigger on all sides than I wanted the mice to be to allow for a 1/4" seam allowance.

Then I cut a fourth triangle that would be the behind of the mouse. I made it equal on all sides using the bottom of the 3 triangles as the initial measurement and adding 1/4" on each side for a seam allowance.

Next up was stitching. To the first side I stitched the bottom on as well as the second side. Then I stitched the third side the second side, the third side to the second side, and finally the bottom to the third side.

You will still have a bottom side not stitched to the second side. You will hand stitch this closed after you turn right sides out and stuff it.

After you turn your mouse so the right sides are facing out, you can make some eye using some yarn. I cut a piece that was about 8" long.

Thread yarn on to a needle. Tie a knot in the end of the yarn. Push the needle through from the inside in the location where you want your first eye. Tie a knot in the yarn, close to the felt, to create a raised eye. Then bring the yarn back through to the inside. Next come back through from the inside to the outside in the location where you want the second eye, tie a knot on the outside and bring yarn back through the inside. Remove the needle and let the string hang out the back end of the mouse; this will create it's tail.

I bought some organic catnip to stuff inside with some batting, but you could also stick a bell in there. Cats love to chance things with a bell sound.

Stuff the inside of the mouse with some batting and either catnip or a bell. If you wanted to go really crazy I suppose you could do both catnip a a bell.  :)


Then fold your seams in and hand stitch close. The thread will sink in to the felt, so your seam will be barely noticeable. As you will notice in the finished mice above I tried making them in 2 different directions, you be the judge at which way you like it. Then just trim you tail to the length you prefer.

#191 Make a Simple Skirt from a Sheet

This is my daughter's tie-dye skirt I mentioned in the Pennant Post. Creating this skirt is so simple. The measurements I provide here will work for a sz. 6 skirt.

* Cut a rectangle of fabric that is 17"x34" and cut 13.5" piece of 1" elastic

* Stitch the two short sides together (right sides in if your fabric has a right side)

* Fold over half inch on the wrong side & iron along top of skirt

* Fold over once more, but this time 1.5". Stitch around the bottom of this fold, leaving a 1" opening to insert and string through the elastic.

* String through elastic using a safety pin as a guide. Also, be sure to pin the other end so that you don't pull the elastic all the way through.

* Sew the ends of the elastic together to create an elastic loop inside the skirt.

* Stitch the opening you had left.

* Move the fabric so that the cinching looks even all around waist.

* Fold over the bottom hem 1/2" and iron.

* Fold over the bottom hem another 1/2" so that the raw edge is inside and iron.

* Stitch the hem. I chose to use a dark red color & a zig-zag stitch to add some texture & color to the skirt.
* Then to "tie-dye" it, draw on the fabric with permanent marker. Be sure to put cardboard underneath it because the marker will bleed through the fabric. Put rubbing alcohol over the marker to make it spread and create a tie-dye effect.

This is her finished product and it has been washed since creating it and the marker does not bleed any more after the rubbing alcohol has dried.

My daughter loves to wear dresses & skirts and she loved this project. She requested that I make her a dress that she can color too. So, that will be my next project in using up a queen size flat sheet.

So far, I have made a Snowman Dress, 4 pennants, and a skirt out of 1 queen size flat sheet. I have 2 dresses cut out already and still a lot more fabric. I plan to cut out another couple skirts (if I have enough) so we can do some other dying with them.

#190 Revive Old Pillows

The pillows I recovered and the ones toward the center. They are light tan and hunter green in color.
In this picture you can see the cream colored cashmere pillows I have had for about a decade that now have various holes on the back side, how they got there I don't know. I'm just going to blame the cats. The front side was a nice cable knit cashmere, but there were a couple of tiny holes in the front, but with kids when do the pillows ever stay facing the right way so company doesn't see the holes on the back side.

This was a simple enough project with minimal sewing skills needed. My daughter & I picked out fabric from JoAnn's that was in their home interior section (thicker & more heavy duty fabric in this section) that was in their discounted pile of bolts. A yard of this fabric was $6 and was almost exactly what I needed, there is minimal scraps leftover.

All I did was simply sew along three sides with the wrong sides facing out and then turned it right side out, folded in the fourth side and pinned it and stitched that down in a coordinating color of thread (which I was lucky enough to have some.)

Six Dollars! That's it! For 2 new pillows. And nothing is going in the landfill because I kept the cashmere cases on them so that it provided a smoother look.

But if sewing is not something you are interested in doing, check out buying pillow cases from a store to give your pillows a new look (or in my case get rid of the used-up look). Stop yourself from throwing away a perfectly good pillow when it just needs some updating.

#167 Turn Old Sweaters into a Child's Dress

My daughter asked me if I would make her a dress for a Christmas present. And since all her presents were all ready purchased, I didn't want to spend more money to buy a pattern & new fabric so I started thinking about what I had to use and I decided to use some old sweaters that I had recently retired to the craft box.

I used a dress that is currently a perfect fit on her and just altered the measurements to make it slightly larger so it will be something she can wear all winter and now my daughter has a cashmere (blue) and wool (red) dress.

To save myself time & energy I made sure to use the bottom hem of a sweater as the bottom hem of the dress so that I wouldn't have to create a hem. I also had decided on using the red sweater because it had shrunk (quite a bit in the arms) so that I did not need to alter the arm circumference.

I did need to take in the sides and shorten the arm length and create new arm holes. The knew arm holes in the sleeves and on the body was what took the longest to do. I sure hope she likes it.

#149 Upcycle a Shirt into a Preppy Bib

The original idea to this was not mine; my inspiration came from lil Mop Top. I bought this shirt from a thirft store and am using an old terry handtowel as the backside. I also used the entire collar on my bib and added elastic on the backside so that as my son got older I could easily get it over his head. I am going to make him some more. They are very cute & I can make them big enough that he can continue to grow into it. It' hard to find decent large bibs for kids as they get older and now that my son is feeding himself finger food there is a lot more messes that those small bibs can't cover.

I decided to use elastic at the back because I dislike tie bibs and I dislike velcro bibs (which most tend to be) because they get stuck to everything in the wash & are easy for kids to pull off as they get older. I like bibs that you can pull over your head & snap bibs are ok too, but I don't have the tools to put snaps on (might be something I think about investing in some day.)