A Quick One

Got a super fast one for you today. Next week is spring break so on Friday my K girls' school is having a "Spring Fling." They will be offering several different movies for the kids to watch and for some added fun, they are to dress up to match the movie.
My oldest, KK, has decided that she wants to watch The Lego Movie, and the chosen attire to match is superheroes. Well... being a 9 year old girl we don't have much superhero clothing... or toys... or anything really, unless you count movies, Daddy loves his comic book movies.

Anyway, I found a simple solution: I let her choose whatever superhero she wanted and I was going to make the symbol for her. She choose Batman, and here it is:

I found an image online, and traced the components on to felt. Then I used Heat n' Bond to hold them together. We will pin this on a black t-shirt and we're good to go!
**Word to the wise- I found that the heat will actually start to melt the felt, so it's best to use a layer between the iron and the felt (since I was in the kitchen working, I just grabbed a paper towel and it worked perfectly).

Also, remember those cute dresses I made for my twin Ks? Today is warm enough for them to actually wear them, however they wouldn't stand still for a photo shoot. So here's a picture of them in their high chairs eating so I could get them to sit at least semi-still:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Pillowcase Dresses

Recently my grandma (Mom's stepmother) sent me a box of craft supplies, as she's getting a little too old to use them anymore- crazy arthritis doesn't allow you to stitch quite as easily. Anyway, inside the box there was fabric and lace and bias and pipe cleaners and ribbon and even a doll making kit that she bought, my mom stitched a face for, but she never got around to actually making it. None of the fabric was more than about a half a yard so there wasn't a lot I could do but there was one purple patterned fabric that I LOVED and there was also a complimentary purple (there were also pre-cut squared in the box of each fabric so I'm guessing she used them for a quilt). I decided that with the two fabrics combined I had enough for a set of matching 2T dresses.

I started by stitching the two fabrics together and ironing them out to cut, generally following this Pretty Prudent pattern (also the pattern I followed for that last dress I posted).

After I had them cut I went ahead and zigzag stitched over the seam to help keep from fraying, see:

Then to prevent the seam from bothering my precious K twins I went ahead and added a thin strip of interfacing (I also didn't lock stitch the zigzag because I knew I was going to do this and there will be another seam over it anyway).

Next I stitched the sides together and did a zigzag to finish the side seams.

After that, I used bias tape to finish the bottom and support the arms (I hadn't finished the bias in the pictures, I had only done the first step of sewing them on but had ironed them to prep for the next step):

Finally I sewed a seam for the neck. I pinned and ironed down a 1/4 inch and then folded down another 3/4 inch and stitched near the bottom so I could lace a ribbon through for the sleeves.

And here's the finished product (with the bow I made to match that can be seen closer in my previous post):

Isn't it cute? I love how they turned out and I definitely can't complain about free fabric. Now to wait for summer to actually allow the twins to wear them.... (that's the hardest part!!)
Hopefully I'll get a good picture of the K twins in them to share with you all.

That's all for now,
Jo!

**Update: There is a photo of the twin Ks in their dresses on the Mar. 16, 2015 post entitled "A Quick One".

Baby Gifts

So my best friend is having a little girl and I couldn't be more excited! (I'm starting to get baby fever again but, with 4, I'm done and so I'll live vicariously through her.) This is the first little one since I've started sewing again so I was ready for special gifts for very special baby!
Here's my theme- or at least what I'm thinking: Rock-a-bye Baby.

Here's how it works out-
"Rock-a-bye Baby" (in this cute little dress)

*This was a super simple pillowcase dress made with pink chevron flannel because even when your baby is born in summer you're still worried they're not warm enough! Then added a cute Wal-Mart sew on applique (isn't that little birdie cute!).

"In the tree top" (where the owls sleep)

*Again super simple- just a yard of flannel and a yard of black satin with a pink satin bias trim. Easy as sew together and add trim- I made my corners rounded so I wouldn't have to worry about making the squared corners perfectly folded.

"When the wind blows" (these will keep your hair in place)

*I had a ton of fun making bows. There's seven here (I think I added one more small one with a cupcake that was made after this picture was taken) but I made over 20 total- my K girls are in bow HEAVEN!!

"The cradle will rock" (I'm not sure quite how I'm going to tie this one in, I'm thinking something about how this is a diaper "cradle")

*I followed a pattern from 7 Layers Studio, it was much easier that it looks, I promise! I added a pink trim to the top after this photo was taken, just to make sure the layers don't slip and to stiffen the opening. It's perfect size to hold a container of wipes and 5-10 diapers, depending on the size of the wipes container. It's great for quick diaper changes on the go instead of having to dig through the diaper bag to find everything.

That's it- I'm so glad I get to give such unique gifts to such a unique and loved little girl!

That's all for now,
Jo!