Carseat Covers

I have two sister-in-laws having babies this spring, so I made carseat covers for them. The one on the right is supposed to be for a boy. The one on the left is supposed to be unisex, but it was so hard finding fabric that could go either girl or boy! I ended up thinking the mushrooms were a little girly, and the other was a little too boyish, but oh well. I love how they turned out either way.

 I found the pattern on Etsy. I love that it has a button front so you can peek in, but still keep the little ones covered if you want. Her pattern was great, but I made a few changes. She used Grossgrain ribbon everywhere, but I decided to pipe it. I'm getting more confident with my piping skills. For the red one, I made my own bias tape and covered store-bought piping to make it a little more special. (Thanks to my sister for the idea)

 Buttons! Sometimes it's the embellishments that end up costing the most. 

Hope they liked it. This was a relatively simple pattern, so if you're a beginner, this might be a great start.

You Can Make This Quilt

Another quilt post. Sorry. I'm kind of on a roll here.

This one was for my brother's baby boy, due in November. Have I mentioned how fun baby quilts are? They're so fast. No pieced back. No pieced batting. It's lovely. I whipped this one out in two or three days I think.

I found the idea for this one on a favorite blog I follow. It's called a "Strip and Flip" quilt because as you can see, you just piece the strips together and when you are done, you cut out that middle section and flip it, and put it back together. That's it. The best part is that you only need tiny little strips of your 44" wide fabric to make it work. If you're a beginner quilter, this would be a great project for you.

 New wavy line quilting method. You can do this with your normal foot. No need for any fancy quilting stuff. No need to be perfect either. Oh, and almost all the fabric is from Walmart (shhh....don't tell).

 Striped binding.
Again, I'm addicted.

 My very manly husband says the back is borderline girly. I think it's just boy enough.
(Sidenote: quilt+barbed wire = a tricky situation. Very tricky indeed)

Likey.

I Vowed Never to Do Piping Again

But then my friend asked me to make some bumpers for her nursery, so I attempted it once more. It really is a sweet story. They adopted two little girls, and they recently found out they were expecting their first little girl. So exciting for them.

The friend who I made them for is quite thrifty herself, so she actually found some really nice boy bumper pads at a yard sale and bought them before she found out what she was having. I ripped the whole thing apart and I used the existing piping and ties and recovered the pads to come up with this. It really cut down on the work (and the cost).

I basically just sewed a huge tube of fabric, added piping and ties, on one side, and voila. 

She loved them. As in, almost went into tears when I gave them to her at her baby shower. It's always nice giving something away when you know the person you're giving it to really appreciates it.

High Chair Makeover

Since we moved into a bigger house, we now have room for a bigger high chair. We've loved our little clip on, but this one is nice to have in the kitchen area while I'm cooking. I found a high chair on Craigslist for $10 (total steal!), but it didn't have a cover. So I just busted one out.

I'm pretty proud of this baby. I just looked at some pictures online (I found an amazing tutorial here),  measured the dimensions, then I just guessed and did the best I can. It would have been easier if I could have used the old one as a template, but I just did a mock up with some scrap fabric and tweaked it from there.

 I kind of love this fabric. Amy Butler's Daisy Chain and charcoal houndstooth. How can I go wrong? I think it could go either boy or girl. It's totally washable too.

I feel so good about this one! I'm so thankful that my mom taught me how to sew. I found some places on etsy selling high chair covers for $50+. No thanks.

Another Itty Bitty

Remember Mary's Itty Bitty Baby Dress found here?

My friend is about to have a baby girl, so I made her one.

The funnest part of making stuff like this is shopping for fabric.

Pacifier Leash

I have a baby, so I'm allowed to do more baby crafts... :)

I saw this pacifier clip forever ago and I wanted to try it. Instead of buying all new hardware I just used the store-bought ones I had and replaced the ribbon that was starting to look gross. I also don't have a surger, so I just made my own bias tape and stiched down the sides. 

The back is just hand stitched closed.

The fabric is from Amy Butler's new line, Soul Blossoms. (Which I'm pretty obsessed with.)

Anyway, this would be an easy baby shower idea. You could coordinate them with anything: bibs, burp coths, blanket or carseat cover.

Wool Felt Hair Accessories

I made these a long time ago, but I keep forgetting to blog it. I love this blog, and found a pattern for these little flowers when I was preggo. I made them in just about every color.

She just attached them to her head like so:

But I found them hard to get on and off, so I put them on a headband instead.

Some tips:

I ordered real wool felt here. It looks way better than cheap crafty felt.

I ordered the fold over elastic here. I wish I would have ordered more. It's so cheap! I like the petite look better than the thick band, so I just folded it once and sewed along the edge to make it a skinny band.

Pretty easy. Happy crafting!

Ruffle Onesie

Caution: Cuteness overload.

Yep. 

This went together really fast. I had time to squeeze it in during her nap. I found the tutorial here. 

Birds

I totally got this idea from Mary who found the pattern here.

I tried and tried to get the birds to perch on branches, but it wasn't happening for me. Mary was able to make it work...maybe she'll post pictures of hers? :)

So instead I just hung them from the ceiling without the branches. I think it's still cute. Even cuter than that is when I hold up my little boy to touch them, they sway and spin around. He thinks it's hilarious.

(he shares a room with his sister, so there are still remenants of "girl" in here)

The pattern says to sew by hand, but I used my sewing machine. You will rarely catch me hand sewing. Also I left the tail as a raw edge. I like that it kind of looks feathery.

Month One-sies: Great Baby Shower Gift (Silhouette Project)

My BF here in St. Louis had a baby shower this past Saturday and I wanted to make something fun and special. Plus, she loves to take pictures so I thought this would be perfect. The idea is to have a one-sie for each month of the first year for the baby so you know how old they are in each picture.

Very easy, but time-consuming and much easier if you own a Silhouette or Cricut but you could take these into a shop that makes printed t-shirts too if you really wanted to do this.

First, get yourself some one-sies.

I bought packs that had three in them so I could do this:

 0-3 months= month 1, 2 & 3

 3-6 months=month 4, 5 & 6

6-9 months=month 7, 8 & 9

and 

9-12 months=month 10, 11 & 12

Order your Silhouette Heat Transfer in the color you want. She was having a girl so I did pink in the smooth heat transfer.

Wash your one-sies, pick your font, cut it out and starting ironing! Follow the directions closely on the packaging. Like I said, it takes a while for it to stick and I noticed it did better if the steam was on.

Here's some pics:

Here's all the one-sies...month 1-12.

Here's a closeup--I used the Mandingo font.

This is what I used for the 12 month, birthday one-sie

and here we are at the shower! So fun!!!

Congrats again, Meg!

Changing Pad

I made a baby changing pad using this tutorial from Homemade by Jill. I love her stuff. It was pretty easy. The hardest part is finding the iron on vinyl...

All ready for many dirty diapers to come.

Sew Saturday: Baby Bibs & Burp Clothes

 

Well, this post was obviously intended for 'Sew Saturday' but our desktop is dead and our laptop's charging cord is on its last leg so I had no computer over the weekend.

I made these bibs for a friend, and had leftover fabric so I made a few for my nephew's 1st birthday as well. Super easy, and super cute. I found the tutorial for the smaller bibs (pictured on the left) and the burp clothes on this blog (tutorial are listed on the right side of blog). PS. Love her stuff.

And to make the larger bibs, I just folded one of Marshall's favorite bibs in half, traced it on paper, cut out the tracing and used that as a pattern. I used fannel material for both sides and love that they are reversable. I was pretty impressed with them seeing how I am not a "sewer" but I am soon becoming one! Had a ton of fun doing these and they are the perfect gift if you ask me.

Matchy cuteness.

Have fun

Raccoon!

I decided that the critters on the back of my capes are too cute to be cooped up in a dress-up box. (what?)

This is a baby shower gift for a friend of mine. After appliqueing the crazy raccoon using zig-zag stitch, I tacked it on to a canvas. I like the simplicity of no picture frame.

Of course soon it will be hanging in a nursery, not thrown into the leaf pile on this shelf.

Bibs

These bibs are actually a rip off from my sister's etsy shop.

Hers are pieced and quilted and way cute.

I love these bibs because there is no Velcro to snag your clothes in the dryer, and they use up fabric scraps you may have crowding your workspace.

Plus they are made with love just for your little one to spill and stain!

Begin by laying two choice fabrics right side facing each other. Outline the shape and size of a bib you prefer. Do you like longer? Wider? Whatever fits the scrap you are using? (that's what influenced my bib sizes...)

Cut out the fabric, keeping them sandwiched together.

Lay a square of batting on top of your cut fabric.

Sew the fabric-fabric-batting sandwich together, allowing a .25 inch seam. Leave the top "neck" area open. This will be your raw edge.

Trim away the excess batting. Turn sandwich right side out. Ta Da!

Iron it flat, paying attention to the edges.

Machine quilt. Any pattern you like.

Make about 2-3 feet of bias tape. Click here for tutorial.

(All the tutorials I found are WAY more complicated than what I do. Perhaps I will show how I do bias tape someday.)

Center and sew your bias tape onto the raw edge of your bib. Knot the ends.

Don the bib onto your baby. Don't be too sad when your creation gets stained.

brother's side...

sister's side...

I don't actually tie them into a knot or bow around their necks. I just wind the ties around each other a couple of times. It stays put, but comes off easy when lunch time is done.

I made lots and lots so I never run out before laundry day.

Letters...

I had been wanting to decorate the letters of my little guy's name for a long time. I had originally painted the letters some crazy colors, but just didn't love it. Then I saw these from Laura's blog and had to steal the idea! I already had the little animals from another project I was going to do, but never accomplished. You can get them really cheap at craft stores or even wal-mart. I got the frames at the dollar store and the spray painted the devil out of both the frames and the letters. I covered the cardboard backing of the frames with fabric that I had and then used the hot glue gun to get everything together.

Close up.

Here's how they look in the little guy's room!

This was a super easy, quick project. The longest part was waiting for the spray paint to dry. Loved it!