ABC Infant Toys

Sewing has become my new passion. This next project will take awhile to finish; however, it is easy to put down and come back to in between projects since you feel accomplished after completing one letter.

Since I wanted the toys to be the same size, I made a stencil on Word, and used Word Art. It was nice because I could choose my own font, and modify the size as needed.

Then, I had to cut out the stencils, which took quite a while, but well worth it!

Next, I pinned the stencils onto two pieces fabric right sides facing out.

I traced the stencil, then cut about a half inch outside the tracing.

After that, I took out the pins and stencil, and re-pinned just the fabric, and sewed on the tracing on the stencil leaving a small piece of the two fabrics open, so I could stuff the letter.

Once the stuffing was in, I could close up the letter.

After the letter was completely sewn I could trim the excess fabric.

After completing the letter A, I moved to B, then C! I am currently finished with F, and hope to do all the letters before I pop!

Onesie Dress

My sewing machine is becoming my new best friend. At my family baby shower, my mom bought a bunch of white onesies for people to decorate. However, there were still tons left over, I took them home, and thought they would come into use and some point. Well, I found the use! I made a white onesie into a cute dress!

I used a 3 months onesie. The front measured to 14 inches around, and 10 inches long from where I wanted to sew. So, I cut a square out of the fabric that was 21 inches long and 12 inches long. I made it longer than it needed to be, so I could account for hems. The first thing I did was sew the hem for the left, right, and bottom, of the skirt.

Once the hem was straight and sewn to perfection, I pinned the pleats around the top as shown in the picture, from the section that was not hemmed (since it wouldn't be seen). Every inch and a half I pinned a new pleat.

Then I sewed it to the onesies, but slipping the onesie and dress over the sewing machine.

Once that was complete it was time to sew the blue band to the dress!

I cut the band to be 3 inches wide and 15 inches long, so it would over lap in the back. Next I did the hem to make a straight line. Then I pinned it over the pleats, and sewed it to the onesie. And voila - a dress!

It is quite cute! And the best part was that it was from scrap fabric from the sling I just made, and the curtains I completed!


What I learned after my baby was born: USE STRETCHY FABRIC! Not sure if it will work the same, but the dress sadly did not fit over her head. I will try again with stretchy fabric to see if I get the same results!

Curtains

After the sling project, I knew I needed to hone in my sewing skills. Basically, I became addicted to sewing. My sister is coming to be the live-in nanny when my baby girl is here, and she is living in the loft. Our loft has a big hole in it - that is supposed to be a window to the living room. However, I don't think she wants to be changing up stairs if others are downstairs! So, I needed to make the room curtains.

First I measured the size of the window, which was 48 inches tall and 8 feet long. The fabric I bought was 44 inches long, so I needed to do three blocks of curtains instead of two. I cut the fabric to be ten inches longer than I needed.

Then I cut the plain navy blue which would be the back of the curtains.

Once that I was completed, I took the first block of blue and floral print, and ironed the left side 1/2 an inch, and pinned it. Then I ironed the hem of the top 1/2 an inch, and then folded the hem over 3 inches, ironed it, and pinned in. Once the pinning and ironing was done, I sewed the two sides.
Then you cut the excess fabric on the other sides, and repeat the last step again on the other side.

After creating 3 pieces, the final project looked like this!

Sling

After many attempts at crafting with the hot glue gun, it was time to focus on my sewing projects. I started with the project that needed to get done first, since I will use it frequently with my little girl - the sling.

First and for most I used the McCall's pattern for the sling. I will not give everything away here, since I'm sure McCall's will prefer that not give away their pattern. But, I will show you pictures of the sling, and some of the steps I took.

First I used 1 3/4 yards of fabric, and pinned the pattern, and cut it out twice (so don't put the pattern in the middle of the fabric like I did the first time, and had to subsequently buy more fabric).
Chloe seriously loves to help with my projects. What a silly puppy!

Once everything was cut out, I put the wrong sides out and sewed the sides, except for one small section, so I could flip it to the right side when you are done sewing.

Then I sewed together the rounded edges as well. Then flipped the fabric around.

Once the fabric was flipped around, I slip stitched the rounded edges together to make the sling complete.



Finally, my sling was complete!! Now I just need my baby girl to arrive, so I can use it! :)

Ribbon Cards

Summer has been fun! My husband and I have been been working hard to prepare for our soon to be baby. We are getting house projects done, and baby projects done as well.

Before all the projects began I went to Hawaii to visit my best friend (as I have mentioned before). She had a huge mold problem, and was afraid to hang special photos, so she decided to display her cards in a super cute way! She put ribbons up with push-pins and hung the cards on the ribbon. I have saved all my special cards from the last few years, and decided to display just like hers! Here is the finished product:

In order to make this the first thing I did was make the push-pins a bit more exciting by super glueing $1 bin flowers from Michaels.








Then I hung the ribbon in the hallway. I used thick ribbon, and actually hung it up straight first, because the weight of the cards make it dip.

Then I hung the cards, and paper clipped the cards folded long way. It was simple, and lit up the hallway!

Well, time for my next craft!