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!

Ribbon Frame

This summer has been a whirl wind of fun! Once school was out, I was quickly whisked away on a plane to visit my best friend in Hawaii. Needless to say, it was a blast! After a few days of unpacking (which I still need to finish) and rest, I went up to my hometown for my family baby shower. Now, I am home, and finally ready to craft! I started my first craft today, so that I could better organize my favorite, decorative hair pins.

After scouring pinterest, I found a craft I wanted to recreate. The frame with the back taken out and replaced with ribbon. The final product looked like this:

Here are the steps I took:
1) I took out the back of the frame, the glass, and whatever was left over.


2) I used a hot glue gun to hot glue the ribbon onto the back of the frame. 


3) After glueing on four ribbons I was done!


It was truly simple. Probably the easiest craft I have ever done.

Then I hung it in my bathroom and added my hair pins!

Seriously adorable and made my day! I have more room to buy more hair pins - won't my husband be excited for that...

Curious George Blanket

We are about to hit the 20 week part on Wednesday, and I have realized that I have not posted a single project that I have accomplished yet! Though my husband and I have been busy, so here goes Project 1: The Baby Blanket.

Now, I have sewed in my lifetime, but I haven't sewed in, let's say a few years. So, sewing something seemed like a daunting project for my first undertaking. Then, I remembered the "No Sew" quilts my Mom used to make as Christmas presents. They were always well loved.

We have decided to go with a book theme for the nursery, and we have found some cute things. However, we struggled to find the perfect Curious George addition (we wanted a shelf and cute stickers, but the stickers were just too small). Until, we found the perfect fabric!

As you can see my dog, Chloe, wanted to help design the quilt as well! 

Here are the step for the simple "no sew" quilt:

1) Buy 2 colors of flannel fabric. I bought 1 yard for the baby blanket. I think my mom always bought 2 yards for an adult sized blanket.

2) You lie the two fabrics on top of each other, evenly.

3) You cut four squares at each of the corners about 3-4 inches deeps (depending on how long you want your strips to be).

4) Then you cut strips about 2 inches long and 3-4 inches deep (depending on how long you cut your squares).

5) Then you tie the strips from the two different fabrics together!

My final product looked like this. It took me about an hour - not too bad at all!