From second hand tshirts to little boy bibs

I had done a bib earlier from a little girls dress but I have made more since.  This time from button down tshirts and second hand tshirts.  I don't have the before picture but I do have the after picture.  I linked the address to the bibs on my earlier post.

All you need is:
-a t-shirt, button down or a logo t-shirt
-printed out pattern
-scissors
-pins
-towel or material for back
-velcro

Here are 3 bibs that I have made so far.  The orange one I have given away to a friend for her baby due in April.  They are fun and easy to make.  I love how they turn out.  They make really cute gifts.

Urban comfort quilt

A while back I saw this pattern online called the Urban comfort quilt.  It looks like this

I really liked it and wanted to try it with my own patterns.  I saw two versions of it.  The baby blanket and the full size.  I made one for a friend of mine for her birthday.  It looked like this when done

She really liked it.  Then a few months later she was expecting her first baby so I thought it would be cute to make the baby version of this blanket for her and her new baby.  So here is that one

I like how they turned out.  I will be using this pattern again.

Frugal Christmas projects

This year for Christmas I was frugal.  I decided to make my presents this year.  Those are the best kind anyways :) I started with a reversible apron for my niece.  I know that she loves to help mom in the kitchen and thought an apron would be a great gift.  I saw this childrens apron on aestheticnest.com.  Made from 2 fat quarters.  I actually used half a yard of Strawberry shortcake material on one side, and a blue fat quarter on the other.  I tied in the pockets with rick rack as well as a piece on the bottom rather than use pom poms.  Like I said I was using what I had at home.  Again, I didn't make a tutorial, but on the website above she walks you through.

This is what the apron looked like when it was done:

And here is my little model wearing it Christmas morning

My second project was a Tinkerbell backpack for my niece.  I had some Tinkerbell material and purple lining for the inside.  I only had to buy the cord that was a few dollars at Joanns.  But here is what the bag looked like when done

Filling her bag full of Christmas presents.  I'd say it was a hit Christmas morning for the girls :)

My last gift that I made was an adult apron.  I didn't really follow a pattern.  I had an older McCalls pattern but when cutting it out it was rather big so I had to keep cutting it down until I liked the size of it.  I had the material from home ($6 home decor fabric from Joanns) and a pair of Ben's old jeans that he never wore.  With that I made this

I took a picture of her putting it on but the picture was blurry but I think she liked it and will use it often in the kitchen.

A successful Christmas full of frugal presents makes happy people all around!

Christmas stockings made from second hand sweaters

My mom had made stockings in the past for us kids out of old sweaters.  I had bought sweaters a year back at Value Village and wanted to make them last year.  Ben went ahead and made me a stocking last year as one of my presents.  I liked it but I was really excited to make ours.  I didn't get to it until this year.  I was thankful my mom had a little time to help me.  I didn't do a tutorial on them because my mom was walking me through step by step but I was able to watch her and put one together myself.  Hopefully when the time comes that I need to make more I will remember how :) But here is how they turned out.  I really like them!

Ben's stocking made from a maroon sweater with green accents.  The buttons were part of the sweater so that was nice for this one

My stocking was the green sweater with the maroon accent.  I had to add the buttons.

The stockings hung up on the wall.  Obviously the camera didn't accent the colors very well but you can tell from the above pictures what color they are.  I was really happy with how they turned out and had fun filing them this year

Little girl pants

I while back I made baby pants from this website http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/baby-pants-baby-pattern.html.  I liked them but to me they were really small .  Today was a snow day so I had a full day to myself. I had this floral pillow case and some yellow rick rack.  I thought today would be a good day to put it to use while watching the snow fall from my window.  I made my first tutorial so hopefully I can make some sense of my pictures.

Items needed:
*Fabric (I used a pillow case)
*Scissors
*Pins
*Sewing machine
*Rick rack (opt)
*Matching thread
*Elastic
*Safety pin

First step. Print out the template and cut out the pieces.  Right off the bat I goofed up but made it work.  Instead of cutting on the fold I had 4 pieces to work with instead of 2.  This is what mine looked like after I made the size to what I wanted



Step 2 is optional.  With rick rack or other trim add it to the bottom of the pants to add a little more fun to the pants

Step 3 Repeat step one and 2 with the other pieces

Step 4 Pin both leg pieces together with back pieces facing out and sew the top down to the middle of the pant to attach them together

Step 5 Once both pieces are sewn lay them back to back with floral print facing in and back side facing out.  Pin the pants in place

Start at the top and stitch around each sides of the pants.

Step 7 The casing.  We are almost done.  Fold over the casing 1/4 in then again and sew around it leaving an opening for the elastic to go through.  I went ahead and sewed around it once then did another stitch a second time a little above the first stitch.  This is optional

Step 8 Attach safety pin to elastic and thread it through all the way around the pants making sure the elastic doesn't twist.  When it is all the way around and back where it started stitch the elastic together, tuck it under and sew it closed (now would be a good time to figure out how much elastic you need for your little ones waist.  I don't have anyone to try them on so I just made a guess)

Turn your pants right side out and you are done.  Now try them on your little one and watch them fall in love with them! 

Fabric blocks

I saw this idea on Pintrest of fabric blocks.  Some with ribbons for babies to play with, others with crinkle noise inside, and some which I did had jingle bells inside to make a rattle sound.  I wanted to expand my sewing skills and try the blocks.  I had left over material from my sisters blanket that I made her so I thought I would make a block to go with the blanket.  I apologize I don't have the instructions or the pictures on how to do it step by step but you can find then online.  Basically you sew your six blocks into a cross then box then up, turn right side out, fill it with stuffing and a jingle bell if you choose, and stitch it close.  This is how mine turned out as a first try.

The bottom one went with my sisters gift and is shown here

It added a nice touch to the blanket.  Now when she is born my sister will have a soft blanket for her to lay on while playing with her new toy.

The other block was for another friend of mine.  She is having a boy at the end of this month.  The backpack next to the block is for baby C for when he gets bigger.  I made the bag as well and will have another tutorial later on how I did it.

The last picture is a block that I made for a friend who is due in February.

The picture looks red but the solid is actually a pink like the flowers.

From girls dress to baby bib

I was out at Value Village one day and the thought came to mind of making little baby bibs out of used clothing.  I had done one in the past out of a little boy button down shirt but had a hard time coming up with a bib for girls.  Then upon walking in the toddlers section of dresses I found this cute print dress for $1.99

I really loved the print of it and in my head could vision it as a bib for my sisters baby that is due in January.  So I bought the dress and went home with it.  I used the bib template that I found on http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2010/11/t-shirt-baby-bibs.html and turned it into a bib.  I used a bath towel for the back and velcro at the top.  And voila it is finished!

I loved how it turned out.  And so did my sister.  A cute and easy bib for under $5! I will be making more as I continue in my search for cute patterns.