Coasters For the New Place

We are moving in about a week and I'm finally motivated to start making stuff for it.  I've had fabric for months with the intention of finishing various projects to decorate the place.

I finished the easiest of them the other day, coasters, for the living room.  Our living room set is a navy blue, so I bought a navy polka dot I wanted to use but really wanted to have a matching fabric on the back.  The only problem was, I had no matching fabric in my stash. 

While cutting out a pair of shorts for my little guy from one of my husbands old shirts I realized I had enough extras to back all of my coasters.

Here's what was left after cutting out the shorts:

 

I ended up using both the sleeves and the left side of the shirt which made 6 coasters.

 

 

I used leftover quilt batting for the centers and quilted them just like I did the mug rugs I made as Christmas gifts this past year.

 

 

If you look closely I used the cuffs of the sleeves and didn't even worry about the seems.

 

I think they are gonna work great and most importantly they are soft and unbreakable, so when little man has a tantrum and inevitably throws something, he can't break them or anything else with them.

 

 

Toddler Onesie Turned Dress

When I was testing my freezer paper stenciling skills for our Relay for Life tshirts, I didn't want to practice on a good shirt or use an intricate design.  Instead I took one of Grant's 24 month onsies (the size Miss Sophia is in now) and used the freezer paper to make a heart stencil.  This way if the stencil didn't work as easily as everyone said then I wouldn't have wasted a good shirt and if it did work the onesie could still be worn.

Once I painted the heart I thought it was just too plain to wear as is, and of course I like to try new things so I decided to make a dress out of it.  I have been wanting to turn a onesie into a dress for quite a while but like so many other things, it's taken me awhile to get around to it.

I used a freezer paper stencil to paint the heart.

 

Then decided how long I wanted the top part of the dress to be and cut the bottom off the onesie.

 

I searched through my fabric stash and found the only girly fabric I had enough of and cut a wide strip ( the length depends on how long you need the dress to be so there are no exact measurements), used a basting stitch on my machine to make the fabric ruffle.  Then put right sides together and stitched the onesie to the skirt.

 

Of course the purple pants are not part of the outfit but I had to get her in the dress and snap a picture before she got bored of me and ran off.  I still want to add a fabric flower to the top but either way I think it is too cute on her, and I'm so glad I got my butt in gear and made it.  Is there a better feeling for a crafter or sewer to see the excitement of someone who loves what you made them.  Sophie was running all over the living room twirling for everyone saying "too cute, too cute". 

 

 

 

 

Flat Sheet into Toddler Blanket

Last year my mom found a twin size Toy Story sheet set at Dollar General for $1.75.  Of course Grant still isn't in a twin size bed yet so the fitted sheet is stored away.  I hate flat sheets for any size bed, They always end up balled up at the end of our bed and end up being more trouble than they are worth.  Normally all of our flat sheets just sit on shelved in the back of our linen closet.  However the Toy Story one was just too cute to store away and never use, and since I'm planning on decorating Grant's room in Toy Story, he was in need of a blanket for his toddler bed.  Naturally the crafter in me wanted to make one so I decided to use the flat sheet to make a quilt.

Is this the cutest Toy Story quilt you've ever seen or what?  I wish I had a picture of it on his bed but at this point we haven't converted Grant's crib into a toddler bed so its a little too big.

 

First I measured Grant's bed to figure out the dimensions I needed, which ended up being about 33x58 inches.  I cut the sheet, taking advantage of the finished edges wherever possible.  I bought 2 yards of matching flannel and cut it about 2 inches wider on all sides so I would be able to turn it over the edges. 

 

 

In between these layers is a layer of quilt batting.  Before turning a stitching the edges I tacked the layers together.  All this means is I took some thick upholstery thread (you can use embroidery floss, yarn, etc) and made knots randomly, which binds the layers together preventing them from shifting.  Then I turned the edges over, like the picture above shows, pinned them in place and used my sewing machine to stitch around all four sides.  You could do this part by hand as well, I've done it by hand many many times, but I was lazy and wanted a quick project, since Grant was all too interested in what I was doing and trying to be extra "helpful".

 

 

I'm so excited to see this on his bed in his new room with all the other elements I have planned to decorate. 

 

 

 

Mickey Birthday Shirt

The one picture I didn't get throughout the party was a good one of Grant's shirt.   My mom found this white shirt for $1 (SCORE!).  I printed Grant's name in Mickey font I downloaded from dafont.com, slipped it under the front of his shirt and traced the letters with a water soluble quilting pen.  Then I just embroidered the letters.

I didn't have any black fabric and rather than go buy some I decided to be really thrifty and use one of the old t-shirts we had in our give away pile.  I used the Mickey head image from my Cricut to make the head.  I backed it with heat and bond and stitched it with my sewing machine.  I printed the 2 in Mickey font then traced it with the water soluble pen and cut it out of red fabric I already had in my stash.  I backed it with heat and bond, ironed it on, and hand stitched it to the shirt.

 

I had intended for the shirt to be a lot more detailed and a lot  more colorful but time constraints (since I actually forgot about finishing the shirt until the day before the party) forced me to make it a little more simple.  However I'm really happy with the simplicity of it.  Grant kept trying to look at the back of his shirt to see Mickey while it was on him, too cute!

Winter Hat

I came across this tutorial on making a kids hat from an adult sweater last year when I first started getting into repurposing but unfortunately I didn't have an old sweater to use.  Recently my husband was forced (due to the fact our closet rod came crashing down) to go through the closet and rid his side of everything he didn't wear or want.  He had 1 heavy sweater in the mix and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be used for Grant's winter hat.

I used the tutorial mentioned above to get the general idea exccept I didn't put a bill on it, mainly because I didn't want to take the time to do it (I know...I'm lazy:)).

 

My husband actually had the idea to put the Tennessee "T" on the front.  I cut it off one of the other shirts he was getting rid of and stitched it right on.  I love how it turned out and I have to admit Grant looks pretty darn cute wearing it.  We went to the county fair over the weekend and he wore this hat and the scarf I made him.  Needless to say I was pretty proud.

T-Shirt Scarf

I feel like I have been a little MIA around this little blog of mine but I actually have been crafting behind the scenes.  Unfortunately a couple of my crafty endevours (is that how you spell that? anyway, forgive me) have not turned out too well and I've had to start over or scrap it all together.  More than that, quite a few of my projects are still in progress.  And let me just throw out there that my son has a habit of getting up at 5 am, like getting up for the day at 5am.  You would assume that would mean he takes a longer nap, but no we are still lucky to get an hour out of him.  How is it possible for a 1 year old to get so little sleep compared to others his age.

Now that I've put all my excuses out there, on to the post. 

I've said before that I love repurposing.  For whatever reason it has become a little obsession of mine.  When I started making a t-shirt quilt out of mine and my husband's old shirts (one of those projects that are still in progress) I had a bunch of leftover shirt sleeves I didn't know what to do with.  A normal person would have just thrown them away but not me, I felt compelled to keep them and repurpose them into something.  I saw a post here about a t-shirt scarf and thought it was so cute and decided it would be the perfect project to use up my shirt sleeves by making one for my little man.

I used a small envelope as my template and cut out 2 rectangles per shirt sleeve (one for the front and one for the back).

Then I laid them out in the order I wanted, pinned each right sides together and started sewing.  I ended up with 2 long strips, a front and a back.

 

I pinned them right sides together and stitched all the way around making sure to leave an opening for turning.  Somehow or another 1 of my strips ended up longer than the other, like a full rectangle longer, and there were the exact same amount of rectangles on each strip.  I'm still scratching my head on that one, lucky for me when it comes to some projects I'm not a perfectionist.  Once you turn it right side out just stitch your opening closed and you're done.

 

 

Here it is finished, I really love how it turned out.  It's simple, boyish, and best of all it's repurposed!

 

 

Even my little man loves it.

 

 

Mens T-shirt into Boys PJ Shorts

I am a little obsessed, yes I said obsessed, with repurposing.  Especially when it comes to stuff for Grant.  Little ones are so expensive and they grow out of clothes so quickly (or maybe my child is the only one who went through a size a month for the first 6 months of his life) that I can't bring myself to constantly be buying new clothes for him.  I am an avid yard saler, mainly just for baby clothes, and try to buy the sizes he will need in between yard sale seasons (October-May). 

However when there are things I haven't come across yet and he still needs them I try to find a way to reuse and make them from items we already have.  The main items being pajamas and shorts.  I have a garbage bag full of my husband's old shirts and decided I could make some pajama shorts out of a few of those.  In case no one else has thought of his I decided to make a little tutorial.  Hopefully it will make sense, but it's super easy and you should be able to figure it out (if I can do it a monkey could do it).

First, find a pair of shorts that fit your little one now and fold them.

Lay your adult size t-shirt out making sure the seems are in the right place (on either side, sometimes with a worn out shirt they can be off a little) and the fabric is smooth.

(the t-shirt I used in the above picture did not have any seams on the sides.  In this case fold your shirt in half matching up the right and left sides of the shirt and smooth out your fabric).

Lay the pair of shorts you wan to use as a pattern with the straight side flush against the seam and the bottom of the shorts flush against the bottom seam of the shirt.  By using the bottom seam that's already finished you will save yourself time and energy by not having to hem the bottom of the shorts.

Cut around the shorts about a 1/2 inch from the shorts themselves.  When you get to the point and are cutting up toward the waist be sure to curve out with your cutting.  This is so you will have enough extra fabric for the waistband.

Take your 2 pieces and lay them flat with right sides together.  Pin the right and left sides from the waist (the top of your fabric) to the end of the curve.  You can see in the picture below the little pink dots are my pins.

After you pin the fabric together stitch along your line of pins with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Now bring your seems together still keeping right sides together.  These 2 seams will be your front and back center seams.  You can see in the picture below they are starting to look like actual shorts.  You will need to spread the 2 legs of the shorts apart and pin them each matching the front to the back.

Make one continuous seam starting at one end, sewing to the center seam, then sewing down the other leg.

Since I utilized the bottom hem of the t-shirt there's no need to hem the leg bottoms.  Now all that's left is the casing for the waist.  The size of the casing depends on how wide the elastic is.  I like to use 3/4inch for shorts so I make a casing of about 1 1/4inch to be on the safe side.  Thread your elastic through your casing, stitch closed the opening and you're done.

I ran out of elastic to finish the shorts from the shirt I've been photographing for the tutorial but the above shorts were made the same way.  This is a great way to use up your husbands old t-shirts.

Training Underwear

I attempted to make training underwear for my little guy using PUL waterproof fabric and prefold diapers I already had on hand.  However after making one pair, which turned out super cute, I figured out they will not work.  I don't know if Grant is big for his age or what but the pattern I used took up the whole prefold so there is no way for me to use those with a larger pattern and I couldn't get it over his knees.   So now I'm gonna have to go a different route.  I made a pair of underwear out of one of Derrick's old t-shirts and my old sleep pants, just to get the size and fit correct.

I used Katrina's soaker pattern in an XL.  My son's waist is 19 1/2-20inches and his thighs are about 11 inches so I figured the XL would be a perfect fit.  Turns out they were a little too big but look how cute they still are on my little guy.

My new plan, since the PUL and flatfold diapers didn't work for us, is to make underwear out of old t-shirts and add a soaker layer with some PUL on the outside to make them waterproof.  I'm really excited to get started on them and I'm hoping to get a few pair done this week and maybe start training next Monday.  I'm nervous already!

Training Underwear

My son has recently started showing signs he may be ready to start potty training.  He is very very very stubborn so I'm a little scared and want to start slow by just introducing him to the concept.  I bought a potty seat Saturday and started looking at training underwear.  Holy Crap those things are pricey.  The only brand I could find were Gerber packages of 3 for about $6.  When I started thinking about the fact that I would probably go through 3 training pants in about an hour (my little guy drinks alot) and therefore would need 30 pair or more, I began to panic a little....Ok ALOT! 

Like always I started trying to think of how to make my own or at least cut the cost in some way.   I will be keeping my eye out for training pants and underwear at yard sales but until I hit that jackpot,  I was lucky enough to have received about 3 packages of the flat prefold cloth diapers as baby shower gifts with Grant and have been trying to figure out how to turn those into waterproof training pants.  I thought if I could make cloth diapers why couldn't I make training pants.

Of course I packed all those prefolds in boxes during the move and they have remained in boxes since I did not think I would be needing them until another baby came along.  I considered buying another package and starting with those however when I added up the cost of cloth diapers (about $12), waterproof PUL fabric (about $9/yd with a 40% off coupon), and elastic, it averaged out to be about $2 a pair.  So it would have been pointless and my husband's honey-do list got one more thing added to it: Find prefold cloth diapers!

I have been looking for free patterns online and tutorials and after a couple late nights surfing the internet (oh the things us wives/moms will do to save a little cash or find an excuse to craft) I found 2 that I really like and seemed to suit my needs.

This one is my favorite and the one I think I'll go with since I really want the waterproof layer to avoid having to buy the rubber pants.

(Are these cute or what?)

Here is the other one I found and I would probably use it with an added PUL layer if I already had one of those things to put snaps on (have no idea what their official name is so I'll just call it the snap thingy).  I want to buy one eventually, especially before we have baby #2, for cloth diaper making but for now I want to avoid that expense.

These could also be used as a regular cloth diaper if you put a waterproof layer overtop and then you could graduate into potty training with them.  I am always trying to get more than one use out of everything.  It's a sickness.

I'm hoping to get started on these this week.  They are added to my craft to-do list that continuously gets longer and longer.  But maybe I'll have a few to show off my finished masterpieces, haha.

Men's Shirt Repurposed Into Boy's Shirt

I have been looking at tutorials all over the web about repurposing and refashioning clothing for adults and kids.  I have to admit, it is much more fun for me to make things for my little one than for myself.  I guess it's the mom in me.

Anyway...

I nagged my husband to death before we moved to go through his clothing and give me anything he no longer wore.  So when we moved I toted a whole trash bag, busting at the seams mind you, with us.  That trash bag has, until recently, set up home in the back of my closet.  I pulled it out the other day with a desperate need to find some long sleeved shirts for Grant, without spending any money.

Have I said before that I love making something out of nothing,  and not spending a dime!  Let me say it again, I love it!!

After I got pregnant with Grant my husband gained some sympathy weight and grew out of quite a few of his Aeropostale t-shirts.  Everyone of them were still in great condition so I found this tutorial over at MADE, read through it once then tossed (not really tossed but you get the idea) my laptop aside and decided to just wing it.  After all, how hard could it be?

I did great up until the neck ribbing step came.  First I just cut and sewed, then realized I hadn't done it correctly, ripped it all  out, sewed again, realized my fabric had bunched up, ripped it out, sewed again, realized it had bunch again, ripped it out and sewed again!  Do you see where this is going.  Needless to say I ripped out the neck ribbing approximately 5 times before getting it "good enough", to satisfy me.

If the neck hadn't given me fits I would have finished this shirt in about 45 minutes! I love short projects as I get irritated and bored quickly.

So here is my little t-shirt made from my husband's Aeropostale shirt.  It is technically 1 size bigger than what my son actually wears right now. Upon searching through his clothes I found he was going to be in great need of 24 month shirts shortly and decided to start making them instead of the 18 month size he currently wears.

I still have a pile of shirts to cut into and repurpose and I'm so excited to do a tutorial, but I need to get this shirt thing just right before I try to explain to all of you how to do it.  You know and not mess the whole thing up, haha.

Little Man Tie

Unfortunately my husband's grandpa past away last week so we attended a funeral over the weekend.  I wanted Grant to be dressed up, more so than the usual polo shirt.  While looking through the Goodwill for my husband a pair of dress pants I past the men's ties and I remembered this tutorial I have had saved on my computer forever with great intentions of making one for Grant.  I am all about repurposing lately so I immediately thought of using one of my husband's ties, only to find out he has 3, 2 of which are Christmas ones.  So I bought one at the Goodwill for all of $0.50 and this is how it turned out.

Grant didn't have any solid button up dress shirts so I lucked out and found one of those at the Goodwill too.  This picture is before I washed and ironed it so it looks a mess but I wanted you to see what the tie looks like with the shirt.

Is this too cute or what.  Perfect for church, weddings, or any event you need to dress up for.

It was actually a really easy and fast project.  The only trouble I had was figuring out how to tie the tie, the rest was a piece of cake.  I've already told my mom to be on the lookout for more ties at yard sales so I can make him some more for church.

Jean Skirt Repurpose

My mom happened to buy a pair of girl 12 month jeans at a yard sale and since I've been in the mood to repurpose anything instead of throwing it out or getting rid of it, I thought this was a perfect opportunity.

My neice is only 3 months old so I new she wouldn't fit into these for a long time, however my cousin-in-law's daughter was a perfect fit, and go figure they said she was in need of skirts or dresses.  I didn't take pictures of the process because of course I didn't think about it at the time and was sewing at about midnight in between Grant waking up.

  I took the pair of jeans and cut a straight line across right above the middle.  Next I used a measuring tape and measured all the way around and cut a piece of fabric 22 inches long and 4 inches wide, this is for the ruffle.  If you want a bigger ruffle you can always make yours 6 inches wide.  Now fold your fabric in half to make it 2 inches wide and iron it down.  Use the widest stitch on your machine, it's called a basting stitch, and sew your fabric together, all 22 inches of it. 

Time to gather and create your ruffle.  Just take one end of your thread and pull until it begins to gather and continue until you have gathered all of it, making one long ruffle.  Now pin your ruffle right sides together along the bottom of the skirt cutting off any excess at the end. 

This is what you should end up with.

I didn't use a stretchy fabric so I had to iron my ruffle down once I was finished sewing, otherwise it sticks straight out.  Either way I think it's kind of cute and I can't wait to see it on her!

1st 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  When watching the weather I thought for sure my plans of a picnic and fireworks was doomed.  1st the weather man said 96 degrees which wouldn't have been good for Grant, then it started pouring rain and I figured maybe I should just give it up all together.  In the end the rain stopped and it cooled off to about 70 which was perfect.  I made ham,cheese, lettuce and tomato wraps, pasta salad, mini cheesecakes, watermelon, and cucumbers. It was delicious.  Grant barely watched the fireworks and I guess I should have figured that but either way I'm glad we made his first 4th special. My picnic blanket got lots of use and I'm so happy I made it.  I think the thing I love most about it is it has squares from my jeans, Derrick's, my sister, my mom, and her husband.  It's a perfect keepsake.

Here's how I made it:
I took multiple pairs of jeans and cut 6x6 squares out of them.  I pinned the squares in rows of 11 and ended up with 11 rows.  Make sure to iron your seems so the quilt will lay nice and flat.  I used a flat sheet (since we never use them on our bed) for the backing and used my sewing machine to stitch around the edges.  and ta-da! Your done! 

jeans repurposed into picnic blanket

 I would love to take complete credit for this idea but I actually saw it a long time ago on another blog and logged the idea in the "future crafts section" of my brain.  As I was unpacking clothes that no longer fit myself and my husband I thought I needed to find something to make with them.  I immediately thought of a picnic quilt.  We live near a lake and there is a walking trail that goes around part of it.  I have always wanted to have a picnic there especially since Grant is getting bigger. 

I dug through my stash of jeans and decided there was no real need to keep the size 9 jeans my post pregnant body will never fit in again, and then asked Derrick to dig through his.  I cut them all up and took my scraps as well as my sewing machine to Ohio with me.  I told my mom what my plan was and she gave me a pair of her jeans and 2 pairs of her husbands.

This is what I ended up with, I love the brown squares thrown in from a pair of Derrick's work pants.  I cut out 6x6 squares and randomly sewed them together in rows of 11.  My mom gave me a shower curtain I had intended to use as the backing but it ended up being too small.  So now I'm considering using a flat sheet (because I never actually use them on my bed, they just take up space in my linen closet).  I'm still deciding on whether or not to make it bigger, but I absolutely love it and can't wait to use it.  I'll post the finished product hopefully before Monday.