Black and White

It took me much longer then it should have, but I finally finished my baby's blanket - just before she turned 9 months old.

The main hang up was the binding. I made it and never really felt like getting it made because it takes forever. At least it feels like forever.

 

 When I went to sew at my friend Nicole's house I probably packed 50 projects (not a joke. most were already packed up anyway) but when I got there I had only 2 things I felt like I had to accomplish. 1 - this blanket. 2 - an extremely simple and quick (we're talking 90 seconds max) mending job on my husband's shorts that I found in a pile of projects. He forgot he even owned the shorts! Anyway, this is me at work, laughing about whether or not I should smile for the picture.

 Anyway, I love it. She seems to like it, even if it isn't her beloved blanket that she's had since birth and uses as a pacifier. Better to introduce another blanket now so she isn't a Linus later in life, right?

 While we're going with some black and white projects (not on purpose), here is a refashion I did for my other daughter. I found this strapless number at the thrift store. I loved the ruching on the sides, the sort of rough edged ruffle on the bottom, and obviously, the polka-dots.

 I used one of her dresses as a basic pattern. I eyeballed the sleeves.

 I grabbed this worn out white shirt from my pile of knit "fabric" to add a neckline.

 The first version was lame-o. I redid it and changed my method.

 Instead of folding it over I sewed them right sides together and left one of the edges of the white all rough like. Far from perfect, but still fun.

The accessory, a hanging baby toy you put on car seats and such, was all her doing...

as was the posing!

T-shirts into Maternity Clothes

I've only got a month - plus or minus left to go with the baby. I do not plan on having anymore, but I still didn't want to only use my maternity wardrobe I already had. Well, that and this is the first time I have been this pregnant in warm weather and all summer long. So, I did need to add a few items, since sweaters don't work too well during a summer full of days with record breaking heat. I am so glad it has cooled down now. Fall is the best!

Not wanting to splend a lot of money, I bought a few $5 men's XL shirts from Target and had a few already on hand from clearance sales at Old Navy that I had intended to freezer paper stencil for my husband.) This pink one was one I tried bleach spraying with. The ones I made the boys turned out better, but this still worked for me. Before I started though, I traced a maternity t-shirt I love and cut the sides of the shirt so it would be more tapered and less boxy than a standard t-shit at the top. I cut off the collar and had to do two little pleats, as I think I cut it a little too low and it was gaping a bit. I tapered and shortened the sleeves too. It's been a comfy shirt to wear.

I had one more shirt I was going to maternity-ize too, but I'm so close to the end, that I will just save it for normal sized me.

This, along with my other t-shirt skirts I made with the intention of making them work post-baby too. I love all of them and they really are super easy to make. I don't have a step by step tutorial or anything like that to show you, but I sort of explain how I made my green one in this post.

I wanted to mix up my hem lines so all the skirts didn't' look exactly the same. The green one got a ruffle and this one got...I don't know what to call them. Petals? Weird circles? Anyway, it was inspired by this skirt. All I did was cut out a whole bunch of circles out of the left over red fabric. (A contrasting color would be fun too.) I arranged them on the skirt, sometimes as singles, other times 2-3 in a layer. I pinned them down and then just started sewing them on, making a simple "x" over each. I varied which way the x's went. As it get washed they change and curl a little - which was the point.

Here's the last t-shirt skirt. I used the same basic principles before, but changed the hem again. And sorry the pictures are terrible. For some reason it was tricky to photograph it, The shirt is just a regular brown color. Anyway, I tried the lettuce hem technique that I read about here. I just had a zig-zag stitch, so it's not super ruffly, but it works.

  This was a shirt I picked up at the thrift store. It was actually a maternity shirt and I could have just keep it that way, but I really wanted a striped skirt and as a shirt I think it would have been too big. I just cut an a-line shape out of it, re-matched the stripes up (sort of a pain, but I always things it looks much better to have your stripes align on the sides and worth the effort.) Using both Ashley and Dana's instructions on exposed elastic waistbands, I just added some wide black elastic.

I did the same here for a skirt I'd previously made to fit a pregnant me. The knit I used for the old waistband didn't hold it's stretch and eventually was useless and annoying.

The good thing about both of these, is that I will be able to use them post baby, at some point needing to shorten the elastic for a better fit.

And this is not from a t-shirt nor nothing I made recently, though it is recent-ish me. I used a pattern to sew this when I was pregnant with my now 6.5 year old. I never liked it and it has since been donated, but I do like to document all of my projects, so here it is! I think if I were to make it now with my more improved skills, it could have been better. I do not remember what pattern it was from.

Recently...

I've already told you I am back-logged on posting projects, so here's a glance at some of what I've been up to recently.

 Eating loads of cherries. These are ones from my dad's cherry tree and were gobbled up instantly. Since then we have had many bags more from the store (and when you can find them for less than $2/lb. why not eat to your heart's content?).

 Attempting bleach spray t-shirts. I'd find the source for you, but there are so many I don't know which I actually used. What I can tell you is that I used a 50/50 mix of bleach and water, freezer paper for my stencil and in the middle of the shirt to keep the bleach from soaking through. Less is more with the bleach. I though I hadn't sprayed enough when I didn't see anything happening and then BOOM, I couldn't get back inside to rinse it of fast enough. (I made one more for me, but I also altered the shirt and it isn't done, so no sharing yet.)

 This is me at work on sewing projects in February while having an overnight with the females in my family. I completed but never shared the headband. I got the pattern free from Happy Together. I like it, except next time I will make it a little narrower. It does this weird stick out thing on the top of my head that I don't love. So, back when I made that, I also started some PJs for my boys. I cut them out and partially sewed them. I needed them with me to figure the waistband and hem. So, being the on top of things kind of girl I am, I finally finished them this month.

 Characters from Peanuts. (And since being washed the heat-n-bond peeled. I guess it wasn't true about "no-sew!"

 Dogs.

 And even though I didn't finish the last pair (the sharks), I did start and finish a whole pajama set for my daughter in the same day as I finished the boys' PJs.

 My nice friend Marta let us come over and pick apricots from their tree. I soaked a batch in water slightly spiked with lemon juice, put it on the food dryer (they are supposed to go cut side up - so don't do what I did in the picture. I fixed it later), and then enjoyed dried apricots!

 I completed a jewelry project within days of buying the supplies! I don't love the necklace, but I was quite happy with the earrings. Thankfully (or not) my daughter pulled on the necklace a little too hard and broke it. So, I have to restring it - this time with wire instead of line, so I do have an opportunity to change it up a little.

Last thing to share today is the massive amounts of salt water taffy we have been eating. I occasionally go to Sunflower Market to buy produce because it is really inexpensive. They also have a bulk section that has taffy set out in individual flavors. In the last month we have consumed nearly 4 pounds of it. I let the kids pick their grosser flavors and stock up on rum, Neapolitan, orange cream and peppermint for me.

Green Shirt to Skirt

 Sometimes I chuckle when I read about people not having done mending in 6 months or having an unfinished project from last year because that is my life. I have pictures for posts I meant to put up from several years ago. I have projects that have been sitting around that long too - untouched. For example, my daughter turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and I had bought this green shirt when I was pregnant with her.

 As you can see in the picture, I am a hefty 29-ish weeks along wearing the XL men's shirt to show the before picture. And the shirt just sat in a pile until last week. I got on a random sewing kick for a couple of days (the other projects are nearly done) and I actually started and completed the shirt to skirt project in one sitting. Go me!

And I LOVE the after. I have been wanting a green skirt since seeing this one. I actually found one to alter at the thrift store, but being pregnant (I'm 26 week along) doesn't really help a person alter clothes to fit their regular size. So, I needed a solution in the meantime (and something I could wear later too).

Then I saw this one on Delia Creates (who I met in January when I helped at Dana's class and she was so cute. I STILL haven't blogged about that - see? unfinished posts!)and was going to do the whole black elastic band thing, but realized I wanted it solid green so I can put it together with a shirt and have it look like a green dress.

So, I folded my big manly shirt in half and used a combo of these two skirts (one from Target and the other from Old Navy) and made...

This! So comfy and super easy (though the ruffle did take a bit of time. I sewed part of it too tight and it took longer than normal to gather.) 

 I made the waistband with the sleeves. I was hoping I would have enough to enable it to fold over like the Old Navy version, but I didn't. I still love it though.

And now I have a green skirt! I tried it out with a black and white shirt and already have a few other shirts in mind to wear it with, which is a sign of picking out the right color (which sometimes I don't).

Shirt to Pants

One of my favorite thrift stores nearby is organized, well-stocked, has  colored tags that are 50% off each day, has amazing sales, and sends coupons in the mail. So, not only can I get some nice used stuff for a low price, sometimes I can get discounts too! Every time I find stuff at thrift store I get so annoyed at myself for when I shop at regular stores.

 Anyway, this what I came home with recently. Everything was for me except the shirt. I bought it with my baby girl  and St. Patrick's Day in mind. (I have already been complimented on the shoes, am working on that spot on the shorts that I didn't notice in real life, and feel the need to go drink some (diet) Mt. Dew right now.)

 I just traced around a pair of bootleg pants from Target that she has, cut and sewed them and a short time later, she had new pants (with plenty of fabric left on the shirt  for other potential projects.)

 So, now she gets to be festive this holiday and is safe from green-less induced pinches.

And even if her brothers don't want her to play with them, at least she can be happy in her green like they are.

(If you feel like making some festive "clover' treats today as seen above, head on over to Heaps of Laundry)

Yikes, Stripes!

 So, the Steelers lost. Admittedly pretty much only my husband was disappointed and maybe my older son a bit who asked me, "Mom who is the best team?" and didn't like it when I told him it was the Packers. The dress fit my baby girl perfectly. I put some little striped pants on her with it. The pants, if you would believe it, are something I made her for Halloween. They were a little big then, but she is also just a tiny human. I should clarify  with tiny and amazing too. (She climbed up some of the stairs at my parents' house during the game!)
Anyway, back to the pants. I bought some shirts on clearance last fall. I forgot to take a before picture, but one shirt was a striped Henley, either XL or XXL. I bought it to revamp for me and realized I could make my baby pants too. I just cut off the bottom portion of the sleeves, sewed them together, added an elastic waistband and, viola! Baby pants. (I used a pair of her pants as a slight guide.) 

 And out of that $3 shirt also came a shirt for me. I had been wanting to make a some sort of ruffle shirt for awhile. This is pretty minimal, but I like it.

 I added the ruffle, tapered in the sides, and since I was pregnant at the time, I proudly brought my work to hang in my closet since there was no way it would fit. My clothes are arranged by color, with black and white being right next to each other. Anything with both, like this shirt, gets sandwiched in between. Somehow in my haste to get a good deal on this shirt, I forgot that this was already part of my wardrobe.

It's obviously without the ruffle, but it is short and skinnier too, so I guess I don't have an exact duplicate, but still...

Steelers Girl

 Can you guess who we are rooting for on Sunday?

 Ever since I have known my husband he has been an avid Steelers fan. Our boys were small enough to fit into this cute Steelers outfit given to us by their uncle. Their little sister was a summer baby, so I needed to find something for her to wear to support them in the Super Bowl tomorrow.

Enter the "meant to freezer paper stencil something cute on this for my son" 3T shirt that he is too big for now (with pocket already picked off).

I lined it upwith a dress that it a little too big for her to get a basic dress shape (and really, with an a-line I could have just eye-balled it).

I cut the sides and then cut the sleeve narrower too.

  Like so.

Then I gathered some some basic supplies (I had no yellow fabric paint, so I improvised and the used dryer sheet will be explained in a bit).

I slipped my printed out logo under an old white t-shirt and traced it with a washable fabric pen. This is something you could use a freezer paper stencil for, but I felt okay with the idea of semi-free-handing it.

I filled in my logo with paint and waited for it to dry. Once it was I ironed some light heat and bond on the back and cut out my circle.

I ironed it on the front of the shirt. Then centered the used dryer sheet under it on the inside or the shirt and pinned it in place. You could use pellon (or nothing really), but it is a nice stabilizer and it is a nice easy way to recycle. I got the idea from V & Co., but they used it for the front part of an applique.

Zig-zag stitch on the front and then turn over and you can trim your stabilizer.

Once that was done I just sewed up the sides on my dress. I thought it turned out nice but needed just one more thing.

Cute. I've yet to try it on her, so hopefully it fits and she won't be the only non-fan in the house.
Have fun tomorrow watching the game or more importantly, eating snacks and watching the commercials.
Go Steelers!