Handmade Christmas 2012

With a new baby due on January 1st, I decided that it would be wise to significantly scale back my handmade Christmas goals this year as well as to get an early start!  We drew my older niece's name for Christmas, and I couldn't resist making something frilly and pink.

I used a tutorial I saw a while ago to get me started, and made it my own by adding ombre ribbons to the layers of ruffles.

The little skirt goes equally well with both of the shirts I got for a steal off of the GAP Kids clearance rack. (My niece lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area, so light, summery clothes work for her almost year-round.)

I couldn't resist the addition of two coordinating hair bows.  I'm so pleased with how it all turned out that now I'm having a hard time waiting until Christmas to send it to her!

baby gift

a simple yet cozy two-sided flannel blanket

and one of the stash of crocheted baby hats

delivered along with dinner

to a new friend for her new baby girl

tiny, sweetly sleeping baby

makes it so hard to wait

until I can hold my own newest little one

little square skirt

Okay, yes, my sewing machine is still broken.

BUT that hasn't kept me

from sewing up a small project or two

on my mum's machine.

(Just one more reason to be grateful they live nearby!)

I'm calling this Sweet Pea's little square skirt.

All it is

is a circle skirt

(this is a good tutorial)

that I made out of a fat quarter of cheery fabric.

Instead of trimming the outside edge into a circle,

I simply kept it square.

It's kind of the easy way out.

A square is, after all, so much easier to hem.

Plus I love how it adds interesting dimension

and extra swing to the skirt.

linking up with Jennifer's studio sneak peek

KCWC day 4: skirts for Sweet Pea

Day four of KCWC (Kid's Clothing [extended] Week Challenge) brought two little skirts for Sweet Pea.

The first was an absurdly simple upcycling project.  It was a cute little 0-3 month dress that Sweet Pea didn't really get a chance to use.  I simply cut off the bodice, folded over a little extra fabric for a casing, and threaded some elastic through.  It's just the right length for her.

I used the same fabric that I used for Sweet Pea's coordinating leggings and onesie for the second skirt.  It's based on this tutorial for an itty bitty baby circle skirt.  It turned out so cute I can hardly stand it.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to get any good photos of Sweet Pea in either of her new skirts (though she has worn them!).  I decided to go ahead and post about them anyway since I'm getting tired of having this in my drafts folder. : )  You'd just have to believe me when I tell you she looks adorable in them.

KCWC day 3: leggings and embellished onesie for Sweet Pea

Don't get me wrong, I like pink just fine (especially when it's combined with green), and I enjoy dressing my little Sweet Pea in fru-fru girly pink outfits.  However, I prefer to not be limited to dressing her exclusively in pink.  After all, pink is only one of the many lovely colors in the word!   That being said, I am extra-happy to present to you the latest in my Kids' Clothing [stretched out] Week Challenge:

I made these little leggings and embellished a plain onesie to match last Monday before the insanity began.  The pretty orange fabric came from a super-soft thrifted shirt that never quite hung right on me.  I based the leggings on a tutorial I saw a few weeks ago, though when I was drafting the pattern I did make the back a bit more roomy than the front to give them added comfort and quality.

I am so pleased with how comfy they are and how great the fit is.Can I just say again that I'm so glad I conquered my fears of sewing with knits and trying out my twin needle?

KCWC day two: groovy pants for Little Man

I gave Little man the choice between two fabrics from my stash for his mama-made pants: blue cordury and brown and orange stripes.  Of course he chose brown and orange stripes which resulted in an amazing pair of pants that can best be described by the word groovy.

Don't be fooled, while the double knee patch looks cool, it's a detail designed not for style but for practicality.  Little Man wears holes in the knees of his pants like there's no tomorrow. This simple addition to his pants should quadruple the amount of wear he gets out of them.  When the first layer wears through, I'll just use my handy seam ripper to remove it.  I'll repeat the process when the second knee patch wears through.  When the pants themselves wear through, I'll sew on a cute dinosaur or train patch, and when that wears through, well the rest of the pants will probably also have worn out as well. Ha.

There are several things I'm particularly proud about these pants. First, I used a double needle for the top stitching.  I'm honestly shocked at how ridiculously easy it actually is.  Second, I'm so happy with how the stripes lined up!  It's not perfect, but it's close enough to make me beam. (Shhh...the ones in the photo are the very best ones in the whole pair of pants.)  Also, after reading a couple of good tutorials, I drafted my own pattern for them! Last but certainly not least, Little Man not only looks adorable in them, he also loves them!

[Brother is still wearing his new pants today too. Such a compliment!]

KCWC day 1: corduroy pants for Brother

Since I don't have too much on my plate as far as projects go right now, I thought I'd join in Elsie Marley's KCWC (Kids Clothing Week Challenge: A challenge to work on children's clothes for at least an hour a day for one week).  Today I made some pants for Brother.

Brother would live in pajama pants if I let him.  Most of the time I do let him wear pajama pants, but there are times that I want him to look just a littler spiffier than that, and I force him to wear jeans or khakis.  I asked him recently why he doesn't like jeans, and he responded: "Umm...Because they make my skin hurt."  I suspect that the fact that they are hard to get into by himself also make jeans less appealing to my independent little guy.

So I decided to try to make a pair of pants that would be durable, cute, comfortable, and easy to put on.  I used materials I had on hand: green and orange corduroy that I picked up for a song at our local Bargain Basement plus some thread and elastic from my stash.

I based my design on Dana's kid pants with a flat front tutorial/pattern.  I added a band of super-soft knit fabric from an old t-shirt on the inside to encase the elastic, protecting his skin from being rubbed raw by tough corduroy seams.

So far they seem to be a success.  Brother put them on immediately and delightedly, posed for pictures without complaint, and has been wearing them ever since.

baby gift

One of my best girlfriends had a baby at the beginning of March.

She and her husband have a tiny home,

so as much as I wanted to go all out on a gift for their sweet little girl,

I had to restrain myself to a few small gifts.

This set of gifts is definitely less coordinated than my usual:

two denim flower bibs

one of the sunray baby toys I made before Christmas

and three girly flower clips along with a soft, white headband

However small and mismatched these gifts may be, though,

a lot of love when into them.

I think they are small enough and practical enough

to not be a burden,

plus they really did turn out pretty cute.

I'm pleased.

flower clips

Remember my fabric flower pins?

Well, my crafty ADD has brought me 'round

to making fabric flowers again.

I've been attaching them to clips this time.

The clips can be used as they are for long hair

or clipped onto a store bought headband for little ones with no hair.

Too fun and oh, so girly.

heart on her sleeve

I have this brown striped shirt that I love.  It's perfectly cottony soft and comfy and fits me just so, but it has one problem.  It keeps getting little holes in the sleeves where the colors meet.  I wasn't quite ready to get rid of it, so I decided to patch it--with quirky little hearts!

So does this mean I wear my heart on my sleeve?

lil pink rabbit

I needed a quick, just-for-fun sewing project, so I made something I've been wanting to make for a while: a mooshy belly bunny.  It was quick and easy, and even though there are things I'd do differently if I make it again (which I probably will), it's adorable and squeezable and sweet.

Sweet Pea doesn't seem to have any complaints.

baby gift

Simple and sweet:

two bibs and a dainty purple hat

for friends who are expecting their third little one.

concerning covered buttons

I don't think I've mentioned before how much I love covered buttons.  They can be customized to match anything, plus they are oh, so simple and fun to make.  You can get brand new ones in a variety of sizes, but I prefer picking up vintage ones at second hand stores.

The vintage covered button kits are nearly identical to the ones you can get new, except that the vintage packaging is cooler, and they usually cost much less.  You cut out a little circle of your selected fabric, place it wrong side down over the rubbery white piece included, press the metal top-of-the-button piece into it, tuck the fabric edges in, then top it all with the metal bottom-of-the-button piece which you press down into the top-of-the-button-piece.

Then you pop the finished button out the the white, rubbery piece, and ta-da!  You have a perfectly coordinating, smoothly covered button.  It's so simple, so sleek.  Yes, I a good fabric covered button. : )

adult hats

A little over a year ago, I made a wool hat as a gift for my brother-in-law.  I bought vintage wool suits and upcycled the fabric to make them.  The hat turned out nicely, and I even made a couple more, but I was still left with a bulky pile of partially cut up suits.  To save space in my studio (Ha. It sounds so pretentious to call my little crafty space a studio, but I like it.), I cut the remaining usable fabric into hat pieces and discarded the rest.

These hat pieces have been sitting, waiting to be turned into adorable hats for...hm...longer than I want to admit. It turns out that even though I can make a decent hat, millinery is not my passion.  All those picky curved seams that must be pressed open drive me crazy.  I finally buckled down, though, and three berets and six newsboy caps later, I am done with hat making (if not forever, then at least for a long, long time).  Now all that I have left is the somewhat more relaxing task of making the remaining wool scraps into coordinating flower pins.

baby bibs

I think I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago I vended some of my surplus crafty goodness at a small local craft/independent sales fair.  Not only was it a great opportunity to get my name out there and make a few sales, but it was also great motivation to finish up some of the projects have been waiting to be completed.

I worked on baby bibs intermittently through January and February (I got my original idea for baby bib making here) and was so happy to finally complete them.  I made nearly 40.  They're a bit of a pain to make, but they're so cute and functional that I just keep making them. I love the feeling of taking discarded clothes and making something fresh with a whole new life of usefulness ahead of it.

I kept half a dozen or so of my favorites for Sweet Pea which leaves more than enough for gifting and selling.      I'd call that a job well done.

handmade Christmas 2011

Quite a while ago I received a jacket made of this lovely, textured blue and brown plaid as a hand-me-down.  It was too small on me, and since there aren't many grown ups smaller than I am, I decided to upcycle it. I made a hat for myself out of it, and Mum loved it, so I thought I'd make another hat for her for Christmas.

When I began cutting, though, I realized, there was only fabric for half a hat.  When I explained my dilemma to my mom (we are bad about keeping surprises like that), she requested that I go ahead and make the hat using another kind of fabric for the missing pieces.  I was skeptical, but she was reassuring, and it ended up turning out pretty cute!

quick onesie embellishment

Okay, okay, yes, I was supposed to refrain from any more projects until I complete the ones that I already have begun.  After twenty-some bibs, though, I'm starting to feel just a little crazy.  Even with a visible light at the end of the tunnel (only seven more to go!), I needed a teeny tiny break.

I bought a package of plain white onesies for Sweet Pea to add some layering options to her wardrobe.  Most of them I'll leave plain, but I couldn't resist embellishing one of them with a sassy pink flower.  I layered scraps of fabric (solid pink cotton and some sort of pink sheer), and cut them into circles with pinking shears.  I folded the circles, attached them to the shirt with a few stitches (I reinforced shirt with a small piece of fusible interfacing inside), and added a vintage button in the center.  The stem is green rick-rack which I also hand stitched in place.  It took me all of half an hour to complete.

I just love a quick, instant gratification project.  Especially if the recipient is such a little happy cutie. (She did spit up on it right after these photos, though, which leaves me wondering if maybe she didn't like it...) : )