KCWC Day 2

Since I work all day today, I cheated and made this last night to post today, does that count?

I was really happy with this transformation, mostly because, my daughter actually wore it to school today! She wasn't happy about it at first....

but, she has a new obsession with leggings and our rule is, if she wears leggings, she has to wear something longish. It's not that big a deal if she doesn't, but it's my way of expanding her wardrobe since she mostly refuses to wear dresses.

I made the yellow leggings as well, which are super easy! Just traced a pair she had. 1 seam up each leg and then add a waist-band to the top. Done.

KCWC Day 1

Day 1 of the Kids Clothes Week Challenge hosted by Elsie Marley got off to a pretty good start here. Despite a house full of sick people (2 kids and myself) I managed to put in an hour (78 minutes to be exact....) while both kids slept. I should have been sleeping, but this was much more fun.

I started out with these 2 shirts from Goodwill. I LOVE the donut shirt and the other is a Banana Republic T that is super soft and has a cool design on the front.


I wanted to try to step outside my comfort zone, which I was sort of forced into since the green T didn't have enough fabric to make long sleeves as I had originally intended. Here's what I ended up with.



I really like everything about how the donut shirt came out. I can't wait to see it on my son. The other shirt was somewhat of a problem.

I decided to attempt to make the ribbing have that unfinished look, but I'm not thrilled with the end result.


I also really wanted it to be long sleeved, but didn't have enough fabric in the original shirt. So after playing around with a bunch of different things and screwing it up more and more, I just chopped the sleeves off and made it short sleeves. Oh well, still not bad for 78 minutes of sewing.
OK, off to wake the kids.....

Winter Hats from Old Sweaters

I wish I had taken before pictures of the sweaters that these hats came from, but I was way too excited to cut them up and make these hats.

I've been experimenting with hats these days and was inspired by this post by Rae. I brought my experimental hat over to a friend's house on Friday to try on her kids' heads' just to get a sense for size. As many of my friends know, I have a really small head and usually HAVE to buy kids hats for myself, so it's really hard for me to judge size. Anyway, C loved the hat I made and sent me home with 2 of her husband's sweaters.


I used this pattern from Martha Stewart and used the sweater for the outside and a cotton knit for the inside. I decided not to the do straps and added a bird applique with felt on one hat and these beautiful sweater roses to the other.



Sorry, a little out of focus! These roses are so beautiful and so easy to make. I was inspired by this project and tutorial.

I even got my almost (1 week to go!) 4 year old to model.

I hope Matt doesn't miss his sweaters! What do you think?

Look for more of these in my shop soon!

This too shall pass....

My kids started at a new preschool today and we all had a pretty tough day. Despite all our visits and mental prep, it was very hard for them to say goodbye for a whole day with kids and adults they don't know. It was hard for me to see them having a hard time, and ultimately we all had a VERY emotional and draining day. Oh joy, we get to do it all over again tomorrow! In the long run, I know they will get over it and it will be great for them. It's a great place with wonderful teachers and fun kids....but in the short term, it's tearing my heart to pieces to see my babies having a hard time. Alas....

They had a long list of items they needed to bring to school, including a nap-time blanket and pillow. So I figured it would be a good excuse to make them something to remind them of me and my sewing obsession.

For the blankets I used the Beginner's Baby Blanket #3 tutorial.




These blankets were very easy to put together and came out so wonderful! I used a quilting weight cotton on one side and a soft flannel on the other. I made the bias tape using this tutorial, though I have to admit, I found it easier to just do it the old fashioned way. I ended up having to take my trapezoid tube apart multiple times because I kept putting it together wrong. It wasn't the instructions, they are fine, it's just me. Sometimes I'm very spatially challenged. :)

I also made some cute matching pillowcases. I bought some travel size pillows at Target and sort of used this tutorial on Made, though I think it was more inspiration and less actual following of instructions. My pillows are smaller and I used flannel for the border. Pillowcases are so easy to do and as she shows, can be really fun and add a pop of color to a room.





So even though I was armed with all my homemade bedding, my kids still struggled today. Let's hope tomorrow goes better!

Girls PJ Shorts Refashion

Despite not sleeping well last night (after a fun night out with the girls!), I had a burst of energy after lunch and decided to go through the kids fall clothes from last year and get rid of whatever won't fit this year. My almost 4 year old daughter is SUPER picky and will only wear stretch pants so we ended up with a bunch of cute ones from last year that still fit in the waist, but are now too short. So, instead of sending them off to goodwill, I decided to make them into some cute PJ shorts and add some applique to her camis. This is very easy and a fun way to get some new PJs out of clothes you already have.

Here's what I started with: 3 pairs of pants (only got 2 in the picture).


I cut off the legs at about 1/2" longer than I wanted the shorts to be.



Folded the edge over about 1/2" and ironed.

Then sewed a simple zig-zag stitch along the bottom edge. I like to use my walking foot and stretch the fabric a little bit as I sew. That way the stitching has a little bit of stretch and won't break.


Here's how the right side looks.

The best part is that you've got all the fabric you cut off from the bottom of the pants leftover to do some fun applique. I grabbed the PJ Ts and camis out of my daughter's drawer and added some coordinating decorations.

The easiest way to do the applique is to use wonder under. I didn't have any on hand, so I just fused some lightweight interfacing to my fabric piece, cut out the shape, and sewed it on using a straight stitch. The interfacing keeps the fabric from stretching while you sew.

This birdie applique is definitely my favorite.

Finished shorts.

Finished PJ set.

There it is! This was super quick and very satisfying, and once again, not on my sewing list! Oh well.....

Leave me a comment if you make a pair, I'd love to see what others come up with.