Guest posting at Tatertots & Jello!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm guest posting over at Tatertots and Jello today!!

I whipped up something a little fall-ish to celebrate my favorite season - and as an added bonus, I actually got to use up some of my button hoard.

Can we all take a moment of silence in honor of the fact that I actually got a holiday-themed project up before the actual holiday is a week from being over? And can we all just pretend for a moment that fall is actually a holiday?

Awesome, glad we got that all straightened out.


So anyway, head on over to Tatertots and Jello and check out my Fall Button Tree Shirt tutorial. And while you're at it, show some love! Because all you need is love. But comments are nice too :)

Monster Hoodie Refashion: Guest Post with Maybe Matilda

It's an understatement to say that I'm pretty psyched to have Rachel with Maybe Matilda guest posting today. I've always loved her blog because she's funny, honest, and she works magic with crochet hooks. And as someone who can only crochet things that are square or rectangular, that pretty much makes her a superhero in my book. But crocheting is only a part of what Rachel does. I'll let her tell you a little more about herself.

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Hi! I'm Rachel and I blog at Maybe Matilda about crochet, sewing, and clothing refashions. Now, right off the bat, I'm going to warn you: I'm not one of those ladies. You know the kind, with their houses all decked out weeks in advance of every holiday, thoughtful handmade gifts to give, and clean, well-behaved children wearing home-sewn clothes (probably sewn from home-spun fabric, too). 

So I'm going to lay it all out right now: this is the only semi-Halloween-ish item in my home right now. And it's one of the only clothing items I've ever made for my little boy. And I purposely didn't make it too Halloween-ish, because I didn't want it to be limited to wear for the next week or so, so it hardly even counts as a holiday item. And, to top it off, it's dirty in the pictures (which, of course, are fuzzy). Gimme a break--he's a real boy and his clothes stay clean for all of about 20 seconds. If you're still interested and not completely turned off by my lack of mothering superpowers, maybe you'll enjoy this sneaky peeky monster hoodie refashion I pulled together for my little fella:

I have to admit, I think it's pretty cute! I bought him that hoodie a few weeks ago for a few dollars, but he already has a few plain hoodies and I thought maybe he could use one with more character. I reverse appliqued these cute little monster heads onto it, and wild guess here, but I think he might like it!

Here's how I refashioned his little hoodie with some peekaboo monster fun!

You'll just need:

- a hoodie

- knit/jersey fabric scraps

- sewing machine

- hot glue/fabritac

- googly eyes

- felt

I started by sketching and cutting out the monster heads on white paper. I thought it would be cute to have them "peekabooing," if I can make up that word right now, into the sweatshirt, so I drew one popping up out of the pocket and another poking out from the zipper.

Make sure your fabric scraps are a bit larger than the designs you sketched, and pin everything together. The layering, from top to bottom, should be paper, hoodie, fabric scrap.

Now sew around the shape of the pattern sketches--you're not sewing onto the paper, but using it as a shape/guide to sew around. Make sure you're sewing through both the hoodie and the fabric scrap behind it. Try not to stretch the fabric as you sew, and if you get to points or curves that are hard to navigate, just stop sewing while the needle is down in the fabric, lift up the presser foot, and swivel your fabric, then lower the foot and keep sewing. When you're finished, remove the pins and you should have a nice stitched outline of your sketch:

Here's what it'll look like from the back:

I sewed straight over a fabric fold by accident . . . whoops! No biggie--it's in the back, so I just left it. (Perfectionist? Not even a little. I can thank my mother for that--we've jokingly nicknamed her Kathleen "Goodenough" LastName.)

Now trim away the excess fabric from the back, being very careful not to accidentally cut the hoodie fabric.

This is the part that made my heart race. It's a little scary, so be cautious. Carefully, carefully, cut out the monster shape from the hoodie fabric. Make sure you're staying inside the stitching lines, and be very careful not to cut the scrap fabric from the back! It's easiest, I find, to pull the two fabrics apart as much as you can, and use small sharp scissors to start with a little snip in the center of the design:

Then work from there to cut the rest of the fabric away, without getting too close to your stitch line.

Add some googly eyes and teeth cut from a bit of felt, and you're all done! (I used hot glue to attach the googly eyes and felt, and time will tell if that was a poor decision or not. I'm sure something like Fabritac would hold up better in the washer and dryer, so it's possible that my son's hoodie is going to lose its facial features after the first wash. I'll put an update on my blog after it's been washed.)

Thanks for inviting me to write a guest post, Jen, and I hope you guys will come visit me at Maybe Matilda!

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Isn't he such a cutie? I just love a little guy in monster gear. Thanks for sharing, Rachel! Make sure you go visit Maybe Matilda and check out her other great tutorials and projects!

Cheating my way through a winter wardrobe

Thank you to all of you who left your sweet comments on my Babushka Doll Shirt on Monday! I wanted to get you in on a little secret of mine that I applied to that shirt. You might not have noticed, but it's a sneaky trick that I use to winterize Haley and Connor's summer wardrobes.

Did you happen to notice in my previous post that the shirt began as a short-sleeve top and ended up as a long sleeve shirt?

That's because I cheat my way through my kids' winter wardrobe. If I already have a shirt on hand that I want to use for winter but it's short-sleeved, I just add sleeves to it using one of my husband's undershirts. Cheap? Maybe. I prefer "clever." :) Plus, I really like the look of the different colored sleeves.

Since that secret is out now, I might as well share the details with you so you can save some money and cheat your way through your child's winter wardrobe too!

Supplies:

• Short-sleeve shirt that fits your child
• White men's undershirt (or any other knit shirt you may want to use)
• Disappearing ink marker
• Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies

First, find a long-sleeve shirt that fits your child well. Lay one of the sleeves on top of your knit shirt flush with one of the edges and the bottom of your shirt (this is so you don't need to hem your sleeve). Use your disappearing ink marker to trace around your sleeve, making sure to make a j-like curve at the top where the sleeve meets the shirt. Repeat on the other side edge of your shirt to make 2 sleeves.

After cutting each of your sleeves out, they should look like this when they're open:

Fold them in half long ways with the right sides together, and pin along the long side. Sew down the long side from the edge of your sleeve to the top (make sure you don't sew either of the shorts sides closed!)

Turn your sleeve inside out, and you have a completed sleeve! (sorry, I didn't take a picture of the finished sleeve, but I'm sure you all know what a sleeve looks like :) The long side you just sewed is the bottom of your sleeve.

To attach the long sleeves you just made, turn your shirt inside out and stuff the existing sleeves of your shirt inside. Locate the original seam where the existing sleeves are sewed onto the shirt. This is where you will be attaching your long sleeves you just made.

With your long sleeve right side out, insert the sleeve inside of your shirt's armhole, matching up the raw edges of your sleeve with the edge of the armhole.

Pin your sleeve to the armhole and sew all around the armhole to attach your sleeve.

When you pull your sewn on sleeve inside out, it should look like this:

Turn your whole shirt right side out, and now your short sleeve shirt has been winterized! You can do the same thing with little boy's shirts. It's a little addictive. Especially if you stock up on cheap, end-of-the-season sale shirts from summer.




The only downside is your husband will start to wonder where all his undershirts went. Just tell him you're saving money on your kids' winter wardrobe :)

Babushka Doll Shirt {a Silhouette Project}

I just love the ladies over at Prudent Baby. They're so sweet every time I talk to them, not to mention all of the great projects they have for mama's and kiddos. They had a contest awhile ago to see who could come up with the cleverest phrase to go along with a Silhouette Babushka Doll cutouts they were giving away. My entry was "Sometimes it's ok to be full of yourself." I thought it was pretty clever. I didn't make first place, but they were sweet enough to humor me and send me a cutout of the doll anyway. Awesome!

I have several babushka dolls that I've collected through the years, and they now sit in Haley's bedroom up on a high shelf along with all the other things she's not allowed to touch. She always asks for them, so I knew she'd love it if I made her a shirt using the babushka doll cutout.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• Babushka Doll design in Silhouette Studio
• Iron on transfer material
• Sewable interfacing
• Scrap fabric the same size as your doll cutout
• Scrap felt for the flower
• One small button
• Basic sewing supplies

Step 1: Cut out your 2 doll pieces.

You will need 2 babushka doll cutouts: 1 of the full design on transfer, and the second just a silhouette of your doll in fabric.

First, use your Silhouette to cut your babushka doll design. Weed the excess transfer material, saving the outline of your doll (seen below).

Next, follow the instructions on the sewable interfacing to iron interfacing to the back of your scrap fabric. Using the outline you saved from your babushka doll template, trace your outline on your fabric using a disappearing ink marker.  Cut out.

Iron your babushka doll fabric onto your shirt and sew around the perimeter of the doll.

Step 2: Apply your iron on transfer material.

Now that your design has been weeded, place the design on top of your fabric. Follow Silhouette's instructions to iron the transfer material to your shirt.

I use a little Fabric Fusion to stick down any unruly edges that don't want to be ironed down well.

Step 3: Make your flower embellishment.

Cut two circles out of your felt: one that is 1 inch in diameter, and one that is about 3/4 inches in diameter.

Place your biggest circle on the bottom, then stack the smaller circle on top followed by the button. Hand sew your flower to your shirt.

Not too bad, right? (Besides the fact that you can see the blue disappearing ink marker I used to trace the doll :)

Haley was just happy that I let her play with the dolls during the photo shoot.

Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!

Superhero Cape

I remember watching old reruns of the original Batman episodes on TV when I was little and wondering why anyone would want to prance around in their underwear and tights and punch people in the face. Eventually I came to realize that all little boys at one point or another love to play superhero just as much as I loved playing with my Barbies and X-Men (Wolverine and Barbie were on and off for quite a few years.)

Even though my little guy is only interested in gnawing on things at the moment, I'm sure once he gets old enough to find hobbies other than eating he'll want to put on a cape and fight bad guys too. Every little boy wants to be the hero who saves the day, so when my friend made me the Bee Inspired drawing for my craft room, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her 2 little boys in return.

A superhero cape! If your little guy has a favorite superhero, you could make one with his symbol on it. Or, if you want to make it really special, you could personalize it for your child.

Supplies for a small cape:

•  Download my free pattern HERE
• 1 yard knit fabric (you may need more depending on how big your child is)
• 2 sheets of felt for the collar, and more for the patches on the cape
• 3 inches of Velcro
• Craft glue
• Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies

Step 1: Cut out your pattern pieces.

First, download my pattern HERE. Cut out and tape page 1 to page 2 where indicated. With your knit fabric folded, place your main pattern on top of your fabric with the edge on the fold where indicated. Trace around and cut out. Repeat for a total of 2 pieces, one for the front and one for the back.

You could also use a men's knit shirt to make your cape like I did, in which case you'll fold your shirt in half longways and place your pieced template on the fold like this:

When you trace and cut, you should have 2 pieces.

To cut out your collar, fold your sheet of felt in half and place your collar template on the fold. Cut out 2 of your collar pieces.

Decide what kind of design you want on your cape. This one was made for a friend's son named Sadron the 5th, who goes by the nickname "Five," so I decided to make the patch on his cape play off of his nickname. Make your design in Microsoft Word then cut out your letters and design and use these to trace your design onto your felt. I cut an S and a 5 from felt, as well as a sunburst that I found in Microsoft Clipart.

Glue the pieces of your patch together using the craft glue and let dry.


Step 2: Sew on your patch.

Position your patch on the right side of your cape (the part that everyone will see) and pin.

Sew around the perimeter of your patch and design to secure.

Step 3: Join your front and back pieces.

With the right sides together, pin the sides of your cape and sew around the perimeter, but leave the neck open. Turn your cape inside out through the opening in the neck.

Step 4: Attach the collar.


Sandwich the raw edge of your neckline in between your 2 collar pieces and pin.

Sew around the entire perimeter of your collar to finish.

Step 5: Add Velcro.

On the top of the left side of your collar, sew several inches of the hook portion of your Velcro. On the underside of the right side of your collar sew the loop portion of your Velcro.

And now you have your very own personalized superhero cape - or one with his favorite superhero on it.

And if you're wondering why the cape below is gray instead of red, it's because I made it and then realized afterward that I made it way too small for a 6 year old so I had to cut out my patch and start over. Sigh.

Again, why can't my projects just turn out perfectly the first time?

My friend's 3-year-old son was originally supposed to model the cape for me but he decided not to at the last minute, so Connor graciously stepped in - even though the cape is way too big on him.

 "Watch out bad guys!"

 "I'm off to save the day!!

Until the Evil Captain Mommy scooped him up for kisses.

The world is a safer place with my little superhero on duty.