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 :)

Scrappy Flower Headband: guest post with Nature's Heirloom

Hello MOR readers!! I'm so excited to be visiting Jen's blog today! My name's Nikki and I have a little blog called Nature's Heirloom where I like to share my musings, whatever they may be that day or week.

I LOVE sewing things for my little girl, especially when it's a hair accessory. Yep, I'm an accessory-aholic. So I'm going to share with you one of my favorites, a scrappy flower headband. Not only are they adorable, but they also help you used up scraps, AND they're super easy to whip together. Plus, I can use these for her, or for myself. BONUS!

All you need is some scraps of 3 different fabrics. One needing to be at least 29 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide. Also, a sewing machine would definitely be helpful, and scissors.

Start by folding your long piece of fabric in half, width wise. Cut from the fold to the ends, tapering down as you go. The fat end should be around 2 1/2 inches wide.

Next, either serge the edges, or if you don't have a serger, leave the edges raw and sew a straight line 1/4 inch around the edges. Over time, the edges will fray a bit, giving the headband a different, but equally as cute look.

Next, cut a couple strips of your fabric for the flower about 1 inch wide. How long you will need them will depend on how big you want your flower, and how "tight" the flower will be pleated. So the length is up to you. But more is always better to start out with. Also, cut a couple leaf shapes of your third fabric.

Lay one "leaf" off to one side of the headband. Sew around the edges about 1/4 inch in.

Lay the next "leaf" down where you want and sew.

Now, take one strip of fabric and pleat it a couple times so it fans out (pleates being tighter on the bottom, more loose on the top). Press with the iron.

Add a few more pleates. Press again.

Repeat until the strip is completely pleated.

Start laying out your flower, making a large circle.

Once you make a full circle, sew it down.

Circle the rest around and pin in place.

Sew it down. You can do a cirlce, but I like to do a triangle.

I'm not sure why.

Now, you can either finish it off with a button in the center, which I do often, or you can do a fabric center, which I will now show you.

Take a short strip of the fabric and pleat it to make a "mini pleated flower".

Place that in the center and sew down.

And you're done! It only takes a few minutes, and you can whip out a whole bunch of them in one sitting!

You can also do different variations, like instead of one big flower, you make smaller versions of the pleated flower, and group them in threes. You can see a bunch of my variations on my post HERE. These will fit a child or an adult.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you make any, feel free to add them to my flickr group HERE! I'd love to see them!!

Thank you Jen for letting me visit your corner of the blogging world!!!!

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Thanks for the awesome tutorial Nikki!

Make sure you go visit Nikki over at Nature's Heirloom and check out all of her great projects that she somehow finds time for in between caring for her 3 kids.

Some of my favorites are her Simple Burp Cloths, Little Man Toolbelt, and Fall Pom Pom Wreath.

The $0.50 Dress (a skirt to dress refashion)

Ok ok, I know there's only 2 days left until it's September, but I had to share one last dress that I made for Haley. Like I've mentioned before, it's summer until the end of October here in Tennessee, so while all of you are bundled up and enjoying your crisp autumn weather in a couple weeks, think of me as I'm holed up inside my house trying to ward off the 90 degree weather outside.

Anyway, back to summer-related things! I was walking through Gymboree a few weeks ago enjoying all the eye candy that I'm too cheap to buy - I mean, who wants to spend $25 on a pair of jeans for their kid when they're going to grow out of them next week? Hello sale rack! While I was browsing, one particular line caught my eye. Their Citrus Cooler collection was just so cute and summery!

source

I just love all the adorable citrus prints, but I wasn't about to pay $25 for a dress. Then it hit me. I had purchased a little girl's skirt with almost the exact same print last year at a garage sale for $0.50.

And that's how this skirt was refashioned into the easiest dress I've ever made. And it only cost me $0.50.

What's not to love about that?

Here's what you need to make one too!

Supplies:

• 1 skirt with zipper (I used a child's size 10 skirt)
• Ribbon (this is optional, but really makes the final dress look adorable)
• Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies

Step 1: Size your dress.

Measure the diameter of your child's chest from armpit to armpit and add 1 inch. The diameter of my 2 1/2-year-old's chest is 21 1/2, so the total diameter is 22 1/2 inches. Divide this number in half, this will be the width the top of your front and back piece will each need to be. Since my total diameter is 22 1/2 inches, I want the width of the top of each of my front and back pieces to be 11 1/4 inches.

Turn your skirt inside out with the back of your skirt where the zipper is on top. Using the zipper as your center point, measure out the length that you calculated above and mark each endpoint on the waistband with disappearing ink marker. Draw lines from each of your points to the bottom of your skirt in an A-line fashion.

Next, pin the sides of your skirt together and sew on top of your lines from the top to the bottom, removing the pins as you go.

Cut off the excess material (make sure to save it, you'll be using it later) and finish your edges by zig-zagging or serging them.

Note on length: Since I used a child's skirt to make my dress, the length was perfect and needed no adjustment. If your skirt is too long, make sure you measure your child from the top where you want the dress to hit to their knees and add 1/2 inch, then cut the dress, hem and sew the bottom.

Step 2: Make your straps

You'll now be making straps from the scraps you cut off of the sides of your skirt. Here are the 2 scraps I had left.

To make your straps, you just need to make 2 tubes with your desired thickness and length. I didn't have much to work with, so my dress ended up having spaghetti straps that were a little over 1/2 inch wide and 7 inches long.

As you can see in the picture above, my scraps already were sewn down the middle because they came from the sides of my dress. I just folded each rectangle with the right sides together and sewed the other other side closed. Then, I just turned my tube inside out (use a safety pin) and sewed the ends closed. So easy!

Next, just pin the end of your strap to the inside of your dress and sew on top of the existing stitches so it blends right in. Repeat the process to sew the other end of your strap to the back of your dress.

You could just stop right here and be done, but I thought the dress looked like it was missing something so I added some ribbon.

Step 3: Embellish your dress.

To make a ribbon "belt" of sorts, just hand sew a couple of loops on either side of your dress a few inches from the top. You can double up the thread like I did for extra strength.

Then, just measure your child for the desired length of ribbon and add some extra so you can tie the bows.  Add some Fray Check to the ends so your ribbon doesn't unravel on you, then insert the ribbon through your loops.

And that's it! Simple, cheap, and a quick-sew. 
My favorite kind of project.

Now comes the hard part, getting your child to pose for the pictures.

If you're lucky, your daughter will stand still. Mine can't be bribed for all the candy in the world.

Enjoy your new dress!

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

Monogrammed Baby Snuggle Squares

**In case you missed it, I posted over at Nature's Heirloom on July 21st.
Here's the project I shared!**

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When my daughter was a few months old, a family member sent her 2 silky lovies as a gift. We gave them to her at naps and bedtime, and 2 years later she won't go to sleep without at least one of her favorite blankies. When my son was born, I knew I wanted him to have a couple of his own too.

These snuggle squares are made of flannel on one side and soft satin material on the other, so they're the perfect little lovies for cuddling and comforting little ones. Best of all, they're super easy to make.

Supplies for 1 Snuggle Square:

• 1/2 yard flannel
• 1/2 yard coordinating satin fabric
• Sewable interfacing
• Scissors
• Disappearing ink marker
• Printer and paper
• Sewing machine and coordinating thread
• Rotary cutter and mat

Step 1: Cut out your fabrics.

1. Wash your fabrics before use to make sure they don't shrink later.

2. Cut out a 19"x19" square from both your flannel and your satin material using your rotary cutter and mat.

Step 2: Make your monogram.

1. From your leftover flannel, cut out a piece of fabric 1 inch larger than you want your letter to be. Iron a slightly smaller piece of sewable interfacing to the back (the wrong side) of the fabric according to the interfacing directions. Remove paper backing.

2. In Microsoft Word, type up and print out your monogram letter, then carefully cut out with scissors. My letter was roughly 3"x3". Place it on the back of your fabric, making sure the letter is facing backwards when you trace.

3. Trace around your letter using a disappearing ink marker.

4. Cut out your letter.

Step 3: Attach your monogram.

1. With your iron on a low setting, iron your monogram onto a corner of your satin fabric on the top (or right side) of the fabric. If you're having a hard time ironing your monogram on, try placing a cloth on top of the fabric and ironing on a higher heat setting.

2. Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch. Stitch around the entire perimeter of your letter, making sure to backstitch some at the beginning and end to secure.

3. This is how your finished monogram should look.


Step 4: Join your two fabrics.

1. With the right sides together, place your satin fabric on top of your flannel and match up the edges.

2. Pin and stitch around the perimeter of your fabric about 1/4 inch from the edge, leaving a space about 4 inches long unsewn for turning. (Make sure you use lots of pins when you pin the fabric because the satin is slippery and you don't want it to slide around as you sew.)

3. Clip your corners close to the stitching (but not too close!) Turn your blanket inside out and press with a hot iron on the flannel side. Make sure you press the edges of your opening inside so it matches up with the rest of your blanket.

4. Top stitch around the perimeter of your blanket 1/4 inch from the edge.

Done!

Let the snuggling begin!

I hope your little ones enjoy their snuggle squares as much as mine do.

Linking up to THESE great parties!