Headbands

The girls and I needed a project the other day so we decided to tackle the tutorial at Lil Blue Boo.

http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2010/11/no-sew-fabric-flower-headband-tutorial.html

They were so excited! We only made ours with one flower each instead of 3 because they seemed too heavy. We made up 4 flowers and four headbands, 2 for each girl. Aren't they cute!!







Here is KK's that she wore on Thanksgiving!

Ah, Justice you sneaky fool

Much like every other 9 year old at her school, my oldest daughter loves to shop at Justice. I don't love shopping there because they are seriously overpriced and I feel like Justin Bieber is going to pop out of a dressing room and serenade the crowd.

And by seriously overpriced, I mean KK bought a tunic and leggings with part of her birthday money and it was $57 before my coupon. I brought it home and copied it with fabric in my stash and made a copy for $5 maybe. And $5 is probably overestimating.

At any rate, during this birthday shopping trip they had some special going on with signs that screamed spend $75 and get $40 in JBucks. Which like the girl explained, are Justice gift cards that you can use later. So I spent the required $75 and got my JBucks. Which, by the way, was not $40, but rather a $25 card to use the weekend after Thanksgiving (except Black Friday) and a $15 card to be used around Christmas.

All I have to say, gift card my ass. Once I got to reading the JBuck I noticed that you had to use it on certain days and you have to spend additional money in the store to be able to use the damn thing. I went to Justice to use it this weekend to buy some Christmas presents and I gave the girl my JBucks and the 40% off coupon I had. She promptly told me I wasn't allowed to use it with any other offer in the store or with any other coupon. I would not be defeated, however, and much to her irritation, I asked her to ring up all my things separately so that I could use both my coupon and the stupid JBucks. Because there is no way I am paying full price for anything in that store.

On my last order she advised me that I could spend $10 more and get a $15 JBucks. I asked her why I would want another when they are basically worthless. For that question she had no answer.

I know stores have to have rules about coupon usage and I am not trying to game the system but I find all the nuances of their system to be very tedious. But then again I guess "spend $75 and get a $40 gift card" sounds a lot better than "spend $75 and get two cards that have to be used on certain days of the year and in order to use them you have to spend $9o more and you can't use them with any other coupon or offer in the store".

For the baby who wants to blend in....

I made Theo Leo a camo jumpsuit the other day. I mean, who wouldn't want a camo colored full body jumpsuit? It even has pockets! The only problem is I sent it out for size testing on another baby I know, and it's probably going to be a tad small. So I will just hem the legs and arms and let my size tester have it back. Then I will have to come up with something else for Theo Rama.

Pattern:
Ottobre Design 6/2010 #13
size 86, roughly 18 mo.

the front



Back



Pockets!



front zipper and waistband. Oh look how close I came to lining everything up.

The virtues of freezer paper

Awhile back I wrote about how much I like freezer paper so I thought I would run through it's list of virtues again. It's cheap, you can write all over it and use it to make pattern pieces, you can iron it onto fabric to make stencils or pattern pieces and it keeps my girls entertained for hours.

Recently I used it to make stencils of bones for a skeleton outfit. And this past week I used to make stencils for painting on fabric. I cut out a bunch of t shirt fronts, got out all my fabric paint and let the girls pick their designs.



I used the Cricut to cut all my images.



Once they were cut I carefully peeled the freezer paper off the cutting mat making sure not to tear it as I need the negative of the cutting.



Then you can iron them onto your fabric. Put the shiny side on the fabric and press thoroughly. Make sure to turn off your steam.



Once you have the stencil down, you can start painting. The girls each did their own image and I did 3. I just let them have at it. I squirted a bunch of colors onto plates and gave them a 50 pack of paintbrushes and told them to do whatever they wanted. My youngest went at it randomly and without hesitation. Just started painting with the colors that she gravitated towards. Much like the Virgo that she is, my older daughter plotted and planned with painstaking precision. Every detail was examined and she finally settled on 4 colors and blended 2 together in each word.







Here is my Hello Kitty



Once you are finished, I always hold them up to the light to see if I missed any spots. Then carefully peel the stencil off.





I let them dry for about 5 days, but really 2 days should be enough. I just didn't have time to get back to sewing until then. Now, I turned the shirt fronts into t shirts, but you could also do this on t shirts you buy at the store.

Dresses

I shop at Goodwill frequently, always on the lookout for great items I can reuse in sewing projects. Mainly t-shirts to turn into baby gowns or dresses, but also sheets or curtains that can be used as fabric. I also found a great sewing machine onetime for $7! A 1970's Necchi Alco. And being from the 1970's it is a great baby blue color.

I also hit up clearance sales at stores to purchase new clothing that can be transformed into something else entirely. Usually stores like Old Navy, Walmart and Target. This summer I bought about 18 shirts from Old Navy's half off the clearance price sale and used most of them to make cute dresses to sale at the Farmer's Market.

So don't be afraid to shop at Goodwill or buy something that is not quite what you are looking for. With a little work and creativity you can turn it into something else altogether!

Some examples....

an adult size XL t-shirt from Goodwill







Child size shirts from Old Navy













Shirts from my girls' outgrown pile

Refashionista

I shared an upcycled project at Iammommahearmeroar today! I shared the shirt I made for Baby Theo for his birthday from an adult size xl shirt. Go over and check out all the other participants!

A week of sewing

I had Thursday off work for Veteran's Day so I managed to get lots of time to sew this week. I sewed all day Thursday, a little on Friday night and then a couple hours Saturday and Sunday.

I found a pattern that I just had to have. Like I ordered it 20 minutes after I saw it and had it in my hot little hands about 5 days later. Then I cut out these 2 shirts and made them this weekend. Talk about instant gratification!

Pattern:
Mamu Deborah. This is a sneaky little pattern. It doesn't look like much, but then you look at all the options it has! With a hood, without, long sleeve or short, v neck or round, long or short cuffs on the sleeves, the list goes on.

The first is a v neck with a hood, long sleeves with long cuffs. Made out of velour from JoAnn's. Holy cow! This sucker is soft, like wear to bed soft. My girlies kept hugging me saying, mommy your shirt is so soft!





The next is a shapeless blob on a hanger or....
a v neck with no hood, with long sleeves and medium length cuffs. (Seriously, I didn't want to change my clothes to take pics this morning.)



Pants for my Nin. What do you think, are the polka dots too much? Do they scream chicken pox to you like they do for me? Well Nin doesn't care she picked out the material and thinks they are great. That's what counts right?

Pattern:
Ottobre Design 4/2009 #31 in size 128, with 4 in. of added length. Now don't go polishing a Nobel prize or anything, but I finally figured out a way to outsmart her growth spurts. I added length and made the hem really big so that when she grows I can just rip the hem stitching out, let down some of the length and re sew the hem. I am sure seamstresses have been doing this for centuries, but it just occured to me to give it a try. That way I won't be frantically sewing pants late on a Sunday night for her to wear to school the next day because I am a bad mom and she only has a couple pairs that fit her. Whew!





These pants are also the same pattern, but I just cut them out of a pair of my old work pants that are too short for me to wear with heels. I even used the waistband of those pants and just sewed it right on. Brilliant! Now this could go either way with my Nin. She is very particular about the clothes she wears. But when she got home she said, Mommy, they look just like work pants, I love them! Thank God for small miracles.



And finally, a baby coat for Baby Averie. This coat is super adorable in every aspect. It's tiny, cute, soft and easy to sew!

Pattern:
Ottobre Design 4/2010 #7 in size 74

Tiny, no?


Buttons


Hood and can you see the lining in there? Fully lined in Velour. Yummy!


Thas is all the sewing I accomplished the last couple days. The girls and I did some fabric painting for t shirts I have to sew up still, but can't do that until the paint is completely dry.

Great mail day!

I was home sick on Wednesday and the doorbell rang. I had a package that was too large for the mailbox. Yay for fabric mail!! While it didn't cure my cold, it sure made me happy.



The one on the left is cotton lycra, so I was thinking leggings. The stripe on the right is actually a pale pink and black that matches a pale pink solid I already had. The second to right is Sweet Treats which would be great for summer tanks. I got these all from FabricHounds sale a week ago. What do you think I should do with them?

South Bend, Indiana

The girls and I took a quick trip over to South Bend, Indiana for the weekend to visit my Great Aunt Hazel who is turning 90!  Okay, so the trip itself wasn't so quick, but the time spent in South Bend was!  I asked Daniel to be my co pilot but most of his time was spent doing this....



Along the way we saw

this


and I do not even want to know what this is. Those Illinoisans sure know how to live it up.


Once we got to South Bend we saw this


The snow was actually worse the night before on our drive down I80 through Gary, In.

We were there to help surprise Aunt Hazel for her 90th birthday.

Do you think she was surprised?




Geesh Nano nice shirt


Now, Aunt Hazel has 12 kids and a passel of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I can remember her kids fairly well, but I get lost after a while.

John and Aunt Hazel


I can't remember who this cutie belongs too, but he is so adorable! I am pretty sure he is Kim's grandson, but I can't remember his parents...



Ms. Averie what's wrong? And why do I have so many pictures of you with this same scowl?


See, remember this one in Portland?


Nano, Mom, Nin and Annie


What is it with the seriously cute kids who were there?


Mary, Nano and a seriously cute baby.


Danny, holding the aforementioned seriously cute baby. Peggy and Roy also make cameo's in this picture


A passel of kids


My mom and her cousin Annie


Lifting weights. KK with her 3rd cousin Riley


Come on muscles


Hey muscles, the barn door is open


Averie loved this box with a spider in it




Baby Averie and her 3rd cousin, Jacinta, were born on the exact same day. How cool!


We also went to Notre Dame for a quick looksie







Whew!