31 July 2009

Crayon Apron *Tutorial*

If your kids are like mine they love to color.  They lose their crayons quite often.  I made a Crayon apron to see if that would help out with the loss of crayons.  So far, so good.

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Supplies needed

  • 1 piece of fabric 8 inches wide x 18 inches long for the crayon pocket
  • 2 pieces of fabric 10 x 18 for the front and back
  • 1 piece of nylon webbing 1 x 18

 

First step…take your 8 x 18 piece of fabric for the crayon pocket and fold it in half.  Iron it in place.  After you iron it stitch across the folded edge.

IMG_4472Next you want to make your crayon pockets.
Take your ruler and mark 1 1/8 inch marks like so.

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  After you are finished making your marks.  Take the front piece of fabric and lay it right side face up.  Place your crayon pocket on top of it and pin in place. 

Following your markings start sewing your crayon pockets.

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Here’s what it should look like when you are finished sewing all your pockets.

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Next take your webbing  fold over edge and sew.

IMG_4479Front

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Back

Next basted your webbing to the back piece of fabric.

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Lay that piece on top of your crayon pocket piece.

IMG_4478Pin those two pieces together.  Sew all sides, but make sure you leave a hole in one side so you can turn it inside out.  Make sure you can fit your hand in it.  Be careful not to sew up your webbing into the side seams.

After you have sewn up the sides, turn it inside out.  I iron mine to get it nice and flat.  Pin the hole closed, and top stitch all the way around your apron.

You’re finished!!!!!!

You should have something like this.

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Enjoy and have a blessed day!

~Tracie

ps.  This will be my last tutorial for a little while.  Our household goods are currently in transit to a new Army post.  If you are the praying kind, please say a prayer for my family and I while we move.  We really appreciate it!!!!

26 July 2009

My first Stroller Bag

 

As I was reading my blog comments (Thank you so much for those),  Small Fry & Co. asked if this was something I came up with.    No it’s not entirely my idea.  But I can tell you the story.

When I had my daughters I remember how hard it was to get their diaper bag  out of the basket of the stroller.  There I would be with a screaming baby wanting to be fed or changed and me digging around in the basket of the stroller trying to pull the diaper bag out.  Then if I did get the diaper bag out, I would have no place to sit it other than the floor.  Not very sanitary.  I started carrying their stuff around in a backpack which just led to more messes.  I was a very thankful Momma when I didn’t need a diaper bag anymore.  Fast forward five years.  I find out I’m pregnant with my son.  The search for the perfect diaper bag began.  I searched the internet for months.  I couldn’t find anything I liked or anything that would seem to solve the problem I had with previous diaper bags.  Then one day I find this one.  I like the concept.  But the bag was not pretty or functional to me.  So I decided I would try to make one. 

The first stroller bag I made was for my sister.  She and I actually found out we were pregnant about two weeks apart.  Our due dates were a month apart.  My sister loves everything cowboys.  So when I found the fabric I knew it was for her.

IMG_2046My sister’s bag has two outside pockets for sippy cups or bottles, an inside pocket, and a key fob attached to the bag. 

IMG_2047IMG_2048IMG_2049(The inside)

Now to date I’ve only made a total of ten bags.  Two of which are my own.    I wish I had taken pictures of all them, but I didn’t.   So far I haven’t had any complaints about the bag though.  I have modified the bag a few times per request, but that’s it.  The most recent ones I’ve made have a shoulder strap for easier carrying (because if you don’t use your stroller they strap to shopping carts too), and a removable bottom for easier washing and drying. 

Here are two more that I recently made. 

This one is for my sister-in-law.  My nephew is just two weeks old.

IMG_4666 IMG_4667(the inside)

IMG_4668  
(the added shoulder strap)

And here is the one I made for my cousin.  Her son is 15 months old, but still loves her stroller and asked me to make her one.  It’s made of Arcadia fabric from Moda.  I made it out of 7 fat quarters!

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IMG_4670IMG_4671(the inside)

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(the shoulder strap)

I love making these and love using mine.  Believe it or not, but my hubby likes using it too. 

ps.  I really hope this all made sense.  We are in the process of moving to another Army post and I’ve been packing up our clothing and necessities all day. 

Hope you all are having a blessed evening.

~Tracie

21 July 2009

T-shirt Dress *Tutorial*

I’ve seen these dresses everywhere.  I have been wanting to make one for awhile now, so when I saw this cute polka dot fabric I knew I could do it.

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These can be made for any size.  Adult or child.  I made one for my niece.  The shirt I used was a 3T.  To get the fabric measurements you go by the measurements of the person and of the t-shirt you use.

First I measured an inch from the arm pit of the shirt. 

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Draw a line to match the dots and then cut your shirt across that line.  Hold on to your bottom piece of t-shirt.

Next cut the fabric for the skirt bottom of your dress.  My t-shirt measures 11 inches across.  Therefore I want my bottom fabric to be around 25 inches.  I just doubled the measurement and added a few inches so I could get extra pleats.  For the length I cut the fabric 24 inches.  To get that measurement, measure from under the arm to the desired length and add an inch for seams allowance.

My skirt bottom fabric piece is 25 x 24.  You will need two pieces.

Now onto the sewing.

Place your skirt bottom pieces right sides together and sew along the sides with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Sorry I don’t have a picture of that process.

Next I used a zigzag stitch to secure my seams.

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After that you want to create your hem.
On the bottom of your skirt piece fold up 1/4 inch and iron all the way around the bottom.  Then fold over again and iron once more.

IMG_4453 Then you want to stitch up that hem.  Stitch very close to the open end of your hem.

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Next on the top of your skirt bottom, you can do a Gather stitch or you can do what I do and just “gather” it with pins.  Pin your skirt bottom to the t-shirt.  Make sure you match side seams and centers.

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Now sew your skirt bottom to your t-shirt top.  Make sure if you do your “gather” stitch like me, to take out your pins before you sew over them.

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When you are finished attaching your top to the bottom do the zigzag stitch like you did before.

The next step is totally optional, but I think it makes the dress look more put together.  I top stitched the front of the dress where the skirt meets the t-shirt.  I did my stitching right on top of the t-shirt.

IMG_4461IMG_4462 

This next step is another option.  Because I was making this for my 2 yr old niece, I added a fabric flower.

I cut two circles out of the polka dot fabric and one out of the t-shirt fabric.  If you do this, make sure they are all different sizes.

IMG_4463Stitch those pieces together.

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Next place it where you want it to go on your dress and stitch it on.

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Guess what???  You are finished after that step. 

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If you made it through that I seriously want to congratulate you.  When I make stuff I take a lot of pictures just so I can remember how I did it.  I’m visual.  But if you tried this I hope you had fun at it and I would love to see it.

Have a blessed day!!

~Tracie  

18 July 2009

Reverse Child’s Apron

My kids love aprons.  Honestly I don’t know why.  I don’t even own one myself.  I made them a couple half aprons (look for that tutorial later), but they asked me to make them full aprons.

Now if you read my last post you know my sewing supplies were packed up.  I unpacked it today.  I had to do something.  I let my kids pick out the fabric, but they fought over who got what color.  That’s when I decided to make the aprons reversible. 

My oldest daughter has a play apron she received for her birthday last year.  Since it still fits her pretty good I decided to just trace that apron to get a pattern.

Cutting out the fabric and sewing only took me around an hour. 
I had a yard of each fabric and was able to get two full sized aprons and two half aprons.

Here are a couple pictures.  Sorry they are bad. 

IMG_4420Purple side

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Pink side

 

Here are a couple pictures of the half aprons I made for them the other day.

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Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

~Tracie

17 July 2009

Got formula???

My son drinks a lot of formula.  We buy the powered kind that comes in these little cans.

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These cans add up real quick.  The recycling center here does not take them and I honestly didn’t like throwing them away.  So I pulled out my fabric scraps and some of this…

IMG_3884And came up with this…

IMG_3891So far I have covered 6.  Three are for a friend.  Three are sitting on our dining room table.  My girls have pencils in one, antibacterial hand cream in another, and the last one holds packs of gum.

~Tracie

16 July 2009

Liquid Stitch

So…we are moving.  The movers will be here in less than two weeks to pack up our belongings and put them on a truck to our new destination.  I’m thrilled to be moving.  Just not too thrilled about the process.  Which brings up the subject line above.  Most of my craft stuff is packed up.  My hubby told me to get all of my sewing needs out of the way last week.  Seriously???  That’s like telling me I can’t drink water or something, lol.  I finished the last of my projects up and left it at that.  Fast forward to today when I go to put my jeans on.  They have those button pockets.  I really don’t like the button pockets, but when Gap has jeans on sale for $20 you buy them, especially if they are in your size.IMG_4331Since the edges stick up, I don’t like to wear them.  My first thought was to sew down the edges.  But since most of my stuff is packed up I couldn’t change my sewing needle.  So off to the store I went to find a “fix”.  And believe me I found one. 

IMG_4333Liquid stitch.  Right now I really love this stuff.  LOVE IT!!!!
I followed the instructions printed on the back and Voila my pockets no long stick out.

IMG_4335The right one has Liquid Stitch the left pocket doesn’t. 

It says to allow 24 hours drying time.  Well it’s only been a few hours, but these pockets aren’t going anywhere. 

Another good thing about this product….it can’t be shipped.  
Since it’s a liquid form, the movers are not a lot to pack it.  YAY!

~Tracie  

14 July 2009

Another Stroller Bag

A friend of mine is having a baby boy soon.   It took me 2 weeks to decide on fabric.  The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner’s fabric line.  I really like it.

How about you?

 

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I hung it on my son’s bed so you can see how it works.  It was raining.  Why is it always raining when I need pictures?

 

IMG_4030The side with pockets for bottles and the strap for carrying on your shoulder. 

 

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And the inside of the bag. 

 

Enjoy.

~Tracie