From Jeans to Fabric-Edged Shorts - A Tutorial

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Although the weather here in western Oregon simply can't make up its mind, I am going ahead and clearing out the winter clothes and figuring out summer wear for the kiddos.  The Drama Queen wants shorts because "my other pants make me all hot and sweaty and dis-gust-ing."  Last year, she had the cutest knee-length shorts in a variety of colors and styles;  but apparently this year, shorts styles have gone the abundantly-short-and-skanky route.  No daughter of mine is going to wear shorts that could double as underwear!  Noticing that several pairs of jeans were going into the "getting-too-short" pile, I decided to make those into shorts for my girl.  

Here's how.  First, have your girly put the jeans on and mark on each leg about where you want the shorts to fall.  I used a Sharpie 'cuz I'm classy like that.  Cut off the jean legs at the mark.  (Save the jean legs for a future project.  Let them sit around in a messy pile for a while.  Realize that you are never going to get to the yet-undetermined project.  Throw them away!)

 It really doesn't take much fabric at all to make the edging for the shorts.  I had the Drama Queen look through my fabric stash and choose her favorite.  Measure around the short leg and add a little extra for length.  Decide how wide you want your edging to be and double that plus a little extra.  Cut two strips following these measurements.  Fold each strip like the photo above and iron so that the folds stay in place.

 Next, pin your strips in place.  The part of the strip that has the edge folded down a little should be on the outside of the pants leg.  Then sew with a straight stitch about a half-inch in from the top of the edging.

I went ahead and sewed a remaining scrap of fabric into a tie belt for the shorts, as the Drama Queen is skinny and hipless and needs all the help she can get to keep her pants up.

Easy.  Cute.  Very washable.  These particular shorts are her new faves and have gone through the wash several times already without falling apart.

Oh, and not skanky at all...

The Craft Nerd Needs Her Mojo Back

I joined the Pinterest craze last summer in the midst of the nesting phase of my pregnancy. Within the first two weeks of joining, I had already tried several crafts, sewing tutorials, and recipes from my boards.

Then. Well, I got larger and larger and less and less motivated. My kids were lucky to be getting fed those days, let alone with some fancy recipe off Pinterest. At the peak of my largeness, Little Sprout finally joined our family and we entered a new era of crazy. I have changed my outfit three times today due to that darling little child's spit-up and other body fluids. I have not counted how many times I changed her outfit. I explored the territory of root words and suffixes with my first-grader while simultaneously nursing the baby and imploring the boys to just clean up their room already. Pinterest has dropped way down on the priority list.

So. I am determined to rediscover some of the things that originally captured my attention and do them. It might take me several weeks to accomplish them, but hey, creativity needs to make a comeback at this house. I actually started one project already (two weeks ago), and the second my hand touched the paintbrush, I did a giddy little dance of excitement. Yes, I am that crafty-nerdy.

Here's a couple of things I am hoping to try soon:

Source: kingarthurflour.com via Jeanette on Pinterest

Source: simplesimonandco.com via Jeanette on Pinterest

Source: daydreamliving.blogspot.com via Jeanette on Pinterest

Source: bystephanielynn.com via Jeanette on Pinterest

cheer me on!

Tutorial: Fluffy Flower Headband

Last week I mentioned in my weekly pregnancy post that I had finally completed my nursing cover. I had a few strips of fabric left over and decided to make Little Sprout a cute little flower headband for all her newborn fashion needs. I mean, how many other babies have hair accessories to match their momma's nursing cover? It turned out pretty well - so well in fact that I am pulling out some more fabrics to make her a whole set of these. And I'm thinking Big Sister and Momma wouldn't mind having their own modified versions of this flower headband.

For this fluffy flower headband, you will need: two coordinating fabric pieces (mine were just leftover strips from my nursing cover project - you won't need much!), a small piece of 1/4 " braided elastic, a sewing machine loaded with matching thread, a glue gun, a sharpie, and a soup can.

(Please excuse my model's look of disinterest. She has been around for 20+ years and has cheerfully taken all sorts of modeling abuse.)

So, first you are going to make the stretchy headband. Measure your baby's head (or the head of a doll reasonably similar to a baby's head) and double that to get the length of your fabric. Then cut out a strip that long and about three inches or so wide.

Next, fold your strip of fabric in half as shown with the wrong side out and stitch a 1/2 inch seam along the cut edges.

Using a safety pin, turn your tube of fabric right side out. Don't bother to press it - you will be scrunching it up soon enough.

Cut a piece of elastic that is just a little less than half the length of your fabric. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and begin threading through your fabric tube. When you reach the halfway point, before the other end of your elastic disappears into the tube, sew down that end of elastic as shown.

Continue working the safety pin through the rest of the fabric tube until it comes out the other end. Scrunch your fabric until you like the way it looks, and sew down that end of the elastic/fabric as well. Make sure that on both ends, you have sewn through the fabric AND the elastic, so that the elastic will stay in place.

Match up the two ends of the fabric tube and sew together in a 1/2 inch seam. Trim down the fabric edges as shown.

Now, you are going to start working on your flower. Using a soup can, veggie can, hair spray can, or whatever you have, trace out 17 circles on the wrong side of your contrasting fabric. The larger your circles, the larger your flower will be. Cut out all 17 circles - you don't have to be too exact here. Just make sure to cut off all black marks as they will show in the completed flower.

Take one circle and fold in half and then in half again, with the right side of the fabric out, as shown.

Sew that folded circle in place on the stretchy band right where you stitched the two ends of the band together as shown. Sew diagonally across the triangular point of your folded circle.

Fold another circle the same way and sew it to the headband directly underneath the first folded circle, as shown.

Fold a third circle and sew to the headband directly next to the second folded circle. It should look like three-fourths of a circle, as shown.

Fold a fourth circle the same way and stitch in place. Notice that your stitches make a square or diamond shape. This is the first layer of your flower.

Now you will sew on the second layer of your flower in the same way. Place the first "petal" as shown in the photo above so that the petals will not be directly lying on top of each other. Continue folding circles and stitching them in place until a second layer is completed. (Four folded circles make one layer.)

Add a third layer of petals in exactly the same manner. Your flower should look like this.

Next, take another circle and fold it in half and then fold it into thirds, as shown.

Make a dot of glue with your hot glue gun at the center of your flower and press the point of this new folded circle into the glue. (use tweezers or the tips of your scissors so you won't burn your fingers!)

Do this three more times with the circles folded in half and then into thirds. Glue them in place with the hot glue gun.

Finally, take your last circle and fold it in half and then into thirds, as you did with the previous four circles. Place a dot of hot glue in the very center of your flower and press this last folded circle firmly into place.

And there you have it! An adorable, chic hairband for the equally adorable infant in your life.

In a future post, I will show you how to modify this headband to make it suitable for an older girl and even an adult. (my headband does not have as full a flower for example, and my daughter's headband has a removable flower.) Happy creating!

Creative Endeavors

I've been in a bit of a creative haze lately. As in, I am bookmarking DIY projects like crazy and planning out an insane amount of crafty things to complete before Little Sprout arrives. Last week was particularly productive in the creative arena.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I really wanted to try this flip-flop makeover. I found an old pair of flip flops that were ready to throw out two seasons ago, and with a little matching fabric, I transformed them into these cute ruffly T-strap sandals.

The Drama Queen saw my "new" sandals and wanted a pair for herself. She had no pair of flip flops (we tend to go the Crocs route for the littles around here) so off we went to Old Navy to score a cheap pair of the current favorite color - yellow. She chose some leftover Amy Butler fabric from my stash for her ruffly straps. I had enough left over to make her a matching belt. (the poor girl cannot keep a pair of jeans or skirt up without one!) Even at age five, though, she struggles to keep flip flops on her feet when she walks. I think it's because little kids don't have a deep enough crevasse between their big toe and second toe. Anyway, today I am going to sew on little elastic straps on the back to help those cuties stay on her feet!

The Drama Queen's best friend is at our house every day - so naturally she needed a pair too. We couldn't find her size at Old Navy, but my favorite store Target filled our need with a fun pair of pink flip flops. Little J. ended up choosing a fabric that matched the purse the girls had made in our "home ec" class, and I think they turned out super adorable. :)

On Friday, I was blessed to have my mother-in-law take all the kiddos for the day. I need a hair band to push my hair out of my face but couldn't find one that went with my outfit. Still in "I can sew" mode, I decided to make my own. I think it turned out rather well. The big flower was in part inspired by the ruffles I sewed on all those flip flops. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of each step of the process - so a tutorial will have to wait for a little while. I like it so much though that I am going to make it in a few more fabrics - hence an opportunity for tutorial photos.

The project currently on the table is a nursing cover for Little Sprout. I originally was going to make a very simple one, but once I saw the tutorial for this reversible cover, I was hooked. It is almost finished! Here is a sneak peek at the fabrics I chose.

We'll see how long these creative juices last. . .

Sewing Class

The Drama Queen has been so excited to have her friend over every day this summer. We have the blessing and privilege to "babysit" her each day.

Each morning, after the kids have done their chores, I have the girls sit down and do some school work to keep their brains sharp during the summer. The Drama Queen is working a lot on her reading and writing, while her friend J. needs more practice on her math skills.

However, one day last week, I decided to give them a break from all the "no, that's not the way you hold your pencil" and "sound it out and see if you can read it"'s to do a different kind of school instead. The girls got to learn some basic skills on the sewing machine!

They each chose some fabric from my stash and with some instruction did most of the sewing on these purses themselves:

(pretty impressive, eh? The Drama Queen's purse is of course the one with frogs and flip flops and jungle animals. J. went a much more girly route.)

Nothing matches that feeling you get when you make something yourself - and are successful at it! The Drama Queen has been taking her purse everywhere - the store, the park, and even to church (it's a perfect size to carry her Bible and offering money).

I guess home ec was a success! Maybe this week we will learn a baking or cooking lesson. They can feed all my pregnancy cravings!

Fabric Banner Tutorial

Yesterday, I posted the lyrics to the beautiful song "He Lives" with a very brief and admittedly inadequate description of how that song has affected me this Easter season. It got me thinking that I would like to have some more meaningful Easter decorations in my home. I decided to make a fabric banner with those words - HE LIVES - to put up in our living room.

There are dozens and dozens of fabric banner tutorials all over the internet. I checked some out but then decided to make it up as I went along. Money has been a little tight around here; so I was determined to make the banner without having to purchase any new materials. Fortunately, I have boxes of designer fabrics left over from the French memo boards I used to make for my etsy shop.

So here's how I made the banner:

First, I made a paper pattern for my fabric triangles. I folded a piece of paper in half and then cut a diagonal to the size triangle I wanted.

Then I opened the triangle up and laid it on my fabric. I traced two triangles on each fabric that I was using and cut them out.

I chose to use a different fabric for each pennant on my banner since I had so many coordinating fabrics, but it would be really pretty to just choose two fabrics and alternate them.

Next, I took two matching pieces of fabric and placed them back to back. Using my sewing machine, I stitched down one side and up the other, leaving the top open. I did this for each set of fabric triangles.

I used a small pair of sharp scissors to trim off all the excess fabric on each pennant.

I turned each pennant right side out, using a skewer to make sure the point of the triangle was completely turned out.

Then, I ironed all the pennants to make the seams and creases sharp.

I found a pretty pale blue ribbon that had been wrapped around a gift I received and folded it in half length-wise, ironing it so that it would stay folded and creased. I then arranged my pennants along the inside fold of the ribbon and pinned them in place. (note my ghetto safety pins - I could not locate my sewing pins and had to make do with these!)

It was very quick to sew a quick seam along the ribbon to attach the pennants to the ribbon. (A glue gun would work well here too!)

For my letters, I just used my Sizzix die cutter to punch out black felt letters. It would be pretty easy to make the letters using any stencil or even hand-lettering with fabric paint. I used my hot glue gun to adhere the letters to the pennants.

It took two scrap pieces of black ribbon and a step ladder to get this banner hung front and center in the living room. I love it! It makes a great Easter decoration, although I will probably keep it up for a while afterwards. I love the message and the colors.

What have you done to decorate for Easter?

Stick a Fork In It - Making an Easy Kitchen Valance

When we first looked at this house as a possible rental, I remember staring at the kitchen counters and thinking, "Wow! those counters are pink!" Not just any pink - a Pepto Bismol sort of pink that had faded over the years. I tried and tried to make my current chili pepper kitchen theme work with those counters. It was a lost cause. I decided to embrace the pink and decorate my kitchen in a retro theme.

I remembered seeing an article in a home magazine somewhere (sorry, have no idea which one) that you could make hooks for your kitchen wall using old forks. That article was my inspiration for my new kitchen valance, along with some fabulous pink/red/white silverware fabric.

To make your own valance with fork hooks, you will need:

*fabric to match your kitchen ( I needed 2 yards for my long kitchen window)

*several old forks with pretty designs on the handles ( I bought mine at a local thrift shop for 20 cents a piece)

*thread to match the fabric

*iron

1. First, make your fork hooks. i thought I would need some kind of pliers for this task, but apparently pure arm strength was enough. I just bent the hooks in half until I liked the way they looked, making sure to keep the pretty handle design on the outside of the hook.

Here's another view of my fork hooks.

2. Then, make the valance. Measure the length of your kitchen window and add 2 inches. Decide how far down your window you want your valance to hang and then cut your piece of fabric, making sure to leave extra length for seams. Save the rest of your fabric for making ties.

Iron the seams flat on each side of the valance panel before stitching them.

3. Next, cut some of your fabric into strips. Fold them in half, ironing in place. Use a zig zag stitch to stitch all along each strip. Hand stitch each strip to the valance at the half-way point of each strip. Space the ties evenly along the top of your valance. (I used five).


4. Mount your fork hooks by placing a nail with a large head where each hook will go, hammering it in until only 1/4 inch of the nail sticks out. Simply slide the fork tines up on the nail until the hook is secure. Tie your valance to the the fork hooks, and voila! a unique and cheerful statement has been added to your kitchen!

I used more forks (even some serving forks) on my kitchen wall as towel hooks. Super easy and super cute!