Bib Backpack Tutorial

I saw an idea on Pinterest about hanging bibs on the back of a high chair using a Command hook. Genius, I thought. Until I watched my child reach up and pull things off a table higher than I thought she could reach. Yeah, those bibs would be everywhere! But I really wanted the drawer space back! So I decided on a “backpack” that would hang on the back of her chair.

Now, I have to be honest. I know how to make one type of pouch. And I just used the same format over and over. Remember, this tutorial for the bag for Fabric Memory? Pretty much the same thing with just a few modifications (yeah, I’m using some of the same pictures…) I did only use one panel for the outer fabric and lining this time though.

Fabric Memory bag

What you’ll need:
*Outer fabric panel 14×24″
*Lining fabric panel 14×24″
*velcro
*coordinating ribbons

1.  Fold the bottom of your panel up so there’s about a 4″ flap at the top. Sew up both sides. Do this with the lining too.

2.  Creating a flat bottom:  Push your corners out so they create a triangle.

3.  Measure down 1″ from the corner.  Sew a seam following the line your pin created, intersecting your side seam. Repeat with both corners of the outer fabric and both corners of the lining.

Finished bottom

4.  Turn your lining right side out and slide into your main fabric (which is still inside out). Line up the upper edges and pin.

5.  Sew around all the edges, leaving about an inch gap. Clip your corners.

6.  Turn it right side out. Top stitch around the whole opening, which will close the gap.

7.  Attach the velcro to the flap and line it up on the front of the bag.

8.  Find the center of your ribbon. Zig zag it to attach to the back of your bag. The position of these ribbons depends on your chair. Make sure they easily attach to the back.

Then you’re ready to attach to your chair and fill with bibs. Nice and out of the way!

Enjoy that you just freed up a drawer in your kitchen!

Garden Layout

Ever have one of those times where you feel in a really good spot –you’re organized, ready, well rested– and then it all comes crashing down. That was my yesterday. So I’ve been obsessing over that… and thinking about little else. Between that and Emily waking up ridiculously early, I’m a bit of a mess. TGIF!

So there’s a little part of me that’s relieved that Logan hasn’t built the new raised beds for the garden yet. Because it means I can spend the weekend trying to get things figured out and not feel guilty that I’m not turning soil, planting more seeds, etc. Next week though!

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I’ve done LOTS of planning around my vegetable garden this year! Here’s been my process, because I feel like it’s a little daunting for a new gardener (which is me–this is the first time I feel like I’m really doing this well).

1.  Determine the size of your beds.
For us, it’s two beds that measure 4×8. I’ve seen several recommendations for 4′ wide beds so you can access the middle easily.

2.  Build your beds and add your soil.
There are tons of tutorials out there for building raised beds. The one from Vegetable Gardener is the one we’re using for inspiration, with a few variations here and there.

3.  Plan your garden.
This is where I really wanted a website to say, “You live in Indiana. That’s zone 5. Here’s the vegetable garden you should plant.”  You know, telling me exactly what seeds to put where. Not the case. So last weekend, I did much Pinterest research to plan my 64 sq ft of vegetable space.

Helpful websites:
Sprout Robot:  enter your zip code to see when you should plant
Morgan Plays in the Dirt:  how many of each plant can grow in a square foot
AfriStar Foundation:  companion planting

My garden plan

4.  Start your seeds inside.
I’m a little late on this one, but I’m not terribly worried. Wednesday evening, Emily and I started most of the seeds in the bottom of a paper bag (biodegradable, cheap, available). My little helper LOVED playing in the dirt and crawling around the driveway in the light rain. Huge mess, totally worth it!

 

So there you go! How to plan and start your garden. Happy planting!

*Note:  The building of the beds can be done during/after Steps 3 and 4. That’s how it’s working for us!

Party Outfit

I spent hours deciding what Emily would wear for her party (and now I’m a little embarrassed to admit that!). Make or buy? Skirt or dress? Style? Fabric? The only thing I knew was that it would be pink. And somehow go with butterflies.

The decision:

For all that agonizing, the outfit ended up being pretty easy to make.

Onesie:

I took a onesie we already had and added some ribbon and a butterfly. JoAnns had this pleated-type ribbon that I pinned into a  butterfly path (I’ve done this with regular ribbon and it looks great). The butterfly was so easy, but I think it’s really fun! I cut a butterfly out of felt and zig zagged the center to the onesie. Then I folded it over and sewed a straight seam to create the 3-d effect.

Skirt:

I used this idea from Designed by Dawn Nicole–I just left it as a skirt. Super easy to do, but it did take more fabric than I thought.

Lessons Learned:  Keep it simple. Pick and choose what you like from outfits. I’m finding that with Emily’s clothes, I do a lot of tutorial mash-ups instead of creating my own patterns. Best way to go!

Make Your Own Ottoman

Right before Christmas, I ordered the cutest knitted ottoman for Emily’s room. My sister was there when I opened the box (much squealing and excitement on my part!) and said she didn’t have an ottoman for the nursery. Well, that’s uncomfortable!

from Target

So I made her one! Because what else are you going to do?

This was a really easy project, and a great scrap buster. This was right around the time that I was purging/cleaning/organizing our office, so I had committed to purging my scraps/random fabric by half. But I hate throwing away fabric. Problem solved!

This and one tub of fabric. That’s what I consolidated to!

What you’ll need:
*fabric
*LOTS of stuffing (I even used two extra pillows, plus all my scraps)

1.  Cut 6 squares. Mine measured 20″, because I used two decorative pillows as the top and bottom. I know, two fewer pillows in my house! You think that means I get to buy 2 more? But you could make yours any size that works for you.

2. Sew your cube using this cloth block tutorial from Make It and Love It. I skipped the step of clipping the corners, because with something so big, you’ve got some flexibility.

3. Stuff and stuff and stuff. Sit on it to press it down. Then stuff some more. It’s going to take lots more than you think, because you want it to be pretty solid. Hand sew the opening shut.

With all that fabric, your ottoman will be pretty heavy!

The little miss testing it out. 

Dressing Up Onsies Tutorlal

Haha, this post cracks me up. Because I started it in May. Yep, months ago. Which means that the pictures are of Emily when she’s two months old!

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I had quite a collection of onesies, so I decided to add a little flair to some of them!

Option 1
The light pink one became a cute little ruffle-butt onesie. It was really pretty simple.

I started by cutting some 1 1/2″ strips out of knit fabric (so I didn’t have to finish the edges). Sew a basting stitch down the center of the strips–don’t backstitch! Pull the threads to create the ruffles.

Then just attach the ruffles to the back of the onesie. I did three rows. Make sure that you overlap the ruffles a little so they create a nice full look.

Option 2
Two of the onesies became little dresses. I cut them like an empire waist style.

Then it was like creating an elastic waist skirt, except you use the top of the onesie instead of elastic. I recommend using this tutorial from Freshly Picked as a guide.

Look how little she is!

And… I’ve since cut the bottom of the onesie off to make a little shirt for her! And… she’s outgrown that too!

(It’s been so long that I don’t remember what I did with the fourth onesie!)

Revised Baby Leg Warmers

Remember this post when I turned little girl socks into leg warmers for Emily? Well, needless to say, she’s gotten quite a bit bigger since then. And as cute as she is, she looked completely ridiculous wearing leg warmers that were so short!

My solution… a $1 bag of lace I got at a garage sale! Okay, the solution itself probably cost less than a penny. But I got all that lace for $1! Huge deal!

Measure around the bottom of the leg warmer and cut a piece of lace ½” bigger. Sew the ends of the lace together using a ¼” seam and zig zag the edges. Then match right sides together and pin the lace onto your sock using lots of pins (keep in mind that the sock with stretch so this keeps it in place). Then sew with ¼” seam and zig zag to finish.

And now you’ve gotten a few more months out of your cute leg warmers!

 

Baby Headbands Part 2

I saw this picture on Pinterest on a way to make little flowers and thought it would be a perfect as a headband.

There wasn’t a link/blog to the picture I pinned. If you know where it’s from, please let me know so I can link up!

Based on the picture, I sort of made it up as I went!

What you’ll need:
*felt (time to raid the scrap box!)
*beads
*elastic
*clippy barrette
*glue gun

1.  Cut a circle of felt. Cut a the circle into a spiral shape. Cut a scalloped edge on one side of the spiral.

2.  Starting with the center, wrap and glue. Be careful not to burn your fingers on the hot glue!

3.  Glue the beads in the center of your flower.

4.  Cut a small piece of felt to act as your base to attach the other flowers. Glue your flowers onto the cardboard. Add some leaves.

5.  Measure your sweet one’s head. Sew your elastic slightly smaller than her head.

6.  With another small piece of felt, create a loop on the back. This is so you can slide your clippy barrette through. That way you can use the same band of elastic for multiple flowers!

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Baby Headbands

I love having a little girl. I mean, besides the fact that I think Emily is absolutely wonderful… I love all the flowers and ruffles and bows. And headbands. I love headbands. And actually, Emily doesn’t mind wearing them at all.

Headband happy

Besides being super cute, headbands are really easy to make. Which makes them perfect for wanting to feel crafty when I’m juggling Emily, school, and the house!

Here are the easiest two types I’ve made for Emily…

I found this stretchy fabric at JoAnns. I’ve seen little headbands made out of this all the time. So for $.56 and lots of zig zagging, I made a cute little pink headband! Right now she only has pink, but I’m sure a bright green, aqua, and yellow one will be hanging on her hooks before too long. Yeah, that’s all the colors they have at the store!

Sorry, the headband is a little tough to see, but strangely this is my only picture of her in it (and she was losing patience with our “photo shoot” this morning!). But it’s the top headband from the other picture.

This headband was only slightly more difficult (like a 1.5). I found these great little felt button covers. Just stacking them in different patterns and attaching a button in the center. I used 1/2″ elastic as the band. I’ve made her three so far…who knows how many of these Emily will have 🙂

When someone’s running out steam… just pull out Sophie!

 

Grilling Tools Bag Tutorial

Logan has been asking for something to store all his grilling tools in, so they were all easily accessible while he’s cooking. And since he’s been doing most of the cooking lately, I decided it was the least I could do!

This was the first time I worked with outdoor fabric, and I loved it! It was stiff enough that I didn’t have to pull out the iron (just folding the fabric over and creasing worked to hem) but my machine didn’t have any troubles getting through a couple of layers of it. Plus, Hancock Fabrics had a huge selection… which made it hard not to gravitate towards the florals that matched the deck pillows. But since it was for Logan, I opted for a blue and white stripe. Still goes with the deck design though!

I will warn you, this tutorial is a little vague, because you’ll need to customize it to work for your deck and grilling tools.

What you’ll need:
3/4 yard outdoor fabric
sew-on velcro

1.   Cut your fabric. The main section should measure 4 ft x 18 in. Cut four straps measuring 3×18″.

2.  Hem each end of your fabric by folding up 1/2″ and then another 1/2″.

3.  To make your straps, pin two of the straps right sides together. Sew the long sides together with a 1/4″ seam. Turn right side out. Fold the short ends in about 1/2″ and stitch closed. Repeat with the other strap.

4.  With right sides together, fold the bottom of your main section up 13″ to create the pocket. Sew the sides. Turn the pocket right side out. This will leave 1/2″ on each side of the top unfinished. Press (or fold) that down and sew.

5.  Do a trial run with your grilling tools. With pins, mark where you want to sew seams to create individual pockets for each tool. Also pin where the top of your tools are, because that will be where your flap folds over (important in step 6).

This is what your box and x will look like on the inside of your bag.

6.  Attach your straps to each side. This is when you’ll have to go to your deck and decide where you’re going to hang your bag. Attach one strap to each side of your bag at the top (keep in mind that you’ll have a flap folded over your tools so don’t include this area). Sew a box with an x through it to secure the straps.

7.  Attach your velcro. Put the sticky side on the end of your strap. The soft side should be on the back so the strap goes around whatever you’re securing the bag to.
Funny story about my velcro experience… I had some stick-on industrial strength velcro that I thought I’d try. When it says “industrial strength” it means the sticky/soft sides connection, not the stickiness. And sticky sided velcro DOES NOT work on fabric! But I tried it anyway. And the bag fell down. Bless Logan’s heart! He said, “I don’t think the adhesive stuck all the way because of the heat. Maybe it needs more time to adhere.” Sweet boy. More like “Oops, it doesn’t always work out the way you plan!”

Now you’re all ready to hang your bag by your grill!

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Scarf Shirt Tutorial

Another Polyvore outfit to recreate…

London by Night by disneydiva7 featuring theory pants

(and while I don’t have an amazing green trench, I do have awesome black ankle boots)

I found this tutorial from Talk 2 the Trees on how to make a simple, flowey shirt out of two scarves, which I thought would be a good way to recreate the black shirt from the outfit.

However, I couldn’t find two inexpensive scarves at garage sales or Goodwill that would work. That’s what happens when you have something specific in mind! But on a trip to Hancock Fabrics, I found a sheer poly blend for $2.50 a yard and couldn’t pass it up! This isn’t the easiest fabric to work with, because it slips all over. Lots of pins later…

What you’ll need:
*2 coordinating scarves or 1 yard of light weight fabric
*ribbon/belt

1.  If you’re using fabric, you’ll need to cut it down. Cut two squares about 22×22″. This was the hardest part with the fabric I chose.  My square ended up being more like 20×20″ because I kept cutting it uneven…oops. Hem all four sides of each square by pressing 1/4″ and then another 1/4″. (This way all of your edges will be finished as you put together the rest of your shirt.) If you’re using scarves, you can skip this step.

2.  Neck:  With right sides together, find the center of the top of your fabric/scarves. Measure out about 7 1/2″ on each side of the center. Pin from that point to each corner. This creates a boatneck shirt. Adjust the opening to whatever is comfortable for you.

3.  Arms:  Measure down about 12″ from the top of your shirt on both sides. Stitch down to the bottom. Again, adjust this opening as you need.

Here’s the image Talk 2 the Trees used to show where to sew. Might be a little easier than the explanation!

Again, my beautiful shoes…

Via Spiga ankle boots for fall/winter

Cole Haan sandals for spring/summer

 Okay, I have a beautiful shoe collection. Logan used to work in women’s shoes at Nordstrom. Now he’s in a different department, but just a short walk from the shoe section!

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