Easter Hand Stitching {From the Invention Box}

 

{This Little Project} is courtesy our Invention Box.  We've done some stitching like this before.  But this time we had an egg design in mind as we practiced our sewing skills.

 

Chenille stems make great kid-friendly "needles" for sewing.  

Just knot the yarn to the looped stem on the back side and the kids don't have to worry about it slipping from the "eye" of the needle.

 

I used an avocado bag for Jay's stitching and a clementine box wrapper for Kay's.  

Both worked really well.  

 

Easy and fun--to see the patterns through the materials.

 

 

Little Man Ties {easy remake}

If you like to dress your {little} man up

{this little project} is for you!

I know there are a ton of DIY tie ideas out there for little boys.   

But they still require making the tie. 

These {little} ties are WAY EASIER!

 

These {little} man ties would be perfect for Easter, dressing up like Dad on Father's Day, etc.  

I was wandering through a consignment shop and happened upon a basket of ties. 

I thought: I can chop the end off to shorten this tie and be done with it!

If you put a man's tie on a boy the tail is too long right?  Well, so cut it off and you have your tie.  Done!  I'm pretty sure that most of our hubbys have ties that aren't their favorite anymore.  So now you can give them a new life!

So I bought them ($1 each), had my husband tie a knot in them closer to the front end, adjusted the size for my little Jay to wear, CHOPPED the end off, and hemmed it.

easy!

 

To make these ties {little} boy friendly, we just leave the ties tied.  He just slips them on and tightens them up.  And loosens them when taking them off.  Easy.

Jay was 5 years old when I made these for him and they will last for a long time since they adjust just like Daddy's ties do!

And what do you think I'm going to do with the tails?  I think I'll sew them onto Baby M's shirt to make my two {little} boys match:)

There you go!  A handsome {little} man tie. 

 

Have fun dressing your {little} man up!

How to Upcycle Baby Clothes to Doll Clothes {Handmade Holidays}

I'm a big fan of quick {little} projects.  Those are the ones I actually get done :)   With our new {little} baby M's arrival, babies are getting a lot more attention around here!   So, I made some doll clothes for my girlies for Christmas.  
  Not from scratch.  That would take waaay too long!

I'll just share a couple of quick {little} ideas:

We have two of these dolls--so I took a baby skirt (3-6 months) and cut it in half and sewed the new edges together.

Ta Da!  Matching skirts!

For most re-sizing it helps to start with dresses/shirts that don't have sleeves.  It's less work and you end up with sleeves simply because you are starting with something that is too big.

 To make the neck smaller and to shortened the top at the same time,  I take a new seam across the tops of the shoulders.  This also makes the arm holes smaller.

After the top is fixed with those 2 shoulder seams, I take in the side seams.  If the arm holes are still too big I start there to take it in.  I literally just make a new seam starting at the arm and go all the way down the dress or shirt sides. 

So with 2 shoulder seam and 2 side seam changes (with arms as needed) we have a whole new size of outfit!

You can see the seams better in the dress on the left.  They may not be totally perfect.  But the dolls don't seem to mind :)

The hat above was made by taking the extra from both sides and stitching it together and knotting the top--a bonus!

 

This dress and pants were made from a romper.  I cut it in half!

I hemmed the dress at the bottom of the pocket and added elastic to the top of the new pants!

 

Another bonus!

 These {little} outfits work perfectly with the {little} doll diapers too (which was another fun upcycling project!)

 I love that upcycling means I don't have to spend a penny and we get to use something again! 
The girls love it too!

click here for more handmade fun!

 

DIY Nativity Costumes: DONKEY and CAMEL

I have been working on Nativity Costumes for our family over the past three years.  Each year we have one or two more "official costumes" instead of just whatever we can find to make it work. 

The Nativity is what Christmas is all about for our family.  Each year we read the story as a family and act it out with the kids at least once.   It's a Christmas Eve tradition.

 

 All of the costumes are a EASY to make but I find that I don't have time to make them all during such a busy time of year.  So I am pacing myself and in another year or so we'll have a nice set ;)

  And since this is what Christmas is about for us, it's worth it to me to make the effort to make the costumes for us to use each year.  

Plus, the kids LOVE IT!

This past year I added a donkey costume and a camel costume.  

I try to make the costumes work for a variety of sizes.  Our little ones will grow up :)  

Plus, sometimes we switch up parts and Mom and Dad wear it instead of the kids.

Here is the Donkey Costume:

 

I made it in the same way that I made the sheep costumes the year before

 (like a hooded bath towel).

There is very little sewing to these costumes, so a beginner can easily make them.  I like using fleece so I don't have to hem anything.  The body of the donkey is one big rectangle piece.  The head is a rectangle of fleece sewn to the middle of the body.  I sewed some ears on each side and a mane and tail to the middle of the "back" of the donkey.  

Then I just used some black felt for feet, eyes, and a nose.  

I was actually just using scraps from another {little project} for the donkey, which is why it's not straight across the bottom ;)

 

Kay when she was 4 years old.

For the camel I used the same idea, just different colored fleece.  You can stuff something inside the back for the hump(s).  

I love how versatile this pattern is.  Not to mention how cute everyone looks in them!  

Well be able to use them for years to come :)

For sheep, see this link

For the Angel, look here:

  

And for Wisemen go here

  Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

click here fore more handmade fun!

 

DIY Nativity Costume: Angel (and swaddling clothes)

Some of the best projects for me are the ones I can get done in a snap.  This Nativity Angel costume is that kind of {little project}.

I made our Angel Nativity Costume from a white sheet.  You can use an old one you have on hand.  I've also come across lots of sheets at the thrift store that are fun to cut up.  With the leftover sheet I cut strips for "swaddling clothes" to use with a baby doll.

To make 

{This Little Project} 

I just:

1- Laid a white sheet on the floor, 

2- Doubled it over (so there would be a font and a back)

3- Had my son lay down on top of the sheet.

4- Cut the white sheet around him with scissors (plus extra so there is growing room too).

5- Pinned the edges.

6- Sewed around all the edges except the neck and the bottom.

7- Turned it inside out so the seam is inside now.

8- Tried it on.

9- Added a gold belt to give it some shape.

Done!

How to Make Doll Diapers: Upcycling {Handmade Holidays}

  With baby M arriving any day I've tried to be ahead on Christmas presents this year.  Handmade gifts are still some of my favorites.  This year I made Ellie and Kay a batch of diapers for their dolls.  This is a gift they will get before Christmas though because Ellie will be all over our {little} newborn otherwise!   Here are a few of the doll diapers: I love how they turned out and had a lot of fun choosing the colors out.    I used these instructions to make them.  Only I didn't use felt.     Felt + velcro is NOT a great combination.  Your velcro will stick to every part of a felt diaper.  BUT, felt has 2 great qualities: it's inexpensive and you don't need to deal with the edges fraying.
I didn't want to use felt so I found  something with those same 2 great qualities:   old T-shirts! That's right: they don't cost anything and T-shirt material doesn't fray! Yay for upcycling!
Another bonus: fun patterns on the diapers :)
I also altered the pattern by cutting 1/2 inch off of each of these 4 sides.  The diapers were just a little too big for our dolls.    Here's how they turned out:  This one is cut from my old polar fleece shirt.

  One other alteration I made: COLORED velcro! When I went to buy some velcro I found all of these colored choices in the "value buy" bins at Joanne's.  It was less than $1 for 2 feet of each color. I love the pink, red, blue, and white--it gives them some added flare :)  

Other than putting the velcro on, I didn't do any sewing for {this little project}.  

  I also cut some {little} wipes out from an old white t-shirt to go with the diapers. 

    It almost makes changing a diaper look fun, huh?       

 

 

Sewing for Baby: Car Seat Canopy and Baby Sling

We're still waiting for our {little} one to arrive and I have been having so much fun sewing for him.  Maybe because it's a {little project} I can do sitting down!

This past week I made a car seat canopy.  This is an upcycling {little project} I've made before, but gave it away last time.

With a winter baby, a car seat canopy is almost a must-have.

I upcycled this time too: the brown rings at the top are from a discarded pair of pants and the buttons are from another {little project} too.  I love upcycling!  And I have a few more {little projects} in the works to share with you for Christmas that use upcycling :)

I followed these instructions to make {this little} car seat canopy.  They worked great, except that the canopy dragged a little on the front corners.  To solve it, I tacked them up just a little on each side.  I think it still looks fine (see photo at top too).

Here's a peek inside.  Ellie has had her dolls in it constantly!

I also made a couple of baby slings this week in the hopes of avoiding carpel tunnel this time from holding baby constantly. 

 mamasmilk.com

I used these instructions and a cotton/lycra blend for the fabric because these photos of a snugly newborn looked so comfy. (I did alter the measurements due to the stretchiness).  

I made a couple of extra slings for the kids to use too.  I know Ellie will especially love using hers with her baby dolls!  She is such a {little} mother!

Both of these {little projects} are easy enough for a beginner.  In fact, using the cotton/lycra fabric meant I didn't even have to hem the baby sling-yay!

Just counting down now for our {little} guy to arrive and try them out :)

How to Make a {little} Tie Onesie

    With Baby M making his appearance sometime in the coming month, I have been sewing a bunch of {little} things for him.  {This little project} is a tie onesie for him to wear to church.  
I made a few--not because there are triplets coming or that he needs that many--but because 3 of my sister-in-laws are having boys too!  It's going to be fun to have a big pack of boy cousins the same age!         Which brings me to another point: these {little} shirts make great gifts!  And they really are a {little project} so you will be able to whip them out fast!   How to make {this little project}  You need: Steam-a-seam or Heat and bond (an iron-on material) fabric for tie onesie (or shirt) iron needle/thread/sewing machine (optional)
1- I cut a piece of paper in half and cut a tie shape (I just eye balled it).  Then unfolded it.  That way both sides are the same. I cut a little round part out of the very top so it would go around the rounded neck nicely.   2- use your paper pattern to cut the tie shape from your  fabric.  {this little project} was repurposed from a T-shirt!  The knit fabric from a T-shirt doesn't fray and is soft for baby.    

  3- Put your cut out fabric tie on one of the sticky sides of your iron-on material (I used steam-a-seam).  It should also be sticky on the other side so you can iron it on but don't pull the paper off on that side until you cut out the tie pattern.   4- Cut around the tie pattern.   5- Pull the back paper off and place your cut-out tie/iron-on onto your onesie and iron on according to package directions.   6- You can be done there, or you can stitch around the tie.  I always stitch around it because I like the finished look it gives and it makes the ironed-on part look nice for longer (through multiple washes).

  Now go dress up your handsome {little} guy!