Fabric Yo Yo Flowers

These little cuties can be used in your hair, as a pin, you can use them to spice up a boring shirt or handbag, and you can even use them to make your own jewelry.

I realize this is kind of a girlie craft and I have all boys, but I just spent a week with my nieces.  I think it is so fun to decorate those little girls then give them back to their mamas!  :)

Oh, and if you guessed that we were on vacation in Yellowstone, you were right!  It was tons of fun!  Actually, I am just guessing that it was fun.  We should still be on the road home by the time this post goes live.  :)

Anyway, this is super easy.  All you need for these little bobby pins are:

• small circles of fabric (any kind_
• bobby pins
• buttons
• needle and thread
• super glue

Start by threading your needle.  Hand stitch around the outer inside edge of your circle.  Like so:

Make sure you go all the way around the circle.

Once you make a complete circle, cinch up the thread to bring the outer edges into the center.  Do not cut the thread.

Take one of the buttons and hand sew it into the center of the flower.

Once the button is sewn on, still do not cut your thread.  Turn the flower over and sew a bobby pin to the back of the flower.  Just sew around the curve of the pin.  If you sew it on this way (which is more sturdy) then the pin can only be used to slide into an already done hairstyle. If you want to use it as an actual bobby pin, sew the flower onto the top of the pin.

Knot the thread and NOW you can cut it!  :)

Add a drop of super glue to the back for added security.  You don’t want that cute little flower to unravel in your hair! 

See how cute and fun?!  Now you can make a bunch more!

You can also sew them to some elastic for a head band.

So cute.  My sister-in-law and I sure had a fun day making hair bows for her little girlies!

…even though we did it all the way back in February!  :)

Sigh…I sure wish they lived closer!

READ MORE - Fabric Yo Yo Flowers

Nursery Redo: Part 3

Who’s ready for the last installment of this nursery redo?

I am!

Who’s ready for their baby to sleep in a big boy bed?

I’m not!!

But he is, so we will proceed…and this is just a curtain refashion.  And he’s been sleeping in his bed for a while now, and I’m still not okay with it. 

Sadness.

Okay.  This is what Monkey’s curtains looked like:

Wow.  It’s hard to take pictures of a window.  Sorry.  So, as you can(not) see, the curtains are just plain and blue.

Now let’s look at Monkey’s crib skirt:

Are you pondering what I’m pondering?

Uh, I think so, Brain, but this time you wear the tutu.

My thoughts exactly.  We can spruce up the hum-drum curtains with the crib skirt!

I cut the edges off of the crib skirt and serged the edges.  Then I gathered them at the tops and sewed them to the top of the curtains. 

I took the two shorter sides of the crib skirt and folded/sewed them into tie backs for the curtains.

They’re even reversible!

So easy.

Wanna see how it all turned out?

Ta-Da!  I love the color that it added to the boring curtains.

This concluded Monkey’s nursery redo. 

Ready for a recap?

We went from this:

To this:

…and this:

The room décor stayed the same.  Monkey’s toy box now sits where the crib used to. 

Wanna know what I loved most about this bedroom redo?!

It didn’t cost a dime!

My favorite kind of project!  :)

READ MORE - Nursery Redo: Part 3

Nursery Redo: Part 2

Are you ready to see how I turned Firecracker’s twin sized quilt into a queen sized one?  It was really, really easy.

I did this because the twin quilt already matched the nursery décor, and because I am a cheapskate.

This is what Monkey’s “guest bed” looked like before he moved into it.

Lovely, right?!  I am kidding.  Let’s flashback to what Firecracker’s quilt looked like:

 

See the blue edging on the queen sized quilt?  I cut that off and serged the raw edges.

Then I lined the blue edges up with the twin quilt and pinned them into place.

When everything was pinned, I sewed the ‘new’ edges onto the quilt.

That was it!  Easy Peasy!

You know that old saying, “Use it up, Wear it out.  Make it do, or do without”?  I live by that.  I serged the raw edges of the queen quilt and now it’s in with our camping gear.  Waste not, want not, right?!

Back to Monkey’s new bed…

…ssshhhhh…

…whispering…

He loves it!

Check back on Thursday to see the conclusion of the nursery redo!  I’ll show you how I refashioned Monkey’s curtains!

READ MORE - Nursery Redo: Part 2

Summerize Your Winter Wardrobe

Last Thursday, I showed you how I turned one of Firecracker’s shirts into one for Monkey.  I also mentioned that Monkey has lots of hand-me-downs that are either too big or Winter clothes.

I’m a cheapskate and I didn’t want to waste these clothes and buy new ones for Monkey.  So, I just refashioned them into Summer clothes.  I did it all while he took a nap. and it didn’t cost me a dime!  Sweet!

I turned seven pairs of pants into shorts, but I just grabbed two for these pictures.

All I did was cut them off at the knees, serge the raw edges and hem them.  I did a tutorial on hemming.  Check it out here if you want to see it.  The thing I like best about these two pairs of shorts is that they are size 12 months.  Monkey is really skinny, and these shorts are a perfect fit for him.  When they were pants, they were way too short.

I’ve used this same method to turn some of my jeans into capris.  When I do this, I make the hem a bit longer and use matching thread so it looks better.  Like this:

You could also cuff them if you don’t have matching thread.  Just serge or zig-zag the raw edge, roll the pantleg where you want it and sew it into place along the side seams like I did here:

Okay.  That isn’t me.  I didn’t get a decent picture of my cuffed capris because I am wearing them and I don’t want to take them off for a picture.  So, I stole this one from the internet.

I took ten long sleeved shirts and turned them into short sleeved shirts.

This is just three of them.  See that one in the middle?  That was the long sleeved romper I refashioned in the basic hem tutorial.  That $1.00 shirt has definitely been used!  :)  Ha!  That green striped shirt is also used in that post!  Welp, now they’re both short sleeved.  This is how I did it:

Since I was in a hurry when I was refashioning Monkey’s wardrobe, I’ll show you what I did with one of my own shirts.  I got this bad boy off of the dollar rack.  Shocked?!  Me neither.

Start with a long sleeved shirt.

Measure the sleeve length with one of your own shirts.  Cut off the sleeve.

Serge around the raw edges, or leave it raw.  Knit doesn’t fray.  Measure the hem and pin it into place.  Set the stitch length longer so that the fabric will still stretch.  I set mine at 3.1.  Stitch around the sleeve. 

You can double stitch if you want.  I did, but it was just for looks. 

Steam press the seams like crazy, and you’re done!  The picture above is in  bad lighting, but trust me, it’s the same shirt.

That is how you Summerize your Winter Wardrobe!  :)

READ MORE - Summerize Your Winter Wardrobe

Resize a Tee Shirt

Firecracker got a nice, new shirt for Summer.  Unfortunately, he cut a hole in it with scissors the first time he wore it.  It was an accident, and he’s only five.  No worries.

When I saw the hole, I immediately thought of Monkey.  That poor baby has four big brothers and LOTS of hand-me-downs.  But, the clothes he is fitting into right now are either too big or Winter clothes.  They’re all in really good shape and I want to use them.  So, I will be refashioning Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe into a Summer one.  More on that Tuesday.

I decided to refashion Firecracker’s new shirt with a scissor hole into a shirt for Monkey.

It was easy.  I started by chopping up an old shirt of Monkey’s to use as a pattern.  I cut along all of the seams.  Then I cut Firecracker’s shirt along the seams.

I took Monkey’s shirt, laid it over the body of the shirt and cut the bigger shirt about an inch bigger all around for seam allowances, and because the brown shirt is too small for Monkey.

I took the new front piece of the shirt and with the right sides together, I cut out the back piece.

I did it this way so that both pieces would be exactly the same size, and so that I could match up the pattern of the shirt.

See?!

Next, I cut out the sleeves using Monkey’s old sleeves.  Again, I cut about an inch bigger than the old sleeve.  Cut them both at the same time.

Take the front and back pieces and lay them flat with the right sides together.  Sew them together at the shoulder seams.

Serge the raw edge, or leave it.  Knit won’t fray.  Don’t you dare judge my crooked seams.  This was my first sewing project after my surgery.  This little project was pretty painful. 

Just be happy I’m not showing you what’s UNDER the band-aid!!  Oh, you want to see it?  Okay, but if things like this make you squeamish, look away.

Ewww…

Don’t worry.  They look lots better now.

So, back to the crooked seams and the resized shirt…

Shoulder seams are sewn and serged, and now it is time to hem the sleeves.  I don’t normally do this at this point, but these sleeves are so small that they won’t fit around my sewing machine.  So, hem the sleeves.  I didn’t get a picture, and my next post will include the tutorial, but until then, refer to this post.

Attach your freshly hemmed sleeves to the body of the shirt.

The shirt is still inside out.  With the wrong sides of the sleeves facing up, pin them to the sleeve curve of the body of the shirt and stitch into place.

Serge the raw edge or leave it raw.  I care not.

Now, take the hem of the sleeve, fold it in half, and make sure all the seams line up.  Make one long seam from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the shirt.  Do this to both sides and serge the raw edges. 

Now the shirt is actually shirt shaped!  Now you need to hem it.  You can refer to this post again if you need to.

This is the under side of the hem.  Turn the shirt right side out and steam press the seams flat.

Ta-Da!  Now you have a new, smaller shirt!  Yes, the tag says it’s size 5/6 in little boys, but we all know it’s REALLY a 2T!  Sweet!

My little man looked really cute in his newly resized Summer shirt.

It’s just too bad he wouldn’t hold still long enough for a decent picture.

Oh well…you get the idea!

Come back on Tuesday and I’ll show you how I refashioned Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe for Summer.  See you then!

Off to mow the lawn…so fun!  ;)

READ MORE - Resize a Tee Shirt