Sunny Inspiration

My crazy 3 year old is full of strong opinions. Many involve sunscreen and photo shoots. Since I love a good challenge, I have been making her wear hats and long sleeves and have been timing photo shoots when she is engrossed in something she loves. 

In an effort to break in my new sewing machine (thanks to the husband and my mother for my early birthday/ Mom's day present), Sora helped me pick out a dress and fabric inspiration. She chose something with much wider sleeves, but I loved the idea of sewing in the knit sleeves. She also technically only picked out the main fabric - she is still working on coordinating fabrics it seems. I added 8 rows of shirring to the front top and 6 to the back. I also added 2 pockets as my crazy kid always needs a pocket for the garbage she is habitually picking up. 

I also decided to throw in a hat. It in no way coordinates, but it is reversible and the two prints kind of how together. Since she needs both long sleeves and a hat to avoid sunscreen, we get crazy combinations like this on an hourly basis (upon which time she gets soaking wet and needs a complete outfit change).

I used an existing bucket hat to create a pattern. I felt like a genius since I even used math to figure out circumference of the circle to make sure all the pieces would fit together, but it did not come together as easily as math would have made me believe and I had to take in a few seams here and there midway through the hat.

She also picked out the fabric for the hat. It took 2 - 1/3 yard strips and I steered her to some duck cotton fabric that was on sale.

And now that the water's gone, we'd better get going! Stay tuned for some car adventure travel tips and craftiness soon!

Dress Up Mania

Lately, we have been playing a lot of dress up at our house. Sora's obsessed with acting out scenes from Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood. Our dress up box was overfilled! I finally decided to do something about it.

I have been saving this box in the basement for a long time with a dress up closet in mind. My sweet husband cut the dowel and came up with a system to keep it in place with nuts and bolts. I had wanted handles for the "doors", but it's already full, so maybe having it open isn't a bad idea.

Now that we had more adequate storage, Sora was in need of more clothes for the closet. We scoured the thrift store for some essentials: a medical top, a tiny blazer, a slip, a bathrobe. We also scoured the dollar store and came up with a fireman's hat and a dinosaur head. 



After looking around on Pinterest, I found this tutorial for a reversible play vest. I really liked the red stripe edge from this tutorial, so I combined them by using bias tape around the edges rather than turning inside out. Perfect for both a fireman and a pirate!

 I also found this tutorial for a cape. This might be my new go-to pattern for gifts since it's so fun and easy!

I used laundry bags from the dollar store as my "fabric" for the cape. Admittedly, it's not my best work and I'm hoping to make another royalty-related cape out of actual fabric to make up for it.

I'm sure this will be an ever evolving closet for many years to come!

Toddler Belt

 In an effort to clothe my perpetually nude daughter, we pulled out her 3T clothes a little earlier than I had planned. Most fit fine, but she is very skinny, so I decided it was finally time to add a belt to her wardrobe.

This was such an easy, quick project, which I really needed after that pettiskirt! I went with stripes from the leftover doll skirts, made them four times wider than my D rings, folded the ends towards the middle, folded again and topstitched it all. Easy peasey lemon squeezie!

 The hardest part was finding a willing model. Maybe I need to resort to some type of bribery in the future?

Road Trip: Car Organizer

Spending 8 weeks living out of our car will be a little chaotic to say the least! I have a decent organizational plan for most of the items in the car, but we were in desperate need of some extra organization. After a lot of ideas and searching, I ended up inspired by this tutorial from Mayfly. 

I added some ribbon loops to hook drawstring bags to, as many of Sora's toys aren't flat enough for the pockets. I love repurposing fabric, because it reminds me of other times. This fabric was purchased for a sling for Sora which was only used for a short time. I had enough for two slings, so I have enough for two organizers! I'm hoping I have time to make one more for our stuff before we take off!

Sun Hat

There's no better defense from sun on a warm day than a good hat.  

 It looks even better with a peanut butter covered face.

I used the reversible hat pattern from Making Children's Clothes, which has a lot of cute stuff! I used decor-weight fabric for the outside and brown linen inside. I added 1" to the brim for those really sunny days. After seeing how quickly she could take it on and off, I added button holes and a brown linen bias tape for tying under her adorable little chin. Sora gives it two thumbs up, although I'm not quite sure how well she can see while wearing it! At least it provides her baby face with a lot of quality shade.

Perfect Training Panties

After working more with the WeeWeka Knickers pattern, I think I have made nearly perfect training panties for Sora. I took her input on what designs she'd like (S and elephant) and she loves them!

For a 2T, I cut 1/2" off all the sides and off the top of the back. I also cut the front about 3/4" in the middle and rounded out to nothing at the sides (like a J). The waist and legs are 2" ribbing, 9" for the legs and 14" for the waist. For the lining, I used 1 layer of microfiber (from an old cloth diaper). Just the right amount of absorbency. I stitched the microfiber to the lining fabric (zigzag stitch) and stitched the lining to the outside using the zigzag as well, which made a nice pattern to the panties.

Somebody stop me - I am apparently addicted to sewing panties! Yeah for potty training!

Owl Hat

Okay, I am obviously obsessed with owls and upcycling sweaters into hats. This is the last one for a while.

Re-Upcycled Hat

As you might realize by now, I love to recreate existing items into new, fresh clothes. I get really excited when I get to make something from an old object headed for the garbage, but I rarely get to do it twice!

Last spring, I took an old cashmere sweater of my mothers and created a sweater for Sora (and yes, I have the same sweater in a different color).

 Like all wardrobes of growing toddlers, this sweater was great for a season, but she is now much too big for it. I was being silly by putting it on my head the other day, and realized it would be the perfect hat!

I think I am officially obsessed with turning sweaters into hats.

You also might realize by now that holiday decorations aren't big at our house, so I haven't made anything specific for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I will be more inspired for the next upcoming holiday!

Family of Felts

I am a sucker for matching my daughter. It all stems from my mom's cheesy family photos, I think. Since we've moved to the midwest, I've noticed I have a severe lack of hats that properly cover my ears, and I have absolutely no matching hats with Sora.

This was the fastest hat ever! I took a hat that fits well, laid it on top of an old pre-felted sweater, and cut out the approximate shape, with a 1/2" extra. Then, I sewed it together on my sewing machine. The big trick, which has been a problem of mine in the past, is that when working with felted sweaters, you have to loosen the tension! With that under my hat, the sewing was a breeze.  For the square hat, I used the serger instead, again loosening the tension.

I have been loving hand embroidery lately, so the little chicks were the perfect addition to the hats.

Sora threw my hat into the toilet right after I finished them, and I was reminded of another important point. My hat was a little lumpy and funky, but after a good wash, while it was still wet, I placed it on a head-sized bowl, and was able to smooth out the bumps. Who knew that having a hat thrown into the toilet could be a good thing?

Sew What! Bags

Presents for teenage girls get harder and harder each holiday! This year, after looking at several books on sewing bags, I fell in love with Sew What! Bags by Lexie Barnes. All of the bags were hip, and easily customizable. There were some great tips including how to make a casing look more professional that I hadn't thought of before. I'm hoping to whip up more of these soon!

Toddler Apron: Wardrobe Essential

Inspired by my mother, as always, I decided to sew Sora an apron. I had grand plans of making my own pattern, but as soon as I came across this reversible apron tutorial I knew it was just what I was looking for! I added a ruffle and pocket, because every good apron has a ruffle and pocket.