"Quilted" Christmas Ornament

The story behind this Christmas ornament goes back to when I was 16 and had my first job at House of Fabrics (now Joanns). I attended a Christmas party for the employees where we did an ornament exchange on handmade ornaments. I received the one that my boss made. I have always loved it and wondered how it was made! So, a couple years ago I decided to search online to see if I could find instructions on how to make it. Sure enough, I found it. I have made several of these for gifts for the kids' teachers.

My Little Pioneer Girl

Apron

I had been wanting to make a cute apron for a while. I guess I really never have had an apron and my clothes were not happy about it! So, I went on a search to find the right apron to make. I wanted something cute and feminine, but not too frilly. I came across this blog with a pattern to make a "copycat" version this apron from anthropologie. I think it's really cute! I don't know about you, but I don't really have a desire to spend $32 on an apron to wear around the kitchen! This one I made from some fabric from my stash, and some leftover scraps.

Ruffles

Close up of the waistband

Close up of the pocket

My Little Pioneer Girl

A few months ago I helped the Young Women in our ward make clothes for the Stake Pioneer Trek. Clare saw me working on one of the bonnets and wanted one, so I made one for her. The bonnet pattern had instructions to make ones for children too. It's a really cute bonnet, but I wish I had made it bigger. (Clare, apparently, has a big head) I also made a smaller version of the simple skirt and apron. Then, for the shirt, I found a cute children's "peasant" style shirt tutorial. It was pretty simple to make, except that I wanted to make the sleeves 3/4 length (the pattern is for short sleeves), and I added the length to the wrong dimension of the fabric pieces. So, I ended up having to just make it short sleeved, and then I added an extra piece to it to lengthen it after it was sewed onto the shirt body. Now Clare is all ready for the Stake Pioneer Day Celebration on Saturday!

More Hooded Towels

I decided to make the "big" kids hooded towels like I made for Tag. Clare's is PINK, of course, and I found this really cute hand towel to make the "hood" out of.

For Wyatt's and Cameron's I used the same hand towel for the hood, since you only need one half of the hand towel. Then I did navy blue for Cameron's towel and a lighter blue for Wyatt's. Then I used Wonder-Under to fuse "Superhero" letters to the back. Now they can run (fly) through the house as well as get dry after the shower!

Dollar Store Shirt Re-Fashion

I saw a tutorial on a blog on how to create a cute shirt from a plain T-Shirt from the Dollar store. You can check it out here! This T-shirt isn't the same one, the first one I made didn't come out as good. You have to be careful not to cut too much off the sleeves, or make the neck too wide. I forgot to take a before picture of the 2nd T-shirt. I think the shirt I used was an XL, and so I needed to take it in on the side seams so it wasn't so "tenty". And, I didn't serge the top or sleeves, I did a rolled hem. Other than that, I followed her instructions on the blog. Pretty good for $1 plus maybe another $1 worth of elastic thread.

Tag's baby shoes

So, the monkey shoes I made for Tag didn't really fit him. He also HATES anything on his feet, and with the velcro strap closure, he'd pull it right off. I knew that they needed to be different. I had some of those leathery (name brand, expensive) baby shoes for Clare when she was a baby and decided to try and make some like that. I used the other pattern as a template, but mostly for size. I changed the shape of the top and made it into two pieces for the toe and heel. It took a little manipulating once I had the pieces cut out and I ended up having to make the "toe" piece wider since it didn't fit the first try. Overall, they came out great and the best part is that he can't get them off.

These are the pieces. I used a black corduroy for the outer uppers, cream furry felt for the insides, and black felt for the bottom soles. I fused the inner and outer pieces together using Wonder Under (a fusible web). If you haven't used it, it's a pretty good product. You iron it on to the wrong side of one fabric, then peel off the paper backing and iron it onto the other fabric to make a single piece of fabric to work with. These are actually the first pieces I cut out. The "toes" had to be made wider. The "heel" piece had too much curve in the back, so I just cut it straight across the back and kept the curve at the sides.

The top of the "toe" is edged with a piece of twill tape. The top of the "heel" has a casing made from two pieces of twill tape sewed together and has a loop of elastic through it which keeps the shoe on tight.

This shows the furry felt inside.