Time To Sew

It is time to get my sewing machine out!

I have been going to my local thrift stores once a week since dance class started for my kids. We are almost at recital so I have a good stash of items I have purchased.

Preemie clothes and newborn are really close to American Girl size. These sizes can be harder to find in items that look like they could be little girl items since AG dolls are not babies. I stay away from onesies. Nothing will make that folded over collar look grown up. I look for skirts or dresses that I can make doll size quickly.

Some items from my stash.

I have a bunch of patterns thanks to Pixie Faire. If you are interested in making doll clothes, sign up for the Pixie Faire newsletter. They send you an awesome and free pattern every Friday!! They also have some free patterns on their site.

I can't wait to finish up with my stash. I will upload pics when I can.

Here is my Pintrest board that has some great free patterns and ideas for accessories.

Butterfly Hole Punch Has Broken

I have loved my butterfly hole punch. I have a box full of beautiful butterflies I have punched from magazines. Now that I won't be using my hole punch again, I guess it's time to do something with all my butterflies.

I was at a thrift store last week and found a couple of cooling racks. I am going to make some butterfly mobiles. These have always been my plans for the butterflies, but I always put other projects first.
In honor of my broken hole punch, I am going to make one.

I didn't realize how much loosing my hole punch would bum me out. I receive various magazines and I always automatically look at the color combinations I could use my butterfly punch on. Now I flip through my magazines and think "what if."

So if you have an extra butterfly hole punch...or if it is sitting in a drawer somewhere gathering dust...I would LOVE to have it.

Bows From Tights

I spent the morning going through my daughter's closet and her dresser. We tried on all the shorts, skirts and jeans she had. Then we went through her shirts, dresses, sweaters and jackets.

I do not really need to go school clothes shopping this year. She has received some new shirts over the summer and had some new ones in her closet. She also had some shorts that I picked up on sale a while back.

While going through everything, I came across some tights that no longer fit. While I could just as easily put them in the donation pile, they looked fit to be made bows!
These bows can easily be made without sewing, but I like the added strength that sewing adds to the bows. (I have been knows to make bows right before school. In those cases I have used a small elastic to gather the ribbon and then just hot glue.)

Here is how it went:

The tights I found.

I love the color of the spots.

Cut off the top of the tights.

Cut the side seam of the "panty" part.

Cut along the waistband and the center seam.

Overlap the toe of the leg with the cut end.

Pinch and stitch.

Take the part cut from the panty and fold it over itself.

Use the panty to cover the center of the bow.

Now, I just hot glued the hair clip onto the bow at this point. I didn't get a picture of this yet, but promise to update it.

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for stopping by.

Yadi

Toy House

My little bunny is still in diapers. We buy the large pack of diapers and wipes since we will use them, and it saves some money. The empty boxes are extremely useful for packing up toys or other items to be put out in the garage until we have a garage sale or a donation drive comes by.


Today my 1 1/2 year old and I where playing tickle with a stuffed dog. We had an empty box of huggies wipes sitting on the floor and it dawned on me. "This would be a really cute dog house."

Of course, I did not take a single picture as I was making it. When I showed it to my husband he actually liked it. My son, 3 1/2 years old, really liked it. He wanted to put ALL his stuffed animals in it. This lead me to make a house out of the box of diapers. I did take some pictures of making this, but I got lazy and began using tape instead of rubber cement.

I will upload some pics tomorrow so that I can explain the process.

 

This is the small dog house made out of the wipes box. As you can see, I cut out some windows on the side. I used plain printer paper, so the details of the box bleed through. If you use a heavy stock, this would not be a problem.

TUTORIAL:

supplies-

empty box

printer paper or heavy stock

glue (rubber cement works great and dries fast) or tape

scissors or exacto knife

I did not want to be picture intensive, since the process is simple.

I cut off the small lid flaps first. Then I enlarged the opening on the side all the way to the bottom to make a door.

I folded the small lid flaps and attached them to the large flaps left to make the shape of the roof. As you can see, the top part of the sides are left open. From this point I just began adding paper onto the box. Rubber cement works great. I used tape on this box because I was being lazy.

You can leave the top portion of the sides open if you would like so that the kids can see in and play with the inside. (My son insisted I cover them.) There is also a space left on the roof that can be uncovered to allow you to see in.

To cover the front I simply folded the corners of a piece of paper under the sheet for the roof and tucked the rest back into the "house."

My son put about 9 stuffed animals and toys into the large box.

Enjoy,