Peasant Dress/Top by thetrendytreehouse!

LHere is a Peasant Top I made for my 2 year old (she just turned 2 this past Friday, time has gone to fast!) I want to start dressing her more Chic :) so here is an adorable pattern I found, over at The Trendy Treehouse Blog, for this cute Peasant Top which I made from vintage curtain (or rather sheet) material... Put a onesie & skirt with it and we are ready to go! The original Tutorial is for the dress, but the document has the measurements from 0/3month-size-12-girls Top as well :) .... Anyway... it was sew easy (hee hee)! 

Stop over at The Trendy Tree House & make your own!

 Here is the Link:

http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/peasant-dress-tutorial-and-other-gift.html

(Sorry you will have to Copy & Paste into your browser)

Anyway, stop by and maybe make one of these Flattering Tops for the girlie in your life! :D

Please feel free to comment & Follow my blog for future updates & tutorials!

I made up a pattern for me & the Daughter and I wore them to the Mother-Daughter Banquet held by our Church! 

Plenty of compliments! 

Tutorial on how to make it "rawless" on the inside soon to come!

DIY Empire Waist Skirt (GR8 4 Maternity!)

I saw a skirt on Pinterest a couple days ago...(don't you love that site?!)...and decided I wanted something similar except a different fabric....here I have some extra stretchy fabric! (Sorry, was given to me for free so not sure exactly what it is)...but it's silky and yet stretchy at the same time :) This Skirt is great for maternity and could be done with big t-shirts pieces apart and sewn together (ooh, future project lol)

So here we go!

1. Cut your waist piece 8" tall & as long as your waist (under your chest, Empire waist) measures.

Now cut your Skirt Piece 1+ 1/2 your waist (mine was 32"...so 32"+16"=48")

2. Next fold your Waistband piece in half (wide ways)  together creating a fold on one side and sew a seam on the other... Now fold down in half creating a waistband.

3. Now for the Skirt...

Fold in half with pretty side out and sew down the side 1/4", then flip wrong side out and sew 5/8" along the same seam. Flip back out to pretty side...

4. Now attach Pins to the four sides of the Skirt to the four sides of the Waistband.

5. Now sew your Waistband to your Skirt Stretching the Waistband to fit the Skirt from pin to pin....it's a little tricky to do, so have some patients :) After you are done, trim access fabric to create a clean edge.

Ta-Da! Now flip out and try on to figure out your hem... Use pins to mark where you want your hem and fold the bottom under twice before the pin and sew :) looks great! Touch with a iron (if your fabric allows) and have fun sporting your own creating! Remember I am human and make mistakes, so please do this tutorial at your own risk :) It worked for me!

DIY Newborn T-Shirt Waisted Skirt

First of all, I ended up having to cut my fabric pieces smaller because my waist material wastn't as stretchy as I thought, so make sure to use a VERY stretchy piece (like a knit or elasticity tshirt) for your waistband. 

The measurements here are for a Newborn, but if you are interested in measurements for different sizes, please feel free to comment & ask or experiment for yourself! :)

First Cut 2 pieces of the skirt Pattern 17"x7" (8" if you want a bigger hem)

Then from you VERY stretchy T-Shirt material cut a piece on the fold 7"x9".

Lets start by sewing the open end of the Waistband material closed.

Now fold the fabric inward (raw edged inside) creating a nice waistband!

Next is the skirt... Now put your yucky sides together (trust me on this) and sew 1/4" along the seams.

Next iron your seams open.

Now sew another seam 5/8" from the last one...... Now when you iron it, it will look like......

This!!!

You can sew those edges down if you like...... See! no Raw Edges!

Next Step is the Waistband & Hem, for the Hem iron fabric over 1/4" then again 5/8" and sew (I did a ZIG-ZAG Stitch. Now for the waistband fold over 1/4" & iron, then again 1/2" and iron. 

Pin your Waistband to your Skirt, stretching to make as even as possible. Now Zig-Zag stitch your waistband piece to your skirt piece St-re-tch-ing the waistband as you go to fit the Skirt. Then trim all the extra threads and fabric away to show a nice clean seam. 

Quick peek at the inside!

Now I recommend washing & ironing this piece to give the waistband back it's elasticity after all that stretching :) Enjoy!

DIY:Making any Jean Skirt into a Maternity Skirt (Easy Tutorial for any beginner sewer to rough!)

Yes, this is my favorite Skirt! But having done the silly rubber band trick for so long, I just decided to make this into a permanent Maternity Skirt :) Now remember that the material you insert needs to be stretchy...like knit or even an stretchy yet soft TShirt.

Start by laying your skirt down, waist towards you and round out the front piece my eyeballing half an oval as deep as the zipper.

Now put your Stretchy Fabric in place and even out with pins. Also Fold over the top twice to make a hem for a waistband.

Sewn in Place! After that is done, trim both the outside and inside for nice clean edges.

And there you have it! A Maternity Panel!

Tank to Jacket Re-Purpose

I took the Tank from the first photo and made the Super Cute Jacket my Sweetheart is sporting in the second photo! (yay me!) This was definitely a Pinterest inspiration! Here is a link to a similar tutorial:

(if link is not "click-able" please copy & paste)

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/06/re-purposing-stained-tshirt-into-shrug.html

I love all the spring dresses this time of year, but especially in church I like my baby-girl to have sleeves! So here is a sweet way to re-purpose a childs Tank or Tshirt with a stain in front or just to make a Jacket to go with that "to-cute-to-pass-up" dress!

Have Fun!

Isn't she so darn cute!

DIY Newborn T-Shirt Hat (Tutorial)

What a sweet thing to hold a Newborn baby.... But how about a Hospital visit without a gift?...not so special, huh? Well here is a super cheap gift (cheap, as in money...but not in thought or effort)!
All you need for this DIY Hat Pattern is:
-Soft T-Shirt (yay for recycling!)
-Thread & Sewing Machine
-Measuring Tape/Stick
-A Small Plate (eye ball it lol)
-Scissors

*Check to see if you have a Stretch Straight Stitch on your sewing machine...that would be the best stitch to use for this project!

*A Newborn Babies Head measures on average 14".
If you are interested in a different size, copy & paste the link into your browser (different tab) and figure out the width & hight you need. Then add 1 extra inch to that measurment.
http://www.knitpicks.com/wptutorials/hat-size-charts/

For demonstration I am using Newborn side here :)

CREATING THE PATTERN:

1. So first off, cut the measurement half (7") and add 1" for seam allowance (8"). Now cut 2, 8" Squares from your T-shirt.

2. Now as you have seen in the photos above, use your Small Plate as a guide and round the tops with your scissors. (I layered the two pieces for this part and, as seen below, folded them again to make sure my pattern was symmetrical)

3. Now take your Scissors and snip a diagonal line out of the center...I did about an 1 1/2" snip as the photo shows.

4. Now open it up and see our nice triangle :) Now cut 2 rectangle pieces as wide as you will want your brim (adding an 1" for seam allowance) by how wide the hat is...

(Note: Now is a good time to cut multiples from your already made pattern, or trace onto newspaper for future use)

PIECING THE HAT TOGETHER:

1. Don't forget pretty sides facing together. okie dokie...Sew the seams on either side of your cute triangle closed.

2. Now open up the top and admire your two triangles turned Diamond (Woman love Diamonds right?!)...now pinch the width of your diamond shape together and sew that seam closed in the opposite direction of the other two seams. (If you flip your hat open and see a nice "x" pattern (or cross pattern, however you look at it) you'll know you've done it right...otherwise, "Hello, Seam Ripper"...

3. Now cut little slits in your side seams (inside the hate of course lol) so help your hat be nicely rounded.

4. Now about that hat brim. Sew the side seams shut.

5. Now pin your brim to the inside of the hat (I had my hat inside out for this step so I could put it on my sewing machine easily, as shown)

6. Now flip your hat out and fold your brim out (you can hand tack the brim up by sewing a few stitches into the side seam) also, fold the top of your brim inward to hide the raw edge :) now touch with an iron :)

All done! Now you are ready to keep Baby warm....or in our case Dolly lol

I made this one out of my sons smaller clothes! Cute lil monkeys and brown stripes pattern! Me like!