Baby Gift: Poppy Flower Onesie

I just finished what I like to call "The Poppy Onesie." These flowers don't really look like poppies but the inspiration came from this tutorial at The Pleated Poppy.

I actually used this tutorial last year to make this t-shirt:

Mine is different than Lindsey's at the Pleated Poppy. Don't get me wrong, I love hers, but after having a few different t-shirts with floppy flower embellishments...that I have to iron and re-iron after I wash, I wanted something that wouldn't need extra care after coming out of the dryer. So the difference is that I went through and stitched down the edges to give the flowers a really ruffly effect.

Like this:

I know this kind of looks like a hot mess, but actually on, I get a lot of compliments on it. And we all know that when you get the "Where did you get that?" question on something you made - that's the ultimate sign you didn't screw up.

So because of my pet peeve about having to take special care on embellished shirt flowers, I decided to give my sister in law a break and sew the flowers down too.

Here's the tutorial:

What you'll need:

1. Thread - preferably that matches the fabric you're using. 2. This is actually the bag of scraps I kept from my original shirt shown above. What they are, are old white t-shirt circles. That's right - you'll need t-shirt or knit material, but what I used was an old stained t-shirt I was going to throw away anyway. Also in that bag - pins. Yes, you'll probably want some pins too. Cheap and easy. 3. Whatever it is that you're embellishing. 4. Scissors.

Step One:

Cut out a circle, or something that resembles a circle out of the knit material you have. This doesn't have to be perfect.

Step Two:

Fold the circle into fourths so you have a triangle.

Step Three:

At the bottom/ tip of the triangle you just folded, run a few stitches through it. You can also see these steps through Lindsey's tutorial as well.

Step Four:

This is what you'll get after you stitch through the middle. Once you have a few of those, you'll begin placing them on the onesie/ whatever you're embellishing. DO NOT SEW THEM ON YET. You'll want to place them where you like them first, pin them, and once you're happy with the placement - sew.

Step Five:

This is the placement I decided on. So I removed the pins and sewed them to the onesie through the middle. As you can see, you can stop there - it's still really cute at this point, but if it bothers you to have to iron things down once they're out of the wash...

Step Six: (Optional)

Take a needle/ sewing machine and roughly stitch around the edges of the circles. I made mine overlap in different ways and while I don't have "during" pictures, it's really simple to do.

So this is the end result:

See? Easy. And what's more? My sister in law won't have to worry about sad, wrinkled flowers out of the wash because they're sewed down. This little onesie can be paired with cutie little pants, skirts, or whatever else my SIL wants to put her in. I'll probably make her something similar in a headband. Maybe that'll be next week's tutorial?

That's about it - if anyone gives it a try please let me know it goes!!

Linking Up: See the "I Like to Party" link up top!

TCB, A2Z, TM,

Baby Gift: Ruffle Bum Onesie

I've mentioned before that my brother and his wife are expecting a little girl in September. The minute I found out, I immediately began mentally planning all the little fun flower headbands and flower onesies.

Really it just took a matter of getting to the store and buying the onesie. I'm still planning on making a matching headband but that might have to be next Sunday's tutorial. You see, I don't own a sewing machine...and I did this all by hand. As you can imagine this has consumed most of my time the last two days.

So for those of you with sewing machines you can skip some steps and some time, but for those of you doing this by hand - set aside a lot of time...

Ruffle Bum Onesie with Matching Ruffle Flower Collar!:

Aw, my niece will look so cute in this!!!

What you'll need:

1. Fabric of your choice. 2. Scissors. 3. A Sewing Machine...but if you don't have one - a needle & thread. 4. A onesie or whatever you'd like to do this to. 5. Beads/ Buttons (not pictured.)

Next:

Cut a couple strips of fabric. Since I was using broadcloth I ripped a couple strips off. I like the frayed edge. But really it's all about preference.

Next:

You'll begin the "ruffle," by weaving the needle in and out of the middle of the fabric strip. If you have a sewing machine...I hope you know how to accomplish this.

Next:

Keep going until you'll hit the end of the fabric strip. Push it all the way down to the end of the thread so it bunches nicely and you'll be left with a ruffle strip.

Like these:

I decided to go with three ruffles. But really it's up to you.

Next:

Begin sewing the ruffle strips to the onesie. This was REALLY tedious - making sure I was staying on a somewhat straight line...doing it all by hand. But eventually you'll finish with the first ruffle and move onto the second one...

And you'll repeat the process a third time...

This is where I was really wishing I had a sewing machine...

Finished ruffle bum:

Now - onto the collar:

Cut a smaller strip of fabric, except cut the strips to about 6" long. And then begin the weaving again...

Eventually you'll be left with half circles - like this:

These half-circles are easily placed into a circle. I put a couple stitches through the middle to make sure it kept the circle/ flower shape. Then I began sewing them onto the collar:

Once all three were attached I decided they needed something more. Except I could only find two of the same color buttons in everything I had. So beads it was:

I just sewed three clear beads to the middle to give them more of a "flower" look.

Like this:

The finished product:

I'll hopefully finishing the matching headband later on this week. I have a couple ideas of what I'm going to do so check back next Sunday to see what I come up with!

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TCB, TM, 30HMD,

Little Changes: Paper Doily Stenciling

My current table runner was really boring. I bought it about 2 years ago and eventually turned it over because it was a little more traditional than I wanted. So the plain, beige fabric was all I had. I guess I always had a plan to update it or buy something else but I never got to it.

Then as I mentioned before, when looking for inexpensive craft projects I stumbled upon an awesome idea on Pinterest: Stencil with paper doilies!

So I decided to do that to my kitchen table runner! I really like the finished product!

What you'll need:

1. Paint in the colors you want to use. I used light blue, light green, pale yellow and white. 2. Paint brushes of some sort. These are all I have because a package of them are $.99. If you decide that you want the lines really crisp and clean, I'd suggest a finer point paint brush. (I always suggest that though.) 3. Paper doilies. I bought these at Zurchers but you can buy them at any party store. I spent $3 for both packages. *I'd suggest the metallic finish if you're using them for stenciling. It was much easier than the regular paper. 4. Whatever it is that you're stenciling!

Next...

Because I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted, I did a trial run on a piece of paper. While the dots left leave a pretty pattern, I decided that I needed to stencil outside the line to uphold the "doily" shape. This means an uneven outside line and pattern...for those perfectionists out there...this is where you might want to stop reading.

Next...

I began painting on the runner. I found out that a circular motion got the paint in each little hole well, but I guess it really comes down to the paint brush you use. As you can see, I did go outside the line to keep the doily shape...

Next...

Moving onto the larger paper doily, the circular painting motion wasn't happening, so I dabbed. There are more learning curves coming up so make sure you read all of this before you begin!

Next...

After I was finished with one doily, I moved onto another one leaving the doily where it was to dry, with the intention to peel off when it was completely dry. DO NOT DO THIS. You'll see in a minute.

Next...

Another example of the finished product I left to dry...

Next...

When I started to go back and peel...there was a lot of paper that stayed...and it wasn't easy coming up.

It came off like this big huge mess above.

And then the rest needed to be picked off with tweezers. It was tedious. I did not care for this step. So to avoid this - peel off the paper doily as soon as you're sure you painted it all.

So it looks like this after it's peeled:

Leaving the nice doily shape.

Next...

Repeat...and keep repeating. I used the green, blue, and yellow first and then once they were all dry I painted and overlapped with the white.

If you want you can use a 3rd size paper doily. I only used two but one slightly bigger could have been cute too.

The finished product:

I'm really happy with how it came out. Its really only a small subtle change, but I like it a lot. It's a big step up from the plain runner it was.

So there it is! Another small simple change that doesn't cost a lot. I already had the runner, two of the bottles of paint and the brushes so I only bought two extra bottles of paint and the paper doilies which after tax brought this project to about $6.00. Not bad!

I currently have about 50 extra doilies left over. So I'm sure you'll see those featured in some future project!

Linking up: See "I Like to Party" tab up top!

TCB, A2Z, TM,