Stella's New Dress Up Storage

Stella's dress up clothes have been housed in a cardboard trunk who's lid had been torn off and an empty diaper box.  Glamorous. Or not.  Anyway I had seen this thing on Pinterest.  It was a converted dresser.  I was stoked.  I repinned it to one of my boards and then I went to see if I could find the original location... and I couldn't.  I clicked through the pin and it took me to google reader.  Well, that is less than helpful.  Besides that I had just read this thing about pinning with integrity.  Which basically means I will find the original post and pin that instead of the link to the link to the link, or whatever the case may be.  So in any case. 

I have a very talented and handy husband and I said "Can we do this?  Would it be easier than building one from scratch?"  and he said, "Yes."  I said " Sweet.  I found this $10 dresser on Craigslist.  Will it work?"  he said "Yes." I said "Should I call her and see if it's sold?  Will you go with me to pick it up?" He said "Yes."  Anybody see a theme here?  I have the best husband EVER!

Anyway...We bought the dresser.  It looked like this: 

 Then We pulled the top 3 drawers out and cut out the front supports.  We opted to leave the side supports in so that when it has outlived it's usefulness as dress up storage in Stella's room it can be repainted and re-repurposed into mostly open shelving.  He's smart.  And it was easier than cutting them out.  We added a bottom "floor" to cover the bottom drawer, and put on a new, sturdier back.
Then we sanded it down, painted and added a bar to hang clothes on.  Easy.  And functional.  And very well recieved!  

 Here it is in all it's glory!

  

Also, I did find the original post about the inspiration piece.  It can be found here at Rambling Renovators.  You should check it out. It's way prettier than mine. And the rest of their site is pretty cool too! 

Tea Wallets

I've been making Tea Wallets.  They're really cute and useful.  I am selling them for $6.00 each (plus shipping, if applicable).  Here are some pictures of what they look like.   The lighting isn't great on some of them, but  you get the idea!

 This is all of them

What they look like inside.

What they look liked closed.

clockwise from top left: pink and brown, pink and blue, blue floral and cream, green and pink, navy blue and green, green and white

Comment or email if you want one!  I will also be making more,  let me know if there are combinations you want to see!

My latest project

Bruce likes to try and eat things.  Anything he can get into his mouth. Like shopping carts.  It's gross, makes me gag.  So I decided he needed one of those cart covers.  You've seen them.  They go over the seat and you plunk your kid inside to keep them all germ free.  I had one for Stella.  I used it one time and decided it was too much work and that the people who used them must be germ-phobic.  But, then again, Stella wasn't trying to eat the metal on the side of the basket.  So anyway, Bruce was trying to eat the metal, so he needed something. Well, I did anyway.  

So like anyone with a sewing machine, I took my measuring tape to market with me and measured the cart. In the parking lot. While getting strange looks from people. I determined that I needed a 40" x 40" square. (Having now made it I would probably go with a 40" x 42" rectangle in the future.) Armed with my measurements I went to the fabric store and bought myself 4 feet of two very cute fabrics. Polka-dots and stars. Blue and brown.  Cute, but boy-ish enough for a baby.

 

Now begins the semi-tutorial.  I used no pattern.  I'm a rebel like that. Actually, I thought "how hard can it be? It's a square of fabric with some elastic and leg holes." Ha. 

It really wasn't too hard. I trimmed my fabric to 41" x 41", to leave room for seam allowances and the (very narrow) elastic I chose. 

Sew fabric right sides together, leave a hole for turning.

Turn right side out.  Iron seams.  Top stitch very close to the edge.

While you have that iron out... find the longer strip from where you trimmed your fabric.  Use it to make the binding you'll use for your leg holes.  There is a great tutorial here, if you need it. (One half of the 48 in. strip of fabric will bind one leg hole. Just. (Measure twice, cut once applies well here)).  

 

   

Now it's time to make the leg holes.  

Lay your fabric down and find the center point of an edge. Preferably not the side where your hole is.  Measure 2 inches (you could get away with 1.5" but I wouldn't go any less than that) toward the outside. Then measure 12 inches down.  This point will be your top inside corner of leg hole #1.  Make the leg hole 5 inches wide, 6 inches deep. Mark and cut out.  Repeat for leg hole two.  

Take the self-fabric binding you just made and sew the binding onto the leg holes. 

Now mark the hole where you turned your fabrics right side out, both sides of it.  Measure in enough to fit your elastic through. I used 1/4"  Sew a seam around the entire cover.  This will make a channel for the elastic to go through.  Thread elastic through.  (This was the single hardest part! Sid laughed at me.)  Sew elastic ends together.

Close up the hole, being careful not to get the elastic.

Finish binding the leg holes (if you haven't already).

I added some rings that I had on hand, so that I could attach toys (or my keys) to the cover.  I used some leftover scraps and some D-rings. Do a very tight zigzag around the edges, fold over the very edge, then just enough to make a loop for the ring, and still be able to sew it on.  Sew on to the front, wherever you want!

 

The last part is to measure down 5 or 6 inches (on the back) and put in some large buttonholes.  Mine are about a foot apart, and more or less centered.  These will enable you to strap your cart-eating baby in so he (or she) can't  climb out.  Not that they would try of course.  But there's something about wanting your kid to be safe, just in case.  Falling headfirst out of a cart just doesn't sound like a real fun idea to me.  I know, I'm a fun-sucker.

I got a 6 foot strap with a buckle at Walmart, because they didn't come in shorter lengths, and most of the carts at market don't have straps .  There I go again with the falling out thing.  

Put your cover on your cart on your next shopping trip and enjoy!

Isn't he cute?

Name Banners

I had so much fun taking this,

and this


and making it these!

These were very much fun to make.    Tutorial found here at Made by Rae.

Hair Clips!

The other night I was playing with felt, and made some cute little hair clips for Stella. 
Just because I could.  I love the way they turned out! And so did she!  She couldn't wait to wear them.

I am so pleased at how they turned out, and how cute they look in her hair.  I got the idea from here at made.



 

Here's a sneak peak of my next project.  Coming soon!

Bruce's Blanket

This year, I decided to make Bruce a blanket for Christmas.  It's called a faux-chenille blanket and it was lots of fun to make.  It's very colorful, and I found the perfect little boy fabric!  I used the tutorial found here at made.

Christmas presents

As I watched Stella get excited about Christmas this year I began to worry about her getting the gimme's.  So I  decided to nip it in the bud and we made presents for her to give.  I bought some little wooden stars (of David, accidentally).  We spent an afternoon ripping up tissue paper and gluing it on the stars.  Really fun and messy!  The accident of stars of David worked out well.  They looked like poinsettias when they were finished.  I stuck a peice of magnet to the backs and wrote the year on them.  We had fun, and she can't wait to hand them out!

Brown Butterfly Outfit

In early July I sat down to make Stella some new pajamas. They turned out really cute. I love them. They have a few flaws, but for my first real self drafted "pattern" I'm pretty pleased with them. I made the shorts and then realized I had enough fabric left for a top. It has pleats in it, a first for me. I'm very proud of them, even if they are a little off center! The straps come together in the back, meeting in the middle. I have decided that they are too cute for PJ's and can be worn as an outfit. Not that she has worn it yet.

(Please ignore the angry face, she was done with trying them on and done with having her picture taken!)

What did I make now?

It's a crib bumper. All sewn up, and on the crib.



Please ignore the stuff in the crib, it seemed like the logical place to store the baby's clothes!

More Creating

This time it was a nursing cover. Very fun, functional item. I saw my cousin use one a few weeks ago with her brand spankin' new little one and thought it was a genius idea. I also thought that I could probably make one fairly easily. I was right. I actually made two, one yesterday and one today. I love them both and will give one to a friend who recently had her baby! I'm not totally sure which one I'll keep and which one I'll give away yet. But I better decide soon since I'm taking it to her this afternoon!

I found a very good tutorial online that I used and will probably be making lots of these as gifts in the future! It was about $10 in materials, and an hour to an hour and a half in the making time (today, which included a "helper" for a few minutes and few breaks to start a new playlist of Sesame Street videos). Totally worth both time and money! Here are the pictures:










Also, to give credit where it is due, the tutorial I used was from the blog Make It and Love It and can be found here.

New Quilt Top

I finished another quilt top. I'm pretty excited. It's a Christmas quilt. I know, I know, it's May. But I have had the pieces cut out since sometime in January. I decided to go ahead and join in with Tallgrass Prairie Studio's "Spring to Finish Challenge". This was one of the things I decided that I would get done. And I am counting the top as a finish because now I can move it off of my desk. So here are some pictures of it:



Also as part of the challenge I want to get done the new crib bumpers. I officially have everything I need for them. So that is fabric, batting, ribbon, and thread. So now I have until May 31st to get them done. Well, I guess first I actually have to start!

It's Done

I did it. I finished Stella's quilt. And she is enjoying sleeping under it in her big girl bed! I am pretty happy with the way it came out. Not perfect, but I'm happy. My backing fabric got a little off when I was basting it so it was hanging over on one end and not long enough on the other, I guess this is a live and learn kinda quilt. Here are the pictures.

She loved it and I couldn't get her off of it!

She doesn't sleep with the pillow, but it made the picture cuter! It has inspired me to do more quilts, yay.