My First Quilt- a T-Shirt Quilt

I finally finished my first quilt! I used my husband's t-shirts to make a quilt for my little boy to have while he's gone. It made it easier for my husband to go through and get rid of some of his old t-shirts.

Each of the squares are 15x15. For a baby it's huge, but he will grow into it. I used sheer fusible backing for the t-shirts and there is no batting because it's hot here and I want the baby to be able to use it all the time. With the fusible backing on the t-shirts and the actual backing it is still plenty thick. I used painter's tape to make my sideways lines while quilting it, and each line is A Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book apart. (You know you love my measuring methods!) I used a nice gray for the quilting after finding out that micro-filament is difficult to use.

Strapless to Strapped Dress

We recently went on a trip (that's why I posted about my suitcase) and I needed some nice clothes. I was lucky to have friends that were able to take me out shopping to get a dress. They took me to Saver's and I found a bunch of stuff.

The dress that fit me the best was strapless, and went well with a jacket over it so that I could still wear my regular bra underneath. I found while I was wearing it out that it still didn't fit quite well enough and I was adjusting it the entire time, and constantly worried about if I was exposing myself. I knew that if I wanted to wear it again it should be completely comfortable and worry-free.

Materials:
Strapless Dress
Bra (I had this because my dog destroyed the straps on one a long time ago)
Ribbon(should be same width as bra straps, and match dress, optional if bra straps look ok)

Directions:
First alter the bra. Cut off the old straps and add the ribbon to replace it. Sew it on as it was before.

Next, try bra on with dress. Pin dress to the front of the bra, at the very top of the bra, so that it hides everything but the straps.

Sew the bra to the dress, try to sew where there is already a seam so it doesn't look out of place. If the top of the dress tends to roll over, sew where the straps meet the top edge of the dress. This can be done easily by hand, to make it less noticeable.

It sounds confusing, but it really is simple, once you try both on it should make more sense to you. Thanks for reading, I hope this helps make you more comfortable in your own clothes!

I Alter My Underwear

This is another odd post, don't worry there won't be any pictures of my actual underwear, I took the picture from UwearUSA.com and showed you how I changed them.

As you know, I'm super cheap. When I saw a 10-pack of underwear on clearance at Wal-mart I grabbed them without looking too much at them. It turned out they were on clearance because the picture on the front was different than what was in the package, but I needed them. After awhile of hating them, I finally came up with a solution to make them work.

I took the two red lines and pinned them together. I sewed them, with a long straight stitch as I stretched it. (See my headband post, I did the same thing) I cut off the excess and they were done. It made them fit much better, more like the bikini cut I usually buy. This was easy and they make me feel good, especially for something so cheap.

Nursing Cover / Bath Apron

I'm just going to say it, I think I'm a genius.(Thanks to my friend Shenanigans and my husband to making me feel justified in thinking it!) Why am I? Well I have an awesome nursing cover (I really do love it, and use it all the time) that my aunt made me. It's a blanket with a strap. When I was packing light to go hiking I didn't pack it because of space. I did pack a blanket, and if I would have made this strap sooner it would have been perfect. This strap clips onto any blanket or thing that you already have. Receiving blanket? Nursing Cover, done. Large shirt? Done. Towel? Bath Apron, done. See, I told you I was a genius.

You can make your own, or you can just pick one up at my etsy shop. Make sure to get one for all of your friends too. Any suggestions, comments or agreeing with me on my genius-ness? Leave a comment for me, I'd love to hear it!

Repurposed Onsie

My son wore this onsie twice. It wasn't because he grew out of it this time!

Check out what I did with it at Arizona Mama!

Incedibles Costume T-shirt

Every year at work we dress up for Halloween. There's a theme for everyone in the clinic. This year our theme is superheroes. I will only be working a couple hours that day so I wanted something easy and comfortable. My sister suggested Elastigirl.

This same T-shirt could be for any of the Incredibles, I might do one on a red onsie so that my baby can be Jack-Jack.



Materials Needed:
Red T-Shirt
Black Scraps
Orange Scraps
Yellow Scraps
White Scrap
Ribbon

T-Shirt Instructions:
I used an old T-shirt of my husband's and tried to put it together to fit me, but it would be much easier to use a shirt that already fits.

First I added the black neckline. I used another old T-shirt for this, but any type of black fabric would work. I cut the neckline out of the shirt and sewed it on, but if I was using a T-shirt that fit, I would have cut out black fabric and folded it over the existing neckline and sewn it on that way.

Next, I cut out the pieces for my logo. I googled the logo and copied it from there. You could print it out and cut it out if you needed a pattern. For the fabric I used scraps I had, but if you have more choices than I did, I would choose knit fabrics so that the edges don't fray (like mine did).

I cut the black out of the other t-shirt. I just cut a big oval. I used the black oval to figure out the outside line of the orange. I guessed the inside cuts of the orange and pinned them to the black. I cut a rectangle for the bottom of the i and then cut off the top with a slant. I used a can that was slightly wider than the bottom of the i to trace the next piece of yellow. I used another circle lying around my kitchen for the white in the i.

To sew the patch I started with the black piece with the orange pinned on. I used black thread (I didn't have any orange) and a small, dense zig-zag stitch. I sewed the edges of the inside of the orange. I then pinned on the i pieces and did the outside of the yellow. I then switched to white thread and sewed the middle of the i on.

Once the patch is finished, it's time to sew it on the shirt. On a smaller shirt you may have to take the shirt apart to sew it on, mine I didn't need to. I switched to red thread and did the same zig-zag stitch around the edges.

Mask Instructions:

If you want a model to work with, you can make a quick mold of your face using tin foil. I used a knit black scrap and just started cutting, comparing to my model. I folded it in half to try to make it a bit more symmetrical. I hot glued the ribbon to the middle of the edge on each side, and had plenty so I could tie a bow in the back.


I loved the way it turned out, but next time I will definitely use knit scraps for everything! I will probably just wear both of these with jeans, but it would be easy to use a pair of red sweatpants with black undies over the top if you were brave!

How to Cut Jeans for Scraps

This post should be named How to make Redneck Thongs, but there will be more on that later.

I finally cleaned out my craft closet, again. It was bad. I had a ton of jeans I wanted to keep for the material but it was pointless to keep the entire jeans that were taking up tons of space. While cutting them up I found the best order to cut them and which cuts would yield the most useful material. I also found a great way to make redneck thongs for your next redneck party!

Who irons jeans? Not me... Usually. I think of the movie Cheaper by the Dozen.

Kate: [referring to Hank] He's not a doorknob.
Jake: He irons his jeans, Mom.
Kate: Yeah that's weird.

There were a few pairs of jeans that were wrinkled and folded in weird places so the first thing to do is iron the jeans that need it.


The first cut to make is at the bottom. Cut one inch on each side of the seams. Cut each side of the inside and outside seams on both pant legs.


Then cut the bottom hem off, leaving the seams intact. It should look like this after wards.


Turn the jeans inside out. This is the line you'll take for the first cuts.


Some of the jeans were serged so you could cut both sides of the seam at once, and others were sewn down so it was easier to make two cuts around the seam. (With scissors instead of the rotary.)


When you get towards the top of the jeans cut until you get to the eyelet on the pocket.


Keep cutting the backside of the same seam until you hit the next seam.


Next, go back to the pocket side of the seam where you left off and cut underneath the pocket, to the zipper and down to the crotch. You will cut across the inseam.


Next continue your cut on the backside by going up towards the waist. Cut until you get to the next seam.


Cut along the seam below the waist until you get to your other cut. The pant leg should come off now.

This is what you should have.


Now do the same thing for the other pant leg. After that you will get your final Redneck Thong.


Back to saving your jeans...
Take the open pant leg, and cut out the last seam.


You now have a pile of seams, some redneck thongs and a nice pile of usable jean scraps.



Now I tossed the thongs, and almost tossed the seams, but I tried weaving them together, and I might have a post about what I'm making with them later. But I'm not done yet, so it will be a few months. I'll also have the project I've been saving the jeans for, but that hasn't been finished either. If you must know why, cutting these jeans was the project I was working on while I was in labor with my baby boy. I went to the hospital fully dilated but at least my jeans were cut and put away!

Cuter T-Shirt Idea

This was a shirt that someone gave me, I loved the style of the shirt but it said something weird on it, in a font that made it only fit for kids in high school, and not my style.

First, I found some extra fabric I had laying around (actually a pair of white boxers that had been tossed into my scraps after my husband decided he didn't like how they fit) and I cut a square out that covered the words.

The next step to making this fabric look cute is to make a stencil. I like to make my own stencils because then they're personalized and because I don't have to buy them. To make your own stencil, find an image (or if your artsy, draw one!) on a google image search or clip art. Then put it in word or paint and make it the size that you want it to be on your t-shirt and print it out on the card stock. Then you will cut it out. Keep in mind that sometimes if you don't use a stencil image that there can be center pieces that will fall out (Think about cutting out an "A" and how you need the middle triangle to be there), so draw lines of parts you need to keep when you cut.

After you've made your stencil it's time to paint it onto the fabric. Fabric paints work best, but I've found that acrylic paints still work, they wash fine and only fade a little. I sponged my star shape on and then brushed the silver on around it. I also stitched on a button in the center.

When your fabric is finished it's time to take it to the sewing machine. I used a zig-zag stitch to keep the frayed ends from fraying too much and sewed a big square around the writing on the shirt.

Hope you can use this idea to make something even cuter!