Ninja Turtle Costume

This year we experienced Halloween in Ohio. Now I've lived in Ohio and in Wyoming so I know what it means when you need a warm costume. Living in Texas for so many years I avoided costumes that were made of fleece and fur, but living here you just might need to wear a coat with your costume. I promise he wore shoes trick or treating. The pictures were taken a few weeks before hand because Halloween was wet and chilly!
My son decided he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle like the rest of the 4 year old boys out there. I looked at the pre-made costumes and couldn't bring myself to buy one. First they were way too thin and second I knew he'd wear it all the time so it needed to be able to take the abuse.
I purchased the green hoodie and pants which he literally wears all the time now. He already had the mask and sword. Then I sewed the turtle shell, the front, the belt and the knee and elbow pads.
I really should have taken step by step pictures, but I pretty much winged the entire costume. I used felt fabric and batting to give the front some thickness.
For the shell I stuffed it with polyfil to give it the shell shape. I did sandwich some batting for the shell too so I could sew the turtle shell pattern.
To connect the two pieces I used straps with velcro and the belt does a good job of keeping it together on the sides.
He loved it and really that's all that matters, right?

Upholstered Cornice

I've been on a long blog break. Don't worry I had plenty to keep me busy. My hiatus consisted of getting my house ready to sell in Texas (huge job), keeping my house clean for showings (next to impossible with kids), living without my husband while he started work in Ohio (hated it), finding a new house in Ohio, preparing for the house to be packed up and moved (so thankful the company took care of that part) and then unpacking everything in the new house in Ohio. I can't tell you how ecstatic I am that there is a basement and I can just hide all the boxes I don't want to unpack yet down there. Now that things have settled down, I'm hoping to post more on the blog again.

First project for the new house, an upholstered cornice. The house has sliding doors in the back with vertical blinds which are NOT my favorite! I considered switching to draperies, but with 2 dogs and 2 kids I didn't think they would stay clean. I opted for the upholstered cornice.
They are so easy to make and don't require any sewing.

Materials

Wood (for frame)

L brackets 

Batting

Fabric

1. Build the cornice out of wood.  I used a 12" width so I could cover the track for the vertical blinds and give the sliding glass door some balance. My frame came off the wall 8" on the sides. You can adjust the measurements for your window. 

2. Attach batting to the front of the cornice board. I doubled the thickness of the batting and wrapped it around the edge and stapled it to the back. 

3. Next staple the fabric to the cornice board. I stapled it on all the edges in the back to get the fabric centered. During this step you need to make sure you pull the fabric tight to give it a nice flat appearance. 

4. I like my cornices to look nice on the back as well. I used white fabric and covered the back and attached it with hot glue. It hides the staples.

5. Attach L brackets to the cornice and install to the wall.

Sleeping Beauty Costume

I've been meaning to post this forever!  I made my daughter a Sleeping Beauty costume for Disney World.  She hates itchy fabric and most of the princess dresses have some sort of tulle or scratchy fabric.  She loves the dresses, but won't wear them more than an hour.  I had scheduled her to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then we were going to go eat dinner with Cinderella afterwards.  I wanted her to be comfortable.
I found a fantastic pattern via pinterest. Crafterhours made a cute little sleeping beauty dress with the pattern by indietutes.  I did make my dress separate pieces.  It's a shirt, skirt and belt.  Here she is at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique all dolled up.

Sleeping Beauty worn out from her long night of beauty and dinner with Cinderella.  

Prince Charming

We made our first trip to Disney World this last week and I made this cute prince charming shirt for my little guy.  We were having dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and the Fairy Godmother.  Prince Charming really liked his shirt and came to talk to us for a little while.  Then Cinderella came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  It was adorable.

For this project I used a white t-shirt.  I wanted it to be comfortable for him.  I added navy knit on the shoulders and trimmed it out with gold fringe.  I sewed gold buttons down the front and then sewed grosgrain ribbon on for the belt.

Firestar Costume

This year for Halloween my daughter requested to be Firestar.  Her brother is going to be Spiderman.  I love that they like to dress up as a pair. As you remember last year they were Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.

This was definitely going to be a handmade costume since this cartoon aired back in the 1980's.  My daughter is discovering many new to her cartoons thanks to Netflix.  

To make this costume I used a white unitard and dyed it yellow. As you can find in my previous post. To make the flames I used a knit jersey material in red and orange colors.  It needed to be a stretchy material for it to work with the stretchy unitard. I was able to use the sewing machine to piece the orange and red material together, but the flames had to be hand sewn to attach it to the unitard.  At that time I added some sequins to the flames.  For the most part the costume is complete.  All that is left is the mask.  That will be my next post. 

Bobby's Bathers

I recently made some shorts for my son out of the Sewing for Boys book.  The pattern, Bobby's Bathers is actually for swim trunks, but can be used as a shorts pattern too.  I had this cute little seersucker hat for him and wanted to make him some shorts that would match.  So cute and so simple.  Literally there are 4 pieces to work with (2 leg pieces and 2 pieces for a pocket).  I'm planning on making a few more for the summer time.  This kid goes through clothes quickly.  He's a dirt magnet. Just last week he laid down in a mud puddle in the grass and started to make snow angel movements. I had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming.   Now that I'm thinking about it, I probably should make several pairs of these shorts.

Casserole Carrier

Another pin on my Pinterest board finished.  Yay!  I've found in the past that I could really use a casserole carrier when I attend potlucks, bring meals to families, etc. The blog, 2 Little Hooligans has the fantastic tutorial for this carrier.  I also used the idea that Homemade by Jill did by using belt material for the handles.  I made two carriers, one for me and one for my sister in-law for her birthday.  After making the first one, I found out that I would much rather have it lined.  The velcro kept getting stuck to the Insul-Bright fabric.  So, the second one is lined and will be sent to my sister in-law.  Happy Birthday Ashley!

I Spy Bag

I'm in the process of making 10 of these "I Spy Bags" for my moms group.  Each mom is making multiples of one project and then swapping.  So, I'll end up with 10 other cool toddler/preschool type activities for my son to do.  The "I Spy Bags" have been floating around Pinterest and I thought they looked like a quick project and fun for the kids. I didn't think my 5 year old would think much of it, but now she wants one of her own and is finding her own trinkets to put in the bag.  What I really loved about this project is that I could use up some of my leftover fleece.

Here's what you need to make your own "I Spy Bag"
Fabric (I used fleece and cut out 6" squares)
Clear Plastic Fabric
Plastic Pellets (Can be found at the craft store)
Trinkets
Ribbon
Key Ring
Laminated picture with the all the items inside

I still need to do attach a laminated picture with everything that is in the bag. Then I will attach it to the key ring. There are definitely other ways to attach the picture, but I saw this one on another blog and thought it was a great idea.

My Little Heartbreaker

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's one of my little heartbreakers.  I made this shirt for him since there are so few shirts out there for boys.  I found the plain black t-shirt at Target and used a red knit fabric that I had on-hand to make the heart applique.  The lettering I did with fabric paint and a freezer paper stencil.

I didn't get around to making a shirt for my daughter, but I did make one for her last year.  Here is the post from her heart shirt.

DVD Player Screen Holder

I literally whipped these up the night before we left for a trip.  Seriously, my husband told me at 9 o'clock at night that we needed something to hold the DVD players screens in the car.  I'm pretty sure he's testing my sewing ability under pressure or just my sanity.  The screens used to snap in to a piece that was attached to our headrests in the car, but after our multiple times being broken and glued back in to place we needed to come up with another solution.  So, here is what we came up with, it's sort of a pocket with straps.  I had some neoprene scraps to make the holders and let me say that was an experience all in itself.  Neoprene is difficult to work with, but I was trying to get it done quick so it's not pretty folks. I used velco straps to attach it to the headrest and it's worked out perfectly.  Now I just need to figure out what the tricks are to working with neoprene.

See the little black bar below the headrest.  That is where they used to snap into place and it stuck out pretty far.  Which unfortunately put it in perfect kicking range for my 2 year old when he got upset.  

Heart Applique

Warning-  Anyone who loves doilies or makes doilies you probably don't want to read this post.  

I made this applique by cutting up a doily.  I promise it wasn't some antique doily from my grandma.  I bought it at the craft store for next to nothing.  I did feel a little guilty about cutting it up.  I also used a heart fabric and some bias tape.  I cut them into 3 strips and sewed them together and then cut the heart shape.  To finish it off and to prevent fraying I used bias tape on the edges. Then I sewed a few colorful heart buttons on to the doily portion and sewed it on to the jumper. 

Roman Shade

It was finally time to change out the curtain I had in my master bathroom.  It matched absolutely nothing in my room and came with the house and even my husband hated it.  If he didn't like it then you know it's bad because he rarely has opinion on that sort of thing.  Of course I bought the fabric some time ago and just recently decided to go with a roman shade.  My mom found a youtube tutorial that shows you the basics of it, but it doesn't go step by step.  She made one for my sister in law and I took what she learned and tried to make my own.  We had to track down the supplies, which we ended up buying from a drapery supplier. We had to change how the battens or ribs were attached to the fabric because the glue didn't work out.  We ended up drilling small holes in the battens and sewing them onto the fabric.  I probably could have sewn channels for them to slide into, but I don't think I would have liked the extra stitching on the front of my fabric.  The shade was more work than I figured and I guess I was hoping for an "Oh Wow" moment when I hung it up.  I just sort of looked at it and went, hmm.  I mean it was okay.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I did add the trim along the top and the bottom and I definitely think that helped it.  I do like it now and I think it had to grow on me.  Here is a picture of the shade when it's down.

Here is what it looks like when it's pulled up.  

New Sewing Machine

Ya'll wouldn't believe how happy I am that I received a new to me sewing machine for Christmas.  I've been sewing on my mom's old Singer from the 1970's and it worked fine, but I wanted a machine that had an automatic button hole function and more stitches.  If you asked me when I was a teenager if I'd ever want a sewing machine for Christmas I would have said that you were crazy.  My mom sat me down a few times to teach me to sew and I took home ec in junior high, but I was by no means very good with the sewing machine and became easily frustrated with it.  My mom is an excellent seamstress and it wasn't until she threatened to cut me off from making anything on a sewing machine for me that I was finally motivated to learn to sew.  She made everything for me formal dresses, curtains, pillows, bedspreads, clothing and a wedding dress.  Come on I couldn't give that up.  Now I completely enjoy it and adore my new machine.  My new machine is a Bernina 1130 and my mom has the same one so she gave me a run down on how to use it.  It sews so nicely and I couldn't be happier.  Thanks Mom and Dad for the sewing machine!

Quilt Top

I put together this quilt top before Thanksgiving, but still haven't found time to get it put together and quilted. I can at least say I used the fabric I bought a year ago from the quilt festival.  Yay!  I found the pattern this year at the quilt festival and love how it's coming along.  The pattern is called Hokey Pokey.  Eventually I'll get around to finishing it.

New Purse

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone had a nice night ringing in the New Year.  We went out the night before, so we stayed home for New Year's Eve and I worked on sewing a purse.  Exciting, right?  It actually was for me since I was trying out my new machine.  I'll post more about my machine later this week.
On to the purse, I was in need of a new purse and wanted one that I could sling around me and not have to worry about keeping track of it.  The pattern (Two Zip Hipster) is from Dog Under My Desk and you can find the pattern here.  It is an easy to follow pattern and has lots of pictures which helped me out.
I used a fabric I had on-hand which was an upholstery fabric that I bought at least 5 years ago from Anzea.  It looks great as a purse!  It was a little tough to sew in places because of the multiple layers of fabric and the thickness of the fabric itself, but it worked!  Here's a picture of the inside.  I'm kind of wishing I did a pop of color in there instead of just gray, but I do like how it turned out.

Paintbrush Roll

For Christmas my mom asked for a paintbrush holder roll and I thought I'd try and make one.  I wanted one that wasn't just a plain white canvas and found this outdoor fabric in her favorite color.

I found some pretty good instructions here, but if I were to do it again I would adjust the length of the roll because I have longer brushes and this wouldn't work for them.  I had a little trouble with the elastic staying level and it did end up a little wonky.  What I should have done is tacked the elastic first before I sewed the pockets.

Christmas Stockings

I forgot to show you my son's stocking I made last year.  It literally took me the whole month of December and this year I added his name.  I've always liked the colorful and sequined stockings.  Growing up my siblings and I had similar Bucilla stockings and I absolutely adored them.  I thought my kids would enjoy the same type of stockings too.

Tie Bib

I saw different versions of the Tie Bib on pinterest and wanted to make one for a friend who is pregnant.  Indietutes has a good tutorial on the tie bib and if you want to make one you can check out the tutorial here.
What was great about this project is that I had all the material on hand and didn't have to make a trip to the fabric store and could use up some of my leftover fabrics. I chose to use knit for the bib and the tie is made out of a material with some stretch to it too.  It was a quick project and makes a great gift for baby boys.

Black Out Material

My son's room has some nice curtains from the previous owners of the house and they worked with his crib  bedding so we kept them.  The only problem that I ran into this summer was that it doesn't make the room dark enough.  With it staying lighter later it was impossible to get him to settle down to go to sleep and naptime wasn't any better.  That is when I decided I would just line the drapes with blackout material.  They were fairly simple drapes and it didn't take too much time to rip out the seams and add the lining.  I wanted them to look like they were lined in the first place and not as an afterthought.  It worked perfectly and now it is so dark in there it makes putting him down for naps and bedtime a breeze. Here's a closeup image of the material.

Here is how big of a difference it makes to have the curtains lined with the blackout material. The first picture is with both drapes pulled back.

The next picture is with one drape pulled to the center.

This picture is with both the drapes pulled, but the hallway light is still on.

Hallway light off. Nice and dark! 

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's Super Kid!  I've been wanting to make a superhero cape and there was a birthday coming up, so I made one for a little boy celebrating his 2nd birthday.  I found a fantastic superhero tutorial over at The Long Thread that I used. Definitely head over there and check it out if you want to make a cape.  I think I'm going to have to make another one for my little guy. It's just too cute!

My daughter decided maybe she should give the superhero cape a try.