Teacher's Pet Dress

When autumn rolls around, I think of back-to-school and teachers. I also think of all the apples my generation used to take to school to give our teachers.  We thought if you brought an apple to your teacher, you'd be the teacher's pet that day. Makes sense, right? Which got me wondering, do children even take apples to their teachers anymore?  

Back to this dress, I had fun embroidering these apples and then stressed about how to make this outfit come together because my first attempt failed. (The original pattern I used was just too wide for either of my skinny granddaughters). Late one night, I ended up cutting the skirt off of my original dress because that was the only part I liked.  I next took a white, tank top and cut off five inches from the bottom making this the new dress bodice. Then, I reattached the skirt and sleeves to my new bodice. Instantly, I could tell that this dress would fit much better.

While I was working on this apple border, I found just enough red piping and red bias tape from my stash to sew around the edges, creating a frame which highlights the six embroidered apples.

I loved it when my granddaughter said she liked her new apple dress!

If you want to have some fall fun, I've created these apple patterns as a free download.  Go here to get your copy.   Have fun adding apples to your sewing projects.

Now, for a bit of extra happy news... Last week started off with the birth of my tenth grandchild! I'm thrilled and so excited to meet her.  My week ended with  grandchildren time, exploring the state that this cute little girl, modeling the dress above, moved to last month.  I hope she'll enjoy her teacher's pet dress.  Her big brother starts kindergarten tomorrow and she'll get some quality stay-at-home time with her mother, surely making her the teacher's pet!  xoxo Grandma

Linked to: Project Run and Play, USS Crafty, Threading Your Way, Nap Time Creations, straight-grain, All Free Sewing

Princess and Superhero Summer Pajamas

I wasn't going to participate in Project Run and Play's June sewing challenge, not because I didn't want to, but because I had a lot of other projects that needed to be finished and put away before my grandchildren arrived at my house for an extended summer stay.  

I'm happy to report that these grandchildren arrived last week.  The second day they were at my house, my three-year-old granddaughter asked me if I would make her princess "pajamies".  My five-year-old grandson also said that he needed summer pajamas too. Their mother, my daughter, said he definitely didn't need any more pajamas. Regardless of the need, how could I say "no" to either of them? After all, it's not everyday that I get to make custom sleepwear.

For the pattern, I decided that the Kiki & Company princess dress would be the perfect inspiration for creating my granddaughter's summer princess pajamas.  

I bravely took these two grandchildren fabric shopping. I wasn't surprised when bright pink tricot fabric and matching lace were selected by the three year old. To accent the bright pink, I also picked up white tricot fabric and white lace. My grandson selected a cartoon-looking super hero knit fabric, which his mother wasn't crazy about, but hey... it's his pajamas not hers. (Honestly, I didn't like the cartoon fabric either but, it really did look like his kind of fabric.) 

I've always heard that fabric shopping with children is a good way to let them be involved in the sewing process and I wholeheartedly agree. It was fun to watch them look through the fabrics and excitedly decide on something.

My grandson's super hero summer pajamas were a breeze to sew together. I sewed up a basic tee shirt and shorts. He loved helping me with the process by operating the sewing machine pedal according to my every command.  He also loved trying to bonk me with this giant panda bear!

For the princess "pajamies" I changed Kiki's pattern. On top of a white underskirt, I added a slightly wider pink overlay skirt with an open front seam. I omitted the elastic in the skirt, choosing instead to gather the skirt and sew it to a princess bodice, like on the Kiki & Company Cinderella dress. 

I hand stitched white sequins and clear lavender seed beads to the white lace flowers, because sparkles were also requested by this three-year-old. The raw edges were all finished with the pink lace as the binding.  More pink lace was sandwiched in-between elastic for the shoulder straps. The bodice has pink lace layered onto the front and I finished off the look with pink ribbon streamers and a pre-made pink ribbon rose. 

One night this week she wasn't going to eat her dinner, so I bribed her by telling her that if she ate it she could help me finish her pajamas.  I'm here to report that bribery still works! She too got to be the sewing machine pedal operator as I once again gave the "start and stop" orders. As an added bonus, she also got to push the scissors button on my machine. She thought that button was magical.

After taking these photos this three-year-old said, "Grandma now I need a crown."  Well, of course she does, how did I neglect that detail? We plan on making that happen another day.

Thanks to Project Run and Play and Kiki & Company for the inspiration for these "pajamies."  I've now got two very happy grandchildren with new summer pajamas at my house and we couldn't be happier.   xoxo Grandma

Top 10 designs for June:  Vote Here for your favorite design.

Summer Outfit with Reversible Hat

Recently, I made this reversible sunhat. Then Project Run and Play posted their May challenge pattern from Crafty Cupboard and it inspired me to make a top to go with the hat. I also decided that the outfit needed some capri length leggings to complete the outfit.  I love how summery this outfit turned out!

To the shirt front pattern, I added 3.25" to the center width of the shirt making the total width added to 6.5". Then I sewed from the wrong side of the fabric, six small 1/2" tuck pleats, three facing toward the center of the top. I added about 1" more in length to the little flutter sleeve too because I wanted the shirt to have a soft vintage feel.  

I accented the front of the shirt with three tiny heart buttons.  Instead of one color of buttons, I used soft yellow, golden and mint buttons. My granddaughter liked her little buttons.  According to my daughter, she did not like her sunhat.

 In the back, I used larger heart shaped dark mint and navy colored buttons.

After making the classic white, pleated top, I used fabric from some sleeves that I had cut out of an old shirt to make these capris.  The sleeves were leftover from a refashion I actually made for myself (if the weather gets warmer next week, I'll show you how this turned out).  When cutting out these capris, a time saving tip that I love is to use the original hem.

By using the hemming tip, these capri shorts only take about half an hour to make from start to finish, which was fantastic timing to tuck them into a box and get shipped off to my cute 18 month old granddaughter.  I used the free leggings pattern from Ellie Inspired.

The hardest part about this new format Project Run and Play has going on this year isn't completing the monthly projects in time, it's mailing them to one of my grandkids and getting them photographed in time. Boohoo to all of the grandmothers out there who have all of their grandchildren far, far away!  Every once in a while, I do so want to whine about this living arrangement.   

If you like this outfit, please go to this post & vote for XOXO Grandma: Summer Outfit with Reversible Hat. THANKS A BUNCH!  

You also might like this post:

A Sunhat From Placemats - a Refashion

Linked to:  Crafty Allie, Nap Time Creations, Threading Your Way, Diana Rambles

Turn an Embroidered Napkin Into a Yoke - a Refashion

I love it when I'm working on a creation and it inspires me to create something else. This very thing happened last week, I sewed up May's Project Run and Play project using a free pattern called Summer Chevrons Shirt by Crafty Cupboard and then shipped it off to one of my granddaughters. I'm hoping it arrives on time so I can show it to you by the end of the week.  After sewing that pattern, I had an idea that worked out wonderfully and I want to share it with you today. 

For my second attempt at creating that same pattern, I added a fun twist.  I have a lot of linen napkins that my sister-in-law inherited and then shared with me last fall.  She told me that she doesn't remember her mother ever using most of them and believes they were probably ones her mother inherited from her grandmother.  She challenged me to use them to create something instead of letting them sit in a drawer for another 60 plus years.

As I was looking at the yoke to the Summer Chevrons Shirt pattern, I started to wonder if I had a linen napkin that would be the right size to cut that yoke out of.  After trying the pattern onto three different linen napkins, I found one almost the right size.  

Here's how I used that embroidered napkin and turned it into a yoke: 

• Fold the napkin into fourths and pin the bottom, outside corner.
• Pin the yoke pattern in place remembering that you will not need to sew the shoulder seams so pin that pattern up a little higher on the fold.
• Cut out the neck opening.
• Unfold your yoke.  It's now ready to attach to the bodice pieces.

• Pin the bodice onto the yoke - the first photo shows these pieces from the back side.
• The second photo shows the pieces from the front side.
• From the front side, sew right above any embroidery attaching the yoke to the bodice.
• Pin on the interfacing and sew around the neckline.  
• Turn the interfacing to the wrong side and iron in place.  Fold under the seam allowances and pin in place.
• Now stitch the interfacing to the yoke from the right side of the fabric to keep any stitching lined up with any embroidery on the edges.

Then, I followed the rest of Crafty Cupboard's directions to complete this top. I hope this tutorial inspires you to see what you can do with a linen embroidered napkin or something else similar.  

To the bottom of the shirt, I added a little vintage looking off white lace, a bright pink ruffle and...topped the look off with some fun floral ribbon I found at Hobby Lobby. 

To the bodice, I added wonderful, almost flat, vintage buttons because I hate to think of thick buttons poking my little one in the back when she has to sit in her car seat.

This weekend, I get to spend time with one of my granddaughters and I'm planning on taking photos of her in this summer dress.  Since this post has to be up by Friday to be eligible for this sew-a-long, I'm hoping you will excuse this long-distance grandmother and enjoy the tutorial for now without photos of it on my little one.  

Here's one of the photos of the dress on this cutie.  If you notice it looks a little different, my daughter did not like the bright pink and asked me to add soft pink to the bottom.  Why didn't I ask her opinion first?

If you try this refashion, I hope you're as happy with your results as I was with mine.   xoxo Grandma

A Bike Lovers Sling Bag

After making my first sling bag over the weekend, I realized I had enough materials on hand to make one more. This biking fabric was my inspiration for this sling bag:

If you want to make a sling bag too, go to Sugar Bee Crafts to get a copy of this free pattern.

This time around, I turned my black and white strip fabric diagonally before cutting out the basic fabric. I joined the side panel pattern pieces and made one large panel.  Then I got down to some serious fabric embellishing using hand and machine embroidery, ribbon and tiny silver rick rack for the bike's chain.  I love how using different embellishments transpose these hand drawn images into both a vintage and contemporary looking bike.  

I also added a large black button to the panel with the vintage bike and an enclosure loop to the other panel to keep this bag's contents inside.

To this bag, I added two pockets about the size of a cell phone onto the sides of the embellished panels. I know a lot of kids have cell phones but I'm betting my granddaughter would rather have her pockets filled with her favorite books and maybe even some crayons.

I'm really happy with the way my bike lovers sling bag turned out! Don't be surprised if I make another one of these bags, this pattern is just so much fun! xoxo Grandma

This project has been linked to Project Run and Play April project, Nap-time Creations, Crafty Allie.

You might also like these related projects:

Spring Sling Bag

Ocean Bag   

Spring Sling Bag

What says spring to you? Is it caterpillars emerging into butterflies, the color of green grass, flowers blooming or maybe it's a new bag with pockets? These are things I thought about as I designed this reversible spring sling bag.

This is the first sling bag I've ever made and only my second attempt at even making a bag.  This basic project was selected by Mandy with Sugar Bee Crafts as April's Project Run and Play project.  The pattern was easy and fun, so hop over to Sugar Bee Crafts and download your free pattern. 

To start off this project, I knew that pockets were an essential item to add to any bag so I added two pockets to my sling bag.  For the first pocket, I had a little fun using the Sharpie fabric art technique found HERE and added an image of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly. To make the image pop, I also added a few embroidery stitches to this design.  The second pocket was taken from the bodice of a knit tee shirt which was left in my refashion pile. I loved the floral sewn design on the fabric and thought it would make a fun pocket on the black and white stripped side. I simply took a little of the knit fabric and finished off it's edge and sewed it onto the bag.  I also love the details the buttons gave to this pocket.

I love that the bag was designed to be reversible. 

If you decide to make this bag, here's something you may want to consider: turning the bag inside out is TRICKY! As I was turning the bag right side out, it was incredibly difficult to reverse it!  I'd cut the pattern down quite a bit because my granddaughter is a petite four year-old and the bag pattern was designed for a 9 year-old. Plus, I'd added bulk with the addition of the pockets. So, the entire time I was trying to flip it, I was thinking it wasn't going to work. Relief washed over me as I finally, FINALLY got it after much tugging. I agree completely with the directions as they state it's tricky to do this.  

I love this little spring sling bag and have already started another bag, which I'll show to you soon!  xoxo Grandma

This project made it to one of ten selected for voting, please go HERE to vote for it.  Thank you!

You might also like these projects:

Here

HERE

Linked to: Nap-time Creations, Crafty Allie, Project Run & Play

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