Pants into Adult & Toddler Shorts - A Refashion Tutorial

While visiting my daughter a few weeks ago, she showed me a huge bag of clothes she no longer wanted and asked me to go through them to see if there was anything I wanted to refashion from her pile.  I found several really nice pants that she wore while in the professional working world. Knowing that she would soon be moving to a tropical climate for her husband’s work, I suggested we make those pants into shorts for her.  If she didn't like them once they were done, we really hadn't wasted any money on them (except to buy the thread).  Being nine + months pregnant at the time, she tried them on and I figured out how much to cut off – hoping they would be the right length after her pregnancy was over.

First, I pinned the pants to the length she wanted them.  Then, I added about 1" inch to that length for the new hem and marked the pants at that length.  Next, I cut off the pants along my marked line.  I ironed in a hem and then sewed the now shorts to their finished length.  She was able to wear them that first week home from having her baby... seriously, amazing!

After I cut off the pants, I was left with the lower length portion of these pants.  I thought that fabric would make great shorts for her son.  I love it when I'm right.  Check out how cute they turned out. They even have a pocket in the back. They're a little long, but he's a growing boy:

I proceeded to make two more pairs of toddler shorts, using a pair of his store-bought shorts for the pattern. To see the first pair I made, go to this POST.  Here are photos of that process: 

If you want to make a faux fly on the front of the shorts, add this step before you add the casing. Here's how I made that fake fly:

Make a fake fly by measuring  1/2 inches from the center of the shorts.  Mark & draw line onto your shorts - See image 1.

See image 2 - Stitch along the drawn line - detail 3.   Now stitch another line 1/4" inside that line - detail 4.  Next stitch another line right next to the center seam - detail 5.

I hope you have fun updating your long pants into shorts for yourself and your little one. For another inspirational short project, go to this post.

xoxo Grandma

Linked to:  Treading My Way, Nap-time Creations, Crafty Allie, Jordan's Onion, Crafts a la mode, Simple Simon, 2 Crochet Hooks, Creating My Way to Success

Guest Post - Vintage Tea Dyed Onesies - at Mother's Niche

I originally posted this at Mother's Niche with complete instructions on how to make a vintage looking tea-dyed onesie.  You can also find this post HERE.  These onesies are so easy and fun to create!  

So hop over and learn this technique so your baby or grand baby will look adorable too. 
xoxo Grandma

Toddler Size Shorts - A Refashion

Simple Simon

While I was visiting my grandson a few weeks ago, I made three pairs of shorts for him. Of course, this happened while he was napping. This kid has far too much energy to get anything done during waking hours. These plaid shorts were made from the bottom portion of shorts that his mother no longer wore. 

Check this POST for a complete tutorial on how to make shorts using adult pants.  This is a super easy project which can be accomplished in less than 30 minutes.  

If the sun is shinning where you live, go take your child or grandchild for a walk and explore their neighborhood.  I hope you find joy as your child discovers their world.  Look how happy exploring a corn field and ant piles made this two year old - plus I'm sure you'll agree, my grandson is looking pretty handsome in his new shorts. 

xoxo Grandma
Linked:  2 Crochet Hooks, Nap-time Creations, Crafty Allie, Brooklyn Berry Designs, Simple Simon

Turning a Mother of the Bride Dress into a Child's "Frozen" Costume

My granddaughter, along with most other children her age, is obsessed with the movie "Frozen".  It's the first movie she and her 4 1/2 year old brother ever saw in a movie theater.  When they came to visit a few months ago, my husband and I treated them to this movie, along with popcorn and a drink -- we wanted to let them have the full movie-going experience. Some of you may think it's odd that they had never seen a movie in a theater before, but their family lives in a foreign country and their parents rarely watch television -- unless of course its sports, which my son is obsessed with. So, when "Frozen" came out, we knew we had to take them.

After watching the movie my grandchildren started acting out scenes from the show.  One day, my granddaughter spotted some sheer luminescent fabric in my stash of fabrics, and draped it on her shoulders, declaring, "Grandma this would make a "Frozen" princess dress for me."  You know, grandmas and their grandkids are so in sync, so of course I'd been thinking the same thing. So I told her I'd make her a princess dress for her birthday.  Well, that birthday is next month and my package will take a while to arrive at her home so far away. So, the dress has been completed and I'm pretty pleased to send it her way so she can show off her "Frozen" Princess Dress.

The fabric I used in addition to the sheer stuff was an old Mother of the Bride dress I wore when my first daughter got married several years ago. This is what it looked like then: 

Here's how the back of the "Frozen" dress turned out:

I used this Simplicity pattern #4927, lengthening the sleeves and the dress bodice:

I didn't hem the sleeves because I made sure the edge was lined-up on the salvage:

Once I sewed together the basic dress, I gathered the sheer fabric and stitched it onto the back, swooping it to a gentle flowing length. Wherever possible, I used the salvage edge of this fabric since it frayed a lot.

And what's a "Frozen" dress without snowflakes?  Along the bottom of the knit fabric, with a washable fabric marker, I drew snowflakes - no two exactly alike. Then I stitched and embroidered these snowflakes using white embroidery thread, mingled with a few white and blue sequins. A little princess needs sparkle and bling, of course. Here's a close-up of those finished snowflakes:

I've been wondering if this new princess dress will move into my granddaughter's favorite dress category or if the fish dress will still be her favorite thing to wear?  

xoxo Grandma

Linked:  Crafty Allie, Project Run and Play, The Dedicated House, Threading My Way, 2 Crochet Hooks, Nap-time Creations, Brooklyn Berry Designs

Patriotic Toddler Attire - A Refashion Tutorial

Time to show off your patriotism by making your little one an American flag shirt.

For this project, I started with an old 4th of July tee shirt that no one would wear, and cut out the American flag-map. Next, I took two running shirts, which I received from some 5k races - you know, those shirts with tons of logos on them.  I made a pattern using one of my grandson's tee shirts and cut out my shirts, first the white shirt and then the navy blue shirt.  Now, if you have some old shirts too, you can follow these steps to make a quick patriotic shirt for your little one:

Sew the sleeves into the shirt.   Lastly, finish that shirt by applying a favorite American flag, or other patriotic image.

Purchase your little one a flag and teach them the song "America the Beautiful".  I taught this two year old to sing this song last week.  It's so adorable hearing him sing these lyrics - melts my heart! Gotta teach 'em patriotism young! 

Happy Fourth! - xoxo Grandma

Shared:  2 Crochet Hooks, Project Run and Play, The Dedicated House, Brooklyn Berry Designs, Skirt Fixation

Making a Tee Pee from Sheets - a Tutorial

I suppose every little boy at some point gets into the "cowboys and Indians" phase during playtime. Of course, those imaginations work a whole lot better when they have a full-sized tee pee to go along with it. As my grandson's second birthday approached, my daughter kept dropping hints to me that he really wanted a tee pee for his birthday (or maybe that she just really wanted him to have one). Either way, I happily obliged with this request. 

Now the question remained: how on earth do I make this happen? It just so happened that I recently bought a new set of king sheets. The old ones got deposited in my charitable donation pile. And every time I walked by them, they starred me in the face, practically begging me to find a new use for them. After walking past them a few times, it suddenly dawned on me that these old sheets would be perfect as a tee pee. 

After about 13 hours of sewing, which I did three nights in a row, I finished just in time to send it to the Midwest for this sweet boy's second birthday. Thank goodness for priority shipping!  

When the package arrived, I gave my son-in-law specific instructions on what kinds of poles he needed to purchase from the hardware store to erect this tee pee. He was impressed I was right on with my measurements. I only knew exactly what was needed because I purchased one 2 in. x 4 in. x 8 foot piece of wood to measure so I knew how big to make the casings. I decided that the casings would keep my grandson and any of his wild friends from getting slivers. 

If you look closely at the above photo, you'll notice I added a buffalo on each panel. I only wish I had of been smart enough to think of that idea before I sewed the panels together! Then to finish off this tee pee I added self made brown piping and a feather accent on the top of the frame. This accent was made from three strands of cording that I braided and hot-glued 4 colorful feathers onto the ends.  

As you can see, this little boy liked his tee pee. I'm told he squealed with delight when he came downstairs and saw the teepee set up in his living room, filled with balloons. I really wish I could have been there to celebrate with him.  

How to make a tee pee from sheets - warning, there is a lot of sewing involved with this project, it's not complicated, just time consuming:

• Fold the top king sized sheet into fourths.
• Using a straight edge, draw a diagonal line from the bottom of the sheet to the top of the sheet.
• Cut along this line.  This will give you 3 large triangles and two smaller triangles.  
• Use one of the large triangles as a pattern to cut one additional triangle from the fitted sheet.
• From the fitted sheet, cut out 5 strips of fabric 5" x the length of the fabric triangles diagonal edge.
• Press under 1/4" on both sides of the longs stripes, making the stripes 4 1/2" in width.
• Sew the large triangles together.
• Sew 4 - 30 inches of seam tape together - these will become the ties to keep the tee pee door open.
• 30 inches up from the bottom of the tee pee, sew one 30" seam tape to both sides of the tee pee opening.
• Overlap the center of the small triangles and pin.
• Sew the small triangles together from the top about 30" down.
• Sew the small triangles to the large triangles (the bottom of this will be one large polygon).
• Sew two more of the 30" seam tape ties 30" up from the bottom of the tee pee.
• Cut a 12" circle at the top of the triangles to allow the poles to go out of the top of the tee pee.
• Sew seam tape to the unfinished bottom and top of the tee pee.  
• Once all triangles are sewn together, sew the strips to the wrong side of the center on each seam, tucking under the top & bottom edges.
• Insert five 2 in. x 4 in. x 8 foot pieces of wood into the casings.
• Go outside & set-up your tee pee.

I created this post for part of the Summer Fun Ideas which can be found over at Nap-time Creations.  xoxo Grandma

Stained Glass Flag Craft-365ish Pins...SO cute and crafty

TeePee from a Sheet- XOXO Grandma... I am making this for sure!

Princess Slime- the Sewing Sparrow... this looks fun! Even for my boys

Grilled Bananas- For You With Love... These look so tasty!

Have a great summer and enjoying shade in your tee pee!
Linked to: Nap-Time Creations, Threading My Way, The Dedicated House, Diana Rambles, Simple Simon

Doll Sized Socks - A Tutorial

How many baby socks do you own that will not stay on those cuties little toes?  I've found a quick easy refashion that will be sure to please any doll loving little or big person.

To get started, you'll need the following: scissors, thread, a needle or a sewing machine and baby socks of course.

Project #1: Doll Sized Socks 
Skill Level:  Beginner
Need:  One pair of baby socks.  

Put a sock on your doll, matching the doll's heel with the sock's heel, mark the excess toe fabric with pins or a washable fabric marker.  Follow the steps in these images:

To download the full color tutorial as seen above, click HERE.
xoxo Grandma


Linked at: Crafty Allie, Nap-time Creations, 2 Crochet Hooks