Dress Pocket Pick-Me-Up

Do you have an outfit that needs a little pick-me-up? Try adding a pocket to give the outfit a little punch of personality. Below, I chose a simple striped dress and added a hand painted pocket. And as simple as that, this dress has new life breathed into it.  

To see how this pocket was created using white fabric and Sharpie markers go to this post This technique is fun and a little bit addictive!  

For another example of a hand painted pocket see this post. Let your imagination be your guide! 
Now, go have a fun day!
xoxo Grandma
Linked:  Nap-Time Creations, Crafty Allie: Worthwhile Wednesdays, Creating my way to Success, A Round Tuit, The Dedicated House: Before and After

How to Make a Seahorse Toy

My family loves seahorses (and anything nautical, really). While creating a little outfit with a nautical theme, which I'll show you on Monday, I felt inspired to make a stuffed toy seahorse to go along with it. Outfits are always more fun when they have a toy to go along with it!   

To make your seahorse, here's what you need to do:

• Cut out 2 seahorses using THIS downloadable pattern.  
• Paint both pieces of fabric, making sure you paint them mirror image of one another using this technique. Note: they don't have to be exact matches because no one will see both sides at the same time, but you want them to be pretty similar.     
• Let your fabric dry.  
• Heat set the fabric with a hot iron.  I covered my images with scrap pieces of fabric to keep my iron clean.  I strongly recommend that you do the same thing...unless you like a colorful iron.  Just warning you!
• Stitch around the edge of the painted fabric using 1/4" seam allowance.  Make sure you leave open about  2" to turn the fabric.  I left mine open right below the dorsal fin.

• Turn your fabric right side out.

• Stitch across the dorsal fin.

• Stuff the seahorse with batting.  You'll need a long narrow stick or other tool to get a little batting into the tip of the tail.  I didn't put any batting in the very end of the tail.
• Sew closed the opening.

To see more seahorse fun, check out THIS coordinating outfit. xoxo Grandma