Tutorial: How To Make A Stretchy Carseat & Nursing Cover

Stretchy carseat/nursing cover free tutorial!

You've all seen these awesome covers by now. They're amazing. And they're so easy and inexpensive to make! Follow these instructions and you'll be done in no time. You literally only have to sew 2 lines and you can make your own pattern with some copy paper.

You need 1 yard of 60" wide jersey knit fabric OR 2 yards of two different 60" wide jersey knit fabrics if you like the combo look better (like my striped/floral cover). Doing it this way will make 2 covers. 

Don't forget to wash and iron your fabric before starting.

Now get 4 pieces of 8.5x11 copy paper

And line them up like this, cutting one of them into 3 equal parts

Lay them out as pictured. Measure and mark, then draw a rounded edge

You will mark 7" from the top left corner and then draw a curved line ending where the top papers meet at a 90 degree angle. Draw another curved line on the top right paper from its top left corner to its bottom right corner as shown.

Cut and tape pattern together

Repeat the steps above tracing your previous cuts as to get the same exact curve on the opposite side

Pin the pattern to your fabric and cut out 2 pieces; a front and a back. Now put your two pieces together with the right sides facing each other pin them together. Use pins to mark 7 inches from the center on both sides of the top line.  

Sew the cover all the way up the sides, leaving a 14 inch space on the top.

I leave the edges unfinished because they curl up and look just fine this way. Plus, I don't have a serger.

Voila! You have a handy dandy cover with like a hundred uses!

That floral/stripped one was a gift I made for a friend's brand new baby but the one below is one I made for my son who is now old enough to use it in highchairs and shopping carts.

I hope you enjoy making this! I love it when I can make something that is both easy and inexpensive and SO USEFUL! Not to mention cuuuuuuuuute. Hope you love it too!

  

Kimono

I'm so in love with this 30 minute kimono tutorial from Babble!! I'm not sure what I like best about it; the look, the cost, the fact that it only takes a half hour or the ease of it. Seriously, I made some cuts, sewed a couple straight lines and I was done. No hemming required.

Awesome camera phone quality :/

I mean look at these picture instructions and tell me you can't do this:

In fact, I eliminated the first three (out of a whopping five) steps all together after realizing I could use a stay-stitch where the front slit ends (at the neck) instead of having a seam down the back. 

The kimono is very forgiving so don't stress out. As long as you use a knit, you can alter the length and front opening when all is said and done if needed.

LAST TIP:

In order to get perfectly symmetrical cuts in the front, I cut those FIRST and at the same time, before sewing. All I did was fold the fabric in half length-wise and cut both triangles at once from the folded edge. Test it out on a piece of paper if you are confused by how it will all fold and come together.

Very happy I found this. I will be busy making tons more of these! I have already made three and I'm dying to make one for my 5-year-old! When I do, I will be posting measurements here so stay tuned. 

Do you love this as much as I do!? Give it a shot!

Fabric Doll

What a doll!

 

I followed the instructions on Make It and Love It here.

Instead of felt for hair I just used some fabric I had on hand that matched some yarn I had on hand! Which is why her shoes are white as well. I used muslin for the body and machine stitched the eyes and mouth on as soon as the pattern pieces were cut out, I didn't want to hand embroider them on cuz I'm lazy like that. I also skipped the cute little sleeves and collar for the same reason. And to top off my laziness I didn't even enlarge the pattern so mine turned out smaller. 

Those tiny arms require a surprising amount of batting to stuff completely so be sure to put enough in before sewing them onto the body especially if you omit sleeves like I did. 

Oh one more thing! If you use fabric for hair like I did, after you sew it on, try cutting little slits in it to fray it a little along the edges.

Now go make a special little handmade doll for someone you love :)

Tutorial: How To Recover An Ottoman

Love my ottoman.

Found the little lady on my local classified ad website and she was in need of some TLC.

Besides the tears in the top of the vinyl she was in good shape so I found some old curtains of mine and made a new cover. I measured the top (3'x3') and sides (3'x16"), adding 1/2 inch to each side to account for seam allowances and about 2" on the bottom to tuck under. I sewed the cover together with invisible thread and used the already finished curtain hem for the bottom of my cover.

Demolition time! I removed the feet and the mesh lining that was covering the bottom of the ottoman. The original tufting was created with a string (no buttons) that was tied and stapled underneath so I cut those strings and carefully peeled the vinyl cover off, leaving the foam and batting untouched. 

I placed my slipcover on, reattached the feet and stapled any loose fabric that needed it. You could leave it like this but I wanted the tufting like it originally had. And I wanted buttons. 

So I added my own covered buttons that I made with some leftover scraps of fabric. You can make your own buttons using the same fabric as your slipcover with a cover button kit from Walmart. They're cheap, come in lots of sizes to choose from and make covering buttons easy. BUT... make sure you check out my tufted fabric headboard if you're using a thicker fabric. I used 4 large regular buttons on the underside of the ottoman. These buttons allowed me to pull tight when knotting so that it made a deeper tuft.

I could have pulled the bottom right button a little tighter...

The great thing about this is that you can remove it if you need to wash it. I debated about using velcro on the bottom like Tiny Side Kick did here which looks very nice and easy!

But my ottoman's feet were much bigger than hers were so I figured they'd hold the majority of the fabric under for me. One day I may switch the feet and copy her to make removing it for washing easier. I would still have to untie the buttons each time but it's worth it because I love them.

OH! And it's not pictured here but I was able to use a leftover piece of fabric to make another pillow (since I'm clearly in desperate need of some more pillows). I used the "wrong side" of the fabric for my pillow so that the color of the pillow wouldn't match the ottoman exactly. It's shiny and a bit darker so it works well.

Ain't she cute? Soooooooo comfy. I will never go back to a hard coffee table again. Top her with a cute tray and you're good to go!

This is easily my most favorite piece of furniture. I love the color, how comfortable it is and the tufting. What's yours and why?

Tutorial: How to Cover a Trucker Hat

How cute is this? 

I needed to come up with some fun crafts for a bunch of teenage girls to do (I am the young women's girls camp director at my church) so I looked on Pinterest for a DIY option for trucker hats and found this awesome collage of hats made by Tiff Brady Designs (who sells these babies if you'd rather not make one of your own): 

I knew this was what I wanted to make! So I set out to find a tutorial.


I found one here and printed the template. Unfortunately my hat was a different size since I ordered them from a different place than she did (and bought them in bulk at a discount) so I had to adjust it by trial and error a bunch of times. It was still helpful to have her template to begin with. 

Once I got the size I wanted I cut out my fabric, sewed the dart together on my machine and used Fray Check on the edges. I then pinned and hand stitched the fabric onto the hat with regular thread that I tripled up on to make it thicker. When pinning, I suggest sticking the pin straight through as opposed to down and back up like you normally would. This helps you avoid bunching and rippling. I wanted to leave the raw edges showing instead of folding them over because it was easier and I was going to have to teach 10 girls how to do this. 

My friend made one and didn't fray check hers and the frayed edges are super cute. 

When I taught the girls, they used embroidery thread instead which worked well (just make sure the needle you use has a big enough eye hole). They added buttons, ribbon, stitch work and more to embellish theirs.

So give it a shot! I wanted to add an applique (a cutout of a flower) to mine, or even buttons, but I thought the fabric was too busy for that so make sure to consider that when you're choosing your fabric.

Tutorial: How To Make A Tulle Boa

Does your daughter like to play dress up? 

Have you ever bought a feather boa? 

I hear they come apart easily. 

Why not make a boa out of sparkly tulle? 

(It has to be the SPARKLY kind, the fabric is different than the plain kind. Keep that in mind.)

1. Buy tulle on a roll using a craft store coupon

2. Fold entire length in half a million times until it's approx. 3x the length you want it to be

3. Pin in place down the middle and cut ends so they no longer "fold over"

4. Sew a basting stitch down the middle then gather to the length you want it to be

5. Pin a 1/8" ribbon down the middle the same length

6. Sew ribbon to tulle

7. Cut toward the center almost to the ribbon in 1/2" wide strips all the way across each side 

8. Scrunch it up and you're done!

Stuffed Batman

I know it's not perfect but I'm happy about how it turned out...


Actually I'm happy that it turned out at all! I didn't know what I was doing so I'm surprised it looks as good as it does! I just drew a pattern and used an old pillowcase for the body and felt for all the embellishments. 

My son seems to like it!

Stuffed Owl

I love this little owl! It's the first stuffed animal I've made and it wasn't hard either. My baby girl loves owls so I searched for a tutorial and found the cutest one at Mile High Mom. I used a pink minky dot fabric on the back for the cuddle-factor, and all the fabric on the front matches the ruffled quilt I'm making her for Christmas (besides the black on the eyes - that's felt). 


I have to mention the tutorial I found and used for closing the seam. It was just what I needed and it worked great! I was amazed. Go to Quilt Taffy to see how to finish off a stuffed animal with an invisible closing seam!


I don't know how I'm going to hold off another week before giving this to my baby. I showed her brother and he said, "Wow! Can I see my stuffed Batman"? Mind you, there is no stuffed Batman but apparently there's gonna have to be now! I will be sharing that tutorial as well as their coordinating twin quilts (since they share a room) in the near future.

Jedi Robe

My 3 year old son loves Star Wars (despite the fact that he's never even seen it) so I made him this Jedi Robe using a great tutorial I found online at www.DeGraeve.com.

The tutorial is wonderful but since I was doing it for a child instead of an adult, figuring out the hood and neck was a bit of a challenge. I also could have been much more generous while tracing around and under his arms so keep that in mind if you try it. Good thing he doesn't care about the details :)

I used a twin flat sheet (from his bed, actually) to make this one and one for his baby sister and it was plenty of fabric and the cost for one of those at Walmart is only $4 :D

May the force be with you...

Tutorial: How To Make A Ruffled Monogram Pillow

Thank goodness for birthdays or I'd never have an excuse to make stuff! I feel like the only time I get to create anymore is when my kids are going to a birthday party. My poor neglected kids don't ever get anything made by me either because it's just getting harder to find the time as they grow. Not to mention the fact that we just moved AND started a new job. But ANYWHO...

Here is an adorable pillow for a little girl's bedroom that you can personalize with her initial.

I used my Cricket to cut this letter "M" but you could easily print it then trace it onto your fabric and cut. This was my first time cutting fabric with my Cricket machine (using these instructions) and it worked great.

It was also my first time applying an applique. I'd had the stuff to do it forever but was intimidated. For no reason I might add. It was so easy. All you need is Fray Check, Heat n' Bond and a somewhat simple shaped applique. For me, sewing around the applique was too hard when I used a super curvy font (i.e. "Curlz").

So this is what you do:

Cut out two squares for your pillow in any size you choose. Also cut out a letter (or anything else you want to use for your applique) and apply Fray Check to the edges. Cut four strips of fabric for you ruffle that are each about 1.5 times as long as one of your pillow's sides, fold them over length-wise with wrong sides together and iron.

Then open them up and sew them right sides together on the shorter sides until you have a big loop. Iron the seams open and then re-iron it length-wise over the seam. Come to think of it you might as well just wait to iron the entire thing lenth-wise until after you've sewed each strip together.

Now gather the whole thing by sewing the raw edges together with an extra long stitch length and pulling on the ends.

Now attach the ruffle to the right side of one square with pins. Use your seams as a guide by pinning them to the corners so that it's all even. Speaking of corners, make sure your ruffles aren't bunched right there because mine were sloppy and I had to use my seam ripper and redo them after sewing over the outter edges of my ruffle the first time.

Use your Heat n' Bond to apply your applique to the other square. Once attached you can sew around the edges of the letter using your zig-zag stitch and a very low stitch length setting.

Next, take your monogramed square and lay it face-down on top, right sides together, and re-pin, removing the pins used in the previous step as you go.

Now you're ready to sew! Leave a small opening to pull it right side out through (it's best if this opening is in the center of two corners instead of at a corner). Once right side out, stuff with batting and sew opening shut using invisible thread or a matching thread if fabric is a solid color.

Tutorial: How To Make A Child's Apron

All this took was a yard of fabric, a spool of ribbon and a 3 year old boy willing to let his mom use him as a model.

Here's my daughter wearing it but she's only 1 so it was a bit big on her:

There were lots of good apron patterns on the web but I wanted something super girly with lots of ruffles so I used this free Home Depot apron as a guide and made my own pattern.

Here are my pieces. The bottom piece is folded with the fold on the very bottom. If I had it to do over I would make each piece's edges either slanted or straight so they were all the same. You'll see why later. My measurements are as follows:

TOP:
7.5" wide on top
9.5" wide on bottom
8.5" tall

MIDDLE:
9.5" tall by 27" wide

BOTTOM:
8" tall by 36" wide (then fold and iron so it's 4" tall)

I hemmed the sides of each and also across the top of the piece on top. This would be a good time to add your neck and waist straps but I forgot and had to figure that part out later. If you do it now you can hide the strap's raw edges in the hem

I then used a french seam to attach them all together since I don't have a serger. This makes the back of the apron (or the "inside") look more clean. I then sewed a straight line just above the seam to hold the french seam in place instead of letting it just hang there sticking out (do this from the right side so you can make sure your stitch line is straight).

Although the name is intimidating, a french seam is so very simple. All you do is sew the pieces wrong sides together first, then sew them right sides together to hide the raw edges of the seam allowance. TIP: after sewing the wrong sides together, trim the seam allowance so there are no frays sticking out and so there's less bulk to have to hide.

Here's what the inside or "wrong" side will look like:

See how the top piece and middle piece don't fit together very well? That's why you need to make sure each piece's sides match eachother (slanted or straight, not both).

Hopefully you already have your straps attached by now but I did not. So I cut my ribbon, used a lighter on the edges to keep it from fraying and ironed the two neck straps (each 14.5" long) as pictured below:

I very carefully attached them to the top on each side



Then I took my longer piece of ribbon (57") and sewed it right on top of the waist's seam in order to cover up my little mistake.



And there you have it!