Baby Boys (and girls!): Newborn shirt re-do

When I get ready for a new baby, I make a lots of new clothes, blankets, and room decor. In order to get more bang for my buck (which is more about time than $$), I like to take existing (hand-me downs usually) clothes and just put a new twist on them. You can see this on the following girl and boy tutorials:
BOY PANTS, BOY'S Oxford shirt re-vamp, Girls herringbone leggings, French dotted baby shoes,  Tuxedo dress, and many more!!

Why? It takes less time, and I can still feel like their clothes have a special "Katie" touch to them! Then I can spend more time making special pieces later. And in that spirit, here is my latest "Preparing for baby BOY??!!" shirt re-vamp tutorial. Its easy! Its fast! DO IT!

 What did I do exactly? I added bias tape to the top of the shirt, and velcro for better coverage/ less weird bunching. (And I dyed the green one obviously!)

Materials:
-kimono tops from the hospital (I had these from my 2nd baby's birth) or I believe carters and gerber make them too...
-bias tape  (I used single fold, but just use whatever you have that will cover the original shirt trim.)
-sew-on velcro--about 1- 1.5 inches.
-RIT dye (if you want to dye it first)

(YOU CAN DYE IT FIRST IF YOU LIKE--see my tips for dyeing here)
1. pin the bias tape around the existing hem of the shirt, making sure to tuck under the raw edge of the bias tape at the ends.
2. Top stitch it to the shirt 2 times, as you can see in the above photo. Be careful as you go around any snaps you are covering!

3. I find these newborn kimonos to be frumpy and easily disheveled, so I added velcro for stability. Make sure you bring it in from the edge, so that now velcro edges will touch the baby's skin and irritate it!

And that's all folks! An easy newborn shirt for boys (or girls!)

Little Boy Shirt Re-Vamp. (DIY)

For those that don't know... I found out I'm having a boy!! Yes, I have been a TERRIBLE blogger the past month, but there has been a whole lot going on in my life. Some good, some bad, but either way the blog is not as important as real life. You all with me? Anyway, when I found out I was having a boy I was not really surprised, since I thought I was having one anyway, BUT the reality of it set in once I saw that little guy up on the screen. I am having a boy. WHAT????

I know everyone thinks girls are "so much harder!.... so much drama.... " etc etc. I really resent those comments, being that A. I AM A GIRL. B. THE PEOPLE SAYING THIS ARE GIRLS!!!! what? Don't hate on your own sex! Anyway, I have loved having girls a ton. And I must say the thought of having a boy scared the crap out of me.  Anyway, on to today's topic. BOY CLOTHES. Not alot of cute stuff out there. And the cute stuff is a little boring sometimes. I need my boy to wear some color, have something to compete with his sisters' clothes! Haha. So I bought a bag full of clothes from my neighbor and got to re-vamping some of them.

And now you can follow me on my journey towards making a cool wardrobe for my little boy. (Some homemade, some re-done.)

RE-VAMPING A BOY'S OXFORD SHIRT:
Materials needed:
bias tape (double fold)
possible: cool buttons
contrasting fabric that coordinates with buttons or bias tape (scrap)

ADDING NEW TRIM TO THE SHIRT:

1. open and attach your bias tape exactly how I did mine (if you have never sewn bias tape and are confused, google it, its simple) so that the tape is on the under part of the collar (the part that will actually end up on top when folded down), and the inside of the button hole side of the front of the shirt. Sew in the ditch. (DON'T FORGET TO FOLD YOUR ENDS UNDER.)

****** DO NOT SEW AT THE CORNER OF THE COLLAR, WHICH IS A RIGHT ANGLE. stitch up to the part where the fabric is folded and creased and then stop. Drag the fabric (without cutting the strings) to just after the corner onto the next section going down and begin sewing again. This is so important, because otherwise when you go to flip the bias tape over you won't be able to! There is probably another way to do this, but I don't know and this worked for me!

2. once you have finished sewing that, flip the rest of the bias tape over to the other side and secure with LOTS of pins.
3. Begin sewing on the part of the collar that will show when folded down (when its flipped up its the inside of the collar). When you get to the point where I drew an arrow (where the collar ends and the shirt front begins) backstitch and cut your strings. Begin sewing again on the TOP of the shirt/bias tape (the shirt front). This way all of the exposed parts of the bias tape look good where you have stitched!!!!

Done (with the bias tape part). You might like it just like that, or you might want to do more.... follow me.

CHANGING OUT THE POCKET:

Now its time to add a punch of color.
1. carefully use your stitch ripper to remove the original pocket. Undo the folds and lay it out on the new fabric.
2. trace or pin and then cut. (I didn't undo the top of the pocket, I just left extra room when I cut it, don't forget that part!!!)
3. Fold and sew down the top of the pocket (The part that will be left open to stick stuff in).
4. Take the new pocket and fold &iron the creases exactly like the old pocket.
5. Pin the new pocket onto the shirt in the exact spot as the old one! Sew! easy peasy.

Here are the 3 pieces I re-did  and two (of the 5 I've already made) pairs of pants I made from old shorts and shirts of mine! I am in love with these boy clothes!

Here is the pattern/tutorial I used to make the pants, and here is one for larger pants. Seriously, pants are the easiest thing to make for your little ones! I had no idea!

And this is a super easy way to take those cheapy onesies (the ones with unfinished sleeve hems) and make them slightly hip-er:

 

I just took the sleeves and rolled them inward and sewed them down to make a muscle shirt! Bring it on.

DIY dotted kid shoes

Okay so this is not really a new tutorial for my blog, but the last one was so long ago that I thought I'd do a new post!

I saw the above photo on pinterest (of course....) but it happened to be from one of my favorite bloggers! Nina makes amazing things and clothes her adorablely Dutch daughter in AMAZING clothes. If there is one blogger out there who's child wardrobe I covet, it would be hers. hands. down.

Anyway, she has these shoes on her wish list. First thing I thought when I saw them was "dream kid shoes" and then next thing I thought was "I can make those polka dot ones." And so, after finding these pink pleather high top baby shoes at H&M I set out to make some "dream shoes!"

Materials:
Acrylic Paint (I used the art kind, but I think you can use house paint or craft paint as well)
paint brush or cotton ear swab!

1.paint the shoes. done.

I hand-painted mine and I think that A. I chose the wrong color (it dried much different than the burnt sienna it started out as) B. I should've used a cotton swab so the dots were all the same(ish) diameter. Oh well. I almost drove the 45 minutes back to H&M to get another pair and do it over and then realized I was just being silly and vain. So these will work fine. Can't wait for Amélie to fit into them!

White Flutter Baby Mobile (tutorial)

Amélie's room has been a design enigma for me. I just can't seem to figure out  how to make all of Olivia's old stuff work right in there! And with her little mini-crib (got it on craigslist for $25 and painted it gray) in that big room, I feel like it will never look right. Anyway, one thing I DO like about her room is the mobile!

I was trying to figure out how to make something that didn't add MORE busyness to the eye while still making it interesting for her to look at. So I decided to hide the fun part, and make the rest white and easy on the eye! Here is my little tutorial.

Materials:

Stiff paper for base of cones (I used vinyl that I eventually removed but I suggest cardstock)
notebook paper
glue (elmers, pva, etc)
little cup for water/glue mix
cheap paper (notebook, copy..)
tissue paper
hotglue/gun
paint (optional)
permanent marker
paper doilies (dollar store)
string, hooks for hanging

1. wrap paper into different sized cones and tape together

2. a)tear the cheap, thin paper (copy paper) into little squares, and mix glue and water 1:10 ratio (I didn't measure mine but I am guessing) b.) dip the papers into the glue mix and apply to the cones. do a few layers to make it strong.  c)let dry over night

3.cut strips of the tissue paper  about 2-3 inches wide and the entire length of the paper. zig-zag one side.

4. cut a line in-between each point of the zig-zag (you are creating the flutter!)

5. Before you do anything else you need to take your marker and draw designs inside the cones (this is the surprise! Your plain white mobile actually has lots of interesting things to look at, they are just hidden inside!)

6. hot glue the strips around and around starting at the bottom. I made some cones that had strips all the way up to the top, and some that just had a few rows at the bottom.

7. OPTIONAL: For the cones that just have flutters on the bottom, you can paint the top part of the cone. It seems unnecessary but up close it looks really nice that way.

8. sew a few strips of doilies, varying sizes. I did 3 doilies on each strip.

9. hang em up! I used thick string to hang the cones. I tied a big knot at one end, poked a hole at the top of the cone, and strung the knot so that it it was inside the cone, leaving the long string to hang it with. I used thread to  hand the doily strands. (And I used "c" hooks and "eye" hooks to hang them all on the ceiling.)

This is what the baby sees........

and this is what YOU see! ahhhhhh. If anyone makes this I would love to see your version! Shoot me an email!

And her name is......

 The day she arrived. Olivia likes her....sometimes!

 with her daddy

 unfortunately this serious contemplative pose is the only one that came out okay...

 she has dimples!!!

It took the Social Security lady telling us she needed our papers by 8:30 am in order for us to choose a name for our new baby... If you don't remember we had troubles deciding. Alas, the nurse visiting our room at that moment helped us make the final decision, and the name is......


AMELIE FRANCES KORTMAN!!!!
Amelie (Ah-may-lee) (from the list---in the end my husband and I agreed on either Madeline or Amelie) **also happens to be my favorite movie ever, but that is coincidental....ish.
Frances (because of Francisco-my husband's name, Francis-my father's middle name, and Francisco-my husband's great grandfather)---and because you may remember he really liked the name "francisca" and was really trying to get that one in there at the last moment!

She arrived after a very easy delivery (yay!!!!) on Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 11:45 am. 8lb 1 oz, 20 in.


SIDE NOTE: thanks to everyone who has let me know they can help me out with my blog! I was contacted by someone who actually said they could help me do the whole thing!!! Thanks everyone for offering your knowledge and expertise, I really appreciate having so many people that read my blog, and ones that were willing to help me make it better.

Catching up...

I've moved down to Florida and I am still homeless (well not really since I am staying with my parents, but homeless and in I CAN'T catch a break on finding something to rent!). I've been busy trying to run around and get all my affairs in order down here and so my blog has been neglected! sorry!

anyway, above are a some coordinating outfits I made for the baby (still nameless--but I TOTALLY tallied up everyone's votes to see what you all thought! Bridget was #1, and Thea was #2), olivia, and I to wear after she is born! I made them out of old shirts of mine that I was going to throw away. I just need to make something for Franc now--maybe a bowtie?

In other news I did buy two vintage/antique couches, a side table, and a lamp today! I will definitely post photos when I take them.

 don't leave me! or else this little munchkin will be very mad.... don't worry, I will be up and posting one day soon again. promise:)

HELP!

So a couple months ago we found out the baby on the way is going to be another girl, yeah! Only problem? I used my 2 favorite names on Caroline Olivia.... and we had a perfect boy name picked out (left over from when we were naming olivia--Asher Fernando (middle name is my husband's grandpa). Now we are just fighting back and forth about a name for this new baby girl (who will be here in 3 months!!! ahhh!)

I need your help, or well I would just love your opinions:) Even if you are someone who NEVER comments, please do!!!

Here is a list of names that I liked, and ones Franc likes (beware), can you leave a comment with your favorite?

NAMES I LIKE:
bridget (top of my list)
collette
madeline
amelie
juliet
viviette
georgia
marin
parker

NAMES FRANCISCO LIKES:
Gabriella (top of his list)
Francisca (close second---eek!)
Fernanda
Dorothea
Thea
Hermione (no joke)
and a whole lot of others that I have blocked out of my memory.

Potty Training Pants Tutorial

Okay, so I realize that this tutorial will only be interesting or useful for a few of my readers, but since I really love this idea and it has worked out great for us so far, I thought I would share with the few who care! If you like it, then spread the word about these things! They are money-saving and great! Here goes...

HOW TO MAKE POTTY TRAINING PANTS (from stuff you already have).

 

Materials:

old diaper covers/bloomers (preferably the soft cotton jersey kind) I used Olivia's size 3-6 month ones mostly--since they aren't covering a diaper they are the perfect size.

burp cloth/diaper cloths (gerber or whatever you have, I had the cheapy kind because she went through a zillion a day as an infant)

fold the diaper/burp cloths in thirds, long ways

pin the cloth into the diaper cover.

sew around the entire rectangle, and then down the center to make sure the cloth doesn't get all bunch and folded up on the inside after wash and wear.

How easy was that?? and you saved yourself some moolah! These are even better than the store bought ones. They absorb more:)

And if you ware wondering why not just use pull-ups?? well, they absorb so much that its like wearing a diaper, and so kids tend to potty train slower from what I hear. These have worked great with Olivia and we potty trained her at 18 months. (I will do a whole post on that soon, I've just been too lazy to write it!)

Olivia's first ornament

When I was growing up my favorite thing about putting up the Christmas tree was finding and hanging the ornaments that we had made (and been gifted) over the years.  We never had one of those matching or themed trees (not that those are bad), but it always looked beautiful and it was full of memories.

I want to start a tradition with my children (just Olivia for now) where we make an ornament together every year. Since Olivia was only 15 months when we made this one (yes I put up my tree about 2 weeks ago!!!.....). I figured the only thing we could really do was to color one (and she is an avid drawer these days). So I cut a square out of a pretty piece of paper and let her go to town.
 I then cut around the lines she drew, making a more organic shape, hole punched it, trimmed it with my hand-dyed wool felt, and then strung some ribbon!

Its nothing fancy, but its a perfect first ornament for a one year old I think:) I can't wait to tell her about it next year when she is 2 and we trim our tree!

And do you remember my tree skirt tutorial from last year? I love mine!

old shirt + old dress = two dresses and a shirt! plus a tutorial.

 Here is what I started out with. I had about an hour to make something out of these two cast-aways of mine (a stretchy shirt and a beach dress that I wore to the pool everyday during my third trimester with olivia).

 Here is what I made: IN ONE HOUR (all 3 pieces). EASY!!! First a mini version of the dress I had owned! just cut and sewed a tube, then added the straps, made from my old straps!

 2nd:  A comfy dress. I sewed the top from my old top, and then added the bottom from my dress. It got a little messy before I took the picture...

 I cannot handle how big she looks here!!! where is my baby???!!!

 no joke I am about 90% sure olivia's favorite color is green. her favorite shoes are green, her favorite chair is green (the one she is on), her favorite food is green (peas and spinach smoothies), and when there is a whole basket of ornaments at the dollar store, she digs for the green one.

 3rd: a half-sleeve tee that she already had food on in THIS picture too! Oh and those are her favorite shoes pictured.

Okay so this tutorial is SUPER simple, but I thought I'd post it because it is my go-to for a quick 15-20 min shirt. When making it for myself I usually make cap sleeves, for Olivia I made the half sleeve.

MATERIALS:
stretchy material that doesn't need to be hemmed.
scissors
sewing machine

1. cut two of the shape shown. The very first time I made a shirt like this (I was making it up as I went), I just used one of my shirts of a similar material as a guide for width.

2. pin and then sew where shown! DONE.

Getting ready to go abroad: what we brought for the baby!!!

Ok, so when you are planning a 19 day trip abroad you have a lot of things you need to bring for your baby. I made a list a week or two before the trip and added to it everytime I thought of something new. My goal was to not OVER-pack for the little one, but also not to be unprepared. Now that the trip is over, there are a few things I think we could have done without, and a few things we should have brought. So I am going to pass on my two cents on the matter!

WHAT WE BROUGHT (for Olivia only):
3 pairs of pjs
2 rompers
1 pair of pants, 2 pair of bloomers
4 shirts
1 pair of shoes
bathing suit
hat
sunblock
diapers (2 jumbo packs)
wipes (a 3-pack from walmart)
a headband or two (even though I figured she wouldn't keep em on)
throw-away bibs
LOTS OF SNACKS***
toddler formula ( just enough for the first day or two and the plane ride home)
3 sippy cups
3 spoons
1 small tupperware container
olivia's huge, heavy fleece blanket that she is attached to...
anti-bac wipes that I cut up and put in a ziploc
Maclaren umbrella stroller**
hanging storage thing I made for the stroller**
an ERGO carrier (bought this one wk. before we left!)**
a Phil and Ted's portable crib (bought one wk. before!!!)**
TOYS: new blocks she had never seen** (ones with multiple things to press and move on each side), a container full of random things (balls, blocks, little people), a leaptop computer, lily, STACKING CUPS**,  baby einstein music player.


WHAT WE THANKED OURSELVES FOR BRINGING EVERYDAY:
The stacking cups: a friend suggested these for the plane, and man they were great. they kept olivia entertained forever! I was doubtful, but my friend was right!


Lots of snacks: Okay, we really didn't need to bring QUITE as many as we had, but the same friend had suggested I bring all different types of snacks, new ones that she has never tried. GOOD SUGGESTION. I brought annie's all natural fruit snacks, graham crackers, goldfish, new freeze-dried fruit, granola bars (all natural from costco), fruit loops (I know these are so bad probably, but they were great when we needed her to just make it a little longer), etc. She loved it all, and the fruit snacks were great when she was especially fussy.


The ERGO carrier: OH. MY. GOSH. that thing was awesome. I had a baby bjorn when she was little, but since she was one now, she had far outgrown it. the SAME friend again told me about her Ergo and how much she liked it, so I read a thousand reviews online and decided to use my etsy money to buy one. SO GLAD I DID. oh man. Because of that thing we were able to stay out in Athens all day exploring ruins, in Ephesus exploring ruins, walk all around Venice, Paris, etc etc. She is not the kind of baby who falls asleep easily but that thing was the bomb ( b/c she DID fall asleep in it!). and it has this awesome part that goes over the baby's head when they fall asleep, so that their head doesn't bobble around! And on the plane ride home, when she was fussy but couldn't sleep, I strapped her in that thing, sang to her, and she fell right asleep. And I was hands-free:) It can be used on the back, front, or side. And it goes up to 3 years old! AND it has a hip strap, so your back doesn't hurt the way it does with a bjorn. It rocked.

The Phil and Ted's crib: My husband was second guessing my decision on this one for the first part of the trip, but let me tell you why it rocked. 1. It folds up so small that it only took up half my suit case!!! and it only weighs 7 lbs. 2. It takes 10 min. to set up. 3. Olivia had the consistency of the same bed wherever we went. 3. It was not crusted with another baby's barf (our luggage was lost when we initially landed in Venice, and so we had to use the hotel's portacrib that was crusted with baby barf. DISGUSTING). This was an awesome, last minute purchase I made using my etsy money. I got it from diapers.com, and because I found a discount code online I got it for about $40 cheaper!!

t

                                                             the crib is that red thing on the right
New blocks: really this is just "new toys." someone suggested bringing a few things olivia had never seen. My friend had told me to go to the dollar store and get cheap stuff, but ours didn't have anything good. Luckily I had bought these multi-activity blocks for her to use, and she loved them.

Our Maclaren: I am really not trying to plug certain brands, but just in case someone wants to know, these are the brands of things that we brought. I actually got my stroller on sale with a discount code  for a really great price about 6 months ago, and I am so glad I did. I would NEVER have wanted to lug around a huge stroller, even if it meant bigger wheels for the cobble-stone streets. The Maclaren was lightweight and small and easy to run through the airport with (as we almost missed our connection from paris to venice----after our 8 hour flight where olivia decided not to sleep). And when we had to go up and down the millions of stairs in the Paris metro, it was easy to get up and down (though we mostly used the ergo while in paris). And it is so sturdy (unlike most umbrella strollers) that it withstood the crazy cobblestone and 3 weeks of traveling very well.

tying franc's jacket over olivia helped ward of cold and rain when we were in London.

The Thing I sewed for the back of the stroller: I really wish I had a photo of this thing, but it was THE BOMB. I should have made a tutorial for it or something, but I haven't. basically I made something like this, but even better:)

So those were our favorite things that we brought. obviously we are glad we brought the clothes and sippy cups, but those are obvious!


WHAT WE DIDN'T BRING BUT SHOULD HAVE:
Diaper cream (olivia never gets diaper rashes so I didn't think about it, but she got a really bad one in paris and so we had to buy $12 diaper cream, even though I have like 4 tubes at home). errrr

socks- I figured it was summer and since Olivia never keeps socks on anyway, why bring them? I had shoes.. right?! well I hadn't anticipated that it would be so cold in some of our rooms, or that London would actually be cold sometimes... we ended up buying some in London.

An umbrella- duh. you are going to London. But we actually ended up needing one in Paris too. It only rained for about 5 hours of our entire trip (2 hours in Paris, 3 hours in London), but we had to buy an over-priced crappy umbrella from the Musee D'Orsay museum shop because of it. (Of course the rain stopped as soon as we left.)


WHAT WE WISH WE HADN'T BROUGHT:
so many darn toys. seriously. the girl loved the stacking cups and the blocks, but we probably didn't need to bring anything else. she was more interested in all the crap around our hotel room than the toys we brought her. And they took up so much room in our luggage. Franc would have been happy to get rid of most of it after lugging it up and down so many stairs. Poor guy, that luggage was HHHHEEEAVY.

 see??!! she found so many fun things to play with around the hotel room! I simultaneously freaked out and laughed so hard when I saw her cleaning the toilet with the toilet brush in our hotel in paris.

so much food. we really could have left 3/4 of it at home. We bought her lots of new treats while we were abroad, so all we should have brought was enough for a couple days. that's it.






Wow. now you must be thinking that is a lot for just one tiny little person, but let me tell you, some things you bring can really make your experience much more enjoyable. And we had the time of our lives, so if we had to spend a few extra bucks to make that happen, then so be it!