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.

Upcycled iPad or Kindle cover tutorial

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I am so in love with this case. Every time I pull my iPad (a Christmas gift from my parents!!) out of it I feel happy. I run my fingers over the stitching and look at all those pretty colors and it seriously just makes me giddy! I wish I could hang it up and display it I love it so much!

I have always wanted to make a dresden plate (that quilted circle on the case) quilt. Ever since I bought this 70's quilting book at Saver's long ago, I knew I wanted one of those for my bed. Problem is?? I have never gotten around to making one since a queen-sized quilt is such a large undertaking. (The only quilt I have ever made was for Olivia.) Anyway, I finally made a dresden plate and it was for my iPad. perhaps another reason I love this thing oh so much!

Tutorial for Making an iPad or Kindle case (with or without the sweater and dresden plate)

Materials:
*old sweater (optional)
*scraps of fabric for the dresden plate (optional)
*piece of felt to back the dresden plate.
-zipper (specific sizes see below)
-pieces of fabric big enough to fit your kindle/ipad (or just fabric for the 2 linings if you are doing the sweater version)
**The kindle cases I made for friends had vinyl covered fabric or leatherette on the outside to make them water resistant (i.e. good for the diaper bag). This is optional also (unless you are doing the sweater version)

this is a photo of a photocopy of a magazine photo of the actual object...

first of all, here is my inspiration for using the sweater. It is from the January issue of Marie Claire Idees (My all time favorite magazine for home/sewing/crafting/decorating inspiration. We used to buy this every month to be inspired when I did display at Anthro.)

First we will start with how to create your pattern for the case.
1. lay your kindle/iPad on a piece of paper.
2. lay your zipper down in the direction you want it to open (in this case horizontal) and this will be the entire length of your case pattern.
ZIPPER SIZES:
kindle: horizontal= 9 in  vertical= 7 in
iPad: vertical= 9 in horizontal= at least 10.5 in (which doesn't exist so you have to buy a larger zipper and just sew it shorter when installing it. you can use kitchen scissors to cut off the remaining zipper)

4. create a 5/8 inseam around the  k/iP making sure you have enough excess room on the inside (this shouldn't be a problem since you are using the right sized zipper).

If you want to just make a lined case with water resistant fabric or regular fabric go to this tutorial and the rest of the process is there (no need to repeat since this is the one I used!).

If you want to make yours similar to mine then keep reading, though you will also end up at that tutorial in the end!

 5. Make yourself a dresden plate pattern piece, making sure before hand that the circumference of the circle will fit on your case. (If you go to that link your can download a pdf of the pattern piece I believe. I scaled mine down from one I had in a book.)

6. cut the pieces out of scraps of fabric leftover from old projects!
7. lay them out on the scrap of felt, pin them down, and then stitch in place using a simple straight stitch.

 8. you can see the simple stitch I did on each piece above. I then did a fancier stitch on top of that one, connecting the two pieces that were side-by-side. If your machine can't do this, then just do a zig-zag stitch.
9. go around the inner and outer circles with your zig-zag or fancy stitch as well.

 10. cut around the plate leaving just a little trim of felt on the inner and outer circles.
11. Using your pattern (made earlier), cut out 2 rectangles from an old sweater (I used scraps I had left from this project).
12. Sew the dresden plate down onto one of the sweater pieces.

 13. In order to prevent your sweater from getting all wonky and stretched out, you also need to cut out a piece of fabric (won't be seen) to line the sweater. This will add more water resistance, but its really to keep the sweater stable.
13. sew the sweater to the lining (inner inner lining). I just did a 1/8 in seam around the whole thing.

 (if you look closely you can see the edges are where I stitched the backing).  I love how 3-D, thick and textured this becomes with all the layers.

To finish the case and put the lining and zipper in, follow this tutorial. SO EASY!!! and beautiful! enjoy!

see! fits in their perfectly. all nice and cozy:)

Make it for Your Man... The Handpainted (Vintage) Tie

Back when I was making all those holiday gift tutorials, I came up with this idea for the men. Unfortunately I never got to posting it until NOW! But V-day is around the corner, and oh are men the hardest to shop for...

While every guy might not like to wear vintage ties, the ones who do (like my husband and brother) are sure to like this gift (I gave these to mu husband and brother for Christmas and they loved them)!

Materials needed:
acrylic paint (either the art kind or the craft kind will do- I used both)
Vintage ties
paintbrushes
tape, contact paper, etc if you don't want to freehand it.

Some of my favorite of Franc's vintage ties ( I bought them all before we even met, and now he wears them).  For this project I actually used ties of his that I HATED instead. I wanted to try it out on something that I wouldn't mind messing up on before I ventured into the cooler ties! (I prob. won't touch the cool ones though, they don't need anything added)

There are many ways you can paint a tie. For this tie (which I don't have a finished photo of.... sorry), I used masking tape to paint some red-orange stripes of varying widths. I stopped just above where he would tie the knot around his neck. It really looked great, not even like paint in the end!

 For this one I layed down contact paper that I had cut into mountain-like shapes. The contact paper didn't stick very well (I think b/c the tie was 100% polyester), but it stuck enough to get the general shape. I then ripped it off and filled it in on my own.

I don't have a finished one of this tie either, and I ended up using a paint marker to add a few more details...

And lastly, this tie (my favorite). I just free handed it. It was probably the hardest one to do. NOT because it was free handed, but because of the rough texture on the brown parts of the tie. It made it hard to keep a smooth line as I painted.

Here is my husband trying to model..... (he modeled the tie before it was finished).

Anyway, I hope this inspires you to try some tie-painting as well! I thought it was pretty fun, and it made for a fun, artsy, original gift. I feel bad when I make things for everyone and don't take the time to make something for my husband. Especially since he always tells me everything I do is so great. (he is ver supportive of my artwork and blue-eyed freckle ventures).