Sewing Adventures

Daniel and I have some good friends who just had a baby girl.  I was very excited to try the a super easy tutorial I found at Kojo Designs for making a baby girl jean skirt.  I had some plaid left from the shorts I made Conner, so I used it to make an elephant applique.

I started with a long jean skirt I never wore.  I cut it in half to make a knee length skirt.

I followed the tutorial to make the skirt.

I traced the elephant shape from one of Conner’s shirts.  I colored over the top of the applique with a crayon to get the outline.  Then cut it out to use as a pattern.

I pinned it on the skirt.  Then I sewed around the outside with a red zig zag stitch.  Next I used black and off white embroidery thread to make the eyes, ear, and tail.

I was very pleased with how quick it was and how cute it turned out.

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Daniel had a long sleeve red plaid shirt that he never wore.  I decided to make it a short sleeve shirt so that he would wear it.   I cut the sleeves off, and I hemmed them to make a short sleeve shirt.

I did not want to just throw away the sleeves.  I love plaid.  So I decided to make Conner a pair of shorts.  It was really simple.

Here is a quick guide on how to make a pair of shorts to fit a 3-6 month old.

You will need:

An 8.5″x11″ piece of paper
2 pieces of material that are 8.5″ x 11″
Matching Thread
14 inches of 1/4inch elastic

Instructions:
First, make a pattern using an 8.5X11 piece of paper.  Fold the paper in half.  Make a rectangle at the bottom of the crease side that is 1 & 1/4 ” up the crease and 1/2″ over from the crease.  Cut out the rectangle and your unfolded paper will be your pattern.

Use your pattern to cut out your material.

Put the fabric together with right sides (the pretty side of the fabric) together.  Pin up one side.

Sew a 1/4″ seam and iron it flat.

Pin & iron the bottom seam for the legs.  I folded the material up 1/4″ then sewed as close to the edge as I could.

Next pin & iron the top seam.  This I made 1/2″ so that I could fit the elastic in.  Sew the top seam leaving enough space to thread the elastic.

Sew the other side seam.  Leave the top open so you can add the elastic.  Sew the inside leg seam.

Use a safety pin to thread the elastic.  Overlap the end of the elastic and sew them together.  Then finish off the side seam.

And you’re done!

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I have added this to my list of sewing projects.  Sew like my mom has a tutorial on how to make a summer skirt from a t-shirt. This looks like a simple, cheap sewing project.

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This past weekend I decided that I was going to make a vest for my 3 month old, Conner.  I found a tutorial at Make It & Love It, skimmed through, and decided that it didn’t look to hard.  The only problem is that I don’t like reading instructions & I am a beginner.

The result?  I spent way longer than I should have.  Considering all of the mistakes I made while making it, I thought it turned out pretty cute!  Next time I will be following instructions. I will also be making it a little bigger.  He is such a chunker!

I plan to make another vest soon using an old suit for material.  I will let you know how it goes and share more details on how I did it.

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