It's Time for Christmas Jammies!

It's that time of year again!  Time to make the Christmas Jammies.

Last year, I made really cute reindeer pajamas for E at Christmas.  I went to the store and picked out material that I thought was cute and went with it.

Big mistake.

My very independently-minded daughter flatly refused to wear them.  Ever.

I think maybe I convinced her to wear them on Christmas Eve, but I'm not sure if that happened or if that's my imagination making me remember something that never happened.

Well, whatever really happened, I know that those pajamas sat at the bottom of her drawer until she no longer fit into them.

So, as I approached this year, I decided it would be better to just let her pick out her own material.

At least then my work would not go to waste and she would wear them.

She chose a Hello Kitty fleece.  As much as my inner self rebels against giving in to the character prints, I knew that if I wanted her to wear it, it was her decision.  Not mine.

She also decided she wanted a nightgown instead of pants and a shirt.  Fine.  I measured her up and threw together this nightgown in about an hour and a half.  Literally.

I have to say that I LOVE sewing with fleece if for no other reason than that you don't have to hem it.  Awesome.  

For the elastic around the neckline and sleeves, I used a shirring technique (elastic thread on the bobbin) instead of making a casing for elastic.  Even easier!

It's pretty much a wearable blanket.  But she LOVES it.  

And wore it for about a week straight right after I made it.

It is so snuggly and warm.

I'm just relieved she likes it!

Now for H's.  She (of course) wanted the same fabric as E.  Hello Kitty fleece, it is.

While I was ok with them matching, I wanted pants and a top for H.  I just know that a nightgown would end up all bunched up and she would be freezing.

I have this great pattern that I adjust and use for the bodice or shirts/pants for many projects.  This is one of those projects.  I used the bodice pattern from the dress for the top, and the pattern for the capris for the pajama bottoms.

The bodice was simply lengthened to shirt-length and the sleeves were also made long to match H's arm length.

Here's the end result:

I just love the ruffles at the bottom!

And here she is modeling it for us.

Cuties.  

I had the hardest time getting a good picture of both of them together.  They were just playing around and bugging each other the whole time!

And now we are ready for Christmas Eve (and all of December).

I'm just so relieved that, this year, the pajamas will be worn!!

Getting Ready for Baby Boy: The Blanket

For each of my girls, I have made a quilt before she was born.  I guess it's part of my "nesting process" or whatever.  So, in my preparations for our sweet boy I, of course, had to make him a blanket.

I have to admit that I (even as I type) am a bit embarrassed to say that I bought this blanket as a pre-made kit.  I really (honestly) had a hard time buying some prefabricated pattern with all of the instructions included.  For one thing, I am really bad at following instructions.  For another, the kit advertised that it was "great for beginners."  However, in the long run, what does it really matter?  I mean...really?  It is not  that big a deal - right?  Besides, this kit had patterns and fabrics in the colors I wanted.  The bright orange minky (or "plush" as the kit labeled it) fabric is near impossible to find in stores around here so I would likely have to order online.

Which takes time and more money.

I have neither.

Kit it is!  So here's what I got:

See how nicely it's all packaged?  Saved me the time I would spend contemplating which prints would look best with which at the fabric store.  And trust me, that could take a LONG time.  Even for a baby blanket.

I even took out the directions and attempted to follow them.  See?

I mainly did follow the instructions, but I made a few adjustments because some things about the prefab kit were a bit odd.

Like this:

No, those fabrics aren't folded really close to each other.  They're fused together.  As in, it's really just one piece of fabric with 4 different prints on it.  Weird.

Also, look at the animal print.  The direction of the animals on the actual fabric doesn't match how they are shown in the final product.  The quilt "squares" are not actually square - they are 6 1/2" x 8".  The instructions say to cut each rectangle sideways - so the animals would not be up and down on the final quilt (like ALL the pictures show).  They would be sideways.

This really bugged me.  I mean, REALLY bugged me.

So, I cut the rectangles the "wrong" way so that the animals would end up the "right" way according to the directions.  Get it?

I ended up having to sew 2 remnant pieces together in order to make up the final animal-print rectangle.

This also bugs me.  But at least the animals are right-side up and not sideways.

Here's all the rectangles cut out.

Next came the minky or "plush" border.  The directions said to cut each strip 3 1/2" wide, but I thought that was a bit skimpy.  Plus, there was extra fabric for both the border and the backing.

So I added an inch to each of the border pieces and cut each 4 1/2" wide.

Then came all the sewing (it really was not that much).

Once it was all pieced together and properly pressed, it was time to add the backing.

Another thing that bothered me about this kit, was that it did not include (or call for) batting to be added in the center of the quilt.

It just seemed that the blanket would be a bit on the thin side without the batting.  Why call it a "snuggle blanket" if it's really thin and not that "snuggly"?

I dug through my stash (because I'm very impatient and wanted this done immediately) and pieced together some leftover batting that I had from the bedspread I had made for my bed and another quilt I had made recently for H's big girl bed.

I placed the front and back together just as the directions said (with right sides together) and then added a layer of batting.  I cut the batting to size and pinned it all together.

It looked like this:

And here's the other side (batting is now on the bottom):

I sewed around the whole thing, catching the batting in the seam, and left about a 6" opening in the bottom.

I then turned the quilt right-side out, pinned around the edges again, and sewed 1/4" in from the edge all the way around closing the opening in the process.  This gives the appearance of the quilt having a binding.

Lastly, I "stitched in the ditch" to quilt it and hold all that batting in place securely (because I KNOW this blanket is going to get lots of washes).

The final product?

Not bad for a 2 hour project.  And now baby boy has a blanket.  Don't you just love all the bright colors?

 And here is the back.  You can see all the quilting in this pic.

And one more close-up. :)

I feel much better now my little boy has a baby blanket.  And, really, using the kit was not such an awful experience after all. :)

Felt Princess Tiara Tutorial

This year's theme for Christmas presents is princesses.  And, no, we do not generally have "themes."  It just fits well since the girls are recently really into dress-up (especially E) and princesses are what they always want to be.  

I caught E cleaning up our back room pretending that she "had to" because she was Cinderella.  Ok.  I can live with that.  Maybe I'll get a cleaner house out of it! :)

Anyways, back to the task at hand.  I started looking online (and specifically Etsy) for some nice, princess-y tiaras that

1) the girls would wear (aka sparkly and pink)

and

2) wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Through my internet-exploring, I discovered that many women make crowns out of felt.  While I thought this a great idea, none of them really struck me as something the girls would really be in to.  Most looked a bit more like a crown rather than a tiara. I mean, let's face it, all self-respecting princesses prefer tiaras.  Alright, alright, maybe just MY princesses prefer tiaras.  But still, crowns are not for this family.

I also just couldn't find a tiara that I felt would stay on their heads and/or be easy to put on themselves.  I like the idea of something that can grow with them, too.  Let's say, an elastic at the back.

We all know where this is leading.  I decided to make my own.  I have TONS of felt - mainly because I bought too much for their Halloween costumes.  I might as well use it, right?  I also have some sparkly gems from Walmart that I bought about a year back for some other project - there are tons of those, too.

So here's how I made them:

Materials:

2 colors of felt (I used scraps, but if you're buying some, it's 1/4 yard at MOST)

3" of 1 1/2" thick elastic

gems/embellishments

hot glue gun

scissors

sewing machine

Step 1 - Cutting out the "Pattern"

First, I searched for a tiara-like template that I liked the look of.  I found some from www.spoonful.com. Apparently, they are "authentic" Disney princess tiara templates.  I just know they look about right.  

I chose the one I liked best, printed it out, and cut it out.  Here is the link to the free PDF of the tiaras.

Princess tiara template:
http://www.mybookezzz.org/ebook.php?u=aHR0cDovL3Nwb29uZnVsLmNvbS9zaXRlcy9kZWZhdWx0L2ZpbGVzL2NyYWZ0cy9wcmluY2Vzcy1jcm93bi1jcmFmdC10ZW1wbGF0ZS0wMjEyLnBkZgpQcmluY2VzcyBDcm93biBDcmFmdCAtIFNwb29uZnVs

Once I cut it out and taped it together, it looked like this:

I measured the girls' heads and cut the arch so that it was the same length as that measurement for each of their tiaras.

Step 2 - Cutting the Felt

Decide what color you would like on the front of the tiara.  Pin your pattern on the felt.

I felt that the paper tiara was a bit skinny - especially at the part that wraps around the head.  So, I cut an extra 1/4" all the way around.  I did not measure.  I just "guess-timated".  This is what it looks like all cut out.

Step 3 - Adding an Initial

I like to personalize things for my girls.  Especially because they often insist on have the EXACT SAME THING or World War III ensues.

I found a pretty font I liked on my computer, blew it up a bit, and printed it out.  I then cut the letters out.

My second felt is a sparkle black felt, so it has two sides.  I decided to pin the letter backwards on the wrong side of the felt, but you can just pin it on your second color of felt the right way if you want.

This is what it looks like all cut out and placed on the tiara.

Using your smallest zig-zag stitch on your machine, sew the letter in place.

Step 4 - The Elastic

Turn the tiara over so that it is wong-side up.

Place your elastic in the middle of one end of the tiara, about 1 1/2" (or half of the elastic).  Baste into place at the very end of the elastic.

Do not sew the elastic down at the end of the tiara.  You should be able to lift up the elastic like this:

Step 5 - Adding the Back

Place your tiara on your backing felt with wrong sides together.  Pin down your tiara

Sew your tiara onto the backing felt.  I used a zigzag stitch, but a straight stitch would also work.

Make sure you do not sew the ends of the tiara closed.  You will need these to be open to allow the elastic piece to move. 

See how I didn't sew over the elastic sticking out? 

And here is the other side...

When you are done stitching, it should look like this:

Now take some scissors and cut closely around the tiara.  Make sure not to cut your stitching. 

Now the front should look like this:

And the back like this: 

Step 6 - Attaching the Elastic

Bring the ends of the tiara together to form a circle.

Insert the unattached end of elastic into the other side of the tiara until it is completely hidden.

Pin in place.

Stitch through both layers of felt and the ends of the elastic on both sides. 

Step 7 - Finishing the Tiara

You can be done at this point.  

Or, you can add some extra bling.  I took out my trusty hot glue gun and glued on some "jewels" to make the tiaras extra sparkly.

And you're done!  Easy, right??

I think it took me longer to post the tutorial than it did to make the tiaras. :)

And here's hoping that H is too little to remember the photo session by the time it's Christmas.