Kids Couture T-shirt Tutorial

And now for a Tutorial that you all have been waiting for...with baited breath I'm sure. ;) These instructions will work for for kids shirts, adults shirts, baby clothes, baby onesies, the possibilities are limitless! They make excellent, original gifts, and special clothing items for your own children or yourself.



How to make a Child's Boutique T-shirt:

Materials needed:

Iron on transfer paper, available at your local craft or fabric store.

Iron

Scissors

Thread (A matching or contrasting color for the top stitch, and white for the bobbin)

Fabric (or fabricS) of choice

Sewing Machine

Kids T, Onesie, or desired item to embellish (purse, blanket, ect...)



1) Take your transfer paper and choice of fabric, and iron the fabric onto the transfer paper. I usually cut a small piece of fabric and iron it on, just the size I need for my design. Don't accidentally move your iron OFF of the fabric, or the transfer paper will goo your iron. Icky.


2) I like to cut out the portion that I'm working with. Consider your design to determine the size of fabric needed.

3) Generally, anything you could make a basic outline of is easy to create. You can get more detailed and do something like an animal and layer on its eyes ect. Your choice. I copied the palm tree on this fabric free hand. I like to save the paper backing when I'm done as a future stencil in my stash of design ideas. Draw your design onto the paper backing on the prepped fabric.

4) Proceed to cut out your design

5) Eat your oatmeal (or preferred lunch) while you are working. Because the kids are napping and this is your chance to eat in peace. Plus if you are like me you enjoy doing a million things at once. And if you are like me, it's generally a compulsion that can't be ignored, even if it adds stress to your life, rather than relieves it. I'm referring to multitasking, not eating. Although eating is a compulsion not to be ignored either...

6) Design ready! PEEL OFF PAPER BACKING. Ah the mature voice of experience. I've forgotten this step while distracted or doing multiple shirts, and have ended up ironing longer than needed and wondering WHY the thing won't stick? Oh Duh. (Do you like that use of verbage? Duh? Takes you back to elementary school doesn't it. Again with the maturity here.) Duh duh duh. It can't stick, the paper is still there.

7) Lay out image onto shirt however you want to place it. Centered because you like precision? Go for it. To the side because you like things a little artsy? Sure! Upside down....well...just because you're weird? Why not. I'm not stopping you. Be you. I'm not judging.

8) Iron on according to the instructions on your transfer paper. Although generally I find mine need higher heat and the regular steam setting even if it isn't recommended. But do start by following the instructions first and working from there.

Now, you don't HAVE to do this next step, but don't be scared to try. If you take your time and are careful you CAN do this. If you don't sew your design it will begin to peel after only a few washes. It is worth the time and effort.

9)Top stitch the applique to give it that finished look, and also to hold down the applique during its many washes. If you are new to sewing, take your time, take it easy, and try to sew moderately close to the edges.

The edges will probably fray a tiny bit in the future, which actually looks very cute and vintage-y. If you HATE the thought of that, you can buy a little bottle of Fray-Check at your craft store, and use it around the edges to keep them from fraying at all.

And there you have it! Your own fancy little T! Wal-Mart is an excellent place to find plain t-shirts for a low price. I bought these white ones over a year and a half ago on clearance and got an amazing deal!

Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY for this shirt in a size 4T!! It closes Tuesday night. To enter, comment on the Giveaway post, and for an extra entry mention it when you blog and link to it! (And leave me a comment so that I know you did). =)

Happy creating to you!

=)

Megan

{Quilting for Dummies...and a GiVeAwAy!}

Well, I made Baby MnM's quilt in a day and a half! I know, I'm amazed at myself also! I hope I didn't get everyone too excited at the mention of a quilt the other day, although it is BEAUTIFUL, and I L.O.V.E. it, it is a basic large block quilt. Definitely not an intricate pattern. But wonderful nonetheless!!!

The lovely women who work at Keepsake Cottage Fabrics took the time to generously figure out my dimensions and the size of blocks I would need for this quilt. Thanks to their efforts, I was able to cut, assemble, and create with ease. If they hadn't been such a help, I think it would have taken me MUCH longer. My brain and math (yes, even simple math at times) don't get along. Throw in pregnancy and two talkative children in the room? Forget about it!

I'll walk you through my very simple process of making this quilt, and you will see that even if you don't sew, you could do it too!!

And then I'll tell you about my GIVEAWAY!!! And NO. I'm not giving away the quilt. So don't get your hopes up. ;)

First, you figure out the size you want your quilt to be, and then do a breakdown of the size the squares should be, and how many for each row. Honestly, if you wanted to wing it, you could just cut a bunch of squares and assemble them, and when you are done figure out the size your backing and padding should be. But it's probably better to have some firm dimensions in mind. =)

As the ladies at CKF recommended, I drew out each square on the back of my selected fabric. Each one was measured to be 10 inches square.

I drew and cut them all out, and then laid them out to figure out how I wanted them in the finished quilt. I played with the color patterns a bit, and ended up with this-

(Please note: I highly recommend keeping any dogs, cats, or wild beasts locked up if you are laying your squares out on the floor. You will spare yourself exasperation and gnashing of teeth if you follow this important advice. I also recommend keeping your 2 year old near you in her highchair with snacks, so that said 2 year old does not decide to "Help" and thus become a tornado in the midst of your hard work. Please take said advice seriously.)

Then, I sewed each row. In the bottom corner of each row I wrote in pencil the row number, so that if something happened, I wouldn't get them mixed up. Each square was carefully sewn together. I then pressed the row, and also pressed the seams open-

Finally each row was sewn and pressed, and it was time to sew the rows together-

I carefully ironed each bit as it came together, ironing the seams open so it would sew and quilt nicely-

My fabric for the back is the pink palm tree pattern. I assembled the fabric and batting (wrong sides out) and sewed the whole think together, leaving a gap at one end so that I could turn the quilt. I then top-stitched around the entire thing, giving it a nice boarder, and also closing up the gap that I used for turning it-

I sewed rows along each seam of the squares, first lengthwise, then width wise, quilting it together. My squares didn't match up perfectly each time, so I just moved along the seam as needed.At the end of such a long project, it can be helpful to turn on an old movie. I (thanks to netflix) turned on "Tea for Two" with Dorris Day. It played in the background as I finished up. I highly recommend old movies (especially Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant) or Christmas movies as a stress reliever at the end of a long day, and while sewing or doing laundry. (Although in the instance of laundry, you might just end up sitting on the couch, with the same basket of laundry next to you and unfolded when "The End" scrolls across the screen...)

Towards the end of my project I had a craving for some cookies. We were out of chocolate chips, so I decided on chocolate cookies. I googled a recipe, and gave it a whirl. Honestly, I liked the dough best. I think the white chocolate chips ruined them, because they were WAY too sweet. And nothing really compares to gooey chocolate butter and sugar right out of the bowl anyways. Just sayin. I mean really, who here just wants to make cookies for the dough sometimes? I'm not the only one, am I?

And honestly? I needed some chocolate therapy. It was an emotionally rough day. Please, please don't send any sympathy to me though, if you think of it, please pray for my church family. Our Senior Pastor went to be with Jesus yesterday. He was a wonderful man, with a faith I hope to emulate. His son is our Associate Pastor (and now Senior Pastor) and his family are all friends of ours. I mention this because I covet your prayers for his wife and children.

Back to the finished product. I decided after a little soul therapy from that bowl of chocolate, to make a t-shirt for LaLa. You will see that in a moment. First, a few more glimpses of the quilt-

Hmm- I see a few threads that need snipping...

And now, for the t-shirt I made for Lala, and the reveal of the giveaway.

The model is cuter than the t-shirt, so she gets first dibs-

Now for the t, I'm sorry that this photo of it on is blurry!

And here is the shirt one more time-

Yes, quite a productive day.

{GIVEAWAY}

I'm giving away one t-shirt just like LaLa's in a size 4t! If you don't have a little one who will fit it or grow into it, it would make a very fun gift! The one she is wearing in her picture is 3t, and I chose it so it would be big, because it will shrink a little bit. Plus she won't out grow it right away!

To enter, leave me a comment! If you want to have a second entry, mention (and link to) my giveaway in your blog! In the past I offered extra entries for licking your elbow, but I'll let you off the hook this time. This giveaway will be open until Tuesday evening, May 25th.

Also, soon I will show you a little tutorial on making your own cute t-shirts for your kiddos. This tutorial will work for t-shirts, tank tops, onesies, or anything else you might want to embellish! It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO simple, and fun. Honestly, I feel like I'm giving some not-so-secret secret away, because I used to sell these on etsy. But really, you can find out how to do them anywhere. =) I want to share the wealth! Its designer for a buck! (Literally, if you find a t-shirt for a buck, and already have the supplies, it is!)

AND (this is getting really long...) I will post next week my Chicken Salad recipe, and my lemonaid-for-one recipe. (Meredith, there you have it! The salad, lemonaid, AND quilt! Hehe. And also some sewing ideas for that new little sewing machine!)

That said, I'm signing off. Enter my giveaway, and be of good cheer!

=)

Megan

Fru-Fru Flower Headband Tutorial, Tiny Hair Clippy Tutorial, and a Giveaway!

Hello Bloggy Friends!

I want to give you a photo tutorial to show you how to make an oh-so-fashionable boutique style little girls headband. They are all the rage right now, these fancy pants headbands with GIANT fru-fru flowers adorning them. I also want to show you how to add a little pizazz to those cute tiny little baby hair clippies out there. These are super inexpensive to make, so before you go out and buy one, try your hand at making one yourself!

What you will need-

Silk flowers. I picked mine up at the Dollar Tree. For, of course, a dollar!

Scrapbooking flowers.

Trusty Hot Glue Gun.

Sequins and jewels.

Tiny alligator hair clips.

Large alligator hair clips.

Pack of headbands.

Remove all the plastic from the flowers you will be using. It's easy, just pull it off!
Seperate all the layers of the flowers
There is more plastic hiding inside. Remove this also.
Bake a chicken ceaser pizza while crafting. Make sure to eat it later when you blog.

I used a silk flower petal for a base on my flowers. I have lots left over from Valentines day wreaths. (Petals, also from the $$ Store.)

Put a dollop of glue onto the petal, or whatever you use for a base.

Doesn't my glue gun look pretty with all the red fuzz all over it? Hah.

Glue down the first layer of the flower you are starting with. I decided to go with 2 white ones.

Add more glue. (Hello again Old Faithful!)

Layer your next flower selection. I went with 2 layers of pink.

Rescue suicidal flower that dove off of counter into dog's water dish.

(I promise I did not use this one in my finished product.)

I chose two smaller pink flowers for the center. Add another dab of glue-

I decided on a jewel for the center of this one

Stick on jewel!

I really wanted a clip like this for my flowers, but didn't find any when I was at the store awhile back...

This one belongs to this cute flower clippy that I got in Hawaii in '07.

I settled for this alligaror clip-

Flip your completed flower over, and apply a line of glue to it-

Set alligator clip onto glue

I added some glue to both ends of the clip to make it more secure

I then added more glue to the clip sides

I took the sides of the petal and wrapped them over the clip. Tried to get an "action" shot but I proceeded to hot glue my fingers in the process. Note to self, don't focus so much on camera when dealing with HOT glue...

Now all you have to do is clip it onto a headband! Below are a couple that are from the hair section at the grocery store. Believe it or not, they fit on a babys head! If it is too big, just take it in a little bit at the seam. Another thing I have done- is cut off the leg from a pair of baby tights, and sew the ends together into a circle, and viola! A headband!

You could also use a cute baby headband you already have! This one LaLa got from her Nana for her birthday. It's super cute alone too!

Clip it on! By the way, I wouldn't use grey with this flower, but I already used my white ones.

Removable, interchangeable!

Here are a couple other ones I have made-

Now onto the fancy baby hair clippies!

What you will use-

Put a tiny little dab of hot glue onto the end of the clip-

Stick on your choice of little flower- mine is a fabric scrapbooking one

Add more glue

I layered a pink paper flower to the center.

And, yet some more glue-

(Old Faithful is really getting a workout today...)

I then topped it off with a pink sequin!

For a simply elegant look, just glue a single jewel onto a clip

What a cute pair they make!

If LaLa wasn't napping, I would have her model for you! I put her hair up into a tiny ponytail that sticks straight up, and then clip one on below the hair tie.

By the way, the embellishments might come off, and if they do, just re-glue!

So there you have it, a set of pretty fancy little clippies, and a fru-fru flower ready for any headband!

And because I love all my bloggy readers. I am giving this set away! (Headband not included, 'cause I am out of those.) You will get the giant fru-fru flower minus headband, and the set of little clippies shown here. I haven't ever made any for my shop because I am a little nervous about the liability issues. So, if you enter, please know you are taking responsibility for your child's safety. Always check items to make sure they are secure, and don't leave your baby alone with them. Deal? =)

Leave me a comment to enter! And if you can jump up and down while licking your elbow, I will give you another entry! Hehe. Giveaway ends Sunday night. Open to US and Canada shipping addresses.

I have to go pick the hot glue off my fingers now,

Megan