Sewing Obsession: pillowcase dresses

The other day I was at a thrift store and found this adorable pillowcase. I love hand sewn, vintage items like this. I have a few emotions: happy cause I found something awesome to use and then I feel a little sad cause this hand-made item that should be passed down from generation to generation . . . is in a thrift store . . . and family pictures in picture frames at thrift stores? That really pulls at my heart strings. Anyway. Enough about my emotions.

So I found this pillowcase and I'm dying to make a cute little pillowcase dress for my little girl out of it. Won't that be cute? And for$1? Come on Spring! Can't you speed it up a little?

A few easy pillowcase tutorials can be found at Freshly Picked by Susan (elastic used) and at A Room Somewhere by Leslie (ribbon used).

**Psst. You don't even have to use a pillowcase. If you have fabric you love use that! I once even made some out of kitchen drapes. (see the pic below)

What else have you made out of a pillowcase?

Home Decor Obsession: frame within a frame

I love the idea of a frame within a frame (very sorry - don't know to who I should credit this photo - I'd saved it awhile ago when I didn't keep track).

I decided to do my own version of a frame within a frame. We have a large wall in our living room that needed some spicing up. We had a few picture frames, but it was just blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I have a friend that did something similar to this, to one of her photos and it looks very classy.

I found this cool frame at a thrift store for about $3. The color theme of our living room is tan with white and turqoise accents. I thought this would be perfect. So I taped the turqoise trim off and then spray painted away (first using a few coats of spray paint prime and then a few coats of white spray paint).

And here is the after picture:

Have you done anything cool with a frame, lately?

Refashion Obsession: resizing pajama bottoms

Growing up, my family had matching christmas pjs. I decided when we had children that we'd do the same. Although, this past December was a little busy and I didn't get to making them. I was going to forget about it, but then had an idea. I was walking through Old Navy one day when I saw some cute christmas pajama bottoms. Loved them. The only problem is that they were all in XL. Does this happen to just me? Before my refashion craze, I would have walked right past them. But hey. I do have a sewing machine and now I'm obsessed with refashioning - - why not just resize them down? And so I did just that. My little girl and I have matching pj bottoms and they were originally both XL.

That same day, I was looking through the clearance rack and saw these adorable pj bottoms that had some retro cakes on them. $3.99? Who could pass that up? I decided to make birthday pjs for my little girl. Today is her big day. And she looks adorable in them.

Re-sizing PJ bottoms Tutorial

I first got the pj bottoms and placed the right top side on top of the left top side. I found a pair of pants that fit my daughter well and placed them on top of the pj bottoms the same way. I placed the waist of my daughters pants as high as I could and as far near the crouch as I could, like so.

I then cut about 1 inch around her pants. Although, at the bottom I did cut it a little longer so that she'll be able to grow into them. It's up to you.

After you cut, you'll have two separate pieces - - the front and the back. So . . . you just need to sew them together. Easy, right? Place the printed sides together and start pinning.


You just need to sew the left side of the pjs together, the right side of the pjs together, and then sew the inside of the pjs (just one continuous stitch). Sewn at 3/8 in. Make sense?

Then to make it look somewhat professional, use a serger, or if you don't have one, like me, just use a zig-zag stitch. (one day I'll have a serger - i wish, i wish, i wish)

You're almost done! You just need to finish the leg bottoms. I just folded (still inside out) the leg bottoms up twice, about 1/2 inch each, and then pinned.

Go ahead and sew those and you're finished!

Look at this little girl. She's as happy as can be. (Okay . . . she's really happy cause it's her birthday and I bribed her with candy.)

* side note: the waists of all of the pj bottoms I've resized are elastic waists (the drawstrings on them are just for looks). drawstring waists might be a little more complicated to resize down.

** antoher side note: I was just at Old Navy today and they had all of their Valentine PJ bottoms on clearance for $3.99. I stocked up for next year. Hurry. They go fast!


linking to:

Giveaway results: Birthday Postcard

Thanks to all who entered! I loved reading your comments. Now the moment you've all been waiting for. Drumroll please.

And the winner is:

lezanac, who said:

"The last time I sent out a birthday card was at least 5 years ago but it is something I would love to start doing again."

Now. If you really don't want to make your own and you really like these postcards I made . . . I listed them in my etsy store so go check them out (come in a 10 pack) here.

Card Obsession: Valentine's Day Card tutorial

So, I was able to complete 6 Valentine's Day cards for a few special grandparents of my little girl. And it didn't take long. (did it while watching a full episode of Martha and a quarter of Oprah) They were super easy to do. It might take a little prep on your part though.

Valentine's Day Tri-fold Card

supplies:
3 pictures of your little one/ones (edited with text on them or not - - 4x6)
scrapbook paper/cardstock
glue
ribbon

So, I first took a few snapshots of my little one. They didn't turn out how I had planned. Does anything goes as planned with a 2 year old? Nonetheless, they were cute. I really wanted a picture of her just holding a candy heart that said "I love you" (with the heart in focus). But I tried, and tried. And I couldn't get her cute, chubby, little fingers to hold it how I wanted. This is what I ended up getting:

I went on http://www.picnik.com/ (because I don't have photoshop) and was able to write a little message and even placed the candy heart in her fingers. Then I printed them out.

For the center of the trifold, I used a solid color scrapbook paper sized 8.5"x4.75". I then folded 0.5" on the top and bottom of that paper (like the pink paper below).

You then want to cut 4 of the patterned papers: 7.5"x 4.75".

Then glue each of the patterned papers to the tabs of the center of the tri-fold. It should now look like this below.

Now it's time to glue on the pictures. You figure out where you want them and glue them on. (I'm also going to leave a spot where she can personalize her own little message - - ok . . scribble it, that is.)

Now you're almost finished! You just need to tie it up with a cute little ribbon. How easy was that!

This will definitely help you get that favorite special grandchild status.

Upcycling Obsession: sleeveless shirt to toddler dress

1/2 hr. upcycle tutorial

So I found this sleeveless top on clearance awhile back. It was sitting in my closet for awhile - - never worn, and then I had an oh so fabulous idea. Why not make this sleeveless top into a dress for my little girl?

So I turned this

into this!

And it was the easiest upcycle to date! All I did was:

try it on her inside out,

pinned under her armpits and pinned the sides,

sewed them up,

and shortened the bottom a little.

-The material on the shoulders (for a woman) became the sleeves (for the child's dress).

-I used a woman's small and it became a dress for a 18-24 month old.

-You'll need to adjust the neckline and make a few stitches there.


(If you want a more detailed tutorial with pictures, let me know. And sorry. I'm not a professional seamstress and probably didn't explain as well as I should have. Let me know if you have questions!)