Christmas Pajamas

Now that it is after Thanksgiving it is probably okay to post about these cute Christmas pjs that I made for my daughter right?  I purchased this Red and Green Fairisle Deer fabric from Girl Charlee Fabrics last year.  I had already gotten one good use out of the yard I ordered by making these cute leggings for Lyla last year

Here is my little cutie sporting her Christmas leggings at around 5 months old.  By the way the pattern is called Baby Got Back Leggings which you can read more about in this post.

I still had a significant amount of the Fairisle Deer fabric left and I thought that Christmas pajamas would be the perfect use for it.  I found a pattern called Movie Night Pajamas from Sew a Little Seam which I was excited to try.  I like this pattern a lot and I will be getting a ton of use out of it. The pattern includes options for shorts bottoms and long bottoms, short sleeve and long sleeve tops, and the option to add gathered sleeves to give the pajamas a more feminine touch.  It is also a layered pattern which is nice because you have the option to only print the pattern for the size you are making.

The size options are 12 months-12 years which is yet another reason that I will get a ton of use out of this pattern!  I made 2T for Lyla even though she is mostly wearing 18 month clothes.  They are a little long in the sleeves and legs since I made the 2T size but otherwise the fit is awesome!  I had just enough of the Fairisle Deer fabric for the pants and the sleeves of the shirt.  The other fabrics that I used were a grey interlock from Joann Fabrics for the rest of the shirt and white rib knit also from Joann Fabrics for the sleeve and leg cuffs.  

With this project I also use a double needle for the first time to hem the shirt.  I found some good tips on using a double needle here, here, here, and here.  Your machine needs to be able to do a zigzag stitch to accommodate a double needle and you need to have somewhere to put a second spool of thread.  I actually have a place to attach a second spool holder but I have lost the attachment so I just dropped the second spool into a small mason jar that I placed behind my machine.  I checked in my sewing machines manual for tips on how to thread the two needles.  It was quite easy actually and I liked the professional looking results.

 I used my Silhouette Portrait to add the Merry and Bright lettering with gold glitter heat transfer material.  

Hopefully you enjoyed this post and found some helpful hints.  Oh and if you like that bokeh light effect in the background of some of these photos check back for a post on how I did it in the near future!

Pattern Review: High Chair Cover

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Ours was wonderful, relaxing, and full of family time. Hopefully those of you who are big Black Friday shoppers were successful in your endeavors.  All of my Black Friday shopping has been online because I am not a fan of the crazy crowds!

Today I am reviewing a pattern that Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair Pattern by Sewplicity.  I want to start off this post by saying that I absolutely love the Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair.  It can be attached to many different types of dining chairs and it is convenient to take with you when you are going over to someone's house to eat a meal.  My only complaint with it was that it only came with one cover and the cover needs to air dry after being washed.  This doesn't work very well when you have to wash it in-between meals.  While looking for replacement covers to buy (you can buy extra Fisher-Price ones here), I came across the Sewplicity pattern and thought I would give it a try.  I cut the fabric for the pattern way back in July while working on Lyla's teepee.  I finally got around to sewing them about a month and a half ago.  

For the outer fabric of the covers I decided to use PUL fabric.  This is the same fabric that is used on cloth diapers.  I found the PUL fabric for these covers on a website called Diaper Sewing Supplies. The fabrics I used were Wildflower Watercolor and Fanciful Foxes.  I did not use any fusible interfacing like the pattern called for because I was using PUL.

The directions for this pattern were very easy to follow and the covers came together quickly. Because of the multiple layers of fabric and batting that needed to be sewn together, it was quite a workout for my machine.  A sharp needle is definitely essential for this project.  I was a little stumped on sewing free-hand buttonholes for the straps to go through.  The pattern's author does include directions on her blog but after reading a few more blog posts from other bloggers on the subject I figured out that I just needed a clear foot so that I could see my markings on the fabric.  I used a satin foot like this one.  Then I pulled down the buttonhole lever and changed the settings on my machine to the proper ones for sewing a buttonhole.  I just had to manually move the buttonhole lever when I came to the end of my marking to reverse the direction and sew the other side of the buttonhole.

I didn't sew the buttonholes on the bottom part as indicated in the pattern directions because it wasn't necessary for my model of the high chair.

Overall I really liked this pattern and love how the covers turned out.  They are so fun and I like having the ability to really customize Lyla's high chair.  Sometimes I feel like this blog is turning into a sewing blog instead of a house blog but I just love sewing so much!  I have been busy sewing Lyla some Christmas pajamas and I hope to be doing a fun Christmas photo shoot with her soon so check back for those posts.

Sewing for Baby: Bow Tie Pacifier Clip

Thanksgiving is now less than a week away.  I love Thanksgiving so much.  I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while I look at the Black Friday shopping ads (I never go Black Friday shopping though, I just like to look at the ads).  I love preparing half of the meal (my mom does the other half).  And I love spending time with family while eating delicious food.  It is also a very welcome break from the stress and busyness of preparing for Christmas concerts.  My most favorite part of Thanksgiving though is that afterwards it is okay for me to go into full Christmas mode and get out the decorations, pop my Christmas CDs into my car CD player, and watch all of my favorite Christmas movies.  This year I am even looking forward to Black Friday since the Gilmore Girls mini-series is premiering on Netflix.  I can't believe it is really happening!  It is my favorite show and I have watched the series from beginning to end at least 8 times.  Oy with the poodles already!

So you probably didn't come here to hear me talk non-stop about holidays and Gilmore Girls so I guess I should get to the actual topic of this post: Bow Tie Pacifier Clips.  My cousin had a baby boy in July (he actually shares a birthday with my Lyla!) and I finally got around to sending something for him about a month ago.  I gave them a Target gift card which will be good for diapers if nothing else and of course I had to throw in something handmade as well.  I saw an Etsy listing for bow tie pacifier clips and thought they were so cute that I had to try and make them myself.  I ended up combining two tutorials from a blog I love Make It & Love It.  You may remember that I made this cute faux vest onesie with snap on bow ties for a friend back in June.

I used the bow tie tutorial that was linked to that post and a different tutorial for pacifier clips.  

I cut out rectangles of scrap fabric in the size indicated in the tutorial.  I folded them in half longways with right sides together, sewed, and then turned them right side out.  This is an excellent scrap busting project by the way!

I then tucked the end in.

I cut a piece of elastic cord and folded it in half and then tied a knot at one end.  

I then inserted the cord with the knot into the folded end and sewed in place.

I then looped the other end through the alligator clip while folding the end under and sewed it in place.  The alligator or suspender clips are made by Kam snaps and you can get them here.  The link is to the big 52 piece pack but you can by smaller packs too.  

Finally, I hot glued the bow ties onto strap close to the clip.  

I attached one of Lyla's pacifiers to one just to test it out.  

While I was laying them out to take a picture of them, Lyla picked up the one with the pacifier and put the pacifier in her mouth so I clipped it on.  Doesn't she look dapper with a bow tie, haha!  I hope you enjoyed this post!  I am currently working on two more sewing project: a pair of Christmas pjs for Lyla and a mermaid baby gown that will be a gift to the next person I know that has a baby girl.  

Harry Potter Ringer Onesie

Hello!  I am back today with a quick post on a gift that I made for a baby shower I attended a few weeks ago.  One of the games that was played at the shower was having the mom-to-be guess which onesie each guest brought.  I thought it would be fun to make a onesie.  Normally I would just buy a onesie and then add my own design using my Silhouette Portrait.  This time, however, I thought it was time to try out a tutorial for making a ringer onesie.

I used this free pattern and tutorial from Shwin and Shwin.  This is the same site that I found the Eleanor Dress pattern at from this post.

The pattern was free and the tutorial was pretty easy to follow.  For the fabric I used a heather grey interlock that I found at Joann Fabrics and a white rib knit.  I wanted to use a burgundy rib knit to make it more Harry Potter-esque but I couldn't find a rib knit in that color anywhere.  I used some yellow Kam snaps for the snaps.  The onesie isn't perfect.  I would need to practice a little bit more to get it down.  The biggest flaw in the onesie is in the leg ribbing because I didn't stretch it well enough at the beginning and ended up not being able to quite reach it all the way around.  It isn't a big deal though since you can't really see it.

I used my Silhouette Portrait to create a heat transfer design.  You can read more about creating heat transfer designs in this post and this post and this post.  You can find lots of free Harry Potter inspired fonts online to use for this project.  I used a font called Black Chancery.  For the shoe prints I just did a google image search on shoe prints and then dragged the one I liked into the Silhouette software. I then traced it to make a cut design.  I cut the words out on smooth white heat transfer material and the shoe prints out on silver foil-like heat transfer material (it is actually Cricut brand because that is easy to find in stores around here).

In the pictures you can see my latest set of burp cloths that I made for the momma-to-be as well. Well I hope this post will be an uplifting distraction to you on this very scary day in history!  I will leave you today with the words of a canon that my choir is working on since I feel that we need to hear these simple yet powerful words today:

What a goodly thing 

if the children of the world

could dwell together in peace.

Simple Black Cat Costume

Well the plan was to get this post in before the end of October but I missed it by a day.  Oh well! I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!  Today I am here to share the simple Halloween costume that I made for my daughter.  Last year for her first Halloween Lyla was an owl.  You can check out how I made that costume in this post.

Owl Baby Costume

She's just changed a little bit! ;)  This year I decided to dress her as a black cat.  She loves kitties and one of her first "words" was kitty.  I say words in quotations because it was mostly just a "k" sound followed by hissing sound.  Now she can say it so that it sounds more like the actual word. I knew that this would be the perfect costume for her. This costume was so easy to put together and it was cheap!

I have the "paws" from her costume in the picture above but I never put them on her because both times that she wore her costume it was unseasonably warm.  I will start with how I made the tail.  The tail was made with a feather boa that I purchased at Joann Fabrics.  I attached it to a Kam pacifier clip which you can purchase here.  I tied it on and then put a dab of hot glue to secure it. I had to cut it of course so that it wouldn't be too long and trip her.  She was just starting to walk when I started making the costume but I knew that by Halloween she would be walking well so it wouldn't get in her way. Here a really blurry picture of the clip attached to the boa, sorry!

The paws were just a simple pair of mittens with extra pieces of boa glued around the wrist part.

I cut the ears out of black felt.  I didn't use a pattern at all, I just eyeballed it.  I used some gold glitter heat transfer material for the middle part of the ears and attached it to the felt using the package directions.

I attached the ears to metal hair clips with hot glue.  I then tied some ribbon that I had on hand into bows and glued them to the ears.

When I dressed her in her costume, I put her hair in pigtails on the top of her head and just clipped the ears to the pigtails.  Super simple and cute.

Her tail was clipped onto to her black leggings.  The rest of her costume consisted of black leggings and a black shirt from Old Navy, this cute skirt from Macy's, and a pair of hand-me-down boots.  The above pictures are from Boo at the Zoo.  The picture at the top of the post is from Halloween and she is wearing a this cute Cat & Jack sweatshirt from Target.  This costume even survived the day at daycare yesterday!  Everybody commented on how cute she looked and I loved that it took me about 15 minutes to put together.  

Digital Baby Book: Monthly Photo Pages + Custom Stickers

Wow it is almost November already!  I thought I would try to squeeze in a few more October posts in before the end of the month so here is the first of several.  I am back today to share another post on Lyla's baby book.  So far I have shared how to create a custom calendar page and the items that I scanned to files for preservation in the book.

Custom Calendar Page

Scanned Keepsakes

In today's post I am sharing the monthly photo pages from the book and how to create a custom sticker to use with the Mixbook software.  I have written several posts on Lyla's monthly photo sessions from her first year including this post on the burlap bunting I made for the set, this post on the monthly photos, and this update on how the photos were going at 4 months.  These photos were fun to share on FaceBook each month and also worked well as decor for her 1st birthday party.  But I knew that these photos would shine the most in her baby book.  

Each month I recorded all of the little things that Lyla did and all of the activities she participated in. Some of these things are recorded in the calendar pages but others were used to help me write a letter each month to Lyla.  I loved doing this and I recommend that every expecting mother plan to do something like this for their child.  It is really touching for me to go back and read each letter and I hope that someday it will be meaningful to Lyla as well once she gets to read them herself.  I plan to continue to write one every 3 months up until she turns 2 and and then yearly after that.  It would be fun to include all of the letters in a book that I could give to her at her high school graduation.  

As you can see I made each monthly page have the same format.  I chose to keep these pages clean and simple because I wanted the photos and the letter to be the focus of each monthly page.  I wanted to add a little "handwritten" element to the letters so that is where the creation of the custom stickers comes in.  Here is how I created them:

I opened up my Pixelmator software (you can do this in photoshop or any other photo editing software and I am sure the steps are similar) and selected a blank canvas size.  I just used standard letter size in this example.  I then selected a font and typed my message.  Next I clicked on the background layer in the layers window and hit delete.

Once the background layer is deleted then you will see a checkerboard pattern behind the text.

Now you need to save the document.  When the save menu appears click in the box next to "save a copy as" and then select PNG from the drop down menu.  PNG stands for portable network graphic.

Now open up your project in Mixbook and click on the stickers tab on the left side of the screen and then click on the browse stickers button.

Select the upload stickers tab in the menu that pops up and then click on the orange upload stickers button.  Find your file and select it.

Once the sticker has uploaded you can close the window and your sticker can be found in the project stickers section of the stickers tab.  If you hover your cursor over the sticker then it will magnify it.  

To add the sticker to a page simply click on it and drag it to the page you want it on.  When you have the sticker selected on the page you can change the size of it and also manipulate it in other ways using the gray tool bar that pops up below the sticker.  

I used custom stickers in other places in the book as well.  The hot air balloons on each calendar page were vector files that I purchased on Etsy.  The little bison that you see on this page was just an image that I found by doing a google search.  I saved the image to my computer and opened it in Pixelmator. I used the magic wand tool or paint selection tool and clicked on the background surrounding the image and deleted it.  Then I saved the image as a PNG.  The only problem with this is that the images are often poor quality which limits how much you can enlarge them with out them becoming blurry or pixelated.  This wasn't a problem for me, however, since I was using them on the calendar pages and needed them to be small.  You could also type png after the image you are searching.  You will know it is a PNG if the background comes up with a checkerboard pattern when you click on the thumbnail in google images.  Then you can eliminate the step of removing the background in photo editing software.

I also scanned the footprints from the hospital into my computer and made them into PNG files.  I had to adjust the darkness of the footprints to make it work properly but you just have to play around with it little bit.

One of my favorite pages in the book is this page with all of her monthly photos and her 1st birthday invitation in the middle.

It is so fun to see how much she has grown.  And now she is 15 months!  Time flies!

Here is my little cutie playing in the leaves.  I love her so much!  Up next: a simple diy Kitty costume.