Sock Bunnies

I've been wanting to do this little project with the girls for a while now and am feeling good about finally getting around to it today. Crafting with 4 little kids can be a challenge. (As is evident in the lack of posts on this blog.) My 5 year-old especially got into it, insisting on doing all the stuffing without any help, and she stitched the openings of each arm leg and foot closed all by herself too. I think this was her first real sewing project and I was so impressed with how well she did.

As soon as they were finished the girls got busy dressing them with clothes and accessories from their other dolls.

I think they turned out pretty cute, and the fact that they helped make the bunnies themselves adds to the love.




The bunnies just happen to be the perfect size to fit into our Disney princess baby doll clothes. When I saw the pink bunny in the Sleeping Beauty dress, complete with little slippers I had to take another photo.
We followed this tutorial from Lil Blue Boo, but decided to embroider the eyes instead of using buttons. (I loved the unique look of mis-matched buttons for the eyes but the girls thought it was creepy and they insisted on eyelashes too.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Another wreath... a random combination of raffia, berry bunches, a fabric scrap and coffee filters. Just wanted to make something and needed to use what I had in my stash.

My assistant and lovely wreath model.

Happy Halloween

While the blogging has almost completely ceased since the arrival of baby boy... the crafting has only slowed a little. Will I ever catch up? Probably not, but here is a little something fun we did for the "candy holiday" – a simple Halloween wreath. We took a dollar store wreath form and tied lengths of black tulle around it. My 6 yr old and 4 year old were great helpers with this part. If I were to do it again, I might cut the tulle longer and have a fuller look. I added in some purple and orange ribbon and then hot glued this spider web (also from the dollar store) to the back, making sure I didn't cover the peep hole.

The peep hole is important because of the number of door-to-door salesmen who don't seem to understand what "no soliciting" means. I put that sign up after being visited by 6 sales people in three days... a little much for pregnant mom/new baby mom. My dad also rigged my doorbell so I can switch it off when baby sleeps. Why isn't this a standard doorbell feature? OK, rant over.
Salesmen stay away! Trick-or-treaters welcome!

Happy Halloween!

Ruffle Dress Refashion

I've seen a lot of cute things in blogland made from this ruffle fabric and have been wanting to try it. Until recently it wasn't available in my local fabric shops and at $17 + a yard I didn't jump on it right away. One day I saw this XLarge top at a thrift store and grabbed it for a few dollars. I thought it would be an inexpensive way to see how I liked sewing with the ruffled material.

I used the Sienna Dress pattern that I had from Lil' Blue Boo to make a cute little dress for my toddler:

Since the shirt already had some interesting details with the crisscrossing ruffles at the top of the shirt, I was able to keep that same look by my pattern placement. I reused the shimmery neckline to finish my smaller neckline adding a flower made of the ruffles to cover the spot where my new seam ended up. I think I might add a few more flowers there so it doesn't look so lonely.

Cutting the ruffled fabric and sewing it, I had to be careful to keep the ruffles laying the same direction, so it took a little more pinning than I might otherwise have needed. Matching the ruffles at the shoulder seams to the front was a little tricky too. Overall, however, it is a quick way to get a much more complicated looking dress from a really simple style. I've already got plans for a few more ruffle fabric dresses for my older girls.

I couldn't get baby girl to pose wearing her new dress and wasn't up for a power struggle over a blog post, but she does like it and looks so cute in it!

Learning our Colors

So far our summer has been filled with as many indoor activities as I can dream up during the day, saving the outside time for the evenings when the temperature is more bearable for a cranky pregnant lady. This is one we did last week. I saw the idea on Pinterest, pinned from the blog Gluesticks... and thought it would be a good craft for the girls to help with as well as a fun way to have the older girls help baby girl learn her colors. I got the unfinished wood pegs and candle holder cups at Hobby Lobby. Even though they were pretty inexpensive to begin with, all their unfinished wood was 30% off last week... even better. The girls helped me paint all the solid colors and I finished the hair and faces after they were asleep. They've already had a lot of use. Now I just need to whip up a little drawstring bag to keep them together.

Maternity Solutions 5: One more dress

Just one more example of using two items to make one that fits the need. I found this shirt/tunic on clearance for $7 and, of course, bought two. Again, I used the bottom half of one to elongate the other. The busy, floral print hides the seam pretty perfectly.

The leftover top half is intended for a dress for my daughter with the pintucking detail that I am looking forward to incorporating into a bodice.

Maternity Solutions 4: Pants

During my first pregnancy I wore my regular pants for a long time using the rubber band trick. Now I find myself longing for the comfort of the full belly panel even before I'm truly showing. There are lots of cute maternity jeans/pants out there... even designer versions, but I also noticed a few DIY tutorials and thought I'd give it a try.

I had these white skinny jeans that had been really inexpensive but I hardly ever wore because I didn't really like the back pockets. They have a bit of stretch to them, so I thought they'd work well for this alteration. My favorite tutorial is on Grosgrain, here. She gives really great step-by-step instructions with pictures.

The one thing I did differently is that instead of making my own panel, I used a "Belly Band" that I already owned. I like the thinness, the stretch and smoothing support of this over a knit folded in half... and the panel doesn't slip down like a knit might. It also makes this alteration even easier. My favorite belly panels are from Forever21.com. Sadly they don't have them on the site as I'm posting this. They were only $7.80 each and are the most supportive, longest (covers the entire belly, not just up to the belly button leaving a line at your widest point) and definitely the most affordable ones I've found.

I think the most important step is to try on the band and the pants together before sewing, as Kathleen mentions, and make some marks where you will pin the two pieces together. You will want more of the panel in front than in back, as opposed to just attaching the band evenly. I was prepared to trash these pants if it didn't work out and was happy that it went together smoothly.

I recently saw a love/hate conversation about skinny jeans on Facebook and I had to laugh because those opposed to skinny jeans in general would certainly be appalled by my pregnant channeling of Tweedle-Dee or Tweedle-Dum here. I say to each his own. Whatever style you like, give your pregnant self the gift of being able to breathe and move without constantly hitching up your pants!