Fun Scrappy Dress

 I have to start off by saying this was one of the 

funnest projects I have done in a while.  

I wish that I came up with this clever idea but, 

alas I am short of original ideas as I spend too many hours up at night with a sick kids.  

I was searching online to find projects to re-purpose and up-cycle clothes and I stumbled upon this awesome dress from :

Cheri at I am Momma Hear me Roar.

 She was recently featured on Martha Stewart demonstrating how to contruct this dress.

Cheri shares quite a few re-purposing projects that you should go check out. 

Here are a few photos of my steps in re-creating the dress: 

 

 All of the girls were fighting over who got the dress.  So, it looks like I will be making more.  

 

 First gather all of your old t-shirts.  

 Pick a decent shirt for the top.  This works great with ones that have holes, snags, or stains on the bottom.

 Start stacking up the layers.  Play around with different colors and patterns.  This was the fun part.  I am pretty conservative with color and pattern mixing.  This was my chance to mix and match.:)  

 After you decide what shirts you are going to use, cut the top piece to fit under the breast. 

For a size 5T-6 dress I cut all of the additional strips 4" wide.  Keep the width the size of the t-shirts.  You will trim those up later.  Cheri gives a great tip: make your bottom piece the hem of one of your t-shirts so you don't have to hem it up later.  I love short cuts!

Here comes the fun part.  I have never painted fabric before.  I had some fabric paint collecting dust so a great chance to pull it out.  I used some foam stamps for stamping.  They worked great!  I have always been afraid that painting fabric had to look perfect but, I realized that if it looks faded it actually looks really cool and vintage.  I wanted that look for this project.  So, it worked great.

 I would recommend putting a piece of cardboard between the layers so it doesn't bleed through.

 Hanging to dry.  It took a couple of hours for it all to dry.

 Sew all of your strips together and trim off the excess.  

Line up the sewn dress strips to the top piece and trim down the sides.  Angle the cut out so they have room to walk and stretch the bottom.  Since I don't have a photo of this step check out 

Cheri's tutorial for more photos.

Sew the front and the back pieces together.  Then attach the bottom skirt to the top shirt piece.  

Then sew it together.  That is it!

I love how it turned out.  So fun and cute.  I love the freedom of painting your fabric.  It adds a unique look and my girls loved it! Ava all ready for school.  She couldn't wait to put it on this morning.

Such a fun and funky dress.  I am so glad for the great ideas that come from blog land to save me from my recent creative block.

I would encourage all of you to try this project. 
You could make a shorter version for a boy that would make a cool funky t-shirt. 
I had a lot of fun with this one--I hope you do too!

 -Julia

Braided Infinity Scarf

You see the infinity or a version of it everywhere.  I knew I had to try it for myself.  So I found a tutorial Here. Isn't she darling?

 

I put my own spin on it and used a t-shirt instead of fabric.

It makes for a fun accessory. You can get the basic design down and really do whatever you want with it.  I like how you make each one a little different from the next. 

So I am not a fan of self portraits.  I am not very good at it either.  You should see the outakes-okay maybe I will save myself the embarrassment.  So here are a couple of pictures of how I like to wear it.  I like it to be snug around my neck.  You could definitely let it hang without wrapping it.

 I have a bag of these wood beads and thought it would be fun to add one.  What do you think?

Would you like to make your own?  Here are some photos of the alterations I made to my scarf that differ from Nette.

 I used a 2 shirts I found a while back at Walmart for $2.00.

First I cut the hem off the bottom.

With one of the t-shirts I cut several 1" strips that I ended up braiding together.  After cutting you pull and stretch each strip as long as you can. Use as many strips to obtain the thickness of braid that you want.  I also used these strips to strand the wooden bead.

 Then I made a cut under the armpit of the shirt.  This will be the infinity scarf.  Cut off one of the seams and then stretch this piece out as much as you can.

After stretching you will want to follow the rest of the instructions on Nette for the infinity scarf.

 

 All done.  It took me about an hour start to finish.  I love projects like that don't you?

 -Julia

Headband and Bow Organizer

Five girls (including me)= A LOT of hair things.

Do any of you have a drawer like this full of headbands and other various hair things?  Well each of my girls has one.  It stresses me out every time I open the drawer.  I have tried many different types of organizational things but, they all end up back in this drawer.   A while back I came up with an idea that has helped us solve both our headband and clip dilemma.

 I have an old shutter obsession.  I have collected few over the years and have used them for various things around my house.  I realized one day that I could put my shutters to use with our hair things.  

The slats are PERFECT for displaying and holding headbands all I needed to do was add something at the bottom to display hair clips and bows.

Would you like to learn how you can make your own????

First you need to find some wood shutters.  My husband and I have found them at the Habitat Re-store.  I bought this shutter for $1 last month. 

So here is where I will strongly encourage you to check out your local Re-store before doing ANY home improvement projects.  You will find so many deals it will blow your mind!  If your local one doesn't have anything useful check out any neighboring towns to see if they have anything you would need.  We always stop at the Re-store when we travel.  We have saved hundreds of dollars on paint, light fixtures, wood, old windows, furniture, knobs, doors, drywall, insulation, solid oak molding, chairs---you name it we have found it there!  You just might have to look around a bit.

 Okay there I am off my soap box.:)

Now back to the project:

 Now after you have your shutters you are most likely going to have to scrub them up.  You will have to scrub them a lot.  I actually ended up taking mine inside to finish scrubbing with some hot water and a wire scrub brush.

  Then cut off 14" off of each end of the shutter.

 Here is what they looked like after cutting them.  I didn't sand them at this point because I planned to sand them after I painted. 

 Now pick your spray paint colors.  I did 3 different colors for our different rooms. I have spray painted a lot over the years.  I have a preference of spray paint and that is Valspar which you can find at Lowes.  It is a little more expensive but, it sprays on so nicely and I have to apply fewer coats.  Krylon is also a nice brand but, in my experience I always have to apply an extra coat compared to Valspar.  

For this project I did a total of 3 layers of paint (4 with the Krylon brand).  Always allow each layer of paint to dry before applying another coat.

 

Here they are after my paint was done drying.

 Now on to sanding.  I like to rough up my paint a bit.  I don't have a certain technique that I use.  I just sand by hand until I get the look and the texture I want for each project. Since the base of the shutters is black I just sanded lightly until I reached that layer.  I wanted the black to pop through.  Definitely sand until you get the look you want.

 A closer look at my sanding.

 Then I picked my ribbon color.  I used a 7/8" thick grosgrain ribbon.  I would recommend using a sturdy ribbon so it can hold all of your bows and clips.

I cut 5 pieces of  ribbon to be 14" long.  I wanted to end up with about a foot of hanging ribbon.  I then singed or sealed the end of the ribbon by burning the tip of it with a lighter.  Then I thread it through the bottom slat.

 Then apply your adhesive-I used hot glue.  After applying the glue press the glue side to the under side of the long piece of ribbon.  Repeat that 5 times or as many ribbons you have to attach.

 Then I threaded a large yarn needle with the grosgrain ribbon.  This will be used to thread through the top holes of the shutter.   My shutters already had holes drilled in the top and the bottom so it made it easy thread the ribbon through.  The ribbon on top will be used to hang your shutter once you are done.  So measure your desired length---mine was about a foot long (I trimmed a little off once I got it on my wall so it didn't hang so low).  Make sure you tie knots to secure the ribbon like pictured below.

 There you have it!  Doesn't that look nice and organized?  I love how it displays everything in plain sight--easy to find.

Now as I give my sigh of relief that all our hair things are nicely and neatly organized I  realize I space for a few more headbands.  I think I will get to making a few more for my girly girls....

-Julia

Repurposing a Sweater to a Dress

 I bought this sweat a year ago at the Salvation Army.  I knew I wanted to do something with it just wasn't sure what.  A few days ago I got my inspiration.  So this sweater went from this...

 To this.  I followed the advice from this Make it and Love it to construct the dress.  I made a few changes with the sleeve length, collar, and I changed the buttons up.

 I have to be honest I LOVE how it turned out!

To make the hat:

I simply drew out my pattern and with the remaining wool on the sweater I cut it out.  I added a lining to the hat out of an old pink t-shirt I had laying around.  Since it is wool I didn't want it to scratch Olivia's skin.  I then sewed it all together inside out.  When you are done sewing flip it right side out to add the rest.

I hand stitch the pom-poms to the little ear things.  You can find the pom-pom tutorial here.  See I told you could find all sorts of things to do with pom-poms.:)  Then I braided 20 strands of yarn and stitched the ties to the sides of the hat.

 And that is it!  I am sorry I love those pom-poms.  They make me want to eat her up!

I am in love with this little dress!  I have a little bit of the wool sweater left and I think I am going to make some matching boots.  If I can pull it off I will post a tutorial later.

Now go find an old sweater and create a fun and unique dress for your little one!  This project is too easy and fun not to try!

-Julia

Arm/Leg Warmers

Okay, so yesterday I showed you how to attach socks to an existing t-shirt.  Today I am going to show you how simple it is to make socks into arm warmers.  Arm warmers are great for your older kids.  They  can pick and choose which warmer they want to wear with their favorite shirt.

 They are so easy to make and I am pretty addicted to making them.  This is only half of what I have made so far.  I have also found that you can make these out of cotton tights.  My girls have so many tights with holes in the crotch or toe.  So, instead of letting them going to waste you can use them for these little cuties!

Here is what you do:

1.  Follow the first step I showed you yesterday --cutting your sock--.  If you are using tights you will be making 2 cuts.  One cut like yesterday (at the ankle) and another cut at the knee or mid-thigh depending on how long you want your arm/leg warmer.

2.  Press over the raw edge 1/2" for hemming.  If you are using tights you will press both sides for hemming (you will have 2 raw edges).

 3.  Sew the hem. I tried a couple of different stitches.  I sewed a few with a straight stitch and then a few with a zig-zag stitch.  I would recommend sewing with a zig-zag stitch for more "give" with the stretch fabric.

 That's it you're done!  Have your kiddos grab a couple and they are ready to go!  I shot these right before school today.  My 5 year told me she felt like a rock star.

Perfect for chubby little thighs too. 

 See how easy?  You too will have a house full of happy customers!

-Julia