My Stuff is Ruffled!

tRuffles and tEa

Yea! I have been waiting all month to post my Ruffle Your Stuff submission! I can't believe March is almost over. Where does the time go?

Anyway...

When Disney from Ruffles and Stuff announced her competition would be to Ruffle Your Stuff I immediately thought of the my nieces and how fun it would be to have a tea party! I have four nieces (one of them is 11 and didn't participate...preteens:)) and two girls of my own. What is better than 5 little girls wearing ruffles, sipping tea, eating treats and having a great time?! My idea was born...tRuffles and tEa. I was off to the drawing board to design and make dresses, props and accessories for the party...all with ruffles of course! I used two of my favorite fabric designers for my projects...Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner. I LOVE their style and working with their fabric.

I used different kinds of ruffles, appliques, covered buttons, buttons, ruffled flowers, pockets and designer 6 thread as a detail. I loved seeing the girls get their dresses. They all seemed so excited to get dressed and play tea party!

The girl's dresses...

Clara's dress is a double layered skirted onesie complete with a ruffled bum! There is also a ruffled flower accent with covered button and the shirt.

Payton's dress is adapted from the sweet dress pattern.

It's covered in six layer's of ruffles, a sash and ruffled flower. Each ruffle was serged on both sides using a bright pink thread.

Carson's dress is made from attaching 4 layers of ruffles to a yellow t-shirt and has a ruffled flower accent with a covered button. I also sewed on some flowered buttons under the neckline. I used yellow designer 6 thread to serge the edges of the bottom ruffle and top ruffle as well as the flower. I love the shimmer it gives to the dress.

Paige's dress is adapted from Lil Blue Boo's halter pattern. I added three layers of ruffles and an applique of a butterfly and flower from the fabric.

I love bubble skirts and dresses! Avery's bubble skirt is light and comfortable. It has two ruffled pockets and her t-shirt has a matching ruffled initial "A". I thought it would be perfect to wear with a pair of jeans.

and hair accessories. No outfit is complete without them!

I used Anna Maria Horner's fabric for the dresses and accessories.

I chose to use Amy Butler's Love fabric line for the table decor. It is so bright and beautiful!

Ruffled initial placemats...

2 fat quarters will make two placemats or a placemat, napkin and ruffled ring. Tutorial is coming soon!

with matching napkins and ruffled napkin ring holders.

Every tea room needs a chandelier...ours is made of ruffles and pearls...Rufflelier

It was super quick and easy to make...Tutorial HERE!

The girls had a fabulous time!

They ate...

The table cloth is made from Amy Butler's Love laminate fabric line.

Played...

Hung out...

and Enjoyed each other's company.

Yea for cousins!

I don't know who had more fun...me or the girls!

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to Disney for hosting Ruffle Your Suff!

The Skirted Onesie: A Tutorial

I love skirted onesies!

They are cute, comfortable and you can do so much with them as far as style and embellishing goes! I have made gameday onesies, onesies with ruffles, appliques, embroidery, layers, etc.

Take a look...

I made this skirted onesie from an old, stained dress. I love making some old into something new!

Materials: Old dress or fabric (a fat quarter will work), rotary board, rotary cutter, sewing machine, coordinating thread, and onesie

First, decide where you want the skirt to fall. If you want an empire/babydoll style skirted onesie you are going to cut the onesie an inch or so under the arm. I chose to cut my onesie a few inches above the hip.

I usually use my rotary cuter, but it broke:( So I used my trusty scissors.

I cut the dress right under the smocking.

Sewed right sides together and finished the edges with a serger or you can zig zag stitch.

Sewed a gathering stitch and gathered.

Then take the top portion of your onesie and the skirt. Turn the skirt inside out and stick the onesie inside the skirt like so....then pin.

And sew.

Then take the skirt and top portion of the onesie (they are now attached) and bring the skirt so that it is laying on top of the onesie like in the picture above. Next take the bottom portion of the onesie and turn it inside out and slip it over the skirt (make sure that the bum part is facing the correct direction or you could end up with the bum in the front).

And sew. Finish with zig zag stitch.

Now to embellish! I thought the edging around the arm holes would make cute flowers for the onesie so I cut them out.

Here they are! I cut each one in half.

Then I took a piece of scrap from the dress and used it as a backing to sew the flower.

Then I pinned it to the skirt and top of the onesie and sewed!

And here it is...Again! But this time it's on my lil' Giggle Box!

Happy Birthday to LiLi!

We are off to a three year old birthday this afternoon! In honor of the birthday girl I made her a shirt dress and some lil leggings. I bought the t-shirt at Target and embellished it with some jersey knit fabric I got at JoAnn's a while back. I love all the ruffles! I also added an "L" for LiLi and a sweet lil fabric flower on the shoulder.

Two reasons I love handmade gifts...

1. They are personal and one of a kind!

2. They show thought, energy and time were spent to create something special.

I packaged it up...

and we are off!

Enjoy Miss LiLi and Happy Birthday!

Cover-up REMIX

click HERE and scroll down for REMIX tutorial

Tutorial: Terry Cloth Changing Pad Cover to Cover-Up

I am sure I'm not the only one that feels like they are constantly cleaning and switching out kid's clothes for bigger sizes. While doing so, I found a changing pad cover that my eldest giggle box had when she was a baby (I got a new one for little giggle box). It was still in great shape so I thought hmmm what can I do with this? I know...a cover up/shower rob!

So...we are going from this

to this!

Materials: Rotary board, Rotary cutter, Ruler, disappearing ink pen, scissors, sewing machine, and thread

Optional: serger

First I cut the corners so that the cover would lay flat.

Then I folded the cover in half and cut down each side.

Then I unfolded it and cut down the middle so I had two pieces. I also cut two pieces for the straps (10x4.5), and two pockets. For the pockets make a template from paper measuring 3x3.5. Line the top of the pocket up with the elastic of one of the scrap pieces. Next trace around the template with a disappearing in pen. Now that all your pieces are cut you can get started sewing!

Straps Pocket Template

Put right sides together and pin down one side. Then sew. Finish off the edge with a serger. You can use a zig zag stitch if you do not have a serger.

Snip Corner

Next use your serger around the bottom of the cover up. Again use a zig zag stitch if you do not have a serger.

Next measure who you are making the cover up for. My GB measured 20 inches around her chest right under her arms. I made sure that the cover up fit her perfectly before sewing the other side. Put right sides back together, pin, sew down that side, and finish with seger/zig zag stitch. Snip the corner just like on the other side. Press the seams.

Now for the straps and the pockets. Fold the straps and press wrong sides together. Then use serger/zig zag stitch around each strap.

Next, serg/zig zag around pockets.

Pin straps and pockets to cover up. Find the center of the cover up and pin the straps about 2 inches from the center in the front. In the back pin straps about 1.5 inches from the center. If you want them a little closer move each strap in .5 inch.

For the pockets pin about 2 inches from the side of the cover up.

Sew

And Enjoy! You are finished!

Keep it white...

or Embellish

Either way your little GB will love it!

Changing Pad Cover to Cover-Up REMIX

Many of my projects become projects themselves. This one was no different. I altered the original cover-up to suit my 2 and a half year old. Carson is into dressing herself. I guess not just dressing herself, but doing EVERYTHING herself. She is a broken record..."I can do it by myself." I hear that phrase in my sleep, like I am sure many of you do:) So, the original cover-up was difficult for her to get over her head.

I cut up the middle of the back so she could put it on without going over her head.

Then I measured around the edges (50 in.), multiplied it by 1.5 (75in), and cut two 4 in. strips.

Sew the two 4 in. strips together, press seam and fold over and press

I used a gathering stitch and left a long string at the end to make gathering a bit easier, pulled the bottom thread to make the ruffle. Don't pull too hard. It may break and that is frustrating! Then you have to start over...so go slow.

Then lay the ruffle on top of the edge of the cover up so the raw edges line up, pin the ruffle and sew (sew above the gathering stitch). After you are finished sewing pull the gathering stitch out. Serge or Zig Zag stitch around the edge.

Next I chose a button, made a button hole, and sewed on the button.

If you don't want to do a button you could do velcro.

And we're done! Yay. I think I will leave well enough alone:)

Sneak peak for the next tutorial...