Toddler Apron

I have several fun dresses on my mind that I want to sew soon. But, first, I've been taking a little bit of a break from sewing. Sewing on a deadline can take it out of you a little. :) So, I'm catching up on some stuff and spending more time with my family, both things that got just a little bit ignored during the SYTYCS competition.  :)  (In case you haven't heard...I was eliminated in round 3, only one vote short of making the top 3.  That I got that far with my little bitty blog here is pretty amazing, so thank you everyone for your support!). I hope to start a skirt on my to-sew list in the next week, though.

But, I'm getting a little tired of seeing my pretty yellow dress at the top of my blog. :) So, I thought I'd post about this cute apron I made my 2-year-old niece for Christmas.

I love that cute food fabric (from Walmart!) and how the blue broadcloth pulls out the blue in the waistband.  And, it was super simple. It's just a gathered rectangle attached to a waistband. It probably took me 20 minutes. Don't you love super-quick projects? Instant gratification! :)

Too Cute Tutu

I have two nieces with birthdays this week! I'm not doing a homemade item for niece number 1 (there are just not enough hours in the day to do homemade for everybody...), but I did make this cute little tutu for the other birthday girl.

Her mom is doing a "dress up box" theme for birthday gifts this year and this tutu is my contribution to the dress up box. It's not too often that this mom of boys gets to make something so frilly and foofy. :)  I didn't even have anywhere girly to display it for the picture, so it's hung from the very BOY shelf in my youngest's bedroom.  :)  Please ignore the light switch in the picture.  It's hard to find spots in the house to hang a hanger on that have good lighting!

I just did the simple tutu where you loop lengths of spooled tulle around an elastic waistband.  It's nothing special, and I don't even have a source to link to, since this idea is so pervasive on the internet right now.  I've seen it a hundred different places.

I think it's cute, even if it's red and blue, not a more "fairy-like" color.  I think my soon to be 2 year old niece will like it, at least I hope she does!

Flower Hairclip Tutorial

My sister asked me to make my niece a few hairclips to go with her Easter Dress. Here's what I came up with:

She chose to wear the felt one.  Here is my sweet niece modeling the clip for me in a field of tulips:

Now, being a mom of only boys, I'm rather new to hairclips.  While getting ideas for the clips, I saw some ribbon flowers in the notions section at the fabric store, and thought I'd try to figure out how to make some like that out of my own ribbon.  Perhaps this is old news to you ladies out there who have little girls, but it's new to me.  :) 

This is the clip we'll be making today:

You'll need:

1 narrow green ribbon

1 medium grosgrain ribbon in your desired color

1 button

Needle and Thread

Hair clip

I’m sure you could use hot glue for this tutorial, but I found it to be easier with needle and thread.

1. Poke your needle through the end of your green ribbon.

2. Loop ribbon around to make a leaf shape, push needle through second layer.

3. Repeat on other side
4. Repeat steps 1 though 3 with the wider ribbon.

5. Keep adding loops until you like the look of your flower. I made 5 loops.

6. Add your button to the center of your flower. Sew button on, through all layers of ribbon.  Clip off any extra ribbon.
7. Cover your hair clip with ribbon, using hot glue.
8. You’re done! Now you have a cute hairbow for a sweet little girl in your life.