"Baby Legs"

Have you ever heard of or used (for your little ones) "Baby Legs"? They are basically leg warmers for babies, and they are awesome! They make diaper changing a little quicker since you don't have to pull pants down and put them back on. And for little girls, they work well in place of tights! From what I hear, they can be a little expensive... so why not make your own?! (This is not my original idea. I have seen a bunch of different way to make them, and I've combined the methods I liked best!)

So here's my favorite way to make Baby Legs!

What you need:

Long/knee high socks

scissors

sewing machine

thread

First, cut off the heel and the toe of your sock.

You will just need the leg and the foot part... you can tell I got impatient and wanted to just sew the striped pair because I just stopped taking pictures!

Take the foot part of the sock and fold it in half (wrong sides together) so the cut/raw ends are matched up.

Now, insert the leg part of the sock in the middle of the folded foot tube you just made. You will be sewing through 3 layers of material. At this point you can pin the pieces in place OR if you're impatient, you can just skip the pinning. You can tell the path I chose...

Onto the machine! Use the zigzag stitch since you're sewing stretchy knit fabric OR if you have a serger (I wish!), that would be even better!

I could pretend that I used a contrasting colored thread to show you what I did... but the truth is I was once again impatient and didn't want to switch out the thread... do you see a trend here??

Flip the folded part up, and guess what! That's it!

You can literally make a pair 5 minutes or less. It's probably the easiest sewing project ever. And these will fit baby girl for quite awhile! Right now she wears them scrunched up so she has plenty of length to grow!

PayPay modeling her "Baby Legs"! Oh, and her skirt? You can find it here at Delia Creates. Another VERY easy sewing project! It's made from an old T-shirt! I'm a HUGE fan of refashioning/upcycling clothes!

That's all for today! Happy Wednesday!

One Saturday Morning...

What do you do on a Saturday morning when you're tired and just want to go back to bed?

Take pictures of your fluffy-haired, sleepy little girl...

...and your full-of-energy, silly badilly Parker-man...

...and make the coolest paper airplanes...

...ever made in the history of mankind!!

It's probably because I grew up in a house of sisters (meaning barbies, dolls, playing house and school, etc...) but I didn't know it was so easy to make paper airplanes that fly really well!! I thought Parker would be impressed... but he kind of just wanted to tear them up. Oh well. I was excited about them!

Here are the tutorials I used:

Happy Saturday!

Easy Fabric Flower!

It's hard to turn down new accessories. It's even harder to turn it down when it's free. If you can make it yourself... best case scenario. Let's get down to it...

What you need:

Lace Trim (or long strip of ruffled fabric)

Coordinating felt

button(s)

velcro

scissors

glue gun

Headband/hair clip/bobby pin/etc.

Get an idea of how big you want your fabric flower. Start with a small dab of glue and press the end down. Place a skinny strip of glue in an arc and begin to press down the lace trim in little folds to give the flower texture. Keep gluing small lengths at a time and spiral the lace inward. The closer together you glue the layers (as you spiral inward) the fuller your flower will be!

Once you reach the middle, cut the strip and glue it down. Don't worry too much about how it looks when you finish it off because it will be covered!

Just a finished view of the flower:

Next, carefully cut around the felt on backside of the flower, and glue one side of the velcro to the middle of the felt. (Not pictured)

Choose a button (or a group of buttons) to glue in the middle, and if you realize your flower is way too big... trim off some of the lace!

Once the glue on the velcro is cool, attach your flower to a headband...

or a pin...

...and pin it to your jacket or cardigan (or purse)...

...or attach it to a hair clip!

Obviously you could just glue the flower directly to a clip or headband or whatever, but I found it fun to be able to change it up!

If you felt the need to make it "classier" or you have a longer amount of time, you could always use a needle and thread to create your fabric flower!

I made mine pretty big but you could also make a couple of smaller ones and group them together. I would love to see yours if you try it out!!

Happy accessorizing!

No-sew DIY Maxi Skirt!

Shopping for maternity clothes is a little hard where we live... I truthfully don't NEED anything between mine and Rox's maternity stashes, BUT who doesn't like something new every once in a while?? SO. I found this DIY on Pinterest (via Lauren's pinboard, thanks!!).

I couldn't start from scratch since our local fabric store doesn't sell knit fabric, and I can hardly ever make it to JoAnn's in Southaven. So, I did the next best thing and headed to Goodwill! I was hoping I could find any old long knit dress that I could alter or just use the fabric... what I found was SO much better:

A long, knit shirred-top maxi dress!! What?? The dress is in REALLY good shape, and it was the perfect size for a preggo belly! So here's what I did:

I knew I needed an elastic waistband for comfort and easy entry (that's a weird way to say it, but you know what I mean...) just like my other DIY skirt that I blogged about here. I folded the shirred top under so the top became a thick waistband (or in my case, an above-the-belly band).

I found this long knit sash in a box of random old belts and scarves from years and years ago. Sometimes it's good to hoard things. Right?? Don't answer that... I'll just move on.

I tied the old knit sash around my thrifted long maxi dress-turned-skirt and...

Here's the end result! (Just disregard the dumb face... I couldn't post another hand-on-the-hip picture... so this is what you get.) I just paired it with a simple, fitted knit shirt and...

I wore it to church with a cropped cardigan since it's FINALLY fall and it was actually a tiny bit chilly outside! And that's all. The absolute easiest DIY ever.

If I were un-pregnant (is that a word?), I assume the shirred-top dress may not stay up as easily... I think all I would have done differently is add a couple belt loops to the waistband to keep a sash or belt in place. But this could totally be a regular skirt, too! Look here and here for a couple of non-pregnant maxi skirts that look great!

DIY: Dress to Skirt Re-fashion

I've told a few people that I will post of some of my sewing ventures... here's my most recent one!

One of my absolute favorite sewing projects is sewing clothes for myself. Selfish, yes?? It's just SO easy to do, and it definitely saves money. The EASIEST way to sew for yourself is to take a piece of clothing and tweak it. No cutting out tons of pieces of fabric. Not a ton of measuring. No need to hem, most of the time. It's so, so fun to "go shopping" in your own closet for clothes that you don't wear much anymore and just play around on the sewing machine to create a brand new piece for yourself (or little ones!). Shopping at the thrift store is another cheap and easy way to find clothes to re-fashion. Anyway... on to the project!

As most of you know, we are due with Parker's baby sister December 2nd so I'm dealing with an ever-growing belly. I decided to go digging in my maternity box for this fun project. I found a big, frumpy, tent-of-a-dress. I actually loved this dress when I was pregnant with Parker, but I was a little bigger this far along in my first pregnancy than I am right now... hence the tent-like shape. I wanted a little more updated look so I decided to turn it into a high-waisted "paper bag" -type skirt:

My first step was to cut off the neckline and sleeves. Straight across.

Next, I turned the skirt portion inside out, pulled it up around my waist, and tested out a good length. Once I decided the length I wanted, I folded the top portion down where I wanted it to hit (at my waist, at least what's left of it) and pinned it all the way around. (Before you pin, you can always iron down the fold to give it a nice, crisp edge.) I made sure to measure the same length from the fold to the raw edge so the length would be even.

**Sidenotes: I didn't need to add length in the front for my skirt because the dress was already a maternity dress. Also, you can tell I'm dealing with a BUNCH Of extra material where I folded the skirt over. I decided to wait to cut off the extra material just in case I decided to change the length after trying it on. Finally, you may have noticed that I didn't hem the raw edge... this dress is made of a knit material which doesn't fray! No need to worry about hemming when it won't fray and no one will see it! :)

The next image is just to show you about how far down from the fold I made my stitch to end up giving it a little bit of a paper bag skirt feel.

Next, you will make another stitch around the top of the skirt to create a tube for your elastic. My elastic is about 3/4 inch to an inch wide, and I just wrapped it around my waist to measure the length. (Remember to overlap it by at least a half inch to an inch so you can secure it together at the end.) I just used my elastic as a marker to see how far down I needed to make my second stitch and made a mark with a pin.

Go ahead and sew the second stitch. Mark all way around the skirt with pins to sew an even tube OR you can use the metal plate as a guide like I did in the picture below. REMEMBER to leave a gap the width of your elastic between where you start and finish your stitch so you can thread the elastic through!

Here's the gap:

The easiest way to thread elastic through a tube is to attach a safety pin to one end and push it through. Trust me, you will end up spending an hour trying to push the elastic through on its own!

In the picture below, I think I was trying to show you the extra fabric I cut off and the elastic I was threading through the tube... not a vital step... but in case you wondered what this step looked like, here it is:

ALMOST DONE! Once the elastic is all the way through you need to sew the elastic together. Don't worry. No one will see this, so do whatever it takes to make it secure. I usually sew a box and an 'X' through it a couple times...

Finally, (and I didn't show you because it's self-explanatory) sew along the gap you left for the elastic and turn the skirt right side out! That's all. If you want to cut a piece of fabric for a sash, you could do that at this point, or just wear a belt over cinched part. OR not... it would look great without either! Here's the final product paired with a loose shirt and a belt:

The great part about this skirt is that it will fit me until at least close to the end of the pregnancy! Another great thing? This tutorial works for you non-maternity wearing peeps. You may wear it a little differently since you probably have a waist, but the steps are just the same!

Kyle decided to do a photo shoot. Here are his lack of photography skills paired with my lack of modeling skills:

Pose #1:

Pose #2:

Pose #3:

Now that I've embarrassed myself, I will finish this forever long post... Here's a tutorial for another Paper Bag skirt tutorial and a high-waisted maternity skirt DIY. If you want to sew for yourself, this a great place to start! Let me know if you try it out! :)

Brought to you today by the letter 'R'...

I got the itch to create the other day. That's what pinterest does to me. I'm obsessed. I truthfully didn't even see anything specifically that had me wanting to do a certain project... but my jigsaw was calling my name. I haven't used it in a while, and I KNEW we had scrap wood enough to do something fun! I absolutely LOVE the letter trend... but I HATE buying wooden/cardboard letters because they can be expensive.

I've made two homemade "monograms" (is that what you call them?) already, but they're just... eh.

This one I made using just a square piece of wood. I painted it brown then painted the white R... and then distressed it a bit. Nothin' too special...

I like this one a little better... and it took a little longer to make. I traced an 'R' onto a piece of cardboard and used an exacto knife to cut it out. I did that 3 more times and hot-glued all four pieces one on top of the other. I Mod Podged torn-up book pages all along the side of the 'R' to cover up the cardboard. Then, I painted a piece of cardstock with the design (which I just found online and copied... nothin' special..) and cut and Mod Podged it on top. That's all! And it was FREE. I had everything on hand already!

I wanted a bigger one though!

And obviously the bigger they get, the more expensive they are. Of course, I've wanted a big one for awhile to group together with empty pictures frames or even to hang on the front door in place of a wreath. I had a scrap piece of particle (or partical...) board that was about a foot tall, and I just knew it was meant to be. I free-handed an 'R' with a pencil (not sure what font you would call that... it's kinda wonky... so wonky font it is.), and I got to cutting with the jigsaw. I sanded down the edges to make the lines a little cleaner, sprayed a few coats of spray paint (the color is "Ivy Leaf", I think...), and...

There she is! I'm pretty proud. Obviously it would have been better if I printed out the letter and traced it on the particle board, but we don't have a printer... so I made do. I have big plans for my new letter. I hope to have it done later today! I'll keep you updated.

A Fun, Easy Project!

Now that life has calm down a little bit, I have gotten really excited about being able to pay more attention to making our house feel more like a home! First on our list was cleaning up weeks and weeks of neglect... as in about 8 loads of laundry, cleaning out the fridge, clearing out messy closets, dusting, sweeping, mopping, etc., etc., etc............... those things were not that exciting, but I KNEW that had to happen before I could have a little fun with re-decorating!

My very sweet Mother-in-law gave Kyle and I a really nice entry table with matching mirror as a house-warming gift when we moved into this house almost 2 years ago! (I can't believe it's been that LONG!) I have LOVED it, and the table is still serving its purpose well on our entry wall. I decided to move things around a little bit and decided that I LOVE my old, chippy window over the table instead of the mirror. SO...what to do with the fabulous mirror? I couldn't find a place for it as it is so in comes the PROJECT!

What I used:

Mirror frame

PDF board (it was already cut to size as it was used to back the mirror)

Krylon Satin spray paint in Almond

Acrylic Chalkboard paint

(My BEFORE picture includes a little bit of spray paint already applied...I'm TERRIBLE at remembering before pictures!)

First on the list was to spray paint the frame... I planned on distressing my frame a little bit once it was dry so I was too worried about the right number of coats to do.

While the frame was drying, I worked on the chalkboard paint. The acrylic paint takes at least two coats to completely cover it with an hour of drying time in between. I hear the chalkboard spray paint is even better (and easier) to use so hopefully I can actually find some next time I need it!

Once the frame was covered to my liking and dry, I took my electric sander to it. I was hoping to hit the corners and the raised detail as unevenly as possible to give it a naturally distressed look.

Here's a close look of the details...

Trying to show off the distressed look...

Once everything's just right, put your frame back together. Now you have a new chalkboard! Use it as a welcome sign, a message board, or maybe just a fun thing for your kids to play with!