Tshirt dress tutorial

If you love a t-shirt, then this is the dress for you. I buy t-shirts everytime I see them on sale at Target for less that $4 because I can never have too many T's. This red one was $3.50 and I decided to try and make it into a fun summer dress. I am lacking a few pictures, but hopefully this will make sense. I am also hoping I shrink into this one because I still have some belly baby weight to lose. It is way comfy though...

You need a t-shirt

fabric for the skirt (I used a yard with some left over, but you need to get enough to go around your widest part + about 15 extra inches)

elastic that goes around your waist nicely

and about half a yard of coordinating fabric (please ignore the zebra print above...I thought I might use it to get a little funky, but didn't)

Set your t-shirt and t-shirt scrap aside for later. Next you are going to press a 1/2 inch seam to your skirt fabric and sew the elastic under it. You pull the elastic gently while you are stitching. The elastic is mega important because it is needed to stretch the fabric or you will NOT be able to get the fabric over your head and body.
Please ignore my nasty ironing board cover...I definitely need a new one!

Now you are going to go ahead and sew your hem and the side seams.

And you are ready to stitch the skirt part to the t-shirt. Make sure that you have the skirt part going up the t-shirt with the right sides togethermatching the side seams as well. This is hard to describe, but the neckline of the shirt should be somewhat near the hem...make sense?? I baste first and tried it on to make sure it was where I want it on my waist and then it is sewn on straight. Then I went back and stitched over it. I have been known to use my seam ripper too much so better to be safe than sorry .

If you want a high waisted dress than you can skip the sash. I cut 2 peices that were 6 inches X 44 inches. I sewed them together to make 6x88 inches then folded in half, pressed and stitched right sides together. Then turn it out.
I sewed the ends up the lazy way and stitched them closed and cut them with the pinking shears.

There are lots of good tutorials for fabric flowers out there. I kind of did a wonky job on mine, but if you are interested let me know and maybe I can try it again taking pics along the way. :-)

Ask if you have any questions...I am still a beginner at tutorial writing, but I hope you will enjoy this comfy ensemble.

Wipes Case

You need to be a glue gun artist with this project, which I am not and have the blisters to prove it. All in all I like the way it came out. I hadn't made a wipes case like this one before but thought it would be a prefect addition in the smaller baby bag my Mom made me (below.)
Isn't it so cute? So far I am still hauling the huge bag around that I made, but I am looking forward to lightening my load soon, hopefully.

Two days in a row, Jemma has napped like a champ and given me the chance to play around again. I hope this becomes the new normal.

Decoupage with Fabric

My awesomely crafty sis-in-law made this adorable jewelry box for Jemma's room. She used some of the left over fabric, and to top it off she and my mom and my sister put an engraved bracelet in it for her. I love it!

And it inspired me because a friend of mine asked me to make some letters for her son's nautical room. I hadn't really thought about using fabric until Maegan made the box. Then I was like "duh" because I was unable to find any cute "nautical" scrapbooking papers, but I did find some cute fabric...and I LOVE fabric.

So here are Bretton's letters (cute name, huh?). They turned out a bit rough around the edges, but I think on the wall they are really going to pop.

The best part about using fabric is that you can sew stuff with the leftovers, so he is getting a little tag lovey too. I hope they like it. It feels good to be back in the craft room. My son saw me sewing and said, "Mommy, you haven't sewed in forever." Having a third kid has been a hard adjustment. I can't even find time to go to the bathroom let alone craft. Slow progress, but I am going to get back to it all someday hopefully soon. I have a tutorial for another dress in the works. I am aiming high.

Easing Back into Crafting

End of the year and graduation gifts were calling my name so I have been easing back into things. These are such inexpensive things to make, but I love how you can make them personal and unique for each person. I opened my etsy shop back up, but haven't added anything new just yet. I hope to soon.