Christmas Stockings

I LOVE Christmas! The moment we start pulling out the boxes of decorations and put on the music, I just get downright giddy :) I love the baking and the wrapping, planning our picture for the cards, shopping, etc, etc, etc.... I LOVE IT ALL! One thing I didn't love so much were our cheap fuzzy red and white stockings. How's a kid supposed to know on Christmas morning which stocking is theirs if they all look alike? Every year I vowed to make them stockings that were distinctly theirs, and this year I finally did it. And.... Here they are!

I followed this super easy tutorial I found on Pinterest, and I think they turned out so cute!! I made one for each of the kids and then decided that The Professor and I each needed one that coordinated with theirs. I love that mine is made from all of the different fabrics.

I can finally add stockings to the list of things that I LOVE at Christmas :) Now to make something super cute to hang them on since we don't have a mantle.

$2.00 Dress

I came across a tip the other day on The Polka Dot Chair where she suggested using sheets to sew with. While this may be a no brainer to some of you, honestly it had never occured to me. So when I was browsing through the Sunday ads and saw that a local department store had some sheet sets on sale I ran right out and bought 2 sets. From one twin set I've estimated that I will be able to make at least 5 outfits, and since the whole set was only $10.00, than I just made Penny a dress for $2.00. That's not too bad.

The pattern I used was Simplicity 5226. This was a super simple dress to make and would have taken me much less time if I hadn't made some rookie mistakes. I'll definitely be using this pattern again. I did make this intending for it to be an everyday play dress, but I almost think it's too pretty for her to get dirty.

Matching Dresses for the Girls

So here's the real reason my kids didn't have cute matching outfits for Easter. I've been working on these for a few weeks and finally got them finished yesterday. I picked up several yards of these coordinating fabrics on clearance a while back at Jo-Ann's and had just enough to make these three dresses. I think they turned out pretty cute. The girl's just love them and couldn't wait to wear them to church today.

For Penny's, I used McCall's M4427 pattern. I bought it about seven years ago, so I don't even know if it's still around. The pattern just has the plain bodice and the coordinating band at the bottom. I thought that was a little too plain, and I needed a way to bring in the blue fabric, so using some ideas from this blog, I added the ruffle to the top part of the dress. I love how this dress turned out!

For Peanut's dress, the pattern I used was Simplicity 5695. I love this pattern because it was so easy to use, and it's really basic, so with a few changes you could use it over and over again and have a completely different looking dress each time. I'll definitely be using this one again. I do think her's turned out a little big and for some reason it reminds me of a muumuu, but I like it anyway. I think the big bold print was definitely the right pick for Peanut's dress, and her personality.

And finally, for Patty's dress the pattern I used was Simplicity 2677. Her dress was slightly more challenging than Peanut's, but overall not bad. This was the first time I had ever used bias tape, and only the second time I've ever had to put in a zipper. Zipper's still aren't my favorite things to sew, but I'm always surprised at how much easier it is than I think it's going to be. I think with a little more practice I won't think twice about adding one to a garment. The only thing I had trouble with was the sleeves. I still don't know what I was doing wrong, but I eventually just decided to leave them off and do the sleeveless version of the dress. She loves it, and I think it turned out pretty cute.

A Little Something From The Scraps

If you read my last post, you saw that I made Patty a quilt for her doll bed. I had quite a bit of scraps left over from the bedding, so I threw together this skirt for Patty.

I know enough about basic sewing that I did this without a pattern. I think it turned out O.K. I definitely learned some things I would do differently next time, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. I do need to figure out an easy way to put in a lining (after the fact) since I forgot to put one in the skirt when I made it.

I also obviously need to get her a shirt that matches, but since it refuses to warm up around here, I haven't gone shopping for summer t-shirts yet. I can't for the life of me get this girl to wear pants, so I figured I'd just make her a wardrobe of a bunch of skirts and sundresses for the summer and buy some colored t-shirts to mix and match.

Doll Bedding

I finally got around to making the bedding for the Farmhouse Bed the Professor made for Patty's American Girl doll. The Professor doesn't do a lot of woodworking, and he said the bed was really easy to make. You can find the instructions to make your own here.

Now, on to the bedding. I came across this great online tutorial for the bedding at From an Igloo. She has a tutorial for the fitted sheet, pillows and pillowcases, and the reversible quilt. I found the instructions to be very straightforward and easy to follow. Patty just loves how it turned out. I think the tiny little pillow cases are my favorite part :)

Felt Treasure Map

Lately my kids favorite thing to play is pirates. "Arrgh matey" & "Ahoy Captain" have become everyday phrases around here. So the other day when Petie asked me if I could draw him a treasure map, I jumped at the chance to do something creative. Knowing that a paper treasure map would be destroyed by my kids in about 2 seconds, I decided to use something slightly more substantial, and grabbed my stash of felt.

This was the result! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. The only problem is I only made one and so there is constantly a fight over who gets to use the map. He insisted that his island have a skull cave on it. He's such a boy!

Schooling & Sewing Superhero Style

We started out our school week last week doing some Presidents Day activities, but for the rest of the week, I did a Superhero theme with Petie. He had a lot of fun with this one. We used the Batman Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1 for the bulk of our activities. I also printed up some simple words for Petie to read and make Superhero sentences. Here he is sounding out See Doctor Octopus cut the power lines. For the harder words like Doctor Octopus and power lines I would use pictures for him to fill in the blanks with.

Other examples of sentences we did were:

Get the net to nab ______.

_______ is a bad man.

Go the the ______ at six.

For filling in the blanks I found images online and used them for words like Spiderman, Superman, The Penguin, Batcave, Batmobile, Bridge, etc... I had tons of simple words, so there were numerous sentence combinations. Petie does not get excited when I bring out his reading book to read, but he loved this hands on way of practicing reading.

I also made him a reversible cape using this tutorial. He has had so much fun rescuing every person and stuffed animal in the house from impending danger.

And then there's this little monkey who thinks she has superhero abilities as well. As long as she's doing this off the arm of the couch and not the top of the bunk bed, I think I'm ok with it.

We had a discussion about superheroes and the different powers each one had and so on. I then asked Petie who was the most powerful, super protector he could think of. Patty suggested God as the answer (the answer I was looking for of course), but Petie promptly ruled Him out suggesting that God couldn't be a superhero because He doesn't have a cape. I try, I really do.

Christmas Outfits - A Sneak Peek

You have no idea how thrilled I am to be DONE with these outfits! I think they turned out great! I used the tutorial HERE for the skirts, with just a slight modification. (I didn't have time to hand stitch the waistband to the skirt.)

I also thought the ruffle at the bottom would be a little overwhelming on Penny's skirt, so I just left it off. I used the tutorial HERE for the shirts. This reverse applique was so easy to do! I'll definitely be doing this again in the future.

And for Petie's bow tie, I used the tutorial HERE. I actually make him two, one out of the green fabric, and one out of the red, because I didn't know which one I would like better. (I like the green.) This tutorial was so easy, I was able to make both bow ties in less than an hour!

Bribery Sewing

I know, it's shameful, but sometimes parents have to resort to bribery for the good of the family. We recently had to move Peanut back into her toddler bed after we had already moved her to a "big girl bed". We weren't sure how she would feel about this "downgrade", so in order to get her to agree, I promised I would make her a special pillow case. I don't know if I made her this offer because I thought it would help in the transition, or if it was because I needed a sewing project. It was probably the latter, but she was happy either way. So, here's how it turned out.

I had this really adorable bug print flannel I had picked up at JoAnn's one Christmas for $1 a yard. I had planned on making a baby blanket with it, but never got around to it. To make the pillow case I followed this tutorial with a few modifications. I didn't quite have enough of the bug fabric, so I was only able to use it for the front. I did have this coordinating striped fabric though that I had purchased at the same time (along with the polka dots I used for the band). I think it's really fun with the bugs on one side, and stripes on the other though.

This was incredibly easy, and would have been even easier if I hadn't had to piece the front & back together.