Dress Shirt Onesie. Genius!

So have you seen this tutorial yet over at Sew, Mama, Sew!?

Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

What makes it even more awesome is that this men's shirt was originally thrifted so that I could cover a cork board in my son's room. I figured I had enough extra fabric left to make a onesie out of it also, especially since I had not used the button plackets for the cork board project. So this onesie cost me no additional money :)

Because I never fully follow a pattern and end up winging it at some point, mine is a little bit different. First of all, I didn't want to mess with putting the button hole foot on my machine, so I opted to hand sew on snaps at the bottom of the onesie.





I sewed matching buttons on the other side of the snaps to make it look like it buttons, but they're really not functional. Fooled ya :)

Secondly, I didn't want to mess with elastic, so I just used some extra t-shirt scraps to sew a bias binding (even though it wasn't really cut on the bias), and then just finished off the bottom with that.

Lastly, I think I screwed up the collar somehow because it just didn't seem to reach around as far to the front as I think it should, and so a clip-on tie wouldn't work with it like I had planned. Instead, I made Prudent Baby's super easy and super awesome bow tie :) I opted to make my tie smaller than hers because mine is for a super large 3-6 month old. (Ok, it's supposed to be 3-6 months, but when I hold it up to his other onesies, it's really more like 9-12. Not sure why it came out so big!)

The dimensions I used for the main part of the bow tie were 9" x 2.5" whereas hers were 12.5" x 3.5". I actually used her dimensions first, and it turned out pretty ginormous. Cool for my toddler, but too big for an infant.



I didn't photograph it, however here's how it's attached to the onesie. I made a tube of the same fabric as the bow tie, pressed it flat to make a strap, and slipped it through the "knot" on the backside. On the left side of the onesie, under the collar, I stitched the strap directly to the onesie. On the right side, I used my handy dandy snaps again. I sewed the snap onto the onesie, under the collar, so it's hidden out of sight. No one will ever know that the strap doesn't go all the way around the neck!


Love it!

Photos from Around the House: the Boys' Bathroom

We've been in this house for about 10 months now, so I think it's high time that we get things up on the walls, don't you? During the school year while I'm teaching, there's not much time for doing anything crafty or decorative (or cleaning and unpacking apparently!). Now that it's summer vacation, I've been rolling up my sleeves and getting to work. I have a long ways to go but I think I can do it! I just might need a swift kick in the @ss some love and encouragement along the way!

I'm going to set a goal for myself that every three days, I'm going to photograph and blog about one finished room in the house. Um, we better make that every five days. Or maybe every seven. Many rooms are close to completion (and a few are actually done!), so this shouldn't be that hard, right?

Since I already blogged about my son's room the other day, today we'll start with one of the only other rooms in the house that is finished, my son's bathroom. Isn't it ca-ute?! It's my favorite room in the house, and it's almost completely thrifted. Woot, woot!

Here's a list of all the things that I thrifted for this room: the shower curtain, the little white thingies that attach the shower rod to the wall, still new in the package for something like 30c, the framed lion print, the giraffe picture frame, and the tissue box (which was hideous until I added a fresh coat of chocolate brown spray paint) . I already had the blue rug from the old house, so that didn't cost me anything this time around. I did splurge on the monkey rug and the monkey hanging over the toilet. The rug was from Target for $20, and the monkey wall art was about ten bucks at Babies-R-Us if memory serves me right. But my son loves monkeys, and so it was worth it :)





The paint was an "oops" paint so that only set me back a couple bucks. I also used it in the laundry room because it's so bright and cheery! I have almost the whole entire gallon left, so I can come over and paint your bathroom and/or laundry room bright blue too if you want :) I work for cookies. Or ice cream. Or pickles. Wait, that was the pregnancy talking there for a moment.

You can't tell from these pictures, but I also used paint to spruce up the light fixture. All of the bathroom lights in this house were brass. So were all the cabinet and drawer pulls. Yuck. I hate brass. I spray painted the bathroom lights with a brushed nickel spray paint and replaced all the cabinet hardware in the whole house. In this bathroom, the pulls were in my stash already.

Yes, I have a stash of drawer pulls.
No, I'm not a hoarder. (I bet all hoarders say that).
You just never know when you might need one, you know? Be prepared, that's my motto.

These cute blue stars were a garage sale find years ago. I'm so glad I finally got to use them! They look really cute in here :)


Just outside of the bathroom, I hung a monkey peg rack for my parents' towels when they come down for a visit. It was on clearance at TJ Maxx for $8, because the paper was curling off of the wood. Nothing a little modpodge couldn't fix!

Handmade Baby Shoes Minus the Interfacing

Yes, that's right. In my haste excitement, I completely forgot to add in the interfacing. I've always shied away from projects involving interfacing because I didn't have any and was too cheap to buy some. I always figured I'd find some at a thrift store when it was meant to be. A few days ago I finally found some, new in the package, for... wait for it... thirty cents, and I knew right away what I wanted to do!

Equipped with an awesome tutorial at michaelmillerfabrics.com, some elastic, fabric and interfacing, all thrifted, I set out to make these baby shoes. It wasn't as tricky as I thought it would be. Here are baby Jonas's little safari shoes :)





This is the shot of the sole. I think it's pleather.
I should totally make Joel a pleather motorcyle-ridin' jacket :)

Dress and T-shirt Hacked into a Maternity Skirt

{24 weeks and still going strong, baby!}

I'm on a red and teal kick right now. Maybe it's the fourth of July coming up. Maybe it's my son's bedroom redo. But when I saw this forgotten cut-up dress in my stash (that I thrifted eons ago for its fabric), I knew right away it would make a nice Independence Day maternity skirt.

I currently have a large pile of t-shirt scraps scattered about lying on my dining room floor, leftover from making baby gowns and t-shirt/shorts sets for my boys. I picked up all the reds that still had the bottom hem, pieced them together, and voila! A belly band!

This is the inside of the belly band. Not the prettiest. You would probably want to use thread that matches your fabric. Personally, I'm lucky if the thread in my bobbin matches the thread up top.


See the top portion of the belly band? That was originally the bottom hem on the t-shirt. That's why it looks so straight and pretty and professional. I'm all about reusing existing t-shirt hems to cut down on the amount of work I have to do. The bottom portion? Yeah, I did that part. That's why it's jagged and ugly. I really can cut straighter than a first grader. I'm going to blame it on the scissors. I think they need sharpened or something.


I cut the skirt portion off of the dress, machine basted around the top, and gathered it to match the length of the belly band. Pin right sides together, sew, and you're done! Talk about a quick project!




If you need more detailed instructions, you can find lots of tutes online on how to turn existing clothes into maternity clothes. Probably the most recent one is by Trudy. She goes into way more detail and gives you lots and lots of photos along the way. Instead of using t-shirt scraps, she cuts a tube of fabric from a cami. Either way, easy peasy!

Upcycled Toddler Tees and Matching Shorts

There's no doubt about it.... I am certainly in the nesting phase of this pregnancy. I have been sewing and getting ready like there's no tomorrow these past few days. We even steam cleaned my mother-in-law's carpets the other day because 1)it was her birthday and she wanted them done, and 2) I want Jonas to be able to roll around on clean carpet when he gets here :)

A week or so ago my sewing machine focus was on finishing Joel's upcycled tee and short sets. I made them about a year ago, however after I made them I realized that they were way too big for him at the time. Of course, this time when I got them out of the closet, several of them were a little too short. I fixed this by letting out the hem and then adding coordinating t-shirt scraps around the sleeves and the bottom to create a faux layered look. I decided against sewing in the faux layers and instead opted to use some fusible hem tape. I love how it turned out. This one will be his Independence Day outfit :) Please excuse the slight wonkiness on the front. The hem tape came loose a little... I'll fix that later on today.


By the way, there are matching shorts for all of these tees, however most of the time, he wasn't wearing the matching shorts when I took the pictures. (We've been using the shorts as PJs bottoms since they're so comfy!)

The next two fit well just the way they are, so I didn't add anything around the hems. This one was the perfect shirt for Father's Day!




And this one is my personal fav :)




For this shirt, as well as all the others, I was able to use the necklines and the sleeve hems of the existing shirts to cut down on the amount of time it takes to make the shirt, as well as to make the finish product look more professional. (I'm not very good at sewing in straight lines!) All of the bottom hems are sewn by me though, which was a bit of a problem when it came to this shirt. The bottom obviously needed white too since all the other openings were white. Since I had no ribbed fabric on hand and I'm too cheap to buy some, I used white t-shirt scraps to make a bias tape and sewed it on. It doesn't match since it's not ribbed, but I guess it's not too noticeable.

{cute little boy sweeping with his newly thrifted vacuum cleaner}

For the tank top, I made double sided bias tape from t-shirt scraps and sewed it around the openings. For the coordinating shorts, I once again did the layered look by adding in some black t-shirt scraps. For all the faux layers, I was able to utilize the existing hems in the t-shirts. Score!




And because I had used up all the thrifted tees in my stash, you know I had to run right out and thrift some more!

The only problem is, I really don't like weekend thrifting. By the time the weekend rolls around, the 50%/75% colored tags are pretty much picked over, since the colors change on Mondays. Nonetheless, I had the itch to go thrifting on Friday, and so off I went. Not to mention, Father's Day was just around the corner, and I was hoping to find my hubby something special. That didn't happen, since I never find anything that I'm actually looking for... thrifting is all about stumbling upon things you didn't know you needed :) I did find a pair of vintage binoculars that I thought would make a cool gift, however they smelled pretty funky, so I passed. I've been wanting to get the hubs some binoculars ever since we moved into this new house. Our backyard looks out onto a bird sanctuary!

Anyway, all the adult tees I bought were 99c with the exception of the first one, which was $1.99.

I put Ketchup on my Ketchup ... I saw the kiddo version of this shirt while we were on vacation. We almost got it for Joel but didn't because of the high price tag. Joel really does eat ketchup on anything. He even dips tomatoes in ketchup. (And I'm not even kidding). Does that make me a bad parent?


I Rock. Need I say more since there's a baby on the way?


Peeps in the Hood ... perfect for an after-church Easter shirt!


A brown skull tee for Halloween. Check out the gold teeth :) I really bought this one mainly because I need to make Joel a pair of brown PJ shorts to match his monkey PJ tops.


Chillin with my Gnomies. When Joel saw this one, he exclaimed, "Santa!"


Lucky Shirt for St. Patty's Day


You can never go wrong with a shirt with a skunk on it!

A Handcrafted Father's Day Family Tree Mural

Check. this. out. Is this not the coolest wall art that you've ever seen? It's a Bed, Bath, and Beyond hack. As soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, "I can make that too!" What a great father's day present!

Jig saw and sander? Check.
Lots of random frames? Check.
Scrap wood? Check. (I used luan plywood ... it's a really thin plywood used in flooring. We had some leftover from our laundry room remodel)
Black spray paint? Check! (I ran out of spray paint mid-project, another can set me back one dollar)

The only other things I had to purchase were double sided tape (the thick, heavy duty kind, sold near the Command Strips but way cheaper) so that I could attach the leaves and trunk to the wall, and the letters to spell the word "family." I found a nice silver font at Michaels, and with my 40% off coupon, it came to just over three bucks :)

I'm not sure I like how the upper right hand corner turned out. I might add another frame. We'll see. The more I look at it, the more I'm okay with it the way it is.

Unfortunately, we ran out of ink, and so my final photos didn't get printed out yet. I wanted to get this blog post up for Father's Day, so oh well!

Update: I opted to add the seventh frame after all.

Catching up and toy shopping

The end of the school year is rough when you're a band director. There's solo and ensemble contest, the concerts at the beginning of March, the concerts at the end of May, the trip to perform at Kings Island and then hang out in the park all day... There's barely enough time to spend with my husband and son, let alone blogging.

I'm pleased to announce, however, that Summer. Is. Here!

Already, I've gotten a few sewing projects finished with more ideas spinning in my head. I hemmed and elasticized the refashioned t-shirt shorts for my son. They turned out pretty big... 2T I'd say. He'll have to wear them next summer I guess. I also want to make little tool belts for each of the three boy cousins, as well as finish the one for Joel. I'm planning on appliqueing their names onto the fronts of the tool belts... won't that be cute?!

The reason I'm so driven all the sudden to sew these tool belts is because I found toys on clearance for half off at Dollar General!!! I went wild and bought about $30 worth of toys today (which would have cost me $60, of course). I bought four tool kits, one for each of the boys, for a whopping $2.50 apiece. I actually saw kiddie tool kits for 99c apiece at the Vanity Fair outlet the other day, but they were much smaller. The DG tool kits were pretty large. There's really no rush on this since the tool kits are for ages 3+, and these kiddos are currently aged 1 month - 18 months, but I like to shop ahead :) I also got Joel a large, yellow metal dumptruck for $6, a couple paint-your-own dinosaur kits for $2.50, and a shopping cart full of play food for $6. (Don't tell my husband but I think I'm going to go hit up some other DGs to see what clearance selection they have left!)

While I was out shopping, I also finally bought some countertop paint. After we painted our kitchen white, the beige countertops really stood out in a bad way. For $20, we got some rustoleum tan paint, and I began my transformation. It takes three days to dry; it's going to be difficult to not use the kitchen for the next three days, but it will be worth it!

So that's what I'm up to. What about you?

Son. One. Fun. Done.

I have a son.
My son is one.
I love my little son who's one.
We had a party and had some fun.
But now the fun is over and done!


Hand-me-down dress shirt, 30c thrifted tie, and 50c thrifted black dress pants. Love it!

The shirt and tie came off, and the clearance bib went on.

Making my fish face.

I saved money by making his cake (in a little thrifted cake pan I might add!) The candle has been sitting around for ages. I actually bought it for T-1's son when he was turning one, and I do believe he's five now. We never did use it, and so I figured we'd use it for Joel. Too bad I broke the foot off and was trying to melt him back together. It worked. Kind of.

Thrifted sippy cup for 19c!

Clearance napkins :) I paid full price for the cupcake liners though (75c I think). Boo!

Clearance party hat from either Joanns or Michaels. It's made of foam, so it's the kind you keep and reuse! I originally bought it thinking it would make a cute wizard hat for the dress up bin.

A thrifted number one (19c) on a quilt I made from scraps. I do love me some scraps!

Speaking of scraps, I made that banner too. My family oohed and ahhed over it. Well, not really. They're not the crafty types. They were like, "I would have just bought one at the store."

Cupcakes with junk mail security envelope flags on a thrifted blue tablecloth.

90c thrifted mobile, new in package :)

$1 thrifted Gap 12-24 months winter hat, still new with tags!! I gave it to him as one of his birthday gifts. I think it's a little big :)

Thrifted balloons. A brand spankin' new pack of 72 balloons for 90c. I don't know how much balloons cost, so I hope this was a good deal.

Thrifted loot bags, new in package. 59c I think. I sent people home with cupcakes :)

Five hard plastic signs, all thrifted, new in package, for 90c. These are very durable and can even be used outdoors with metal sign stakes.

Happy Birthday, little stinkpot! Here's to 99 more :)