Upcycled Baby Shirt Goodness

Nesting? Yes, most definitely. Over the past 24 hours, I have made seven baby shirts for the little guy. One for every day of the week, of course.

Update! Want to make some of these yourselves? Between this baby gown tutorial over at This Mama Makes Stuff, and my tutorial for the two-tones sleeves, you can make these too!

This "I Rock" tee is the only one of the seven made from a thrifted tee. (The rest were free from the hubby! The hubby bought a few new t-shirts the other day, and you know what that means.... adding some of his older ones to my fabric stash!)



Before I knew him, my husband was really into "No Fear" apparently. He has about eight of these "No Fear" shirts. They sure do make some bad-@ss baby shirts though :)



A men's XXL shirt is big enough to make two, count them two size 3-6 month shirts. Woohoo! For the first one, I utilized the print on the front of the shirt. For the second one, I made it out of the plain back side of the shirt. That enabled me to do some decorative applique on the plain ones :)

This first applique was store bought... Joanns clearance for 99c. I figured I would use the image to create a Valentines shirt for my first son, however since he was born on Valentine's Day, that didn't really pan out. He gets cute little number shirts to wear instead, declaring how old he is :)



Excuse me while I drool over these next baby shirts. I love me some red and white polka dots. And in the shape of the best state in the nation? Just an added bonus :)



Every little boy needs a necktie shirt! No need to reinvent the wheel, so you can check out this tutorial on how to do it over at Crap I've Made


Just a side note about the appliques... Make sure that you make a mirror image of your print before you draw it onto to your fusible web. Yeah, I forgot to do that. Every time. Seriously. It's really easy- here's how I do it. I find a picture online that I would like to trace (something simple!), and then I print screen on my computer. You do this by hitting control, alt, and print screen simultaneously (at least on my laptop that's how it's done). Then I open up the program "Paint," press "control, V" which pastes your picture into the paint program. There's a feature in there to flip the image horizontally. I do that, hold my fusible web up to the laptop screen, and trace around it. Voila!

You might have noticed that all of these shirts have two-tones sleeves. This is for two reasons. One, I like the look :) Two, I utilized the sleeves from the men's tees that I was upcycling, however, as they were all short sleeve shirts, there simply wasn't enough sleeve fabric to make long baby sleeves.

I could have made the long sleeves out of a different portion of the shirt, however I really wanted to utilize the hem on the original sleeves. Luckily, I have enough t-shirt scraps lying about, that I was able to turn all these men's sleeves into baby long sleeves! (Are you sick of the word "sleeve" yet? It's one of the words that the more you say it, the weirder it sounds. Sleeve. Sleeve. Sleeve....)

So in case you are interested (is anyone still reading this??!) in making some long sleeved baby shirts, here's how I did it. First of all, visit This Mama makes stuff for her tutorial on how to make a baby gown from an adult sized tee. I simply made the baby gown shorter and didn't do the elastic bottom, and you've got yourself a 3-6m tee. I laid a long sleeve shirt on top of the pattern, added a bit of an allowance for the hem (which you don't need to do if you're using the hems from the bottom of the adult tee), and then marked on the pattern with a dotted line where to cut.

When it comes to the sleeves, I used two coordinating men's sleeves to make one long baby sleeve. The part of the sleeve that connects to the shirt itself is made from the same color as the shirt. The part that goes down to the wrist is made from a coordinating color. I utilized the hemmed part of the sleeves for both the upper and lower parts. Less work, baby.

Are you still following? I really should have taken photos along the way.

I always cut out the top portion of the sleeve first, and then lay the bottom portion on so that it overlaps the hem of the upper portion. After cutting the bottom portion out so that the total sleeve is as long as the pattern, pin the two parts together, and then slowly sew over the existing thread lines from the hem on the upper portion. This creates one long sleeve with two pretty colors! Hopefully. If you understood all that mumbo jumbo. I know pictures to look at would make it easier. So sorry! Maybe I'll make another one and take pictures of the process this time. If you want me to, let me know and I will! (That's a good excuse to make one more baby shirt, right?)

Other than that, I think using the baby gown tutorial should get you through! Good luck! Oh, and let me see if you make one too :)

My husband, the stripper

It's a good thing my husband doesn't care about crafting, sewing, or thrifting, and so he never checks this blog. I'm pretty sure he would not approve of the title ;)

The hubs is a very patient person. Way more patient than me. I do not like to strip furniture. I like to slap another coat of paint on it and call it done. He felt that this dresser needed stripped before it received another coat of paint.

Note the detail on the dresser drawers.
Lots of details equals lots of angry four letter words if I were to do the stripping!

I might mention that this is the fourth time I've painted this dresser, and it was painted once before I got it too. It was black when I got it at an auction years ago for $10. I painted it a light blue but didn't like it, so I painted it white. It stayed that way for a while, and then when the first bun was in the oven, I painted it light green to go in the nursery.

Pfew. That's a lot of coats of paint.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but the knobs are made to look like blocks

It's no longer needed in the nursery as we've gotten a bigger, better dresser, and so I'm painting it white again to go back into the master bedroom as my bedside table.

Stay tuned!

More thrifted goodies in the big boy room

Just when I think I'm done with a room, I go and run into more thrifted cuteness that I can't pass up!



I picked up a plain black frame for under a buck. When I got home, I filled it with a page from one of my son's firetruck books. My husband spazzed out when I told him it came from a book ... he said that was his book when he was little. Oops. I tried to calm his nerves by telling him that it was just the title page, and the book is still totally readable, but he was still a little miffed. Sorry babe.

The el cheapo 59c plastic antique car frame was pretty hideous when I saw it sitting on the shelf at the thrift store. I actually didn't even give it a second glance the first time I walked the aisles. Luckily for me, I tend to take a second pass through the aisles!

And that's when I saw it. I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing in the background when I picked it up. It was perfect for Joel's room, so I snatched it up.

Ugly, no? (And believe me when I say it was even uglier in person.
And did I mention it's plastic?)


Much better with a fresh coat of red spray paint! Have I mentioned that spray paint is my BFF right now? I don't know how I would get along without it!




There was also a fire station picture on a canvas that I had seen the past couple times I went to that thrift store. I picked it up and set it back down about eight times over the past week or two. I finally decided that it was fate that it was still sitting there, so I scooped it up and made it mine. It was $3.

Last but not least, I have been on a corkboard kick lately. I had one already that needed a new fabric covering and a fresh coat of paint, and I found another one on that thrift store outing for a whopping 90c. I thrifted a couple of long sleeve button-up shirts ($2 and $1) to give the corkboards a facelift. I figure when the boys are a little older, we'll hang their artwork from their special corkboards. I don't trust Joel with pushpins just yet!

Fitted Tablecloths are all the Rage

Aren't these a good idea?

Fitted tablecloths! Who'd a thunk it? ;) This tute over at smashedpeasandcarrots is for a square or rectangular table. Let me tell you people, it is much simpler to sew a tablecloth for a square/rectangular table than a round table! (And I know this because I made one of each).



Kris over at Resweater made one too; her table is round like our kitchen table. For round tables, elastic is the key to keeping the tablecloth snug. Snug as a bug in a rug!

I had thrifted this vinyl tablecloth a long time ago because I loved the fruit motif on it, especially the cherries! It was large enough that I could cover our round kitchen table, as well as cover the little table that our son sits at :)

Voila! Matching tablecloths!

Thrifted Toddler Clothes Fashion Show

This plaid button up shirt was 50 cents!

He was very proud of himself for walking up the slide and then going down the steps :)

Picking pumpkins! This football tee was 40c

Still fits into that tee the following spring :)

These bibs were higher than I normally go, but for $1.50 I bought them anyway. Joel loves anything monkey! The green turtleneck underneath was 45c.

I couldn't pass up these Ohio State bib overalls, even though they were $1.50.

I love, love, love this Carters jacket. It was only 45c.

Another shot of the ca-utest jacket! Oh, and the kid is cute too :)

This Future Rock Star is sporting a 50c shirt and a brand new haircut.

Not shown: throwing a temper tantrum because he hates getting his haircut.

Sometimes I buy girl things, not realizing it. Don't look too closely, but these $2 snowflake PJs are definitely for little girls. Lacy trim is a dead giveaway.

Thrifted plaid shirt and blue shorts. Probably 50c each, since I very rarely spend more than 50c on children's clothes, unless the piece is really something special!

Mmmmmm.... cheese stick!

This blue and brown plaid button up shirt was a score at only a quarter!

(Do I dress my son in too much plaid?)

The bib overall shorts were 50c.

The plaid shirt was a birthday gift, but the Monster Truck tee was 45c :)

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 :)