Category: Applique

For months now Sofie’s been obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake. She’s got tons of “Strawberry Cake” toys and they’re the most treasured playthings in our vast collection. We record the show on The Hub and she spends a decent amount of time every day lost in her own little world, playing with her “friends” and asking me to visit Berry Bitty City. As her love for Strawberry grew, I knew she’d be excited to emulate her for Halloween. I started planning the costume in my mind this summer and as the weeks have grown closer, I’ve been itching to get it made. I finally caught up on my orders this week and was able to give my girl the outfit of her dreams!

             

It was ridiculously easy to make, taking just a few hours, and I love that it’s real clothes, not a cheap, overpriced store-bought costume that either a) doesn’t go in the washer or b) falls apart after several rounds of laundry. But my favorite thing about it is how happy it makes my girl.

             

She’s been wearing it all week, fighting me over any reason I ask her to take it off. She wants to sleep in it, wear it to preschool, and show everyone she knows that she is now her beloved Strawberry Cake.

We argued a bit about whether she was going to have a hat (which she REALLY wanted) or Strawberry’s hair bow (which was more what I was thinking). But I’m a sucker for my kids, so she got her hat.

Making this costume was very inexpensive and really fun. In total I spent $17, and still have about 1/2 yard of fabric left over!

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Or maybe Thanks-ween?

How genius is it to have one garment for 2 holidays? A friend of mine came to me with just that request for her daughter for this holiday season. She sent me an example of a dress she loved and I created this reversible dress for her daughter to wear on Halloween and Thanksgiving this year.

                          

I created the pattern for the dress myself from one of Sofie’s knit dresses. I love the shape it took!

                          

I haven’t posted much in the last week, but I have been catching up on my sewing! I’ve got several great posts to share in the next few days as we count down to Halloween. How is it already the end of October?

I’m still here! And still 657 weeks pregnant. Okay, okay–38.5 weeks. But it feels like a lot more! While we’re anxiously waiting on our last sweet girl to decide to make her grand entrance, I’ve been busy getting things around the house ready for her imminent arrival.

We were giving the girls a bath the other night and I realized that Chloe was still using our hooded baby towels. Since we’ll have a much smaller person needing them very soon, I needed to get her new bath towels. Sofie uses a hooded towel someone gave us, and though I think it’s meant for the pool or beach, we use it for bath time. And she LOVES it. So I thought Chloe needed her own big girl hooded towel, too!

I made it in the same style Sofie’s was done in, but personalized for my little honey. I got Sof to model it for me, though, because Chloe’s still super tiny in it (and was napping during the photoshoot).

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Remember how I said I love when my friends come to me with requests to make things I’d never make for myself? This is another one of those projects! I loved the idea, and it went together really easily, and it turned out so cute!

Her kids are going to start preschool and they go for more than 3 hours (not gonna lie, I’m a little jealous!) so she wanted me to make a nap mat cover for her daughter. She picked out the fabric, showed me her daughter’s backpack for inspiration, and left the rest up to me.

Sofie loved helping me demonstrate the uses of this project!

                          

A velcro closure across the back keeps the cover in place while allowing easy removal for washing.

The straps go around the folded mat, and secure the pillow and blanket to the other side, making sure all the pieces stay together when not in use.

This looks like a complicated thing to make, but aside from the applique, it’s really nothing but a lot of straight lines!

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So this friend of mine, she’s got a car fan. He’s 3 and totally obsessed with all things vehicular. While watching a show on tv, he saw a pillowcase with a big car on it and got really excited, so a few months ago she asked me if I could make him some car pillowcases. I’m ashamed to admit how long this project has taken me, but I really hope our little car man has sweet dreams on his new pillowcases!

She knew a giant car would be his first choice, and past that, we explored other options. He likes race cars and traffic lights, so I made this case (and love the exhaust!).

                          

And since our kids are currently obsessed with all things alphabet as well, one features his name in super-huge letters made from vehicle fabric.

And lastly, a box truck. I picked the bicycle fabric for this one because I thought it would be precious to personalize it.

As I was finishing the pillowcases, she asked me if I’d kill her if she added a few shirts to the mix. Last year I made him a whole pile of appliqued tees to last all summer, and he’s still wearing them this year! They’re both getting a little bored of the same wardrobe, so I had no problem throwing in a few shirts, too.

This car shape and this fabric were his favorite, so I repeated it on the shirt.

                          

And the race car was one of my favorites, so I played around with placement.

                          

(I had to have Sofie model it to get the full effect and clearly 4T shirts are too long for her! She has shorts on under there!)

He also really likes fire trucks so I found this awesome graphic. I love this one!

                          

But of all the shirts I’ve made him, and all his obsessing over cars, his all-time favorite is the giraffe!

                          

I love this face!

                          

I was so excited to get everything finished and boxed up to mail.

I really will be sad when I run out of these fabrics!

                          

I hope you love your new shirts and pillowcases, Little Buddy!