sewing – Page 2 – Cecelia's Spot

Crib Rail Protector! GRR

One day I put my little munchkin down to nap and a couple minutes later I go to check on her and she is gnawing the crib side rail! And you know how expensive cribs are, so I was not a happy camper. I was also concerned about the stain getting in her mouth. So, I got right to work making a crib rail cover and protector! So far, she has only gnawed on the one rail, and that is because this rail faces the hallway that she enjoys looking out and crying to see if anyone will come to her rescue!

This is a simple project that should take no more than 15 to 20 minutes. As always, I have a Youtube video and a written and picture explanation.

What you need:
Fabric with your chosen pattern
Batting (fleece or any type of padding)
Ribbon
Measuring tape

First you want to measure your crib rail that you will be making this for. Measure the inside from side to side for the length and then the width and add 2 inches (or measure downwards for how long you want it to go down).
Also measure where your ties will tie onto your railing. Mark this all down so you remember.
Then cut the length and width of the fabrics and also cut your ribbon. Now you may want to make your ribbon longer for bigger bows but keep in mind your little one may pull at them if they are too long. I recommend about 6-8 inches long. I used 6 pieces of ribbon (so 3 ties) total for the side rail.
Pin your ribbon onto your batting facing inwards. Have the two ribbons across from each other and make sure to measure out the spots. Pin them down with the shiny side or pattern side up.
Line up your other fabric piece with right side down (right sides facing eachother).
Now you want to sew all the way around the edges leaving a 2 to 3 inch opening. Make sure you backstitch!
Pull the inside out and make sure the corners are popped out. Then sew this area shut.
You are done congrats! Go put it on and save your crib!

Follow
Share

1st birthday dress!

I wanted that special 1st birthday dress, but not that especially high price that comes with most of them! So once again, I searched pinterest, etsy, and other sites to find ideas. I ended up combining ideas, as well as making up my own, to design with the dress I created. The theme was rubber duckies for her party. Therefore, I wanted to incorporate duckies as well as other birthday fabrics. I went to the store and examined numerous fabrics, buying a yard of my favorites! The extra fabric I ended up using to create the crowns!

I purchased the iron on birthday 1 and ducky from etsy. The number is even personalized with her name! I also bought the duck buttons from the store. I used white hair bands that I cut to make the loop holes for the buttons on the top of the shoulders.

So how did I make this dress? Well that’s a secret! But I can give you some hints. If you are truly interested in a dress like this you can private message me or come back and look for my future etsy link!

The skirt of course took the longest because of the detail. I added yellow ribbon in between the rows as well.

Then I added the cute duck to the back of the dress. Personally, this dress could be used as a 2 in 1 dress because the back is also so cute! However, the 1 in the front personalized this as a 1st birthday dress.

Well check out the other tutorials, as well as the 1st birthday party theme page for more ideas! Feel free to share pictures of your little one’s first birthday dress!

Follow
Share

Easy Birthday Crowns!

Want to sew quick and easy crowns for a party or get together? Then you’ve come to the right place! I made a last minute decision days before my daughters’ first birthday party that we needed crowns! The theme was rubber ducky, so I decided to make birthday crowns instead of hats! Young kids and babies don’t enjoy hard hats on their head and also shouldn’t have a rubber band or elastic around their neck.

As you can see they are very cute for photo shoots as well! She didn’t particularly like keeping it on, but I got a couple good shots!

As usual, there is a YouTube video and also a written explanation below. I didn’t have a lot of time to embellish the other crowns but you can always spice things up with some ribbons, bows, glitter, rhinestones, or buttons!

To get started you need:
1) Choice of fabric and design
2) Scisscors
3)Thread
4) Closure for crown (velcro, button, ribbon) or you can sew all the way around if you know the exact size

Cut your fabric for the main part of the crown 4 1/2 x 18 inches
Make your own crown pattern by drawing the top on a piece of paper and cutting it out!
Cut your design onto your fabric to make the shape of your crown! If you want a felt backing with another color cut that out as well.
Next, pick out your ribbon if you are using one, if you want any other embellishments get them ready! I made a felt duck that I sewed onto
the crown.
Line up your crown pieces and sew all the way around! Then you are done! If you want to add button loops and buttons you can sew them on as well.
Congrats and enjoy the party! Check back often for new crafts or subscribe below!

Follow
Share

Baby Slippers Tutorial!

In one of my last tutorials, I showed you how to make a super cute sleeper. Now, here are the matching slipper shoes!

What you will need:

Fabric of choice
1/4 or 1/8 inch elastic
Thread color of choice
Optional: buttons or bows

I used a free pattern from marked crafts- > shoepattern

So lets get started! here is the video tutorial and below that is the written and picture format.

Cut your pattern out and decide on your color/colors you want to use (you can use two colors!
Cut out your pieces- there should be 4 of each piece
Take your upper pieces (the two sided rounded pieces) and place them pattern facing pattern as usual.
Then sew the non-rounded part only (the bottom of it)
Turn right side out, then iron you piece down with the right sides out and sew a nice little line across the outside where it is sewn together.

7. Take your heel pieces (the long rectangles), and place the pieces facing eachother (as usual) and sew just down one long side

8. Cut your elastic to 4 inches long (2 pieces). Pin it to one end of the sewn heel piece.

9. While sewing stretch the elastic and sew using your zigzag stitch across the length of the fabric

10. It will be curled up as shown above. Turn right side out. Pin and sew below the elastic and all the way around the whole piece to make it look nice and then trim as needed.

11. Place sole pieces together with patterns facing eachother, use a basting stitch (set your stitch to longest number and do not backstitch).

12. Pin together the heel and the front piece, adjust it to be the appropriate size for the baby/infant you are making it for.

13. Sew straight across where you already have the previous sewn line from the front piece. Then trim the rest off. This makes a nice neat line when you are finished.

14. Find the middle of the sole and the middle of the top part. You can do this easily by folding in half. Line them up together and pin. (the back of the sole is the smaller part). Have the top part the wrong side still out to pin.

15. Now sew all the way around! Almost done! Doesn’t it look so cute?

16. Trim the excess fabric being careful not to cut too close to your thread line.

17. Now turn right side out! And WA-LA you are done! You can add a button, ribbon, or any other accessory you want! Great JOB! Lets see those pictures

Follow
Share

Sew An Easy Baby Sleeper!

Ever love that oh so cute baby sleepers with the elastic on the bottom? I sure do, in fact I miss them now that my little one is getting older! However, I have many showers to go to and it is a great gift! The slip on sleeper with the elastic on the bottom is great for babies because you can easily change the babies diaper without fussing with all the buttons, snaps, or zippers. It also keeps the baby warm and comfortable; not to mention how cute he or she will look!

First off, you need the pattern. For this one, I used a neighboring sewing blog’s pattern since there are so many out there:

Stitched Together Pattern

So print your pattern making sure you unclick the fit to page (you want it letter size).

What you need:
*Fabric of chose
*Thread
*Elastic 1/4inch or
1/8inch
*Optional: bias tape (can
also make or just hem)

Below is the link to the Youtube video tutorial. Below that is written instructions with pictures…enjoy!

Print your pattern. Cut your fabric as instructed on pattern

You should now have one front and one
back piece, and two sleeves.

2. Next, you use your bias tape. If you don’t have bias tape you can hem the ends instead or you can make your own bias tape. Here is directions to make your own bias tape

3. Fold your bias tape on the ends of the sleeves, pin on
and sew straight on both sleeves. Do this also to the neckline of the front and back piece.

4. Next, You want to overlap your front and back gown pieces by either looking at the mark you made from the pattern or you can measure 4 inches of overlap from the top down. So you want to pin and sew the overlapping sides (the 4 inches)

5. Find the middle of the overlap and the middle of the sleeves. This can be done by measuring 2 inches in for the overlap or folding. The sleeve can be folded as well if you didn’t mark it. Line up the middle of the sleeve and middle of the overlap place pattern on pattern and pin and sew.

You have to bunch it and pin it for it to stay.

6. Turn your sleeper inside out and pin from the bias tape bottom all the way down to the bottom of the sleep. Then sew!

Almost there!

7. Turn inside out and make elastic casing by folding up the bottom 1/4 inch for 1/8elastic or 1/2inch for 1/4elastic. Iron or pin the area to make it easier to
sew. Don’t forget to leave a 1-2 inch opening to put the elastic through!
Remember to back stitch!

8. To get your elastic through use a safety pin on the end and put in the opening
and pull through by bunching the fabric and then pulling the safety pin.

9. Choose the tightness you need for your little one on the bottom and then sew your two pieces of elastic together. Then sew the opening closed!

That’s it! Congrats you have finished! Great job. Any suggestions questions please let me know. Look for the next post to be the matching slippers!

Follow
Share

Cloth baby book!

Cloth baby books are an easy sewing project that your little one will enjoy! You can also embellish and make it more interactive. Cloth books are great toys as well!

There are several places to purchase panel fabric for cloth books; however, it is very hard to find in actual stores. They are mostly sold online. You can also make your own cloth book! The following tutorial is how to make a panel cloth book. If you would like to make your own cloth book that is not from printed panels, I would suggest the following sites for ideas: Color book , animal book ideas

Today, I put together the classic The Poky Little Puppy cloth book. It is quick, easy, and you can customize it as well!

Here’s a quick Youtube tutorial for all those audio visual learners (and below is the written method):

Okay, so let’s get started! You have your panel, you have your scissors, thread, machine, and batting for in between. Now as far as batting goes, you can use almost anything! It depends if you like your cloth books thicker or thin, crinkly or quiet.

I actually used leftover fleece I had from another project which made my book nice and thick.

You panel will most likely come with instructions that are easy to follow. Just make sure you remember to mark your page numbers so when it’s all cut you know which page is which.

So cut the panels out as instructed. Usually you want to cut two of the panels (pictures for the book) out in one large rectangle. Do this for all the two pages as instructed.

Next, you want to cut your batting or interface to the same size as one of the two page sets. You usually cut one batting per two sets of panels cut (follow your instructions). You want to take your batting or interface then and sew it on the back of the panel piece (Sew all the way around it will be the backside of the panel pages). So you should have half of your panel sets that are cut out with batting sewed to the back.

You may also want to add some interactive pieces to the cloth book such as large buttons, ribbons, or other pieces of fabric. This is the time to do this. Just make sure it is sewn very tight and secure. Also use very large buttons or pieces. For this project I just cut out some of the fleece and attached it to the dogs ears so my little one can pull at the ears in the book.

Then, you want to sew the page that corresponds as instructed face down to the other page cut out with batting sewed on. You want to sew all the way around but leave a 2 inch opening so you can pull it right side out.

Then pull right side out and close the hole with a simple loop stitch or your stitch of choice. And WALLAH you have four pages complete! Good job! Follow the rest of the instructions as to what pages line up with sewing and complete them.

Lastly, you want to line up your pages as instructed by your instructions. Lay them all flat as shown above and you will sew right down the middle. Don’t forget to backstitch! Your cover tends to be larger than the inside pages.

That’s it, very simple, quick, easy, you just have to follow instructions! Good Job! Now go enjoy it!

Follow
Share

Fun and Stimulating Toy Name Blocks!

I’ve been looking for a toy that offers a variety of sensory activities through textures, sounds, and touch.

After making these squares, which by the way are FABULOUS for pictures, my little one couldn’t stop playing with all the ribbons, buttons, and laughing at the fabric and textures while sitting in her car seat. What a great toy not only for entertainment, but for learning and increasing intelligence! Not to mention it makes an amazing gift!

Here is the Youtube tutorial:

If you would also like to follow the written then here goes:

What you will need: FABRIC, buttons, ribbons, polyfil, optional bells or rattle

fabric: There are six sides to each square. You can chose your colors and textures. You will need six squares for each letter you are making. In this case, I used four letters for four blocks and six different pattern pieces with all different textures and patterns. This is the fun part! You can of course color coordinate for a boy or girl; however, I chose to do fun patterns that I knew my little one would love to look at, catch her attention, and also advance her imagination.
So there are six sides to the blocks so I picked those fabrics and chose my size for the blocks to be 6×6 and cut out four of each fabric I wanted to use. This is also great if you have extra scrap pieces you want to use up.
Next, you want to cut out your letters. I did this free hand. I used extra felt I had sitting around! Once completed, sew them on the fabric you would like for each block.
Now you want to setup your pieces to
make your block. Put the letter in the
center and surround it as shown with your
other fabrics. You may want to have the same pattern
for each block or different spots for each
fabric square
Start sewing pattern pieces facing
each other. Take top piece and put pattern facing inside on the letter and sew the top edge, then continue until they are all sew together as shown below. Do this for all your blocks.
If you want to add ribbons, buttons, or
any other accessories this is the time to get
those together! So now you want to decide where to sew them. You can choose different spots on each block or the same!
Sew the ribbons on facing towards the inside of the block. If you do the opposite they will be on the inside instead of the out!
Start by sewing right sides together of two
blocks. Take the top square and fold down and to the left. You will line up the left side of the top block to the top side of the left block. Then sew. Continue this around using the letter piece as the bottom part of the block. The pattern of the fabric should end up in the inside of the block.
Continue around until you have all sides except one sewn together.
For the last square, Sew each side around but for one side leave a 2-3 inch opening so you can pull the right side out. Don’t forget to back stitch well!
Okay! Almost there! So now you want to turn your block right side out. So reach in there and pull the fabric through. Then use a pencil, pen, crochet needle or what not to poke out the corners and make them shapely.
Next, grab your stuffing, in this case polyfil, and start filling.
You can put a bell or rattle in the inside of the block!
To do this I put it in a small ziplock bag that is sealed with some air so that it has room to rattle around instead of being stuck in the polyfil. I actually have been saving the twist off tops of the food pouches and used them in a bag to make some noise! So if you are going to do this try and put this in the center of the block then stuff around it.
Lastly, close up that hole! You can do a whip stitch or invisible stitch or even use your machine.
Ta-Da you are done! Great job….take some pictures and share!

Follow
Share

Peasant dress tutorial!

Peasant dresses are perfect for any age! The elastic on the top and through the sleeves allows the dress to fit for much longer than most clothes. There are also many ways to customize the peasant dress.

I love the dress because it’s easy to put on my little one. It stretches right over her head and I dont have to deal with the fuss and fight that sometimes comes with putting on onesies. Also, at home I use cloth diapers and it’s easy to just throw the dress on and she just needs the diaper underneath! Of course I do this with regular diapers as well, but it looks so cute with the colored cloth diapers! She seems to really enjoy the fabric too! She enjoys playing with the design and discovering her feet and how the two things she is learning are her feet can kick the lace :op

So, lets get started…

Here is the free pattern for sizes 4-10months (it stretches). If you want a bigger or smaller size you can scale it down or hold the pieces up to one of your child’s dresses and adjust the sizing

Below are the four components- don’t forget set printer option to print to actual size.

Here is the youtube tutorial for you to follow:

Or you can follow below:

Print out the pattern and trace and cut as directed. If using a pattern on the fabric make sure it is all going in the correct directions.
Line up one body piece with pattern facing up to one sleeve with pattern facing down. Pin and sew. Do the same for the other sleeve.
Next you want to take the other side of the sleeve and line it up with the other body piece. Put pattern side to pattern side so it fits. Sew both sleeves. Now you should have looking like this:
If you want to zigzag stitch on all edges to prevent fraying when washing, now is the time. If you have a serger, by all means use that now. This is not required but is helpful to prevent fraying. See the video for more information on zigzag stitches.
Next you want to form the pockets for the elastic for the sleeve and necklines. I am using 1/2 inch elastic and folding the fabric edges about an inch in. If using 1/4 elastic then you can fold in 1/2 inch. I also press to make it much easier to sew. See picture below.
Now you want to sew the bottom part of the sleeves down the long side but leave the small edge sides open for the elastic. Then sew the neckline leaving 1 inch or so open. Usually I do this towards one of the seems so its not as noticeable when you close it. This will be to put the elastic in. So sew all the way around leaving a one inch opening. Remember to backstitch.
Next, use a safety pin and pin the end of the elastic. Put the pin through the opening at the end of the sleeve and pull through. Bunch the fabric over the safety pin and pull the elastic through. When to the end you want to adjust the bunching to the appropriate size for your little one’s arm. Then sew the ends of the elastic to the fabric then cut the extra elastic. Do not cut before sewing or you may lose your elastic.
Now do the neckline. Find your hole and pull elastic through. Then adjust to appropriate size (which you can measure your muchkins neckline). Then I cut the elastic holding it carefully and put a quick stitch in the two elastic pieces by stretching it outside the fabric area. Then I let that go back into the fabric and stitch the hole shut. You can also sew the elastic on the two sides of the opening on the holes (which may be easier).
Now you should have your elastic all completed! We are almost there.
Next, you want to sew both sides of the dress closed. to do this, put your dress inside out and pin sides together starting at bottom of the sleeves. I usually do a zigzag stitch down the outside then a straight stitch on the inner side of the fabric. This makes it stronger. Do this for both sides making sure you sew the bottom of the end of the sleeve.
Now you should have both sides completed. What’s left you say? The bottom of course! So decide if you want a plain hemline or lace. You can hem and then lace as well.
So either hem, or continue and take your lace and line it up on the outside. I have zigzag stitched the bottom already in a previous step to prevent fraying If you have not done so, I suggest you do this or hem the bottom before adding the lace.
Line up the lace on the bottom and pin. Sew it and WaaaLa! You are done! Congrats!
Optional is adding buttons or a bow!
Stay tuned for the hat tutorial!

Follow
Share

2 Ways to Make an Easy Headband!

Need a stylish way to keep the hair out of your face? Want it cheap? Well, believe it or not, you can sew a quick headband in almost under 5 minutes! This is great to match your little one’s dress or outfit. Also, you can match your own outfit or dress for a stylish design. I made a neat flower dress for my munchkin and made myself a matching headband! It looks great for pictures but it’s not the overboard matching outfits :op

Here’s how:

What you need:

Fabric (15×3 two pieces or 15 x6 or one piece folded)
Matching Thread
Elastic (1/4-1/2 inch)

1) First you want to cut out your fabric. You can either make the headband with two pieces of fabric at 15×3 and cut on a slant. Or you can do one piece with the fold on the long side (the 15 inch long side).

2) Following that you want to turn it with fabric sides facing each other and sew the sides (or side if you are folding) and leave ends open. Turn inside out.

3) Fold the ends inwards.

4) Cut your elastic to 7 inches long (or if for younger you can measure ear to ear in the back and cut elastic)

5) Put elastic in end and sew up and down several times ! If you are doing the folded headband then take the corners of the fabric and fold in and sew.

6) And wala! You are done! Don’t be afraid to add buttons, glitter, bows, and other neat accessories!

Awesome! Quick and easy, Enjoy and check back for more activities each week!

Lastly, do you think having matching outfits to your little one is too much? I’d like to see the debate begin!

Follow
Share

Sewing machine tutorials!

New to sewing? Want to learn how to thread your machine? Then, you have come to the right place. Yes this may be a little boring for some, but I found similar help at different sites and decided to put it all together in my own way for anyone new to nursing.

So if you don’t fall asleep along the way, you may learn something! :op

Below are three tutorials on using your sewing machine. This particular tutorial features the brother xl model, which I highly recommend as an affordable and easy to use first machine that has more advanced properties as well. However, if you have another machine, it may be quite similar so you can follow along!

So here is a basic diagram of the machine I made that outlines the important components.

This is a video on the basic parts of the machine and what buttons are used most.

Next, is a video on how to thread your bobbin! Don’t worry it gets much easier each time!

Lastly, how to put everything together! This tutorial demonstrates how to thread the machine and start up!

Good Luck and Enjoy! More tutorials to come…

Follow
Share