Bib/Nursing Cover Clips

Turn anything into a bib! You know the moment: your baby is in white, you packed a jar of sweet potatoes, and you forgot the bib- not good... Trust me I've tried tucking a napkin in- the results weren't pretty. So... the bib clips were born. Turn napkin, paper towel, burp cloth, etc. into a bib

Bonus- you don't have to cart home a nasty bib.

They also work great for turning any blanket into a nursing cover.

Fabric Wall Border

Here's a quick and easy alternative to wall paper, paint, stenciling, etc... It's amazingly simple and completely removable and reusable

hooray for fabric!

I had so much fun with this. You'll need:

- Fabric

-Cornstarch

-Water

-Paint brush

1. Cut out your design pieces from the fabric. I used the circles and the diamonds. The circles are about 3" in diameter

2. Add 1 TB cornstarch to 1 cup water. Stir until the cornstarch is completely dissolved and then boil until it turns opaque and about the consistency of shampoo.

3. Paint your fabric pieces on both sides

4. Stick to the wall and you're done. Ta- dah!

When you're ready to redecorate they peel right off. You can wipe away any cornstarch residue with a wet cloth.

Sunshine Skirt

August is winding down and I just had to make one more summer outfit...

Materials (for 6/9m size):

• 1/4 fabric for skirt
• 1/4 fabric for yoke
• Elastic

1. Print out your pattern here and size it to your baby. Make sure the yoke is long enough to fit around those chubby hips:) The pattern unaltered fits approx. 6-9 mos.
2. Sew the short ends (the vertical seams) of your yoke and yoke liner together
3. Slip your yoke over the liner right sides together. Sew across the top. Iron the seams and turn the yoke right side out.

4. Gather the top of your skirt on both sides so it is the same width as the yoke. Sew the skirt sides together.

5. Slip the yoke over the skirt right sides together and sew together. Make sure you only sew down the yoke and not the liner.

6. Tuck your seams up into the liner and then fold the bottom edge of the liner inward and pin in place. (Put your pins on the other side, so they are easier to pull out as you sew)

7. Topstitch along the top of your yoke- this will secure what you just pinned down in the last step.
***Revision- at this point you can leave a small gap, thread your elastic through and tack the ends together and then sew up the gap. Or you can continue on with the tute:)

8. Time for the elastic. Measure the baby's waist and the cut the elastic 1" shorter. Fold the top edge of the yoke inward and then topstitch forming a casing, leaving a little gap. Thread your elastic in through the gap. Secure the elastic by zig zag stitching over the ends (don't sew the yoke in this step- just the elastic). Topstitch over your gap.

9. Hem the end- I just folded over twice and topstitched.

10. Make a funny face and love life in the sunshine skirt!

Jean Hemming

Are your jeans as sad looking as mine were? For some odd reason I bought these thinking a long fit great- not so. After I finally accepted that, I would roll them up- really cute I know. Then my poor little cuff started to give out. Time to hem. Surprisingly it is easy and it looks great!

don't worry jeans- help is on the way!

1. Decide how much shorter you want your jeans- I wanted to take off 2". Cut that amount in half. Cuff your jeans and measure from the bottom to the original hem and pin in place. Make sure you measure all the way around so it stays even.

2. Sew around your cuff right next to the original hem edge. You might need to use a denim needle.

3. If you didn't take off much you can just iron it upwards into the pant leg. Or... you could cut it off- I'd use pinking shears to cut down on fraying.

4. Flip your pants over and iron down the other side. ***If you don't want to iron these everytime they come out of the wash I would use some fusible web to keep the hem where it belongs. I didn't have any on hand, so I skipped that step- you can always go back and do it later.

5. Finished- I LOVE having a "new" pair of jeans that fits perfect!! Happy Sewing:)

Strappy Romper

This is my first tutorial- sooo exciting! Hopefully you will all enjoy making cute things as much as I have. Just leave a comment if you get stuck and hopefully I can clarify. You can find this and all future tutorials under the tutorial tab at the top of the page. happy sewing!

Materials: (you may need to adjust amounts if you make this in a different size)

• 1/3 yard fabric for body
• 1/4 yard fabric for yoke
• 24" of 1/4" elastic
• 3 snaps (sew on or hammer on)

1. Print out the pattern (CLICK HERE) and size it. This pattern fits my chunky 7 month old. I've found the best way to adjust patterns is to hold it up to a similar outfit that fits your baby. (*I tweaked the pattern a bit so don't worry if your pieces look a bit different than the picture)

2. Sew the yoke together along the neckline. Press the edges inward.

3. Fold the yoke in half wrong sides together and then topstitch along the edges and across the neckline. Make sure you leave some space along the neckline for your drawstring and leave the bottom open.4. Gather the top of the front bottom piece so that it matches up with your yoke. (Never gathered? It's easy- just put in a row of basting stitches and then pull on the loose string ends and the fabric will gather right up).

5. Pin the yoke to the bottom front piece right sides together. Make sure you only pin the outer half of the yoke- not the liner. Stitch it down making sure to not catch the liner.

6. Okay now for the back piece. Measure your baby around the chest and measure the front half of the romper. Cut your elastic piece so that it's length + the front half of the romper will fit around your baby. Fold the top of the romper over to the backside and stitch the elastic right on top with a zig zag stitch. The fabric will gather as you go. Make sure you stretch the elastic all the way to the end- you may want to tack it in place or pin it down before you start. The elastic will cover up the raw edge of your romper and do all of the gathering for you- nifty right?!

7. Pin your romper front and back pieces right sides together and stitch up the sides (sorry no pic. for this step)

8. To finish the edges in the front fold the bottom edge of the yoke lining up and in so that it covers the edge of your gathered piece (the pic. is showing you the view from the inside). Now flip it over and topstitch along the bottom edge of the yoke. OR you can handstitch it down if you're more comfortable with that option.

9. At this point you may want to try it on. Measure around your baby's neck and down the back of the romper to see how long to make your strap. Mine is 24". Make sure you leave some extra room for the strap to mke a little "x" in the back.

See what I mean? Ok- to make the strap I used a 1x24" piece of fabric. Fold it in half right sides together and stitch along the side and across one end. Trim your edges and then turn it right side out. The trick to this is to use a tiny crochet hook, pencil, etc. Take the end you stitched shut and shove it into the tube with your crochet hook. Keep on pushing and before you know it the whole thing will be right side out. (sorry about the terrible pic. but it should give you the basic idea).

10. Slide the drawstring through the yoke of the romper and stitch each end down in the back. You can leave it like this or create an "x" look. Tip: do not just cross the straps and sew them down or it will not fit over your baby's head. So... instead you can add a cute little ribbon bow or use a scrap of fabric to make a mini drawstring that snaps closed around the straps after you put the outfit on (that's what I did)

11. If you noticed when trying it on that you measured wrong and it's a bit short- never fear just hem it up and it makes an adorable dress. If everything is going as planned then read on...

To make the legs fold over the bottom twice to make a nice clean edge and then topstitch it leaving enough room to thread some elastic through. Make sure you leave an opening at the end to get the elastic in. Do that for each leg and thread your elastic through (I use a safety pin) and then stitch the opening closed while tacking down the end of the elastic.

11. Don't worry- you're almost there. Cut a strip of fabric about 1" tall and about 1/2" longer on each side of the section where the snaps will go. Fold the short ends in towards the wrong side of the fabric and stitch them down. Pin your fabric right sides together and stitch together.

12. Fold your little snap section over twice, so that you have a finished edge and it's in place on the wrong side of the romper. Top stitch it down leaving enough room for some snaps.

13. Add your snaps and you're done- hooray!