Update on my Wallpaper

I wanted to let you know what my walls looks like a couple months after I put fabric on them.

There is a faint black outline from a few of the fabric pieces.

can you see the faint outline?

Not sure if this is because the fabric is black or if this would happen with every color.

but there isn't a mark left by all the pieces, just some of them.

Also, some of the pieces are starting to fall off on their own. Again, not all of them, most of them have been pulled off by my 1 year old. It is her favorite thing to do right now. She crawls along the wall and pick and picks until the pieces start to fall.

SYTYC Week 8 Scrap Curtains

Scrap Curtains

This project was one of those projects that just popped into my head and I couldn't stop until I was finished.

Simple kitchen curtains made from scraps of fabric and ribbon

After I hung them I told my husband that since I had something pretty and cheery to look at in the kitchen I might spend more time in there. He just laughed.

The curtains are made from flour sack towels, so there was no sewing there. And then I got to use all my fabric fabric scraps for cute little aprons. I wish they were as easy to make for me as they were to make for this curtain!

SYTYC Week 7 DIY Wallpaper and tutorial

So I got the boot this week. I guess that's what I get for not choosing something super trendy and different. Since mine was the one thing that wasn't just like the others. Oh well, I love it! I have been out of town all week, along with my family so when I was able to get to a computer to actually vote I was only a couple votes behind. Then, in less than a half hour I was suddenly 30 votes behind. Too bad the voting poll isn't hidden. But I had already don't week 8's challenge so stay tuned for that. It is truly one of my favorite things I have ever made so far. It was finished before the competition even started and I have been trying so hard to make it to week 8 just to be able to put it up there. Kinda funny!

Below is my original post along with the tutorial.

DIY Wallpaper

My walls are barren at this point in my life. We are in a new house and haven't decided on paint color, let alone wall art. So before I am able to hang anything up I needed to cover the walls. And since my husband and I can't decide on a paint color, I just took the initiative to cover the walls in fabric.

This project was simple and took about as long as it would to actually paint your walls. I decided on the design I wanted on my walls and then went about cutting out my own design and put it up.

And I definitely learned a lot of tips and tricks along the way to share with you.

My dining room is totally barren. We don't even have a real table yet, just a fold up one. Soon enough it will be put together and look ama-za-aing!


Materials:

Fabric
Scissors
Starch
Damp washcloth
Towel
Credit Card


Step 1:
Pick your pattern and cut it out. (I cut out a million black houndstooth pieces. )

Step 2:
Lay towel on floor where you plan on spraying so that your floor doesn't get all starchy.

Step 3:
Spray wall with starch.

Step 4:
Stick fabric on wall and spray with starch again till it is all wet.

Step 5:
Smooth out fabric with credit card so there are no air bubbles. Use damp towel to soak up excess drips on wall.

Step 6:
Repeat!

Tips:

If you mess up, just peal fabric off wall and do it over. It is super easy to remove!
If you are sensitive to smells, maybe wait till warmer weather when you can open the windows to air out the smell of the starch.
I am not sure about how it effects the wall underneath since I haven't had this up for very long. I hear that is doesn't do anything to it but I wasn't about to put something up on new paint until I had tried it in a room that is in desperate need of paint. I will let you know after awhile if it did anything to the walls.
I know there are more tips I learned along the way and when I remember them I will put them up here.

SYTYC Week 6 DSLR Camera Bag

DSLR Camera Bag

Wear red all week every week with a sweet red camera bag slung over your shoulder.If I'm gonna support red I want it to be something I have with me all the time.

(Polaroid shown so you get an idea of the size of the bag since I couldn't take a picture of my camera with my camera)

I take my camera with me everywhere I go so that I'm always ready to capture the moment. Since I have it with me all the time I need it to be protected. Why not make a statement at the same time. 

This bag is padded for the accident prone like me. It is made to protect your camera.  It's also made to fit ALL your gear in it. Cause if you're like me, then you have more than just a camera. There is a large pocket in the front and back of the bag and inside the front pocket are a couple little pockets to hold extra memory cards.

Inside the bag are matching bags to hold your lenses. On the outside there are pictures to help you know which lens is inside so you don't have to open and look at all of them to find the right one each time. A fish for my fish eye, a flower for my macro, and a T for telephoto (I know, a boring T, I may have run out of ideas for that one.)

So grab a couple yards of fabric and let's outfit your camera!

SYTYC Week 5 andTutorial

WOW!
This was such a close race! Everyone was within a few votes of each other and every one's craft was SO CUTE! Of course I am biased and because the Superbowl is tomorrow I want to get a tutorial to you today so you can be ready for the big game. You know, in case you are totally bored this week and have tons of time to just start a new project on the fly. 
But it's really quick and easy so scroll to the end of the original post to get the tutorial.


The 2 Point Conversion Onesie

If you're like me then you could go for either team this year in the Superbowl.

I've decided that I am going to start out rooting for the Pittsburgh. But is it so wrong to switch if the other team gets ahead? I've decided to plan ahead for just this situation. 

Ready to cheer on either team, this is a 2 in one-sie. HA! Get it?

The front of the onesie is all Steelers. And because I have been spending way too much time playing with toys lately, this onesie comes with accessories. A terrible towel is attached to a wristband so that when your little one waves their arms the towel goes flying.

But if I decide to change sides I can just flip my baby over, just like my allegiance.

Now I am ready to root for the other team, cheesehead and all!

APPLIQUE TUTORIAL:

1. Draw or print off your design. Most of my designs I draw myself but you can print stuff off the computer if that is easier for you.

2. Use your design as your pattern and pin it to your fabric. When you have a design like the Packers above it is easier to layer the fabric. So cut out a yellow oval, then a smaller green one, then the G. The layering will be a lot easier than trying to cut this out:

So remember, layering is your friend.

2. Once you have all your pieces cut out you need to cut out your fusible webbing.
My favorite brand is this:

You can get it a JoAnn's. I usually stock up when they have their half price sales. They also have the kind that you can buy per yard but that has never stuck for me. This brand is the best that I have tried.

Follow the directions on the back of the package and you will end up with this:

3. Once everything has been ironed on you are ready to sew. You don't have to stitch your design down at this point but it will last longer and look a lot nicer. You can use whatever stitch you want but I prefer my blanket stitch. Unless I am going a tad more grungy, then I just use a straight stitch.
Blanket stitch looks like this:

Notice the yellow star, that is stitched, the others aren't

And that's it! Cut, Iron, Sew and your done!

TERRIBLE TOWEL TUTORIAL

This is another super quick tutorial.

1. Cut out a piece of jersey knot or something stretchy to fit around your child's wrist. Since it's knit you don't have to worry about frayed edges, just sew up the middle to make a band and you're done with the wristlet part.

2. Cut out a piece of yellow fabric in whatever size you want.

3. Hem fabric. I used a rolled hem on my serger. Quick and easy.

4. Sew towel onto the wristlet.

Whether they keep it on their wrist or not,

they're still waving it around like a true fan!

(or maybe not)



CHEESEHEAD TUTORIAL

1. Cut out 2 pieces of felt in a triangle the size you want your cheese to be. Next cut out 3 triangles matching the length of the triangle. These will be your sides. Once you have all your pieces cut out, cut holes in one triangle and each of the rectangles.

Like this:

2. Cut circles a little larger than the holes you cut out in the cheese pieces. You want the holes to dip inside a little to add dimension.

2. Start stitching. I used embroidery floss and whatever stitch this is called

First, stitch the circles onto the holes. Make sure the circles are under so that there is a dip in the hole(notice above). When all the circles are filled in, start stitching up the sides. Match a rectangle to each side of your triangle and get stitching. Leave a small opening at the end to add a little bit of stuffing.

Then stitch up your last seam.

3. Attach cheese to headband, barrette or something else so that it will stay on head. I sewed mine onto a headband. But it would also work for a boy on a barrette (cause you will never see that), or just sew it onto a hat. You can always take it off later.

I was planning on rooting for the Steelers what with our living so close to Pittsburgh and all but if she will keep that cheese on her head I might change my mind. Is it bad to decide who you are cheering for based on who has the best accessories?

Knit Jamies Tutorial

Knit Jammies Tutorial

Turn these:

Into these:

1. Picking out your sweater

This step can make these easy or hard to make depending on what type of sweater you pick out. For example, the perfect sweater for a baby would be something like this:

It has a simple small neck and buttons all the way down it.

The pink sweater below, because the neck is a little large and harder to tamper with is better for a larger size. Mine is on a 3 year old. 

So just keep necks in mind when buying a sweater. After I had made the sweaters in the post for my younger two, my oldest was feeling left out so I went and found a super long sweater for her. This is what I am going to use in my tutorial. 

 

Totally ugly sweater but it is long enough for a 5 year old to wear.

2. Lay out your sweater flat and grab a pair of P.J.'s

3. Lay P.J.'s on top of the sweater

When you are laying your legs down the front of the sweater you want one leg to run straight down the buttons because this will be the opening and closing of the jammies. It will make the jammies look a little off center but they will look just fine once they are on. 

See, looks a little off in the legs.

But looks totally fine once they are one.

Also, make sure the jammies lay flat right up to the neck. We don't want to touch the neck if there is a collar on the sweater. (Now, if there is no collar and you need to make the neck smaller, like I did in the striped jammies, then go for it. But all the other jammies I have made I haven't needed to mess with the neck)

4. Cut around jammies. Remember to leave a seam allowance.

Notice that I didn't cut the arms out. Fold the arms in so that you are cutting the full outline of the jammies sans arms. And this is where the neck comes in. KEEP THE NECK UNTOUCHED. Just cut straight up to the shoulder area. The beauty of this project is that there are no finishing seams to do. They have already been made for us.

5. Cut out arms

Lay your pajama arms flat on the sweater arm matching the cuffs together.

Cut around. Remember to leave a seam allowance.

6. Pin arms to body, right sides together.

7. Sew

Start with the cuffs together and sew along arm and down to the leg. Repeat on other side. Then sew from inside leg to the other inside leg. If you are making foot pajamas(like the striped pj's below), then just sew one continuous seam from cuff to cuff.

Note: I used a serger to sew all these up and then I used my sewing machine to reinforce all the stitches since these are knit and like to fray after they have been cut into. If you don't have a serger then just use a zigzag stitch. Also, I recommend sewing these up right after you cut them for minimal fraying. 

8. The neck and/or leg

So this is where I feel like my tutorial is a "choose your own adventure" book. 

Each jammie was a little different in the neck. The white sweater was super small, too small for me which is why I changed it into jammies. And I didn't have to make the neck any smaller. On the striped jammies, I talked about making it smaller when cutting into it to fit better in step 3. The pink jammies were made into a larger size just so I didn't have to mess with the neck. It was a tad low on my 3 year old but worked. Now, onto the black jammies I am using for the tutorial. There is a rather large opening on these. Since I didn't want to cut into the neckline at all, I just added buttons and button holes hidden under neath the collar. Sneaky and it did the trick to hold it all together and closed. 

Also, with all the legs except the black jamies, the buttons went all the way to the bottom so I didn't have to do anything. But if you look in the picture under step 3 you will notice that the buttons don't go all the way down. So I just sewed the opening closed until I reached the buttons. (this is another reason to make sure you really look at what you buy. You will have less steps this way)

9. Decorate

 

The buttons on some of the sweaters were super nasty or super cool. 

Cool Buttons:

I hated the ones on the striped sweater so I switched them out. But I left the cute pocket on the striped sweater.  I also put on new buttons on the white sweater to add color.

10. Extra fabric

What do you do with the extra fabric? Makes hats, mittens, booties, whatever!

 Or if you find a sweater you like with only one button and don't feel like making more button holes to turn it into jammies then turn it into a layette set. 

This sweater:

 Into these mittens and hat:

For the hat just cut out a square making the bottom of the sweater the bottom of the hat. 

See, excess fabric

 Cut into a square.

Then sew up the square leaving an opening for the head of course. And then pull the 2 top corners together and stitch with a cute pom pom in the middle. 

For the mittens, trace a hand or another mitten to get the size you need, making sure to use a finished side of the sweater the bottom of your mittens. Then stitch up and enjoy!

These really are simple to make, I just had so many different variations, I wanted to make sure I included everything I did for you guys. If you have any questions on the tutorial just leave a comment on my blog and I will try and answer it. If I need to I will also update the tutorial on my blog.

SYTYC Week 4

WOW!  Thanks for all the votes this last week. I am overwhelmed by everyone who loved the jammies. Every week I am worried about the outcome so it was exciting to see all the votes coming in. These were so fun to make and my daughter in the pink jammies LOVED hers. She wore them 4 days in a row. I would change her and she kept finding them and putting them back on until I finally got them to the laundry room. 

Here are some more pictures from the photo shoot that I couldn't show:
 (and don't forget to go and vote for this week's challenge, Game Day)

A little excited!

Making a rug angel

Below is the original post. A tutorial will be up sometime next week.

Knit Jammies

To put it lightly, I'm kinda obsessed with sweaters. And when I see cute ones in thrift stores I can't pass up on buying them. Even if they don't fit right. All the sweaters below came to under $5 total.

 But what do you do with sweaters that you are never going to wear because they look horrible on you but could be oh so cute? Up cycle them into jammies for your little ones! And with the leftover fabric you up cycle that even more into hats, mittens, booties, ect.

So for under $5 and in under an hour I now have 3 new pairs of warm winter jammies with matching hats and mittens. So simple anyone can make these. And so cute I don't mind letting them stay in them all day and possibly running a few errands in them. (We are going on day 3 in a row of wearing the pink ones.)