Clipped Fleece Blankey Gift Set

{humor me, if you will, while I ramble on about "Blankey"...}

When I was about 12 months pregnant with that little guy up there {or so it seemed like}, I decided that he needed some of his very own blankeys instead of the crap hand-me-downs he was getting from his older brother.  I got this wild, crazy "nesting" syndrome and made about 6 blankets in one day!!!  I was a crazed, over-pregnant blanket making machine!!!  Some were beautiful chenille-backed vintage cotton prints, some were warm, cozy flannel - and this one was just a random piece of fleece that I clipped.   You can guess which one quickly became his favorite.  What the?!  Go figure.  The simple clipped fleece blankey was his favorite from the moment he was born and it's still his special "friend".    The same thing happened with another girlfriend of mine - I gave her baby a clipped fleece blanket the baby also got attached to the soft fleece and little fringies.  Interesting, wouldn't you say?!

SO...it's anyone's guess as to what a baby is going to attach themselves to, but I'm telling you that these clipped blankeys have a very high success rate regardless of how simple they are.  They're SO easy, very inexpensive, and perfect for snuggling a baby with because they're warm without being too heavy.

On with it now...

Fleece Baby Gift Set

This little gift set is going to my very own, very first, flesh-and-blood niece who is my only sibling's first baby.  (did you get all that?)  My brother and his wife had their first baby and I'm ecstatic beyond belief! I'm also getting another little niece this summer who will live around the corner from me, so I'm going girl crazy with baby stuff!!!  Girl stuff is SO adorable!    

Here's how to make that little gift set:

You'll need a fairly large piece of fleece cut - about 1.5 yards.  If you are going to cut out a motif from the blanket, make sure the designs on your fleece are large enough to cut out.  

Then:  with pinking shears or plain scissors, cut your blanket size however large you want it.  With the remaining fleece left over, cut out a motif or even strips to stitch onto your onesie.  You could also save some for burpies, booties, or whatever else you want to make.

You can clip your corners however you'd like, but below is a photo of the way I did mine.  Corners can be tricky and this is my favorite way to do them.  (Rounded corners would be cute, too)

That's it!  Very simple.  You cut a rectangle and clip the edges.  Does it get any easier?!

On to the Onesie:

Before you do anything, make sure you wash, dry, and press your onesie.  I also prefer to use a lightweight iron-on fabric stabilizer on the underneath part of the shirt - just a rectangular piece that covers the upper half of the shirt.  It helps keep your stitching from puckering, it helps prevent large holes forming in the shirt where you stitch, and it's soft so it won't irritate a baby.

For the motif, use a teeny, tiny amount of fabric glue in the middle and outer areas that you DON'T plan on stitching on.  It's SO hard to stitch through dried fabric glue, so try to be careful, but tack it down nicely.  This will prevent you from having to fuss with pins.  If I don't have to use pins, I try not to. 

Then, using my handy-dandy stitch guide here, create something cute on your cut-out!  

I used pinking shears to clip out my flowers, so that added a little more detail to the flowers and I just stitched in-between the triangles.

It IS possible to over-decorate something like this.  Keep it simple without distracting from the fleece motif too much.  You want to add detail without overdoing it.

That's it!  What a GREAT gift!!  Wal-Mart had some cute solid colored infant pants for $2.00, so I grabbed some in every color in order to pair them with hand made tops.  If you ever see solid colored pants or skirs for cheap, get them and keep them in your gift-giving stash!

... I also did a quick little lollipop onesie {gasp!!!}  Simple, scrumptious, and hand-made.  

I love it.  Who wouldn't like something like this?!  (a wierdo, that's who)

Now go make something cute!!!

Iron-On Onesie Adorableness

It is so easy to dress up a little onesie like this WITHOUT a sewing machine! {some of my ladies get a little freaked out by that whole machine idea...}

Make a bunch of these with a matching burpie and keep them on hand for when the whole 'mating season' comes full term and you've got a bunch of friends with spring babies and/or fall babies coming. And believe me, I've kept track and THAT'S when I seem to be needing baby shower stuff the most! {some of you are blushing...}

These don't have to be just for babies, either. This technique would be fun for a girl or boy's t-shirt.

You'll Need:

Onesies, washed, dried, and pressed
Fabric, washed, dried, and pressed
{that's enough work, isn't it?}

Heat'n'Bond Light Iron-On Adhesive
An Iron
Needle and contrasting thread - just regular spool thread.
Thimble for that middle finger - trust me, you'll want one. I use those rubbery ones for grip.

Step 1: So get some fabric with some cute shapes you can cut out. UNLIKE WHAT I DID HERE...DO NOT CUT OUT YOUR SHAPES. I'm an idiot - learn from my mistakes, okay.

You can also use a piece of solid color fabric or not-so-busy printed fabric and then wait for step #2. With solid colors you can cut out a silhouette of an animal, hearts, geometric shapes, etc. which would be cute.





Step 2: Cut off a piece of the gargantuan roll of Heat'n'Bond big enough to fit over your pieces. Follow the packaging directions - place the rough side of the paper onto the wrong side of your fabric, set your iron to "silk" without any steam, and press the adhesive onto the fabric, making sure all of it gets secured.

**NOTE: This stuff will get all over your ironing board cover if you are an idiot like me. Just make sure fabric is under the Heat'n'Bond at all times and you'll be okay.

Now you can cut out your shapes. Try to leave some white space on the perimeter of your shapes so you can stitch on those outer edges and have plenty of room.

If you're cutting out silhouettes, you can trace your shape on the paper backing of your adhered fabric, which is SO handy.




When your shapes are all cut out, you can peel off the paper backing, exposing more iron-on adhesive for the t-shirt.




Arrange your shapes and press into place firmly. Get them nice and secure.

And that's pretty much it!!! Now you can stitch them on, which I think is the fun part because it's quick and you get to sit and do something creative/mindless. perfect.

You COULD machine stitch, but it's a little difficult on these little onesies - but if you're that advanced, go for it. More power to you.

The way I threaded my needle: (cross-stitch style)

1.) take one long length of sewing thread; fold it in half on itself making a double strand with a loop at the bottom.

2.) Thread the needle with the doubled thread.

3.) With your needle, poke up from the bottom of the shirt wherever you'd like; don't pull the thread all the way through; keep a small loop there waiting...

4.) Make your stitch; go back down and then put your needle through the loop you made, securing it without having to tie a complicated knot.

I wish I had pictures, but seriously? WAY too much work for now!

*Fabric comes from the Michael Miller White Lava Flowers collection.

Quick Baby Shower Gift

How fun are little girls?! I needed a little somethin' to go with my gift card and I just LOVE this little set! The onesie is something I dyed with pink dye a long time ago, and the little booties are from Heather Bailey's site. I totally wish I was gestating a little girl right now because I'm in the mood for girl things! (I'll probably be glad tomorrow that I'm not gestating anything)

Anyway - I had to share.

To-Dye-For Onesies

I could dye. (haha!)

But seriously, folks, it's raining babies around me and I have to get caught up on baby stuff. I've got 3 nephews still waiting for me to get my act together - and I've got two little girls coming soon so I'm excited to get to play with PINK stuff for a bit!

So have you ever played with fabric dye? If not, you're in for some SERIOUS fun! And it couldn't be easier! My children could do this with their eyes shut! (okay, but there would be a huge mess)

All you need is:

Bottle of Rit dye
Onesies (or whatever)
Pot of boiling water
Salt
Small rubber bands (from the hair accessory aisle)
Rubber gloves

Just follow the directions on the bottle of dye. You're a smart cookie - you know that the less dye you use, the lighter the color - the more dye, the darker the color. Mix the colors up to get combinations! For example: to get more of a peachy color, use a little pink and a little yellow. It's hard to say exactly HOW your color will turn out, so that's why this stuff is pretty cheap and you can play with it!

So the next step is to tie up your shirt in any way you want.






Take the shirt for a dip for a minute or two.










Using rubber gloves, rinse the shirt out until the water runs clear. Take your bands off and admire your work! This shirt looks darker here in this photo because it's wet. It actually dried a little lighter.




Wash and dry your shirts with similar colors. Mine didn't bleed at all in the washer - and they look and feel so soft and pink!





I also dyed a onesie without wrapping the bands and I ended up with this CUTE pink shirt that I'm going to stitch a girly fabric square on. And why stop there?! I also tossed in a burpie cloth and I'm going to make a cute little set to match the pink onesie. I'll post pics when I'm done.

**As a side note, the Rit dye directions say to clean up with bleach, so I bleached my pot out. I haven't read up or educated myself about dye and whether or not I've ruined my stock pot or not - I'm assuming it's still just fine. But just in case, use an old pot if you have one!

New Onesies & Booties

I couldn't resist sharing my latest creations. We've got a new baby boy in the family so I put together these little sets for him. I LOVE how it all turned out! I especially love that my fleece rectangle is so imperfect looking - as strange as that sounds. I think that's what gives this little shirt some character. (Good...because I'm NOT perfect at anything!!! My stuff just has "character".)

These are SO simple to make - and the end result is something beautiful and hand made. Here are the instructions again:

Onesies

Booties

Quick & Easy Onesie

Why give away a new pack of onesies when you can cute them up a bit?! These onesie ideas are too easy not to attempt...and you'll walk away a hero. (nevermind how easy they are to make...)

First, make sure to wash and dry all onesies to shrink them before you put anything on them.



1.) APPLIQUE

You might recognize the square applique shirt I did a while back. You can find those directions here - it's super easy and works up fast. In short, just cut out a square of any fabric, adhere it in place with iron-on adhesive, and stitch around it.

2.) IRON ON

These shirts were made with iron-on transfer sheets. I purchased my images from PC Crafter. I brought them up in a document and printed them out. The pink square was a scrapbooking background that I cut out with pinking scissors. Iron them on the shirts using packaging directions. Make sure to let the image cool before peeling off the paper backing.

(I LOVE the pumpkin onesie, especially on the long-sleeve shirts, paired with a cute pair of baby jeans!)


3.) RIBBON

These shirts are done with a piece of ribbon and iron-on adhesive! (easy, eh?) You can buy iron-on adhesive which is exactly as wide as this ribbon here, making the process super easy. I affixed the ribbon in place with the adhesive, stitched it down, making sure to stitch the ends, as well. So you would start at the top of one end, turning corners, and finishing in the same spot.

For a baby girl, use the same ribbon for a simple hair bow. I'll post some easy instructions on that soon!

Another variation on this technique is that you could do this same thing with a strip of fabric, making a band across the chest, folding, ironing, and stitching it down like the ribbon.

Something else you might want to try is getting some RIT dye, found in the laundry soap section of most stores, and color the onesies before you embellish them.



So now you have NO excuse for showing up to a baby shower with a pack of plain white onesies. I'd love to see pictures of your own versions of these ideas!


6-Pack of onesies=$9.00, making each shirt about $1.50. Free scraps from home - you can save some serious cash and end up with a great gift for someone!

It's a Chick Thing - Idea Venture Challenge

I love a good challenge!


Well, in my opinion, my version does not look as nice as the boutique version - but I guess that's why I don't own my own boutique, right?! Anyway, here's my take on the design:















I cut out my pieces. I made sure the beak was a little larger than it needed to be because I wanted to make sure it got all the way stitched underneath.



Then I ironed the pieces into place with some fusible webbing or iron-on adhesive. This held everything in place very nicely.













Then I satin stitched around the entire shape. Because of the curves, the stitching got a little tricky.













Finally, I put some fray liquid on the edges of the beak and feet to prevent any fraying. I stitched the beak down (I love how it turned out) and stitched the eye in place. Now I've got a chick shirt.



While I was at it, I stitched up a couple of baby onesies. Now what baby girl wouldn't look adorable with one of these?! With a cute pair of pants or a skirt, that baby will turn every head. (well, yours at least)



If I had more time and no children, I would have probably created some type of embellished pants to go with these shirts, but alas, that will have to wait.