Super Easy Reversible Dress

I've been making a lot of these reversible dresses lately. I'm rounding out Grace's summer wardrobe and stocking my etsy shop. I think for Fall Jolly some fall prints in this dress would be super cute. Even though they have a distinct summery feel to them they have been known to serve as smocks in the winter over jeans and a long sleeved tee. I got the pattern here if anyone else is interested. I'm going to let you in on my little secret about this dress. The posh boutiquey website Right Bank Babies sells them for around $50 and you can make your own for the price of two yards of fabric and some buttons. They are a cinch to whip up and moms love them because if your little cupcake spills her popcicle all over the front, you just flip it over and voila' a brand new dress!

Get your craft on

If you're in a hand-crafty mood please come to my house tonight for a little informal evening of crafty goodness. We will have some treats and make progress on our projects. Bring whatever type of crafting you do and come to 313 S Monroe at 8:00 tonight. Call me with any questions. 882-6799.

Reusable Shopping Bag

It feels good to put a little bit less trash in the world... especially if Alexander Henry fabric is involved. (Thank you, Joann's.) The fabric was my final motivation for whipping out a little grocery tote. I'm still hoping to sew on a little tie so that the bag will fit compactly into my purse for surprise trips to Winco or fresh baby greens at the Farmer's market. My favorite things about homemade shopping bags are: 1)you can make them big enough to carry 2-3 regular bags of groceries, and 2) if you want to squeeze through the thick crowd at Winco you don't have to push a jumbo cart because you have a handy shopping bag with you.

Fabric Covered Notebook

I made these two fabric covered notebooks last weekend. It took about fifteen minutes to make each of them and I used scraps left over from handbag projects. I did modify the tutorial by using home decor weight stabilizer that I found at JoAnn's and I didn't do the same patchwork pattern because I was short on time.

Mother / Daughter Aprons

I whipped these up using some fabric I bought a long time ago. They are very cheerful! The adult apron is a size Medium and the little girl apron fits a 4-5 year old girl. I am eager to make a few more using some different views and fabric.

I have to confess that I misunderstood an earlier email and brought these to the ladies luncheon. I jumped the gun I guess. I wasn't supposed to bring anything in yet. Then I forgot to go get them off the display table. So if those of you who packed up the table are wondering about these; mystery solved. It was me. :-)

Take Two Stencil Tee

Here is the boy version which I promised would be making an appearance pretty soon. I was much happier with the technique I used this time, and the results were much sharper. Here's how I did it: Choose a picture to use (this is easiest if you can find a good black and white image). If you are computer savvy you can put it into photoshop and play with it until it looks like a stencil. Otherwise you will have to do a bit of freehandy work. Trace your picture onto a blank stencil sheet (making sure that all the light pieces are anchored to the stencil somehow). With an exacto knife, cut out all the parts of the stencil that you want to turn into paint on the tee. I used a mini roller and textile dye to transfer the design. You could use the more easily accessible soft fabric paint. Wait for the design to dry completely, and set with an iron. Cute, huh?

stencil tees

This is one of those things that is just so easy it hardly even qualifies as a project. Still, I think it can turn out pretty cute. I plan on making some boy versions, so you can expect to be seeing Titus modeling something pretty soon. What do you all think? Would you ever consider buying one?

lonely mitten

Here is the first mitten I have ever knit.

The yarn is a wool/acrylic blend, and it is washable! Perfect for the tiny tots! Here is the pattern I used, it is very basic, and I didn't include the stripe because my yarn did the stripe on it's own. I extended the ribbed band at the wrist so they will stay tucked inside baby's coat a little better. If you have never knit on double-pointed needles, here is a video you should watch, it's really much easier than it looks. I should also mention that every time I hit some abbreviation that I had no clue what it meant, I searched it on You Tube (ex: SSK... I just typed it in and got knitting tutorial videos on how to slip, slip, knit...boom!). Also, if you want a bigger mitten, you can just use bigger needles and yarn.

Modified Dishcloth Bib

So remember that easy peasy dishcloth pattern we linked to a couple posts back? This is it, coming back to us as a bib. When I first made the dishcloths I fell in love with the stitch pattern. It knits very quickly, looks harder than it is, and it is fun to change colors. I was always interested in starting the next one to see what it would look like. Well, here is another way to satisfy that longing. Just turn it into a bib with some very easy, and very quick modifications! I think it turned out pretty cute, but it doesn't hurt to have such a sweet model!