hand sewn

Busy Book Pages 1 & 2

Ok, so since I got a little bit of interest from readers to see more in-depth how I did Little Man’s Busy Book I decided to give you some more details, 2 pages at a time.

Here are the first two pages, the window and the squirrel.

I made stencils for almost all of these pages, the same way I do for the appliques on clothing. I also used a sewing machine for most everything, but it’s possible to do this without one. It will just take a lot more time.

Let’s start with the window, shall we?

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He Wears His Sunglasses At Night– Dino Shirt

I’m finally getting around to posting this hip dinosaur shirt that I made along with the Shark Shirt for a sweet little 3-year old boy.

I wanted to make him 2 shirts, but wanted each to be a different color. I couldn’t find plain t-shirts at my local Target, so I found some at the craft store. However, my only choices were white and black.

White is easy to work with, because most colors & patterns work well on a white background. However, as a parent, I know white is not always ideal when you’re dealing with young kids.

This was the first time I’d made one of my designs on black, and I wanted to make sure it popped. I picked this lime green pattern because I thought it would make a good dinosaur pattern and would be nicely offset by the black.

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Appliqued Shirt

So, now that it’s officially The Holiday Season, I figure you guys probably have people in your life to whom you may want to give gifts. So I thought in the coming weeks, I’d share some homemade gift ideas.

Now, I can’t actually share the things I’m giving this year, as the readership of my blog is approximately 99% my friends and family. And we can’t go spoiling surprises around here. It just wouldn’t be right.

So I’m sharing things I’ve done in the past for now. Maybe I’ll get extra crafty and make a few extra things just for you guys. I’ll definitely take pictures of what I’m making this year to share next year, though!

This is a shirt I made for myself a few years ago, sometime before I got pregnant, I think. I bought the shirt at Target, in the clearance section for $4. This was one of my first attempts at reverse applique. I was inspired by the techniques I found in The Alabama Stitch Book. A great book to give as a gift for your crafty friends! (more…)

Girly girls

My son has a girlfriend.  It’s true.  Her name is Jo.
(Well, her nickname is Jo.) She is an older woman.  In fact, earlier this month she turned 1.

So, for her birthday, my sister and I decided to make her a shirt.  She’s kind of big for a onesie now.  She’s in 2T. There’s a reason she and my little man hit it off.  They’re both giant babies.

And insanely adorable, of course. (more…)

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