baby love knotty frock

Here's a tutorial for making a Knotty Frock to fit a Bitty Baby or similar sized doll.

{click on the photo, save and print as a photo - chose 'full page photo' and measure your printout}

Step #1 - using the guide above, cut out all 10 pieces.

Step #2 - Trim

Take one trim piece and fold in in half length-wise, wrong sides facing, and press.

Match up the 18" raw edge of the trim piece to the 18" edge of a skirt piece and

sew along the 18" edge.

Ziz zag or serge the raw edge.

Open, press and topstitch.

Repeat with the other trim & skirt pieces, set aside.

Step #3 - Straps & Bodice

Fold a strap piece in half length-wise, right sides facing, and sew along the long open edge and one short open edge.

Turn right-side out and press.  Repeat with other strap piece.

 

Lay one bodice piece right side up and place straps on top, 3/4" from the side and sticking up 1/2" from the top of the bodice.  Place another bodice piece on top, right-side facing, sandwiching the straps and pin.

Sew around the top of the bodice, leaving the short ends and bottom open.

Open and press.  Topstitch the top of bodice.  This is your Back Bodice piece.

Repeat with the remaining two bodice pieces, except without straps this time.  This is your Front Bodice piece.

Add button holes to the Front Bodice piece.  {You'll have to follow your machine's directions for adding the button holes.}

 Using a seam ripper, open the button holes.

Step #4 Gathering

Set your machine to the longest stitch option.

Stitch along the raw 18" edge of one of your skirt pieces, do not backstitch.  Set aside and do the same to the other skirt piece.  Pull on one thread from your gathering stitch and gather the skirt.  Pin to the bottom of the Back Bodice piece, right sides facing.  Stitch along the raw edge.  Zig zag or serge to finish the raw edge.

Open and topstitch along the seam.

Repeat with the Front Bodice piece and the remaining skirt piece.  You're almost done!!!

Step #5 Putting it together

Place the two halves together, right sides facing.  Match up the seams and pin. 

 Sew together, zig zagging to finish the raw edge.

All that's left is to try it on!  Slip each strap through a button hole and tie a knot to keep it in place.

Love it!!!

bleach tie-dye DIY

Later this month, the girl's high school basketball team in our town is having a "Take Cancer to Court" game. After losing too many loved ones to cancer, we've been contributing when we can to cancer fundraisers. The high school was selling shirts so I bought one for me. The sizes they offered were too big for the kiddos. A few weeks later, I was after-Christmas shopping at Old Navy and came across their cancer tees from this fall. I was able to get Lil Miss a shirt, but I couldn't find a boys one in Lil Man's size. I remembered another crafty Mama had told me about the shirts she made for Disney using freezer paper & bleach. So I tried it out!

I'm super excited to try this with other colors and other brands of t-shirts!

Ruched Satin Taffeta Sash

My good friend's mom is getting married in a few weeks and she asked me to make sashes for the bridesmaids! They went to some bridal shops and found sashes they liked that ruched in the front...however, these sashes clipped in the back, more like a belt, rather than tie like a traditional sash....

(photo credit)

So that's were I came in! We came up with a sketch that included the ruched middle and long ties. The finished sash measures like this:

Materials:

-I used satin taffeta in ivory from Jo-Ann's online {It was only $6.99 a yard!} For 4 sashes, I used just under 3 yards.
-matching cotton thread
-matching embroidery thread
-lots of straight pins
-scissors & rotary cutter

What to Cut:

1 - 10"tall by 19.5"wide piece {front piece to be ruched}
4 - 4.5"tall by 38.5" wide pieces (8.5" at one end, see above) {tie pieces, 2 for the front, 2 for the back}
1 - 4.5"tall by 19.5"wide piece {back of ruched piece}
**I got these measurements from the sashes the girls looked at in the stores, so this sash is a women's small/medium.**

What to Do:

Step #1 - After cutting out all six pieces, take the front piece to be ruched (10"x19.5") and gather stitch up both short sides, using the cotton thread. To make a gathering stitch, set your matching to the longest stitch length and stitch. I only back stitched at the beginning but not at the end to allow me to pull the threads for my gather.

Step #2 - Pull the non-back stitched thread to gather your material. Stop gathering once your sides are 4.5" inches tall.

Step #3 - With the right sides of the satin facing each other, pin each side of the ruched front to a tie piece. **Make sure the curved ends match each other or you'll be ripping the stitching and doing it again!** Stitch where you pinned with cotton thread.

This is what it looks like all spread out...


Step #4 - Pin together (right sides facing) the remaining two ties to the back piece, again using cotton thread.

Step #5 - {Here's where LOTS of straight pins are needed!} Lay the front & back pieces on top of one another, right sides facing. Pin the edges together...often. Satin taffeta is slippery! I pinned about every 2" or so. Leave one end open (to remind you not to sew it shut!) for turning purposes!
Back view... Front view...
Full length view...
Step #6 - Stitch along the edge, all the way around, leaving one end open.

Step #7 - Turn the sash right-side-out. This takes some time. Push the corners of the end out. It looks like a giant satin snake when you're done!!



Step #8 - More pinning!! Pin around the entire edges of the sash again! Fold your open end under and pin as well. Top stitch with the embroidery thread all around the sash. This is what makes your sash look like a sash rather than a snake!!

All done!!! Once you have the sash on, you can adjust the ruching to make it even. If you made it through without pricking yourself on a pin, you're a rock star because, not only did I poke myself a dozen times, but I drew blood once! Luckily, I did not get any blood on the taffeta!!

I can't wait to see photos of the girls in their dresses & handmade sashes!!!

Lil Helper Apron Tutorial

I'm hosting a Pampered Chef cupcake decorating party for some of my friends and their kiddos. What better party favors than lil aprons for the lil helpers?! I made up a pattern for what I wanted the apron to look like and I'm going to share it with you!!

Here's what you do:

-Right click on the next two pictures (pattern pieces) and save the files to your computer and print them out (full page print).

-Tape the "a" and "b" together to line up the pattern. There are two ways to make the apron...the simple version or the ruffle version.

-Cut out your fabric using the pattern. Be sure to follow the directions for the fold.

- Cut lengths of ribbon according to the pattern for your neck straps and waist straps. My neck straps are pink and waist are green in this example. Make sure you treat the ends of your ribbon before starting. I run a lighter past the ends quickly to seal them. Fray Check also works well, just allow for drying time.

-If you are adding a ruffle, cut a length of coordinating fabric that is 50" x 3".

-Zig zag both short ends and one long side of the ruffle fabric.

-Fold those same sides in 1/2" and pin. Sew a hem on all three sides.



- Change your stitch options to the longest stitch possible. Stitch down the length of the unfinished side. Do not back stitch before or after this stitch or you won't be able to gather your ruffle! This is your gathering stitch.


-Pull one piece of thread on one end of your gathering stitch. Push the ruffle down to the other end until you have a uniform ruffle throughout the length of the fabric.

-Pin (right sides facing) to the bottom portion of your apron, from underarm to underarm.

-Pin the straps (right sides facing) to your apron also. You'll have a ribbon, ruffle & pin mess!


-Stitch your ruffle to your apron. I used a 5/8" seam allowance.


-Zig zag the edges of the entire apron. You'll finish the ruffle edge as well as the rest of the apron's edges in one step. Be aware of the ribbons! There were a few times when I *almost* stitched a ribbon end to a ruffle or side of the apron!


-Your apron should look similar to this by now:

-Fold down the upper apron edges 1/2" and pin. Make sure that you've notched the neckline (in the pattern) so the neckline hem lays down smooth.

-Top stitch the whole apron to finish it off. Make sure that the ruffle edge is flat and your topstitch secures it to the apron, like this:

-Voila! You're done!!

So far I've had RSVP's for eight lil helpers to be at this party...here's the eight aprons I've made:

I love that this apron does not take a ton of fabric. I was able to make four simple version aprons out of one yard of fabric! This is the perfect project for scrap fabrics or (in my case) fabrics that I had purchased without a project in mind. Those fabrics usually end up sitting in my bin for awhile!

I also like that you can be super creative with your straps...all four different colors, same colors, prints, solids, thin, wide...the possibilities are endless!! If I was making this for an adult (not only would I have to make the pattern larger) but I would add some fabric rosettes, and possibly a pocket to spice it up a bit!

**If you are having trouble with saving/printing the pattern pages, please shoot me an email at bierbaur {at} hotmail {dot} com and I'll email them to you in a PDF!**