Flower Applique Shirt Tutorial

This whole thing started off with these adorable jeans from Gap. I own two pairs for my daughter and needed something cute to go with them. My inspiration for the large applique was from mini Boden- I love their style- simple & cute. They regularly put a large applique off to the side of a shirt or dress like THIS and it so nicely adds to the garment without it becoming the center of attention. I added more stitching than they do but that was only in attempt to have the shirt more closely match that on the jeans.

Before I show you how to applique, let me show off a few pics of my daughter in the shirt:

          

She's been watching me work on this for a bit and was super excited when I told her that she could finally wear it! And if you're wondering about the last picture- yes, she is part monkey!

OK- so appliqueing can be super easy! Let me show you how:

Start by creating the design. I am not an artist so I try to find something the right size to help me. In this case it was a hamburger piece from a Melissa & Doug build-a-sandwich set. It took me moving the circles a few times and erasing the old before I got it how I wanted it but this was
the final shape. It's not perfectly in shape but that's OK-  it gives it a little character!

Next, place your pattern on the smooth, paper side of the wonder under. Then cut the shape out of the wonder under paper.

**If you are doing a doing a design that needs to be a certain direction, make sure that it is backwards when you trace it on the wonder under!

Place the rough side of the wonder under down on your applique fabric and iron, following the instructions on the wonder under which says to iron each section for 10 seconds. If you do not use the applique right away, I find that the paper peels off easier if you run the iron over it again just to warm it up.

This is the backside of the appliques. You can see here that I left a small margin of fabric around the wonder under- since this is knit and it won't fray, I wanted to have a tiny loose edge to give it more dimension.

Simply peel off the paper from the wonder under, place fabric side up on your project (so wonder under side down) and iron in place. Just to point out the obvious- in this case, iron down the white flower first and then the pink circle.

 This is a good place to mention that this is NOT the steps that you would take if using cotton to applique- you would trace the shape onto the wonder under, cut a larger square with the shape in the middle, iron it onto your fabric and THEN cut out the shape and proceed to iron it onto your project.

So here's the shirt with the flower ironed on. Honestly, if you wanted to stop here you could- it's stuck down for good!

I decided to go on and embellish some though:

This is what you use to do the embroidery. It is a special "thread" called floss. The most commonly found at craft stores is a brand called DMC. It is the same "thread" that is used for cross stitch (which I used to LOVE doing- still do actually but now I don't have that much time.) You can pull the strand apart into six pieces- for this project I used three at a time- so three "threads" in one needle.

From here on out it is just your own create expression on what you want to sew for decoration. It can be a super simple project if you just do the running stitch around the outside of each shape. Actually, I almost stopped there but again, I wanted to make the shirt match the jeans a little more so I did more in the middle.

That's it! Pretty simple, huh? Just think- you don't even have to know how to sew to be able to applique on clothing! You can use this same technique spice up canvas shopping bags, baby onsies, decorative pillows and on and on. From here on out, the sky's the limit!

Happy Appliqueing!

Golden Book Baby Shower Copycat

After all the talk lately of the baby shower (which some of you may be getting sick of hearing about), here is the final Golden Book Baby Shower! I was so happy with how it all came together. It simple and small- which for me is the perfect shower!

My sister-in-law is a teacher so I was thinking that it would be fun to have a shower where everyone brought a copy of their favorite book to include with the gift so she can have a great start to her own collection. After looking around for some ideas I came across this blog which I now love- Aesthetic Nest! She had done an entire shower with a Golden Book theme. It was perfect and I just LOVED the classicness of those books that many of us grew up on!

If you haven't seen it yet, you can take a look at the invitation HERE.

I have my mother to thank for at least half of the decorations on the mantle. She kept all of these vintage Fisher Price toys from when my brothers and I were little. Let's just say that I had quite the selection to choose from. She even has the original record player- remember those? For those of you who are wondering, yes, the clown head on the color stacker is original (it was the most commented on at the shower so I asked my mom.)

The final look of the mantle included a pennant banner, original Fisher Price toys, paper flowers, Little Golden Books and fabric bookends!

These book ends were another "saw it on Pinterest" item. I needed some sort of bookends and couldn't find anything remotely as cute as the ones that Anneliese found for her shower so I made these quick and stole some rice from my kids' rice bin for filling.

The center of the table was set very simple just to connect it in with the shower. I made this simple quilted yellow centerpiece and set it with a few blue paper flowers (original idea also taken from Aesthetic Nest)! I wish I had gotten a nice picture without the harsh sunlight coming in but I guess when you're setting up for a shower, there isn't time for a long photo shoot.

This was my favorite Golden Book from when I was little (and this IS my book.) "Where Did the Baby Go?" is about a little girl who finds a picture of a baby and asks her mother who it is. Her mother keeps giving her clues to help her find the baby and you guessed it- she figures out in the end that SHE is the baby in the picture! After we already decided to do a game where guests had to guess baby pictures, I remembered this book and thought it would be a perfect name for the game!

This is where I used the ribbon board. I forgot to take a picture of it during the shower with all the pictures on it but we asked every guest to bring a baby picture of themselves and I arranged all the pictures on this board and attached a number next to each one.

I know that you have the picture by now but everyone then filled out this card with their guesses. I was surprised that my husband's aunt actually got every single name right!

So, if you have looked at Aesthetic Nest where I found all the printables and are wondering how I made this card from her pages, I'll tell you (I did ask her permission first.) I copy and pasted her page with the book labels (with four on a page) onto a Word document and used a text box to cover her words with the body of this card. I know this is common sense but if you do this, PLEASE give Anneliese credit for all her hard work creating these printables in the first place!

The other game we played was super simple- Guess how many Jelly Bellys are in the jar! I have never been one to enjoy lengthy, mind challenging shower games. I believe showers should be a fun time to get together to "shower" the recipient with love, support and gifts to help them start their new life, either as a wife or mother!

So, take a guess, how many Jelly Bellys in this jar? The answer- 1617! I was asked many times and you are probably thinking this yourself- yes, I counted all of them!

Here is the gift set that I created for my sister-in-law!

These cupcakes are a 100% copycat item- they are so cute AND Anneliese basically hands them to you on a platter with THESE printouts so one would be silly to not just copy hers! She adds some really adorable paper cupcake holders to hers but after cutting out about three of them I decided that the yellow with polka dots were just fine for me!

In addition to the cupcakes, I saw these Cheesecakes in a Jar on Pinterest (originally from The Italian Dish) and just HAD to make these! I mean, come on, have you ever seen anything so cute (and delicious)?! They were a hit too! Only one left at the end (oh, and there were 12 cheesecakes and 10 people- you do the math.)

My Mother-in-law made the food-doesn't it look great?! Mini chicken salad croissants, fruit tray, pasta salad, cucumber sandwiches. It was simple and perfect (and delicious!)

One final last touch as the guests left was to hand out small "Thank You's" filled with Jelly Bellys. I thought who on earth needs four pounds of Jelly Bellys at their house? That is a sure way to end up WITH a jelly belly!

I would just like to thank Anneliese at Aesthetic Nest one more time for all the time she put into all the printouts that she provides AND for being so generous as to share them! She has a number of cute printouts for all sorts of parties at her etsy site too!

Quilted Centerpiece

Since I just shared with you the paper flowers, I thought it was a good time to show how to make the quilted centerpiece that they are sitting on in this picture. When I was planning the decorations for the Golden Book Shower (I'll show you the finished shower soon), I wanted to have a simple but cute centerpiece that really felt like it belonged with the shower. Since the invitations were blue and yellow (thank you Anneliese from Aesthetic Nest) and more of the shower was yellow than anything else, it seemed only logical to make the centerpiece yellow based.  

I was seriously surprised when I ended up whipping this out in about a half an hour! It was definitely easy enough that I would make more in the future if I ever just need a little something extra in my house or a party for decoration.

First off, I have to tell you that when I decided to whip this up, I didn't have super high expectations because although it seemed easy in theory, I hadn't done anything quilted before (I know that the fabric is not quilted together but the top stitching is quilted.)

 I started by deciding on the size of the centerpiece and then cutting two pieces of fabric and one piece of Warm & Natural batting. Then layer the pieces with the batting down first and then laying the two pieces of fabric (right sides facing each other) on top of it.

I found a large bowl that would serve as a tracing tool for the ends and traced a curve on with a fadeout marker. Pin the fabrics together and sew around the edge with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving 3 inches open on one of the flat sides for turning.

Next, I trimmed the two edges with pinking shears (or you can just clip around the curve but I find the pinking shears a lot faster.) Turn right side out, iron flat and sew around the entire edge of the centerpiece making sure to sew the opening closed.

 Personally, I have fallen IN LOVE with my walking foot and use it with anything that has ANY bulk to it to keep the fabrics from shifting. My sister-in-law would just tell me to pin it more but I have already confessed before that I can be a lazy sewer and find this much faster!

This next part was really fun! With my walking foot still on, I started against the side and just started sewing in a crazy pattern. I thought that I would end up trapping myself somewhere in the pattern but it was easier than I thought to keep going and covering the entire piece in one long crazy line.

To finish, just wash and dry the centerpiece and it comes out with that really neat quilted look!

Happy Sewing!

Ribbon Board

OK- by now some of you may be getting tired of me posting about things that I made for the baby shower. This WAS made for the shower BUT with the plan behind it to put it in my daughter's room after that. I have seen ribbon boards all over and especially in places like Pottery Barn Kids where they usually sell them with frames, which I personally prefer.

This is a fairly inexpensive and definitely easy project to put together. For those of you who swear you can't sew (which I don't believe:), this is a no sew fabric project!

First, I ran over to the thrift store in our town and grabbed a frame that I liked. I didn't take a picture of it with the embroidery still inside it before I disassembled it but I ended up using the old base for the fabric (which you will see when you continue on to pictures  of the back.)

My husband sanded down the frame for me before I painted it. I know that it is always wise to prime wood before painting but I didn't have any and wanted this to be a cheap project, so I proceeded without it. My advice- DON'T SKIP THE PRIMER! It turned out alright in the end but if you see it in person, I wish that it was a little more even and smooth but that might just be the perfectionist in me.

Next, it's time to make the push pins. There are soooo many places that show you how to make these, and they're soooo easy that I'm not going to go through how to make them. Honestly, if you buy the kit for fabric covered buttons, the instructions are so easy that you don't really need a tutorial on how to do them. So in the end, I'll just tell you to look HERE to find out how to make them if you want to see some pictures.

I apologize that I was going so crazy when making everything before the shower that I got lazy about taking pictures for every step.

I cut a piece of Warm & Natural cotton batting to the exact size of the board (you can use foam board but I just used the board and cardboard that were already in the frame.) It is the exact size of the frame because you don't want the bulkiness of the batting to wrap around to the backside of the board. A thin batting of any sort would work but I personally just use Warm & Natural for almost everything.

For the next step, a staple gun would be ideal but seeing that I didn't have one and again, wanted to keep this cheap, I used thumbtacks instead and they worked just fine! Simply cut your fabric to be a few inches larger than your board on all sides. First lay down the fabric (right side down) on a table, lay the batting in the center, place the board on top, being careful to line up the board with the batting.

Start on one side and wrap the fabric tightly around to the back of the board. Every couple inches, put a tack firmly into board to secure fabric. Next, do the side exact opposite from the one where you started to make sure the fabric stays even. Then finish the last two sides. Check over whole backside (and look at the front) to make sure the fabric is even everywhere and add any tacks as necessary.

OK- not being computer savvy, I couldn't figure out how to put arrows on the picture to point at the areas so I will have to explain this. Take one strip of ribbon and secure it in on the backside of one corner. Pulling the ribbon tight, secure in the opposite corner. Repeat with the other two corners. Next, measure each side and make a small mark in the very middle of each side. Connect the middle of one side with the middle of the very next side, creating a triangle in the corner. Continue this on all corners until you have created a diamond shape on the board.

At each point where the ribbon intersects, firmly push a fabric covered push pins. Put  your fabric board in the frame and you're done! I am planning to cover the back of mine somehow- just so that the pins and old frame aren't exposed but I'll get to that another day!

Here it is! The ribbon board finished and used at the shower for a fun game of "Where Did the Baby Go?" which I will share more in a future post!

Happy pinning! (No pun intended for my fellow Pinterest lovers!)

Paper Flowers

Maybe it's just me but I think that these paper flowers are an awesome addition to any party! Since I was already taking so much from Aesthetic Nest for this shower, I thought why not steal the idea for those neat flowers too! You can find the original tutorial for them at MADE. I am telling you that you need only the teeniest, tiniest pinch of craftiness to make these. To top it all off, not only are these babies cute and easy but they are made from paper napkins so they are inexpensive (the best part of any project!)

I just loved the extra color and height that they added to the different areas at the shower! On the post for the pennant banner I was saying that I would probably make those for every party from here on out. Well the same goes for these flowers. They can be made in any color, any combination, any shape and they just fill in everywhere so nice!

These are such a fun, easy craft that I can just picture a small group of friends sitting around having a blast hanging out, talking, maybe a bottle of wine and having tons of fun making these for a party! They could even be a great "job" for younger crafters to be able to join in preparing for the festivities!

Happy flower making!