Minnie Mouse Halloween Costume

     Right now my 3 year old loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! :) I thought for Halloween she could be Minnie Mouse and it would be pretty simple to make.  I received a pattern from Little Lizard King and I LOVE IT!!!

You can find the exact pattern HERE.

     This pattern was simple, so easy and the pattern piece was the best part.  You only have to use this tiny pattern piece to cut out the arm hole rather than the whole top. BRILLIANT!  It has options for different sleeves and bottom of dress. I plan on making a few more of these asap with different sleeves. This dress is so fun.  PLUS it runs true to size.  I made a 4t because with other patterns for this type dress they always fit super small on her and she is already super skinny. This dress turned out a little big because I planned for it fitting tight. I would TOTALLY buy this pattern readers! it's a basic pattern everyone can use and has so many options to make it your own. It would be great for someone learning to sew too! :)

I added a tie to add some Minnie Mouse character and to help it fit better because I made it extra big. 

I've had tops like this before that I've done ties for and they just end up slipping off or falling down all day. I decided to sew it on to the dress in the front just a little. I didn't go all the way across because it would look funny with the gathers and pleats that are naturally made. This will just hold it in place enough and keep the fabric from folding over and bunching up. It works great! 

don't mind the sloppy bow. I was in a hurry. :) 

do you think she likes it a little? 

I'm having my friend from Crafting Friends make this hat for me to go with it: 

Now all she needs is some white gloves and she's ready to go Trick or Treating! :) 

I love this little girl! She always has crazy hair, a princess dress on, and a bow she puts in herself. She is going to love this costume and I love that I can make her smile just by doing something I love to do for her. It makes me feel good. I may not be the best mom all the time and I constantly get frustrated with the tantrums and whining, but sewing for her makes me feel like I can do something right for her. 

UPDATE:

Happy Halloween!

A day of firsts: monkey pants, doll clothes and t-shirt

I recently bought this pattern for "monkey butt pants" and wanted to try it out, but I have never sewn with knit before.  
   www.etsy.com/listing/91287677/monkey-pants-pattern-3m-24m

   so, I thought before I spend money on fabric, i'd try them out with an old t-shirt. I have my favorite shirt my husband brought me from Alaska, but it's falling apart around the logo on the back, so I thought i'd use the usable fabric to make some cute pants. and BOY did they turn out cute!

    I also recently picked up some cabbage patch dolls from an online classifieds page and needed some new clothes for them all to wear. .. along with the current dolls at our house. We now have quite a few. :) I found this tutorial and I couldn't resist!

 http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/2009/12/baby-onesie-into-doll-onesie.html

http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/2009/06/baby-clothes-to-doll-clothes-tutorial.html

These are what I came up with: 

(This girl loves her babies!! Crazy hair from the bath! :) a very common occurrence at our house)

         This doll is for Carli when she gets old enough to play with it.  Keira will share her others too, but this will be just hers, like Keira has one that is just hers. 

             

        This outfit is one that Carli wore and I loved it. It was a onesie, but this was the last outfit I did, and I got lazy.  the bottom part looked complicated and I didn't have patience. Plus, I was afraid The girls would wake up any moment.

         

          If any of you are scared to do these yourselves, don't be.  just wing it like I did. :) they turn out just fine! the instructions from the tutorials are only ONE way of doing things too.  I changed it up a little on a few and ended up taking them all apart like the zippered pj's.  I did them more like the onesie tutorial and took the sleeves off.  I think they turned out darling, but now I think i'm all doll clothes-ed out for a while.  it's a lot of tedious stuff. 

        Another thing I did for the first time today was "shrink a T-shirt."  :) My brother in law gave me a shirt when we saw them last. It was an XL and I usually wear a M in mens t-shirts.  So, I took one of my favorite fitting shirts and laid it on top.  I ended up cutting the sleeves off  and fitting them like the other shirt and traced the outline of the shirt that fits onto the big shirt.  I pinned it all over, sewed it up with a knit stitch and hemmed the bottom.  I pinned the sleeves in place and stitched them in place too. it's like you never knew it was a different shirt!!! :) this one does fit a little tighter though, I think it's different thickness shirt. Oh well! :) 

Carseat Canopy

        There is something wrong with me. seriously. I wanted to get this sewn before I had Carli, so I started and finished this Thursday and I had her Friday. I'm nuts!

       The zebra print is a bit much, but it was cheap at walmart and I only a little left of the animal print after doing the carseat recovering and diaper bag. I had black fabric that was pretty much free that I purchased from a garage sale last summer. I used that for the inside.

I purchased this AWESOME pattern from:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElizabethWyatt?ref=seller_info

It is worth every penny! I'll tell you why!

 The canopy is extra long in the front and back and sides. The last one I had barely covered her feet in the front and it was always flying up in the wind. 

The back also has this awesome bustle that you can snap up and let the baby get some air without exposing her to sun and stuff. I'm still overwhelmed by zebra print. I really wish I would have gone with something not so loud.

The front has a zipper that you can open to see her, or give her some air and still block the sun while still allowing you to use the handle to cary her. I love the girly ruffle detail or you can do a less girly piping detail.

Inside there are 2 convenient toy loops that I always wished others had. They are placed right below the straps used to attatch the cover to the carseat.

            All these combined make for a very user friendly and cute canopy that baby can sleep comfortably under.

           While making this, I was so rushed that I didn't take my time to read instructions carefully and am used to patterns with a ton of step by step pictures. This pattern is a lot more like the patterns you purchase in the store. If I would have slowed down I would not have gotten frustrated during the zipper/front and back assembly process. AND I should know better than to cut the zipper short before the thing is done. SO DUMB!!!! that lead to a lot of safety pinning and taping to make sure it stayed the way it was supposed to before completion. I ended up adding a lot more time than needed and using my seam ripper way more than I like to just because I hurried. ANYWAY, it turned out fine and works! again, not perfect, but nothing of mine ever is. :)

Wrap Shirt

This pattern can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/74217086/wrap-top-shirt-twirl-dress-for-baby-girl or visit the shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Patchworkids?ref=seller_info

I love this pattern!!! I will make it time and time again. I can't wait to try new fabrics and try different combinations. I wanted a simple cute halloween/October shirt. The instructions were easy to follow and I love the way it came together. I really like the way the hem is done and the finishing work. Nothing complicated and it makes for clean lines. LOVE IT!!! The pattern has you put the ties on the other side, but because of shortage of bias tape, I had to improvise on the last inch of the top and I didn't want it to show. I hid it on the inside of the shirt. I also made my own ribbon for the outside because, again, I ran out. I like that most the time I can improvise. :) I do most of my sewing late at night and running to the store is out of the question. I have so many scraps anyway, that it's nice to use them up for things. :)

Kitty Costume

            I wanted to make this for a long time and finally decided to do it!  I know i'm like a month early planning for Halloween, but that's just how I am.

I got this pattern from:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/81879609/diy-make-your-own-longalls-or-shortalls or http://www.etsy.com/shop/babykaysboutique?ref=seller_info. This pattern is so cute! I love it and it wears so comfortable and easy. Sewing these overalls was a lot faster than I thought as well. I will make these again for sure! Please ignore all the lint stuck to these in the pictures. My daughter doesn't want to take them off for a second and they are made out of velveteen. I chose this fabric because I got it in a huge box of fabric I purchsed at a garage sale for two bucks. There is a big roll of it in the box so I better use it! :)

   I added a tail to the back and wrote meow in fabric paint. I kind of regret the fabric paint idea, only because I'm not sure it even looks good. the bow was added above the tail so the letters wouldn't look so weird. sigh. It's just a halloween costume! :) right?

    This pattern calls for a lining, so I used fleece to keep her warm, and it's also stuff I had on hand. THANK YOU GRANDMA! My button holes are far from perfect, but they work!

  This is a collar I made her with ribbon and glued crystals and pearls on it. the ends are closed together using a hook and eye. my camera doesn't show this well, but the whole outfit uses pink and black.

Don't you just love her crazy hair?! first thing this morning she wanted it on!

Simple, Quick Valance

     When I painted my daughter's room a while ago, I planned on sewing a valance too. It kept getting put off and honestly, I had never sewn one before so I was unsure what to do. I bought 2 yards of fabric and found a valance I had on her window before that was purchased. I added about 3 inches in length and 5 inches in width to make it fit a little better. on the two short ends of the fabric I folded in about 1/2 inch and folded it again then stitched  in place. I then folded the fabric in half with right sides together and stitched along the top raw edges. Then I turned it right side out and stitched close to the top edge just to keep it in place. I top stitched again at 1 1/2 inches from top, then again about that far from the last stitching. Simple as that! no bottom hem needed which I love! :)



Christmas Cookie Countdown Calendar

   I made this calendar for my kids to count down the days till christmas with! It was so cute I couldn't resist! I remember the fun one my mom had for us as kids with a mouse that moves from day to day and above was Santa sitting in his house. I loved it and looked forward to moving it each day! This one is a little different. You start out with the cookies in each pocket and each day you take a cookie out and put it in the bowl.

     So cute!

    I purchased this pannel from http://www.etsy.com/shop/cjscraftcorner .  She is a very nice and helpful person and has such cute stuff she makes to sell and often has fabric as well.

         These cookies were fun to make! The instructions say to use paper backed fusible web- iron the fabric to felt. I took it a step further and used fusible interfacing to iron onto the fabric, then fusible web to the felt. I then stitched a decorative stitch around the edges and finally used a lighter to get rid of freyed edges. The freyed edges probably wouldn't be there if it weren't for the interfacing, but I like the extra stability it gave them. I think they turned out perfect!

         I wanted to have this hang on my fridge for now and if later we move or have a place on the wall fo rit, I will sew on some plastic loops to hang on the wall with or something. I glued magnets to the inside layer of fabric before I sewed it together. two problems with this method: 1- the magnets stuck to the table and my machine while I tried to quilt the top and I couldn't stitch over certain parts. 2- they don't stick as well to the fridge. I noticed there was a big gap between magnets because I only used  4 on the corners and it was saggy, so after it was finished, I glued 4 more on the back in between the others. now, it works great.

machine quilting around shapes. I also quilted around each day square on the bottom.

         I decided to do the pillowcase method to sew this together rather than the binding. I like the way it turned out! I also used interfacing behind the bowl piece rather than just a single layer of fabric flopping around, and I also put interfacing behind the whole top. I like the stuff and It makes for a longer lasting, more durable item. I look forward to my kids using this each year!!!