gemma's hair bow

I have had several inquires about Gemma's hair bows seen here, here and here. They are so easy I almost feel silly doing a how-to but your wish is my command! :)

You need: narrow ribbon; I use 1/8" wide, scissors, a tooth pick and corn syrup.


































Cut a length of ribbon about 8". Make two loops. Now tie them together. (You know, the bunny runs around the tree and into the hole...). Adjust the loops and tails until it looks even. Clip the tails.




















Dip a toothpick into the corn syrup. With the toothpick smear a drop or two of the corn syrup onto the back of the bow and stick it on your baby girls head. Gemma's bows usually stay stuck to her head until I give her a bath. Once one stayed on for three days because I was lazy and didn't bathe her!

look who's four months!

Gemma is four months old! Yesterday she rolled over from her back to her front for the first time. I excitedly called Michael to tell him about this milestone and he says, "Oh yeah, she did that yesterday." What?!? Since he was kind enough to not wake me from my Sunday afternoon nap to tell me the news I let it slide. :)

I am not sure how it has been for you but in my experience, I took a million (or more) pictures of my first born, Liam. With each child, the amount of pictures I have taken has dwindled. In an effort to document Gemma's infancy (and to combat her eventual argument that I don't love her as much as the other kids) I have been taking monthly photos of Gemma inspired by famille summerbelle.

Today Gemma has a fever and isn't feeling great but she still manages to smile. As long as I am holding her, that is! I have several things I want to post about but they will have to wait until my little one is feeling better.

matchy matchy

I have a little confession: I have always thought dressing your kids in matching outfits was a bit lame but now that I have two girls, the urge to put them in matching clothes has hit me unexpectedly. Sutton loves the idea and Gemma can't voice her opinion so there is nothing to stop me!


I made Sutton's top with the pattern I made up for the polka dot dress. I had wanted the top to be a little longer but I was working with fabric I salvaged from a failed skirt I attempted a few years ago. I made the top as long as I could and to save length didn't hem the bottom. I love having that option with jersey knit!


In place of the hook and eye on the polka dot dress I did a big yellow flower button and elastic cord.


Gemma's outfit is a simple onesie dress with a ruffle at the neck. I have seen many tutorials for onesie dresses and had even made a few as gifts. I made one for Gemma about a month ago and was so happy with how it turned out until I tried to put it on her- where the skirt was sewn to the onesie the onesie no longer stretched. It was almost impossible to get the dress over her head and onto her body and once I did get it onto her the seam dug into Gemma's chubby belly. After a little brainstorming, I figured out a way to make a onesie dress that fit! I'll make up my own onesie dress tutorial soon.


I love these girls! They are beautiful and so much fun to dress!!

embellished scissors

I got this idea from the always talented Char at Crap I've Made. I think embellished scissors make a perfect teacher appreciation gift. Practical + useful, original and inexpensive all in one cute little package!


The scissors are very simple to make. Cut out and glue paper to the outside of the blades. Sand the edges to get excess paper off. Apply Dimensional Magic, let dry. Easy!


I had never heard of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic before but I love the stuff now! It has a really nice thick, super glossy finish. It was really easy to use too.


Unlike Char, I don't have a Silhouette and my printer recently kicked the bucket. I had to go with the super low tech scissors and pen to make the tags. Not the cutest but it works.


I had Sutton write her name on the tags. I love her preschool handwriting. Especially the backwards S. I tried to be a good parent and show her (again) which way the S should face but secretly, I think the reversal is sweet!

polkadot ruffle dress tutorial

This is the tutorial I put together for Knock-off week at Craftiness is not Optional.

I have had this mini Boden dress hanging on my inspiration board for awhile. My four year old daughter Sutton loves to wear dresses. She also loves to play. No tea parties for her, she loves playing outside with her brothers. She needs dresses that are comfortable and durable.

While $40 isn't a huge amount of money it's more than I would spend on a little girls dress especially one could easily make myself. I knew this dress would be easy to make since it is basically two pieces, front and back, with some ruffles and shirring. I bought 1-1/2 yards of 58" wide jersey which cost $6.99/yard at Hobby Lobby. With a 40% off coupon the total was about $7. Plus, I had almost a half a yard left over. I had all the other supplies on hand.



In this dress Sutton can run and jump and dance and explore and look adorable while doing it!



Supplies
-Approximately 1 yard (more or less depending on your size) of jersey knit.
-Thread
-Elastic thread
-Rotary cutter and straight edge (not required but very helpful)
-Water soluble fabric marking pen


1. Make your pattern. Choose a dress that has a loose, flow-y fit and no sleeves (or tuck the sleeves inside like I did). Turn the dress inside out and fold in half. Lay on pattern paper and trace around dress adding a little extra for seam allowance, about a 1/2" or 5/8", whatever you are comfortable with. You can see that I added about 1-1/2"-2" extension to the shoulder for the sleeves and some width and length. Fold the dress in half the other way and repeat the above instructions to make the back pattern piece.

You could trace your dress directly onto the fabric but I prefer to make a paper pattern, it makes sewing the next dress a snap! I already have another one in the works that is tunic length to wear with leggings.


2. Cut out your pattern pieces and lay them on your fabric with the straight sides on the fold. Pin and cut.


3. Cut a 2-1/2" slit in the center back neckline. It's easy to find the center when the fabric is still folded in half.


4. Jersey can be intimidating to sew with, but it's really quite easy! Use the right needle, a ball point 9 or 11, and the right stitch, a slanted zigzag (I am sure that's not the technical term for the stitch but that's what I call it!). The slanted zigzag stitch allows the fabric to still stretch which means the seams will not break when the garment is being put on or taken off.

Sew your two pieces together, right sides facing, at the shoulder and the side.


5. Cut some bias strips. Fold one selvage end to the adjacent side, cut on the fold. Using a rotary cutter and a straightedge, cut 1-1/2" strips parallel to the previously cut folded edge. You will need one strip 24" long and two strips 12" long for the neck and sleeve binding. You will also need three strips for the ruffles; 22", 20" and 18".


6. Slightly gather the neckline.


7a. Using a regular straight stitch sew the 24" strip to the neckline, right sides facing.

7b. Over lap the ends about a 1/2". Cut off excess strip.


8a. Press the seams towards the strip and fold the strip over the seams, press again. (Pin if needed)

8b. With the right side up sew close to the seam. Cut off excess strip on the inside.


9. Mark the waistline. I put the dress on my daughter and measured from the center neckline to where her natural waist is. Her measurement was 7" (the blue mark). With a straight edge mark across the dress on the front and back (purple mark).


10a. With elastic thread in the bobbin, sew all the way around the dress on your mark. I have found backstitching with elastic thread often jams my machine. To avoid that I just sew over the starting point by one to two inches.

10b. Using your presser foot and the previous stitch as a guide, sew multiple rows of shirring. I did five. Make sure you smooth out the gathers from the previous stitches but not so much that you stretch the fabric. Now you are done with the elastic thread.

Note: There are lots of opinions on how to do shirring. This is what works best for me:
-Slightly stretch the elastic while you hand wind it onto the bobbin.
-Set the tension slightly higher (7 on my machine which is usually set around 5)
-Don't backstitch.
-Always, always test the shirring on a scrap piece. My drop in bobbin machine will often not catch the elastic in the bobbin correctly on the first try. Then there is lots of unpicking and fabric damage.


11. Gather the remaining strips. Use the longest stitch and turn the tension all the way up and the fabric comes out perfectly gathered, no pulling threads!


12. Pin the ruffles to the bodice. I ended up only using two. I felt that three was overwhelming for this size dress (5T). Using a regular stitch and regular tension, sew the ruffles to the dress.


13. Attention to detail- using a seam ripper remove the gathering stitch. The top ruffle's gathering stitch was picked out and the bottom ruffle wasn't. See how much cleaner the top ruffle is?


14. Hem the dress and add a hook and eye to the top of the slit on the back neckline and you're done!!


Thanks Jess for having me here at Craftiness is not Optional! It's been an honor to be part of your knock-off series!