Tutorial: How To Make A Stretchy Carseat & Nursing Cover

Stretchy carseat/nursing cover free tutorial!

You've all seen these awesome covers by now. They're amazing. And they're so easy and inexpensive to make! Follow these instructions and you'll be done in no time. You literally only have to sew 2 lines and you can make your own pattern with some copy paper.

You need 1 yard of 60" wide jersey knit fabric OR 2 yards of two different 60" wide jersey knit fabrics if you like the combo look better (like my striped/floral cover). Doing it this way will make 2 covers. 

Don't forget to wash and iron your fabric before starting.

Now get 4 pieces of 8.5x11 copy paper

And line them up like this, cutting one of them into 3 equal parts

Lay them out as pictured. Measure and mark, then draw a rounded edge

You will mark 7" from the top left corner and then draw a curved line ending where the top papers meet at a 90 degree angle. Draw another curved line on the top right paper from its top left corner to its bottom right corner as shown.

Cut and tape pattern together

Repeat the steps above tracing your previous cuts as to get the same exact curve on the opposite side

Pin the pattern to your fabric and cut out 2 pieces; a front and a back. Now put your two pieces together with the right sides facing each other pin them together. Use pins to mark 7 inches from the center on both sides of the top line.  

Sew the cover all the way up the sides, leaving a 14 inch space on the top.

I leave the edges unfinished because they curl up and look just fine this way. Plus, I don't have a serger.

Voila! You have a handy dandy cover with like a hundred uses!

That floral/stripped one was a gift I made for a friend's brand new baby but the one below is one I made for my son who is now old enough to use it in highchairs and shopping carts.

I hope you enjoy making this! I love it when I can make something that is both easy and inexpensive and SO USEFUL! Not to mention cuuuuuuuuute. Hope you love it too!

  

Fabric Doll

What a doll!

 

I followed the instructions on Make It and Love It here.

Instead of felt for hair I just used some fabric I had on hand that matched some yarn I had on hand! Which is why her shoes are white as well. I used muslin for the body and machine stitched the eyes and mouth on as soon as the pattern pieces were cut out, I didn't want to hand embroider them on cuz I'm lazy like that. I also skipped the cute little sleeves and collar for the same reason. And to top off my laziness I didn't even enlarge the pattern so mine turned out smaller. 

Those tiny arms require a surprising amount of batting to stuff completely so be sure to put enough in before sewing them onto the body especially if you omit sleeves like I did. 

Oh one more thing! If you use fabric for hair like I did, after you sew it on, try cutting little slits in it to fray it a little along the edges.

Now go make a special little handmade doll for someone you love :)

Stuffed Batman

I know it's not perfect but I'm happy about how it turned out...


Actually I'm happy that it turned out at all! I didn't know what I was doing so I'm surprised it looks as good as it does! I just drew a pattern and used an old pillowcase for the body and felt for all the embellishments. 

My son seems to like it!

Princess Party

Here are a few cute ideas for a princess party using Make The Cut software and a Cricut machine:

I found crown templates online (girl's and boy's) that I re-sized to be a bit smaller and then merged them into one piece instead of two. I had the kids glue the shapes on the crowns then stapled the band to the back.

The applique on her shirt was also cut using my Cricut but if I did it over I'd just do fabric by hand because I think it dulls the blade.

This picture is hard to see but I found a simple dress image and put each letter on each dress cutting them both (dress and letter) out. The letters that had pieces inside (like R or D) that needed to stay attached were just taped together and it wasn't too noticeable.  

Another hard to see picture has the stars hanging in the windows. They were made from the same posterboard as the crowns. Hang with fishing line or invisible thread and add some pretty lights for a very girly/princess-y look!

Stuffed Owl

I love this little owl! It's the first stuffed animal I've made and it wasn't hard either. My baby girl loves owls so I searched for a tutorial and found the cutest one at Mile High Mom. I used a pink minky dot fabric on the back for the cuddle-factor, and all the fabric on the front matches the ruffled quilt I'm making her for Christmas (besides the black on the eyes - that's felt). 


I have to mention the tutorial I found and used for closing the seam. It was just what I needed and it worked great! I was amazed. Go to Quilt Taffy to see how to finish off a stuffed animal with an invisible closing seam!


I don't know how I'm going to hold off another week before giving this to my baby. I showed her brother and he said, "Wow! Can I see my stuffed Batman"? Mind you, there is no stuffed Batman but apparently there's gonna have to be now! I will be sharing that tutorial as well as their coordinating twin quilts (since they share a room) in the near future.

Vinyl Stenciled, Fabric Painted Onesies

I set out to make freezer paper stenciled onsies for a baby shower gift and realized that some of my designs were too intricate for freezer paper (mostly the tires on the jeep). I had some leftover blue vinyl that I wouldn't be using for anything, so I decided to use it along with some transfer paper to apply the stencils to the onsies before painting.

The first batch of stencils were way too big (I guess I forgot how small newborns really are!) so I had to start over and I was already in a time crunch so my sweet husband helped me out by blowdrying them. He tried to be nice and help even more by adding a second coat and ended up getting a blotch on the black guitar onesie. I had to improvise by adding some more blotches all around it using a cut-out of an oval shape. I think it looks cool that way!

 I used my one of my huge vinyl stencils from the first batch to make our son a Superman shirt. After seeing this and helping me with the onesies, my husband decided to use the other huge stencils to make our son a brown jeep shirt with black tires and our daughter a guitar shirt. He was really into it too, he wouldn't even wait for the paint to dry before taking the vinyl off because he was too excited to see the finished product lol!

Because of the cost, I wouldn't recommend regularly using vinyl for this project but if you really want a specific design that's too hard to do with freezer paper, this sure works great! And you don't have to break out the iron :)

Vinyl Bin Labels

I have been meaning to do this project FOR. EV. ER. Seriously over a year now. I guess I just knew it would take some time and effort and I haven't had either one to put into it. Well I finally finished everything else written down on my to-do list and it was the only thing remaining so I just made myself do it. Now I'm off to make a new to-do list!

Tutorial: How To Make A Ruffled Monogram Pillow

Thank goodness for birthdays or I'd never have an excuse to make stuff! I feel like the only time I get to create anymore is when my kids are going to a birthday party. My poor neglected kids don't ever get anything made by me either because it's just getting harder to find the time as they grow. Not to mention the fact that we just moved AND started a new job. But ANYWHO...

Here is an adorable pillow for a little girl's bedroom that you can personalize with her initial.

I used my Cricket to cut this letter "M" but you could easily print it then trace it onto your fabric and cut. This was my first time cutting fabric with my Cricket machine (using these instructions) and it worked great.

It was also my first time applying an applique. I'd had the stuff to do it forever but was intimidated. For no reason I might add. It was so easy. All you need is Fray Check, Heat n' Bond and a somewhat simple shaped applique. For me, sewing around the applique was too hard when I used a super curvy font (i.e. "Curlz").

So this is what you do:

Cut out two squares for your pillow in any size you choose. Also cut out a letter (or anything else you want to use for your applique) and apply Fray Check to the edges. Cut four strips of fabric for you ruffle that are each about 1.5 times as long as one of your pillow's sides, fold them over length-wise with wrong sides together and iron.

Then open them up and sew them right sides together on the shorter sides until you have a big loop. Iron the seams open and then re-iron it length-wise over the seam. Come to think of it you might as well just wait to iron the entire thing lenth-wise until after you've sewed each strip together.

Now gather the whole thing by sewing the raw edges together with an extra long stitch length and pulling on the ends.

Now attach the ruffle to the right side of one square with pins. Use your seams as a guide by pinning them to the corners so that it's all even. Speaking of corners, make sure your ruffles aren't bunched right there because mine were sloppy and I had to use my seam ripper and redo them after sewing over the outter edges of my ruffle the first time.

Use your Heat n' Bond to apply your applique to the other square. Once attached you can sew around the edges of the letter using your zig-zag stitch and a very low stitch length setting.

Next, take your monogramed square and lay it face-down on top, right sides together, and re-pin, removing the pins used in the previous step as you go.

Now you're ready to sew! Leave a small opening to pull it right side out through (it's best if this opening is in the center of two corners instead of at a corner). Once right side out, stuff with batting and sew opening shut using invisible thread or a matching thread if fabric is a solid color.

Arm Warmers

My boy loves to put gloves, mittens, his sister's leg warmers and everybody's socks on his hands and arms yet it never occurred to me to make him arm warmers until I saw this post by I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar.

So I bought a 3-pack of men's knee-high socks at Target for $5 and got to work.

They just look like a long-sleeved shirt underneath a t-shirt Sorry about the terrible lighting but you get the idea!

Tutorial: How To Make A Cupcake Stand (CHEAP!)

I should change my blog name to "Cheap and Easy" LOL

Fabric Basket

Cute huh?! I made this last year for my then 2-year-old to use for trick-or-treating but didn't bother to check the finished size before starting because I was too excited. It's really, really small so if you're going to use it as a Halloween basket you should probably make it bigger.

I added the "BOO" by carefully cutting letters from my leathery fabric then stitching a different printed fabric behind each letter right around the letter's edge. I altered the handle as well using corset boning so it would stay out of the way and so that my little guy could easily hold it.
Here is the link to Pink Penguin's tutorial which is not a Halloween basket - hers is super duper cute, you have got to see it. This is where I learned to box corners!

I think I need to make another one more like hers to throw all my strings in as I sew. Enjoy!

Tutorial: How To Make Crocheted Beanie Ears

I know I've really been MIA lately, sorry. So once again I've found a project that I made a long time ago that I will now share with you since I haven't had time to make anything new lately!

These kitten ears are just triangles but you can add round ears, long ears whatever. I just decided where I wanted the ears and attached pink yarn at the right-most side of the first ear then crocheted a few rows decreasing as I moved up. I then crocheted around the edge of the ear with black and voila. I added a tulle bow for a little extra something.

Although she didn't have a full costume, my baby girl was a kitty for her very first Halloween because her big brother was a doggie :)

Tutorial: How To Make A Vinyl Catch-All Bib

You know those frigging awesome catch all bibs from Walmart that cost $5 and are only "wipeable" on one side? Well they're my favorite except the fact that I have to replace them constantly since you can't wash them (only wipe) and the back gets gross so fast.

SOOOO I decided to make my own with both sides being wipeable and boy oh boy I love them so much!

I made my daughter's with that vinyl that has the fuzzy stuff on the back. $2/yard at Walmart:

Then since they didn't have a cute boy patterned vinyl I just made my son's with the clear stuff and it's actually kind of cool how it's see through! And only $1 something per yard!!! This one is even easier since you don't have to sew at all... just cut and add snaps:

All I did was use my old bib as a pattern.

For my daughter's I had to cut 2 pieces (each a little bigger than the bib for seam allowance) and sew them right sides together leaving an opening at the bottom to turn then topstitch all the way around. If you want more details on sewing this see my other bib tutorial here, it's the same idea minus the batting.

For my son's I only had to trace and cut one piece.

Once the bib is made you add snaps (I like the hammer on kind) in the same place as the Walmart bib's snaps (except I excluded a couple that I felt were not necessary) and you're done.

They're so easy to clean and the only *true* catch-all bib, in my opinion, because the bottom actually sticks out instead of lying flat, because of the snap placement and shape of the bib.

I think I'll be adding these to my Etsy shop since I think everyone should have one!

Brim Beanie

This is what started it all. I made this brimmed beanie for my son a couple years ago and posted it on my family blog. It was a hit so I started making them for friends and family.

People encouraged me to sell them and one friend told me about selling handmade items on Etsy (something I'd never heard of before) so I set up a crochet shop there with this one item that was customizable.

It was such a thrill to sell to someone I'd never met before! I don't think I'll ever forget the name of my first buyer.

But of course I got tired of making hats and opened a new shop where I could make whatever I wanted whenever I got bored of something :)

But nevermind all that! Let's get to the how-to...

Most crocheters probably already know how to make a beanie (if not, check out The Happy Hooker) but I learned to do the brim from this video on YouTube by Teresa from The Art Of Crochet. I changed it up a little bit the more I practiced and got the hang of it. I increased a little more at the edges of the brim's 1st row and didn't make it as wide as hers but everything else was the same (oh and I didn't do the backwards single crochet at the end either).

Happy "Hooking" lol!

Tutorial: How To Make A Swaddle Blanket

Yes I still swaddle my 9 month old. Say what you will but it gets her to sleep fast and saves me what little sanity I have left so I'll keep it up as long as I can! If you swaddle (aka burrito wrap) your baby but need something much much lighter for summertime, you'll love this!

I simply bought a yard of jersey knit material and cut it in half along the line that it already had from being on the bolt. You don't have to do anything to the edges because they'll just curl up. If you're picky you can take a rotary cutter to the edges that the fabric store cut so they're straight but honestly it won't matter once you wash and dry it.

This makes two very lightweight, stretchy blankets! You could definately get away with less than a yard if it's for an newborn.

I love me a cheap and easy project!!