Drop Waist Knit Dresses

Recently, I have been playing around refashioning t-shirts.  I trimmed down a few old adult tee's into some little girl nightgowns, but then I wanted to make some dresses.  I first tried a dress from scratch.  I constructed this completely from a maternity shirt that I have no intention of EVER wearing again in my life.  While it went pretty well, it ended up being about a size 4, and really did not fit Abigail.  I also didn't realize until after I washed this dress that I needed to be using a ball point needle.  Not to shabby for a first attempt.  It could have been cute on her, next year, but I scrapped it to make an even better creation.

My next efforts were based off of three t-shirts that Abigail already had that fit her.  I simply added a tube of material, cut from another t-shirt, to the bottom to make them little dresses.  Each dress is slightly different though they are all built on the same construction principle.  

This skirt is the least gathered.  It was constructed from a shirt of my eldest daughters that was too short for her to wear any longer.   I was able to stretch the t-shirt to its max girth to match the skirt addition.

 The Purple skirt was formerly a plain shirt of mine.  It was a very cheap t-shirt that had absolutely no shape, so its second life is a drastic improvement.  I needed to sew a gathering stitch around the tube before attaching to the top.  I'm thinking about adding a purple gathered ruffle around the bottom of the sleeves to make it more co-hesive.   

 This dress ended up having the most gathering of the bunch.  The skirt was the above mentioned maternity shirt that masqueraded as a toddler dress for a single day.  The skirt was twice the width of the t-shirt making the skirt much fuller than the others.  

I love these simple dresses for so many reasons.  

1. I don't need to find a coordinating bottom when dressing her in the morning.
2. I don't need to find a coordinating bottom when dressing her again a few hours later.
3. Only one piece of laundry to wash.
4. Only one piece of laundry to fold.
5. Only one piece of laundry to put away!

With 15 minutes of time, a $4.00 t-shirt from Target, an old t-shirt and one seam to sew, anyone can fill their little ones closet with cute every day play dresses!

Thrift Store Find

I went to the Goodwill this morning, more as an escape for an hour with no children than anything else. I wanted to check for side snap infant shirts, a new maternity dress, and look for a whole pile of matching wooden buttons for some curtains that I am going to be sewing for the next few days. I new I was hoping for too much to find 20 matching buttons... but sometimes you just never know!

While I was back in the homegoods section, I spotted a package of fabric that caught my eye. It was the bottom pink fabric that I initially thought was so cute, however, once I picked up the package, I noticed that the other three prints where the same style in different colors. THREE PRINTS! I looked for a price tag and it was marked at $1.00! 4 yards of material for a buck!

I tried to get a picture of just fabric, but Abi thinks that anything I'm making must be for her, and automatically claims any fabric that is not put away to play with as a dress, skirt, pillow, or blanket.

Now I just have to figure out which girl gets which print, and what skirt pattern to use this time around! I had initially thought that a 3 tiered skirt would be adorable with each girl getting a layer of each print, but Khali has vetoed that already, so I'm still thinking.

Onesie Refashion

Abi has decided it is time to start learning to go to potty, which renders her onsies pretty useless. She has quite a few long sleeve onsies from winter time that still fit her so I have decided to make them work for a little while longer.

Using my sewing scissors, I trimmed right above the leg binding all around the bottom of the onesie first, and then slightly eased the curve to be a bit less dramatic. I then just set my sewing machine to a wide zig-zag and pulled the cut edge taught while stitching to create a lettuce effect. Since it does not require turning under a hem the shirt is still plenty long enough for her. If summer ever arrives I think I will further refashion her onesies to be short sleeves. This refashion took about 5 minutes with Abi helping on each step. She knew they were her shirts and wanted to take part after all!

Meeting Organizational Needs - On the cheap

For the entire year, the kids have had their school books in a bookcase on one shelf next to the kitchen table. We have tried labeling areas for each child, separating each area with plastic pencil cases, and even bookend/dividers. Regardless of the method that was in place, the little two could not put their books away in the correct place. I was lucky in they would get their books and pencils put away off the table, period. While the piled shelf doesn't really bother me much, except for the morning that I cannot seem to find Child X's writing book, this was (one of) the biggest bains of my eldest child's existence. Other children's books were in her area, they were touching hers, they were breathing the air of her books!

So off I went again, on a late night search for another solution that I could enact to fix this massive disaster of a problem. I came across some very cute and chic magazine holders including the ones found here. Of course I didn't have any magazine holders laying around the house to just cover, so I had to do a search for a good substitute, preferably one I did had laying around the house already as

a.) It would be free

b.) I wouldn't have to run to a store

c.) I could start right away while I was still excited for this project!

While I know some people have used cereal boxes for such a purpose, I needed something a bit more heavy duty. I came across the idea of using a USPS Priority Mail box and thought, Perfect! I happened to have a small stack laying upstairs next to the computer waiting to be used for such a purpose!

I cut my angle with a steak knife after finding that my utility scissors where doing a poor job. I measured just under 12 inches high on the back side, and 6 inches high on the front and cut the boxes. You can cut them to any measurements that you think would work well for your situation, but I wanted to be able to use 12x12 scrap-booking paper on each side so that dictated my cuts. Originally I had wanted to use fabric like the Chic ones above, but realized I did not have adequate prints that the kids would like, so I resorted to what I had on hand. I used spray adhesive to put on the paper and then permanent marker with lettering stencils to write their names on the tall end for each child.

*warning* If you are tempted to write your children's name using fancy stencils, ask yourself if your child is going to think that their O is a Q, or their L is an I. Apparently I should have written in my clearest De'Nalien print and called it good.

Since I want these boxes to stand up to daily wear and tear of childrens use, I bought some contact paper and proceeded to cover each one. I even used a bit of packaging tape to hold the contact paper down on the inside of the box so that there is very little chance of the books getting caught and ruining my creation. Hopefully these will last and solve the messy bookshelf problem.

Reusable Snack Bags

This has been the funnest day project! To make it even better, it uses up a bunch of scrap fabric that I've kept for far to long and wondered what to do with. In fact, the shiny stuff on the inside I remember using to make some kind of fabric flower when I was a little girl. Pretty Please tell me I'm not the only person that has some of their mothers fabric stash? Its hard to throw these types of things away!

I'm not sure what search I was doing that I stumbled upon the Idea of Re-usable snack bags, but I'm so glad that I did! Once again there are many tutorials and options out there, but the one that I thought would be the easiest and fastest I found here. If you are going to make your own stash of baggies, I recommend when you sew the second end seam (the first step) that you pull your outer material just a tad bit longer. Then when you flip it right side out to sew on the velcro, the outer material is naturally a little bit longer than the inner material. I think it creates a cleaner look.

I tested out the snack size bags with cereal in them for the little girls when we went to the grocery store. I think they are the perfect size for individual treats. The larger sandwich sized bag I think will be more functional for sharing treats. After dinner, I have a few other fabrics to whip into cute little snack bags. I even have one or two fabrics that aren't quite so girly, so Porter can not look silly, though he really could care less.

Covered Diaper Wipe Case

I finally finished my Diaper Wipe Case! There are a few zillion tutorials online that I read through and loosely followed. These cute cases often retail for $20+ in baby boutiques so of course I had to make my own. I bought 1 fat quarter which is probably enough material to cover two cases. I had felt on hand, the trim, and all the buttons. I covered the case in a morning while listening to a movie with the kids and baking something. It didn't take long, just a ton of glue sticks! Tonight I found the buttons that I think finished the look perfectly and glued them on. Viola! Finished feels so good!

$1.00 for the Fat Quarter Material

$1.25 for the Huggies Diaper Wipe Case

$0.10 for 5 glue sticks

So my grand total for this adorable little project comes to; $2.35

I can handle that :)

Sewing Hair Curlers

I have been wanting to sew these hair curlers since before we moved! I saw this posted on another blog and put it on my 'to sew' list. Unfortunately Wonderwoman is no longer blogging, but her website is full of wonderfully creative projects that I'd love to make more of. Wonderwoman found the idea here, but her's were far more inspirational. I made them out of 3 old handkerchiefs my grandma sent me in a fabric stash, and a little bit of fluff that was also laying around. Total cost- negligible. My type of project!!!

Khali's hair had been washed and was still slightly damp when I put her hair up. I used a little bit of gel before hand as well. I made 14 curlers total, but I believe that I only used 10 in her hair. (I have had to use all 14 when wrapping my hair) Thankfully it only took about 10 minutes to wrap her hair, and she didn't really care because she was reading a book :) She also didn't mind leaving them in for a few hours to dry, because she just read her book.

I let the curl rest for a few minutes upon taking the curlers out before trying to separate them. Isn't she a pretty little girl?

Look! No Hands!

When you do an search for babywearing you will find a zillion different techniques and about as many products for sale. I have used most kinds and love them all for different reasons at different stages of the babies life. This carry works well with a baby that has good head control.
Here, I am using a sarong I bought used at a thrift shop for 3 or 4 bucks. Since I have a smallish baby, I first fold the material in half lengthwise, then drape the material over one shoulder with the bulk of the sarong behind you. Sit the baby on your hip and bring the material around to the front under her bum, then just tie the ends in a tight knot. Before letting go of your baby, make sure the material forms a pouch under her bum and spread the material up the babies back as needed. I also tug at the material to make sure the knot will not come untied. The greatest aspect of this carrier is how small a sarong folds up. You can easily store it in your purse for on the go errands and shopping and its pretty comfortable for shorter carries as well.

Tonight's Pizza was absolutely Delicious!

Every other Wednesday when Khali goes to Liberty Girls we stop in at the Magna Reams. They knows how to make pizza crust and their bread sticks are not bad either! You get two large, partially cooked crusts for $3.18! We only eat one pizza for dinner when we make these and there is even an extra piece or two left over! In contrast, we can demolish at least 1.5 pizza's from most of the delivery chains. Together with a side salad and you have a $5.00 dinner. Talk about savings!


Bacon Pizza
Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 13 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pre-baked crust
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 lb. bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Chopped Tomatoes (optional)
  

Preparation:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Heat oil in large skillet and saute onions and garlic until crisp tender, 4-5 minutes. Add paprika and flour and cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add sour cream and thyme and cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes longer. Spread over prebaked crust and top with bacon and cheeses. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-13 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. 6 servings

Seeing our Trials as Blessings

Last weekend I woke up Saturday morning only to find that the kitchen sinks would not drain. I started to try to clean them out first with baking soda and vinegar, then boiling water flushes, and finally resorted to asking my darling for help using plungers. Working on the drains for well over an hour, we had gotten some water to go down the drain, but they were far from clear. I finally caved and called a plumber. Thankfully many plumbers work weekends for the same rates at weekdays, and we had a nice gentleman playing under the sink in the grime by afternoon. Unfortunately, plumbers, are not cheap. For 2 hours of snaking the drains, the drain made a lovely sucking noise as the water quickly drained, and I owed him $150.00. Ouch!
Now here is where a choice comes in. I could either use my allotted bi-monthly budget, or put this bill on a credit card. Trying to be a responsible consumer, I wrote him a check realizing it would cut my grocery funding in half for the next ten days. Yikes!?
After searching around on the web for some frugal meals, and flipping through my home storage cookbook, I went to my fridge and cupboards with a fresh sheet of paper and pen. I made a list of meals that I could make with things that I had on hand, and also a few that I could make with only one or two things from the grocery store. With a bit of planning I was able to make nutritious meals for our family all week long, and amazingly my freezer and cupboards are not empty. This was not the easiest week to cook dinners, yet it was very gratifying. I could have easily made a different choice and put this on a CC to worry about later, however I am now very happy to have gone through this learning experience and to come out triumphant.
We have all been told to not go to the grocery store when you are hungry, and to always make a list, but how about we add one more to this list? Do not go to the grocery store, until you have made your meal plans for the week and gone grocery shopping through your cupboards and freezer.