Fleece Mohawk Hat - Tutorial!

So I made this for my toddler for Christmas. His head circumference is 19 1/2" and it fits him perfectly.

Here are the pattern pieces:



Here are the directions:

1) Measure the head circumference of the person who the hat is for. Divide that number by four. That length needs to fit between the blue dots on the hat pattern. Size the pattern up or down accordingly using a copy machine.

2) Lay out pattern and cut 4 pieces (one piece at a time) from fleece, following the bias line. Two pieced will be the outside and two pieces will be the inside and can be contrasting. Pinking shears can be used along the bottom only (just below the stitching line on the pattern).

3) The straps are optional. If you want straps then cut them out of either the exterior fabric or contrasting fabric. The straps may need to be lengthened or shortened if you have changed the size of the hat pattern. Adjust the length accordingly. With right sides together, stitch the straps close the edge but leave the flat short end open for turning. Trim excess if needed before turning.

4) Cut out the Mohawk pieces following the bias line.

5) Take one lining piece and one exterior piece and put them wrong sides together. Now do the same for the other side. Pin the straps, if you are using them, in place using the pink line as a guide. The straps should be sandwiched between the lining and the exterior fabric. You can shorten or lengthen the straps here as well. Now stitch along the bottom only 3/8” from the edge. Make sure you catch the straps in the stitching line. You may want to do a couple reinforcing stitch lines where the straps are since they will get a lot of tension when tied.

6) Mark the holes onto the fleece using a fabric pencil of some sort (really only need to mark one side. Now pin the two halves of the hat together in place. Take a small pair of sharp pointed scissors (or an awl if you have one) and CAREFULLY poke holes through all four layers of fleece.

7) Watch the video to see how to poke the Mohawk pieces through the fabric. Then once you do all the pieces your done!

Monster for my little monster

I made this for my "little monster", my two-year old son, for this past Christmas. I wanted him to have one of those learn-to-dress dolls but they were all pretty cheesy looking. Besides, I did a homemade Christmas this year and thought making a monster looked fun!

I only included a few concepts from the learn-to-dress dolls: button, snap, velcro, zipper, in-and-out. I decided to forego the lace-up and buckle since he is too young for laces at this point and he already knows how to buckle (he has been playing with his sister's infant carseat a lot!).

I did not use a pattern and didn't make one for this either. I think these types of toys are better when they are unique and a little more free-form. I used fleece for the body and the arms. The claws, ears, eyes, belly, and belly button are all felt. The tongue is an old red t-shirt and the flies are both felt and fleece. The legs are old toe socks of mine that I narrowed and hand-stitched the toes together. There is quite a bit of embroidered things like the eyes and the numbers on the tongue. And the tail and tuft of hair are "fur" fabric that I made into a ball shape, stuffed, and hand-sewed on.



The belly was the most fun I have to say! I made the belly basically a panel that velcro'd closed and when lifted revealed the "inside" of the stomach. I put butterflies in the stomach for humor, of course. The stomach resembles a real stomach too! LOL. The butterflies were thick felt and I bought then in a package just like that. I added a snap to one and I slit the other to fit the button.




For the tongue I used an old red t-shirt and hand sewed on 10 flies and then embroidered the numbers on. I though in lieu of the other learn-to-dress concepts other people use that I would add the flies to teach counting. The whole tongue gets bundled up and put into the mouth and the mouth zips closed! The tongue teaches in-and-out!


Anyhow, hope you like it!

Finally, a onesie pattern! ...and a recon too.

Okay I finally got my lazy bum around and am posting this pattern! It is for an infant size 12 through 24 month onesie or t-shirt! The pattern is pretty self explanatory for avid sewers except for the sleeve might be a bit confusing. Either way, beginners might want some instructions here so I am going to explain how it all works. To use these, right-click and "Save Target As..." and choose your desktop. The print from there. Here are the pattern pieces:




In this example I am going to be applying the pattern in a recon way. But this pattern would work using material and making the whole thing from scratch (which at some point down the line this lazy bum will explain that too!).

Here is what I started with. It was a size 7 girls t-shirt that my niece outgrew. It was really small. Here is the original shirt:


I laid out the t-shirt nice and flat and smoothed out any wrinkles. I also make sure that the shoulder seam is where it should be at the top and same for the side seams....perfectly flat and in place. This is critical because I am a lazy sewer at times and am using the neck from the original t-shirt as well as the shoulder seam. It will save you a lot of work if you can do the same.

Fold the t-shirt in half lengthwise with the back together and the front will be on the outside. The lay down the pattern, lining it up with the folded edge as well as the top neckline and shoulder line. Pin and cut around armholes, along the side, and the bottom. See below:


Turn sleeves from original shirt inside out and lay flat. Lay pattern on sleeve, matching folded edge and using existing hemmed edge of sleeve, if possible. Pin and cut.

Sew the sides of the t-shirt up using 5/8" hem. Attach sleeves. Hem bottom of the shirt. And that's all she wrote!

Any long-time sewer will know exactly how to sew up a shirt without any or very little intruction at all. If you are a beginner then I apologize for my cruddy instructions but I am sure that you can find a website on the internet that will better explain t-shirt construction and sewing. It is super easy. Anyhow, here is the action shot on my daughter....


One last thing, the pants shown here we also made by me. The pattern is mine and can be found here. I made them from a pair of girls (size 7) sweatpants.

A February Update for you!

Well time for another update. I have been such a slacker!! But truly for good reason, I am less than 6 weeks away from receiving my Associate's Degree and I have been super busy with school!!

Anyhow, I am posting this update to help keep me focused and to let you know what you are in for in the month of February! I promise the following projects (at least those...if not more!) will be posted this month!!

They are as follows, going clockwise from the upper left corner:

(1) An infant T-shirt pattern recon'd from a girl (size 7 in this case) t-shirt. The pants are recon'd from a girls (again, size 7 in this case) pair of sweatpants using a pattern I posted recently that can be found here. 02/17/09 DONE!! Here is the link to the finished project

(2) A *free* 12-18 month dress pattern I made, shown here as the pink University of Michigan dress.04/14/09 DONE!!Here it is!

(3) The mohawk hat with *free* pattern(sorry for the crap picture, a better one is on the way!).02/28/09 DONE!!Here it is!

(4) A toddler (size 2T-4T) art smock based on one I found here but changed slightly.March 9, 2010 -Yeah...umm...I got lazy and never finished this one completely the way I had intended. LOL. Its on the ever-growing "To-Do" list. So for now, it may not ever make it to this blog since I have far too many "cooler" things I plan to post! Bummer.

Aside from these updates, I hope to post over the next few months some shrinky dinks I have been making using recycled plastic, a tote plus *hopefully* a pattern, and some more fun stuff including more gifts I made at Christmas and never got around to posting. Thank you all for being so patient with me! I love ya!

Pleated Purse

I made this purse for my sister this Christmas using a free pattern that I altered to my needs which I found online from Canadian Living. Here is the link: http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/sewing/sew_a_stylish_metallic_handbag.php

The original pattern called for a vinyl material and didn't include a lining. I didn't have vinyl fabric laying around so I opted to use a fun grey flannel fabric that had a black and rasberry-colored design on it. I used the leftover material from a black twin sheet I bought from Walmart for around $3 (makes super cheap fabric!) for the lining.

I added a band of fabric above the pleating because I was afraid with using flannel fabric that it needed a little more stability to help keep the shape the way I wanted it. I also added pockets in the same black fabric for this inside and used a hot pink (closest color I had to rasberry!) topstitching around the pockets. Basically I modified thhe entire bag, but the basics are on the Canadian Living site.
I added a small flap with magnetic closure to keep the bag closed. Lastly I added the metal dangle thingys (don't really know what else to call them!) which I hand sewed on using hot pink embroidery thread. I could have omitted the metal things but my sister is a flashy girl and needs her "bling" to be happy...without it, she wouldn't have used the purse I think. Plus the purse looked a little plain with out them! It was missing something and the metal dangle thingys were it!

Anyhow....here are the pictures of the purse. This first one is before I added the dangle thingys:


A closeup of the metal dangle thingys:


The inside: