Rainbow Hair Bow Holder

When I saw a tutorial for a rainbow travel pillow over on Prudent Baby I knew it would make a perfect hair bow holder.  Last week I finally got around to making it for my sweet girl for Christmas.  To make this bow holder you'll need:

• Ribbon in the colors of the rainbow.  2 in each color - 1 at 5/8" and one smaller
• 3/8 yd White fabric.  I used a plush, cuddly fabric that reminded me of clouds, but you could use almost anything.  You'll have lots left over.  Probably enough to make 2 more clouds.
• Buttons in the colors of the rainbow (I chose a sweet flower shape, but any reasonably sized shape will work.
• Beads in the colors of the rainbow
• Stuffing
• Cloud pattern or draw your own

Measure (or add) the width of your ribbons to be sure they'll fit on your cloud.  

Cut your ribbon to the desired length.  I started with about 17 inches so that I had plenty of room to trim them evenly at the end.  Place the thin ribbon on top of the wider one and center.  Also cut a piece of yellow ribbon for your handle to your desired length.

For each color, glue the thinner ribbon to the wider one on only one end with just a small dab of fabric glue.

Prudent Baby has another step which uses heat n bond to keep the ribbons in place while sewing and I think it's a great idea.  I wish I had reread her tutorial prior to making this.

Download my cloud pattern here or make your own .  If you download my pattern you'll find the shape differs slightly from the one I made because I decided the bottom should be a bit more straight and the top should be slightly less curved since the ribbon handle pulls upward just a little while hanging.  You could also use the one from Prudent Baby, which is super cute, and just shrink it a bit.

Trace it onto your white fabric using a vanishing fabric marker making sure your fabric is doubled so you'll end up with two pieces and cut.  

If you squint you just might be able to see the cloud outline.

Place one cloud piece right side up on the table.  Then arrange the ribbons how you like on top of the cloud piece but backwards so that the ends that will hang down point towards the inside of the cloud.  If this is confusing you can again refer to the Prudent Baby tutorial (she's a pro and her tutorials are so easy to follow - I'm still learning).  Lay the handle in place on top of the cloud piece with the ends touching the edge of the cloud fabric and the handle portion facing the middle of the cloud (it should look like a u).  Lay the other cloud piece on top with the right side down.

Here you see the ribbons pinned inside the cloud pieces.

Sew using a 1/2" seam allowance making sure to leave a few inches open on one side to turn it right-side out.  I stuffed it enough to hold it's shape, but not so full that it is puffy, which might make it lay funny against the wall.  Then sew the hole closed.  Close the turn hole with a hidden stitch for a seamless looks.  Check out this tutorial here if you need help with this step.  I trimmed the ribbons so they were even and touched them with fray check.  You could also use a lighter (briefly and carefully) or pinking shears to prevent the ribbon from fraying.  Choose where you want your buttons.  You could line them up straight across the ribbons in neat rows or stagger them like I did.  Sew the buttons on to the top of the smaller ribbon so that you're sewing the two layers of ribbon together.  I then strung a few beads in coordinating colors and sewed them through the bottom of the ribbons.

Hang your bow holder, clip your bows to the skinnier ribbon and you're done!  I absolutely love it.  And I think it looks great in her room.  If you know my little girl, you know she's a bit lacking in the hair department so this bow holder may be wishful thinking for now, but when her hair does come in I'll be ready!

Remember, I am new to this tutorial thing and only an average sewer.  If you find an error, an overlooked step, or an easier way to do something please let me know.  Part of the reason I am blogging is to learn and grow.  Now go make a Rain-Bow Holder for the special girl in your life and stay tuned for a simple headband holder tutorial coming up after Thanksgiving.

Tell me, how do you keep all your little girl's accessories in order?

Linking to: Make Something Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac, Just Something I Whipped Up at Project Inspire, Made By You Mondays, Romantic Home, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Humble Brag at One Project Closer, Tatter Tots & Jello, Sew Cute Tuesday, House of Hepworths

Last Minute Kid and Family Halloween Costumes

Here is a roundup of some easy, fun Halloween costumes. Most of these can be made last minute so you still have plenty of time. After all, last minute is 10 p.m. on October 30th, right?

Mama and Baby Zebra and Zookeeper
So this one probably required the most legwork, but you could easily get some faux fur and just stick it to a black sweatsuit for both mama and baby.  The baby zebra was found at a consignment shop for less than $10.  The dress for mama zebra I found at a consignment shop.  I found the hat and gloves at Target and the legwarmers were either from Target or a Halloween shop.  The zookeeper was super simple with brown pants, khaki shirt and hat.  We covered the logo on the hat with a made up zoo logo and put on a zookeeper name tag.  It was fun and we got TONS of compliments.  I think it was pretty cute if I do say so myself.

zebra love

No Sew Spider and Web - great for baby wearing!
I knew I'd be wearing my 2-month-old last year so it didn't make much sense to put her in a costume that no one would ever see.  So this costume was perfect.  We got SOOOO many complements.  I bought a white sheet at the Goodwill Outlet Center, which means I paid maybe 25 cents for it!  I cut it so it wouldn't drag on the ground and then cut a head hole in the middle.  I didn't bother to hem it or sew around the head hole.  Then I laid it on the floor and used a large tip sharpie to draw the web.  I cut a black oval out of felt for the spider body and simply pinned it to the sheet in the appropriate spot.  I gathered some long socks in fun coordinating prints (you could do all black of course but I like the whimsy of the prints) and stuffed them with some cheap stuffing.  Then pinned each end where I wanted them on the sheet.  I found a black kids hat for $1 at Target and cut out some white circles out of felt and some smaller black felt circles for the eyes.  I glued the eyes to the hat using fabric glue.  She wore the hat backwards.  We were both warm and everyone loved the costume.

Diver 
Leon loves the ocean and when we discovered Jonathan Bird's Blue World on PBS he was hooked.  We even ordered the DVD of season 3.  He was torn between being a garbage man again or a diver.  We both ended up having a lot of fun with this costume.  We had purchased a wet suit (aka sunsuit) for his birthday and he wore that with pants and long sleeves underneath.  I again perused the Goodwill Outlet Center and was thrilled to find the perfect vacuum tube and a cool looking gauge that was attached to a blue tube.  Then I sprayed a large Gatorade bottle with flat black spray paint.  I attached the vacuum tube to the Gatorade bottle with black electrical tape.  I then attached it to a small backpack using the backpack's straps, but you could easily tape it with the electrical tape or attach some straps right to the bottle.  I also bought him a swim cap, but he only wore it a little (I think it pulled on his long hair) and he had goggles (not sure why they are not in the picture).  I attached the "air gauge" to the front of the vacuum tube using the black electrical tape.  I also cut out flippers with black felt and secured them to his shoes with electrical tape.

Strong man/french painter 
This was super easy.  I picked up a men's t-shirt at Goodwill and cut the shape I wanted out of the neck.  Then I cut up the sides and sewed them back smaller to fit him like a jumper.  I sewed legs into the bottom of the shirt and padded his arms with stuffing.  He had dumbbell, which we made by painting a wrapping paper tube black and then taping 2 black balloons to each end with electrical tape.  He didn't carry it around much.  It inhibited his worldly exploration.

Baby Yoda
I sewed the hat out of fleece.  I basically cut the ear shape (yes, I realize they are a little long, but they are still so cute!) and traced a regular hat that fit him.  Then I placed the right sides of the hat together with the ears in between and sewed it all up.  When I turned it right side out it was done.  I think I hemmed the bottom.  I then took a girls t-shirt, size 6), cut it down the middle and wrapped it across his front so it looks kind of robe-esk.  I pinned it in place.  E-Z!

Garbage man and trash and recycling
Here's another no sew costume.  Our son loves all things waste management.  You can read more about his beautiful relationship with out former garbage man (who became our dear friend) here.  He was so excited about this costume.  I knew it had to be perfect.  Our garbage man, Harold, had given him a set of their gloves and the coolest official Waste Pro hat.  I purchased a t-shirt similar to the color our company wears and the used an iron on transfer to add the logo to the front and back.  I used strips of duct tape to make the reflective strips.  I picked up two pillowcases, one black, one blue, from a local fabric outlet and again used iron on transfers to add to recycling symbol and a trash symbol.  He used those as his treat bags.  My husband went as recycling and I went as trash.  As you can see we basically just put bags on us and then stuck trash and recycling to the bags.  It was simple and fun.  Before he started kindergarten he wore his costume every trash day.

This year our boys are going as Fred and Shaggy and our neighbor girls will be Velma and Daphne.  It should be a lot of fun.  Here are a few other fun ideas I've come across:

I LOVE this Box of raisins - from Bear Rabbit Bear Crafts
This Target costume from Family Fun is simple and cute
Here's a fun voodoo doll posted on the crafster.org forum
Try a cheap and easy paper doll like this one here
Here are five fun ideas - the gore unzipped is both incredibly gross and intriguing

Enjoy and good luck.  Most importantly, have fun with it and let you creativity flow.  What last minute costumes have you come up with?

Fabric Storage From Diaper Stacker

I have a problem.  I'm addicted to fabric.  There I said it.  It's the first step to healing, right?  Or maybe I don't want to be healed.  Maybe I love being a fabricaholic.  Of course I love fabric cut straight from the bolt at the fabric store, but I REALLY love finding sheets at the thrift store with cool prints, crisp white sheets that are perfect for everything and fun t-shirts that deserve a second chance at life.  And it's so cost effective AND preshrunk!  Here are some fabulous sheets I found recently. (Ok, so one is a pillow case and one is a curtain panel, but same thing, right?)

I apologize for the wrinkles.  Salvation Army doesn't do folding and I don't do ironing (at least not before I'm ready to sew).

Where to store all this glorious fabric can be a serious problem.  I don't have a craft room, sigh, so I use my dining room.  I try not to keep all my supplies in there, though let's be real here, that's where they usually stay until I have to move them for some gathering of friends and/or family.  I've been trying to find ways to make my closets hold more of my supplies while not displacing other items, which might happen if I added additional shelving.  So that brings me to the handy dandy diaper stacker that often comes with nursery crib sets.

Photo from Amazon.com

Someone out there probably uses these, but I do not.  Never have.  The picture above doesn't show it, but they usually have a hanger at the top to, well, uh, hang.  So I have repurposed one that we had laying around and now it is a fabulously easy and convenient fabric holder.  Yay for repurposing!

No, I don't store it outside on my clothesline, but seriously, you want to see my closets?  I think not.  As for the polka dotted turtle wearing the ever-popular propeller hat, it doesn't bother me a bit because it's in the closet.  If you have cute closets (don't ever tell me about it because I may vomit) try sewing one of your own using one of the many tutorials out there like this one from Sew Dang Cute Crafts or this one from Frugal Crafty Mom ( I would use a heavy duty hanger though if you're using it for fabric storage.  Like one from a retail store and then the metal part of the hanger can swivel so your fabric stacker can either face sideways or forward.)  How do you store your fabric?

Personalized Baby Bunting

My cousin recently had twins, a precious boy, Charlie, and sweet girl, Layla.  Born at 32 weeks they are true miracles.  I was passing on lots of stuff from my kids, but wanted to give her something that I put my heart into.  Something personal for each of her blessings.  I have been collecting vintage sheets, pillowcases, and other fabric to make flags for Ada Marie's first birthday, which is coming up WAY too quickly.  It got me thinking that this could be a fun gift for my cousin.

So, I riffled through my fabric collection to see what I had laying around.  And I was able to gather enough to make two sets of flags.  The babies share a room and I was told the room does not really have a theme but half the room is blue and half is pink.  That made things even easier.

I didn't photograph pictures of the process, but hopefully I will when I finish Ada's flags in the next few weeks.  After selecting my fabrics I cut out a flag pattern (simply a triangle) from a blog that I cannot seem to find, but it offered the pattern in three sizes so if you know what blog it was please comment below so I can give credit where credit is due.  Then I laid out the flags to choose an arrangement.  I then used a combination of receiving blankets and fabric to make the letters for the name.  I decided on two different fabrics for the letters to get them to show up on the different flags.  I then ironed the letter fabric to heat n bond, downloaded the font I wanted from dafont.com and used a silhouette to cut out the letters (you can cut them by hand if you don't have a fabulous neighbor with a silhouette). I recommend doing a double cut just to be sure it cuts all the way through on the first try.  Then I ironed the letters onto the flags.

Time to sew the flags together.  Quilt binding is a super quick, easy way to attach the flags and it is available in a variety of colors.  I used this for some flags I made for spring decorating, but this time I wanted something with a bit more personality.  You see, my cousin has lots of personality.  I like to think she has a very earthy side, but she also has a very girly, bling side, too.  I thought the flags were a bit earthy, especially since they were upcycled, so, I went out in search of some fabulous ribbon and this is what I found.

It's a shimmery light pink with shiny pink stars - perfect!  I folded the ribbon in half and ironed it to get a crease to line up the flags.  (One of the stars came off on the iron so I used a tea towel in between the iron and the ribbon.)  I trimmed the top of the flags to make sure that they were even then inserted the flags into the middle of the folded ribbon and pinned them in place.  I spaced them about 1/2 - 2 inches apart, but do whatever looks best to you.  Then I sewed a straight line down the ribbon to connect the flags.  I started sewing on the ribbon about 1/2 inch before the first flag.

And here's Charlie's flags.  After I found Layla's ribbon I knew I wanted to find something with stars for Charlie, too.  Thankfully it was nearing July 4th so there was no shortage of star ribbon.  I wish I had chosen a darker fabric for the H and I, but it's ok I love it anyway and it would be easy to use a sharpie or fabric marker to outline it or fill it in so it would stand out more.  

I love how they turned out and am so excited to finish Ada's.  I'm trying to choose a font, which can suck hours out of my life.  Any recommendations for an easy-to-read, girly, but not too girly free font?

She's Sew Crazy

I may be going mad.  We have a large area rug (6x9 or so) that sits on top of our carpet in our living room.  It's a fairly thin rug and is CONSTANTLY wrinkled.  Wrinkled is probably an understatement.  Our living room has turned into a basketball court with the rug as the main playing area, which means that every time I straighten the rug it almost instantly reverts back to its previous disheveled state. It drives me NUTS!  I do not keep the neatest house.  I have great intentions, but don't always execute well and at any given time there is some toy to be stepped over (notice I didn't say picked up, lol) or a pile of mail to be sorted.  So, this rug thing just makes my home appear even more out of sorts and it is visible from our front entry.  It was time to either solve the problem or relocate the offender.

I made a lame attempt at using "industrial strength" velcro, but the adhesive on the back was severely lacking in the strength department and came loose during the first half of a family basketball game (UNC Asheville vs. Syracuse in case you're curious.  Read more about our bulldog love here).  I was fed up and about to move the rug to another room when I decided to try sewing it.  I straightened the rug and made sure I was happy with the placement, grabbed a darning needle and some heavy weight thread and sewed that court rug in place.  I sewed it in two places on one of the two sides not held down with furniture.  It has been a week now and the rug has not moved.  If it needs to be moved I'll simply cut the thread and then sew it again.  It only took about 5 minutes to sew both spots and it was 5 minutes well spent.  Maybe I can sew toys and mail in their places too!

Update:  Here are a few photos I just didn't have time to take when I posted this.

You can see it pulling a little, but it's hardly noticeable unless I point it out.

I'm sure it will rip at some point after an impressive dunk or alley-oop.  And here's a shot of our court.

The lighting is a bit dingy because it's way passed my bedtime but you get the idea.