Upcycle T-Shirts into Rosette Embellishments

I know my family always has a bag of t shirts that are too small just waiting for the next yearly garage sale.  But...you can use up some of those t shirts in a new way.  Just cut strips of various lengths and make rosettes.

This is a super easy way to use up old t shirts and give your baby a chic look.  It's also a great way to hide stains on solid color onesies or t shirts, too.  This same technique can be done on any other fabric or clothing item as well.

If you would like the downloadable version of this tutorial to save for later.  Please click the picture:

Materials

·         Onesie or t shirt

·         0.5 inch and 1 inch strips of old t shirts

·         Coordinating  thread

**These were onesies I had previously tiedyed.  You do not need to tiedye yours for this tutorial.  I just like tiedyed onesies.  A lot.  And I picked up used ones at thrift stores for super cheap and dye them all the time.

1.       Cut strips of t shirt roughly ½ inch to 1 inch in with by various lengths.  I do this from the leftover sleeves from making upcycled pillowcase style dresses out of old men’s t shirts.  

2.        To form the rosette, roll up a strip of t shirt in kind of a smashed way, like the picture.  Make sure to keep the ends tucked into the back of it.  The longer the strip, the larger and thicker the rosette will be. 

3.        Once you are happy with the size of the rosette, pin it on the onesie.

4.        There are two options to sew the rosette. 

a.        Beginning at the outer edge, sew around and around in a spiral until you finish off in the middle of the rosette – make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end.  Try to get as much of the fabric into your stitches so that nothing is loose. 

b.      Another option is sewing a big zigzag back and forth through the rosette, just make sure nothing is left loose.  With the red rosette, the zigzag design can easily be seen.

5.        Once you are satisfied with your rosettes, you’re done!  You can add some extra embellishments such as hotfix crystals as shown in the second picture below.

©2012 Stephanie Pass Sewing Chick Studio / The TipToe Fairy

Pixie Cone Puppets! Our newest design...

Here it is! This newest design from Sewing Chick Studio and The TipToe Fairy.  It's Walforf-inspired cone puppets.

They are so much fun to make!  My kids have loved to play with these puppets for years.  

This pattern is less daunting than making a full complete Waldorf doll.  And, once you're done, embellishing your puppet is a great way to use up small amounts of leftover trims or scrapbook embellishments.  

Need an amazing kid's gift for birthdays, Hanukkah, or Christmas? These are always a treat! I have yet to meet a child who doesn't light up the minute they see these puppets.

 Included in this pattern is a 22-page PDF with step by step instructions with full color pictures as well as printable pattern pieces. 

The pattern is now up at Craftsy.com.  Shortly, it will be available on my website and Etsy. 

Intended for ages 4 and over.

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Cupcakes and Ice Cream Appliques

I had to make some new baby gifts in the last few weeks and thought I'd share my appliques. I love to make applique onesies, and these just came out perfect!

Download the tutorial here.

Usually, when I make onesies for gifts, I tiedye them before the applique, but I thought these would be better in white -- to really make those colors pop. Plus, this ice cream cone and cupcake are sprinkled with hot fix Swarovski crystals.

These are adorable cupcakes and ice creams appliques. The ice cream on this onesie is a double dipper, which I think came out totally adorable.

You can easily make these.  The tutorial has lots of helpful hints to applique.  It can look daunting, but once you've learned, it's so much fun!

 I've updated my applique tutorial to include the pattern for both this ice cream and the cupcake.  You can find them at the end of the digital pattern.  Just click on any of these pictures and it will take you to the PDF to download. 

My next post will have the boy appliques...but my sewing room has been in a bit of a frenzy with my microboutique and pattern designing, so...they are currently missing in action.  As soon as I locate them, I'll create a boy version of my applique tutorial with those patterns.  My favorite is the octopus with crazy eyes. 

Enjoy these! I hope you have as much fun making them as I do.

I'll be disappearing for a few days as we're taking our first roadtrip vacation as a family next week.  Last year, we had the house fiasco with the queen of bankruptcy and all funds we had saved to go on an awesome vacation last year were diverted to the "let's pay 2 months of back mortgage and a month of rent all at the same time" fund.  This time, we're going to San Antonio and Corpus Christi.  Living in the upper part of Texas, we don't see the beach around here.  We are all very excited to get to the beach, especially hubby -- he grew up on the coast.

The kids have never seen the ocean up close and personal.  I can't wait to see what Molly is going to do.  We're stopping in San Antonio for Miss Em, as she has had to make two dioramas of the Alamo, and I felt that she probably needs to see the real thing.  Mr E is so excited to go on a real vacation, he can barely contain himself.  Plus, we have a surprise trip to Sea World planned.  I think my dear husband is going to scare them into believing we are going to volunteer to pick up trash on the side of the road that day.  I'm going to have to video their reactions. 

And I almost forgot!  Be on the lookout for a post in the next week or two, I'm almost to my 500th post on my blog.  I can't believe it's been 6 years since I first started!  Anyway, I'll be having a few giveaways to celebrate.

Sneak Peak - SunKissed Sun Dress & Bloomers Sewing Pattern

I just finished up a new pattern. It's the SunKissed Dress & Bloomer Set. Here is the sneak peak. It will be available in 0-24 months sizes. I'll be digitizing it in the next week, and it should be available by June 1st.

A little something I never posted

I always meant to post pictures of our wedding favors, but I think that a pregnancy and then an adorable baby got in my way. Well I found some of the leftovers while I was getting our wedding things for a shadow box I'm making for our wedding day and thought I'd share.

I decided on Hershey chocolate bars because you can buy them super cheap in bulk at Costco. And I could make these for next to nothing, which is about what we could afford. I planned a mixed media art design with vintage pictures and ephemera. I think the most expensive part was the flower stickers. I got the black pouches from Foilman. 

Our wedding had a red/black theme. So I watched for scrapbook paper sales at Michael's and Hobby Lobby to get the paper and cardstock super cheap.. Then I spent a few late nights cutting everything to size and gluing it all together.

 The back I created after looking at a few online. I printed it on white address labels. 

 

My favorite is this last one because the vintage couple looks like us. It's the one I'm putting it in the shadow box with our invitation and hubby's boutonniere.  I'll post later this week after I've finished it up.  I need some black linen like cardstock first.  

Look for my newest tutorial up later this week   I have to read a couple of chapters and take a couple quizzes before I can get back to sewing this week. 

Boutique Embellished Overalls

A few years ago I had quite a booming embellished overall business on eBay, but then I was pregnant with baby #2 and had to stop it for awhile and just never went back, as Mr. E is a handful whenever I try to sew, especially back then.

So I took a great applique class and had never seen a pair of embellished overalls in my life and decided to create a pair, then I soon discovered them on eBay and started selling my own.

The first applique pattern will be coming next week, just in time for Halloween called Spiders Pumpkins. Here is a sample. The lighting makes it difficult to see the appliques, but this is the basic idea.

I'm also considering offering applique kits that would include the fabric to make these designs, but I'm not sure how popular that would be. If you like that idea, leave a comment and I can gauge how much interest there is.