Dinosaur Mittens

I made these little dinosaur mittens for my nephew's 2nd birthday. I'd seen something similar - shark mittens on What I Live For (through TipJunkie). I actually had some light green fleece leftover from another project so I thought I'd make dinosaur mittens instead. And I added elastic in the wrist to help keep the mittens snug.

These are really simple to make. They only took me 45 minutes. Now that I've made one pair I could probably do it in 30. If you want to make some of your own here is what you will need:

• 1/4 yd green fleece
• scraps of green and white felt or fleece
• 1/4-inch knit elastic
• 2 black buttons (mine were 1/2-inch wide for size 2T mittens)
• green and black thread
• graph or plain paper and a pencil

Start by tracing around your child's hand on a piece of graph or plain paper:

As you can see I'm only loosely tracing the hand. This is to allow for the actual volume your child's hand will take up in the mitten. From this we will add a seam allowance:

The wavy line represents where the child's wrist is and where the elastic will be sewn in. From that wavy line I know I want a 1-inch finished cuff, so I've added 1 1/2 inches to allow for the cuff and it's 1/2-inch seam allowance. Everywhere else I'm just using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Cut out your pattern and pin it to your fleece. Cut 4 (2 sides for each mitten):


Now fold over the cuffs 1/2 an inch, wrong sides together (if your fleece has a wrong side) and stitch down:


Now we'll add the elastic. Following the wrist placement on your pattern, start by tacking down the end of the elastic on the wrong side of the fabric with a few stitches with your machine. You will want to use a medium zig-zag stitch and long stitch length (I used 4) to allow for stretch. Start stitching across the mitten while simultaneously pulling on the elastic:


This creates the gathers and will allow the elastic to stretch around your child's wrist and stay snug:

Do this for all 4 pieces.

Now we'll add the button eyes. Decide where you want your buttons to go:


Since fleece is a fairly loose material, I don't recommend knotting your thread. Instead, pull your thread through the button, leaving a long tail behind it on the wrong side:


This way you can tie the loose ends together when you are done stitching on the button:


MAKE SURE you are stitching your buttons to two opposing sides:

You don't want two left- or two right-handed mittens!

Now for the trim. For my dinosaur ridges I cut out two pieces green felt, 1/2" x 4" each. If you are making mittens larger than a 2T, you may want to increase the length. Then I cut zig-zags on one side of each piece:

I did the same for the teeth, cutting 1/2-inch wide pieces, zig-zagging, then trimming to fit the thumb and forefinger. You will place the trim with the flat side facing out like so:


Now pin your mittens right sides together with the trim sandwiched in between:


Stitch all the way around the outer edges with a 1/4-inch inseam. You will want to reinforce the crook of the thumb and forefinger - just stitch over it a couple of times:


Now you will clip into that crook almost to the seam allowance:

At this point I also like to trim the seam allowance to about 1/8th of an inch so there's more room for fingers and thumbs.

Turn right side out and ta-da!

You have a very cute pair of dinosaur mittens! If your teeth or green ridges look a little wonky, you can trim them down if necessary. I had to trim the teeth just a little after sewing myself.

Please let me know if you end up making a pair yourself!

"Russian" Tote

My littlest sister (who's as big as me and not so very little anymore) recently had a birthday and she was overdue for a handmade bag from me. I struggled with what pattern/style to go with and finally settled on the 241 Tote pattern by Noodlehead. My sister prefers bags with longer handles so she can wear them across the chest, so I lengthened the handle, but otherwise followed all the directions. It has a magnetic closure and two inside slip pockets.

The matryoshka doll fabric is made in Japan but I ordered it from Korea. Go figure. My sister likes blues, greens, and purples and spent a summer in Russia a couple of years ago, so it seemed appropriate.

The pattern is definitely not for the beginner. Lots of curved seams that can be difficult to wrangle. I had to pick them out more than once. And the fabric requirements are a bit misleading. But once it's done, I think it's a cool bag - one that I would use myself. If you decide to make one yourself, be sure to use a 50% off coupon when buying the woven interfacing because that stuff is a rip-off. And you will need more than the 1 1/2 yards called for. I'd get at least 2 if not more.

Now I'm working on a diaper bag for my other sister who had twin girls back in November. I'm always on time, I am. Anyway, I'm hoping I can finish it before I leave to visit Georgia again (and before my sewing machine decides to crap out on me - it's starting to sound suspicious). I've designed the whole thing myself, which was probably a bad idea since I've had some fits and starts with the thing. Lots of seam ripping and cursing under the breath. But what I've made so far is darn cute and has me excited to see it finished.

Wish me (and my sewing machine) luck!

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I decided to make matching outfits for Caralie and myself for Mother's Day. I found a super cute floral Swiss dot on sale at Joann that was light and breathable but not too sheer. I made a simple peasant dress for myself by (majorly) adjusting a pattern from Simplicity and then made a matching skirt and hair clip for Caralie:

Those are pine cones. Caralie insisted we each hold one for the shot. I thought it was silly but this ended up being my favorite picture (even though my posture's not great and the dress is draping funny).

This little skirt is super easy to make. You can find a great tutorial by Dana on MADE. All it took was a half yard of 58" wide fabric, elastic, and thread.

The hair clip came together thanks to a tutorial from Disney at Ruffles & Stuff. I used Fray Check to keep the fabric circles from fraying but I think it would look cute with frayed edges as well.

I made my hair clip with a sheet of hot pink felt and some hot glue. I LOVE the look of this thing! It's tedious but not to the point that I wouldn't make another. You need to give yourself a good hour or even two to put it together. I found the tutorial on Holidash. I'm going to make another one in purple for Caralie and then maybe I'll make a couple more for myself in aqua, royal blue, and gray. You could even use different gradations of color for each row of petals.

Anyway, it's been a LONG time since I've made something. I've been a little burned out from our move and the prospect of moving again in another month or two. I still owe my sister a diaper bag and her twins are 6 months old now. Yikes. That's my next project to tackle.

Hope you all enjoy this special day. Call your mom!

Ruffled T-Shirt Dress

We are moving so my daughter has started at a new school. Since she is coming in in the middle of the school year, all they had left of their school T-shirts were larges and extra larges. Caralie is a small, at best. Luckily I had seen a tutorial on Make It and Love It for converting a t-shirt into a ruffled dress. I loosely followed the tutorial since I had to do some major overhauling of this thing:

She could've worn it as a nightgown it was so big. I ended up cutting out the sleeves, taking it in significantly, and refashioning the sleeves just to make the t-shirt portion fit right. The shirt was still super long, so I cut off about 7-8 inches off the bottom to use as the lining for the ruffles. I bought 1/2 yard of heather gray jersey at Joann and cut it into 5 1/2 x 60 inch strips. I hemmed the strips, sewed them into a round, then gathered them and stitched them to the lining. I think it turned out pretty cute:

Caralie had gone to bed before I'd even fixed the sleeves, so she was completely surprised when she woke up in the morning to find her new t-shirt dress:

She was very happy with the results and told me that I am the best mommy in the world. That almost made it worth sewing with knits. I am not converted to knits like everyone else in blogland. At least they are forgiving and hide a multitude of flaws.

Now I just need to make a matching hair accessory with the scraps.

Maybe.