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Baby Shower Embellishment Station

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The embellishment station at the forest wonderland baby shower was well received by so many guests, young and old.  The goal was to provide a variety of elements for clothes decorating so that there was something for everyone. You can find all the details on fabric and patterns for the layette in this post.
I have a thing for buttons.  When my cousin and I were little girls, we’d spend hours and hours playing in our Granny’s button drawer.  I guess it made a lasting impact.  I know my cousin appreciated the extra large selection of buttons for decorating her little girl’s layette.  
 
For appliques, there were a few options for guests.  I pre-made a variety of iron-on appliques, some simple, some layered and complex.  These were popular among guests; all they needed to do was peel off the paper backing and iron them right into place on the garment.  For the more adventurous guests, I provide scraps of fabric with lite heat’n’bond already on the back.  I also provided simple and complex cardstock templates for making appliques.  Quite a few people went to town creating their own appliques.  I cut the templates using the Cindy Loo cartridge with my Cricut.  I also provided scraps of fabric without adhesive, but I don’t think this was needed.  
The cutest little tags with the cutest little safety pins for guests to tag their work.  The tags are from Martha Stewart; found them at Joanns.  Safety pins from my stash.
Oops…another button picture.  How did that get in there?
And this….possibly my favorite thing (besides the teeny tiny baby clothes) I made for the whole shower.  A felted toadstool pincushion.  It’s kinda so fuzzy and irresistable, I just want to carry it around.  I like it a lot.  But, it’s made from styrofoam, so it’s actually not all that durable.  I’m thinking on a better way; for the purpose of looking cute and holding needles at the shower though, it did just fine.

 

Baby Layette – The Dresses

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For my cousin’s baby shower, I wanted everyone to be able to add their own special touch to a coordinating layette for the baby.  This meant that, with the exception of a few store-bought onesies, I sewed clothes and accessories for 35 guests to decorate.  For the most part, I used one fabric line:  It’s a Girl Thing from Michael Miller.   I also used a few other fabrics that color coordinated.  I kept everything within a specific color palette so that the embellishments/buttons/appliques would be interchangeable.  Today, I want to share the five dresses that I made for the collection.  For the sake of organization, I’ll list the materials, pattern used, and commentary beneath each picture.  
Itty Bitty Baby Dress: Free Pattern at Made by Rae
Fabric:  It’s a Girl Thing Quaint Cupcakes Pink by Michael Miller
Notions:  white piping, pink medium ric rac
Comments:  quick to sew, pattern is available for newborn and up to 3 months, this dress came out SO cute, I love the piping detail!
Ruffled Peasant Dress:  pattern adapted from a simple peasant dress, I use a simple peasant dress pattern.
Fabric:  main: Kona Cotton in Snow, It’s A Girl Thing Eiffel Tower Blossom Pink, (pink dot – not sure, I think it’s Robert Kaufmann),  Lost and Found, pink cream damask sparkle by My Mind’s Eye for Riley Blake, Mirror Ball Dot for Michael Miller
Comments:  Kind of my standard dress up a peasant dress design.  I add the rows of ruffles around the bottom and a pop of color on the gathered sleeves.  I think the white, plain top really leaves a nice space for some fun embellishment.
Itty Bitty Baby Dress: Free Pattern at Made by Rae 
Fabric:  more of that yummy soft jersey knit I picked up in the L.A. Fashion District during my 1-hour sprint last month.
Comments:  Making this dress with a knit made it SUPER fast, I didn’t even hem the bottom.  It turned out really soft and comfy, perfect for a teeny tiny baby.  Pictured is the dress after a guest embellished it – I LOVED what became of this one!!
 Knot Dress:  Tie Band Knot Dress Pattern by Whimsy Couture
Fabric:  Kona Cotton, It’s a Girl Thing Doily Dance Gray for Michael Miller, that pink dot again (sorry!!)
Comments:  I snuck this picture in before, but this is what I made it for!!  Cute, simple, good for embellishing, good for layering (though I did make it in a larger size for next spring/summer)
White Doily Dress:  I started with the McCall’s M5835 pattern, but I didn’t really stay true to the pattern.  I worked around the lace collar piece and I’m not sure how much I varied from the pattern (sorry, it’s been awhile now).
Fabric:  Kona Cotton
Comments:  This is my favorite piece in the collection. It was also the very first thing I made.  I was staring at the lace piece from my stash and just went from there.  For me, this combination of gathering, creamy whiteness, and the vintage lace, just equal perfection.  Love this one. 
Alrighty!  Hope that sparks some ideas/resources if you’re sewing for a little one.

 

You can find more pictures of the layette embellishment station here.
 

Forest Wonderland Baby Shower

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I have this incredible cousin.  Her name is Melanie and we’ve been the best of friends since we were born (just two months apart).  We know each other inside and out and grew up dreaming aloud of the day we would get married and have families.  Big dreams we had of living all together in a two-story, pink house with our own little kiddies running around, the best of friends just like us.  Over the past couple years, Mel and her husband, Mark, have prepared and planned for their first baby.  The road has been rough and finally, they are just weeks away from meeting their long-wished-for little girl.  It was such an honor to organize a baby shower to welcome my soon-to-be niece.  I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed creating the backdrop for such a special celebration. 
 
The shower was held in Mel’s beautiful backyard.  The decor was meant to be a reflection of the baby’s nursery decor, a forest wonderland of sorts with birds and owls and moss and toadstools, in pinks and greys, and whites.
 
 Remember the vintage typewriter that I painted pink?  Well, the whole rationale for bringing that beauty home was to set it on a secretary desk (which I also snatched from my antique guy and gave it the paint/distress treatment) to stage a “Wishes for the Baby” area for this shower.  Guests were able to write wishes on little tags and then I bound all of them together on a jump ring for a cute, little keepsake!
 
Melanie’s best friends, Keri and Erin, prepared a complete Vegetarian brunch for the shower – everything looked outrageously beautiful all set out and it tasted wonderful.  My sole contribution to the food table was a spread of lemon creme crepes, which my sweet mom made for me, so that I just had to fill them the morning of the shower.  I had a little fun with the dessert table, making a swirled flower cake to accompany the most delicious chocolate, peanut butter cake made by Melanie’s friend, Kerry.  For a little flare, I molded some cute owl pops and placed them in moss containers.  And I did up just a few cupcakes, with toasted coconut nests and cute, royal icing baby birds (thank you for the idea, Martha).  Oh, and some itty bitty eclairs, of course!  To round out the custardy, chocolatey goodness on the table.
 
 
 
 The most exciting part of planning this shower was creating the baby layette embellishment station.  I sewed my little heart out making tiny dresses and pants, skirts and bibs, burp cloths and blankets, all in coordinating fabrics.  I added a few store bought items, such as onesies and shoes to round out the collection (and because there were 35 people expected at the shower!!!)  I provided all kinds of embellishments that coordinated with the layette items for the guests to decorate and personalize an outfit for the new baby.  Buttons, appliques, ribbons, embroidery floss, everything that I could think of to make a fun activity that would leave the baby with a handmade piece from everyone.  I hung a blank tag on each item so that the person embellishing it could leave a note for Mel and the baby.
 
 Here’s a picture of my gorgeous cousin!  Isn’t she radiant with her baby bump?
 
And the two of us – thanks for letting me play baby shower, Mel!  I love you and can’t wait to meet that little princess!
 
 

Newborn Baby Gift

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 Today I’m putting this little package of home sewn clothes in the mail for my college girlfriend.  She’s expecting her first baby, a little girl, and I wanted to make her something special.  I so wished that I could photograph these cute ruffles on a real baby, but since they’re traveling 3000 or so miles, I’ll have to wait for pictures to be sent to me.  The baby romper was made in a newborn size using the Ruffled Baby Bubble Romper pattern by Tie Dye Diva.  You know I love those ruffles!!
I also made a quick burp cloth by cutting a rectangle of quilter’s weight cotton and a rectangle of chenille and sewing them right sides together, then I turned and topstitched all the way around, closing the opening with the topstitching.  
For a stroller blanket, I cut two large squares of the pink rose material and pinned them wrong sides together.  I stitched close to the edge all the way around.  Then, I made some binding tape with a silky satin and sewed that on to finish the edges (and cover the stitching).  I know I would have loved to snuggle that blankie around my newborn babies!!
I couldn’t resist making the baby a lace crown, too.  Photographing newborn baby girls with these lace crowns seems to be gaining popularity, so I thought it would be fun to send a photo prop along, you know, just in case.  If you haven’t made one of these lace crowns yet,  it’s definitely worth the little bit of effort; see my instructions for “Lace Princess Crowns.”
What are your favorite baby gifts to make?  I wasn’t sewing much when my girls were first born; I feel like I cheated myself out of some super fun sewing.  And unfortunately, “sewing for a newborn” doesn’t seem to provide enough incentive for my husband to get on board with getting us another baby….  I’m excited to have some pregnant friends this year; that should give me the fix I need!

Silk Easter Dress

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As I mentioned previously, I think this silk dress is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever made.  It makes my heart skip a beat a little.  
I think it makes Addie’s heart skip a little, too.
Let’s talk through the details of making the dress.  The bodice was cut from Whimsy Couture’s knot dress pattern – I used the 12-18 month size pattern pieces for the dress bodice.  My finished dress is a size 3T.  {I noticed that the knot dress pattern that she has for sale now is a “remixed” pattern and indicates “better fitting bodices” so you may need to adjust accordingly}  Before sewing the bodice and bodice lining together, I made two straps by cutting fabric strips about 2″ wide, then turned the edges in to the center and pressed, then pressed in half again and stitched down the sides (to finish with 1/2″ wide straps).  Measure on your child to approximate the length of the straps.  I set the straps 3″ from the center on each side and then sewed the bodice front and back to the bodice lining.  
The dress closes with an invisible, side zipper.  
I used two 36″ wide panels of fabric for the skirt – gather attach to bodice with side open for the zipper.  There is a simple pressed under hem and then I stitched a beautiful flower trim around the bottom.  I found the trim at a scrapbook store – I’m headed there today so I’ll try to snag some more and write down the manufacturer.  Have I mentioned before that scrapbook manufacturers have THE BEST trim?  I think so, at least.
The dress is worn with a fluffy pettiskirt for extra fancy, but I also love the dress without the pettiskirt or brooch.  Simple and white are probably my favorite combination ever.  I wasn’t going to try the photo shoot until Addie actually wears it for Easter (what with the white silk at all), but Addie seriously begged me for a photo shoot and volunteered that she would smile really nice.  So, we tried that.  After she was finished making silly faces at herself in the dresser mirror, she gave me three hundred pouty and silly faces and two smiles.  SO!  That is what we have to share today.
 
 This post is so long already, I’m going to do a tutorial for the brooch separately.
I’m headed to a photography class tonight – do you think they’ll teach me how to get my kids to pose pretty in less than 500 pictures???  
Who has fun plans for the weekend?  Please share!

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frames and flowers and shoes, oh my!

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I’ve had a few thrift store frames sitting around for awhile and thought I’d see what I could make of them to add to Addie’s bedroom decor.  It felt so good to just craft aimlessly and I love how this little frame turned out.  Easy art.  Cheap art! 

The steps are simple.  I used a thrift store wooden frame that I picked up for $1.99.  I roughed up the edges with some sandpaper and slapped on two coats of white paint.  After the frame dried, I roughed up the edges with sandpaper again, paying special attention to the scrolly areas.  LOVE the chippy finished look.

To finish the frame, I used spray adhesive to attach a vintage piece of sheet music to the cardboard insert and popped it in the frame.  Then, I rolled up a few fabric flowers (do we need a tutorial on these or has everyone seen them a million times over?) and gathered some ribbon, tulle, and faux pearls.  I cut a large circle of felt and moved around my embellishments until I loved the ensemble.  I hot glued everything down onto the felt and connected it to the corner of the frame.  Done!

But the fun doesn’t stop there!  Because I finally put one of my baby shoe patterns to use.  Oh wow, I could really get carried away with baby shoes.  I mean, who doesn’t love to look at a teeny tiny pair of shoes.  I’d like to see if I can tweek the patterns into a size that would fit my girls, for house slippers or something like that, but we’ll see…Good thing I have twin girl nieces who are due here real soon.  You can bet you’ll be seeing more cute baby shoes in the next few months! 
And then I moved on to bunny shirts…
 I’ll try to get a tutorial and downloadable bunny up for you in the next few days, but we’re currently clearing the entire downstairs out and moving headquarters to my mom’s while the new floors go in, so let’s keep the plans tentative, okay? 
Hope your Monday is fabulous!!

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