edgy toddler top tutorial

My little Sweetie was short on cute tops for summer so I used some scraps from past projects to put this little one together. It was fast and easy, so I decided to put together a little tutorial for ya'll. Wish my little model were up from her nap, I would take a picture with her wearing it, you get the free store hanger instead!


For this project you will need:
                         W        L
Main Front:    15" x 10 1/2" piece
Main Back:      15" x 8 1/2" piece
Collar Fabric:   15" x 3" pieces(x 2)
Bottom Back:   15" x 3" piece
Bottom Front:   15" x 5" piece

Tie:                  2" x 45" piece (or 2 x the width of your fabric)
Coordinating Bias Tape (about 28")
Matching Thread

My finished shirt ended up being about a 2T. Just keep in mind that I mentioned the width and length above the piece sizes just in case you are working with a directional fabric.

All seams are 1/2" unless otherwise specified.
This pattern is purely for home use only. Please do not take this and make or sell a pattern of it.

Cut out fabric pieces:
Cut out your fabric pieces as indicated above. You should have one of each piece, except for the collar fabric where you should have two pieces.

Create front piece's bottom edge:
This is the trickiest part of the tutorial, and please keep in mind I am not a professional pattern maker. I would definitely brag about it if I was, but sadly I'm not.
 
Step One:
Hope the glare in this photo doesn't blind ya! I am a mother by day and a crafter by night, so my pics aren't the greatest. Anyway, I about 2" from the bottom edge of the 15" x 10 1/2" cut into the fabric 1/2", cutting out a 1/2" x 2" rectangle of fabric on both sides.

Step Two:
Measure 14 1/2" from the bottom left corner of fabric (starting at your newly made edge), mark fabric lightly on bottom edge. Line up ruler from top corner of newly made left rectangle to the marking, as seen in the photo below. Cut along this line.

Step Three:

Do likewise to the other side by lining ruler up at the top corner of newly made right triangle to the same marking. Cut along this line, giving you a nice corner. Your fabric piece should now look like the photo below.

Step Four: 

This part is to make the bottom edging for the front of the shirt. Place 5 x 15" bottom piece of fabric right-side down in front of you. Place front main piece of fabric right-side down on top of bottom fabric piece, so the right and left edges overlap about 1/2". Please see picture for details. Use a fabric pencil (or if your me a regular pencil) and trace along the bottom edge of the front fabric piece.

Step Five: 

Make a second line 1/2" above the initial line to create a 1/2" seam line.

Step Six: 

Create a third line three inches from top edge, as shown in the picture. Please don't mind the glare from the light, just as I am not a professional pattern maker, I am also not a professional photographer. 

Sew together front main and front bottom pieces:

Place main fabric right-side up in front of you. Place bottom piece right-side down, lining up top edge of right side of bottom piece with the right side bottom edge of main fabric piece as shown in photo. Pin in place. Sew from right edge to center.

Starting at center (where you left off stitching) pin bottom and main fabric pieces together making your way to the left edges. Sew seam. Clip corner of bottom fabric at center point as pictured to allow fabric to lay flat. Press.

Sew together back main and back bottom pieces:

Place back main fabric piece right-side before you, place back bottom piece wrong-side up on top of main piece. Line up top of bottom piece with bottom of main piece. Pin and sew.

Sew together main and collar pieces:

Place front main fabric piece in front of you right-side up. Place front collar fabric piece on top of main piece wrong-side up. Pin and sew. Do the same with back main and back collar pieces. Press both sides.

Iron in casing:

Place front main fabric piece wrong-side up in front of you. Fold top edge down 1/2" and press. Then maintaining previous fold, bring folded edge down again 3/4" fold. This should create a small casing. Do  not sew casing yet. Do likewise to back main fabric piece.

Create arm holes:

Place front main fabric piece wrong-side up in front of you, keeping casing fold in place. I used a large mat with a ruler for this part, but you could figure it out without one. Place a cd 5" from the top of the folded casing edge and 1 1/2" from left side raw edge, as shown in the picture. Place a ruler 1 1/2" from left raw edge. Using a pencil trace (beginning at top folded edge) along ruler until you meet the curve of the CD, at that point follow the CD to left raw edge. Do the same on right side of front main fabric, and also on left and right sides of back main fabric. Cut along line.

Sew on bias tape:

Unfold casing. Pin on bias tape, and sew on around each armhole. When you are finished your pieces should look like the picture below.

Sew in casing:

Refold casing, press again if needed. Sew seam 3/4" from top fold making sure to catch fabric, creating a 3/4" casing. Sew in both front and back piece casings. 

Sew together front and back pieces:

Place main front piece in front of you right-side up. Place main back piece on top of main piece wrong-side up. Starting at the bottom of either sides arm hole, pin down to bottom edge. Sew 1/2" seam. Do the same for the opposite side.

Hem bottom edge:

Fold bottom edge up 1/2", press. Open fold and bring raw edge to center of fold, creating a 1/4" seam. Press, pin and sew. 

Create tie:

Fold the 2 x 45" fabric piece in half lengthwise, press. Open fold, bring raw edges to newly created fold, press. Refold and press again. This should yield a 1/2" tube of fabric. Sew a seam to close tube. I didn't finish the ends since I was planning on knotting them. If you would rather have ties on both shoulders, you will probably need two 2 x 45" fabric pieces.

Feed tie through casing:

Starting on the side you would like your bow to be, feed tie through the front casing. When you reach the opposite end, feed tie through back casing so tie ends ends up on the side your bow will be. Adjust as desired, knot the tie ends, and tie a bow. Yay, all done!

I hope this tutorial is clear, please feel free to leave any questions or comments below.

dirty diaper baggy holder tutorial

Through experience, I have discovered that diaper changes don't always happen at the most convenient times or places. I have also discovered the usefulness of having a bag to stick that dirty little gem in until I get home. Lets face it, I just don't like having to smell it. When I was making diaper clutches for a few friends having babies, I thought it might be handy to have a matching pouch to put some of those helpful dirty diaper baggies.

I made pouches using the scraps I had left over from the diaper clutch, and it only took me about 15 minutes total to cut it out and sew it together. Yes folks, it's just that easy!! Anyway these little cuties hold about 20 of the bags I found at the dollar store, and I think they are kind of adorable. I actually feel kind of bad that they are being used to hold something like doggy poop bags, but hey what do you do?

To do this project you will need:
Main fabric:
-(1) 5 1/4 x 4 1/2" piece
-(2)  5 1/4 x 3" pieces
-(1) 5 x 2" piece
Light Interfacing:
-(1) 5 1/4 x 4 1/2" piece
-(2) 5 1/4 x 2 1/2" pieces
thread

If you are using a heavier fabric, such as an outdoor upholstery you probably won't need to use the light interfacing. You can use a heavier interfacing, but it will be a lot stiffer, and harder to turn right-side out in the end. I just wanted to use interfacing since my fabric was fairly light, and I wanted it to be able to withstand some wear n' tear.

Cut out fabric and interfacing:
Not much explaining here. 5x2" piece is not shown here, it is used to create the hanging loop.

Iron on interfacing:
The larger square of fabric should line up nicely with the larger square of interfacing. As for the two smaller pieces of fabric (what I will call the front pieces), line the interfacing up to one side of the fabric. To compensate for my lack of descriptive skills, please refer to the very boring picture above.

Create small hem:
On both front pieces, fold over remaining fabric edge and iron in place. Then bring edge to newly created fold and again iron in place, creating a small hem. Again I have included a more descriptive picture that hopefully worth its thousand words.

Create front side:
Place the two finished front pieces wrong-sides together, so that hems meet. Sew a 1/4" seam starting from each end, continue until you have reached 1 1/2" toward the center. This should leave you about a 2" opening. This is where you will be able to pull out those lovely bags. Yes, I know my seams are pretty crooked, but I am happy to say they can still serve their purpose.

Press open:
Press front piece open. I pressed each seam to the opposite direction at either end. That will prevent the seam from folding to one side. Set front piece aside.

Sew strap for loop:
The loop is optional, but honestly I think it looks nice. If you would like to make a strap, take your 5x2" piece of fabric and fold it in half length-wise, press. Open fabric up, and bring both edges to the newly created center fold, press. Sew a top-stitch down edge opposite of fold creating a 5" strap. Fold strap in half, and set aside.

Bring it all together:
Place 5 1/4" x 4 1/2" piece of fabric right-up in front of you. Choose one corner and place folded strap diagonally across large fabric piece. Your straps unfinished ends should slightly extend past the corner of the large fabric piece. Then, place front piece down so the wrong-side is facing you. Pin together. Stitch a 1/2" seam all the way around. Trim edges to about 1/4" and clip corners. Turn right side out.

Hooray, all done!! Now all you need are those dirty diapers:)

all-in-one diaper clutch/changing pad tutorial

I don't know about you, but I do not like carrying around a diaper bag. Especially when I have my huge mama purse with me too. So, when my baby was born, I made a diaper clutch just like this one, only now it isn't looking quite as fresh. With the clutch and a couple of toys crammed into my purse, I knew I was set to go. Whenever I decided I needed the whole diaper bag to make a trip, I would just put the clutch in there. That way I had all of my changing supplies in the same place. I also liked that I didn't have to put my sweet little baby's tush down on the public changing table that had previously had so many unknown hineys (spelling?) on it. And once again, this pattern is purely for home use only. Please do not take this and make or sell a pattern of it.

What you will need:
1/3 yd.                 outer fabric
1/3 yd.                 lining fabric
9"x12"square      med weight iron-on interfacing
1/3 yd.                clear vinyl (be sure to keep the tissue paper it comes with)
1/3 yd.                cotton batting (something comparable to this)
1                         magnetic snap (I used a 3/4" silver snap)
3 yds                   bias tape, about 7/8-1 inch wide

With the outer fabric and lining, I just used a standard 100% medium weight fabric. In the past I have used Home Decor Fabric, and it has worked great as well. Use whichever you would prefer, the Home Decor Fabric holds up to wear and tear a bit better, but the medium weight fabric seems to be a bit sleeker looking. For the vinyl, I just used a light-med weight. I didn't want to be too rough on my machine, and I think it folds better. As for the bias tape, I cheated and used Wrights, Wide Single Fold Bias Tape, but if you want to make your tape match perfectly you can make your own. I have found this tutorial useful for creating quick bias tape.

Cutting everything out:
I like to use my rotary cutter for this part, but good old fashioned scissors will work great too. You will need to cut a 33"x12" square from the following: inner fabric, outer fabric, batting, and vinyl. Cut a 9"x12" square of interfacing. Reserve any scraps of interfacing you may have for later.

Iron on interfacing:
Lay outer fabric right-side down in front of you. Measure 8" from one edge of fabric, place interfacing down on measured edge. (See picture for guidance.) The interfacing will help create a natural fold line, as well as allow for stability for your magnetized snap. Iron on interfacing using manufacturer's instruction.

If you have a scrap of interfacing remaining, lay out your lining fabric right side down. Place scrap of fabric at the center of one end of the fabric. As you can probably tell, I just eyeballed it. This will be for extra reinforcement for the complementary side of the magnetic closure. Iron on interfacing using manufacturer's instruction.

Attach magnets:
You will have two parts to your magnetic snap. You will place what I call the bottom part of the snap (The part that has the small whole for the other snap to fit into) onto the outer layer of fabric. Measure 13" from the same edge you had initially measure for placing the interfacing. Mark interfacing at 13". Then measure from the opposite edge down 6" to make sure you place the snap centered at the 13" mark. Attach magnet using package instructions. When you are finished it should look like this. (Sorry I didn't think about taking this picture until after I was finished with the project, whoops...)

For the top part of the magnet. Measure about 1 inch from the edge of the lining fabric (if you attached interfacing scrap, use that end). Again, measure down 6" from the other edge to make sure your 1" mark is also at the center of width of the fabric. After marking this, I like to pin the vinyl down to the right-side of the lining, taking care to put the pins at the edge. That way you won't have a bunch of pin marks all over your beautiful vinyl. Place vinyl tissue paper to the side at this time. Attach complementary magnet end going through both the vinyl and the lining fabric. Again, refer to the package instructions for installation. When you are finished it should look like this. (Again, this picture was taken at the end of the project, sorry...)

Sew together all the layers:
Place outer fabric down before you, right-side down. Next, place batting on top of outer fabric, followed by the lining fabric right-side up, and the vinyl, and finally the vinyl tissue paper (the lining and vinyl should already be connected due to the magnet snap.) The vinyl tissue paper will help keep the vinyl from sticking to your presser foot. If your vinyl didn't come with tissue paper the gift wrap kind works great too. Pin all layers together, and sew a 1/4" seam. This seam will help keep everything stable for the next few steps.

Create a nice curved edge:
On the edge that you have previously attached the top snap, place a glass at the corner. Trace around cup to create nice curved edge. Cut all layers at curved line. I don't bother sewing a 1/4" seam around the curve since we will be attaching the bias tape soon, which will finish the edge.

Attach bias tape to pocket end: 
Attach bias tape to end opposite of the curved edges end. This end will be used to make the pocket. If you are not sure how to sew on bias tape this website may be helpful. Use the directions for packaged bias strips.

Create pocket:
Fold over fabric about 8" so right-sides of lining meet (take care to remove tissue paper up to the top of your pocket so you don't have to fish it out later.) You should be able to feel where your interfacing starts on the outer fabric. Attach remaining binding closing pocket edges, as shown above. The bias tape should go around your curved edges nicely. I use my sewing machine to do the topstitching.

A finished clutch fits one travel wipe container (I buy either Huggies or Pampers since they are fairly flat) and about four diapers. Let me know if you make one, I would love to see what you make!! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments:)