Okay – third post is a charm? “Make Your Kids DIY Shirts for Easter” week has moved on to the boys. Today we have an appliqued bunny shirt inspired by Pinterest. Though isn’t everything nowadays?! You can download the free applique pattern pieces in the “You will need” list.
I’ve added a “read more” button here. Click below to access the rest of the tutorial.
Alright – ready for the 2nd installment of “Make Your Kids DIY Shirts for Easter” week? Here we go! Today’s shirt is made with ruffle fabric, a few embellishments, some ribbon and flowers and of course bows on the sleeve cuffs. Who could resist?!
I have had quite a few shirts given to me from one of the better children’s stores. They have all of the little details on them that good quality shirts should, including cute little bow cuffs. I’ve been wanting to figure out how to make these cuffs for a few years now and this seemed like the best time. Everyone needs a little dress-up for Easter! This shirt has three-quarter length sleeves, so I used a shirt that was a size too big for my youngest daughter – so I would have extra long sleeves to cut off and could use the extra fabric to make the cuffs.
I’ve added a “read more” button here. Click below to access the rest of the tutorial.
This week is “Make Your Kids DIY Shirts for Easter” week on Thread Riding Hood! By the end of the week you will have 3 Easter themed knit-shirt applique options – 2 for girls and 1 (maybe 2) for boys. Then you can take the following week or so to make one for your munchkin – just in time for Easter. And can I say how amazed I am that I am early – Hooray!) Got to do this more often!
Today’s installment also has an added bonus – it uses a freezer paper stencil. Never heard of it? Glad you stopped by! Freezer paper stenciling has been called “the poor man’s screen printer” and can be very addicting (I can vouch for that!), if you have a bit of time and an xacto blade. I’ve used it on a lot of things, mostly to embellish knit shirts so far, and also on the Superbowl shirts I made for the girls back in February. I did use it on a pair of home-made slippers once also, to make a “non-skid” sole with the logo of my brother-in-law’s favorite board game – that was fun too!
For this shirt I got to use an idea I bookmarked a while ago. (Remember when we didn’t have Pinterest? What would we do without it!) This particular shirt is a great idea from Vanessa at Punkin Patterns. Check out her tutorials while you are at it! She has a lot of really great stuff – especially her “Connor’s Messenger Bag” – so cute! I have two little girls who would love one of these (each, of course! Sharing is usually tolerated, but not enjoyed!)
To make one of these yourself you can visit Vanessa’s tutorial here: Punkin Patterns – Chocolate Bunny Tee.
Here is a quick run-down on how to use freezer paper. I will have to photograph one in more detail and post it soon. For now, if you’d like you can visit Vanessa’s “Freezer Paper 101” which she also links to in the bunny tee tutorial.
You will need:
1) First step is to get yourself some freezer paper. I get mine at my local grocery store in the aisle with the food wrap. Make sure it is labeled freezer paper, this is not waxed paper. Freezer paper has a thin plastic coating on one side that helps it to adhere to fabric when it is ironed.
2) Trace your shape onto your freezer paper – this will be your stencil. Draw on the matte finish side of the paper, not the shiny side. The shiny side has the plastic coating and you don’t want to iron on it later, that would make a mess! Find a shape you like and size it on your computer screen. Then you can put the freezer paper on the screen and trace it. The backlit screen really makes this easy!
3) When you use the fabric paint there is always a chance it will seep through your fabric, so cut a piece of freezer paper a bit larger than your stencil and iron it onto the back of your fabric – behind wherever you want your stencil to be painted on.
4) Put your freezer paper on the cutting surface and cut out your stencil.
5) Iron your stencil onto the front of your fabric. IMPORTANT! Make sure you iron with the shiny side down (touching the fabric). If you iron on the shiny side you will really mess up your iron because the plastic will stick to it. Iron without steam on the proper setting for your fabric. I would recommend using a high setting like cotton – so make sure whatever you are stenciling can take the heat. It is possible to iron the freezer paper too much (I know from experience!). It leaves plastic embedded in your fabric – ack! Iron until the edges of the stencil are all very secure and, if in doubt, try pulling it off of the sandwich on one of the edges. It should be fairly hard to remove the stencil from the knit material. If you do not iron enough the paint will bleed under the edges of the stencil. It’s a bit of a guessing game – and gets easier the more you do it.
6) Now we get to paint! Follow the directions on your fabric paint. Sponge/dab the paint onto the stencil. Don’t brush at the edges or you will likely force paint under them and your edges won’t be sharp. Some people recommend doing more than one coat of paint, but I like instant results and so 1 coat has been fine on most of my projects. I used a cut piece of a scrubbie sponge from the kitchen to spread the paint.
7) If you are patient, you can now refer to your fabric paint and wait the recommended time before you peel off the stencil. If you are not you can use the optional hairdryer (on a low heat setting) from the “You will need” list. Guess what I did! (Hairdryer all the way!)
8) Once the paint is dry you can start to peel the stencil. If you want to reuse it don’t tear the edges – freezer paper can be reused a few times until the plastic coating won’t adhere anymore. Carefully peel off the stencil and voila! you have a perfect image.
9) If you have used paint that needs to be set, follow the directions on your fabric paint. You’re Done!
Looking for egg-sactly(!) what you want in an girl’s Easter shirt applique? Coming up mid-week. See you again soon!
Here you are – and only 1 day left to make these before they get shipped off to school!
I based these off of another idea I found here. I like that they don’t have any treats in them. Which, aside from the obvious (no crazy sugar-powered children!), they are allowed at school. Since we are not supposed to send any food because of allergies, this one fits the “fun” bill as well as the “follow the rules” bill.
Things you will need:
Print out the cards on cardstock or photo paper. They come 4 on a page. Cut on the solid gray lines and fold on the dotted gray lines.
Have your child write their name on the back in the space provided. I think this is good practice and also a good habit to get into. If they want Valentine’s treats, they should be willing to spend 5 minutes writing their name on the cards for their friends!
Now, put a bottle of bubbles in the bag. Fold over the extra at the top of the bag (or you can cut the bags shorter if they are too long). Staple twice on the bottom or sides of the printout, making sure to catch the paper and the bag.
YOU ARE DONE (already?!) – And your cards are at least 100 times cuter than the 24 in a box kind you can get for a dollar!
I was at Mad About Patchwork a few weeks ago searching for some Kona Cotton in Charcoal for my husband’s T-Shirt quilt and I got a bit lost… well… maybe a lot lost. I ended up with 3/4 of a yard of Octo Garden in Aqua. The Salt Water line by Tula Pink is really great. I wasn’t sure at first, it’s a bit strange – octopuses… really? The way they are incorporated into the fabric is really fun and unexpected – right up my alley! Looking at the Salt Water options again I also really like the Sea Strip in Aqua. Maybe some throw pillows for the couch?
I have had some trouble finding aqua coloured fabrics in the right shade for my living room, which has a red and blue colour scheme. It’s surprising how often they are too purple or too green. Anyhow – this shade of aqua is perfect, thank goodness! I can cross this project off my list, it has been too long in coming. Though the chair seat re-cover doesn’t have any sewing involved, it does have the gorgeous fabric. Also, it is graced with a Valentine’s project worthy pillow, so I’m good with it!
This chair used to be covered in this fabric, just for reference and so you can see how wildly my tastes have changed in the last 5 years. Don’t worry, I made the photo small so you aren’t blasted with the craziness!
The chair sits in the living room against a wall to provide a bit of extra interest along with the red couch and chair. I have been looking for something to recover it with since I changed the colour scheme over a year ago – has it been that long already?!
Here’s a better view of the octopus himself, or themselves, since there are many in the pattern. I really like how it doesn’t look like a sea creature from across the room until you walk closer. And the splash of pale blue is much better than the golden yellow/red that was there before.
Now all I have to do is finish painting light gray over the darkish taupe I have in most of the house. I think it will freshen up everything and maybe provide me with a few more photo walls, hooray!
The pillow was made following this tutorial by Noodlehead. I made it a bit smaller by printing the template about 1/2 size and then decreasing the seam allowance by the same percentage. I really like how it turned out and the contrast with the chair is fun too!
Speaking of Valentine’s, I am making some for my daughter’s class based on this idea and will post a printable for them by Wednesday morning – just in case you procrastinate as much as I do and want to make some too!
Along with the gorgeous fabric, I can’t forget to remind you about the interview with Pam from Mad About Patchwork I posted on Saturday – she even gave us a coupon code for her Canadian online fabric store – check it out! (And just in case you are wondering, I have not been paid to post her information. The opinions are all my own, she really does have a great store!)
I have seen this pattern before online at one of my favorite blogs – Maureen Cracknell Handmade. I thought it would be good to give it a try. As much as I love a ton of quilts (check out my pinterest folder here), I can’t seem to get my desire-on for making one. They seem so repetitive and time consuming to cut out.
Anyhow, either way, I thought this dresden plate was super easy to make. It is also very pretty. It was also going to be my last Christmas project to finish before the holiday. Ooops. The holidays took over and I finished this one last Wednesday. I am using the term finished loosely, as you can see it has no centre and is not attached to anything as yet. I found this large size gold shirt that is a good size for a pillow and I think I am going to fold them up together and pack them away with the Christmas things – something to finish next Christmas!
I have been stashing the elf fabric for a couple of years now. Funny thing is the fabric arrived and the elves had no eyes. I know it is personal preference, but I think they looked a bit creepy that way (see below) and have never sewn anything from it.
A while back I was sewing with a friend and came up with the idea of putting the eyes on myself. I have some fabric markers from the Dollar Store and always wondered what I would do with the brown one. Now I know! I took the whole 1/2 meter of fabric and put eyes on every single elf.
Ahhh… much better!
Of course, I also couldn’t resist adding in some of my favorite Michael Miller Fabric – Put A Lid On It in Charcoal. My husband surprised me a while ago by buying 2 meters of it and I’ve been adding it to everything I can ever since. You can also see it here and here. They also have it in yellow (citrus!) with multi-coloured pots! Love!
I was thinking about making a few different sized templates for a dresden plate and will post them here soon.