Cloth Wipes

I cloth diaper my kids. Why? First it happened because my Elli was so allergic to disposable diapers and could only wear very expensive ones. Second, once I realized how much money I would save not buying diapers all the time – I was totally in. I’m not like super green. I think you should be a good steward to our planet earth but to be honest I am sort of “anti-granola”. I have many friends and family that are more than a bit “crunchy”… I’m just not. To each their own I guess, right?

I’ve used cloth wipes on a off since I started cloth diapering. I mostly used them while my husband was in graduate school. It saves money not buying boxes of wipes all the time. Well, since he’s going back to school I decided to get my cloth wipes back out and use them. I love saving money. And this is an easy way in my mind.

I rinse and wash my diapers so adding wipes isn’t a big deal or rather any deal at all. I decided I wanted a few more wipes than I already owned so I decided to make my own. I have a bunch that look like this:

 

Pink polk-a-dots. Who can’t love those? Well, Finn is my baby currently in diapers so I decided to wipe his cutie-patutie with some boyish wipes as well. I grabbed the cheapest flannel at Jo-Ann fabrics for this project. My daughter Elli, who is three, approved my choice and wanted to double check that the sharks wouldn’t take a bite out of Finn… and with his “gentlemen’s parts” down there that would be quite a tragedy. Luckily, these sharks are just pictures so we avoided a horrific event! The fabric is going to be used to wipe up his tush so no reason in my mind to buy good fabric. I can always just throw them away and make new ones when I want to.

Want to make cloth wipes? They are sort of expensive if you want to buy them online but they are a cinch to make. Ok, you will need the things below!

• Scissors
• Flannel (I got mine for $2.99 a yard at Jo-Ann’s. I got a yard and had a TON left over.)
• Serger
• Tape Measure

First cut out your fabric. Now this doesn’t have to be super accurate. I just copied the size of my cloth wipe I had. It was 6″ x 6″. I’m 5’4″ and don’t have super big hands so I prefer a smaller wipe. After I did this I was thinking that my husband, who is nearly 6’5″, wouldn’t think these little wipes were all too awesome…. but he can adjust! Ha…

Cut.

Serge.

Now, you can just do four straight lines but one thing I wanted to learn was how to make curved edges with my serger… cloth wipes are a GREAT time to teach yourself something… because you can’t really make any awful mistakes, right? They are wipes after all…

This is how I make curved edges with my serger.

I sew the edge straight and then when I get about an 1″ away from the edge – or 2″ I guess – I grab the bottom corner and pull it horizontal to the right. It forces the fabric to move thus creating a curved edge. This made making cloth wipes stupid easy.

I made 10. I figured I could make more if I felt like I needed more. I keep my damp wipes in a small wet bag and I buy bum spray on Amazon. I spray their bum and wipe them up with the wipes just like I would if I had disposable wipes.

Pretty easy. And shark wipes are awesome.

A Presto!

Jacqueline

Mistakes

As I said before, I made a few stupid “newbie mistakes” when it came to my blog… honestly I’m not trying to be professional or anything so this is probably one of many mistakes I will make. I deleted photos that I thought were not attached to my posts. Turns out – they were attached. I have now officially (to my knowledge) fixed all those photo mistakes. Let me know if I have more missing… it’s a pain but I reloaded and posted them. You’re welcome!

I fixed my pajama tutorial! Hurray!

A Presto!

Jacqueline

Gluten Free Feast

This past spring we celebrated our son Finnley’s baby blessing in Idaho.

Cute, Isn’t he? I think so! Finn’s blessing ended up being on Easter Sunday so a lot of people were able to come. After Church we served lunch. My husband, myself and my daughter all have Celiac Disease. We can’t eat gluten. Also, a few of my husband’s relatives also can’t eat gluten. I decided since I was buying food and hosting the shindig I wasn’t going to buy food that we couldn’t eat. It’s super depressing to buy and make food you cannot eat. So I just don’t do it!

Since we would be at church leading up to lunch I needed things that would be basically ready to eat as soon as I got home. Things I could just pull out of the fridge and set out.

I made a green salad. Chopped up a ton of good veggies in it. Served it with Gluten Free dressings. Easy. (Remember if you are doing this gluten free leave out the croutons!)

I made a gluten free cake. I used Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free mix so it was super easy.

I made a fresh fruit salad (Cut up strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, then I tossed a can of mandrine oranges on top with the juice from the can). Easy.

I put out a few kinds of gluten free chips. Easy.

I had two fresh pineapples cut up. To make pineapple go further just have it cut up on a cutting board and serve it with toothpicks. Then people won’t be taking huge scoops of it but rather 2-4 a piece yet you don’t look like you are being cheap… even if you are. Easy.

I had a jello “salad”. Make jello according to the box. Then let it set up until it is almost set up but not all the way. Then throw it in your kitchen aide and add cool whip. Easy!

I threw a bowl of chocolate eggs out… it was Easter after all. Easy!

I served water with lemons sliced in it. Easy.

I had celery and carrots out too. Easy.

And I made one of my favorite desserts. Key Lime Bars. Easy. (But don’t tell anyone how easy… I always keep that a secret!)

Simple Key Lime Bars

• 9″ x 12″ pan
• Two large cool whip containers
• 2 cans sweet condensed milk
• 2 of those lime juices in those plastic green fake limes… you know the ones
• A bit of green food coloring
• Sliced strawberries

Ok, in your pan you can put a crust made with butter, Chex cereal and sugar. That’s optional. If you want to do that just google “GF Chex Crust” there are tons of easy recipes. Now mix together with a mixer your sweet and condensed milk and lime juice. Then fold in your cool whip. Now add in a bit of green food coloring so it looks like what you’d imagine key lime to look like. Pour into pan. Keep it in the fridge. Then when you are going to serve it top with strawberries. Yum!

My father-in-law provided super yummy smoked pulled pork. We served them with corn tortillas so that there wouldn’t be any bread crumbs around “contaminating” our gluten-free goodness.

To set up for something like this it is really easy. I had everything placed in bowls ready to go in the fridge. For things not in the fridge like chips – I had the unopened bags in the bowls. I also had decided where I wanted everything to sit and put post-it notes around with what I wanted where. This way someone can put it out for you or you can do it super-duper fast when you arrive.

Have a great Gluten Free get-together. It will be awesome and that person who can’t eat gluten will be so happy they can enjoy it too! If you click here you can see some more great gluten free recipes.

Celebrate life!

A Presto!

Jacqueline

 

 

 

My Boy’s Bandana Bib

Sewing projects for boys I feel are not common. Here is one for those mamas who have a bouncy, handsome yet unnaturally drooly baby boy. I have one. I can’t get over how much he drools. My daughter never drooled. Finn is amazing in that way to me. I think his mouth would get dry after, you know, 24+ hours of drooling. Well, I’m getting tired of the bibs I have. (I could make more easy baby bibs here.) But I’m getting bored of the look. And when I just let him drool all over his shirt… and pants… he’s all wet and gross looking and I’m sure it’s not comfortable, whether he knows it or not. Either way it makes me feel like a bad mommy leaving him wet.

Ok, so let’s make a bandana bib!

What you need isn’t a ton. And the great thing is that it doesn’t take up a ton of fabric. Gather the stuff below:

• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• 2 pieces of fabric. I used flannel from Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, Utah and some terry cloth from JoAnn’s. You can really use any scrapes you have.
• Pattern (link below)
• Tape measure (This is only necessary if you don’t use my pattern and want to measure your own.)
• Pins
• Iron (not necessary)
• Snap pliers (If you don’t have those and don’t want to buy some you can use a button or Velcro.)

Not all too daunting. And it’s not a long project. It’s straight lines… which is awesome. Even if this is your first time touching your sewing machine. You can do this. I’ll show you. Just watch YouTube videos or read your manual that will show you how to thread your machine and bobbin. Got it? Ok! Let’s sew!

Well, before we sew we need to print off the pattern. I keep my patterns on interfacing so they are more durable and I can use them again and again. So print off your pattern below and cut it out.

• Bandana Bib Pattern Part One
• Bandana Bib Pattern Part Two:Three

Now, let’s grab the fabric. Lay your patten on top of your fabric. Pin the pattern to the fabric so it doesn’t shift around as you cut.

I did it first with my flannel above. And now below you can see that I did it also with my terry cloth.

Ok, now… you have two triangles.

See what I did? Do you see how my planes – although right side up on my triangle and they look fine – are all upside down (remember this is going to have with the point down). Stupid me. Learn from my mistake and make sure you check the direction of your pattern if you have one! Ok, now lay the two triangles right sides together. The right side of your fabric is the side that has the pattern. Terry cloth can be hard to tell what side is the right side… it doesn’t matter too much with terry cloth so don’t stress out about it. The wrong side of fabric refers to the back, or the non-printed side.

Pin together. You will need to leave a gap. You will want the gap to be about 2-3″ long since you will need to pull your fabric through it. I like to leave my gap on the longest side right in the middle. That part will be under their chin and not as noticeable. Also, don’t leave your gap on a corner since those are harder to sew shut.

Now sew around the edges but don’t forget to leave your gap. When you start sewing start with your needle and pressure foot down. Backstitch when you start and stop.

Ok, Done? See my gap?

Great, I hope you didn’t forget that part. If you did just grab your seam ripper and make a gap. Now cut off your corner and clean up any edges that are wide. Just be careful not the cut your stitching.

Turn right side out!

Now let’s close that gap. Fold in the raw edges. Raw edges are basically unsewn edges of fabric. Pin shut.

Now we are going to do a top stitch. It makes everything look nice and finished. It also will close up your gap. I like to start at a corner.

Did you go all the way around?

Great! Now we are going to make it so that the bib attaches. You can use Velcro or a button but I love snaps. Grab your snap pliers and read the directions or call your sister… or youtube it. Whatever. Attached your snap!

Done! Messed up your snap… I have too… No worries. Click here. I’ll show you how to remove them. It’s easy… especially for me since I made my husband do it for me. But you can do it yourself if you don’t have a husband handy.

Awesome possum. You did it! Be happy that you made something. If it was hard no worries. It’s a skill. It takes time. And look… Since I made it upside down… I made a new one.

I couldn’t let my Finn wear it around upside down!

Enjoy the drool!

A Presto!

Jacqueline

 

 

 

Seriously Simple Baby Blanket

Want to sew an easy baby blanket? It is two pieces of fabric. That’s it. It’s my go-to when I’m being one of the crazy-have-to-match-everything mommy days. They’re good for church because – let’s be honest – when you don’t feel like making a new outfit a cute blanket is a great way to hide the not-so-cute outfit you already have or to cover up the fact that you forgot a set of back-up clothes…

Alright. You can do this. It’s easy. It’s four straight lines… that’s it! I think cutting is the hardest part and that is just because I am a bit lazy. This blanket is really forgiving. No one will see your mistakes. It’s nice. And it doesn’t take 640, 383 hours. Two pieces of fabric. Four lines to sew. Easy. Want to learn? Let me show you. Ready?

You will need to grab a yard each of two pieces of fabric. I used flannel since it’s good and chilly here in Minnesota. I’ve used one side cotton and one side flannel – that works too. A lot of people prewash their fabric. This is really only necessary if you buy inexpensive fabric from places like JoAnn Fabrics. Don’t even waste your money at WalMart on fabric. My advice? JoAnn’s is fine if it’s not something that you care too much about – it’s great for bibs and burp-cloths and random stuff. If you are making a quilt or something that you want to wash well and look nice after more than one or two uses – buy good fabric. You can get fabric on sale. You don’t have to spend a ton of money for the good stuff… but this is something where the cheaper stuff shows.

With that said… I did get this fabric at JoAnn’s. It was super cheap and just fine for the few uses it will probably get. If I was putting a ton of effort into this, like say I was making a quilt, I wouldn’t even waste my time at JoAnn’s. But… maybe I’m just a “fabric-snob”.

Ready? Let’s get started. Grab the stuff below and let’s make the easiest baby blanket around.

• 1 yard of fabric. I am using flannel
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Pins
• Tape measure (not necessary)
• Iron

Ok, Ready? You’re probably thinking… “a tape measure isn’t necessary??” … well it’s not. I hate them. I’ll show you a cheat. Just grab your fabric. Open it completely up. Fold it into a triangle. Just grab one corner and pull it over to the opposite corner. See…

Ta-Da! You made a perfect square. Cut along the edge. If you don’t want it to be a perfect square just leave both pieces a yard.

Awesome. Do that again with your other fabric.

Have two pieces? Great. Iron out any wrinkles.

Now put them right sides facing with the wrong sides out. The right side is the printed side of the fabric and the wrong side refers to the back.

Pin all around. You will need to leave a gap. Make sure you don’t forget to leave a little gap. I mark mine with pins so I don’t forget. It’s not totally a rule but don’t leave your gap in a corner. It’s a lot easier to leave the gap somewhere in the middle.

Sew. Start with your pressure foot and needle down. Sew to one corner. At the corner stop with your needle down. Lift up your pressure foot and turn the fabric 90 degrees. Put your pressure foot down and continue to sew.

Get it? Great. Do that all the way around your fabric except not your gap. Don’t sew there. When you get to your stopping point don’t forget to backstitch. This makes your thread unable to unravel.

Done? Awesome. Now unpin. Find your gap. See?

Cut off corners but be careful not to cut your thread. It just makes the corners nicer and flatter. Now, flip your fabric to be right sides out.

Ok, then take your little gap and fold the raw edges in. The raw edges are the unfinished or un-sewn parts. These will ravel. You need to fold them inside and pin that part shut.

Now you are going to top stitch. This means that you are going to sew all the way around the blanket again. This will be a nice clean way to sew the gap shut. I would personally start at a corner. You don’t have to, but I think it looks better. Double check that your gap is sewn completely shut. Cut off any stray ends of thread.

Now, you are done. You just made a baby blanket. Is it nice and cuddly? Now that you can do this you can do it with minky to make it even nicer. Just grab more fabric and sew. If this was hard… that’s ok. Sewing is a skill. It needs to be learned. If we all just woke up one day and could sew perfectly – what’s the point. Enjoy learning… I know it can be frustrating. If you’re super frustrated- ask questions! That’s what I am here for.

Now, enough with the chit-chat. Go sew something beautiful.

A Presto!

Jacqueline

 

 

Foxy Baby Bib

I finally got my sister to drive down to me and show me how she makes her baby bibs. They are super cute, washable, and easy. Bibs are basically a necessity for anyone who has a baby. It also makes a great inexpensive baby gift. Each bib doesn’t take that long to make so you can make a bunch in a reasonable amount of time. There is one slightly tricky part… sewing a curve… but don’t freak out. It’s not as bad as it sounds and these bibs give you a ton of room for error and are great practice.

Want to learn? Ok. First and foremost you need to either free hand your own pattern or print this pattern I copied from my sister. I have PDFs below.

• Bib Pattern Part One
• Bib Pattern part two

Now, as a side note I want to share with you a trick my sister does with patterns. She cuts them out onto interfacing. (Interfacing is pretty stiff fabric used to make purses or garments more sturdy. It’s pretty cheap.) The reason she does it is because it is durable. She can use the same pattern for years and it won’t fall about like tissue paper, freezer paper, or printer paper. It’s pretty smart. Then she stores it in a ziplock bag with the directions. SO SMART! Ok… so print this pattern off and cut it out and tape it together with the squares matching up. You can put it on interfacing if your planning on using it a lot. If not… just use your printer paper.

Now, you need to grab your list of items. You will need the things below:

• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Flannel for the front of the bib (or cotton but flannel is more absorbent). I got my fabric at JoAnn’s but it’s not the highest quality and doesn’t wash the best but it works and is cute. Bibs will get used and stained so it’s good enough.
• Terry cloth for the back of the bib (It feels like a towel… in case you walk around the store and don’t want to ask…)
• Snap pliers (you can use a button or velcro. I just think that these work the best and are the easiest.)
• Pattern (printed off, cut out and taped together)
• Pins

Got it all? Ok, Lets begin. First we cut out our pieces. First I lay my fabric out with the wrong side up on my flannel. (The wrong side is the non-printed side of the fabric. The right side is the printed side.) If your fabric’s pattern has a direction keep that in mind. You don’t want to make a bib and have all of your puppies upside-down! Now pin the pattern to the fabric.

Cut.

Do the exact same thing with the terry cloth. Sometimes it’s hard to know what is the wrong side and right side of the terry cloth. Don’t stress… it’s not a huge deal. Ok, pin your pattern down and cut.

Now you should have two pieces. Now take your bib pieces and place it right sides together.

Ok, now pin it together. You will need to leave a little gap. You will use the gap to flip your bib right sides out. Sometimes, to be honest, I quite often I miss this step… I sew my stupid little gap completely shut and then I get angry. Sewing is something I am trying to do to release stress… not get more so I just mark my gap spot with pins. You want your gap to be two inches or so. It’s enough that you can pull your bib through. You can see that below. Also, it doesn’t totally matter where you want your gap to be but I would suggest the bottom since it is mostly straight and that’s easier to sew.

With me so far? Ok… great! Now grab your sewing machine. You are going to sew around the edges. Don’t forget to start with your pressure foot down and your needle also down. Remember to backstitch when you start and stop. (If that doesn’t make sense to you… google it). Ok, so you are going to sew around your entire bib but the little gap space. If curves are new and hard I’ll tell you a little secret. Sewing slowly is good and sometimes you can stop with your needle down and lift up your pressure foot and turn your fabric a bit if you aren’t curving enough.

With me so far? Awesome. You’re doing great. Now take your fabric and cut off any excess fabric where you may have not sewn close enough to the edge. Remember these bibs are really forgivable so no worries. Then cut little triangles off around the tight curves. Look below!

Make sense? This is just so that fabric is easier to turn and lays flatter. Ok… now flip your fabric right sides out. See my gap?

Now pin your gap shut. When you pin it fold each piece of fabric under just a bit. It should stick inside the bib. You don’t want any raw edges sticking out. A raw edge is any edge part of fabric that is not sewn. Raw edges fray.

Now sew around the edges. This is called a top stitch.

Got it? Okie-dokie… Check to make sure you sewed the gap shut. Now you are going to add your snap. Add it according to the directions on your pliers. If you mess up because you didn’t read the directions look at this post and I’ll show you how to remove a bad snap. Also, my sister has this little scrap of fabric that she has a snap in so that she can see what side she wants to attach the top of the snap to. It’s like a cheat sheet.

Grab a cute baby. Put bib on. You are Done.

Easy enough and way cuter and more personalized than a lot of bibs out there. It’s great for toddlers too. It fits. The same pattern fits infants…. toddlers… and I can even get it around my neck. So it’s great for all sizes of messy eaters or droolers. I’m thinking this will make another great, easy, inexpensive, Christmas gift.

Good job! Does it feel good? Make a few of these for the cutie in your life! Remember… sewing is a skill and you can learn. I’ll help you. If you have any questions let me know!

A Presto!

Jacqueline

The Super-Duper Easy Cape Tutorial

My Elli got onto the whole Frozen bandwagon a wee bit late. Like… almost a year late. That’s my fault. She just started to be interested in watching movies and she’s not into princesses so why bother… well then my Mother got the movie and my Elli… or rather Elsa as she wants to be called is just another Frozen-Crazed-Toddler. She just wishes so badly she could create ice and snow. She also screams “let it go” every time she undresses…

I decided to make her an Elsa cape. Well, she and I had a small misunderstanding about this cape. She thought it would give her magic like Elsa and she then could make Autumn in Minnesota turn into Winter by wearing her cape and stomping her foot. It didn’t happen. Instead we had an hour long tantrum. Then she realized she could un-button her cape and it would blow away in the wind (just like in the movie). I was SO thankful it was windy this morning. Now she loves it and has showed her cape off to the other little girls around the neighborhood; she is quite proud of her sparkly, snowflake Elsa cape – even without it’s powers. Phew!

Want to make an easy one too? The great thing about this cape is that it can be any cape you want. It can be an Elsa cape, a vampire cape, or a Superman cape! And it’s not super complicated. Let me show you.

She looks happy, right? Ok, so let’s begin!

• Cotton Fabric. I have snowflake cotton with sparkles from Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, Utah. Everywhere is sold out of Frozen fabric. But the snowflakes work awesome.
• Tape measure
• Pins
• Scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Serger (optional)
• Snap Pliers (optional)

Got it all? Ok, awesome. We are going to first cut our fabric. I cut my piece to be 44″ x 34″ because I wanted it to be long like Elsa’s in the movie. You can make it whatever size you want. I basically just cut my fabric as long as I wanted by holding it up to Elli and then left it as wide as when it comes off the bolt. You will have two edges that aren’t cut. Those are called the salvages. They won’t fray. Easy enough.

Iron if it’s wrinkly. Now I serged the two sides that were raw edges. I left the selvage sides alone. Remember that when you serge you keep serging a tail on the end. You will need the extra thread to tie off to stop it from unraveling. If you don’t have a serger just fold over twice. Iron. Sew.

Now you have a large piece of fabric with two sides serged and two salvages?

Sweet. Ok, now I took the 34″ side (one of the salvage edges) and, wrong side up (the right side of the fabric is the printed side and the wrong side of fabric is the other), folded over the corners into right angles. I ironed them down. Then I folded down the salvage edge a few inches and ironed. Then I pinned. You are making a casting for a ribbon to go into if you want to have the cape tie around their neck.

Sew. I started at the corner of my square that was created by the salvage. Remember to start with your pressure foot down and your needle down. Don’t forget to backstitch a few times!

Now take a big fatty needle and if you serged the sides tuck your ends in.

You should have something that looks like this:

Now fold up the bottom an inch or two… I don’t enjoy measuring.

Iron. Pin. Sew.

Now… you’re done if you are going to use ribbon to tie your cape around your kiddos neck. Great job. I’m sure they will love it. If you want to do a snap like I did… continue. Grab your snap pliers. It should look something like the thing below.

Now, basically just follow your directions to insert your snaps. I messed up even after calling my sister and reading my directions. I would recommend watching YouTube. If you mess up… do this!

Grab something hot and melt the middle. Once you melt the middle of the snap it will come apart. Easy! I had my husband do it. He took a lighter and warmed a small screw driver up and melted the middle. I pulled the snap apart and started over. Ok, so if you did the snaps right you should have something that looks like this!

Great job! It was my first time using snaps. And now you are done! It’s pretty easy! It’s pretty versable too. Halloween is coming up. Need any capes for costumes?

Good luck. I know you can do it! If you have questions let me know!

A presto!

Jacqueline

Taggie Blanket Toy for “Nomad” Babies Tutorial

When you are pregnant with your first child you go shopping and see all these cute toys and you want to buy them all. It’s more than a want… it’s a natural irresistible urge to want to get the best for you soon-to-be baby. My husband didn’t get the nesting bug – but I so wanted everything to be perfect for my first little miracle. There was one issue. We were moving to D.C. to attend graduate school. We are going to be moving in our car. We were going to be living in one room. We were going to be moving four months later to Italy. We moved our little family of three in four suitcases (one of those being her travel crib). And we lived out of those suitcases for two years. We were nomads…

I couldn’t buy all those toys and things I wanted to make her life what I pictured to be perfect. We also… being students couldn’t afford to. Elli didn’t have many toys. I actually sat in our tiny apartment in Italy making toys for her out of water bottles and boxes. I felt bad but I did what we could. I did however try to make her a taggie blanket before we left on our adventure because it was something small, packable, cheap to make, and lets be honest- kids play with the dumb tags on their toys and not the actual toy all the time.

Want to make one? They are remarkably simple to make. They are washable… I use mine as a burp cloth… more than I should. They also can be made to fit any style. I find that making things for baby boys isn’t super easy. With girls you can make dresses, skirts, bows, tutus… I could go on. Boys just are boys. But this… this can be a project for even the mommies of boys! Hurray!

Gather the things in the list below!

• Fabric. I got the superman fabric at Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, Utah. (I actually am using a scrap from a pair of pajama pants I made for my husband. Score!) I used cotton on one side and minky on the other.
• Assorted ribbons
• Pins
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Tape measure… optional!

Easy list, eh? And with this project you can use scraps… which is always a win. With taggie blankets you can really make them any size you wish. You can make them as big as blankets! For this tutorial I made mine 11″ x 11″

So, to start. Cut two pieces of fabric. You can measure them or you can just lay your fabric on top of the other and cut both at once to make them the same size. I prefer that method since I strongly dislike measuring. If they are wrinkly, iron them!

Got two pieces? Great. Now cut your ribbon. You can use any kind of ribbon. I don’t like using wired ribbon or glitter ribbon since it will live in my baby’s mouth. I cut my ribbon 6″ long for this tutorial. You can choose what length you wish your ribbon to be! I cut 8 pieces of ribbon. You can really do as much or a few as you wish. It’s a pretty easy going project.

Now… we pin it together. First, fold your ribbon in half and pin it to the right side of our cotton. (The “wrong side” of the fabric is the back, or not printed side. The “right side” is the printed side.) Pin it so the loop of the ribbon is toward the center of the fabric and the raw edges are on the edge of the fabric hanging over a bit- like you see in the picture below. Place your ribbon where it feels good to you. I like even numbers so I am putting two on a side.

See how it looks? Ok, now make sure that your pins are far away from the edge where it will be sewn. Now place your minky on top with the right side touching the right side of the cotton fabric. Right sides touching? Ok, pin it up! You will need to leave a gap a few inches big so that you can pull your fabric through it. I sometimes forget to leave that gap so I mark my stopping point with two pins as an X.

Ok, now sew. Don’t forget to start with your pressure foot down. And remember to back stitch when you start and stop. Also, don’t forget your gap. If you forgot the gap already- just grab a seam ripper and rip a part open.

When you get to a corner no need to panic. Just stop with your needle down and let your pressure foot up. Turn your fabric 90 degrees and then put your pressure foot down and continue sewing. Easy!

Now you have something with a gap in it I hope! Before you do anything… stick your fingers inside and pull out the pins that are on your ribbons. You’ll thank me for that.

Turn your fabric!

Fold the raw edges (the unsewn edges) inside. Pin.

Now sew over the entire topside. This is called a top stitch. It will make it looked finished. It will secure the ribbons more. And it will close up your gap. Make sure you are sewing close enough to your edge to sew it shut.

Guess what? Great job! You are done. You did it. Now you just made a nice gift for your baby or another cute baby in your life! Awesome job. Be proud!

Go crazy. Make more! The more you make the easier and more fun it will become. Sewing is a skill. You can learn. I am learning and I will teach you what I know!

A presto!

Jacqueline

Easy Peasy Pajama Pants (Serger Tutorial)

If you have kids like mine then you may notice they NEVER STOP growing and you NEVER STOP buying clothes. I am pretty frugal when it comes to… well… basically everything. I never ever buy clothes at full price. But with that said, sewing isn’t necessarily less expensive than buying cheap P.J.’s for your kiddos at Costco or on clearance at Carter’s. But sewing is more fun and pajama pants are really easy! No, not “easy” like how some people say a pencil skirt is “easy” and you end up spending 14 hours on a skirt that should take and hour and you end up using your seam ripper more than your sewing machine and the fabric has mascara all over it from your tears… Pajama pants are truly easy. You don’t need a pattern! You do not even need to make a pattern. Let me show you! Below is a tutorial with a serger. I’ll show you one a sewing machine next!

Ok, so you don’t need a ton of specialty tools and gadgets to make easy peasy pajama pants. Really, if you have a sewing machine you will have all the tools you need.

 

• Cute Fabric (I used flannel since I’m in Minnesota and “cabin season” is over for the summer and it’s getting cooler. You can use cotton just as easily. I got this super cute fabric at one of my favorite fabric stores called Brooks Fabrics in Bountiful, UT. It’s family owned, local if you’re in Utah and the ladies in there are super sweet.)
• 1″ wide elastic
• Pins
• Scissors
• Safety pin
• A pair of pants the size you want your P.J.’s to end up. (I used 12-18 months)
• Serger
• Iron/Iron board
• Big fatty needle (for tucking in thread ends)

Now you need to lay out your fabric. Open the fabric completely up wrong side up (the “wrong side” of the fabric is the back, or not printed side. The “right side” is the printed side). Then fold each side “hot dog” style (takes you back to kindergarden, eh?) and meet the middle. I think of it like french doors.

 

Now fold your pants in half with the legs on top of eachother. Make sure you pull the crotch out to a point in the back. Lay your folded pants on one side of your fabric. You will need to place the straight side of the pants (the non-crotch side) on the fold. Also, place your pants 2-4 inches lower than the top of your fabric (you will need this extra fabric for elastic later). Pin your pants in place.

Now, you cut out your pants! Basically we are using the pants as our pattern. So cut the pants out with 2ish” (remember, I don’t like to measure) around the pants keeping in mind you are leaving the extra space at the top for the elastic.

Now, unpin your pants and take the newly cut-out fabric piece and lay it on the other panel of folded fabric. Keep the folded side of the cut-out piece on the folded side of the panel. Pin in place and cut.

Now take your two pieces of folded fabric and open them up. Lay them on top of each other with right sides facing in. Pin the sides together along the curved part. Make sure your pins aren’t too close to the edge of the fabric. They could break a needle or the cutting part on the serger.

Now you are going to serge the curved edges. Once you completed one side keep “serging” until you have extra thread trailing behind. Cut in the middle. You’ll have a tail hanging off but don’t worry!

Once you’re done with that part you will have something that looks similar to this:

 

Now, I serge the bottoms of the legs or the leg opening at the bottom. It doesn’t matter what side of the fabric you serge one (wrong side or right side). We are just making it look nicer and preventing our fabric from fraying. Once done with both bottom openings you will have something looking like the picture below.

 

Now lets serge the top opening. This is the waist of the pants. It is a circle so just pretend it is a flat piece. Open it up and just serge until you hit your starting point and then basically just turn it ever so slightly so you serge off the edge of the fabric. {I just realized that this step could totally be made easier if you serge the top of the two pieces after you cut out… but we’re learning as we go… so, sorry! next time?}

 

Now you should have something that looks like this: Top and bottoms serged. It’s starting to look more like cowboy chaps than pants, right? Well no worries! You are almost done!

 

Now we are going to pin the inside seam together. I always start at the crotch since there are seams that one would hope to line up so it looks better. If they don’t line up – don’t stress… these are easy peasy pajama pants! After you pin the crotch together pin down each side of the leg. Make sure your pins aren’t too close to the edges.

Ok! Now we are back to serging! This is basically a straight line. So put them in and finish that inside seam. You should have something that looks like this:

 

Now I am going to show you what to do with all those tails of thread hanging off your pants. Take a big old fatty needle and tuck them into the serged part… ok, a moment of honesty. I don’t always do this… sometimes I just chop them off and finish up. But since I want to show you how to not be a super lazy seamstress… grab your needle and tuck in those tails!

 

Are you good so far? Good! Ok… then you can chop that remaining little tail (if any) that is still sticking out. Now, I am going to introduce you to my friend. Maybe you use this guy, maybe you don’t own one… well I think this guy is solely used when sewing. My husband tells me people use them to press dress shirts and pants for their dear husbands. I’m not sold on that idea yet. So go grab your iron and warm her up! I sometimes… skip the iron all together when I am serging flannel. I never skip it when I use cotton. Now, take the bottom of each leg of your pajama pants and turn the leg up oh about an inch or so. Iron it down. You can also pin it down if that will help you!

 

Now, take the waist and fold it down as well. But fold it down at least 2″ because we are going to put elastic into it so we need the space. Iron that down. I kind of estimate it by placing my elastic over it and making sure it will fit with plenty of room to sew.

 

 

This is what your pants should look like so far:

 

 

Looking good… now we grab our sewing machine. And I’m going to show you a trick that everyone in the entire world seemed to know but me! When sewing a pant leg or a small sleeve you can pull a piece of your machine off to make this much easier. Then you can slip your pant leg onto your machine and it’s just another straight line. So sew up both of the leg cuffs. (Remember that you should back stitch whenever you start and stop your thread. Also, remember to start with your needle and pressure foot down.)

 

Now, sew up the waist of your pajama pants… but not the entire thing! You need to leave a gap to insert the elastic. Ok, so I’ve totally sewn the entire thing shut many times without putting the elastic in. So I mark my gap with pins so I don’t forget. I also like to have my gap in the middle by the seam but it doesn’t really matter. So sew it up but not all the way!

See the gap? Did you remember one? Good. Ok, now we are going to grab our elastic. Most people measure their kids waist to know how much elastic to use. Like I said before I don’t much like measuring so I mostly just guesstimate with the pants I just used to cut out my fabric or I chase my kiddo down and wrap the actual elastic around their waist. Ok, so do your method of choice. Leave a little bit of an over-lay because we are going to sew the elastic together.

 

Now grab that safety pin. Pin it to one side of the elastic and put it into your gap of the waistband and pull it through. It should look like this:

 

Now I pin my two ends of elastic together one on top of the other. I change my sewing machine to zigzag stitching and sew the elastic together. Changing your machine to zigzag isn’t necessary and if you don’t know how don’t bother or you can learn how by looking on youtube or your manual. It’s most likely just a button or a dial.

 

Pull your elastic inside. You can try them on the person you are making the pants for now. Then if you need to tighten or loosen the elastic it’s a great time to do it before we sew it shut. Now we are going to sew our little gap shut!

 

Wola! You have pajama pants! That you made! Now, don’t stress out if this took a long time. Sewing is a skill. You can learn. I will help you. I’m learning too!

 

 

Wrap them up, give them away, wear them, sell them! You made them! Be proud of yourself!

A presto!

Jacqueline