DIY Easter Bunny Onesie

My daughter has a stuffed bunny that she adores...she sleeps with it and carries it with her wherever she can. Needless to say, Easter is a wonderful holiday for her because of all the bunnies! So, I decided to make her her own bunny shirt:

After I saw a bunny shirt at Craftaholics Anonymous, I knew I could make one with materials I had on hand! I used freezer paper stenciling to make this shirt. To make your own, you'll need a stencil...print out a silhouette of a bunny or use the one I drew below:

Car Play Mat

Since our cardboard car mat died, K has regularly begged for a new blacktop. I have been working on a fabric one for months and finally finished just in time for Christmas!

I used a heavy fabric that I have had in my stash for forever and appliqued all of the pieces onto it. On a side note, I wanted to cry when Black Friday ads had all sorts of play mats for dirt cheap, but at least this one can be thrown in the washer right? And it folds up nice and compact.

Soft Baby Book

After I finished making this book, C held it in his chubby little arms while he fell asleep and all the time I spent on it was totally worth it! This is a great project to use up all those extra scraps of fabric lying around.
On a side note, I might be slightly addicted to appliqué, but it’s so much fun!
What you need:

• 4 pieces of fabric measuring 13x6.5 inches each. I used old denim.
• Batting
• Wonder Under or similar product
• Appliqué patterns of choice
• Scrap fabric to fit appliqué patterns. Use different textured fabric such as knit, corduroy, silk, felt.
• Sewing machine and thread

1. Choose appliqué patterns and cut out each piece of the pattern separately. Here are the patterns I used:

Ball Applique

Elephant Applique

Truck Applique

Apple Applique

Duck Applique

Sailboat Applique

 For the letters, I printed out an image of alphabet blocks backwards. For the dinosaur I used the pattern I drew for my no sew dinosaur shirt.

2. Cut out fabric with each of the pattern pieces and trace onto the smooth side of Wonder Under. It’s helpful to initial each piece to make it easier to figure out what it belongs to later.
3. Press rough side of Wonder Under to the wrong side of your scraps of fabric except for the apple leaf, elephant ear, sail and duck’s wing. Cut out along the lines.

4. Peel the backing off of Wonder Under and press to your main fabric. Follow the product’s directions for this step.

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5. Set your zig zag stitch to zero and sew around each pattern piece to secure it since babies will be playing with this. Or you can straight stitch about 1/8 inch from the edge of the shape.6. For the elephant’s ear, sail and duck’s wing, cut out 2 pieces of each. Layer on top of a larger scrap of matching fabric and zig-zag stitch all 3 layers together. To make this easer and neater, you can use Wonder Under between the layers. Trim excess fabric.
You can skip this step and just sew all sides of these pieces to the fabric so they won’t flap up.

7. Place the elephant’s ear, sail and duck wing where desired, and setting zig zag to zero, only sew along the straightest edge, so the rest can flap up.

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8. For the apple leaf, I cut out a piece of green felt and sewed a straight line down the center of the leaf, so the sides can still lift up.

9. Place two of your sheets of fabric face to face, and add batting. Stitch together. Make sure to leave enough room to turn right side out. Trim the corners.10. Turn right side out. Fold the opening in, and iron flat. Iron all edges for a neater look.

11. Sew along the edge, about 1/8 inch from the edge, to close the opening and make your book look extra nice.

12. Fold each page in half and iron to give a crease. Draw a straight line down the crease. Put the pages on top of each other and sew down that crease. You will be sewing through all four layers of fabric. Backstitch at the beginning and end so the stitches don’t come undone.
To see my inspiration, head over to Thimbly Things.

Car Caddy

When I saw Jill’s Cozy Car Caddy Tutorial, I knew that K had to have one. My favorite part about it? You can easily make it from scrap fabric on hand! Since mine was a little different from hers, here’s how I made mine:
What you need:

• Two pieces of denim (mine was from an old pair of jeans); one piece measuring 17x8.5 inches, and the other piece 17x6 inches.
• Once piece of fabric 17x8.5 inches
• One piece of black or grey fabric 17x3 inches
• 7 pieces of yellow fabric, each measuring 1x1/4 inches.
• Scrap fabric for appliqué car.
• Snaps
• Sewing machine
• Wonder Under, or similar product

1. Cut out fabric and iron black fabric and yellow strips onto Wonder Under (directions are on the packaging, or read my directions here).
2. Fold your black fabric in half lengthwise and arrange yellow strips in the middle of your road (use the crease as a guide). Remove the paper backing from the Wonder Under and press onto the road.
3. Remove the paper backing from your road and press onto the 17x8.5 inch fabric. The road should be centered in the top half of the fabric. 4. Trace the appliqué car onto the Wonder Under and adhere to the scrap fabric of your choice. Cut this out, remove the paper backing, place in the bottom center of the 17x8.5 inch piece of denim and press.
5. Stitch around the yellow lines and the road if desired for added durability, as well as the appliquéd car. This isn’t necessary with Wonder Under, but kids can be pretty brutal.
6. Fold your 17x6 inch piece of denim in half and press. This will be the pocket for your cars. Pin and sew the bottom of the pocket along the bottom of your 17x8.5 inch fabric.
7. Sew vertical lines spaced about 2.75 inches apart through your pockets. Make sure to backstitch at the top and bottom of the pockets. (Sorry, I took these pictures after it was done, but this should give a general idea.)
8. Pin the two 17x8.5 inch pieces of fabric right sides facing each other and sew together, making sure the pockets are being sewn. Leave a space large enough to turn. Turn right side out, iron the edges if desired, and ladder stitch the opening closed.
9. Attach the snaps. I folded the caddy into thirds and marked where I wanted the snaps to be. If you have never hammered a snap on, go here. Make sure the snaps are facing the proper way so that when it is folded, you can snap it shut. If you would rather use velcro, check out Jill’s tutorial for how she places the velcro and strap. If this makes no sense, please let me know and I will try to explain better. 10. Give this fun little caddy filled with cars to a boy who will cherish it.
You can appliqué or paint letters or numbers onto the pockets, but I thought it looked cute as is and left it alone, for now at least :)

Also linking up to Santa's Gift Shoppe Spotlight Yourself, and Childmade.

No Sew Dinosaur Applique

I found this shirt in like-new condition for 50 cents at a garage sale. No stains, just kind of blah...
Since K is sort of obsessed with dinosaurs right now, and I've been itching to try no sew appliques, so this was my chance! It is so easy and took about 1/2 an hour to add some cuteness to this shirt.

Here's how:

1. Acquire a pattern; draw, print, buy, whatever. I drew mine and here's the pattern (feel free to use it if you think it's cute enough :)
2. Trace the pattern onto the smooth, paper side of the Wonder Under.
3. Press the rough side of the Wonder Under to the wrong side of your fabric for about 5 seconds on wool setting. Once the fabric has cooled, cut your shape out. When ready to adhere to your shirt (or whatever you're appliqueing) peel the paper backing off of your shape.
4. Position the shape on your material with adhesive side down. Cover with a damp press cloth and press on wool setting for 10 seconds or until the press cloth is dry. Directions are also on the Wonder Under packaging. Voila! Cuteness achieved!

I'm linking up to Creative Share Wednesday at the Trendy Treehouse and...