Crocheted Hats

I have a favorite animal.  Do you?  Forever, it seems, my favorite has been the giraffe.  So charming with their spots, long eyelashes, longer necks, and purple tongues.  I love them.

I had to make up a little newborn giraffe hat.  I used the free versatile earflap hat pattern from Micah Makes, and then made my own adjustments to turn it into a giraffe.  The ears are slightly enlarged versions of the lamb ears from Repeat Crafter Me.  Every thing else was pretty much winged.  I really need to start taking notes as I go, just so that I can repeat projects in the future.  I don't know how many times I've referenced my own sewing tutorials for my personal use.  

I also had the opportunity to be a pattern tester for Warm Fuzzy Boutique.  I got to try out her great little Turkey Hat Pattern.  It is available for purchase in her Etsy shop, and would make for some festive attire in the coming months.  

I also tried out Micah's Bear hat pattern.  Just add ears to the versatile earflap hat pattern, and you've got an adorable little bear hat.  I added a cute peach bow, and handed it off to Kandice as a photography prop.

Free Pattern Friday: Sewing For Baby

Babies are so much fun to get ready for.  Starting afresh, they need everything.  Thanks to the fabric store and a sewing machine, customizing baby's world is easy.  Thanks to the internet, and the generosity of creative crafters, there are many free patterns that make sewing for baby, and customizing their world easier and more affordable.

I thought I'd give you a little round up of some free sewing patterns that will help you prepare baby's environment for their arrival.


The Anywhere Chair, perfect for traveling with baby.

Free Pattern for Baby Sleep Sack, great for those wiggly little babies that can't keep their blanket on.

Oversized Diaper Bag, for all of babies diaper changing necessities.

Contoured burp clothes. I made these for my last baby and loved them, especially when backed with minky.

Knot Top Infant Cap, you can find my version here.

Baby Toms.

Baby Boy Cap, just what a little guy born in the Fall/Winter needs.
There are of course many many more free patterns available, but this will give you a good starting point. I still have some sewing to do before I welcome our third little guy in six short weeks. So much to sew, so little time.

Crocheted Wash clothes

When I decided to learn to crochet, I asked for suggestions on good beginner projects.  Many suggested scarves, baby blankets, and wash clothes.  Wash clothes are boring right?  You spend all of your time making something that is going to be cleaning up messes (not my favorite activity). The truth is though, they really are an ideal beginners project.  You spend your time practicing basic stitches, and when you're through, if the project doesn't turn out perfectly, you haven't spent much time or money on it.  Plus, you can still put it to good use.  I actually love my knitted/crocheted dish clothes.  They do a great job.

 I can now cross wash clothes off my list.  The first one I made was the multi colored single crochet wash cloth.  You can find the free pattern here.  It is a really nice wash cloth, but was a little bit of a snooze.

I much preferred the yellow wash cloth (pattern here).  It involves both single and double crochet.  I don't know why it made it so much more enjoyable, but it really did.  It also adds a bit of texture to the cloth. 

If you are looking for a quick project that involves a bit more than single crochet, here are a few fun wash cloth patterns to try...

Source: gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: gillianhamilton.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: crochetme.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Sewing For Baby: Baby Animal Hats

Source: Moth and Sparrow

Moth and Sparrow offers adorable free (for personal use) patterns for knit baby hats.  When I stumbled upon the image on Pinterest they were instantly added to my list of things to make to welcome baby. She offers patterns for A Fox, Raccoon, and an owl.

I couldn't resist turning the little owl pattern into a penguin hat.  I tilted and elongated the beak, and slightly altered the face shape.

The hats are easy to sew up, and don't take much time at all.  I left all of my raw edges unfinished....laziness mostly, but you really don't have to worry about knit fraying much.

If you're expecting a baby, or simply can't resist sewing up cute little things, then I highly recommend trying out this project.  I used scraps from my knit pile, but you could certainly cup up a soft old t-shirt or two to whip these up.

The Pretty Blouse

A couple of weeks ago I made myself a new top from the free Pretty Blouse pattern.  It is a cute little peasant style top that I thought would accommodate my growing belly. It can be found on the Sew Mama Sew website, and is made available by Amanda of  The Modern Marigold.

I used a poplin fabric that I purchased from fabric.com.  The fabric itself has a vintage linen feel to it, but paired with the piping along the front yoke, and the trim around the neck, I feel like I'm wearing my mother's maternity top-which isn't all bad.

The top is light and airy, perfect for summer. I also added a keyhole opening with button closure to the back, but I failed to get a decent shot, so you can just use your imagination.

I apologize for the lack of quality photos.  I've put off writing this post because I've been hoping to have my husband help me with the photos, but unfortunately I'm still dealing with camera issues, and these will just have to do.

So whether you're pregnant or not, the pretty blouse is a great summer top to add to your wardrobe.

Thanks for reading.  I have lots of new projects to share with you....just trying to resolve my technical issues.

New Friends: Turtle Softies

Ashley from Make It and Love It, recently posted a free (for personal use) pattern and tutorial for these adorable Turtle Softies.  I couldn't help but make up a couple for my boys.

Baby Numero Dos, will have a softie to match his car seat canopy. I used the aqua minky for the underside of the turtle, and the pieces of the shell.

 Clark told me that he wanted to have a green turtle, after going through my fabric scrap pile, we ended up with a green and brown turtle.  The underside of the turtle is brown fleece, the legs and head are brown flannel, and the shell is made up of quilter's cotton.  This little softie is a great project to use up smaller sized fabric scraps.  I don't know why I find so much satisfaction in using up fabric scraps, but I do.  So not only can you use up scraps with this project, but it comes together very quickly, and is perfect for a boy or girl.

You can find Ashley's original post here.

Hip for the Holidays: The Toddler

Hip for the holidays is winding down, and I hope that you've enjoyed a few of the things that I've shared.  I'll pop in tomorrow with a tutorial for a simple hair accessory, and Friday I'll feature some of my favorite projects from the Hip for the Holidays link party.  If you have any projects that you want to share, please feel free to link them up.

This is somewhat of a repeat from yesterday, but I am pleased with the results so I thought that I'd share.  Before I made the newborn baby cords, I made this pair of black cords for Clark.  He seems to be growing like a weed, and his Sunday wardrobe is seriously lacking.  I decided that he needed a new pair of pants, and that I was going to make them for him.

I had some medium weight black corduroy that my mom picked up at a garage sale earlier this year.  It was a very nice weight for a pair of pants, and should hold up well.  I picked out Clark's best fitting pair of pants from his closet, and used them to draft a pattern.  I'm not very experienced in sewing pants, so this was a whole new experience.  I had to make my guest guess at creating the fly, and the pockets, and the belt loops, but these are all details that I feel "make" a pair of pants.

Hip For The Holidays: Day Three- Bow Ties For The Boys

 It's day three of Hip for the Holidays, and I thought we'd spend a bit of time accessorizing the boys in our lives.  It seems that it is always a bit of a challenge dressing up a little boy (or big boy for that matter).  Shirt and tie with dress pants is about as dressed up as they get.  So why not play with what we have to work with.  Instead of the traditional neck tie, let's try a bow tie.  Recently I fell in love Cheri's (of Roar, and I am Momma Hear Me Roar)  Retro pointed bow ties.  She has some fantastic bow tie patterns for the little men in our lives.

The retro pointed bow tie is a fresh twist on the slightly ubiquitous bow ties that can be found around bloggerdom. I think that this bow tie is just what every little man needs to complete his holiday outfit.

I was thrilled to try out Cheri's pattern for Hip for the Holidays. The pattern was very easy to follow.  She does a fantastic job with all of her tutorials, and this pattern was no exception.  

I was a bit fearful that Clark would refuse to wear the bow ties, but to my delight he was more than willing to wear one to church last week, I think he's trying to charm the ladies in his nursery class.

Cheri recommends using cotton fabric, which I did with the tree fabric, but I also used up some scrap decor fabric that I had in my stash. I really liked experimenting with the different fabric weights.

The pattern is extremely reasonably priced, and requires very little fabric, making this a very economical

  (and fast) project for the holidays. You can find the pattern here, and her fantastic blog over here.

After making Clark a few ties, I thought that my husband might need one to match.  When I mentioned making him a bow tie, he looked less than thrilled.  I found a free pattern for the grown men in our lives at Burda Style.  Sadly, it's not retro pointed, but it is still a nice change for the holidays.

 The pattern is called the David Bow Tie.  It was also easy to follow.  This pattern does call for the bow tie to be cut on the bias, requiring a bit more fabric.  It was a quick and easy sew. You can find it here.

My bow tie tying skills need a bit of work...HELP.

 I think that my husband has the perfect build for a bow tie, and he can totally pull it off.  He wore his bow tie to church on Sunday as well, and I'm pretty sure that he's converted.  He hinted toward the fact that he was interested in having a few more.  One tip, I think that bow ties look great when paired with vests and cardigans.  My husband wore his with a vintage three piece suit, oh he looked handsome.

Remember to link up your holiday related projects at our Hip for the Holidays link party.  Anything that you would wear during the holidays to get a bit dolled up (jewelry, hair accessories, clothing, dresses, ect).

I'll be linking here.



This post dedicated to Scott Franson and his incredible bow tie collection.

Free Knitting Pattern Round-up

 I don't know what it is, but for some reason it is engrained in my mind that knitting is a winter craft.  I have designated October through March as knitting months.

It was just last year that I convinced myself that I needed to learn to knit.  I still don't knit well, and I'm not to the point where I could care at all about obtaining proper gauge, but it has definitely brought me a sense of satisfaction to begin to learn a new craft.  Last year I knit several scarves, and began work on an afghan (which is still in progress).

I am terrified of knitting anything that has any shaping to it, but I have dared to tackle Yarn Overs and Slip Stitches.  I'm pretty pleased with myself.  I think that I'll continue working on square and rectangular shaped items for now.  I just completed my first knitting projects of the year.  What was it?

Wash clothes of course. These were the first wash clothes that I've made, and they are so far from perfect, but I finished a project.  It also allowed me to get back into the hang of knitting and allow me to work on my tension.

The wash clothes come from a pattern found in this book, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, by Judith Durant. It was a very good project and pattern to get me back in the hang of things.

I do have hopes of knitting a hat or two this year, but we'll see if I can ever get the hang of circular and double ended needles.

I thought that I'd do a bit of a round-up of free knitting patterns....just in case some of you  are in need of a new project.  All of these patterns were found online, and the photos can be credited to the source. For the link click on the pattern title. For the full list click read more below.

Itty Bitty Baby Girl Gift

A friend of ours just recently had a little baby girl.  I jumped on the opportunity to indulge in a pink project.  I found this adorable apple corduroy at Joann's and thought that it would make a fun autumn dress for the new little lady.

I used Rae's free Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern.  Because this would be a winter baby, I thought that I'd have to make some coordinating long sleeve onesies to go with the little dress.

I used Rit dyes to color a couple of packs of onesies.  

 I experimented with a couple of dyes to get a range of colors.  I have some green onesies on hand for a couple of little boys that are on their way.

I also whipped up a pair of these baby booties to go with the new dress. I had intended on making a pair of ruffle bum leggings, but my sewing machine is on the fritz.  I might have to send them off later.

I'm linking up here.  Thanks for reading.

Toddler's Fleece Dress Coat: Simplicity 2526

I recently finished up a fleece dress coat for Clark.  I don't think that I  could be happier about the results.  I found the pattern on sale, and the fleece was a remnant that I got for 75% off.  The biggest expense was the buttons (which explains the comment from this post).

I feared a bit that the fleece would make the coat look cheap and flimsy, but the dark charcoal gray could almost pass for wool.  Clark loves wearing his jacket, and ended up wearing it all through church yesterday.  He had no desire to take it off.

I wanted to add a bit more detail to the pockets.  I added a couple of buttons to the flaps, and did some detail stitching.  I really love the results.

The pattern was user friendly, and the sizing was pretty true.  I ended up making him a size 2, which is what he measured, and it fits just as I'd like.

I was able to finish the jacket in just one afternoon. If you are interested in the pattern, it is Simplicity 2526. There are three additional jacket patterns, two hats, and a pants pattern included in the pack.  I made the boys hat as well, but was unable to take any good photos.  My only complaint would be that I couldn't find any measurement references for the hat sizing.  I ended up making the largest hat size (because of Clark's huge head), but it ended up being quite large.

I'm linking up here today.