Boy shirt to girl's

Today, I finished another remake shirt for my daughter. 

I started out with a green striped shirt and appliqued some bright pink stars on (covering some stains).

Then I sewed some elastic to the sleeves to make them more of a puff sleeve.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

   

Taking the Boy out of the Clothes

I have two girls.  Two extremely adorable girls.  I tend to be more girly girly when dressing them when given the chance.  Unfortunately, on our income I depend a lot on hand me downs to dress them, otherwise I have to make it.  So my uncle, who means well, kindly gives us hand me downs, but the sad part is his child is a boy.  A super hero, dinosaur wearing boy.  I'm new to the whole up-cycle movement.  I love the idea, but I have the worst time figuring out what to do on my own.  I rely on other people's tutorials for ideas and direction.  But no matter how hard or long I search Google, I can't find help in turning little boy clothes into something more feminine.  So I'm going to go it alone and try to document it here.  I don't promise anything will be amazing but it is a start.

Today, I took my first steps.  I didn't keep everything he gave me, just what I thought had any chance at maybe being passable as something a girl could wear.  Most of the shirts I kept are striped, but in very boy colors like orange.

The first shirt I tackled was browns, blue and white stripes.  A while ago I made a fabric flower based on the pattern from twirlybirdpatterns.  I didn't have any plans for it so I sewed it on like a corsage.  I should have taken before pictures, oh well.

 I'm not sure I like the fit, but I don't want to do much to change the size for now, so that she can wear it longer.

For the second shirt, I was inspired by the blog post from shwinandshwin.  I had a silk flower that I didn't know what to do with till this morning.  So I tore it apart and sewed it on with a button.  I think I like that one better.

Those are the only ones I've done so far and I still have a huge trash bag full of stuff to remedy.  If you have any tips or ideas, I would love to hear about them.

Have a lovely day!
Tonia

Skinny Jeans Now Toddler Jeans

I've been trying to make all the clothes for my daughter that she needs now that the hand me downs have run out.  So when my sister gave me a pair of skinny jeans that she didn't like I knew they would be perfect for Eleanor.  It was so easy.  I only have to cut of the bottom of the legs, add a place for her bottom to go, and a waistband.  The pant legs were the exact size I needed for her legs.  Why adults wear this style of jeans is beyond me.  They sound awfully tight and uncomfortable, but they worked out great as pants for a toddler.  The waist is a little chunky, but that is probably because I used the waistband from the original pants.  But they work.  I'll probably make her a tunic so the tops are covered up more.

Etsy Holiday Boot Camp

I'm trying to be brave and am participating in Etsy's boot camp.  So far I've had to reach out to another seller to try to find a buddy to work with through this process.  I hope I find one soon.  I'm also supposed to share my personal holiday goals.  I would love to find the best way for me to photograph my baby mats the best.  So far my pictures fall flat.

Summer Days Like When I Was Young

This week my family and my mother in law were supposed to go on vacation.  Plans changed when my mother in law fell and broke her arm on our first day at the campground.  It was really disappointing since we don't get to travel much, other than visiting family.  So this is our one big trip for the year.  Instead of camping, hiking, and site seeing we are spending our days at my grandparents' house like I did when I was little.  It is nice for the girls to spend more time with them.  Grandma is always busy cooking something super yummy.  We even went down to the river for big franks (vegetarian hot dogs) and s'mores.  Only my sister and I went swimming although Eleanor did try out the water but it was too cold for her.  Today, Michael is visiting his mom.  My biggest regret is that she won't get to spend much time with the girls now.  Most of the time we stay with my family since they have room for us and my mom doesn't work so they also take Eleanor for extended periods of time.  I really wish we could devote more time to Virginia but she is so busy and lives in an apartment.  It makes me feel bad, like we are neglecting her and choosing my family over her, which isn't the case.  Hopefully we can find a way she can see the girls more.  But on the bright side we did get to try out the Blue Palm's frozen yogurt in College Place and it was super tasty.

Quiet Day

Today has been rather quiet and restful.  It is amazing how peaceful it can be without a very loud and energetic toddler running all over the place demanding books be read and apples snacked on.  Laurel is being very cute with trying out cruising and trying to grab her daddy's tonsils.  It is his own fault for letting her put her hand in there.  She is getting to be so mobile!

In a little bit some great friends of ours should be arriving for the night.  That should help the house not feel so empty.  I closed the door to Eleanor's room to help with the random crying.  Six more days till I get my little girl back!

Time is all mine

After a super crazy day, I finally have time to rest.  All day I was going crazy trying to finish making four dolls using the pattern by http://sewingin-nomansland.blogspot.com/2010/07/bonjour-evette-little-girls-dolly.html.  I love it!  So cute.  The idea came to me Wednesday night.  'Hey, Eleanor is going to be going camping this week and the other little girls in the family will be there too.  I should make each one a special doll!'  Yes, I'm nuts.  So as fast I can I have been sewing and cutting and trying to make my embroidery machine do what I want it to do. I had until 4:00 this afternoon to get them done and get Eleanor packed to go with the grandparents.  I almost did it.  I only had the hair on two dolls left to sew on.  Only twenty minutes of work left and I didn't make it.  Oh well.  I got my sister to do it for me tomorrow on the way to the coast.  I wish I had gotten a picture of them.  They are so cute!  I hope the girls really enjoy time.  Eleanor seemed to.  She kept wanting to play with them and wouldn't stop calling them 'bear'.  I guess to her any stuffed toy is a bear.

This is only the second time Eleanor has been away from home for so long.  Every time I see her little empty bed, chair or a lonely toy I start to cry.  Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.  Last time she stayed with the grandparents my sister came to stay with me so I had company.  At least, I will be busy getting the house clean and prepping for the very eventful weekend next weekend.  We have having Laurel dedicated and celebrating Eleanor's second birthday.

I really should try to get some sleep before Laurel wakes up.  Maybe tonight Michael will take care of her so that we can try to get her to sleep through the night again.  Here's hoping.

Pretty Productive Day

Today, I got quite a bit done.  Kitchen and bathroom are both clean.  I even got all the laundry washed, as well as dinner in the oven.

I wanted to post a picture of my finished nursing cover, but it is extra wrinkled from a hidden, open water bottle in the diaper bag.  Oh well.  I used a super cute pattern http://www.etsy.com/listing/62184736/nursing-cover-pattern-pdf?ref=v1_other_1 that I splurged on from twirlybirdbaby.  Luckily, it came with a free headband pattern, so I felt a little better about it and I made a cover for my sister in law.

Weather or Not

The weather is such a tease this year.  It has been a rather chili summer.  Every time it gets warm for a few days I think summer is finally here so I put away a heater or the stroller blanket, but then the very next day it is cold again.  I guess we are having a swinter.

I'm really excited butters & beans decided they are going to order some of my owl play mats!  Now if only I could get something else to sell.

Chugging Away

Today my goals were housework and finishing the tops of my owl mats for butters & beans.  I got the mats done and did a little laundry and dishes.  So I guess I did pretty well with today's goals.  Tomorrow will be more cleaning and I'm going to try making another nursing cover, unless they buy my owls (please, please, please).

Eleanor is back in panties since the rash on her bottom is so bad.  Potty training would be so much easier if I could just focus on her, but Laurel is still nursing.  With the rashes and diaper diggings, I really need potty training to sink in or I'm going to go crazy.

Just Starting Out

I don't have anything profound to write about, I just thought it would be a good idea to document my crazy life.  I'm a stay at home wife and mommy.  I currently have two beautiful little girls under two.  People are always telling me we are brave for having them so close, but i think we are mostly just crazy.  Recently we decided to change over to cloth diapers as well as trying to potty train our eldest.  I would be so willing to pay someone to do it for us if we could afford it.  I also feel like my mind is going to explode woth all the things I'm wanting to do.  I opened an etsy store not so long ago and so i want to be sewing for that but there is also a ton of things I want to make for myself and the girls.  On top of that are my regular duties of housewife and mother.  I really need to figure out how to fit everything in better.