Appliqued Toddler Skirt

Here's another idea for a toddler skirt. (I have no idea why I am so into skirts lately...it's October and way past skirt season here in my homeland of PA or in my former land of OH. I guess I love the trend of leggings with skirts. Little girls pull that off so much better than us 20-somethings!) Anyway.

I made this skirt the same way I made the other toddler skirt and needed to cover a flaw in the striped t-shirt. So I chose to use flowers.

First, I started with a paper pattern. I pinned this directly to the jersey fabric I used for the waistband of the skirt.
Next, after cutting the flower out, I pinned it to the skirt. Then I just sewed around the flower with a running stitch.
I added some buttons. The end! I love it.

Garage Sale Find

I thought our little guy needed a table where he could color. Instead, we found a desk. It was only $15 at a garage sale we happened across this past Saturday and I was super excited.

I cleaned it up for him and put his paper and crayons on it. When he saw it, he threw the paper all over the floor and dumped out the crayon box on the floor.
He didn't seem to have the same idea I did about him sitting at the desk:

Free Samples

Did you know that AllYou.com gives away free samples every day?

I just found this out. They only have a limited amount each day, so I guess you should check early in the day. It is always fun to get free things in the mail. If you don't want it for your own use, you could always give it as a small gift to a friend.

Toddler Yoga Skirt -A Fit Improvement

This is a technique I tried because the Yoga Skirt I posted Monday is for a friend I don't often see. Since we've moved, I can't just fix the waist if it is too big. I wanted to fix the elastic so it was adjustable (similar to some of the stores making adjustable waist pants for kids!)

Instead of making elastic with multiple button holes, I sewed multiple buttons inside the waistband and just made a loop in a piece of elastic. (here's a secret: I don't know how to do a button hole with my machine!)

Step 1: Hand stitch the loop.
Step 2: Heat seal the elastic. I used a grill lighter and this worked well!
Step 3: Hand stitch the elastic to the waistband's inside. I positioned it so that the first button is the "resting'' point, or the maximum size. I only sewed two buttons on each side. This allows for 3 different sizes. I sewed the buttons about 1" apart.

Here is a view of the 'small' size on one side.

And here is a view of both sides on the "small" size.You could use this method in store-bought clothing, too.

Adding Sleeves to a Child's Polo Shirt

My child is the lucky recipient of some wonderful size 18 month hand-me-downs. I wanted to take a few of his short-sleeved polo shirts and convert them to long sleeves. Here's my little model showing off his new long sleeves:

Here's some advice: Try to add on sleeves of an old short sleeved t-shirt so you don't have to hem the sleeves. I went through two different trials before successfully using t-shirt scraps.

As for sizing, I found that my child's shirts had 4" sleeves already; he needed about 10" total to cover his arms generously, so I cut 7" from a t-shirt. I zig zagged the sleeves (I don't have a serger, but if I did, I would've used it). Using t-shirt sleeves also allows the sleeve to ''taper'' to the wrist.This picture is with just plain knit (it was trial 1, not successful trial 3 with the t-shirt sleeves) without the hems, but you get the idea.

Then, I pinned the sleeves to the inside of the polo shirt sleeve's binding (right sides together). I zig zagged this. I found the easiest way to sew this seam was to turn the whole thing inside out.

For this navy striped polo shirt (without the binding on the sleeve) I just pinned on the outside and tried to sew along the existing hem's seam.

...And this is the third one I made for him. Hope these brief instructions make sense. This is a wonderfully frugal yet easy way to stretch you kid's clothes short-sleeved summer clothing through the fall season.