Repurposed Drawstring Bag

I still have some more t-shirts. I wanted to make something fun for my little boy to use and decided on a drawstring bag. He seemed to like putting things in the bag.

He also liked taking things out.

I started with four same-sized t-shirt pieces. I sewed several patches onto the outer panel. I had fabric stamped the top patch. See how to do fabric stamping here.

I measured 2" down from the top of each.

I sewed up each side of the lining and the outer panels (minus the 2"). I sewed the bottom of the outer panel but left a space in the lining for turning.

Then, I placed the lining and outer pieces with right sides together and pinned the 2" sides together. I then sewed them together and around the tops of each flap.

I turned the whole thing right sides out using the space I left in the lining. Then I closed the space in the lining with my machine.

To make the drawstring's pockets, I turned the flaps to the inside....

Then I pinned them down and sewed them into place.

For the drawstrings, I took 2 long 2" wide pieces of t-shirt fabric, sewed a tube and just turned the tube. I left the ends of the ties unfinished and just tied them in a knot.

Bags are super fun for putting things in and then removing them.

Little Girl's Skirt

I made this skirt for my cousin who just turned six this week. I have no idea if it will fit! She wears a 6 or 6x, so I tried to make it relying on dimensions I found online.

To make it, I just cut two pieces of fabric in A-line shapes.

Since I don't have a serger, I used the stretch stitch zig-zag stitch to finish all the edges so they won't unravel.

I stitched my elastic casing at the top and then stitched both A-line pieces together.

Note: I should have stitched them together FIRST and then done the elastic casing. Live and learn.

Anyway, the pictures I took are not great, but I didn't have a model for the skirt! You get the idea. I also sent her a headband with taffeta flowers to complete the gift.

Newborn Knit Hat Tutorial Part 3

My newborn hat creation craze continues. (Here's the post on making newborn hats. Here's the post on embellishing them for girls.)

My next project to undertake was embellishing the little hats for boys. I decided to try using fabric paint and foam stamps, like I did in the tutorial here for the baseball t-shirts. I found some stamps with bugs on them that were small enough to fit on the hat's cuff. I practiced a few:

The final hats turned out pretty well! I think I would've liked them better had I stamped them before sewing them together. I found that the stamps worked best on one layer of fabric, not six.

They're still good gifts, but they aren't perfect.

I'll be trying again! My little toddler needs a hat for spring and I'm thinking one in knit weight would work well!

Edit: Sorry for those who saw this post pop up twice...I had to edit it to include the links for the prior tutorials. It was bothering me that they weren't there!

Newborn Knit Hat Tutorial Part 2

I save ribbon scraps like crazy. I also save my knit fabric scraps that are neat colors (like pink). Here's a project where I actually used the scraps!

Embellishment option #5 can be found here.

Newborn Knit Hats

A project theme dear to my heart is repurposing t-shirts. I just love doing this for some reason! I saw a similar tutorial on what is becoming my favorite blog and just had to make some of my own. I switched up the embellishing a bit, and I'll do a different tutorial on embellishment options!

I made 10 hats from four different unloved t-shirts.

First, trace a pattern for the top of the hat (about 7.5" at the bottom...) Then cut the hat's cuff. I made mine 5.5" tall and about 16" wide (I had to cut some off...I'll point out where).

This picture just wouldn't cooperate, so it sideways it stays!

Before you begin sewing knits, check and see if your machine has a 'stretch stitch' setting. Mine does. I found it best to use the running stretch stitch option.

Stitch around the curved top of the hat (right sides together). Close up of what that type of stitch looks like on my fabric:

Fold the cuff piece in half so that the 5.5" sides match up with right sides together. Stitch these sides together to make a wide tube--this is where you need to make sure your tube is the same width as the hat. Cut any excess as necessary.

Fold the stitched cuff in half with the raw edges meeting up at the top.

Line up the cuff's raw edges with the raw edges at the bottom of the hat. The wrong side of the curved part of the hat should be showing. (This allows the seam to be on the outside of the hat, but hidden). Pin and then stitch the cuff to the hat.

The next step is to steam iron the hat. Do this on the wrong side first, then flip it right side out and carefully shape it. Iron the right side of the hat.

Fold up the cuff and iron it into place.

Make a few hand stitches in the hat's cuff to hold it in place.

I'll share how to embellish these cute little hats in my next tutorial! I made a lot because I have so many friends having babies.

We are expecting in July, so I wanted to have one for our new baby, too!