Baby Gifts

My brother and his wife had another baby boy last spring.  At the time I made pants and booties for him using the leftover Colts material from the blanket I made for their first boy.

I used a Simplicity pattern to make the pants. The booties were made from a pattern I found here.

Thrifty PJ Shorts

My daughter needed PJ shorts for the summer, and I wanted to see if I could repurpose some of fabric/clothes that I had to make them.  It turns out that I was getting ready to get rid of some receiving blankets since my kids are no longer babies.  It occurred to me that those blankets were just like cuts of fabric, albeit smaller ones, that I could use for the shorts.

Shorts from a sheet (left); shorts from a baby sling (right)

I also had a worn crib sheet and a baby sling that I took apart, which gave me 2 more yards of fabric to use for PJs.  Between the blankets, sheet, and wrap, I now have plenty of fabric to use for PJ shorts for a while.

Girls' Skirt from Jeans

My mother bought my daughter a pair of thrift store jeans that had a huge crotch in them that would never fit her.  I decided to cut the legs off and make them into a skirt. 
I used the pant legs to create the bottom ruffle and cut two additional strips of fabric for the other two ruffles I had planned.

I gathered each one of the strips to form the ruffles.  First I added the denim ruffle, sewing right sides together to the bottom and then topstitched it.  Then I added the tulle ruffle, and finally the fabric ruffle sewing the wrong sides to the right sides of the skirt.  I made sure each ruffle overlapped the other.  I then used the ribbon to finish off the top edge of the fabric ruffle.

 Now my daughter has a cute skirt she loves to wear instead of an ill-fitting pair of pants!

Insa Skirt

Well, I may not have been blogging, but I that doesn't mean I haven't been making things.  I've just been more motivated to create than to take pictures and write about it. 
One of my recent completed projects is the Insa Skirt from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  The 2-layer, 4-gore skirt is adorable and can potentially be made with many more fabrics instead of just the 3 I chose.  I made the 3/4T size and substituted a waistband for the yoke the pattern called for since I didn't need the extra length as I was making it for my 2 1/2 year-old girl and didn't want to make the 18M/2T size.

As for Sewing Clothes Kids Love, let me tell you I love this book!  The patterns are unique and offer so many design options, you're really only limited by your creativity.  There are 2 dresses, a skirt, shrug, leggings, jacket, trousers, and tank top for girls and unisex shirt and jacket for both boys and girls.  The patterns range from size 18 months to 12, so you can get lots of use out them.  The book offers lots of ideas for customizing and embellishing the patterns as well.  This is one pattern book I'll be using again and again!