The inspiration for this set came from a leopard print fabric “Princess” banner that I made. The buyer wanted a whole crib set to match personalized with her daughter’s intials. And how could I resist that? A very fun project…but, then again, it’s sewing isn’t it? It’s always fun to sew…

And the beautiful pictures are courtesy of Kirsten Evans Photography . Thanks, Kirsten!

From choosing the fabric to deciding the icon to put on the ends, it was a super-fun process. I was told that, after her actual birthday ended up being kind of lame (think illness and canceled plans), the banner seemed to save the day! I’m so glad it helped to brighten her day.

Let me start with the raw materials:
-One old sweater. It can have holes or not be fabulous in some areas but the sleeves must be intact and in good shape. I picked a sweater with interesting detail but you can use a plain one, too.
-A sewing machine, scissors, thread, pins and elastic. The width of elastic is up to you. I don’t even remember what I used but it wasn’t more than 1/2 inch.
That’s it.

Start by cutting off the sleeves at the desired length. I just cut below the armpit because I figured they would be “bunchy” like legwarmers are supposed to be (unless you are a 5 year old that does not like bunchy things…).

You will then have two tubes with one end the cut off end and the other the finished wrist end of the sleeve. Turn them inside out. Fold down a small hem at the cut off end (an inch?). How much you fold down depends on how wide your elastic is but an inch should cover you. Pin the hem in place.

Pick matching thread and get your machine ready. Set it on a basic zig-zag stitch and stitch around the hem, leaving a small opening to insert elastic.

Attach a small safety pin to your length of elastic, which you have measured around the wearer’s calf right under the knee (or whatever part of the leg they will be sporting them). Insert it into the small opening you have left and pull through to the other side.

This is where the picture for that step would be if I had not deleted it thinking I had already uploaded it to my computer. :0

Join your elastic ends by sewing them together either by hand or machine. Sew the opening closed with a zig zag stitch and you’re done!

I just know they’re going to look so cute on her! Once I can convince her to wear “bunchy things”. Ah, well…Enjoy!

They will go perfectly with a little dress I am designing for Petunia. I made some pants from a striped gray and black long sleeved shirt a while back and one day recently she was playing with the rest of the shirt while I was going through my fabric/scraps stash trying desperately to part with some (it’s very hard for me to let go of fabric…). It has funny cutouts at the arm pits where I cut for the pants but she wanted to put it over her head and wear it anyway. Well, once she got it on, I realized that the excess at the sides could be pulled to the front and fastened (I think I’ll do a button/buttonhole arrangement) if a little bit of material is added on the sides between her armpits and her waist. It has a mock turtleneck and is going to look so cute! There is no time today since there is dinner to get in the slow-cooker and karate lessons to get to and chores in between but maybe tomorrow after grocery shopping…..

Guerilla sewing is a type of sewing that is done mostly by Mommas with young (ish) children. Said children need guidance, attention, meals and care (imagine that) so that Mommy Sewing Time can be limited. In some cases, severely limited. We were talking about how my latest creation had been sewn almost sneakily, one seam at a time, whilst I was “supposed” to be doing other things. Example: cooking dinner while Petunia plays with Daddy or entertains herself. Get part of the dinner started, then tiptoe-ing upstairs to grab whatever I’m working on a whir away on the machine for 30 seconds. Running upstairs to put the laundry away and stealing away to the sewing machine to stitch a seam or two after. Or inserting a short, sneaky, seam-sewing intermission into just about anything that I am doing.

The gist of guerilla sewing is that you are sneaking away or taking a break from something that you are supposed to be doing and instead “fighting” to get your projects done by sewing in very short bursts resulting in significant progress before you know it! And sometimes that is the ONLY way sewing progress is made around here…there are no hours in a row for sewing in my world right now. But preschool starts this week! Even Petunia knows what I will be doing with that time. I did not tell her but she assumed when asked by her teachers this week what Mommy will be doing while she’s in preschool. “Mommy’s going to play with her sewing machine while I’m at preschool.” Yes, Dear Child. Yes, I am…

Last Thursday she said “Mommy, I want a WordGirl costume.” No problem. “Today.” she says. Well, okay, let’s see what I can do. Never one to shy away from a creative challenge, we hit the thrift stores to see what we could find, hoping to find a pair of red long johns that would be perfect for the costume. Of course they were not to be found. But we did find a red shirt that would be workable (and a fabulous bright turquoise scarf totally unrelated to WordGirl that she could not live without, of course). We headed home and during nap time I created that base of the outfit, the WordGirl shirt that she has been living in since its’ creation and a pair of WordGirl boots out of fleece. We had a pair of pants that were perfect already in her closet and, on a trip to the fabric store the next day, I found a yellow satin remnant that would be perfect for a cape. I quickly fashioned a cape yesterday morning while she was playing with The Daddy and voila! WordGirl costume:

She is thrilled and, seriously, has worn this thing every day. Now to figure out how to get her to let me wash it…any ideas? I’m thinking I’ll need to sneak it out of her room at night….

Now to attach the binding and make the loops! Coming soon…

She is stable today. Her blood sugar is higher than it “should” be but I spent most of the day yesterday trying to keep her stubbornly low blood sugar up so I am comfortable letting it ride. Nothing worked to keep her blood sugar in the normal range for a very long time. Then it worked for a while. Then she threw up again and we started all over. It was a nerve-wracking and dangerous situation. We ended up in the ER and home very, very late.

It is weird to call creating work because I do it, among other times, when I’m stressed out. It calms me and it is therapeutic. But it is work because it is my business. It is something that I am actively putting effort into and nurturing on a daily basis. I am learning, creating and producing and, dare I say it, having something for myself. And, today, I need a little something for myself. So, while she is sleeping, I am getting started on the wonderful ideas generated by a simple question on the Snugglebug Designs FB Fan Page “What do you want to see in the shop?”. And it’s helping.

This is the tutorial that I started with. I love the flowers! But I thought I might like a little something different. I had looked at her wonderful ruffled t-shirt makeovers and thought a ruffle might be nice. I hated the neckline of this t-shirt:

It fits nicely but the neck was just too high. Very plain. So I cut the neck off:

Ahhh, there we go. That’s a bit better. I just cut right around the banding of the neckline so I didn’t make it that much larger but it made a big difference. Then I took one of my husband’s old t-shirts that I have been slowly but surely re-purposing into other projects and cut 1 inch strips:

I joined the ends of the strips together to make a long piece and gathered it into a ruffle. Pinned it onto the neckline, just under it, stitched it to the neckline and:

I’ve washed it since then and it ended up with a lovely smooshed appearance that I like.

Not a huge change but just enough that I’ll actually wear the shirt.

I also had a plain white tank top that I liked but, again, it was plain. And I forgot to take a picture of the “before”. Typical for me. But it’s not hard to figure out what it looked like before from the “after” pic:

I will direct you back to Tea Rose Home for the tutorial since she did such a great job showing how to do it!

So now I have two “new” shirts that are not plain. Yay for not plain!