Embellished tabs. Finally!

I FINALLY finished the embellished tabs tutorial! Download the tutorial and template PDF!

Lazy and Non-artistic People, Rejoyce!

My semi-award winning play mat has been released as a PDF sewing pattern. It now includes all the templates needed to make your own! Check it out here.

My Entry for the Instructables Quilting Contest!

For a full tutorial, check out the Instructable.

Don't forget to vote for me after April 10th!

Make better Fitted Diapers with your NykiBaby One Size Diaper Pattern!

Here are a few little goodies to help you make better fitted diapers with my pattern:

*Single row of snaps. Fewer snaps to set is a good thing!

Snap placement for a single row of snaps

*My pattern directs you to not trim off any fabric in the leg elastic areas. I've started trimming of 1/2", just like I do through the rest of the diaper. I am liking this way better.

* New contour templates. These fit the diaper so much better. You can trim off up to 1/4" on these when you serge, if you like. I just barely skim them.

New and improved contour soaker templates

Performance Fleece You Won't Find at Old Navy.....

Old Navy might make a mean fleece vest, but they've never done THIS! To all the Kiki Pad fans out there, this is for you...

How to Make Fleece Kiki Pads

Click the picture for a larger image.

Fat (Quarter) Skirts.

If you're like me, you ate WAY too much Easter candy. (I found Cadbury Cream Eggs that we forgot to give to the kids...OMG!) Time to make some Fat (Quarter) Skirts! 

Elastic waist? CHECK! Unlimited ass expansion room? CHECK! This skirt is about knee length on me (I'm SUPER short, barely 5'. In case you don't know me in RL...lol) and fits about a size 6 (Pre-Easter) to about a size 10 (Post Easter). Just gather the elastic tighter if you ate like a rabbit, or looser if you went savage on a case of Peeps. 

Click the image above for a larger picture.

Building a Better Desk

I want this desk...like now. There are even PDF instructions for it! I totally need another project to do right now...

Make Your Diapers Even Cuter!

Here's an easy way to add cute prints to your diapers without causing wicking or spending $13+ a yard for print PUL. The best part is you can use ANY fabric! Cotton, poly, woven, knit, minky.... Since the fabric doesn't touch the inside of the diaper, even absorbant fabrics like cotton wont cause wicking. Also, since this technique uses a small amount of fabric, cut in a simple rectangle, you won't waste any of your expensive, cute fabrics.

Materials:

Your trusty NykiBaby One Size Diaper Pattern
1- cut of PUL from said pattern
1- cut of inner fabric from said pattern (suedecloth, microfleece, whatever floats your boat.) + your pocket facing
1- 5 3/4" by 19 1/2" piece of decorative outer fabric. This will be the strip down the middle of the diaper.
Snaps and Elastic as called for in the pattern.

Directions:

You will apply your decorative strip BEFORE marking the snap placements for your diaper.

Turn all 4 edges of your decorative fabric under by 1/4" and press if the fabric allows.

*If you are using a fabric that cant be pressed or wont stay turned under, you can use a washable glue stick to stick those stubborn edges in place. Don't worry, the glue will wash out and no one will know your secret.

Center your decorative fabric on your PUL diaper cut, 1/2" from the front and back of the diaper. You don't want your decorative fabric to get caught in the seam allowances. This could cause wicking. You can use pins at the front and back ends, to keep the fabric in place, but not through the middle. You don't want to poke too many holes in your PUL. Your best bet is to use your handy-dandy washable glue stick to stick the fabric in place.

Now that your fabric is in place, stitch it down close to the edge, using a medium-long straight stitch.

Proceed with your diaper as usual.

There have been a few reports of leaking along the seam where the decorative fabric is attached. To prevent leaks, make sure you use 100% poly thread, and the finest needle that will work for the fabric. Setting your stitch to a longer length may help as well. If you still have leaks, try using a little seam sealer (like for tents) on the inside, along the seams.

Snappy Travel Tissue Pouch Tutorial.

Today I made some cute little travel tissue pouches. They keep your travel size tissue packs from getting completely destroyed in the bottom of your bag. They were so super quick and easy, I thought I'd do a little tutorial for you.

Start with 6 1/4" by 7" pieces of your outer and lining fabrics.

Place the fabric right sides together. Using a 1/4" seam, stitch along the two shorter ends.

Flip right side out. Top stitch along the two seams. Add snaps in the center, close to the edge. One snap should be facing up, the other down.

Snap the pouch inside out. Sew a 1/2" seam along each side, or serge, cutting off about 1/4".

Turn right side out, and place a travel pack of tissues inside. Done!

More Goodies for my Booth.

Today, I whipped up some lotion bars for the TVAM Holiday Fair. As far as bath and body products are concerned, lotion bars are some of the easiest to make. They are awesome for super dry skin, and they last a long time. And the ones I just made, smell...scrumtrilescent!....Half are Cucumber-Melon-Kumquat and half are Sage and Lemongrass. Here is my super easy recipe:

1 part Sweet almond oil
1 part Beeswax
1 part Coco Butter or Shea Butter (or a mix of the two. That's what I did)
Fragrance oil to desired strength.

In a microwavable glass bowl, combine the beeswax and the butter(s). Microwave on high until melted, stirring occasionally. Mix in the almond oil and the fragrance oil. Pour into molds.

Once your lotion bars have cooled and hardened, they are ready to use.

Double Sided Tape and Earthquakes.

We had our first storm of the season this week. What better time to do some crafting with the kiddos. (OK, kiddo...Kyle doesn't craft, he mostly just destroys stuff.) Jayson is my crafter, if it involves paint and glue, he's there! For our wreath, I just had him go wild with red and yellow paint on a paper grocery bag. I figured the orange would just sort of happen, and it did. While he took his nap, I cut out the leaves. When he woke up, we got to constructing the wreath. I used a paper plate as a base. I just put double sided tape on the back of each leaf and let him stick them where ever he pleased.

But, that's not the end of this crafty story...

We had a pretty good earthquake last night, and our poor wreath fell off it's shelf and broke into a million leafy pieces. I will be reconstructing said wreath with my glue gun. Double sided tape and earthquakes suck.

Un-Fancy Cloth Napkins

I am really making an effort to used fewer paper napkins and paper towels in my house. I hate spending money on things that will end up in the trash. I could be saving that money for an embroidery machine! (or just blowing it on fabric.) Anything is better than just throwing it in the trash!

The main consumers of paper towels around here are messy little faces. So, I came up with these fun and kid friendly cloth napkins. They are made from cotton quilting fabric and simply serged around the edges. Obviously, you could press and hem them, they would actually look nicer. But, I don't have that kind of time (or motivation). They are 8 1/2" square. Just the right size for little hands. And, since they don't take much fabric, they are a great stash buster.

Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture.

Jayson has been asking me if he can sew. So, I came up with this little project for him. It's the paper plate shaker that we all know and love, with a stitchy twist.

1: Have your lovely and well behaved child, decorate two paper plates. You can get MUCH more involved in this step than we did. You can get crazy with glitter and paint and all kinds of stuff. Jayson was OK with just coloring it. Take note of his time-saving technique.
2: Here are your fabulously decorated plates.
3: Add some dry beans/ rice/ macaroni to one of the plates.
4: Glue your plates together. I used hot glue, because I love my glue gun.

5: It should look something like this.
6: Poke or punch holes evenly around the edge.
7: Have the aforementioned well behaved child sew around the edge with yarn and a blunt-tipped needle.
8: Ta-Da!

Carnivorous Plants: Fun for the whole family.

Yesterday, Jayson and I wanted to make a puppet. We originally wanted to make a T-rex. That didn't go so well....Then I thought, "you know what would be awesome?...A Venus Fly Trap puppet." Not only are Venus Fly Traps super cool, they are also WAY easier to make than a T-Rex!

You too can make a Venus Fly Trap puppet with the quick tutorial below. Fire up your glue gun and dig out those googley eyes!



1: Cut out an elongated circle with wiggly edges. This is the "head" of the fly trap.
2: Run a line of hot glue about 1 1/2" from the center line, then fold in half.
3: It should look like this.
4: Cut a half circle from the folded shape. Your hand will have to fit through here, so make it large enough.



5:It should now look like this.
6: Cut a rectangle, so that when it is rolled into a tube with a 1/2" overlap, it will fit into the hole you just cut in your wiggley shape. Add glue and roll into a tube. This is the stem of your fly trap.
7. Cut another piece of felt to fit the inside of your fly trap. Glue down just around the edges, as you will need to be able to get your hand in here.
8: Cut out a leaf shape like this.



9: Run a line of glue down the center of the leaf.
10: Fold the leaf in half. Press together along the crease. When the glue has cooled, open it up.
11: Glue the leaf to the bottom of the tube. Glue at the bottom only.
12: You should now have something that looks like this.



13: Cut out pieces for a fly, and get some googley eyes.
14: Make a fly
15: Glue the fly into the mouth of the fly trap.
16: Hand sew the head to the stem. Make sure to sew the little flaps down to the sides of the stem.

Enjoy your new super awesome puppet.

Click on any of the pictures for a closer look.

If I were Hank Hill, I would say: I make cloth diapers and cloth diaper accesories...

I've done some cloth diaper related posts, but today, we are going to talk cloth wipes. If you are already using cloth diapers, using cloth wipes is a no-brainer. Even parents who use disposable diapers may opt for cloth wipes, as they are much better for baby's skin. Disposable wipes generally contain loads of chemicals that have no place on a baby's butt.

There are two major ways of using cloth wipes: 1. Wipes are placed in a container or wipes warmer and pre-saturated with wipe solution. 2. Wipes are stored dry and then squirted with wipe solution just before use. I do the latter, as homemade wipe solutions don't contain any preservatives, this could lead to things getting yucky. I mix up just enough solution for a few days, to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria.

After use, wipes are just thrown in the diaper pail and washed with the diapers.

How to make your own cloth wipes:

Wipes can be made with one or two layers. They also come in a variety of sizes. I like 7" x 7". You may also choose to round off the corners or leave them square. There are also many ways to make wipes, depending on the equipment that you have available to you.

Regardless of your sewing method, you will start of by cutting your fabric into squares. Pin your two sides together if making double sided wipes.

Serged Method: This is a quick and durable method, and my favorite. Just serge around your fabric squares, and BAM! wipes!

Sewing machine method: I am really not into turning and top-stitching wipes. It's just to bulky and labor intensive. Here is what you can do instead: Stitch around the wipe, about 1/2" from the edge. You can use a straight stitch, or any decorative stitch. Then use pinking shears to trim the edges.

Hand sewn method. Simply blanket stitch around the edge of the wipe, using embroidery floss. If you are using flannel, you should press your edges under, as it just frays like crazy. This is definitely the cutest method of the three. It does take a while, but it's a portable, little project, that you can do just about anywhere. You could actually use any edging stitch that would keep your fabric from fraying, so the options are limitless.

You can use two different fabrics on your two layer wipes. Good fabrics include:

Sherpa
Baby Terry
Cotton Knits
Flannel
Birdseye
Diaper Twill
Velour
Cotton or Bamboo Fleece

My homemade wipe solution:

There are a lot of different recipes for wipe solutions out there, unfortunately, a lot of them have like a hundred ingredients. Mine has three.

Fill a squeeze bottle with warm water. Add 2-3 drops of baby wash. Add a squirt of baby lotion or aloe gel. Replace the lid and shake until the lotion has dissolved. Done.

Practicin' My Stabbin'

Here is a little tutorial for creating note books from recycled greeting cards and random paper. The technique used is called Japanese Stab Binding.

I am trying out a new slide show format for this tutorial, let me know what you think.

You can click the stop button to go through the images at your own pace.

PDF Patterns 101

I was just working on a new pattern for my Etsy shop, and I thought I'd share my method for transferring a pattern to PDF format.

You will need:

your full size pattern, drawn on tissue paper, newspaper or what ever you have available.

plenty of 8 1/2 x 11 paper to mount your pattern pieces on.

a glue stick, clear tape or double sided tape

Scissors

A square (optional) will help you divide your pattern into neat pieces.

a scanner

Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator(optional) can help you create professional looking patterns.

A program capable of creating PDF files. Cute PDF is a free one.

Microsoft word or similar software for creating multiple page documents.

Adobe Acrobat can do both of the last two jobs.

Directions:

1. Draw a 1" border around one of your 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper.

2. Use this as a guide for cutting your pattern into pieces. Every piece needs to fit into the inner square.

3. Use tape or glue to mount your pattern onto sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" Paper.

4. Label each piece. I like to go from top to bottom. This will help you assemble the pieces later. You can also use symbols on the edges that match up to their neighboring pieces.

5. Scan each piece.

6. Now if you are not using a graphic editing program to make a professional looking pattern, and you are happy with they way your hand drawn pieces look; you are ready to print them as PDF files. You can stitch them together with Acrobat, or paste the images into a Word document and print as a PDF using Cute PDF. (if using Word, you really need to check that your images have printed true to size. Use the originals to verify this.)

If everything looks good, print out and assemble your pattern. Make sure all your pieces line up correctly, and look as you'd expect.

7. If you would like your pattern to have a professional appearance, you will need to use your graphic editing software. I use Adobe Photoshop.

* You will use the images of your pattern pieces as guides.
* make a new layer.
* make a new path.
* Use the pen tool to trace the outline of your pattern piece.
* Select the brush tool and choose the brush and color you'd like to use to outline your pattern piece.
* Click "stoke path" it is the little outline of a circle tab at the bottom of the paths window.
* Add any text or graphics your like for you pattern.
* Hide your background layer and save. Make sure you save as a Photoshop file and a JPG or PDF file, just in case you need to edit it later.

*Repeat these steps for each piece.

8. Follow step 6 to create your PDF file.

Pirate Hat 101

You never know when you'll need a pirate hat. Luckily for you, I've come up with this awesome pirate hat making tutorial. So, let's make a pirate hat, shall we?

This hat is made from 100% cheepo, polyester felt.

Disclaimer: I'm sure there are ways to mathematically calculate the sizes and shapes of the pattern pieces, but you won't find them here. I am scary bad at math, so let's not go there.


Step 1: Take cranium measurements. Measure for head circumference and for the depth of the hat. Think from the top of the ear to just over the top of the head. Make sure the measuring tape is nice and loose when you measure around the head. Otherwise you will have a brain constrictor on your hands, and no one wants that.


Step 2: Mark and cut out felt. Add 1" each to your depth and circumference measurements. This will give you 1/2" seam allowance. Draw and cut a rectangle from those measurements.
Sew a 1/2" seam down the narrow side of the rectangle, making a short cylinder.
To create the top of the hat, trace this cylinder. Add 1/2" around the outside for seam allowance. Cut out.
Next cut a big circle. I mine was 17" across to begin with. You can always trim it down if it is too big. If you cut it too small, then you will just be stuck with a stupid looking hat.
Fold your circle in quarters and cut a small circle from the middle. The circle needs to be way smaller than you think it should be. I think I started with about 4". Once again you can make the circle larger later if you need to. Remember, I am bad at math.


Step 3: Make the crown of the hat. Pin the top of the hat into the cylinder. It's ok to allow a little extra fabric between the pins. Notice how mine looks "ruffly." Sew the pieces together with a 1/2" seam. Adjust the fabric as you go to prevent "pleats."
Now would be a good time to check the fit of the hat.


Step 4: Sew on the brim. Fit the crown of the hat inside of the hole in the center of your big circle of felt. It should look like a very tight fit, or even like it won't fit in there at all. Pin it, allowing the felt to stretch if it needs to. If it really, truly doesn't fit, now is the time to make your hole bigger. Do this a LITTLE at a time. Once it's too big, you are out of luck.
Sew the brim to the crown with a 1/2" seam.
Now sew down that seam into the crown of the hat. use the edge of the presser foot as a guide, and stitch next the the seam you just created.

Step 5: Make a cool applique. Draw a goofy looking skull and then take a really blurry picture of it, if you feel the need.
Cut out your applique and stitch it down.

Step 6: Finish the brim. Pin up the brim on 3 sides. If it is too long, you will need to trim it.
Add something along the edge of the brim. I just used a 1" wide strip of felt with my bias binding foot.
Tack up 3 sides of the brim, pirate style.

Now repeat the five "A's": Arrrg! Avast! Ahoy! Ayyy! Ai-Ai!

Captain No Beard and First Mate Stinkypants