Christmas Presents: Apron and Tutu

While coming up with Christmas present ideas this year, we tried to come up with things for our kids that were practical and that they would also enjoy. And that wouldn't lead to more toys being thrown all over the place and abandoned after 2 days. Here's what I came up with:

An apron for Noah--he loves to help in the kitchen



A tutu for Maren--she loves shoes and pretty clothes.


For the apron, I bought 1 yard of fabric (I had quite a bit leftover so if you're feeling stingy, you could probably get by with 3/4 or 7/8. heck just get the whole yard!) I didn't use a pattern and I wanted it to be a surprise so I got a shirt and a pair of pants from Noah's dresser and laid them together like they would look on a person. I used that to gauge the width and length of the apron. I fold the material in half and cut out half an apron on the fold. I cut it a little bit larger for the seam allowance. I cut out 2 4-inch-wide strips for the ties (maybe 12 or so inches long?) and then a longer strip for the neck strap. I cut out a square to add on as a pocket. I folded the seams under twice and then zig-zag top-stitched all of the seams. Can't wait to see it on him!

For the tutu, I bought 2 6-inch rolls of tulle. (one light and one dark shade of purple). One roll has about 25 yards and costs $3. I got a 1-inch elastic. I measured Maren's waist and subtracted 3 inches since the elastic will stretch as you are making the tutu. I sewed the elastic into a band. I cut the tulle into 24-inch lengths. I pulled the elastic band onto my thigh like a garter and watched The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency season 1. I layered 2 pieces of tulle together (dark+light), folded them in half. I put the fold underneath (just barely) the elastic on my leg, then threaded the 4 ends up over the band and through the loop, then pulled the ends back towards my body till the knot was tight. I used both rolls up completely although I could have used a couple more strands. My daughter is 18 months old so if you are making a larger tutu, you would probably need to buy 4 rolls of tulle if making a two-toned tutu, or 3 rolls if making a solid color tutu.

Four-leaf Clover Quilt

There are 2 ways to make this quilt--a fairly simple way and a more time/labor-intensive way. Either way, you end up with a very worthwhile product!






Materials
- 1 1/4 yard flannel for the back
- Two 3/4 yard coordinating quilt fabrics
- batting (enough for 1 1/4 yard)
- coordinating thread, if you choose to quilt
- coordinating yarn, if you decide to tie

Quilt Top:

-Cut the 2 quilt fabrics into 8 and 1/2-inch squares. You will need enough squares to make a 5 by 5 block.
-I like to arrange my fabric like a checkerboard (alternating fabrics) but you may make your quilt top look however you like!.
- Sew blocks together using a 1/4inch seam. I sew 5 squares together to make each strip (5 strips total). Then I sew the strips together. Be sure to pin your fabric together and MATCH THE INTERSECTIONS if you want your quilt to look as perfect as possible.

Pattern

-here is the pattern for the quilt:

- Fold your flannel in half one way, and then in half the other way. DO NOT cut on the fold.
- Draw the curve onto the fabric where you will cut. cut.
- Repeat folding step with quilt top. Use cut flannel as a pattern for where to cut your curve.
- Repeat the previous step with batting. (it's ok if batting is a little shorter than the pattern)
- Once everything is cut, layer* (see note at bottom for alternate, simpler way to make quilt) flannel on the bottom (right side down), batting, and quilt top (right side up). Match fabric together as best as you can. You may need to do a little trimming to matching everything up. Pin edges together.

Prairie Points (this step is optional, if you decide not to do this, see note at bottom of page*)


- With leftover material, cut 3 and 1/2 inch squares.
- fold squares on dotted lines in above picture. The arrow pointing to the 3rd triangle indicates the part of the prairie point that will be attached to the quilt.
- Figure out pattern of the points (I alternated fabric and used about 14-15 points per "leaf"
- pin prairie points onto quilt top. Line outside edge of quilt top with bottom edge of prairie point so that the point of the triangle is pointing to the middle of quilt. Then after you sew on the points, you will fold them out and you will have a nice seam.

- hand-stitch top and bottom of quilt together, using hidden stitch. (fold 1/4" or so of flannel in so that you have a nice finished edge.)

Tie/quilt
- If you are only going to tie quilt, tie at every fabric intersection as well as in the middle of each square
- you you are only hand quilt, pick a fun pattern to stitch into each square (make sure you have some sort of fabric pen to guide your stitches)
- you can do both (that's what I did) by tying yarn in each corner and quilting a different pattern in each square.



Swaddling:


Place baby as pictured above. Fold up bottom flap. fold in side flaps. fold "head flap" back so that it secures the 2 side flaps.


Let me know if you decide to try it, my instructions may not be as thorough and clear as I think they are in my head! :)

*If you decide not to do the prairie points, layer material as follows: batting, flannel (right side up), quilt top (right side down). Trim. pin together. sew seam with 1-4 to 1/2 inch seam--leaving about 10 inches un-sewn. flip fabric right sides out. hand sew the rest of the seam. Topstitch quilt if you want to. tie and/or hand quilt.

Stuffed things

Last year my friend dropped off a bag of clothes for me to go through. I picked out a few things that fit, and then picked out several more pieces of fabric to use before dumping the rest in a clothing donation bin. From the clothes I made a set of alphabet letters. I finally finished the alphabet a couple weeks ago (I procrastinated making the "C""R" and Q." all the other letters were finished last year!)




One reason it took me so long is because I wanted to get a little more variety of fabric. Another friend let me borrow some of her fabric to finish my project if I would finish a project she started to work on before she had twins: a star mobile. making stuffed stars is hard! not my best work...

carseat tent

This "tent" is essential if you want to make it in and out of Walmart without 50 random people poking and prodding at your brand new baby!

It's easy and if you can make it in 2 hours (1 hour if you're a really fast and efficient seamstress/seamster)

What you need:

- 1.25 yards fabric EACH of 2 prints of fabric. I use the fabric you find in the quilting section--it's light and won't suffocate your baby :)

- Velcro

- optional: matching thread

- (And other basic sewing stuff ie: sewing machine, thread, pins, scissors, iron, etc)

Instructions:

1. lay out 2 pieces of fabric with the print sides facing each other. Trim off the extra quarter yard of fabric to be used later



2. from the rectangle you have in front of you, cut out a squarish oval (basically round off the corners of the rectangle). pin edges and sew together. Make sure to leave about 5 inches unsewed so you can turn the tent right side out. I use about a 1/4 inch seam. Turn tent right side out and iron if you feel like it.


3. sew the unfinished 5 inches together by hand with needle and thread. If you want your carseat to have a really nice finished look, you can sew a border around the outside using a 1/2 inch or so seam with the optional matching thread. (I usually do this)

4. With the extra fabric, you will make the straps. Usually I pick the opposite fabric from the topside fabric to make the straps. (For the tent I made for my kids, I put straps on both sides of the tent so that I could use either side for the topside depending on the gender of the current infant. This is not necessary though and was just extra work). I like to have the straps about 3 inches wide and 8 inches long so I cut out a 7 by 9 inch square. Fold it in half with right side facing in on itself. use 1/4 inch seam and sew one short edge and the long edge. turn the strap right side out. (Make 2 straps!)



5. (I sew up the unfinished edge as I sew on the Velcro). Cut Velcro to size. Attach sticky side of velcro on one side of strap. Turn strap over and attach soft side at the opposite end. (The velcro will be at opposite ends and opposite sides so that they sticky together as pictured below). I sew the velcro on and do a finished seam using a 1/4" seam at the same time.



6. Find the middle line of the longer length of the tent. pin the midline of the straps on so they are about 10" from each edge. If you have a carseat handy, check it to see if that's about right. Sew midline of straps to tent using either an X or a rectangle.



7. email/comment/call me if you have questions or clarification! :)

I've made at least 6 of these already and they make a really great baby shower gift. Just a tip, if you would like one for yourself at some point, make one for yourself first to use as a pattern in the future. I finally just made one for myself--before that, every time I made one I had to call around to my other friends who have them to make sure I was doing it right! good luck!