Star Wars light saber card

I first saw this idea on Brassy Apple blog (such a talented blogger, also called Megan!) and I just had to try it. The original idea was for a Valentine's Day card, but I changed the wording to make it into a birthday card. It is so simple to make, just print out the design, cut a slit and insert a glow stick. I think Grandad will be chuffed!

Boy racer shorts with striped trim

I've been meaning to make some of these for a while, ever since finding this tutorial and this one at MADE. They are simple shorts (I used my own pattern that I know fits well) with the sides rounded off and bound with contrasting trim. Instead of bias binding, I used some striped polyester fabric with a one-way stretch. I cut 5cm strips and just folded it like bias binding as I sewed it on. I was a bit worried about ironing it first in case it melted, so I just eyeballed it. There are imperfections up close but the stripes kind of help to make these invisible - Yay! The main shorts fabric is a quick-drying polyester type something or other that I found in my stash left over from a trench coat I made a couple of years ago.

Mr 8 was very pleased :)

And the quick-dry fabric came in very handy!

Ikea rug to Mexican poncho costume

Mr Six was involved in an assembly item at school. The assembly had a multicultural theme and the children were required to dress in clothes from another country. A quick raid of the dressing-up box revealed nothing more multicultural than Star Wars and Ben 10 costumes, but we did discover a Mexican sombrero at the back of the wardrobe.

Now we just needed a poncho.

I found an old Ikea rag rug and we were in business. Mr Six even did most of the work himself! This is what we did:

Fold the rug diagonally and cut it to a square shape.

Fold the square in half...

...and in half again

and cut a little bit off the top corner to form a hole to put your head through.

Trim the hole to the right size (the rug is stretchy so don't make it too big). I made a v-neck shape pointing to one of the corners for the front of the neck. I also finished off the raw edge with a narrow strip of black jersey fabric (or use bias binding) and made a little felt embellishment for the front.

Then add wool tassels to all the sides that don't already have them. We used a loop/hook rug making tool but a thick needle would be fine.

 He did all the tassels by himself and was so proud of his efforts!

And it's done. He just wore all black underneath. The assembly performance was adorable. They all looked SO cute in their international costumes, I have to admit to a couple of teary moments!

More boy's PJs from a man's polo shirt - this time with a guitar!

My 8 year-old needed new summer PJs too, so I grabbed another of hubby's old polo shirts from work and got cracking with the method I used recently to refashion a polo into pyjamas.

This time the polo was black with a circular grey design on the bottom right. I incorporated this design into a guitar applique by adding blue lycra and white cotton and stitching guitar strings and knobs over them with free motion sewing. The top was lengthened with the stripe of blue fabric at the chest and I free-sewed 'I'm with the band' across the front and 'Rock n Roll' on the back. 

My little rocker was stoked!!

I would love to see your creations. You can upload them to my Flickr group, or my Facebook page.
Shared with some of the link parties listed at the bottom of this blog.

Robot picture

I have been working on this embossed robot picture for a boy's room. It has already got the stamp of approval from my two boys.

If you would like it for your little man this Christmas, it is available in my Etsy shop. I plan to add more pictures in different themes very soon.

Have a good one,

Man's polo shirt to boy's summer PJs refashion tutorial

My 6 year old needed new summer pyjamas, so I decided to make some with an old polo shirt of my husband's. This would work for a boy or a girl and was very easy. Here's what I did...

Grab a polo shirt. The one I used was size L, but you could probably get away with a smaller size, especially if it was for a younger child. You may need a bigger size for an older child.

You will also need a pattern for shorts and a tank top. If you don't have one, it's simple to trace one from clothes your child has already. This doesn't have to be perfect and it will still look good!

Turn the shirt inside out and lay it out flat

We'll start with the shorts first. The sleeve cuff will form the band around the leg of the shorts. The sleeve and shoulder of the shirt need to be laid out flat and smooth as shown below.

The shorts pattern piece can be placed over the sleeve and shoulder area as shown with the waist of the shorts at the collar of the shirt and the crotch at the armpit. Don't worry if the pattern doesn't fit exactly as it really doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter if you use the front or back pattern piece, we are going to cut front and back the same. Pin in place.

Cut from the armpit upwards to form the crotch and waist. Do not cut the shoulder seam or the sleeve at all. Repeat on the other sleeve so you end up with this:

With right sides together, pin the crotch seam from front to back. Match up existing seams from the polo shirt as shown. Sew. Topstitch the seam if you feel the urge!

Fold and sew the waistband...

...add the elastic,

and it's done. Easy! Now for the top...

Place the remainder of the polo shirt the right way up (collar at the top) and place the tank top pattern so the lower edge of the tank top is level with the finished hem of the polo. My pattern reached to the top of the available fabric (in this case the buttons of the shirt fell within the neckline of the tank, but would be cut away when I cut it out).  If you are making this for a smaller child just line up the hem of the polo with the lower edge of the tank top pattern. Cut out leaving the lower hem of the polo intact.

Don't worry if your polo is shorter at the front than the back (as mine was). We'll fix this in the next step. You can measure the difference between front and back hems in preparation.

To make the front panel, take some fabric in your chosen colour or pattern (I used cotton, but stretch fabric would also work). I wanted to create a free motion sewing design on mine so I folded it over to make a sturdy base for the design. You can choose the height of the contrasting fabric (doubled if required), but make sure it is at least as wide as the measurement you took in the previous step (plus seam allowances). Cut it to the width of the tank top. You can see my white fabric cut to size and folded over in this picture.

If free motion sewing, now is the time to get creative! If not, skip to the next step. You can see another example of my free motion sewing here.

To insert your panel, cut across the FRONT ONLY of your tank top just under the armpits. Move the lower section down so the front and back hems are level. If you are using a taller contrasting panel, work out where you need to sew to keep the hems the same.

Sew the contrasting panel to the top of the tank first, right sides together. Topstitch.
Double check your hems, then sew the bottom of the tank front to the bottom of the panel. Topstitch.

Now you have your front and back sections, you can make up the tank top as usual. Sew the sides and shoulder seams, then finish the neck and sleeve edges...

...I used fold-over elastic (FOE), which gives a lovely neat finish. Have a look here to see how I did it (although here I just used a line of straight stitch to finish it off - make sure you stretch the elastic a bit as you sew). The lower edge is already finished as you are using the hem of the polo. So you're done!

My little darling wore them the first day he had them and this is what I found when I went to check on him that evening...

Here he is the next day scootering around the kitchen!

Awwww

I'd love to see pictures if you make these. Post them on my Facebook wall and leave a comment!

These would work well for a girl also. I would love to see a pretty floral fabric panel in the front of a pastel or bright shirt. You could make the top as a t-shirt with sleeves made from the contrasting fabric. Go wild!

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