Upcycled Ruffle Pants {With a Half-Baked Tutorial}

These were so simple.

Crazy. Easy.
(Don't believe me? Just you watch. No one ever believes me when I say things are easy....)

Unbelievably Un-hard!

I've been wanting to make some ruffled pants for awhile now. I mean, they are the cutest things on girls, right? Oy. I love ruffles.

And my cute friend, Sundi, has made loads of them. And she posted a fun tutorial for them a few months ago. It reminded me yet again, how I want to make some.

Then I was at the thrift store and I found this dress...

Ok. This isn't the actual dress. I can't find the before picture I took. But this is close to
what it looked like. 

Mmmm, not something I would normally pull of the rack. I would feel a bit too....exposed. BUT (through the magic of my blog) I turned it into these...

Yes! Perfect ruffled pants for my Zoe. I LOVE them. And she does, too. She wore them for three days straight.

And these are my kind of project.  Because, see, I like to make stuff (shocking, right?)

However, I'm trying to a be a writer (minus the tweed elbow patches) and it's hard to find time for sewing or crafting. But I get this itch (and pinterest is not helping). And I want to, no I need to make something. So, I love it when I can find things that don't take too long to whip up and also gives me that creative fix.

So, anyhoodles, are you ready for the half-baked tutorial. Let's roll...

Step #1: Figure out how long you want your ruffle pants. Capris? Or longer? Now get yourself a pattern. Trace your girl's pants. Google a pattern. Check out some tutorials.

Step #2: Cut your pattern out with the hem of it lined up with the ruffles of the dress.

Step #3: Sew up your pants like you would any pajama pants pattern. And Voila! You have yourself a pair of  cute ruffled boutique pants for your beautiful girl.

I told you it was easy. So. There.

Need some ruffled pants inspiration? Check these out....

Pink Ruffled Pants by A Joyful Vision

Denim Ruffled Pants by Sew In Fashion

Orange Polka Dot Ruffle Pants by The Trendy Baby

More cute denim ruffled pants by Pretty Me (I love that flower.)

Striped Ruffle Pants by Isadora Kids

Now if you're like me and you've been wanting to make these darling pants....race to the thrift store and hope they have some cute sundresses in stock!

I mean it.

Go now.

Or else I'm going to beat you to them....

Ack! There's a Monster Eating my Head! {A Carnivorous Hat}

My oldest son, Weston had been eyeing all the funky winter hats. He especially liked the ones with ear flaps and the strings or braids hanging down with pom-poms.

Well, I aim to please! Coming up with a handmade gift to make him for Christmas was easy peasy.

I flew by the seat of my pants with this child-eating hat though. No one was more surprised than me when it actually turned out so good!

First I found a printable pattern for a hat with ear flaps (sorry! I can't remember where I found it....I was in the haze of holiday midnight crafting...) I cut the hat from a fifty cent sweater....yep, that's right. 50 cents!! I know. So cool. And, boy it was a pretty ugly one. I think the sweater is much happier being reincarnated into a hungry monster hat.

So, after I had the lining and outer hat pieces cut out, I added a row of fleece teeth and stuffed striped knit horns.

I braided three strips of fabric....two strips of the striped knit and one strip of green fleece and sewed those in before I put in the lining. Once it was all put together I added the eyes and the fleece pom pom to the top.  For the pom poms on the braids I unraveled the sweater. 

Weston....you look a bit too happy for one who is getting their head eaten though, dontcha think?

Ok. There's a little more terror. Thank you. (This shot was taken right after he opened it on Christmas morning...er....more like afternoon by the time we got home from church and back to the opening of presents! :)

Hmmmmm....we took a lot of pictures, didn't we? Well. We were having fun....

Oh my. This boy is so much fun. He didn't want me getting his jammies in the pictures at first. But then he decided he didn't care.

While making this hat, I had to plop it on my head every so often and race to a mirror. Then I'd giggle in happy anticipation of Weston opening it. And, boy....that was an awesome moment. He was THRILLED! That monster, Floyd (as Weston named him) perched on his head for probably three days straight. 

Upcycled Sweater Dress Tutorial

Alright. So, I didn't take a before picture of this sweater. I know! So so so not cool. I cruised around the internet trying to find something comparable.

This is similar...

Source: Bonanza

Although you can see that the one above has a row of buttons on the front. And no hoodie. And, well, of course....it's brown.  Ok. This is as good as I could fine.  Moving on...

When I spotted it on the thrift store rack, it was love. I decided to make it into a dress for my wee girl. But I wasn't sure what to do about the big neckline which swamped her little shoulders.

Well, I started by taking it in on the sides and the sleeves all in one go. And also putting in a new seam along the shoulders from the neck to sleeve.  (First I turned it inside out and then pinned it where I wanted the new seams....and... let's hope I first tried it on her to see where I wanted the new seams to go....but I can't really remember.... I actually made this last year and when I finished it, it was too big on her and looked funny. I chalked it up to a Craft Fail. But then Zoe found it a few days ago, slipped it on and I realized it fit and looked good! Yay!)

So, I serged it from the sleeves to the hem and also from the neck to sleeves (is this making any sense?) and tried it on her. (I probably had to take it in a bit more on the sides....)

And then I pondered about that neckline. What to do...what to do?

Hmmmm, what about some darts? Yes. darts. I put one in each side. The Nordic design disguises them rather nicely, I think.

This looks a bit like the outline of a body at a murder scene. Poor sweater....

Can you see the new seam line and dart?

No clue what a dart is? Or maybe you're picturing some yellow foam Nerf darts and wondering how I put those into the sweater dress?  Well, let me help you out. Go check out this Dart Tutorial for more info.

This is a another pic of the new seam and dart, but from the inside.

And there you go. Ridiculously easy. 

A woman's sweater to little girl's sweater dress.  

Comfy.

Cozy.

And super cute. 

Pringle Can Bangle Bracelet Tutorial

Yes. That's right. You can upcycle Pringle cans or water bottles or some other plastic bottle you can easily cut with scissors or an exacto knife into *Awesome Bangle Bracelets. 

Ready for the tutorial? Alright here we go......

Find something your hand easily fits into. Now, I don't mean an oatmeal canister. Or a kleenex box.  Come on people. We're looking for a nicely proportioned cylinder. Stay with me....

Pringle cans work perfectly for me.

Next we need to thicken the bracelets and sturdy them up a bit.

Some people like to use strips of quilt batting. I prefer newspaper which I always seem to have on hand, especially now that my son has a paper route. So, grab the news and your Mod Podge, turn on a good movie (like The Importance of Being Earnest....anyone else LOVE that movie?) and go to town...

Now let them dry and you'll end up with something like this...

Now comes the fun part. Embellishing your new bracelets!

Add ribbon and some fun trim...

Strips of fabric, rosettes and lace....

I know, right? Pringle Can Bracelets. Who would have thought this was even possible?

Beads, bias tape and more lace (I love tying a sassy bow on the side. yeah, that's right. I said sassy.)...

Bright fabric, paper and ribbon....

Maybe even Mod Podged sheet music (ack! I love this one. It's my favorite. Come on, right? It's so cool)...

Or wrap them in embroidery floss...

There are so many options. Why not grab some maps? Or dictionary pages? These are so stinking cheap that you can make armfuls to match every outfit in your closet! (Ok. This might be a bit excessive. And, really...if you have this kind of time on your hands....you should come clean my house. I'm just sayin'.)

Enjoy!

*I originally submitted this craft to Family Fun, but sadly they already had something similar in the works. 




   

Spray-painted Platters

When I was setting up for the writing workshop last week, I went to snag a couple table cloths for the display of author's books and the treats and water. I was also hoping to find some simple and fun platters at the dollar store.

I did not. I found some ugly fall ones instead.

And tacky clear wedding platters....

Hmmmmm....how about some spray paint magic?

Sorry for the sad pictures. It was very late when I finally got around
to fixing these up. That's how I roll.  Very late=crafty time. 

Voila! I spray-painted the bottom of them, leaving the top food safe. I love how they turned out. And although I dig the bright yellow, I'm not sure it was the best choice to go with the food.

Maybe turquoise? Or even just simple white. Well, either way, any color is better than how they started!

Thrifty Thursday: My Adventures in Stenciling

I wanted to make a little baby gift for a friend who had a sweet little boy about a week or so ago.  So, I bought a white onesie and a little pair of blue pants (each $2 at Wal-mart) and stenciled this...

This took me about 15 minutes (once I found the stencil and brush and paint...).  Fast and easy and cute! Yay!

I love stenciling shirts for my kids and I've made loads over the years.  I originally posted a tutorial for how I go about making the stencils at Craftster in 2007.  But I'll repost it below...

Well, there are a lot of different methods for stenciling, so I'll just tell you what works for me....

I buy clear vinyl.  They sell it by the yard at wal-mart.  It's on big rolls at mine, near the red and white picnic vinyl.  I buy the thickest they have.  Then I print out my image.  I cut out a piece of vinyl a bit bigger than my image and I place it under it and trace the image with a fine point sharpie.  Then I tape it to a thin board (it was just some scrap stuff my husband gave me) and I cut it out.  I started out last year with just a plain ol' exacto knife.  But then I discovered the world of Hot Knives!  And, oh, they cut so nice!  I just bought mine in the craft section at wal-mart.  It was about $20 and totally worth it.  (Sorry I can't remember the brand and the exact name and it's in the basement in a box and I'm trying to type this while my baby falls asleep in her sling....)  It plugs in and came with all sorts of attatchments for wood burning, fabric embossing, etc.  And it came with a stencil cutter, but I found I didn't really like that--it does something weird to the vinyl.  I just like the exacto knife-looking one. 

So, anyway, I cut it out, remembering to add bridges to the design if there weren't any in the orginal.  Does everyone know what bridges are?  Hmmmmm.....well, they are....urgh.  I'm not sure how to explain this....

Alright, this site kind of explains bridges...
http://www.iratethis.com/t-shirtblog/2007/08/how-to-stencil-your-own-homemade-t-shirt

You just have to put the bridges in to keep some of the areas not painted. 

So, then, after it's cut out, I place some cardboard between the shirt, under the area I'm going to stencil.  Then I tape the stencil in place.  I use a stenciling brush (is that what they are called?  It's one of those brushes with really hard bristles....) and apply just your regular everyday acrylic craft paint (remember to blot the brush on some paper towel after dipping in the paint--if you go straight from paint to shirt, the paint will bleed under the stencil and this is not pretty).  I probably should use fabric paint, but so far, I haven't had any problems with the craft paint.  I did robot shirts for my boys last year and they've been washed a gazillion times and the robot is still dancing on the front.

Alright,ANYWAYS (I feel like I get sidetracked quite easy...) after I paint it then I remove the stencil and use a small itty bitty brush to carefully fill in the bridges and fix any mistakes that may have mysteriously shown up (heh.  Yeah, I seem to make a mistake...at least a small one with each one!) I let it dry and then I put a thin piece of fabric or paper towel over it and iron it really good.  Now, my point of this is to set the paint and make it stay.  But I haven't ever stenciled anything and NOT ironed it.....so, I'm not so sure this is needed.  I mean, it works for me and I think it makes the paint stay better...but maybe it would stay just as good without ironing?   Ah well, it's not hard and I don't want to chance it. 

So, anyways (again) I then show my boys and listen to them rave about how cool it is (that is the best part!  Hmmmm, I don't look forward to the day when I'm no longer so awesome in their eyes!!)

And that's it.  I know some people use paper or cardboard for their stencils, but I like to reuse mine over and over.  I hate to waste time on something I can only do once. 

I sure hope this helped and made sense.

Good luck and if you all have more questions, feel free to holler! 
(I just thought of another tip.....if you make a minor mistake when cutting out your stencil, just put a couple layers of clear tape over the boo boo and recut it.)

*******************************************************************************

Now who is going to start stencling?  Hmmm? Huh?  Come ON! It's way fun. Give it a shot! You can create unique and fun t-shirts for your kids. Or for yourself. Or for your husband! (I made a shirt for my handsome cowboy that says, "Never trust a man with a mustache." Yep. He has a mustache.)