Personalized pillowcases

I wanted to make some pretty pillowcases for my girls to use in their new big girl room.  I got pre-made pillowcases at Kohl's and just added the girls names!  You could easily make the pillowcases too, but I was lazy!

I have no idea why blogger insisted these images be flipped sideways, but I give up trying to fix them.  You get the idea anyway!

I just traced my letters onto the fusible interfacing paper and cut them out-

then ironed them on and stitched them in place-

I also added a ruffle!

The perfect background to some wild and silly roughhousing!

Hair bows

I spent some time this morning making the girls a couple new Spring hair bows.

I found a tutorial for this cutie flower bow here.  I shortened up the ribbon lengths a little to make my bow smaller, but otherwise followed her great instructions!

Hannah was my model-

To make this cute little daisy bow I just cut 4 4-inch pieces of ribbon, hot glued them into loops and added a button.  Quick, easy, and cute!

I used another great tutorial for this sweet little bunny, I can't wait to have Claire wear it for the Easter egg hunt this weekend - so fun!

Tutorial here ( I shortened up the lengths again so it wouldn't be too big on Claire)-

and then Claire needed a matching bow for the outfit she was wearing today - Gymboree's argyle giraffe, one of my favorites- so I threw a simple coordinating bow together for her too!

Initial Bib

Last night both my girls went to bed early so I decided to take advantage of the spare time and make a couple bibs. I've been obsessed with putting initials on everything I make, so I had to add those too!

First I ironed some scrap pieces of fusible interfacing onto the wrong side of my fabric-

Then traced on my letters (I cut my letters with my cricut, but you could print letters off word onto cardstock and cut them out too.

Like this-

I traced around a bib I already had and liked-

Peeled the backing off my letter and ironed it on-

Then stitched around it-

there-

Then to make the backing I cut the bib out around the backing fabric, right sides together-

I added a couple pins and starting stitching around the edge-

Things shifted and everything got out of wack.  Luckily, I'm a pro with the seam ripper and quickly took the whole thing back apart to start over.  Whoever invented the seam ripper was a genius! 

The second time around I used a whole lot more pins, sewed right sided together leaving a little hole for turning it right side out.  I turned it and top stitched around the whole thing.-

Then added some velcro squares.  Black would have looked better, but white was all I had on hand-

It finished up pretty cute-

The back-side is pretty cute too, totally reversible!

Perfect lovie blanket

Supply list

2 pieces of fabric 30x30 (I used one cotton and one minky)

1 package satin blanket binding

sewing machine with matching thread

First set your stitch length as long as it will go to do a basting stitch.  Mine is at 5.0

Stitch down the edge of your satin binding.  Do not back stitch and leave the threads long-

Now pull the top thread to ruffle your satin-

Pin your ruffled satin onto the bottom edge of the right side of one of your fabrics-

It's very important to be sure you switch your stitch length back to a standard size at this point.  Mine was at 2.5-

Now stitch through your fabrics with the satin sandwiched between the two fabrics which are right sides together-

Go around 3 and 3/4 of the sides leaving a small space to turn the blanket right side out.  When you turn it, it'll look like this with a small opening-

Fold the remaining satin into the opening and pin in place.

I had about 15 inches of extra ribbon I trimmed off.  Save it for a coordinating burp cloth or something fun like that!

Then carefully sew along the edge closing off your open space.  I decided to top stitch around the entire blanket this time, although you don't have to.

Here is a look at the where the edges of satin met.  See how I folded one inside the other.  The one I trimmed I rolled under a couple of times before sewing it in place so the edge won't fray.

Finished!  I hope this new little baby loves it!

Before giving this as a baby gift I rolled it up with all the ruffles at the top and tied it with a ribbon

Here is my daughter's version of the same blanket.  She LOVES hers.  We keep it in the car and it's the perfect size to tuck around her when it's cold or ball up and use as a pillow on long trips, or just snuggle with on car rides!

Padded camera strap cover

To start you want to cut your outer fabric and your lining fabric both 5.5 inches by 31 inches.

Cut your fusible fleece 4.5x30 inches

I stitched my two pieces of fabric together, right sides together

Ironed the fusible fleece onto the pink lining fabric-

I finished off the ends by folding them under twice and stitching along the fold.

I added a pleated ruffle to the inside edge of my printed fabric-

stitched it in place-

I stitched the right sides together again, to make a tube and turned it so that It was now one padded piece.  Printed fabric on top with ruffle on one side, fleece padding in the middle, and pink lining fabric underneath.  I didn't make my ruffle go all the way to the end because I wanted to add a little pocket to put my lens cap into-

The pocket was basically a flop.  I added it, but it's so small I can hardly cram my lens cap into it.  I couldn't make it any bigger though, because it was the whole width of my strap already - oh well.

Then I stitched it in half again, this time pink to pink (lining to lining) so the inside of the tube is pink (lining) and the outside is all the pretty printed material-

Of course I forgot to take pictures before putting it on my camera, so I had to find our old point and shoot to get a picture!  You can see the flop of a pocket down on the end with the green fabric.  Maybe I can store something else in there since my lens cap is too big - maybe candy to bribe my kids into smiling for pictures?

In hindsight I'm wishing I'd have used a prettier thread color than white to stitch on the ruffle.  Either pink so it blended in, or maybe a teal to make the colors in the fabric stand out.

All in all I'm pretty happy with it.  The padding really makes the weight of the camera less noticeable around my neck, and it's pretty too!

Finished size ended up just under 2.5 inches by 30 inches.