I Heart My State T-shirts: A Tutorial

Part of our homeschool studies this year has been to study the United States.  We've gone state-by-state to learn about each one's history, famous landmarks, industries, facts & features.  It's been a lot of fun and we've all learned a lot.  For our home state, Michigan, we've done some extra things and one we really enjoyed was making these I Love My State Tees.  It's a fun way to show where we're from:)

Here's how to make your very own (using your own state, province or country of course!) -

You'll Need:
- Some cheap blank tees (mine were about $2.50 each)
- Scrap fabrics
- Paper
- Scissors
- Sewing notions
- Shaped buttons/beads (optional)

First we made some paper patterns for our state and used their hands for sizing.  Since we live in Michigan, it was pretty easy to trace the state shapes with hands for both the Lower Peninsula:

and Upper Peninsula:

After cutting them out, I used them to cut the state appliques from some fleece scrap fabric:

I pinned them into place on the shirt fronts and then stitched them with a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Using fleece meant there would be no fraying and the shirts would still feel stretchy and soft even though the appliques are big:

I wanted them to have a bit of fun flair so I added some little faces.  I cut some circles from white and blue fleece for eyes on my older son's shirt and a "U" shape for the mouths and stitched them on so the eyes of the UP & LP look towards one another:

We also hand sewed some buttons & charms to represent the various industries of the state and where they're located: cherries for Traverse City, a copper bead for the copper mining in the UP, a car for Detroit, a star for the capital, a heart for where we live, etc.

Now he's got a shirt that shares what he's learned and is fun to wear too:

For my little guy's shirt I went a bit more Kawaii (cute) style with some rosy circle cheeks, wider mouth and a little "Hi!" message:

Now we're all set to celebrate our state any day of the week!

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Plush Peanut Pals

The minute I saw the pattern for this plush peanut, I knew I had to make it.  HAD to.  A big zip up peanut shell with two peanuts inside.  It was just so darn cute and clever, I wish I'd thought of it!

It came from this adorable vintage plush fruit & veggie pattern set by Vogue (#1566).  It's over 30 yrs old, but the styles are timeless.  Check out all the garden goodies and their sweet faces:

They're all super cute, but the peanut set just jumped out at me.  The pattern is so old that fleece wasn't even a fabric option listed!  I knew it would be the best choice so it would be cuddly for the kids and easy to work with too.  Quilting two layers together gives it just the right thickness and shell "texture":

The peanuts inside are removable and I used fleece scraps & buttons to make their faces instead of trying to use the ancient transfers in the pattern. I think I like the way they turned out better anyway:

How could a kid resist this face peeking out?

As you can see, it was a hit:

Who wouldn't want a few peanut pals to hang out with:

Now if only I could find some time to make the whole garden my kids would be in 7th heaven!

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too so check them out HERE!

Something for Somebunny

One thing I love about the world of crafting blogs is discovering so many creative people out there that I normally wouldn't meet. It's really inspired me to try new things and start coming up with things of my own and take chances with projects. I'd bought this bunny fabric a while back, but was at a loss of what to make with it...until I found this fabulous top design from a fellow crafting blogger. Kristen at fiddlehead was generous enough to come up with a multi-sized pattern so I could give it a whirl for the little lady arriving later this summer. I highly recommend it as it was fun to make from her great directions. I shrunk it down a wee bit so it will fit a very small baby (as more of a dress than a top), but will hopefully work as a top when she gets older too.


I'm counting it in my "scrap-made" projects since the pink edging is decorative elastic I had gotten for free with some fabric and the straps & organic mocha pants were made from bits left over from my other projects.


The pants are the Lola pattern from Ottobre Design with a little of the elastic for constrast trim. What I love about both pieces is that they work well with a lot of other baby separates I have, so it makes many different outfits - throw a long sleeved onesie under the dress and presto - it all works as winter wear! Of course while I was at it, I figured I'd better use what was left to make a matching waterproof bib now that I'd made a pattern that I liked:


Using only materials I had on hand + a great blogger pattern + coming up with a little something myself = great satisfaction AND a new little outfit!

Getting A Little Scrap Happy: Two Parts

Lately I've been a bit of a sewing maniac - probably due to the "nesting" phase kicking in. In an effort to keep things somewhat under control I've put a self-imposed restriction on buying more fabric (my prize winnings from The Fabric Fairy don't count though - hehe). I've been sewing for just shy of a year now, yet my fabric stash is getting ridiculous. As you other sewing addicts can attest, whenever you actually need to buy a sewing item, it's almost impossible not to walk away with a yard or two of new fabric at the same time with no particular project in mind. Another sign of the addiction is hording leftover scraps. It seems too wasteful to toss all those oddball pieces of lovely fabrics. So my new goal is to use what I have on hand. Behold, the results!


Part One - Outfit: This little two piece set was made from leftovers from making my Etsy merchandise. There wasn't enough of either organic fabric to make a single item, but thanks to the fabulous design of these separates (Nuppu & Nuunuu from Ottobre Design) the weird shaped scraps I had were just enough to pool together. Add in some remnant chocolate brown bias tape for a little contrast trim and an entire outfit has been born!

Part Two - Bibs: I also decided to make a stack of bibs with more leftover bits. For such a "basic" baby staple I have some very specific criteria:

- Must be waterproof - Both my other kids were super sloppy drinkers so milk always soaked through the usual fabric bibs to their clothes, which defeats the purpose of a bib.

- Must be vinyl & phthalate free - I found the ones with the waterproof lining so handy, but a lot don't specify what that lining is actually made of.

- Must have velcro close - The tie ones look cute, but are not realistic for putting on a newborn at 2am in the dark.

- Must not show stains - Why are so many bibs white or light colored, so they show the bogus looking stains like nobody's business??

The few bibs that met all my criteria were a bit pricey since I need a lot of them, so I decided to come up with these from my leftovers. I started by tracing an old bib and made a few with that design, but then made my own, more curved design, to allow for more neck adjustability. I then sandwiched a layer of PUL fabric inbetween the print & knit solid fabrics, so they'd be reversible and prevent soak through. I also chose prints & colors that would camouflage the milk stains that never seem to come out. I think these should do the trick and am looking forward to putting them to use. All in all, I'm pleased to say my scrap pile is dwindling down and my useful items stack is growing substantially. May have to reward myself with some new fabric when the scraps are gone......