DIY Onesies Part 2: Easy Applique

For Round 2, I used a small section of printed material I got at a second hand store. The original use for this material was to fuse it to sweatshirts and add a lot of ugly fabric paint essentially losing a pretty paint by numbers vintage look the roses had. Tragic. Luckily fabric paints are so early 90's and vintage reins supreme!

 

     To make a similar onesie, you'll need some double sided webbing I referred to in my letter banner post. I just ironed the webbing to the backside of the fabric, cut out the image, pealed off the paper side of the webbing and ironed it all onto the onesie. Then I used the buttonhole stitch around the outside. I did not use an embroidery hoop though to keep the applique from potentially coming loose. You will just have to watch how tightly you pull your floss as you go. The result makes it pop nicely, if you ask me.


Last Onesie?  Cute embroidery designed by yours truly!

DIY Onesies Part 1: Ruffle Butt

 
     Being in my thirties has led to one certainty among my friends which is they have seriously begun to reproduce! With so many announcements on Facebook, I thought 2011 was the year of the baby. Now it looks like 2012 is vying for the spot. Last week I went to a double baby shower and there is another this week!  With so much talk about babies, I am beginning to feel pregnant! I kid.

     It wasn't until I had my very own little pea that I realized how magical babies are, so I can't help but work on handmade presents for said friends. Recently I have been doing a lot of embroidery, but I was getting restless knowing I needed to be sparked by a new goal only I wasn't feeling it until I came upon some ideas for DIY onesies. I had a pack of plain nice ones I bought unopened at a Goodwill some time ago thinking I could use them for future babies. This was my kindle for a bonfire of craft, people! Just googling "DIY Onesies" and clicking images set my thoughts racing about my abilities, cute factor and all around realistic chance of finishing some before this Saturday.  Now I will share these projects, views, links and pics to help inspire you.

Our first project fanning the flames? Ruffle Butts.

I found some tutorials that expected you to start your ruffles with a lot of scraps and extra sewing. I am too lazy for that, so upon further searching I came across this site. It's completely easy to understand and uses ribbon, knocking out a lot of extra time and work. The site is called www.skiptomylou.org and is what my blog wants to be when it grows up. So check it out!

    I do have a few things to say about the ribbon end of this. Organza is fine. Organza with glitter (I couldn't help myself!) is a bad idea. Also, I tried out ribbon with wire. I just cut out the needed length and carefully pulled out the wire from both ends. This does not work with all wired ribbon since some are too delicate I found. It just saved me a second trip to the sewing store.

 Next up?  Super simple applique!

Crochet Coral Reef = Mind Blown

This week was Spring Break at the Twinklecraft house. The weather was other worldly and demanded my small family get out and about as much as possible to soak up the sun and soak in every minute together. Doing so led us to the Putnam Museum in Davenport, IA. Mainly we went because little pea is finally at an age where she can appreciate kid friendly environments if in small time increments. For a science museum in a small city, it's passable, a small scale Field Museum, if you want to get down to it with pioneer dress up and shop play areas, turn of the century living spaces, local history and fauna, and a nice collection of Japanese pottery pieces. I was pleased to see one of the great successes to the quad cities area was none other than Samual Heagy from Taneytown, MD, a town nearby my hometown. Represent!


It wasn't until we were nearly finished in the hands on marine exhibit that I found the gem to the whole place, a gigantic installation of coral reef made entirely of crochet!




At the time we'd decided to head out for lunch, so I was only able to snap a few photos and check where exactly the masterpiece came from, but of course I needed to know more and was convinced all of this needed to be shared with others. Made by science journalist, Margaret Wertheim and her twin sister Christine, the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world." Upon further reading at home I found Ms. Wertheim gave a talk on her project for TED and you can enjoy the short lecture here! To visit the site dedicated to awesome installation, you can visit their site dedicated to the work, contributors and the many messages it has to offer.

Mind officially blown!!!!

Look what I got in my mailbox!

Isn't this stationary gorgeous? My wonderful sister-in-law, Ka is a master paper crafter! In fact, she inspires me each time I see her to keep my crafting dreams alive. Besides having her own blog with tutorials, recent projects and great info, she also has started a little business in her town which has kept her very busy. Can I say how proud and excited I am for her? So so much! It's always great to get together with her since we can bounce off ideas and get motivated. There is always something new I can learn from her too. So why don't you go check out her blog and if you like it, follow her too! http://shopsosmitten.blogspot.com/