Despite not sleeping well last night (after a fun night out with the girls!), I had a burst of energy after lunch and decided to go through the kids fall clothes from last year and get rid of whatever won't fit this year. My almost 4 year old daughter is SUPER picky and will only wear stretch pants so we ended up with a bunch of cute ones from last year that still fit in the waist, but are now too short. So, instead of sending them off to goodwill, I decided to make them into some cute PJ shorts and add some applique to her camis. This is very easy and a fun way to get some new PJs out of clothes you already have.
Here's what I started with: 3 pairs of pants (only got 2 in the picture).
I cut off the legs at about 1/2" longer than I wanted the shorts to be.
Folded the edge over about 1/2" and ironed.
Then sewed a simple zig-zag stitch along the bottom edge. I like to use my walking foot and stretch the fabric a little bit as I sew. That way the stitching has a little bit of stretch and won't break.
Here's how the right side looks.
The best part is that you've got all the fabric you cut off from the bottom of the pants leftover to do some fun applique. I grabbed the PJ Ts and camis out of my daughter's drawer and added some coordinating decorations.
The easiest way to do the applique is to use wonder under. I didn't have any on hand, so I just fused some lightweight interfacing to my fabric piece, cut out the shape, and sewed it on using a straight stitch. The interfacing keeps the fabric from stretching while you sew.
This birdie applique is definitely my favorite.
Finished shorts.
Finished PJ set.
There it is! This was super quick and very satisfying, and once again, not on my sewing list! Oh well.....
Leave me a comment if you make a pair, I'd love to see what others come up with.
My husband came home from work today and said "another bag", eyeing his diminishing space in our coat closet....
I've been in a bit of a sewing funk lately. Not because I'm not inspired to sew anything, but because I am inspired to sew too many things! Between the things I need to sew (curtains for the kids rooms) and the things I want to sew (coats for the kids, fall clothes, pillows for their new rooms etc), I am left feeling like doing nothing at all.....except watch Project Runway and drink hot cocoa :)
So, today while my 2 year old was napping and my daughter was happily playing in our sewing/playroom, I decided to make another tote bag. I picked up some pretty home dec fabric at Joanns the other day and happened to have some canvas and coordinating lining on my shelf. I didn't use a pattern, or really think too much about what I was doing. I just cut and eyeballed it and put it together. It was just what I needed.
The result, another cute tote bag. The perfect size for library books or snacks or maybe a nice new lunch bag for work. No matter what I use it for, sewing this bag definitely helped get me out of my funk. I contemplated sewing this cute bag from Noodlehead, but honestly, I didn't have it in me to follow a new pattern. I'll add it to the list for now....
If you too are in a sewing funk, try sewing something not on the list. It's hard to stray from the list when life with kids leaves so little sewing time, but it might end up being just what you need!
Summer is in full swing and our house is overflowing with delicious ripe vegetables and herbs. I saw this great recipe for a savory galette on my NFB (New Favorite Blog) Prudent Baby. I mostly followed her recipe, but made a few slight changes.
CRUST Recipe:
1 c. all purpose white flour
1/2c. whole wheat flour
1/4tsp salt
8tbs. (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces and chilled
1/4c. plain yogurt
2tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4c. ice water
DIRECTIONS:
Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender (or food processor, or just your hands) cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice and water. Add this to the flour mixture and mix until it lumps into a ball. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
While the dough is chilling, prepare your filling. You could use almost an vegetable and cheese, so experiment. For this one, I decided to go pretty traditional with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.
Slice tomatoes and lay out on a paper towel. Sprinkle the tops with salt to draw some of the liquid out.
Press a clove of garlic (I use a garlic shredder, but you could use a garlic press, or just finely chop) and add to a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Preheat oven to 400.
When the crust is ready, roll out into a large circle (doesn't have to be exact) about 18 inches in diameter. Spread a layer of the garlic oil with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon. Layer on your tomatoes and mozzarella leaving a 1 inch border of dough. Sprinkle with parmesean and brush with the rest of the garlic oil.
Last, pleat the edges of the galette and bake for 30-40 minutes. I baked mine on a pizza stone, but you could use any baking sheet that it fits on.
When it was done cooking, I let it cool a bit and then sprinkled fresh basil on top. It looks beautiful and tastes like summer! We had ours at room temperature with a fresh caesar salad and a glass of wine. DELICIOUS!
I cut off the legs at about 1/2" longer than I wanted the shorts to be.
Then sewed a simple zig-zag stitch along the bottom edge. I like to use my walking foot and stretch the fabric a little bit as I sew. That way the stitching has a little bit of stretch and won't break.
The best part is that you've got all the fabric you cut off from the bottom of the pants leftover to do some fun applique. I grabbed the PJ Ts and camis out of my daughter's drawer and added some coordinating decorations.
Finished shorts.
Finished PJ set.
There it is! This was super quick and very satisfying, and once again, not on my sewing list! Oh well.....
