Rockstar client and a cool camera strap cover

One of my favorite things in the whole wide-y world is when someone says to me, "Hey, do you think you could make (______) for me?"  My answer is always, "YES!"  Or, more often, "Oh, heck, YES!!"  I love love love projects. 

So that's why Erin is my rockstar, uh, client.  She's also one of my closest friends, but let's be business-like and professional, shall we? 

Here's her latest commissioned work (oooo!  more professional-sounding language!): a padded camera strap cover, now named lovingly after her. :)

I love these colors together.  And the backing is flannel, so it's nice and soft, perfect for-- say-- lugging your camera with you while hiking in Chile.  Yes.  That's what Erin is about to do.  She's awesome.  Oh, and in case you're worried about getting that gorgeous strap dirty, it's totally washable.

Erin was also the recipient of this cow dress.  Betcha can hardly tell which one Erin is, huh? 

And she commissioned a few onesies (and a pair of pants) for her friend's new baby.  Here are a couple of 'em.  

 Erin, you should know this already, but you are a rockstar.  Keep the projects comin', pretty please!

Tutorial: Iron-on Vinyl

I recently bought some iron-on vinyl from... guess where... Pick Your Plum!  I may be a little addicted to that site.  A little.

Anyway, I hadn't used it before, but I was curious.  So when it arrived, I headed over to Sam's house to run it through her Cricut.

Oh. Man. It's fun!!  However, there weren't an abundance of tutorials on how to actually do it (not that it's particularly hard).

Here is a little "cheat sheet" for you to glance at if you want to embellish your own fabric.

1. Put the backing side of your vinyl down to the mat.  This means everything will be ironed on in reverse.  If this matters to you, make sure to flip your image (especially important with letters!).
2. Set your machine with speed low, pressure high, and blade 2.  The tutorials I found said that you wanted to "kiss" the vinyl-- meaning you'll cut through the vinyl but not the backing.  We actually found that it was okay if you cut through both, and that might be a good idea for more detailed images.  You still just iron and peel the backing off the same way.
3. Your iron apparently should be set to 302 degrees?  Uh, yeah... I just used the cotton setting.  Iput a towel in between the iron and shirt, but it's not necessary.  Press medium-hard for about 20 seconds.  Gently peel the backing to make sure your image is adhered.
4. With the stuff I had, you could do a hot or cold peel.  Personally, I can't wait that long, so I did a hot peel. :)

I've washed the monkey shirt, and it washes great.  Iron-on vinyl = AWESOME!

It makes for a pretty cute little onesie!  Brooks already has a little monkey one...

"I want that camera!  I will have it!"

And here's Brooks's airplane.

I put this one on a onesie that I dyed dark green.  I love how "boy" the colors are! 

It even looks good with a drool mark!

It's kind of like screenprinting, but way easier (I assume?).  Plus, if you don't have access to a Cricut or Silhouette, the stuff can be easily cut by hand, too.  Bonus! :)

Boy Clothes... The Rhino!

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As of approximately three months ago, I have three children. And the third one's a BOY! Up till now, I've only made girl clothing. But as Little Man gets older, he's going to need his share, too. So if you're a mom to boys, and you're looking for boy tutorials, I'm hoping I can be of service soon!

Until I really get the hang of it, here's one of my favorite easy things to do-- appliqué! Here's one appliqué that I've used to spice up one of our onesies.

The rhino! This guy also doubles as a hippo if you remove his horn. :) and he's really cute if you add clothes or a bow to the ear (for a girl). For clothing, just use the same body pattern but cut it off at the "hands" or "feet" to make sleeves or legs of pants.


And in case you've been looking for the cutest baby in the world, you can stop searching.  You found him. :)

Here's how I like to do applique, in 6 easy steps:

1. Cut out the stencil you want to use.  (If you're just winging it and drawing something by hand, skip this step.)

2. Keeping the paper backing on, iron steam a seam to the back of the fabric you want to use, making sure that it's larger than the stencil.

3. Trace your stencil onto the paper backing.

4. Cut out.

5. If you have overlapping pieces, zig-zag stitch the bottom pieces first, beginning your stitches where the other piece will cover them.  My start and end points for rhino's head are under his horn.

6.  Once all the pieces are on, slip your onesie on an adorable baby!

Simply must have a rhino of your own?  No problem!  Here's a stencil for you!  Enjoy! :)