Paper Wreath

I saw this online and wanted to try it. I used the pages of an old Bible.

Items needed:
Hot glue gun and sticks
An old book/pages from an old book
Cardboard
Tape
18 inches of ribbon.

Take a page and role it up into a cone, and tape the pages so it stays.

Repeat at least a million times.

Take your cardboard and draw two circles, then start to glue the cones on across from each other.

 When the outer circle is complete, start on the inside circle, filling in the gaps.

When it's finished, add whatever you want to the middle! I've seen Christmas ornaments, I chose potpourri.
 Glue ribbon to the back of the cardboard, and hang on a wreath hook!

Drawstring Dresses

Since Monroe hates having her clothes changed, I thought for this summer these dresses would be easy to get her in and out of without a fuss.

Items you will need:

1 yard of cotton fabric
Sewing machine and matching thread
Scissors
Pattern
Iron and ironing board
Pins
About 3 ft of ribbon/rope for drawstring.


Start by laying fabric out and folding in half, wrong sides together. Lay pattern over and pin. Cut around the pattern:

I made up the pattern, but it will be perfect for a baby between 18 months and 2T. Since Monroe is already in 18 month clothes, I know by the summer this will fit.

The pattern is 9.5" across the top where the drawstrings are going to be. 5.5" down and then another 4.5" over for the arm hole (make a "J"). Then 20" in length, and 20.5" along the bottom for width.

Start by cutting three small slits in the curve of the arm hole. Iron and pin:

Then, at the top, fold 1/4" and iron, then another 3/4" and iron. This will be left open on the sides so the drawstrings can go through. Then pin.

To the sewing machine! First, sew the curves of the arm holes. For this part, I quickly unpinned the top and unrolled it so that I could sew all the way up the sides, that way it doesn't unravel. Then, I pinned the top again, and ONLY stitched across the bottom, it's important to leave this open. If you sew it closed then you can't add a draw string.

Turn it over, looks like this. Do this to both pieces of fabric, front and back.

It was easy to hem the dress before the pieces were sewn together. Fold the bottom hem 1/4", iron, pin, and sew straight across.

After that is finished, it's time to take both pieces of fabric and put them RIGHT sides together. Stitch the sides together from the hem of the dress all the way up to the bottom of the arm pit.

Here it is pinned:

Turn dress right sides out, and iron.

Now it's time for the drawstrings. After cutting the appropriate length of your drawstring I suggest folding the ends of the ribbon over and either gluing or sewing so they don't unravel in the wash. The length depends on how big you want the bow, I cut each one about 15 inches. Then, feed it through your loop at the top.

Do this for front and back pieces, then tie together on the sides!

Now, the dress could be done, but I like to add embellishments. Buttons or ruffles are cute. I chose ruffles.

Cut three strips of fabric, one long for the middle (approx 8") and two shorter for either side of the middle, (approx 5")

Choose a setting on the sewing machine that will create a looser stitch. Take the longest strip first and just sew a straight line down the middle.

It will look like this.

Then, hold on to the bottom string and push the fabric up so that it starts to bunch up.

Pin the ruffle to the front of the dress and stitch down the middle.

Repeat for smaller ruffles and add to each side of the large ruffle.

Finished!

Baby Girl Hair Clips

Now that my adorable niece has hair, she is wearing lots of clips! I am planning on making her some summer dresses, and decided she needed hair clips to match.

Items needed:

Glue gun and glue sticks. I used a mini glue gun because I like a finer tip.
Metal hair clips
Ribbon
Buttons
Needle and thread
Scissors

I started with the clips with teeth - they stay in better. I got them at Hobby Lobby, about $3.00 for 8 of them.

Cut 2 inch sections of ribbon.

Using the glue gun, put a dot of glue on the top side of the clip, farthest end from the hinge. Release the clip and let it close to press the ribbon down.

Then, turn the clip over and add one long line of hot glue to the top.

Press ribbon down over strip of hot glue. Put another dot of glue on the other side and fold over.

After it is glued, it will look like this:

 This next part is optional. If you want it to look like a bow, take a needle and thread and wrap the thread a few times around the middle to pinch. If not, you can leave it straight across and just add a button.

IF you decide to make it like a bow, thread through one side and wrap several times:

 After the thread is pinched, add a dot of hot glue over the thread and add the button of your choice!

Here is the difference between a clip that has been pinched to look like a bow, and one that hasn't.

Do a few different colors of ribbon/buttons, and you have many choices for all of baby's outfits!

Since these are so cute, Aunt Hannah may be making some for herself too :)

Enjoy!

Hannah