Easy No- Sew Baby Leg Warmer Tutorial and the Cutest Thing I've Ever Made: What I'm Makin' Monday

What am I makin' this Monday? Only the cutest thing I've ever made... Minus my daughter herself.

Thursday night I was up until some crazy hour finishing on last Halloween dress for Lil' J to wear to school Friday. I purposely have been making ONLY seasonal clothes for her because that way I'm on a deadline to finish them all before the holiday is over. It forces me to use the fabric, and learn faster.

This is a reverse-knot dress. I got this pattern from Designs by Elli Ette Boutique. I added the sash myself by just sewing the right side ends together of 4in wide and 52in long fabric (hot dog style). Then flip it inside out and sew the ends.
Easy peasy!

But not as easy as these leg warmers she's wearing. I did an easy tutorial for them before she was born that was pretty easy but these were even easier.

I made her dress the night before right? Well, that next morning as we were leaving for work I realized it was sooo cold out! So I ran up to her sock drawer and pulled out some knee-high Halloween socks I had on standby. They are women's knee-high socks. There was a black pair and a striped pair so I grabbed one of each. I'm into mismatched leggings right now.

I ran downstairs and turned them in to leg warmers in 5 seconds... All you need are knee-high socks and scissors (preferably fabric scissors, but whatever).

Step 1: Cut the feet section off your socks.

TADA! You're done!

I put them on her with the top part of the socks that has the elastic stretch towards her thigh, and the ends are just loose. You can fold them up and pin them from the inside with a safety pin if you want or just do what I did and leave it unfinished. You can't really tell, since it's knit fabric it doesn't fray, and they are way cute and fast! Of course if you have more time check out my other tutorial for a slightly nicer way to finish them off.

It makes or a cute outfit spicer upper.

We went to the store with her dressed like this after work and school and at least 10 people commented on her outfit or "costume" as some called it. When some asked me what she was I said "a pretty witch" ... Whatever. I made the coordinating small bow that's in some of the photos. The fancy hat she's wearing in the others is by London Blue Designs and her shoes are from Cambria Laine.

I also made her Lamb Halloween Costume and I'll try to post a tutorial for that next week, unless it's lame that it's after Halloween. If so I'll just post a photo when I get a good one.

I hope you're enjoying my more frequent Makin' Monday posts. I'm trying to be more crafty and share what I'm making. Many of you have shared your new sewing talents with me posting pictures on my facebook page and emailing me, I'm loving it!It's great finding new ideas to try, testing them out, and sharing the ease of it all. I think is blog is motivating me to be crafty. Yall's positive reinforcement really helps. So THANKS!

Seriously, if I can do this stuff, you can too! I'm hoping to make a really easy dress tutorial soon if I can figure out how to make it myself. I'm also pinning sewing ideas like crazy on pinterest, so if you want to follow me there, my board to watch for is "SEW Making This"

Did you make anything this week?

I'd love to see! Link up! Grab a button to share if you want too!

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Mini Mod #10: 31 Days of Halloween

Welcome to Mini Mod #10! A weekly fashion link up for the minis in our lives!

If you read my post first thing this morning... I'm sorry. I call that "drunk blogging" but without the alcohol. But I guess I was tipsy from lack of sleep and I woke up today going "now what did I say again?"

Most of it is still here but I edited my typos and added the links and photos I promised you at 3am.

I'm so proud if myself; as this week, not only did I sew Lil' J three dresses, make her Halloween costume (and sustain severe hot glue gun burns in the process) clean the whole house (minus our room), keep it clean, make dinner (one night) and get the car's emissions and inspection taken care of, make my family lunches every single night this week... I also did all the crap I normally do while working a full week. I've never felt this accomplished and I feel like Super Woman.

The only thing I haven't been doing much of is sleeping. (Hence this blog post via iPhone in bed at 2:40am. )

If you're following my Facebook Page at all you've probably seen Lil' J wearing Halloween attire all month long to school.

Before some of you freak out about the assumed cost and waste of resources for things she'll wear just a few times (if that) let me explain... She's done some boutique modeling, we've done some thrift shopping, and I've made her a few things, so it's averaged out to fantastic deals on lots of Halloween fashion. I'd be surprised if we spent more than $50 on everything.

She doesn't quite have 31 Halloween outfits. Just enough for the 3 days a week she goes plus some things for weekends and parties. I didn't count everything but I tried to snap a photo on my phone each day.

Here's an iPhone collage of her Halloween Fashion. I used a cool iPhone app called Pic Collage. I think it was free, or .99 max.

I was up late making this dress for her to wear today as I knew it would be her last chance to wear it to school before the holiday is over (Monday she'll wear her costume). I messed up a bunch at the very end and it was tragic. I almost stabbed myself to death with my thread picker. But this morning, when I put it on her, it looked cute. Mistakes looked minimal to the average eye.

Dress by Mom! Pattern from: Designs by ElliEtte

I made her a matching bow, put a long-sleeved shirt underneath, and cut her some mismatch leg warmers real quick before we got in the car since it was chilly out this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to show off some cuter photos later once we get home to have a photo shoot. This one may be my favorite one I've made so far.

She wouldn't stand still for me to take a picture so here's a sneak peek from the back. And if you can't wait to see it, I posted a picture of it without her in it on twitter last night/this morning.

What did your kiddos sport this week? Link up and show it off. I've been loving looking at your links and fashionable kiddos. This week I wanted to showcase this cutie pie, little Ari from Ari's Journey Through Montessori.

She needs some love on this post so stop by and say hi when you get a chance. And visit other linkers in the blog hop. I visit you all too. Grab a button too if you so choose, so more people can join the Mini Mod party!

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Guess who's coming to dinner?: Meeting my husband's parents for the first time.

Being in an interracial relationship, one of the first things people ask us is "what did his parents think?"

People usually ask what they thought before asking what my parents thought. I'm not sure why, because he's the lucky one. ... I mean that in a non-conceited way. Of course I'm lucky too but when people ask me what his parents thought it comes across--to me--as if they would be the ones, if any, to disapprove. But why?

I'll admit, I was more nervous about meeting his parents and family than I was about him meeting mine, despite my having a strict father who tried to tell me I needed to marry a "strong black man." I knew ultimately it wouldn't matter to them what my intended husband looked like, but how he treated me. The hesitation I felt toward meeting his family was more based on past experiences with people I was friend with, and their families reactions.

My white friends growing up didn't always seem to have parents who would have supported them either way. I mean, maybe they would have had it come to that, but based on what I heard--Things like "it's against the Bible to date outside your race" or "My father would not like it if I had a black boyfriend" their parents weren't so keen on the idea.

Having been raised hearing those things in the Georgia, I never knew what to expect if a white guy were to bring me home.

So... This new boyfriend of mine--a white guy from Utah--and I, had only been dating something like a week when he told me his parents wanted to meet me. What the...?

I can't remember asking him flat out if they knew I was black, but I knew they did. Something about the way he was so overly excited about me meeting them. I had an inkling they'd be fine with it.

It's weird even writing this down just now. That they'd be fine with it. I wasn't ashamed of being me, being black and who I am, but I worried about a possible supremacy attitude I sometimes saw and heard growing up in Georgia. I worried because I liked this guy so much, and I'd hate for some punk parents to screw it up for us.

"My dad is excited to talk to you about BYU." That's one of the only prefaces I remember him telling me before going to his house.

Ok, great. I thought. There's at least one thing we'll have in common.

But we actually had a lot in common.

I don't remember much of what I talked about with my then-boyfriend's dad, but I remember thinking he was very nice and very funny--of course still true to this day.

His mom wasn't home during all of this, and I was actually most nervous about meeting her. I heard she grew up in Atlanta and well... I did too and I know all to well that everyone isn't so friendly, especially when it comes to racial issues.

I'll never ever forget the moment I met his mother. This smooth guy I was dating had an awesome idea that we should go downstairs and watch some TV white we waited for her to get home. Of all the shows he chose to watch he picked the movie Friday.

If you aren't familiar with Friday, it's basically a stereotypical comedy about some pot-smoking friends (Ice Cube and Chris Tucker) in an urban neighborhood avoiding drive-bys and gangster thugs. If you know me, you know this isn't my typical choice of movie. But he's always found this kind of stuff hilarious.

So amidst his laughter, his mom starts walking down the stairs to the basement. I tell him someone is coming--Thinking he'd get the hint to change the channel. But instead he pauses the movie. And the frame he just so happens to stop on was something between this...

And this...

So his mom, who's never met me before joins us downstairs with a giant freeze-frame of thugness all over the big screen, and her son is hanging out, watching this with his new black girlfriend.

I'll be honest. I don't remember that conversation at all because I was so horrified. I'm a big believer in first impressions make a difference and I didn't feel like that was the best one for me to give.

When she left I asked him what he was thinking... 'Great, now your mom is going to think I'm some kind of bad influence on you.'

But he laughed it off and assured me his mom knows him and knows he watches stuff like that all the time.

It's true. Growing up he asked his mom to buy him Snoop Dogg cassettes, and probably other hip hop and R&B music.  I've even seen pictures of him as a young boy, with his blond hair and pretty blue eyes wearing his wind breakers, listening to his Walkman (he says Snoop was playing at the moment) and his Paula Abdul poster hanging behind him. He's always been very... Cultured. I guess you could say.

The following weeks I joined him and his family for Sunday dinners, and family parties. I met all of his local extended family just a week later, including his uncles, aunts, and cousins. And shortly thereafter I met his grandparents, who had just returned from a mission trip to Australia. Not one person batted an eye to the fact that he was dating a black girl. No one cared.

I even remember later having conversations with some of his family about the fact that nobody cared. I think part of it could be because religion was a more important commonality to them, but since then I've seen even that doesn't make them disapprove of someone.

Looking back and remembering this experience has really made me realize not everyone has the same opinions on interracial relationships. Growing up I felt like it would be a lifelong battle if I decided to marry someone outside of my race, but luckily for me, it hasn't been.

Sure, there are occasions where we encounter things that make us go "hmmm" but that hasn't happened with his family. Nor with mine... But I'll go more into my side some other time.

I know for a fact I don't care about race in regards to who my daughter decides to date or marry. What about your children?

20 Minute Easy Ruffle Dress Tutorial Test: What I'm Making Monday

I love trying out tutorials but it cracks me up the time when I see people saying "Oh this is so easy it took 10 minutes... blah blah blah." Stop bragging you craftoholic!

Ok, maybe they aren't trying to show off, but trying to emphasize how simple the steps are. I almost never believe this for things when it comes to sewing. If something only takes 20 minutes it but be because a pro did it, or seriously easy enough for a 5-year-old to do.

I saw a tutorial for a 20 minute ruffle dress and stored it in my internal memory book for if I ever found this pre-ruffle fabric the woman spoke of, and found time to experiment.

Well, a few weeks ago on one of my recent frequent trips to Hobby Lobby I saw some. I grabbed a bit of two colors an decided I'd finally give this a try and see if it's as easy as she makes it out to be, and if it could really be done in just 20 minutes.

In her tutorial she said you need a yard of fabric, but I risked it and got just a half a yard of each. Which actually turned out to be more than enough for my toddler and at $10.99 a yard and using my 40% off coupon I got fabric for both dresses for less than $7.

Ok so to make this I got out:
Pre-ruffle fabric (Enough fabric for your little one. I used the built in 52in wide or whatever the standard fabric width is for the width of the dress and the 18in I had cut (1/2 yard) for the length.)
Coordinating thread
Scissors
Pins
A timer (to see how long this 20 minute dress really takes)

I also printed out this bodice pattern of a sleeveless dress the author mentioned in her post. I have several other dress patterns but I wasn't sure if a "sleeveless" pattern meant it could be a dress pattern without the sleeves part attached, or if it needed to be an intentionally sleeveless dress, so just in case I printed out that one. But the pattern is missing the 18 month old bodice back, so I kinda made it smaller myself.

I folded two ends of the fabric to the center and pinned the pattern to the fabric, with the part that says "fold" where the fabric was folded over on the edge.  Since it kept slipping this part alone took up a quarter of my time. I was already running behind. (I did pause my timer to take photos).

Then I cut around each bodice pattern piece, careful not to cut along the line that says "fold" cause then the whole thing would be screwed up and in pieces.

I cut down to the edge of the fabric to make it as long as possible since I only had 18 inches to use and after sewing it all up with the sleeves and creases I wasn't sure how short it would be. Looking back I didn't need to use all of that fabric and it tapers off now because of that but whatever. After I cut I was at 9 minutes 34 seconds.

So this picture shows each half of the dress but each half is folded in half. I opened up each half, then stuck them together with the ruffles on the inside and pinned around the edges. I didn't take a picture of this, probably because I was embarrassed that my time was already up by the end of it. I guess I'm a slow pinner.

Then I took it to my sewing machine and sewed up each side, of the dress but stopping at the arm area so she could stick her arms through of course.

Then I sewed across the top to close the shoulder area, but careful not to sew up the neck hole so her head could fit through of course.

Then I turned the dress rightside out (because we were sewing with the ruffles in remember?) and folded over some of the sleeve area and neck area and did some zig zag stitching to make it look a little more "finished" I didn't hem the bottom though, and apparently, knit doesn't fray, so it's all good. 

I added a sash I had already made to go with another Halloween dress I'm working on and TADA! I was done! Total time: 44 minutes 19 seconds.

I'll admit, I did screw up around the sleeve area and had to take out some stitches and try again so that took up a little bit of extra time, but I'm also super slow.

I didn't need to make it nearly this long. In fact I may hem it up a little so she doesn't look like she's wearing an evening gown for homecoming, and then take it out as she grows taller. I'm not sure if I like my tapering experiment either. I may cut across the bottom and make it all one length. Either way, I made a ruffle dress in 44 minutes! Cool right? What do you think?

I even got inspired by all of the ruffles and ruffle matched Lil' J with what I wore to work that day. No, I didn't make my dress it's from here.

My dress via: Eshakti (use "BMM0811" for $20 off through 10/31)

I'm going to experiment with making a no-sew version of this with the black ruffle fabric I got, time that version, and post it soon!

Did you make something this week? Link up!


Feel free to grab the button so others can know to share their craft ideas.

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Mini Mod #9: My Baby Loves Fashion {and Lollipop Moon Giveaway)

One thing I love about my daughter--Ok, I love everything about my daughter, but one thing I really love is the fact that she will wear and love just about anything I put her in--With the exception of some hats. But that's ok because I'm not a huge hat fan either. I have my days, and so does she. Other than that, she will prance around in cowgirl boots, tutus, giant headbands, what have you, and not bat an eye.

Not only that, she'll bring them back to be when I take them off. And now, when I grab a bow and hold it toward her to see if it will match her outfit, she reaches to her head as if to say "hey mom, it goes up here!"

That's my girl!

Welcome  to Mini Mod! My weekly linky where you show off  up your stylish kiddo!

Strangers always say things to me like "Oh, enjoy it now, soon enough she'll be pulling those bows out" or "My daughter used to wear bows, I miss those days." I'm not sure how old their kids were or if they know how old my daughter is but if she doesn't want to wear something, she lets me know already. There's no protest on her behalf.

Others ask me how in the world she manages to keep them in. "Why doesn't she pull them out?" they ask. I have no explanation--Except perhaps, the fact that she's had something on her head or in her full head of hair since moments after birth.

That's my girl!

If she grows up and turns into a tomboy, so be it. We'll just have to make sure she's a fashionable tomboy. But for now, I'm glad when I put her in something as pink and frilly as this, she can look back at me and give me this face.

What she's wearing:
Baby Love Pettiskirt and Onesie: New at Lollipop Moon
Pink Clippie: Crafted by Mommy

Want it?
Lollipop Moon is one of my favorite online boutiques. They carry all sorts of adorable baby lines including Lollipop Moon, MudPie and One Posh Kid. I'm already scoping out their holiday sales for Lil' J's Christmas wardrbobe. They were one of the first boutiques to do a promotion with me and the continue to be so sweet to my readers and I. The owner is once again offering a $25 gift card to one of you.

To enter use the giveaway form below. Don't worry, giveaways won't be taking my blog over, I'll be doing a select few. And I'm not going to offer a million different ways to enter. This is a new fun way I hope to administer giveaways going forward, to make it easier and more fair for everyone.



I'm bringing some giveaways back to my blog (but not becoming a "giveaway blog"). If you have an item you think fits the concept of my blog you'd like to have considered for a review or giveaway please email me.

Can't wait to blog hop and see what you share this week. Link up above!

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365 Love Letters Week 38

I've gotten behind in uploading my 365 love letters and with less than 100 days left I didn't want to quit now.

Though I've been taking photos for this project daily, I haven't been the best at editing these letters and uploading them online. But I love the feedback I get when I share these, and knowing others are enjoying them too.

Normally when I get behind on editing these, I wait until I catch up and can upload them all in one big batch, but I knew that could take a awhile, so as I finish editing these I'm uploading them in the weeks they were taken. I have my calendar filled in with the photos I've taken and I hope to be caught up by the end of the week. A few of these may look familiar... I got a couple of my dates mixed up in my last post and had to re-edit some. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be back to uploading one a day before bed like I did at the beginning of the year. It's much more fun and exciting that way.

I think my favorite in this batch is either 267 or 265.

Which do you like best?

Fall Children's Art Project: What I'm Makin' Monday

DIY Fall Crayon Leaves.

Here's a fun family craft to try with your kiddos if they won't eat the crayons...

What you need
Wax paper (about $1.25 at walmart)
Crayons (50 cents a box if you don’t have any laying around)
Scissors
Sharpie (later I found a pencil worked better for second tracing)
Brown paper grocery bag
Iron

Not pictured:
*pencil sharpener with larger hole (or cheese grater or scissors)
*paper towels
*leaf or two

1. Cut open a brown paper bag and lay it down to try and protect your counters.

2) Then peel paper off crayons and make shavings using a pencil sharpener.

3) Rip two pieces of wax paper off the roll and sprinkle one sheet with crayon shavings. Lighter sprinkling (not heavy concentrations) works best. Brown and dark colors didn’t work as well as the brighter ones. Hot pink worked great with the oranges!

4) Place the second sheet of wax paper on top of the shavings,

...Put a paper towel or two down on top and iron.

5) Trace your leaf with the sharpie, then set your melted creation ('sandwich') on top of the leaf drawing and trace leaf shapes. (The second tracing step here worked better with a pencil)

6) Cut out the leaves! You can add stems to some, but they’re kind of fragile and crunch off easy.

TADAA! What do you think?! You could use fishing line or thread and make a really neat mobile, or tape them to a window for the sun to shine through.
 
This would make a great Fall decoration for a classroom too!

I may try to turn mine into a mobile and hang it outside. I'll add some more photos once I complete that task!

Big thanks to Cambria Laine for this craft idea.

Make anything lately? Craft? Food? Anything? Please link up and share, I'd love to see!

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Mini Mod #8: Falling for Fall

Don't you love fall fashion? Sadly, here in Texas it doesn't really feel like fall yet. It looks like it because of the drought, everything is brown, but it still feels pretty warm. So I'm not quite busting out the boots and leggings on a daily basis yet, but I'm enjoying the fall prints for my little mini me.

If you haven't played before, Mini Mod is a weekly linky where you link up to a post where you show off your kiddos and what they're styling in. If you remember, tell us where you got their cute clothes or accessories so we know where we can find it.

I did make her another dress this week but she hasn't worn it yet since all month she's wearing Halloween-themed clothes to school. Next month she'll be decked out in fall attire. I did just get another sewing pattern for a bubble dress thanks to a sweet reader, and I can't wait to use it to make Lil' J another dress. I'll probably show them off in an upcoming Mini Mod post. ... Yes, now I have a fall sense of security in my sewing skills since I've managed to make two dresses without the use of glue or iron stitch.

Dress: Adelaide's Boutique; Bow: Oh Sweet Baby Boutique

A few of you asked me if I'd make one for you and I'm telling you... You can do this! Just get some help from a friend to get going and you'll pick it up. Plus, you don't want one that I've made because up close you'll see all of my imperfections.

As you saw a couple of weeks ago, and in many of my 365s, we love Adelaide's Boutique. I think we have about five dresses of hers now. The owner is really sweet and one of the main reasons I decided to start giving sewing a try myself (and to save my pocket book).

Apple Orchard Dress: $39 Adelaide's Boutique

Frayed Flower Bow: $8 Oh Sweet Baby Boutique

I loved looking at all of your Mini  Mod links, even though it took me all week. I'm going to try to visit right away this week. I had to share this adorable photo this week from Just Keep Swimming. Her little girl has the cutest hat (she always has cute hats!) from Lottie Da. Be sure to stop by and tell her and her little Mini Mod hi! Then link up to yours below so we can all go visit and blog hop.

Link up below and visit the others. Grab my button if you want too, or just link back so others can play along.

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