Pillows

Well, it's been another while. I guess it is fair to say that I am just not super consistent about getting these posts up. To be honest I haven't even been crafting very much lately! It has been quite busy around our little home with school and pregnancy and such. I was just going through my pictures and found a simple project that I did for a friend though....recovering pillows.

She bought these pillows at a thrift store. If you are re-covering pillows, it doesn't matter if they match, as long as they are about the same size. She also picked up some normal-sized pillow cases to use as the covers. 

The pillow cases were envelope pillow cases. I first laid out one pillow case and cut up the sides of the smaller flap.

I next cut the bottom off and up the sides. I was cutting through both layers of the pillow case.

I then cut straight across to make two squares just bigger than the size of the pillow.

The fabric squares were then placed right-sides-in, pinned and sewn along three full sides and a few inches in both sides of the top.

All four corners were then cut.

The cover was then turned right-side-out and the pillow was placed inside.

With the pillow inside, the raw edges were tucked in and pinned. 

This edge was then sewn. You can do this by hand to give a good, clean look, but I wanted thee fast way out, so I did it with my machine. It gives a little bit of an edge that sticks out, but for these, I thought it turned out fine. 

The same process was repeated with the second pillow! 

~K.A.N.

Cousins

A while ago, I was able to see my cousin! She lives in Canada and I don't get to see her very often, so I do love it when she comes to visit. She really is superwoman! She has two adorable little girls who are so great. I loved spending time with them and I just can't wait to see them again. 

While they were visiting, I loved taking pictures of them...they are just too cute not to. Don't you agree? :)

This little one is quite the talker and there is never a dull moment.

The younger girl was a little more shy and took some time, but finally warmed up to us. 

We spent this day up there and were also able to go up for Halloween! Did I mention my cousin is a superwoman? I wasn't kidding...the little ones were dressed up, but she just went as herself with her ladybug and snow bunny. 

It was so much fun and I am truly grateful for them. I can't wait to see them again.

Over a MONTH!!

I can hardly believe it's been over a month since my last post! I knew it had been a while, but I didn't think it had been that long! Wow, I guess I've been kind of busy. 

But guess what? That is just about over. Woo hoo! I just have one take-home final to finish, then I am home free for over 3 weeks. This is one thing that I love about college...we get awesome breaks; at least as an undergrad. It really is the best. 

Well, since it has been so long, I just decided to show you a quick post of the outfit that I mad for my best friend's little guy. He is over 2 months old now and just a little cutie. He still doesn't quite fit into this outfit, but it is definitely one of my favorite gifts I have ever made. 

The first thing I made was the bow-tie onesie. It was pretty simple and I love the bow tie! I made the bow tie out of some navy blue cotton and found the onesie at a yard sale for 25 cents! I just attached the bow tie directly onto the onesie.

After the top was made, I worked on the bottoms. I found some boy slacks (size 12, I think) at a thrift store for a couple of dollars and just used the bottom of the legs to make these little pants. I drew out a pattern to be 6 months (the same size as the onesie), put the legs together, and made a simple elastic waist. 

The last thing I made was the shoes. I technically made them very first, but they didn't turn out quite right, so this second pair was made after the above outfit was made. They turned out just right and I adore them!

The top flap is held down by a little square piece of velcro. I sewed the button on last to cover most of the seam from the velcro underneath. 

Like I said, this little outfit is one of my favorite gifts yet!

I can't wait to see him wear it. 

~K.A.N.

Knotted Headbands

I saw a picture of these headbands on pinterest and just loved the knot! I then found a tutorial of how to do it and made a bunch of them because they are just so easy!

I did this with a couple different fabrics...literally it takes 5 minutes to make one!

You will need: knit fabric (I used old t-shirts), something to cut with, and a hot glue gun.

First cut strips to the width you like. I did several different widths to see what I liked best, just make sure you have two of the same width.

Take two strips of the same width and pull on the ends to stretch them out. This will make them roll in.

Take the first strip and lay it in a shape as shown below, I will call it the ribbon strip. **Make sure the ends are overlapping as shown with the right over the left!

Place the second strip in a U-shape over the first strip. NOTE: The U-shape strip from here on should have the right side UNDER the right end of the ribbon strip.

Take the left side of the U-shape strip and lay it under the bottom strip as shown. 

Take the right strip and thread it through as shown: over the first, under the second, and out over the third. Make sense?

Now, pull evenly on the two ends at each side, adjusting as needed.

Pull all the way tight to make your knot!

Cut the ends to make them straight.

Cut a small rectangle, put the ends together and hot glue to hold in place. 

And that's it. Go make a bunch, wear them and give them to friends! 

Here is a picture of a sweet little one with a headband I made. Such a little cutie!

~K.A.N.

Fixing Jeans

I had two pairs of jeans that needed some fixing, so I'm going to show you what I did to both in this post. 

The first pair had a rip which I didn't notice and wore to school one day...that's embarrassing!

The second pair had back pockets that I didn't like. I would always try to wear long shirts to cover the pockets because I love how the jeans fit. Instead of always trying to find long shirts to wear, I decided to replace the back pockets.

I pulled out my box of extra jeans and found a pair with pockets that closely resembled the color of the jeans that needed new pockets.

 The first step was to unpick the pockets from the new pair of jeans. I did one pocket and laid it over the old pockets to make sure they fit and didn't look strange. 

I decided they were good and unpicked the rest of the pockets. 

I then pinned the new pockets in place...

And sewed them right down. I used a jean needle, sturdy thread, and went slow, making sure to get the edges nice and secure. And that was it...I now have a "new" pair of jeans!

As for the jeans with the rip, I decided to just use a small piece of jean to just patch up the hole. 

I cut a piece out from another pair of jeans, just bigger than the rip and following the same general shape.

I laid it down to make sure it was the right size. You don't want it too big, but it's better to be a little big than too small!

Carefully, I pinned the piece in place.

Then, I just zig-zag stiched all the way around the fabric! From the outside of the jeans, you can barely even see the stitching and with the fabric secured in place, the rip won't be moving around or getting any bigger. 

~K.A.N.