18 inch Doll T-shirt Pattern & Tutorial

What you will need:
old t-shirt or jersey knit scap and velcro

pattern pieces (link at the bottom)

Cut out your pattern pieces. The front piece is cut on the fold. I used the existing hem from a t-shirt so that I would not have to hem the doll shirt.

Cut out the back pieces. Cut 2 and make sure they face in opposite directions. I cut these pieces using the hem as well.

Open up the front piece and place the back pieces on top of the front piece with right sides together. Line up shoulder seams and stitch across.

Now hem the arms and neck openings. I just folded the fabric over 1/4 inch, since it is knit it will not fray.

With right sides together sew from the arm all the way to the bottom hem.

Now attach the velcro. Fold over one side so that you can attach velcro to the inside of the shirt.

Sew the velcro on top of the folded edge. I usually take a piece of velcro and cut it to the length that I need and then cut it in half lengthwise so that it is skinnier.

Sew the velcro on the other side along the outside edge. I do not fold this edge over.

Embellish the tee or leave it plain.

That's it. Easy, right?

If you make any doll tees, please remember to add photos to my flickr pool.

Download Pattern Pieces

American Girl Doll Clothes

One of Harper's friends had a birthday party on Saturday. When Harper asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said doll clothes for her new American Girl doll. That is all the motivation I needed to get sewing. I love making these little outfits.

I created the pattern for the t-shirt. I wanted a simple tee that was only a couple of pieces. I used one of my old t-shirts so I didn't have to hem the bottom. I should have a tutorial up for it tomorrow.

The skirt is made from five 7 inch squares. I sewed them together then hemmed the bottom. The waist is elastic.

The peasant shirt and pants are from patterns that I already had.

I wanted all the pieces to be interchangeable so she can have 4 different outfit combinations.

See you tomorrow with the t-shirt pattern and tutorial.

Happy Crafty Tuesday!!

Mighty Nest-Lifefactory Glass Water Bottle

It is no secret that I have a slight obsession with reusable water bottles. We have a Klean Kanteen for every person in the family plus a couple of spares. We rarely leave home without them. So when Mighty Nest offered to send me a Lifefactory glass water bottle to review, I couldn't resist. I love drinking out of glass, so I was very intrigued.



I have been using the bottle for over a week now and love it. I enjoy drinking out of glass and it is really easy to drink from the wide mouth top. I found that I drank more water during the week too. I think it helped to be able to see how much water was left in the bottle. It is also dishwasher safe, which is a HUGE plus. The only drawback that I found was traveling in the car. I usually use a klean kanteen with a sip top, so all I have to do is drink. With the glass bottle you have to screw the top off, which isn't always the easiest while driving. Overall though I love the bottle. It will definitely be my go to water bottle.

You can find the water bottles here.

Mighty Nest is offering all my readers 10% of the Lifefactory Water Bottles-the 22oz, 16oz, and oz. Just enter coupon code NGM10 at checkout. The coupon is valid until Sept. 15, 2011.


Disclaimer: Mighty Nest did send me the water bottle to review, but I am not being compensated in any way by Mighty Nest.

Foyer Makeover- Part 1

I have been itching to makeover my foyer for awhile now. I painted it 9 years ago when we moved into the house. At the time I thought the whitewashed look was cool. Now not so much. I knew it would be a pretty inexpensive makeover. So Sunday we decided to go for it.

This is after one coat.

Since Mitch and I were busy painting, the kids decided to make lunch. This was my plate. I thought it was very sweet. I did add some sugar snap peas, olives, and pita bread though.

Here's the foyer all painted. I painted a mirror yellow and hung it on the wall, but I had already taken this photo. I still need to paint the trim and decide what I am going to put in the foyer.
I will post more photos once it is all put together.
Mitch isn't too sure of the paint on the doors. Harper says it looks like Disneyworld. I like it.

I sure do love a good home improvement project. Especially when it just involves some paint. I am slowly making my way through the house. I am trying to do all the stuff that is easy and not too expensive while we save up some money to do some major remodeling to the kitchen.

52 Weeks of Me- Hands and Negative Space

Since I am so far behind on these, I am having a hard time keeping up with the themes. Here is what I took for hands.

I am so grateful that my little girl still wants to hold my hand.

Here's my attempt at negative space. I really need to make more of an effort to stop and smell the roses.

Kindermat Cover with Pillow Tutorial

I finally completed a sewing project. Woohoo. This one was completed out of necessity, but it did get my creative juices flowing.

Miller needed a cover for his kindermat. His feet hung off the bottom of the mat, so I thought I would add a built-in pillow case to make it a little bit longer. I took photos so that I could include a tutorial.

Materials:

2 yards of fabric (I used flannel)

Kindermat

Travel Size pillow

The selvage edge does not fray so you don't have to worry about fraying on the pillowcase.

I don't have a very good picture of the next step, but all you do is sew along the long side starting where you made the mark for the pillowcase. If the cover is a little loose, you can stitch along the folded edge too. Then turn it right side out and sew along the line you made for the pillow.

It's hard to see the words in this photo, but it says center velcro and sew in place.

We are officially ready for kindergarten now.

I am happy to report that when I picked Miller up from his first day of kindergarten, he declared "I love it".

Miller's First Day of Kindergarten

Well today is the big day, Miller's first day of kindergarten. It is only a half day, but we are one step closer. Friday will be his first full day. I really can't believe it. It still seems surreal to me.





He did much better than I had expected. I am happy to report there were no tears shed by either of us. I could tell he was just barely holding it together, but knew he would be fine once they were all set up in the classroom. I knew if he started crying I would too, so I scooted out before he could think about it too much.



I did almost lose it when I saw this though. Harper was so sweet with him this morning. I think she is excited to have her brother at school with her now.

This time around has been so different. I am so glad he has Harper to look after him.

Canoeing the Elk River

On Saturday we decided to head to the Elk River for a day of canoeing and fishing. I brought the point and shoot along so I have photos to document the day even if the quality isn't the best.

It was overcast and there was a fog over the water. It made the river look very eery. All Miller wanted to do was fish for trout. The river is very cold and it is stocked with trout.

Mitch managed to catch one trout. He promised Miller that they could keep it and cook it up for dinner. He was very excited about eating a fish that they caught.

This is how Harper felt about it. She was so upset about the killing and eating of the fish. She declared she was becoming a vegetarian.

Fishing isn't really my thing, but I sure do enjoy the canoeing part. I just wish it had been a little warmer so that we could swim in that ice cold water.