a T-Shirt Dress

I bought a knit fabric some time ago (the stripey blue one) and don't know what to do with them. So it sits in my stash until one day, i finally got an idea - an easy one. Make them into a dress - well, sort of. I got this plain sleeveless tee and the stripey knits will be the dress.

Materials: plain tee & knit fabric

First, cut the fabric into 4 long strips (i roughly estimate the length of the dress i want and cut accordingly). Then, place 1 strip of the fabric at the bottom of the tee-shirt and fold pleats. Pin it and sew (as shown in the picture below).

 Do the same for the back side of the tee shirt. Then trim any extras at the side and sew them together.

Trim the sides and sew together

Now, for the upper pleats. I measure 2 inch from the bottom pleats and drew a line as my marking. Check to make sure that both the front and back line matches.

Draw a marking for the upper pleats

As with the bottom pleats, place the knit fabric on the line marking and fold the pleats. Pin and sew.

Pin and sew the upper pleats

This is how it should looks like after sewing the upper pleats. Trim the sides and sew them together. (I have not trim the sides for the picture below)

Using some leftovers, i cut a long strips and did some ruffles to make a little flower for the top. =)

And here's a picture of little Jay wearing  it on a trip to Sekinchan recently :)

Felt Photo Frame

Today, I'm going to post about my newly done project - magnet felt photo frame. I have always wanted to try this and am so happy with the outcome  (^_^) that i make another one right after i finished the first one. Here's how i make them...

 1. Cut 2 pieces of felt - according to the size of your photo. My photo was an A4 size so i added
     another 1 inch around the photo as the frame border.
 2. Then on 1 piece cut out the middle part slightly smaller than the photo so that the photo will
     stay put. This will be the front piece.
 3. Using craft glue, i glued a transparent cover (can be found at any bookstore ) onto the front
     piece. ( Notice that the hole is slightly smaller than the A4 transparent cover )

4. When the glue had dried, put the front and back piece together ( the side showing the glue face
    inside ) and sew the sides as shown by the yellow dotted lines. This is to ensure that the photo
    will stay in place. Sew up the other 2 sides but only on the front piece so you will have an
    opening to insert the photo later.

5. Next is the fun part - assemble the little designs that you want! I've cut out pieces of felt
    to make a bus, plane, hot air balloon, trees, heart shapes and little clouds. Sew them on the front
    piece. Lastly, sew up all sides except your opening to insert the photo of course and glue some
    magnets to the back.

This is how it look like when done.

I also did a flower one with a little bee and ladybug as shown below.

Loved them! ^.^

CNY Blooms

My previous post was about flowers... and so was this one! I've decided to make a bouquet of little flowers using the ideas I saw on Facebook sometime ago.

 

Aren't they sweet? It is simple to make as well.

First of all, gather the materials. I searched around my house and found these:

1. Felt according to your colour choices

2. Cotton Twine

3. Steel Pin with Pearl

4. Plastic Container

5. A ball of fiber stuffing - i found a softball that fits perfectly :)

6. Matching threads, Sewing needle, Craft Glue (picture not shown)

To make the "vase" wrap the cotton twine around the plastic container using craft glue. Do Not leave the container up while wrapping. You don't want the cotton twine to come off at the bottom as you press them down firmly during the wrapping process. It may feels messy at first but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it after a few rounds. Below is the picture of how i did mine.

As for the flowers, i did mine using a 20 cents coin as my template. Each flower will need 4 frilly circles and 1 plain circle. To get the frilly circle, just draw some frills around the circle  and cut accordingly. Then take the first frilly circle and fold them in half and half again. Place them on the plain circle and sew a few stitches. Repeat with the other 3 frilly circles. Add a few more stitches to secure it and knot it underneath. Voila, you'll get a cute little flower. 

Next,push a pin through the middle of the flower and you are ready to arrange your flower on the fiber stuffing. I added 2 leaves (just to inject some green into it) which is very simple too. Cut a larger and a slightly smaller leaves and sew them to the back of your flower. Or you can pin it like your flower too. Hope the pictures helps.

Well, that's just about it. Pretty easy right except the cutting part..hehehe

Anyhow, I'm happy with the results. Maybe I'll do some other flowers next time. For the time being, this will seat  nicely in my living room. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!