Crafty Wednesday!

Today, I hit the sewing machine almost right off the bat. It's amazing how much more productive I am when I actually sleep through the night. First up, I tested the instructions for making a child's apron out of a pot holder, & dishtowel.
 
This is a project I saw online for sale, and came up with the instructions based on the end product. It looked simple, and it turned out to be simple.

The only complaint I have with it, is that it is way too long with a full towel to use as a child sized apron. With the full size towel, it actually comes out as being long enough for an adult apron! It came to my knees, so it is not a good height for a toddler. Tomorrow, I plan to cut & hem the bottom of it, and turn the bottom part into a pocket for the apron. I think that will shorten it considerably.

Scroll down for photos of the steps.

Here is a copy of the instructions:
Child's Kitchen Apron
What You'll Need:

• 1 Kitchen Towel
• 1 Rectangular Pot Holder
• 1 Spool of Ribbon
• Sewing Machine or needle
• Thread

1. Clip the loop off the pot holder, if there is one.
2. Take into account the child's height, then decide whether you want the towel to hang length wise, or sideways, depending on how tall or short the child is. Once you have decided, sew the pot holder onto the top edge, in the middle. The ends do not have to be bunched or gathered, they remain flat.
3. Once you have the pot holder sewn on, cut a length of ribbon long enough to loop over the child's head, or create two lengths that can be tied around the neck. Sew the two ends to the upper corners of the pot holder.
4. Sew two lengths of ribbon to the top corners of the towel, to tie around the child's waist. If you choose to make a sideways apron, you may want to fold the top corners down, and stitch the corner down before sewing ribbons on, to make it shorter around the waist. With smaller children, the apron might be too wide to tie around the waist at full length.
5. To keep the ribbon from fraying, you can coat the ends in clear nail polish, or fold it over and sew the ends.

To add to this, here are some steps to take to avoid a too large for the child!

• Measure the child, hold the pot holder up to about arm pit level for the top. Measure from the bottom of the pot holder to the child's knees. That's how long you want the towel. Leave an extra half inch in length.
• Cut the towel so that the pattern you want is able to be used. If you have to cut the bottom hem, make sure to hem the edge again.

Overall, it came out cute. I used a pot holder that has a pocket in it (for what, I don't know- the top material is way too thin to use without the bottom portion as well). I sewed it so the pocket was face up, so the child can make some use of it.







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My next project was a spur of the minute project. Today, I found a frugal deal on WII games at Target, and mentioned it to Nick, who was of course, in love with the idea. We decided to meet up for lunch, and in doing so, we went to the Target near his work, which has the added bonus of being right near my favorite Dollar Store location. I don't usually go there, it's a 40 minute drive to that store, so unless I'm over there, I don't stop by.

Back to my next project. Yesterday, I found a new blog, Obsessively Stitching, which is a sewing blog, mostly. The owner found a super soft fleece scarf at Dollar Tree, and turned it into a pair of leg warmers for her baby daughter. In the tutorial, she shows the warmer off on  her arm, which got me thinking of soft, fuzzy fleece arm warmers to ward off the cold Michigan winter. Only, my Dollar Tree didn't stock those scarves! Sadness.

Today, Nick and I stopped at the DT near him, though, and glorious! They had them! They had 4 different colors: lavender & gray, gray & white, gray & black, and black & white. I picked up the black   white, and the lavender   gray scarves. Tonight when I got home, I immediately set out for the sewing machine. These took a little work on getting them tight enough. While the scarf was skinny, it was stretchy, so when I made the first one, I had to go back over a line and make it skinnier to account for the amount of stretch.

What it left me with, though, is a gloriously fuzzy pair of arm warmers to help get me through the winter. I cut a thumb hole, and left enough length to cover my fingers to the knuckles. I'm actually typing with them right now! 

Fuzzy Dollar Store Armwarmers

What You'll Need:

• One Fuzzy Dollar Tree Scarf
• Sewing Machine
• Scissors

Total Cost: $1
Scroll down for photos of the project.

What To Do:

1. Fold the scarf in half, and cut it into 2 pieces. Take each half, and repeat the process, so you have 4 identical length sections.
2. Match the lengths up- two halves will have a serged end, with 1 color longer than the other stripes. Those are the two very end pieces, and for me, they matched up perfectly, stripe to stripe. The other two pieces will be lacking the serged end, and will also match up perfectly.
3. You can pin the halves together if you want, but I didn't. They're so short, and the fabric clings together, that it wasn't a problem sewing it without the pins. Sew a straight line down 1 side, to make 1 wide section.
4. Now, after doing that, unfold it, and take the un-serged ends, and just sew a straight line across. This is more to keep it from unraveling than anything.
5. Once that's done, fold it again, and sew a straight line down the other side. Keep it loose to start, then try it on. If it feels loose, just sew another straight line in about half an inch. Keep at it until you get a good fit.
6. Repeat with the second pair of scarves, and you have 2!

1. I cut a thumb hole into both of my arm warmers, but that's optional. I found a spot for my thumb that left the warmer enough length to go down my fingers to help keep my hands warm, then I pulled at the seam, and cut it apart.
2. Turn it right side out, and you are all set!

I get cold really easily. As I sit here, my toes are freezing, but my hands are nice and warm. I tried the pre-made gloves last year that don't have fingertips, and they just were never comfortable for me. I think I like these much better!

Have you done anything crafty lately? Feel free to share it with us!