Christmas applique shirts

In a few weeks we are going to ride on the Polar Express to see Santa. The kids are going to wear PJs so I wanted to make them matching ones. With all the projects I have, I didn't want to sew a whole PJ outfit, so I decided to just saw them the PJ bottoms. Then, I thought, hey, what not make everyone one so that we can wear it for our family Christmas morning picture! How cool would that be? I bought a ton of the green horn fabric above, and that would be the PJ for the boys, and the blue snowman hat is going to be the PJ bottom for the girls. For the top, I bought red long sleeves for the boys, and navy blue for the girls. I had no idea what design to applique on the top until last night as I was doing them. I originally had 6 different designs and as I was doing them thought that would be way too complicated. To make things easier, it's reindeer for boys, snowman for the girls.

I still have to sew them and sew details on, but they are looking pretty good. I might get our family pictures taken wearing these. :)

handmade custom home applique with name: Big M's order

The other day Big M came up to me and he said he wanted to out an order in. He has been seeing sew so much lately and I guess he just wanted something.

He said he wanted a frog. I thought it would be more interesting on a soccer ball. The two actually represents him very well. He loves it and that makes me happy.

I've been cresting a few things lately gearing up to open an online shop. I want to open with several inventory so I am busy creating. However, between creating things for the family and things to sell, it's been busy. I am not opening shop to get rich, I just want I make enough money to fund the creations I make for the kids and keep the hobby going. I figure this way, I can help a little bit financially - I can dress the kids with something they absolutely love.

xL t-shirt to girl's dress

I had a t-shirt laying around for Daddy that he never really wore so armed with the knowledge that there are people doing this exact same thing, here I my first attempt.

Actually, the first time I didn't modify the length so it looked like a perfect nightgown, which K did not like. So with some cutting and more sewing, she now loves it. I then appliquéd the flower to make it look girly.

More appliqués

Two evenings ago, I decided to make more appliqués. I started a robot for Little M and Mickey ears for Big M. The next morning, Little M saw the robot and demanded I finish it.

I have decided to open an Etsy shop and sell my hand-made creations. I have appliqués, embroideries, hair bows, wood carvings, dresses, jewelry and more. I am not creating anything anything unique, so I think my hook would be that it will be more economical compared to other online shops.

I will probably not start until fall when the kids are in school. But spread the word! I can even start now if anyone want to contact me for anything I've created. :)

a little me time = craft time

I've been busy with a few projects lately because I've been craving "me" time. I enjoy the time I make things for the kids. I've also started a few things I haven't done before.

My crafting frenzy was kick started by this PJ for Big M. He picked out this fabric last fall and he has patiently waited this long for me to make it. It is sewn from a Simplicity 9900 pattern.

I then moved on to this dress for J. This fabric along with the one below for K, was not intended for a dress. They were intended for a PJ for the same pattern as the above, but I discovered that I had only bought 1 yard, which was not enough. With this pattern, it took a little puzzle work to make the patterns fit, but it worked out.

And true to our color coding, K has a pink one. (Though it amazes me that after almost 5 years of this color coding, Daddy still asks who is pink and who is purple.)

This embroidery is a new project for me. I have the supplies from unfinished cross-stitching from many many years ago (before we had kids). With a little internet research, I was able to find a Jake and the Neverland Pirates coloring page and that is what I embroidered. I put an "M" on the boots for some personalization. :) Little M loves this character!

With many crafty friends online and Pinterest, I kept seeing appliqué work on shirts. Some of them are being sold for some big money, so with more research I found out how to make one on my own. So here is J with a mouse ears with a bow.

This is K's version. The crown is from the dress fabric of hers pictured above. This has also gotten the ball rolling on a family shirt for our trip to Disney World. FUN!