Vintage Jar Makeover

I love little pretties.  And I especially love when I can store my little pretties in more little pretties!  And I am particularly fond of {labeling} my pretties holding little pretties....which brings me to:

Vintage Jar Makeover

I am a crafter.  I am just one of a long string of women crafters in my family.  My mom sews {and she is fan.TAS.tic! I learned everything I  know from her, and I only can hope to some day be as good as she!}, my grandmother and aunts crocheted and knit, and who knows what my ancestors before them did {I seriously need to find out!!}!   And with crafting comes supplies.  You know what I'm talking about: thread, needles, buttons, beads, pearls, glue, spray paints, punches, crystals, twine, rules, cutting mats, rotaries, scissors, thimbles {wait. does anyone actually still use those?!?}, ribbon and lace, oh my!  Except, actually the list goes on even more.  But you get my drift, at any rate.

So the question becomes, just what do we do with all this stuff??!  Now, I am not claiming I know the answer to everything to this question {if anyone wants to come help me organize the entire craft room, please be my very special guest, and I'll cook and bake for you while you do it!!}, but I do have one small solution for some items...and that is transforming every day glass jars into ever-cute storage containers. The beauty is, you're not only recycling something you might have otherwise thrown away, but these are actually pretty.  So you won't mind them sitting out...in fact, I think you'll very much enjoy them sitting out ~ BONUS!!

What You Need:

*old {or new} jar {with a two piece lid}
*chalk board paint
*chalk
*spray paint {in color of choice; here I used ivory for its versatility}
*trim of choice {ribbon, twine, jute, lace, etcetera}


Okay, so this is so, SO simple!  Just spray paint the flat portion of your lid with the chalkboard paint, paint the outer ring of the lid with the spray paint in your choice of color.  Once dry, put it all together and label the top of your jar with your chalk, fill the jar with your goodies and embellish with trim of choice! Voila!  Like I said, so ridiculously simple, but the results are impeccable! These make for such fun containers for gift-giving, too, but I utterly adore them sitting around my house myself! {Gotta find me some more cute jars!}

Not a crafter?  No problem!  You can use these little gems for oodles of things!  Here are just a few ideas, but the sky is the limit! Get creative, and don't be afraid!! {Top left, working clockwise: pearls, beads or other pretties you just like looking at; candy or snack mix storage - perfect tokens of love to use as party favors!; herb storage - cluster herbal jars together in your kitchen - so pretty! OR give as "thank you" gifts; bracelet and/or necklace charm storage - now the container's almost as pretty as the charm itself!}

 

Need more ideas?
*place setting markers ~ write each guest's name on the chalkboard lid, and fill with a special goody!
*luminaries - just fill with your tealights....a bunch scattered on the table would look amazing {no lids, though!}
*note keeper - fill up with cutesy rolled up notes - these could be special sayings, special memories, or even more of an "advent calendar," where you choose one note a day, and then go out and DO it!


Have fun with these!  Hope you love 'em as much as me! :)

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Fixing Clothing with Embellishments: Part I: Using Ruffles to Hide Holes

I know we have all had this scenario happen at our house.  Here's how the thinking goes: "Baby Jack's  favorite shirt got a hole in it.  It fits perfectly fine, but now we'll have to throw it away.  Oh, he'll be so disappointed.  I sure hope he doesn't notice it's missing from his closet."  Or maybe it goes like this, "Whaaaaat?  How did that happen?  We JUST got this shirt, and it already has a hole!  I wonder if I can return it...do I still have the receipt?"  Either way, you're totally bummed.  And probably about to throw the clothing (not to mention your money) down the drain.  But guess what?  Perhaps you do NOT need to throw it away.  In fact, you mostly likely won't need to!

There are so many easy ways to fix these kinds of items.  Especially when it comes to kids clothing in particular. Why?  Because you can get away with a lot of more embellishing "kid-style," if you will. You know what I mean....patches, ruffles, appliques.  These are all wonderful solutions for covering up holes or snags in clothing.

So, as I'm sure you've guessed, this recently happened at our house.  I had purchased a tank top from Baby Gap...before our daughter was even born, in fact.  I got it at the outlet, and in a size 12-18 months (yes, I like to plan ahead!).  So this Spring she is finally big enough to wear it.  So we tried it on, and guess what?  Not just one, but TWO holes were already in it (no wonder it was at the outlet, right?!!)!

one of the two holes I found....ugh.

As I sat muttering to myself {I won't go into what I was saying...it might have even been an expletive, not sure...but let's just say I wasn't happy - ha!}, I was just about to toss it. When all of a sudden, my crafty self came through and thought,"Wait just a minute here!  I can totally fix this!"  With ruffles.  Now how often can you say, "Ruffles to the rescue!"  Seriously!  I just looooooooooooove ruffles and am going to keep adding ruffles to everything for as long as they stay in style.

here it is...the fixed shirt...can i get a "thank you, ruffles!"?? :)

The other beauty of the fashions we're in right now? Raw edges. Mixing and matching.  Embellishing galore.  It's just the PERFECT time, style-wise (if you care about that at all!), to be able to change, upcycle and fix about anything!  Whoo-hoo! (Now if this style only NEVER went away, right?!)

So, as the shirt was made in a jersey knit (as most tshirts and cotton shirts are), I decided to stick with that same type of fabric for my ruffles I wanted to add.  I was ecstatic about using jersey knit, because when you cut this stuff it does NOT fray!!  This means a huge short-cut and time saver because you do.not.have.to.HEM.it!  Score!

So here are the steps I took to create this ruffled magic.  I do apologize for not having pictures of most of the process {including a picture of the original shirt - doh!}.  I wasn't planning to blog about this, but midway through my project, I thought to myself, "This is really something a lot of women should know about!  Ways to embellish and create and save money!"  So without further adieu...

First, I simply measured the length of the bottom part of the shirt.  Then I doubled that number (to get the length of the whole way around the shirt), then doubled it again.  {You always needs to multiple the total length you're going to ruffle by at least 1 1/2 times the length.  I like to go twice as long because it means even more ruffles!}

Then I cut 2 strips of jersey knit fabric.  One in white, and one in turquoise.  I cut each piece 3 inches wide and, again, 2 times the length around the bottom of her shirt.

Then I ruffled each strip with my sewing machine (click here to see a tutorial on how to make ruffles).  I did NOT secure the ruffles at this point.  {You could do that now, BUT you'll end up having to sew over the entire ruffled strip twice if you do that}.  So, for now, just sew on your basting stitch and gather & ruffle the strip of fabric now. 

Once ruffled, I placed the end of one of my ruffled strips (the white one) on the side seam of the shirt.  Then layed out the strip around the entire shirt {so that the ends of the ruffle met each other at the same side seam where I started} and made sure it fit around properly.  At this point, you will probably need to either ruffle some more, or let some ruffle out, if the ruffle is not fitting onto the shirt correctly {that is, matching up at the side seam}.  If the ruffle is hanging off the edge of the shirt, it's too long, and you need to ruffle your strip more.  If the ruffle is too short and not reaching the side seam, you need to let out some of the ruffle. Once I got it to fit around perfectly, I used oodles of pins to secure it in place!

 Go ahead and also pin the two ends of your ruffled strip together at the side seam.  Sew this together.  Be careful that you're sewing only the two strips together and not sewing it onto the shirt yet!

the two ends of one ruffled strip...pinned together and ready to be sewn

sewing the ends of the ruffled strip together...as you can see, NO shirt in sight here!

Now go ahead and sew that strip on.  Just sew right over your basting stitch.  Next up, the second ruffle.  I did the same thing with this ruffle, only pinned it below the first ruffle, of course.  I placed it so that the top ruffle would cover the top portion of this new one, but also so that this new ruffle would cover the bottom of the original hemline of the shirt.

here's how the ruffles look, placement-wise, on the shirt... the top (white) one is already sewn on...the bottom (turquoise) one, awaiting to be sewn.

here's how they lay when you put the ruffles down...you can see the white (top) ruffle just barely covers the bottom (turquoise) ruffle

Again, just sew the ends of it together first, then sew the entire ruffle on.  Trim your threads, remove pins, and presto!  Fixed shirt!  And in my opinion, this ruffling made the shirt look even cuter than the original!  Sa-weeeeeeeeeet!

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Hugely "Royal" PATTERN SALE!!

Happy "Royal" Day to you all!   Sooo, did you see it?  Did you stay up all night watching the royal nuptials? I have to confess that I did *NOT* -- but I saw clips of it, and it looked just gorgeous, and, well....royal!!  I think they make a grand couple - and probably the only royal couple we'll see get wed and then later step into their roles as King and Queen as a couple! 

To celebrate, we're having a ""royal sale" on our patterns - THIS WEEKEND ONLY!  (4/29-5/1)

Here's the scoop: When you buy any TWO PATTERNS from our shop, you can choose any TWO OTHERS FREE! That's 4 for the price of 2 - royally awesome, if I do say so myself! :)

To order, please check our shop pattern section first  {some sample images of patterns you can purchase are imaged below!}.Then just email me at adamsblankie@gmail.com with the 4 you want, and I'll invoice you for just 2 of them!  They will then be emailed out to you within 24 hours {probably even less} of payment.

paper rosette balls pattern

doodle diddie crayon roll pattern

leg warmers pattern

burp cloth pattern

Happy sewing & crafting! :)

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Nursing Cover Dress for Baby - DIY Tutorial

So baby is "all grown up" {or so it feels...} and you're done nursing her.  Now you've placed your nursing cover in the "To Donate," or "To Sell" pile, right?..........WRONG!  Instead of getting a measly 5 bucks for it, you can keep it and turn it into a gorgeous dress/long shirt for baby!  Afterall, it is in a fabric you must already love since you chose it as a nursing cover!!  And it just takes some basic sewing skills.  So if you've been waiting for a good first project to break in your sewing machine, now is your chance! And if you're a more seasoned sewer, this should take no time at all!

The real beauty of it?  A lot of the steps needed are done for you already since we're not starting from a raw piece of fabric!

To get the how-to on making it, please visit our shop, adam's blankie.  Here you can find a handful of easy sewing patterns.  And if you click to our home page, you'll find a plethora of other handmade goodies for both you and baby...ones you don't have to sew yourself! (I'm sure that makes some of you happy!)

Enjoy! And if you do decide to try this pattern, please send me pictures (before and after would be AWESOME!) of your end results!  You can email them to me at adamsblankie@gmail.com

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How to Make a Ruffle {Paper Ribbon and Flower}

I have never been a big fan of that plasticky thin type of "birthday party ribbon."  You know the kind.  The kind that goes on packages and is all "frizzed up" on top.  It's the same kind tied to every balloon, as well.  Anyway.  Not a huge fan of it.  But I DO love me a pretty package.  Now, you could always buy pretty ribbon to atop a gift.  But at about $3 or more for less than 10 feet usually, this can get spendy.  Afterall, you don't want to be spending another $5 just for the gift topper, ya know?

So I came up with doing a ruffled crepe paper ribbon and flower to top your gift instead.  It's super cost-effective {you can get a whole roll for just 99 cents, which would last you through OODLES of presents!} and looks just plain pretty.  I'm a fan.  Heck, I'm a fan of anything ruffled!!  

I'm going to take you through how to make these yourself!  Keep in mind, you can use these same steps to ruffle anything!  From fabric and paper to ribbon and more!  So here's how you do it:

Take your crepe paper and wrap it around the gift two times.  Cut your paper there.

Now you're going to set your sewing machine to the loosest setting and the longest stitch {these numbers area  "0" and "5" respectively, on my machine} to make our basting stitch.   Be sure to leave "tails" for you to pull when you sew this, and do NOT do a backstitch ~ we do NOT want the basting stitch secured!  Just sew right on down the middle of your crepe paper.

Once you've sewn all the way down the middle {length-wise, of course}, you're going to form your ruffle.  Do this by using one hand to hold just one tail on one end.  And use your other hand to gently {especially since we're working with crepe paper!} start pulling the crepe paper over the thread, forming a ruffle.  Keep doing this until you have ruffled your entire paper length.  At this point, you'll want to wrap the paper around your package to see if you need to make your paper more ruffly {meaning, keep ruffling as you were} or less ruffly {meaning, pull some of the ruffles off} to fit the package right.

 Once you have it fitting around your package properly, you're going to set your sewing machine back to its "normal" sewing tension and stitch length.  Sew right back over your ruffle down the middle; this time DO your backstitch when you both start and stop to secure your seams.

Once you've secured your ruffle, go ahead and trim off all the loose threads on the end.  Normally, we'd remove our basting stitch {more for when working with ruffles on permanent items {i.e., curtains, clothing, etc.}, but since this is just going to be thrown away, don't even both with that extra step.

Wrap it around your package and secure with clear tape on the bottom of your gift.  You could also make another ruffled ribbon to go around the other length of your gift.  I just chose not to here, as these are just for my daughter's first birthday, and the less "ribbon" for her to get off, the better!

For the flower on top, you're going to do the same steps above.  I cut about 30 inches for my crepe paper length for the flower.  Feel free to use your judgment here, though.  The longer your crepe paper, the bigger the flower will be, of course!

After you've ruffled and secured your ruffle for the flower, simply take one end and fold it 180 degrees, back onto the rest of the ruffled paper ribbon.  Hold it in place there with one thumb.

Using your other hand, begin turning the paper around the center "bud" you formed with your thumb.  If you're right-handed like I am, you will be holding the "bud" with your right thumb, and using your left hand to form the outer petals of your flower.  Do this by just turning the remainder of the paper around and under your bud.  Be sure that each layer of flowers keeps going farther away from your bud, so that you can see all the layers.  Once the way you want it, head on back to your sewing machine and just tack it down {stitch in place} in a few areas to secure your flower.  Then just trim off all the threads {be sure NOT to cut your paper!}, and fluff up a little.

That's it!  Just put a little double-stick tape on the bottom of your flower and secure to your ruffled ribbon on your package already!

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{Altered Couture}

I have been SO inspired by the magazine, Altered Couture, that I've decided I'm going to start using some of this inspiration to make some "new" clothing! No, not for me {at least, for the time-being}, but instead for our baby girl! There are just so many options for girls' clothing that just are simply not available for boys {e.g., ruffles, lace, pleats, eyelets, ribbons, bows, flowers, etcetera!}, so the sky is the limit, and I'm so stoked about getting started and into the "girly world" for a change!

As soon as I get some items done, I'll show them to you, so that you know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure, at this point, if such clothing pieces will eventually become part of the Adam's Blankie or Haute Tot Couture lines, though...we'll see how it goes. Any requests?!?

"Altered Couture is a 160-page publication dedicated to altered and embellished clothing and accessories. It is filled with gorgeous photographs of altered jackets, t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, skirts, and more, accompanied by easy-to-understand techniques and endless inspiration. You'll find new ways to transform your own garments and accessories into fabulous works of wearable art. Now you don’t have to throw your clothes away! Altered Couture will show you creative ideas on how you can add a twist to your attire with just a few resources: dyes, paints, bleach, rubber stamps, threads, buttons, beads, and more!" ~www.alteredcouturemagazine.com

Happy altering!


Have a product you'd like reviewed?
Contact me at adamsblankie@gmail.com
www.adamsblankie.etsy.com
www.gourmetplay.etsy.com