Cowboy Boot Stockings

After several years of looking for western Christmas stockings, we just couldn't seem to find what we wanted. So, to the drawing board...

Start by drawing the shape you want of a piece of cardboard of paper. Draw it a bit bigger than you want the finished product to end up. 

I had a HUGE pile of old jeans and knew I wanted wrangler pockets on the stockings. With this in mind, I laid the stocking on top of the jeans where I wanted and traced. You want to cut this side out along the traced line.

Stop cutting right at the side seam. Flip over your pattern and trace the outline of the other side of the boot and then cut it out.

Once One side is cut out, flip it over so the backside is what you see. Line it up on another piece of jean/cloth. Trace this and cut it out just like you did with the first piece.

Once you have one side traced and cut out, open the jeans and trace the rest of the boot. Then cut this out too.

I knew I wanted an easy hanger for the stockings, so I used the thick seam of the jeans. No extra sewing :)

Just cut to the desired length and stitch onto the inside of the back side of the stocking.

Make sure to line up the wrong sides facing. 

It is slightly off which was okay with me since there would be items in the stockings at some point anyway.

Pin the two sides together making sure the edges are together. Sew it up, and turn it right side out. You may need to use a pen or scissors or the tip of something to help push out the corners and tip of the boot.

I attempted to sew on initials. I wrote initials in chalk and permanent marker to follow with my sewing machine. I decided not to do it, but it sure would look neat if you choose to. 

Merry Christmas in July! 

Pajama Pants

Over Christmas I made my boys (little one and big one) some pajama pants. They were simple enough so when we decided to have a Spring Party and my friend wanted to make the girls pillowcase dresses, I thought that pj pants would be great for me to make for the boys. I have several tutorials on Pinterest for ways to make pajama pants. After looking at all of them, I decided to combine a few that would be best for me. Below is my version of how to make pajama pants. I made two in about two hours after making one and experimenting which ways would work best for me. 

So our family and our friends have this thing going about which tractor is better. Green or Red. My husband worked as a diesel mechanic on the red tractors so we are all for red; however, our friends are farmers and ranchers and they say green. Ever since each of us had our first little ones we have been giving each other what we think is the better color items: tractors, clothes, little trinkets. When I saw this fabric I decided this was the perfect stuff to make these pj pants after all, they were the RIGHT color! I bought 3 yards to make sure I would have enough. 

*Please remember that I am no seamstress. I am just an amateur who likes to experiment.*

Materials: 

Jeans the same size as the person you are making the pants for

Fabric (at least two inches higher than the waist of the jeans and two inches longer than the     

             leg of the jeans) 

Sewing machine

Thread matching your fabric

Elastic 

Pins

Measuring Tool

Safety pin

Iron

Step One: When you buy the fabric it is usually folded in half. Unfold your material with the pattern facing down. Refold your material so that both edges of your fabric are next to each other and meet where the crease of the first fold was. The pattern should be showing now.

Step Two: Fold the jeans backwards so that the front zipper is facing out. Make sure the crotch is totally pulled out. Lay the jeans down with the outside of the legs right on the fold of your fabric. You can trace the pants if you want to. I just cut around the jeans. Make sure you leave about two inches all around them (top, sides, and bottom).

Step Three: Take the cutout and flip it to the other side. The fold should line up with the fold on the other side of the uncut fabric. The crotch should point toward the middle of the fabric you laid out which would be the actual edge of the fabric. Cut this as close to the already cut fabric as you can. Again, you can trace if you want.

If you look close enough you can see the cut fabric laid on top of the uncut side of fabric. 

Step Four: Unfold the fabric and lay the pieces down facing each other--pattern in, backside of fabric showing. You are going to sew from the top of the waist to the tip of the crotch on both sides. 

I got a little too close to the edge, so I sewed that part again a little farther from the edge. I usually use the foot as a guide, but I must not have been paying enough attention to this part. Oops.

Step Five: Now take both the seams you just sewed and put them together. You will start to see pants! 

Step Six: Pin the crotch together and a few more pins down both legs to secure the fabric when sewing. Sew the legs closed. Keep in mind that if the bottom of the legs do not match up, it is okay because you will be making a cuff. It is important to make sure the crotch matches up, however. To ensure this, I started sewing from the crotch down the leg. Then went back up to the crotch and sewed down the other leg. 

Step Seven: Take your pants and lay them out how you originally sewed them-so that the sewn edges are on both sides. Like in the first picture below- the seams are not facing each other. Figure out which side you want the front to be and cut a slight angle. The front of the pants should be slightly lower than the back when you lay out the pants so that both legs are seen as shown in the second picture below.

Picture on the top: seams not next to each other, start at the front (belly part) of the pants and cut a slight angle.

Picture on the bottom: unfolded, seams are on top of each other, there is a slight dip in the front of the pants (where the belly is).

Step Eight: Measure the waist on the jeans. Make your measurement an inch or two smaller than the jeans. Then, measure your elastic band and cut to match your measurement. 

Step Nine: Fold the edge of the waist over and iron. This is just to get a smooth edge at the top of the pants so the fold should not be very big.

Step Ten: Fold the waist again, this time measure a little bigger than your elastic. Mine was about 1/2 an inch bigger than the elastic. Pin the fold to make sure you keep enough space for the elastic to fit into  the waist.

Step Eleven: Sew your waist, but stop about 2-3 inches away from your beginning stitch. You need enough space to put your elastic in. 

You can see that my fingers are pointing to the places where I started and stopped sewing.

Step Twelve: Put a safety pin on the edge of your elastic and feed it through the waist you just sewed. Once the elastic is completely through the waist, sew the edges of the elastic together. I used a zigzag stitch to give it more strength. If you want a drawstring, take you drawstring and feed it through the waist the same way you did with the elastic. I didn't put a drawstring in, and simply sewed the small opening where I fed the waist closed. 

Step Thirteen: Okay, onto the legs. You are almost done! I made my legs extra long so that the kids could grow into them and they would last longer. Besides, it is always easier to make them shorter than it is to make them longer. But I did leave a lot of fabric for the cuff so that if needed or wanted, the seam could be ripped out and lengthened. Fold the cuff, iron, and sew. 

Finally! Turn your pants the right side out and admire the fact that you just created something from plan old fabric. =)

Slouchy Hat

My husband and I get into the habit of watching specific TV series on Netflix about once every year or so. After we put the kids to bed and the house back together, we will sit down together and watch one or two episodes of the series we are watching at the time. Right now we are re-watching Lie to Me--a show that I wanted to watch when it aired on TV, but my hubby thought it looked stupid. Now I think he likes it more than me sometimes. This is actually okay with me because this way we don't have to wait a week to find out about the next episode. 

Anyway, while I totally enjoy watching the show, sometimes it is very hard for me to sit and do nothing. Today's project happened out of my compulsive need to keep my hands moving even when I am relaxing. It took me about two episodes (2 hours) to complete. I should mention it is crocheted. 

I would like to make some homemade presents again this year and was thinking about making a slouchy hat for someone. I wanted to try it out first. I found this pattern here. The problem with this is that I didn't have all the suggested hook sizes so my hat is not as slouchy as I thought I wanted. But as I tried it on during the process, I thought it would be just fine. I used an I hook for the entire project. I also did not do the BPSC stitch. 

When it was finished, I wanted to add something to the top. I wasn't sure if I wanted flowers or something else, and as I was looking at various pictures of hats I found one that had an extra little piece going across the top. I decided to give it a try. This piece is simply a SC stitch and a little smaller width than the brim of the hat. I sewed a button to the edge for the finishing touch. 

Jean Car Track

I have some really great friends, one of which is probably more crafty than I am. It is all her fault I make the time to go onto Pinterest at least once a day. One day our kids and she and I got together to work on crafts. our kids got an entire day to play. They had a blast. I helped her with her sewing machine so she could make these adorable towel robes for some cute little girls. We had so much fun that we decided to get together again. This time, she helped me make car tracks out of old jeans for my son's birthday. He loved them! 

Basically, she just cut out the jeans in track shapes, then she took a permanent marker and made dashes to resemble a road. 

We then sewed up the edges to prevent too much fraying. 

He loves playing with his cars and trucks and tracks. He is also pretty good at sharing with his two older sisters.

Quiet Book- Space and Robot

Last page! I knew I wanted a space and robot page from the beginning and did not find too many pages that were interactive and were space and robots online. So, I came up with these ideas. 

On the space page, you can button and unbutton the stars and move them around to different buttons. The space ship also moves up and down on a piece of ribbon. 

The robot's head, arms, and legs all snap on and off. His middle zips and sometimes, the kids can find little surprises hidden in the zipper part. 

Okay, so one day I had a good friend come over for a crafting/play date. The kids got to play while we got to craft. She helped me make several things. But while we were busy crafting away, my hubby came down and picked up a page of the quiet book. He began working on it and sewing it without anyone saying anything. Although he has no idea I took this, I had to get a picture, granted its not a great one, but proof that my hubby helped me with this project too! 

I did want some cohesiveness throughout the quiet book, so I used different shades of blue felt for each set of pages except on the front cover when I ran out of different shades of blue. After all the pages were put together, I sewed around the edges of front and back pages. Then I used a button hole stitch to create an opening for some kind of binding. I thought about using those little metal rings, and still might. But for now, I just used blue ribbon which seems to be working out just fine. 

Quiet Book- Letters

Being in education, I have to try to squeeze learning into everything we do. I knew I wanted an alphabet page, but I wanted more from it than simply learning the names and sounds. So, I made a place for CVC words (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant). My son is no where near this point yet, but my girls are and they love making words with the velcro letters. My son is still learning sounds and names of the letters so when he begins reading, he too can make words.

The letters used are the iron on ones. I was not about to hand cut and sew on all these letters. I also used iron on velcro- I never knew this existed, but it does and it is AMAZING! Thanks for introducing me Heather.

Quiet Book- Counting, Shapes, and Colors

We couldn't have a quiet book without counting, shapes, and colors. 

The counting page is simply beads with ribbon to slide back and forth. 

The shapes are snap on, snap off to teach that skill as well. I was pretty excited that I was able to get all my shapes on one page. There are actually three pieces of felt used for each shape. 

First, I hand stitched the snaps onto the bottom and top piece of each shape. Then, I machine sewed the bottom to the felt page. Next, I blanket stitched the third shape piece onto the top shape piece that had the snap sewn on. This way, the thread from sewing the snaps on is hidden. Looks much nicer this way I think.

Quiet Book- Barn

This is one of my favorite pages. My son loves it too. I did find this idea at Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. She even had templates if you are interested. As for me, I simply eyeballed all of it. 

Yes, the barn is slightly crooked, but that's because here in North Dakota it is so windy that the barn is leaning. I am perfectly okay with this explanation; however, if it is not so windy where you live, I suggest pinning your pieces before sewing them. I didn't want to take the time to do it. 

One of the best parts of this page is what is found under the barn doors...

FINGER PUPPETS! This is one of the pages my son spends quite a while on. He plays with the finger puppets and has them play in the field and they have inaudible conversations with each other. Even my girls like to get in on the action. They each get one puppet, sometimes mom gets one too, and we go frolic in the field. Sometimes, though, it is nap time and usually the horse gets to sleep in the straw on top of the barn. I can only imagine what fun ideas my kids will have for these little animals as they get older. 

If you look closely and the barn doors in the first picture you will see that I used a button and button hole to secure the doors shut, a genius idea that I found online. Sadly, however, the second time it was in use my wonderful, but rather strong son ripped the felt piece with the button hole to get the door open. If you are going to use a latch idea, I suggest securing it really strongly-maybe use two pieces of felt sewn together.

More pages to come!

Quiet Book- Mr. Potato Head

The second and third page of the quiet book are Mr. Potato head pages. This is not my own idea, but I didn't use a pattern for anything. I just eyeballed everything. I did not use any velcro or attachments. It is just felt that lays on top of the potato and arms which are sewn onto the page. I found many different ideas to store all the pieces, but this simple brown box was the easiest for me. I was a little worried that we might loose some if I made the opening too big, but so far we haven't lost any pieces. I am thinking about making more pieces at some point. Maybe more ears and different style hats and shoes and noses. 

This page has been a hit with the kiddos.

Quiet Book-Front Cover

Believe it or not, I am actually getting requests for me to post this. Yay, my first request. ...Thanks Mom! =) Ha!

So this begins a series of upcoming posts about a quiet book I made for my son. I wanted to limit the amount of things I was taking to church for my kids, and this one one way for me to do so. Before I began, I scoured pinterest for ideas. Between using some ideas I saw and some I came up with, I created a book that I am pretty proud of.

The first page is what I made for the cover. I didn't want to put his name on it because as he gets older I might give this to someone who could use it more than my kids, or I might save it and give it to his kids. 

I saw what I am going to call overall clips-because I cannot think of what they are really called-on sale. I knew they would be perfect for a little boy and hoped I could incorporate them into his book. I also knew that I wanted to use some old jeans that I have been saving. I created a pocket using the top half of the back pocket of the worn jeans and used some leg denim for the rest of the bibs. The kids love putting various items in the pocket for the next week to find. (I only let them play with this at church. It keeps the excitement-at least for now.)

I created each page on its own felt sheet before sewing each one together. I also figured out how to use my sewing machine to make button holes. It was exciting!

Stay tuned for more to come. My goal is one each morning. I know it is ambitious, but I've got a plan. Let's see if I stick to it!

Oh, and I am taking requests now... HaHa!

Felt Pizza

I thought I had all of the felt food up here, but then I saw this adorable pizza I made and realized I forgot about this one. This is probably one of my favorite food pieces I have made. I think it is so cute!

I started by cutting the pizza shape, blanket stitched the sides, and stuffed with leftover felt pieces. I would suggest not stitching these pieces together until after you add the toppings unlike what I did. It just makes it easier.

I cut a piece of red felt to make into the sauce, and a piece of off white felt for the cheese. You could add any toppings you wish. But I thought the mushrooms and pepperoni were so cute. Stitch all of these together working from the top down. So stitch the toppings onto the cheese first, and then the cheese to the sauce piece. 

For the crust, I simply folded the top over and added a little more stuffing to make it look more like a real crust. Then stitch down. 

Didn't it turn out adorable?