Glitter Scarf Tutorial

My niece and daughter are totally obsessed with glitter/sequin scarves.  Those things are expensive.  I personally have a hard time justifying spending $15-$18 on an accessory for a 3-yr-old or even a 7-year-old.  So, this Christmas, Lisa and I made up a bunch of the scarves at much more affordable prices.  I have a NO SEW and a LOW SEW version of the scarves below.  JoAnn and Walmart both sell a fabric they call confetti dot fabric.  It comes in about 10+ colors.  The fabric is about $6.00 a yard (but you can score it for much less with a coupon or buy purchasing a remnant).   

 Because this fabric does not run or fray to speak of, you can make a really cute scarf by just cutting an 8" strip.  If you cut anything narrower, it tends to roll (which makes a nice scarf for American Girl Doll).

I also made a doubled version by cutting 2 8" strips and stitching them together.  I left the ends open for turning. 

These scarves a played with/worn around here everyday.  The single scarf is about $1.00 and the double scarf is about $2.00 (when you buy the fabric with a coupon).

I made the no sew scarves a couple of years ago as party favors for my niece's glamour makeover birthday party.  They were a hit. 

Altered Canvases

This is a fun little project I did for Kamille's room.  I saw somthing like this on TV and decided to make my own mini version.  To make the project you need:

Doll Hangers ($3.00 for 4)

Mini Canvas - I actually use one of the $1.00 pre-printed canvases from the dollar section at Michaels/JoAnns or the Dollar Store

Ribbon

Tulle

Flower,

Scrapbook Paper

Paint

The first step is to paint the canvas in a color that coordinates with your theme.  On the right, I painted the canvas black.  On the left, I used a convas that was already painted purple (it had ugly flowers painted on it - from the dollar store).  Once that is dry, I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit.  Then I added some title enbellishments from the scrapbook section.  To make the skirt, I gathered a piece of tulle on the sewing machine (But you could just gather with a needle and thread or gather it as you glue).  I hot glued the tulle tutu skirt into the bottom edge of the canvas.  Then, I glued down a piece of ribbon or other decorative trim over the top.  Finally, I added the flower as an embellishment.  

I tacked the straps onto the hanger with a dab of hot glue.  Then, I glue them onto the front of the canvas.  Finally, I covered that up with ribbon bows.

You can put a photo on the scrapbook paper.  I haven't gotten that far yet, but I will probably put a pic of Kamille and a couple of her friends on these little photo frames.  You could make a really huge version of this with a child's hanger.     

Free Tutorial Friday - Dress Up Shoes

Every time I see my little one teetering around in her high heel princess shoes, I think first that she is going to break her ankle or fall down the stairs in them and then second that I REALLY need to make some simple dress up shoes for her. 

This is what I came up with out of some fabric scraps and about 10 minutes.

You need fleece, some jersey fabric (I used confetti dot fabric - or you could use ribbon), and either stiffened felt or foamie sheets.

Take a shoe that fits and trace around it.  I used a fabric marker, but you could use a sharpie, pen, crayon, whatever you have.  

You should have 4 soles cut from fleece.  Place them over the stiffened felt or foamie and cut out the lining (2).  If I could have found a decent pair of scissors around here, I would have put the felt down on top of the fleece and cut all 3 layers at once. 

Then, you need to put down one layer of fleece and put the felt on top.  Then, lay the confetti fabric over that.  Then put the last piece of fleece on top.  

Top stitch the shoe.  It can get a little messy because the fleece stretches.  Just trim it. 

Tie a knot or bow with your 2 straps.  Then, trim off any excess.  You could tie it while it's on the child's foot just to make sure the foot will fit.  I just tied it a little loose.

These babies are slippery so you need to make them non skid.  I just used some puffy paint.  It's a trick I learned from crochet.  You could also write your child's name on the bottom in puffy paint which would probably thrill her. 

The other option is to cut your sole bottom from non skid shoe fabric.  It's like the stuff on the bottom of footie pajamas.  It is expensive - I think it's $6.00 a yard, but it's only about 20" wide.  It is hard to find.  Normally it is hidden in with the fusible webbing.  You may need to ask.  It won't fray, so you can just follow the same steps as above, but cut 1 fleece, 1 no skid bottom, and 1 foamie layer for each shoe.  I think that it only comes in white.