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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Toddler Slippers

Its winter and its finally turned really cold here in KC and since my little sweetpea (AJ) doesn't like to wear socks around the house I made her slippers. I used a pattern from the blog From an Igloo and it turned out perfectly!  I made the size two and used a polyester microsuede type fabric on the outside and some pink fleece on the inside.  I added suede leather to the bottom to make them non-slip. 



AJ loves them and insists on wearing them during her naps and to sleep at bedtime.  She even wore them to a Christmas party recently.  This makes a momma very happy and I don't have to worry about how cold her little feet will be in this 17 degree weather.   I would highly recommend this pattern and also all the other cute stuff on the From an Igloo blog.  Well happy winter and may your toes stay as toasty as my little girl's!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Toddler Crown Tutorial

My first tutorial...what a nail biter, what is its not clear, thousands of people may be dissapointed, the pictures aren't of professional quality...oh wait I only have two followers...hmmm no worries! 

My toddler loves to wear hats and I love to rope my husband into creating at least one thing for her for Christmas. You know it just makes it that much more special if you can say "Daddy and Mommy made this for you" and my husband does like a little creativity every now and then.  Hence the toddler crown that Mommie sews and Daddy embellishes. 

To begin I purchased precut felt that was sold at Joann's around Halloween probably for costume embellishment.  In case you want to make your own, it is three inches tall from the base to each point and three inches from the valley of each point to the next.  So each little point is three inches by three inches.
I wrapped this around my toddler's head to get an idea of how long to make it mine was 23 inches long.    Make sure to overlap it about four extra inches.  The overlap is where you will add the velcro.  Next lay the "crown" embellishment felt (yellow in my pictures) on top of a contrasting color felt (red in my pictures) and where they line up at the top is the height of your crown.  Also cut the contrasting felt to the length of your "crown" felt.  (Ignore my lovely vintage placemats.)

 Hopefully you can understand what I mean by the pictures.  Next pin the two pieces of felt together and stitch along the "crown" felt attaching it to the contrasting felt.  I used green thread to add more colors and interest to the crown.
After stitching around the curved edges of the "crown" felt I also stitched along the bottom edges of the crown where the yellow and red felt line up.  Next attach velcro to the ends of your crown where you would like them to overlap.  I attached two rows of "female" velcro in order to make the crown sizeable and one row of "male" velcro to move up and down the opposite row.  I'm lazy so in attaching my velcro I don't measure it I just sew it on from the long piece and cut it afterward.  But if you want measurements they are 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. 

This is the female velcro and I will add another row to the right of this row.  After it is sewn I trim off the rest of the length. 

Next I sew on the male velcro and I only use one row of it as I said earlier to move up and down the female side to adjust for sizing and as the toddler's head grows it can be adjusted. 
After you have sewn on your velcro your crown is almost finished.

Now your crown is waiting to be embellished by your husband, at least that's what mine is waiting for.  I will be sure to post a picture of the finished toddler crown after my husband has added the symbols.  He is thinking of adding an "A" for our sweetpea's name, a number 2 for her age and various other appropriate symbols.

I hope this tutorial inspires you to make your little dictator...I mean sweetpea a crown that helps her rule with leniency and grace.