Scarf Headbands!

I've got something to show you real quick!

I couldn't resist this gauzy little polka-dot scarf I found at the Dollar tree.  I thought it would make a fun headband for Little Sister.

Even if she was a little skeptical about it.

And since there was a lot of scarf left over, I went ahead and made one for me too.

Then I gave my four-year-old the camera and had him take some pictures of me and the girl.

I think the 4-year-old's camera angle addds a few pounds.
Only to me though, not Little Sister. Hmmm.  Couldn't possibly be
the Thanksgiving through Christmas gorge-fest.

He didn't do too bad!

I may have found a new photographer (replacing myself and my remote)!

Of course, the two-year-old had to have a turn too.

I may never get my camera back.

Who likes taking pictures better than posing for pictures?

We do!

So, here's how I made the headbands.  Nothing fancy!  I maybe would have done some nicer finishing work if these were going to be gifts or something, but just making them for ourselves I wasn't too worried about it.

I rolled the raw edge under and hemmed it so it wouldn't fray:

Just held it and folded as I went.

Actually, when I made the first headband I started with one of the hemmed ends of the scarf so I only had to do this on the second side.

Then I gathered it up (I upped my tension a bit and sewed using a basting stitch with NO backstitching, and pulled the bobbin threads tight when I was done).  I could have just bunched it up with my hands, but this made it a little more even.

Next I cut a little piece of fold-over elastic (about 3-4 inches long), scrunched up the gathered end of the scarf, shortened my stitch length back to normal, and sewed back and forth a few times to join them together.

The underside

Then, I wrapped it around the head that it was going on to figure out where to cut the rest of the scarf off.  For the toddler headband, I had about 3.5 inches of elastic and 16.5 inches of scarf, minus the tiny rolled hem.  For the adult size, I cut 4 inches of elastic and 18 inches of scarf.

Then I did the same thing to the other end of the scarf--hemmed the raw edge, gathered, and attached the other end of the elastic.  Make sure the elastic isn't twisted.

That's it!  While this print is fun and festive, it could easily be done with any old scarf to be worn any time of year!  So much easier than tying and retying when it works its way loose, and getting your neck hairs caught in the knot.  Don't you just hate that?

It's cozy hat season!

I was in the mood for hats today, I guess!  I made seven of these:

The Snowblossom Hat from Made by Rae

And I also had to do some hat surgery.

My kids' preschool teacher approached me yesterday and said, "I know you sew headbands, but do you ever do alterations on...other things?"  

I asked her what she had in mind, and she told me about her hat dilemma.  She had one hat with a floppy bill that drooped in her face.  She had another hat with a perfect bill but an impossible-to-get-rid-of mothball smell. 

Two sad hats

She wondered if it would be possible to merge the two, resulting in the perfect hat.

It was.

Mirror self portrait.

I was able to carefully snip the bill on the crocheted hat open.  I did a quick zig-zag stitch down the raw edge so it wouldn't start to unravel.  Then I cut the brim off of the smelly hat (I had to trim the bill a bit to fit inside the crocheted bill.  Then I could pull the edges of the crocheted bill back together, tucking the rigid bill inside, and zig-zag stitched the hole closed.  Easy peasy!  Took me less than 10 minutes.  The hardest part was the worry that the whole thing would unravel when I cut the bill open (it didn't).  I wonder if she'll give me a discount on my tuition?

So while I was in hat mode, I pulled out the bag of fleece.  I buy fleece remnants throughout the year because they can be picked up for so cheap when the fleece is already on sale, and there are lots of things you can use it for.  In particular, I love these adorable, super warm hats from Made by Rae. I made some for my kids last year, and I also made some for the preschool winter hat drive. 

Well, it's that time of year again--winter hat drive at school!  And the hats I made for the kids last year are getting pretty snug, so I went ahead and made new ones for them as well.

Hat models need to eat dinner too!

A couple of things I figured out as I went:

1.  If you're using printed fleece and you don't want a seam in the front (so you don't have to worry about matching the print up), you can just cut one big piece of fleece on the fold.  Just make sure you cut the earflaps slightly closer to the open edge, not the fold, to leave a big enough opening for your kiddo's face.

2.  Approximate sizing:  My almost-five-year-old's head is about 21 inches around, so I cut two rectangles (one exterior, one lining) that were 22 inches by 13 inches, then cut the earflaps out according to the tutorial.  My two-and-a-half-year-old's head is about 20 inches, so her rectangles were 21 inches long, and just a litle over 12 inches tall because that's how big my fleece remnant was.

3.  When you sew the seam up the back of the hat, stop sewing about three inches from the top of the hat.  That way, you won't have to cut the stitches out when you're making your poof at the top.  (Or if you're like me, and forget to stop three inches from the top pretty much EVERY OTHER TIME, you can just START three inches from the top and sew all the way to the bottom edge.)

That's about it!  I was at it for about 2 hours, and I made seven hats.

Little Sister got two hats, because she's spoiled rotten.

And while we're at it, how about that coat?  I got it for her last year at Goodwill for $5.  It's a really cute Columbia Sportswear coat.  Yes, she did wear it all last winter, but this year it actually fits her!

Side view

Oh!  Friends!  If you want me to make a fleece hat like this for one of your little ones, just let me know!  I have more of the green stripe fleece The Boy is wearing, and more of the red flowers on the cream background fleece Little Sister has on.  I also have solid black, solid dark plum, and solid turquoise.  All I need from you is a head circumference!

Old Navy Bargains, part II

Are you ready for this?  Place your bets now--how much merchandise do you think I got at Old Navy for a whopping $13.75?

I'll show you my haul, and the grand original price total at the end.  I had a $30 rewards voucher, and one tricky thing that Old Navy does is that instead of taking the $30 off of the total price at the end like a gift card, they divvy the discount up over all of the things you bought.  So if you return something, your money back will be minus a percentage of those rewards dollars.  I make sure to ONLY buy things I know I won't return when using rewards dollars.  So, I'll show you the original price, the super-clearance price I found it for (what I would have paid if not using rewards $$), and what I actually paid for it after they took my $30 off the total.

First, for the boy:

Cable knit cotton sweater, size 5T.

Original price $19.94, clearance price:  $6.56, my price:  $1.98.

Striped mock henley (not quite a sweater/sweatshirt, but a thicker woven than a t-shirt), size boys XS

Original price:  $19.94, sale price $7.80, my price $2.55.  

More expensive than my usual, but the boy REALLY needed some good comfy stuff to wear for the holidays.

Ringer tee, size boys S

Original price $7.94, clearance price $1.49, my price $0.47

For the Girl:

Long sleeve sparkle tees--these are pretty cool--it's actual sequins sewn down under decorative thread (so they are REALLY in place, and also not as...sequinny as they could be).  Size 2T and 3T.

Original price $14.94 each, clearance price $2.40 each, my price $0.75 each.

PURPLE HELLO KITTY HALLOWEEN OMG my daughter is going to pass out when she sees this.  Which is why it's put away until next October, when it will fit her.  Size 3T.

Original price $14.94, clearance price $2.40, my price $0.75.

Heart print denim ruffle skirt, size 3T

No tag on this one, so original price is a guess, but most ON embellished denim girls skirts retail for $19.94, so that's what I'm going with.  Clearance price $3.60, my price $1.13.

Oh, and I forgot to take pictures, but she's been needing new leggings so I picked her up three pair.  They are all different (one flowered, one striped, and one solid red), but they're like this:

Original price $8.94 each, clearance price $3 each, my price $0.94 each.

For me:

This tunic didn't photograph so well, so here's the photo from ON's website:

 I really like the feel of it on (it's just rayon, nothing fancy) and I got it because I needed something to wear with my green pencil skirt that I got in my last ON bargain hunt.  It's fun!
Original price $29.94, clearance price $7.50, my price $2.36.

Oh, and I almost forgot!  I just had to take a phone pic of this item and upload it to show you:

Cute travel mug, original price $8.50, clearance price $0.60, my price $0.19!  I haven't unwrapped it yet because I may decide to give it to someone as part of a gift.  Someone who doesn't read this blog, obviously :)

Oh, and don't forget about the cute pink fabric tote bag with exterior pocket that they gave me to carry away my haul!  I love that they do that.

So, the total retail price of all of this stuff would have been....drum roll....$177.84!  And I paid $13.75! That's 93% off of original price!  It would have been $43.75 without my rewards $$, so more like 75% off...that would do, I guess.

Have you scored any great deals lately?  Tell me your secrets!

Upcycled Scarflet and Arm-Warmers!

I've made a set like this as a gift before, but this time I had been saving this particular sweater for MONTHS to make this particular gift.  Therefore, I was unable to properly contain myself and wait until some special event like CHRISTMAS or something to give this gift--I had to go and give it practically a month in advance, under the guise of wanting the recipient to be able to use it for more of the cold-weather season.  And (selfish me!) so that I could post it in advance of the holiday, in case any of my readers wanted to make something similar as a holiday gift!  So we all win.

Ta da!  How cute is she!?

This sweater had belonged to my friend's grandmother, and while the sweater itself wasn't the right fit or style for my friend to wear, the lovely wool was definitely perfect for upcycling into something she would get a lot of use out of.  I found this tutorial for a cute little scarf, which would leave me enough of the sweater to also make the armwarmers from this tutorial.  BUT, because I know myself well enough by now, I decided to have a trial run on a less-important sweater before cutting into Nana's.

This was a genius move, because while the first set turned out fine, I did learn some things along the way that made making the gift set much easier.  For example, I wasn't in love with the seam right in front of the scarflet.

Just realized that my top looks like a hospital gown when you can't see the rest of it.
Not too happy about that.

In the tutorial, you cut three pieces for each side of the scarf--
the two triangles for the tips, and the rectangle in the middle.

So, when I made the blue set, I cut the "middle" pattern piece in half and taped it to the triangular "end" piece, so each side of the scarf has just one seam, in the back. (Printable pattern pieces found in the original tutorial here.)

Two pieces for the front, two pieces for the back.
Adapted pattern piece shown in the middle.

I did find my scarf to be a little shorter than I would like, so I marked my pattern piece so I would remember to add an extra inch of length the next time I make this (making it two inches longer overall, since you cut two pieces and sew together).  For reference, the rectangular pattern piece that you tape to your triangle should be 7.5 inches long.

So now, you only have one seam to sew on each side of the scarf rather than two--just sew your two pieces together, right sides facing.

Once you make your loop, you will have all of the pieces you need:

BUT, if you attach the loop for tucking the end of the scarf after you've sewn the scarf and turned it right side out as shown in the tutorial, then you have to hand-sew the loop into place.  Well, I think you know how I feel about hand sewing.  The beautiful thing is that if you attach the loop BEFORE sewing the scarf pieces together, then you can do it on the machine!  Because your stitches won't go through onto the back piece that way.

Start by pinning one end of the loop in place, and sew it down with a straight stitch.

Then carefully pin the other end of the loop down.

Then work your sewing machine right through the loop to sew the other side down.  Make sure you stitch far enough over so that the loop is completely sewn down--I had to stitch it twice because the outside part of my loop was hanging open the first time.

When you're finished, you'll have this:

Another thing--my loop turned out a little too big.  I actually still need to go back and tighten it up on the set I gave my friend.  Err on the side of smaller for the loop, so it actually holds the other end of the scarf in place.

Once the loop is on, you can pin the scarf, right sides together. If the edges don't match up exactly, trim them off.  I did it before sewing but you could do it after too.

Sew all the way around, leaving an opening to turn it right side out.  I left my opening in the back center, the least-seen part of the scarf.

As far as the armwarmers go, I learned that a 2.5 inch opening for the thumb is TOO BIG.  Two inches is about perfect.  It does make topstitching the thumb opening on your machine a little trickier, but it's definitely still possible.

Also, if you're using a tight knit like the one I gave my friend, 8 inches might be a little tight unless you have really narrow hands/arms.  Which luckily my friend does.  I definitely recommend stretching as you sew the hem the end though.  Which reminds me--SO much easier to hem if you do that BEFORE you sew the armwarmer into a tube.

Slim little arms!

And now to really throw you off, if you are using a sweater with ribbing at the end (like what's recommended in the tutorial), 8 inches at the "fingers" end of your armwarmer may actually be too big.  I have been wearing the first pair that I made, and the ribbing has been stretching out.  I'm going to take in the hand section.  I would recommend tapering when you cut--start with maybe 7 inches at the ribbing and widen to 8 inches for the top of your armwarmer.  And then still stretch as you hem.

And guess what?  The tutorial shows cutting your armwarmers out of the body of your sweater, BUT most likely the sleeves are plenty wide to make an armwarmer!  Then you can keep the body of the sweater intact to make something else--like, say, a matching scarflet.  Brilliant, right?

I have to say, the armwarmers are great.  A really quick gift, but super-practical!  I LOVE mine because I can use my touch-screen phone and keep my hands warm--and also button kids' coats, help with shoes, etc.  I know that fingerless gloves are nothing new but I've never had any, and I think these are awesome!

The best part of this activity was making my friend pose for me with her gift. She was such a good sport! It was like when we were in high school, and we used to create outfits and take pictures of each other "modeling" in my backyard.

Gazing into space

Glamour shot

Although if any of those old pictures ever turn up on the internet she will be in SUCH TROUBLE.  So I won't be posting any outtakes from this shoot...