Martha Stewart came over today. { changing pad cover tutorial}

Have you ever wanted to make a changing pad cover for your baby's room? Yeah, me neither. I bought fabric to make the bed skirt the other day, and I realized the flannel fabric I got 2 yards of just wasn't going to work. The sheet and bumper are both pink, and I got the striped flannel ( that is on the quilt) to go on the top and bottom tier, and just wouldn't look right. 

This is the tutorial for the skirt I had been planning on doing:

http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2012/01/ruffled-crib-skirt-tutorial-nursery-bedding-reveal.html

So I looked up DIY tutorials last night, and found one for a changing pad cover, and knew I had enough to try it out. It was THE EASIEST thing I have ever sewn. I only made one. I might be weird , but I can't really handle when all the bedding and accessories don't  match. If my baby explodes on the changing cover, I usually wash it right away anyways. So I do have some spares from Landon ( that Lucy used too), but will primarily use this one that matches. BUT if you want to make one to match her room, feel free =) It won't take you long, and I'll gladly accept them. The one I saw at target that I like was $9.99. I got 2 yards of fabric on sale at Joanne's Sunday ( THAT PLACE IS PACKED ON SUNDAYS. I WAITED OVER 5 MINUTES TO GET FABRIC CUT, and there were 5 people cutting!) for $1.99/yard, and have plenty leftover for other crafts. So this changing pad cover matches her quilt perfectly , and cost under $4.00 to make.

I used the free tutorial from The Prudent Baby. If you want to try this out you can follow theirs, or try to follow along with my pictures. It suggests that it will fit a standard changing pad. I didn't measure mine before, but the measurements they give for standard are : 32″L X 16″W X 3-4″H
 They also give instructions to use 2 fabrics--very cute. But I only messed up and had 1 fabric that wasn't going to work with the other project.

1) You need to cut a 48"x32" piece.
2) fold the piece in half in length.

3)Then fold the width in half:

4)Draw an 8" square on the top corner. This corner has no folds on it.

5) Cut the square out.

6) Your piece should look like the photo below.

7) On each of the 4 cut corners, match them right sides facing & sew together. You're making 4 rounded sides. Each of those will look like this:

8) Now you are going to make a casing for the elastic. First, fold under the entire raw edge about 1/2 " and iron down. Next, fold all the way around about 1" and pin & iron in place. You will then stitch all the way around the 1" casing you just made. Keep your seam on the inside, starting at a corner seam, and leaving a small gap that you will be able to pull the elastic through.

My beginning and end of the casing being sewn. with a gap to feed elastic.

9) Feed your elastic ( 36" of it was what the tutorial called for. This is WAY too tight for my changing pad. Hopefully it will fit better when we replace it with a newer one.) I think I used 1/2" elastic? Pin one side of the elastic to the fabric so it doesn't slip in through the casing. Use a safety pin on the end of the elastic you will be feeding through the casing. This makes the elastic feeding VERY QUICK! Pull that safety pin and elastic all the way through the casing until you get back to the opening.

My elastic is all the way through my casing!

10) Sew your 2 ends of elastic together. I 've read the best way is to make a box with an x inside to keep that elastic good and secure. Once your elastic is in 1 piece, let it slip into the casing, and finish stitching up that little gap you left open.

ALL DONE!

It's fitting a little oddly, but hopefully it will fit better on a newer changing pad.

You can tell the bottom 'foam stuff' is starting to completely come off, and this baby needs a different changing pad. You can also see how TIGHT the elastic is at 36" long. It still works!

I also made some letters to go onto her wall.

 The last 3 letters were just spray painted the same color that the pulls on her dresser are painted. All letters were bought at Hobby Lobby. The larger E I decided to cover with the chevron. I looked up a ton of different sites to see the best way to cover it. Of course we can't find the Mod Podge ANYWHERE in the new rental or in any box it should be in. So I just used hot glue.

I cut out an E slightly larger than the actual E. I then just pulled tightly, tucked, and hot glued all around the edges to the back of the E.

Tomorrow will be 35 weeks!!!!! More projects to get finished this week! More pictures to come!

Pre-school!

Today was Landon's first day of pre-school. We dropped him off a little while ago! He goes 2 short days today and Friday, and then will be 3 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day, starting next week!

We made his teacher a flower pot with colored pencils and took her a mum ( $.88 sale at Home Depot for a 1.25 qt.) It didn't turn out exactly like I had wanted, but I forgot that the pot I got was smaller at the bottom. Unless I wanted gaps all around the top, the pencils would all start to lean. I hate starting crafts, because they always turn out gross to me. All you need is colored pencils ( or regular pencils), hot glue gun, and a flower pot or vase. I'm assuming a straight round vase would work better!

You can see the pencils starting to lean to one side.

I decided that maybe I should start on the other side.I even tried to lean them a little more straight each new pencil I glued on.  That maybe wasn't the best idea?

This was the good side! =/

Final product with some ribbon and an embellishment, The pencils are not prefect, but it had to do! I even broke a few pencils and just stuck them above the rosette.

The back--the worst!

Landon ready to head into pre-school! The vase doesn't look so bad far away ;)

Landon heading out the door before RUNNING to the car.

He had a great time today. He said he obeyed along with all of the other kids, and he even got a snack! I could see his koolaid ring around his mouth when he got into the car =) And it didn't take him nearly as long to fall asleep for his nap today. We might REALLY like this pre-school idea ;)

projects & more projects

I have SO many things I need to get started on! The house is pretty much unpacked as much as we plan on unpacking it. I just need to set up my sewing maching in the basement. I haven't gone down there TOO much beause we don't have a washer/dryer yet :( We are waiting until the Home Depot Black Friday sale starts the 2nd week in November (YAY). Once I'm down there every day to do laundry, then I'll start on some projects while I'm waiting on the washer.

http://www.prudentbaby.com

Project #1-- My friend, Leslie, and I had been planning on making baby hats to drop off at the NICUs in Nashville. Well, I moved. So, for now, I am planning on make a big batch of hats to drop off when we visit for Lucy's 1st birthday. I am planning on taking them about 4 times a year. Receiving the gifts from previous NICU parents was a wonderful, unexpected gift. We really loved getting them & decided we would do the same. I am going to use used t-shirts and used baby gowns. IF you happen to have any used t-shirts or baby clothes/gowns/onesies feel free to send or bring them to me.

Project #2 -- Dresses for Lucy, made from my old sweaters. The idea is from http://www.make-loveit.com

Project #3-- Lucy's birthday shirt and tutu (of course!) I'm not showing a picture of those though. I don't want mine to look so bad that it doesn't look ANYTHING like the picture, and I also want to keep it a little surprise until I make it!