School Bus Mailbox Cover

After the stomach bug from Hades and daily thunderstorms that have prevented good photos or internet at times I finally have another project for you.  School starts back here in 10 short days!  This summer has flown by and I am sad to see it go.  I hate to see the kids go back.  No matter how much kicking and screaming and resisting the end of the summer, though, it is still going to come, so I decided that I would add a little back to school jazz to my house.  There really is nothing else coming up until Halloween, and this cute little school bus idea just came to mind.  It is a super easy project that really requires little to no sewing.  So without further ado, I present the school bus mailbox cover.  :)

Measure your mailbox to get the right amount of fabric of course.

Materials:

•  Yellow and black fabric (I used cheap broad cloth), and scraps of red and white.
•  Heat n Bond iron-on vinyl
•  Regular fabric Heat n Bond or Wonder Under.
•  sticky back Velcro

I did not take pictures of all the steps because it is really so simple.  You just need to have the measurements of your mailbox at hand.  Make a template for the square windows, stop sign, and for the round circles that will be your wheels.  Using a template will insure they are all equal size. 

You are going to start by cutting from the yellow fabric a piece that is long enough and wide enough to cover your mailbox.  Then you will just cut out all the pieces and using the regular Heat n Bond iron them onto your yellow fabric.  Remember you want to make the bus show up on both sides of the mailbox so you will have to add the cut outs to both ends of your fabric.  I did not sew the pieces down because it will be sandwiched between vinyl and not washed so unraveling should not be a big problem.  Save the wheels for later.

Then you will take the vinyl and following the directions on the package you will apply it to the front and back side of your fabric.  Then you will cut out two strips that will serve as your straps to Velcro the cover onto your mailbox.  I used the yellow fabric for this.  Then I laminated it with the vinyl as well.  I sewed one end of each of the straps onto one side of the cover (right side to right side).  Then I sewed on the wheels on that side.  Only sew the top part of the tire down, because you do not want it to wrap underneath the mailbox with your strap.  You will then sew the other tires to the other end of your strap.  Then you will put it on your mailbox and apply your sticky back Velcro.  NOTE:  You will need to at some point cut out a place for the flag on your mailbox.  I did this after everything was applied. 

This is where my Velcro straps attached.

I love how from a distance it just looks like a bus cut out, and you can't even tell there is black fabric there.  Best of all you can just wipe the surface clean, too.

Linked up over at the CSI Project for their Back-to-School Project Contest

Pillowcase Romper Tutorial

Hello everyone! I found this cute green polka dot material at the thrift store a while back and it just really wanted to be made into something and what could be easier than a pillowcase dress?? Well, pillowcase dresses I've done before, and I just wanted something new, something a little different. So, I morphed it into the pillowcase romper!

I will preface this by saying I learned a lot in the process of making this romper. I had several firsts as I created this, but none were truly as terrifying as I had built them up to be. One of those being the snaps... I had never used my snap pliers despite having them for probably over a year. Piece of cake. If I can do it, you can do it. :)  I have made a few adjustments to this tutorial since making this romper Little J is wearing and I will point these things out as we go.

Materials:

• 3/4 to 1 yard of fabric
• 1/2 in. elastic
• 1/4 in. elastic
• 1/2 in. double fold bias tape
• snaps

There are a few measurements you will need to get of your child.

1. All the way around your child's chest.
2. From right between your child's shoulders to ankles.
3. Between your child's shoulders to the inseam (crotch.)
4. Armpit to armpit across the front.
5. Around your child's lower leg (lower calf/shin area.)

Take the number you got for #1 and double that to get the width of your fabric you need to cut.  Take the number you got for #2 and add 2 inches for the length.  My fabric piece is 24 x 38.

Now fold that piece in half lengthwise right side to right side.  Sew down the side with a 1/2 in. seam allowance.

Finish that seam and then iron.  Turn right side out.  Now to make the arm holes, measure 3-4 in. across and 3-4 in. down and mark with a fabric marker or chalk.  (For an 18 month size do 3" x 3".  My arm holes turned out a little too big.)

Now you are going to cut out the shape of a J on both of those corners using the marks you just made.

Turn inside out again and fold the top front piece down 1/4 in. and iron.  Then fold down another 1 in. and iron.  Repeat for the top back piece also.  This will be your elastic casing.

Now sew across the bottom edge of your casing stitching closely to the fold.

Now lay your romper out flat and fold in half.  Take the number you got for #3 and add 1.5 in. to that.  Using that number measure down from the top of the elastic casing.  Mark at the side edge of your romper.

Cut out a piece shaped like my cut in the picture below.

When you open it back up it will look like this.

Now you need to get out some of your extra left over fabric.  Take the piece you just cut from your romper and lay it on top of the extra fabric.  Trace the scrap.  Then you need to make another line 1.5 inches around that.

Cut this shape out.  You will do it twice.  It will look like this.

Turn your romper right side out again.  Lay the U-shaped piece on top of it right sides facing and pin like in the picture below.  You will do this for the front and back side of the romper.

Now you will sew with a 1/4 in. seam allowance around the inside of the legs of your romper one side at a time.

Fold in the outer edge of your U-shaped fabric piece and iron.  It will wrinkle slightly in the curve and that is fine.

 Now take that whole piece and fold it under your romper and iron down.

 Now stitch down along the outer edge of the U-shaped piece. 

Fold up the bottom of each leg 1/4 in. and press, then another 1/4 in. and press.  Hem.

This is what you should have so far.

Now take measurement from #4 above and cut 2 pieces of your 1/2 in. elastic.  Using a safety pin you will feed one piece of elastic into the front of your romper and pin in place, and then repeat for the back side with your other piece of elastic.

Next you want to mark where you will place your snaps.  I spaced mine about 2.5 in. apart around the leg openings.  You want to make it so that the back piece of fabric comes over the front piece to snap.  Look at one of your child's onesies to see what I mean.  Make sure that you have the snaps facing the proper directions before you squeeze them on because they are darn near impossible to get off if you put them on wrong.

Using the measurement from #5 above cut two pieces of 1/4 in. elastic.  Take one of them and place right above the hem on one leg of your romper.  Sew it down 2-3 stitches and backstitch.  Now pull taut and stitch all the way across the leg opening.  Repeat for the opposite leg.

It will create this gathered effect like in the picture below.

Hang in there we are almost finished now I promise!  Take out your bias tape and cut it in half creating two strips for your side ties.  Fold one strip in half to find the center of the tape.  Open up the tape and fold over the side seam in our arm hole so that your ties will be centered.  Repeat for the opposite arm hole using your other strip of bias tape.

Starting at the very end of one of your bias tape strips sew across the short end.  Turn and sew all the way down the side stitching around the arm hole and across the opposite end of the strip.  Repeat for the opposite side.

Ta-Da!  Now put it on your child and take lots of pictures!!

This romper would also look super cute layered with a t-shirt for the fall!  Hope you love it!

Purse Palooza fabric reveal

Well, I can finally cross one crafting related to-do off the list.  I went fabric shopping today.  My wallet did not appreciate it.  My main objective walking into the craft store, a.k.a. Hobby Lobby, was to find the materials I needed for my Purse Palooza bag entry.  (If you have never heard of Purse Palooza before click the little ticket button to the left and it will tell you all about it.) 

After wandering around and looking at just about every fabric there, and then walking it a second time I finally figured out what it was I wanted, and I took a completely different turn with the bag than I originally intended.  It's summer and I wanted something cheery, but that still bordered on neutral-ish. 

Drum roll please......

Now, I just hope the bag turns out as awesome as I envision it to.