Bow Tie Tutorial

I made my little guy a bow tie and it is SO easy! Here is what it looks like when it is done



There are so many variations to this as well which is really nice. I hate how everyone puts the SAME exact tutorials on there blogs ( you know what I mean right... ) but I looked around and the one bow ties I found were for sale. I didn't find any that were fake bow ties. I found a couple of real bow ties that are way cute but I would hear "Mommy, can you tie this?" every five minutes because he would pull on it over and over again until I would rip it off of him and tell him he couldn't wear it any more! haha SO, this is a bow tie sew onto elastic ( or you could do fabric to match the bow tie ) and then either Velcro or a snap. Your choose. I am just going to show you how to make it and you can decide the rest. So let's get started!!

First you need two pieces of fabric cut into 9 X 7 inch squares ( you can make them smaller if you are making them for a younger boy. ) Then you need one 2 1/2 by 5 inch piece. This will be the center so if you want it to be a different color remember to do that. Then measure your little guys neck. My boy has a 10 to 11 inch neck ( fatty, I know ) so I did a 13 inch piece of elastic and two pieces of Velcro. Let's make a list

2 pieces of 9X7 inch fabric
1 piece of 2 1/2 by 5 inch fabric
2 piece of Velcro
and some elastic



Take one of the two 9X7 inch pieces and press the short sides in and iron down. Just a 1/4 of an inch or so on both short sides. Then sew this down



Then take one of the pieces you just sewed and fold it in half with right sides together so that the sides you sewed already are on the ends.



Follow these steps with the other piece of fabric and then turn both of them right side out. You should have two identical piece of fabric. Now press them open with the seam in the center in the back. Also, do the same thing with the middle piece of fabric. This is should be much smaller. Now you have all three piece sewn and ready to go.



Now the next steps are difficult to show with the two pieces of fabric so I am goign to show you with one of the bands we just made but just know you are going to do it with both of them stacked on top of each other. Just look at the pictures first and then try it out. It will seem confusing looking at the pictures but as soon as you try it, you'll get it right away and it will be fine.

Step One

Turn the fabric over to the back and fold both long ends into the center

Step Two

Fold in half the opposite way

Step Three

Now comes the difficult part to take pictures of and explain. Take the end and fold it in half towards the back. Then repeat with the other side and in your hands you should be able to turn it around and see this


If you do not see this, then try the steps over again. Now you could do this and be done. I wanted my boys bow tie to be double layered. If you do not want it double layered then you could skip the other piece of fabric all together and move on to the center piece. If you want two layers ( which just makes it more full ) then keep reading

Now that you know how you are going to fold it and if you are doing the double layer, do step ONE with both piece of fabric separated. Then stack the layers like so



You may notice in the picture that I made the bottom one slightly longer then the second. That is so once the bow ties are done, you can see it underneath the other one. If you are doing both layers, you will want to do this. Now, take these stacked pieces and find the center of your elastic. Line up the center of the fabric with the center of the elastic and hand sew them together. You only need a couple of stitches. Leave the stitching in and long for just a minute. We are going to use it in a second. This just keeps the bow tie in place while your little one wears it.



Now, go ahead and make the fold I showed you earlier only do it with the two pieces of fabric together. ( steps one through 3 ) Now take that thread you have lose and wrap it around once and either tie it off ( or stitch it once more through the bow tie and tie off. Now we are ready for the center piece.

NOw take your center piece and find the middle. Line the middle up with the front of your bow tie and wrap it around so the ends are in the back.



If your ends are too long just tuck them under. NOW here is another thing that is up to you. When I sewed this shut I DIDN'T sew it to the elastic. That way I can adjust the bow tie any time I want too. I thought this would be better, but if you want to, you can sew this straight onto the elastic. I made sure to not catch the elastic and just sew the two ends closed.



Now all you need to do is sew some elastic to the ends, or snaps if you prefer. I did the velcro. I have a pretty active kid and the bow tie stayed on for ALL 3 hours of church plus an hour or so before church. That's pretty impressive for my kid. If you have any questions just please ask. I swear it is pretty straight forward and it took me 20 minutes TOPS! Another option would be to add lightweight interfacing if you want it to be thicker or hold its shape better. I was too lazy! haha I am going to do another tutorial next week with a Bible ( or Book of Mormon ) cover to match the bow tie! I thought that would be cute. Enjoy your bow tie and let me know if you make one.

On a side note, you can do this with ribbon for girls hair bows ( or make a fabric one too! ) I made a black fabric one for Kayla with a ribbon tie for the center and it's WAY cute!! And totally girly. I'll post a picture as soon as I can get one. ENJOY



My little chip-n-dale! My brother asked me if he was Chris Farley or Patrick Swazi ( yeah I can't spell ) HAHA If you have any idea what I am talking about you are awesome. It's one of my FAVORITE SNL skits. I am adding this to a "link party" so check out what everyone else posted by clicking on the button below!

Framed Pictures

I made the CUTEST pictures of my kids today with my new printer. I was SO happy with how they came out. I have noticed that on etsy.com people sale pictures on canvas with words printed on them to make them more personal. Then because they are putting words or graphics on the picture, they charge a TON! Do you guys have any idea how cheap canvas is? I got a roll of canvas for 100 dollars. Most of the canvas I see on etsy.com with words on them are at LEAST 100 dollars for a 14 X 16! Um..hello!!! BUT after printing out these pictures of my kids, I can understand why people do it and even feel good about the money they spent. I loved them THAT much.

So I too the words to the song "I AM A Child of God" ( it's a Mormon song that kids learn really young and has special meaning to it's member's ) I put the first verse of the song on Tyler's picture



Then I took the chorus of the song and put it on Kayla's picture



I LOVE IT! This is what it looks like on the wall.



NOW, if any one thinks they might want something like this I have canvas and I won't charge you 100 dollars like most places on line. Seriously, let me know if you are interested cause very soon I will be opening up an etsy.com site and I am going to start selling them. But if you can't wait, then I will sell it to you sooner. :) My printer prints up to 24X 5 feet. AWESOME!

Why Me?

Since getting into the crafting and sewing blog scene about 9 months or so ago I have noticed people melting down regular crayons in different molds to make there own. I noticed this a month or so before Halloween and while at the dollar store I found a pumpkin mold and a skull mold and thought "Oh yeah baby! i am so making skull crayons." I bought both of them and then put them away and never did it. I FINALLY decided to get out some crayons and do it while the kids were sleeping.



i was so excited to see how they came out. I checked two or three times to make sure everything was going well. There was four minutes left and there were a couple of pieces not quite done so I let it go the full fifteen minutes I had the timer set for. The timer went off, I opened the oven and THIS is what I saw




AND some of the crayon spilled in my oven. Seriously?! Am I the only one in the craft world who can't make her own freaking crayons?! BOOO But once they cooled I popped them out and they looked really cool. Two or three of them were a little warm still so the teeth didn't pop out but I was pleased with the results. I wish it hadn't of spilled in my oven and melted the little mold but oh well.

Sewing's Fun!

I am so happy and blessed to have a sewing machine! When I was with out one, I was starting to get into the craft blogs and was drooling over all the cute things people were creating with sewing. My friend told me to just get over and get a machine! haha SO I finally did and I have been sewing every since. On days like the one I had yesterday, sewing keeps me from crying! Some times life is hard with kids. It's even harder when your husband travels and you don't always have help. I was dying to get a dr. pepper last night right before bed time. If my husband had been here he would have gladly gone and gotten one but he wasn't. I was tempted but resisted. Thank goodness because about ten minutes later my son had an accident in his pants. It was so frustrating. I put them to bed and began to sew. I am making a purse for some and it is turning out beautifully! I can't wait to finish it today! The night before I did the same thing. I put the kids to bed and sewed for an hour. This is what i sewed then



I even took pictures and wrote down measurements and in a couple of days I will be posting a tutorial! WOO HOO Not only is this little bow tie so cute for boys, but is great in a single layer for girls hair! I made Kayla ( well I started one ) in black for her hair and it is so so so cute! I am excited to show you how to make it because it was super fast too. I think it took me a half an hour tops. I also can't wait to post pictures of the purse I am making. I should be done today so I can mail it off tomorrow. The only thing I hate is waiting for people to get their packages so I can post pictures! She reads this blog some times so I wouldn't want to ruin it for her. SOOOOOO happy sewing everyone. I hope it brings as much happiness to y'all as it does to me.

YEAH FOR POSTING!

I am so excited to be posting again! I made a few things last week but they were presents. I didn't want to post pictures until my friend got her stuff. She is having her second baby and I was planning on making her a tie onesie and then she ended up asking me to make her one before I did it! haha I guess it was meant to be. :) I also made her a guitar onesie. While I was making it Tyler saw it and asked if it was his! haha I told him it was for a baby so he asked me if I could make him one. Here is Tyler's shirt.....well kind of. I was actually taking a picture of the bow tie which he got at the thrift store that day.




And here are the baby things I made Cari

the changing pad/diaper and wipe holder




the onesies




I love how the changing pad came out. It is made out of terry cloth and some snuggle flannel. I found a tutorial on how to make it that I will post a link to tomorrow. I wish I had my sewing machine when Kayla was born because I would have LOVED one of those. It would come in so handy!

Pillow Talk

Well I actually finished the Valentines Day pillow for my husband. Needless to say since he has been gone for like 5 weeks, it has only been on ONE side. Haha But he likes it and I love how it turned out. I didn't quite fill it enough so it's a little sad but I love how the embroidery came out.




I am WAY excited because I got my new printer in the mail! The box was bigger then Tyler!!!



I can't wait to start printing HUGE! WOO HOO

BOOB Update

For those who have been reading this blog since the beginning, might remember a blog I wrote about my boobs. Well if you don't you can read it here. I have an update. I have recently lost 10 more pounds and have been SO happy about it. I hope to lose at least 10 more in the next month or so. Usually Boobs shrink when losing weight and I honestly thought they hadn't. Then Cody came home from his trip and someone was actually touching them....Yeah they got smaller. He says my butt is smaller too....I'm not sure about that one. He did say it while the lights were out, we were in bed and he was rubbing my bottom so he was judging solely on how it felt. Pretty scientific if you ask me. ANY WAYS....I went bra shopping on Saturday. The results are in and my boobs did shrink. The problem...they shrunk enough to not fill out a D cup all the way BUT they didn't shrink enough to fit into a C cup! What the heck. So now, it's either a bra that's slightly too big and bags, or one that is too small and my boobs don't fit into all the way. Boooooooooooo At least I lost the 10 pounds and I wouldn't trade that for the boobs any day!