Pretty's New Birthday Toy

My little Pretty turned 2 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe it, but then don't we moms say that about every birthday our kids have?

On the day of their birthday, Jake and I like to have a large bag of balloons blown up with a new toy in the middle of it all for the kids (like Hero's birthday pig). For Pretty this year, it was this new set up.

Last summer, I found a listing for these three wooden toys for $5. Total score! I'll share the make overs of the other two later, but today it's about the ironing board.

It was in rough shape. It looked like it had never been painted, just primed, and not even all over... And the previous owner had colored on the top with pencils.

So, I sanded it down,

and spray painted the whole thing white with a combo primer/paint spray.

It sat in our play room like that for the past six months. Then, one day while I was ironing a ton of fabric for curtains, Hero told me we needed an iron for the toy ironing board. I considered making one, but found this awesome homemade wooden iron on Etsy for a good price! (She's got a ton of cool wooden toys, you should check it out.)

I decided last minute to make this simple cover for the board out of flannel I had hanging around because the thought of the wood rubbing on the wood made me worry about it scratching.

Man, she is adorable! But she was so busy jumping with the balloons that this fuzzy picture was all I could get of her with the iron before the hopped off again!

Happy Birthday, Pretty!

Progress

Suddenly, after having the thing for a month, I decided to dive into the doll house project. I first took it outside where I decided it would be better to replace the roof than sand it down and repaint it. There was a great sense of satisfaction in ripping it off! Then I discovered I could rip the whole second floor out! This made is so much easier to work on. I don't know about you guys, but breaking stuff seems just as much fun as making stuff!

Any-who, here's a picture of the house after spending 3 hours in a hunched position scraping off all the "wallpaper" and sticker pictures and carpet residue with a razor blade.

After sanding it, painting the whole inside white with acrylic paint and a foam brush. And spray painting the entire outside white out in the cold weather (my poor frozen fingers!), I painted each of the rooms. I tried to pick colors I would like in a real house. But before I get comments about it, I would not make my real house this busy. Or paint a room pink like that. But it is a doll house. There had to be a pink room. (And yes, Audrey, I picked the gray because of how awesome it looks in your real house!)

Here's close ups of the top floor. Hero picked the red for "his room".

 The bottom floor (living room and kitchen). I love the pinstripes in the kitchen!!

There is still a lot to do with this project. All the flooring, one of the stairs is missing, the "yard" in the front, the shutters around the windows, the roof. . . and once that's all done there's the curtains (yes, I'm nuts and plan to make curtains for the little windows), and we'll see how crazy I get making vs. buying the furniture and dolls themselves. I have a feeling those will mainly be bought.

Sad news is I think I have to pause on the project at this point for a while. I have a bunch of sewing I've been ignoring for the Taiwan trip that I leave for in 2 weeks (btw, thanks for the suggestions)! But luckily, I'm happy with where it is at the moment.

The Bench Make Over.

A few months back, in the peak of yard sale season, I stopped by a joint sale put on by several of my neighbors. It was near the end, so the majority of the items I found, they just gave to me. But this item, the old owner was planning to take it home if it didn't sell. But she gave it to me for $3! Score!

The legs were ugly gold, slightly tarnished.

And the white seat was stained.

So I bought it with the idea to recover and paint it. It sat there for months as is, until the idea of lots of people coming into my home for the baby shower spurred me to action. I bought a yard of fabric from IKEA for $7/yd (expensive, but worth it!) and some spray paint from WalMart for $3, and went to work.

I had planned to do a whole tutorial, but then two things happened:

1. I realized that the chances of anyone having this bench too was slim,
2. I was too excited to get it done that I forgot to take pictures the whole way through! oops.

But I will give you some basics.

First, remove the legs from the seat, spray paint legs in the garage (and forget to take pictures...)

Then, remove the old fabric. There was a black cover to hide the bulk of the white fabric and give it a nice edge, secured by staples. I used a screw driver to pry them loose, and kept the black cover to reuse it.

Of course, it is impossible to do any project on the ground without help.

After the black piece is gone, remove the fabric. Make sure to watch how it was put together, so you can recover it in the same manner.

I was happy to find that there was a muslin layer under the main fabric. This meant that I didn't have to worry about placing the padding! I used Febreze to get out any left over smell (which, luckily, this didn't have. . .)

I laid out the old fabric flat and used it as a pattern for the new. This picture doesn't help much, but I swear they are the same size!

Here's where I got giddy and forgot the camera. After trying to borrow a staple gun from either set of parents without success, we decided to invest in our own.

 I love this thing. It made me feel super powerful.

To recover, I laid the fabric right side down, like it is above, and centered the seat on the fabric. Using the awesome stapler, I secured the corners on the same long side, then secured the long side in between them. Then I moved to the other side and corners, pulling tight. Staple a lot to make sure it's secure. Then I added back the black piece for a finished look.

Attach the seat to the newly painted and dried legs, and BAM! A whole new look!

I love the way the gray and yellow go together. (the yellow is Krylon Bright Idea spray paint)

After finishing this, I asked my husband if (when we have our own home) I can have a yellow couch. He said yes!

But I'm thinking a gray couch would be a better choice. Maybe I need a yellow arm chair...

Cotton Candy Costume Tutorial

When I was asking Hero what he wanted to be for Halloween, I also asked him what Pretty should be. He said, "Pink." I tried to get more out of him. . .

"A pink what?" I asked. 

But all he would say was, "Pink," and then get distracted.

So I called my sister and asked if she had any ideas and she did! Cotton Candy was Audrey's idea and I loved it! As soon as she said it, the image popped into my head of exactly how I was going to do it. I was so excited!!

Let's get started.

Supplies:

• Old white t-shirt (I used a men's medium)
• 3/4 yd. of thin vinyl (find it on the big rolls) 
• *Read my Costume Safety post in response to comments received*
• Pink Rit Dye (or spray paint)
• Stuffing
• Red fabric cut to 3" x 36"
• Spray adhesive

*I suggest scrolling down to the part about dying the stuffing and doing that first!*

I measured Pretty around her waist (while she was sitting, because it's bigger then) and her length from shoulder to knee.

Length shoulder to knee: 16"

Waist around: 18"

With these measurements I decided the t-shirt should be cut into 2 panels:  17" long and 14" wide.

Start by laying the t-shirt flat, then folding it in half down the center. Cut 17" long, and 7" wide (because it is folded). To cut shape the arm opening, measure and mark 4" down and 2" over from the raw edge corner and cut a curved line from one mark to the other.

The vinyl layer should be into cut 2 panels that are 19" long and 18" wide. Again, fold in half and measure only 9" wide. Shape the arm opening the same as the t-shirt.

With right sides together, sew the t-shirt side seams with a 1/2" seam. Then sew the vinyl side seams together. The shirt and vinyl should still be two separate pieces!

Sew a gather stitch along the bottom edge of the vinyl layer.

Place the vinyl inside the t-shirt and match the bottom edges, gathering the vinyl as needed, with the WRONG SIDE of the t-shirt and the RIGHT SIDE of the plastic facing each other. Trust me. Sew with a 1/2" seam

I used my walking foot because the vinyl kept sticking to the pressure foot. However, I bet if you flipped it and sewed with the vinyl side down it would work better. Just lift it so it doesn't stick to the machine.

Flip the t-shirt layer inside the vinyl layer. You should now be looking at both right sides, with the bottom seam tucked inside.

Run a gather stitch across the top of the vinyl on both front and back, pull to match the t-shirt, tie ends to secure.

Finish the arm openings by basting the two layers together with edge on the edge of the pressure foot.

Then fold over both layers toward the t-shirt side at the baste line and sew in place.

This is where I figured out how much batting I needed. I stuffed until it was level with the bottom of the arm openings. Make sure not to over do it. Remember than your baby has to fit inside! It ended up being one plastic shopping bag stuffed full.

Next step is to dye the stuffing. This can be done in advance, so as to not throw off your sewing groove!

I followed the directions on the box to prepare the dye bath, then submerged the stuffing. The box says to "stir constantly for 30 min". But I much prefer the method I learned here from Dana. Basically, just stop in every once and a while to stir it. I started at 11pm before knowing that it's better to leave it for many hours.

Over all, I left mine in for 10 hours! But mainly because I was sleeping and then taking care of my kids.

Also, when I pulled it out to look at it, it didn't look very pink. The dye was not taking!! So of course, I freaked out...

ran to the store, bought pink spray paint and did this to a second batch of stuffing, all at 5am... And it was too pink.

But when I later took the stuffing out of the dye bath to clean up, I realized that if I didn't rinse it, just ring it out, some color was still there. But it still didn't look very pink to me. I set it on some rags to dry for about an hour.

Then I put it in this drawstring bag and tossed in the dryer. It took a long time drying, and I had to mix the bag several times to make sure the inside stuff was getting dry too.

It wasn't until I had the dyed stuff in the costume that I saw it was perfect. So now I have a bag full of hot pink, spray painted stuffing... meh. Because I didn't rinse the dye from the batting, I don't plan to wash this costume in the washing machine. If needed I'll just have to spot clean it.

Story time over. Back to the sewing!

I left a small amount of batting out for the hair accessory.

Now that's it's stuffed, match up the top edge and baste together.

Fold over  1" toward the t-shirt. Pin and sew close to raw edge.

Make the tie. I chose red because that's the color I think of for a twist tie. Cut a strip 3" wide x 36" long. Fold in half and press.

Fold in half again and sew.

To make the tie show, use a seam ripper to cut an opening for the tie in the vinyl layer on both ends of both sides.

Use a safety pin to thread the tie through both front and back.

Try to make the tie ends as close to even as you can. Measure 2 1/2" space of the tie between the front and back for the first shoulder. Sew in place across the tie.

Gather both front and back to six inches of tie and sew down other end. Tie a bow with the loose ends.

The last step is to make the labels. These are what I created using Picnic.com. If you want to use them, just click on the image and save it full sized. *please, personal use only*

  

I chose to print mine 5x7 through Walmart.com, and I was upset with the front label came out black and with the top and bottom of the circle cut off. But not wanting to deal with customer services to get a refund of pennies, I just decided to make it work. *mini grr-face*

Trim the white from the outside of the image. Lay the image face down on some of the extra vinyl. Cut the vinyl about 1/2" bigger than the image. Use spray adhesive to attach to the costume. It doesn't matter which side is front or back, just decide which side you want the bow from the tie on.

And you're done!!

I'll show you how to make the hair thing next... I promise.

Just add the baby and BAM! Cutest Cotton Candy ever!!

This is a happy face, I swear.

Happy Halloween!!