Robot Mittens

I try to make a lot of the gifts I give out for Christmas and birthdays, it's usually budget friendly and I feel like it's a little better than giving a gift card. Now don't get me wrong, I love getting money for a gift, who doesn't? But I also enjoy gifts that are unique and have had some time put into them.  .

Last year I waited until a month or two before Christmas to start making our gifts and almost didn't finish making everything, I figured it would be smart to start a little early this year. It's no fun when your stressing out a week before Christmas because you have so much to get done. The holidays are more enjoyable when they are stress free, don't ya think?

While looking for things to make Charlie I came across this wonderful mitten pattern and I crochet him some mittens. The pattern is well written and I was able to get the gloves done really quick. The pattern can also be used to make gloves for older kids and adults too. After looking at the mittens I felt like they could use a little more protection. I don't know if you've ever played in the snow with crochet gloves but after a few minutes the snow starts to seep through the gloves and your hands get cold really quick. If there is snow outside it is inevitable that Charlie will be in it. So I needed to come up with a way to keep the snow from getting through right away.

I found some felt in my craft room and came up with a robot that I could sew onto the gloves. It will give Charlie's hands a little more protection from the cold and it looks cute to boot! I made a printable robot pattern and a simple oval pattern that you could put on the gloves instead of the robot if your looking for something quick.

The materials I used where

-Yarn

-Crochet needle

-Scissors

-Needle

-Thread

-Crafting felt sheets in any color you choose

-Craft glue (optional)

Step one! Crochet your gloves. 

Step two! Cut out your Robot!

Step three! Sew the eyes to the Robots head and the hands
 to the robots arms.

Step four! Place both heads on each of the gloves
 and make sure their placement is the same. You need
to also make sure that you are putting the Robot
on to the palm of each glove. Sew them on.

Step five! Do the same thing with the body of the
 robot and sew that puppy onto your mitten.

      Step six! Sew on your arms and your done!

Notes- I used a stitch similar to a blanket stitch for this project. You want to be very careful to not go through both layers of the glove when trying to sew your applique on. 

You can use a craft glue to stick the eyes and hands in place before you start stitching but it isn't necessary.

If you would like to use a different fabric like cotton for your mittens you may want to add fusible interfacing to it so that it isn't so flimsy. It will also keep the fabric from fraying.  Double sided fusible interfacing like Heat and Bond, will not stick well to your mitten and you run the risk of melting your yarn if you try to iron it on. So if you go the interfacing route then iron it on to your fabric only and iron it before you place the pieces on your glove so you don't burn anything.

I hope you really enjoyed this tutorial. Its really simple and lots of fun, you don't even have to use a robot. Make your own applique and put it together and post a picture on the Divine Crafting Facebook Page, I would love to see what you've come up with.

What I've Learned About Sewing

I am not the best seamstress in the world but there are a few things I have learned that have helped me to make my sewing projects look better (or at the very least keep me from loosing my mind when something doesn't turn out right).

1. The IRON is your BEST FRIEND!

It makes things so much easier when you can iron down a hem before you sew it or iron out a piece of fabric before you cut out your pattern. It may seem like a wast of time but it really helps.

2. Take the time to thoroughly PLAN OUT YOUR PROJECT.

I know from experience this will save you a lot of headaches later. I can't remember how many times I have messed up on a project and then had to spend a ton of time ripping out seams because I didn't plan out how I was going to sew my garment together before I did it. If you are working from a pattern read it before you start doing anything. If you are making something without a pattern, sit down and write out what you are going to do, what pieces will be sewn together first, second, third and so on.

3. You can always START OVER.

If you mess up on a project don't sweat it! Everyone makes mistakes; just remember that you can always start your project over. Unless you are working with fabric they just don't make anymore....then oops.

4. Wait until your kids are asleep.

It is a lot easier to finish a project if you don't have to worry about your little one running off with your fabric or sticking their fingers in your sewing machine while you are trying to work.

5. Practice on fabric you don't care about

Don't use expensive fabric your first time around. It really stinks when you mess up and waste 50 bucks.

6. Experiment

Take some time and experiment with your sewing machine, it takes some time to get to know your sewing machine so try different stitches, mess with the tension and learn how to fix it.

7. TAKE A STEP BACK AND BREATHE.

There are many times when one of my projects just isn't turning out like I wanted it to. So I just step back and leave my project alone for a little while...take deep breaths and try not to throw my sewing machine out the window. Then reassess the project and try to fix the problem.

8. Learn to get along 

If you are new to sewing and you're anything like me you're going to be using your seam ripper a lot. Learn to get along with it, you are going to be spending a lot of time together so you might as well just be friends. Just don't leave it out or your kids may tear your couch apart.

Thanks for reading!

Recovering Fabric Baskets

I found these bins at the thrift shop for two bucks each but one of them was ripped and the fabric was not washable. Can someone please tell my why they would use fabric you can't wash?! The people who made these things must not have kids.

The bins have a metal frame and Velcro so you can take the fabric cover off to spot clean.

Here is one of the bigger holes

They Velcro onto the metal frame so they can be taken off
and cleaned

Alice was my big helper

The First thing I did was take out all of the Velcro
so I could reuse it in the new basket

:)

My kids love to help with projects

Then I took the whole thing apart with the seem ripper, it took me a really long time and the fabric kept ripping apart. At the very bottom of the bin there was a piece of cardboard sandwiched in between two pieces of fabric, I used the seam ripper to take open up one end and pulled out the card board so I could use it in the new basket covering.

Keep the Cardboard

Cut out one of each piece

For the bottom piece make sure you cut out an
extra strip o fabric about 2 inches wide

Since I want to be able to wash this I am making an opening at the bottom of the bin so that I can slip the cardboard out and just throw the rest into the washer.
 I surged one edge of the bottom fabric and then the strip then I put them good sides together and placed the cardboard on top and measured how big the opening needed to be.

Then I surged from the corner to the orange dot, about 1/2 an
inch on each side of the fabric.

This is what it looks like up close

Next sew both of the bottom pieces bad sides together
then slide the cardboard in to make sure it fits

Next I sewed on each of the sides to the bottom piece then surged
each of the sides together and around the top.

Sew the Velcro back on, slip it onto the metal frame
and your
DONE!

The new basket was tested and approved by Alice!
Thanks For reading

Baby room make over in progress!

Its funny sometimes how things don't always work out in the time frame you expect them to. My plan when we moved into our house was to have the bedrooms decorated, painted and looking amazing with in the first month. Of course things don't always work out the way we planed. So here is the baby's partial bedroom make over 3 months after the time I planned it to be finished.

Before

Before

Before

After

Before

Cute Baby!

After

I made a crib sheet using this tutorial and I also made a cover for the changing table. I had some fabric covered diaper boxes that I made a little over a year ago and just used those as toy boxes. I still have a lot of work to do in this room but things are starting to come together. I want to add some lighter colors in here to brighten up things up and I would also like to put in some curtains. I still need to get a laundry basket and a trash can that look good in this space but its been hard to find what I am looking for. 

I will post more pictures when I get the nursery finished. Thanks for reading!

Kindle Case Tutorial

When you have a 1 year old running around your house, none of your possessions are safe. Charlie loves to play with anything that belongs to mommy or daddy, our phones, keys, wallets and computers. I probably spend about 50% of my day making sure he isn't getting into something he isn't supposed to.
A few days ago I caught Charlie playing with the kindle touch I bought my husband this last Christmas. He moved a chair close enough to our bed to climb on then got the kindle off of our dresser which is right next to our bed. After realizing how easily he could have just dropped the kindle on the floor and broken it, I decided it was time to buy it a case.
I looked at Wal-Mart and found nothing. They had cases for iPads and other electronics but nothing for the Kindle. I looked online and found a few cases that I liked but I didn't really want to spend a ton of money for just a case. So I looked through my plethora of crafting materials and came up with a plan.

I used...
1 Kids craft foam sheet
Elastic
Material
1 Button
1 Thin elastic hair band

1) Cut 8x11 inches of the foam

2) Cut 9x24 inches of the material
(If you are cutting your fabric on the fold cut 9x12)

3) Fold the material in half (good sides facing each other)
then put the foam in between it.

4) Sew the fabric around the foam and leave a 4-6 

inch hole so you can invert the fabric in a later step.

Make sure you don't sew over the foam!

5) Cut off the extra fabric except the fabric around the hole.
You want to leave the extra fabric there so that you tuck it in
and sew it down when the time comes. It should look like this.

6) Pull the foam out.

7) Turn your fabric right sides out. It should look like this.

8) Put your foam back in, fold under the extra fabric and pin down.

9) Sew a top stitch all the way around the case.

10) Find the center of you case and sew a straight line from
top to bottom. This will be where your case folds.

(Click the image to see it full sized with measurements)  
11) Add the Elastic. Measure 2 3/4 in. from the side, 
1 in. from the bottom and mark with a pencil. 
Then measure 3/4 in. from the side and 2 1/2 in. 
from the bottom corner and mark it. 
Do the same thing for both the top and the bottom .

12) Add the elastic hair band vertically centered of the
back side of the case and the button to the front side.

Here it is!

Thanks for reading!

Baby Tights

Just a few days ago my husband and I found out that we are having a little girl! I am only 24 weeks along so I still have a long way to go before we see this baby, but I couldn't help looking at little girls clothes online. I found this wonderful pattern and it looked so easy I had to make it.
I used some material that I have had sitting around for a really long time, it was really stretchy and a really pretty shade of purple. I love it!

This was really, really easy to do and it only took about ten minutes. Pattern is for a 3-6 month old so it wont fit my little girl for a while, but she will eventually fit into them.

Thanks for reading!