Plain Onesie Transformation!

I am SO excited! I got some flocked heat transfer material at the store and used my vinyl cutting machine to cut out this adorable submarine! I ironed it right on to one of my baby's little onesies and made it INSTANTLY stylish! Now that I've tried it once, it's all I want to do! I'm thinking of all sorts of cute baby things I could cut out and iron onto his clothes...I'd love to hear your ideas for cute baby onesies! Just leave me a comment...

Baby Car Seat Canopy

My baby grew out of the cozy cover we bought for him at the store---his little head was popping out of the head hole so you couldn't close it to keep him snuggly warm...so we needed something bigger to protect him from the elements. The weather is still not too good here--you'd think we'd be having some spring time weather by now! It snowed last week and it's been rainy with an occasional hail. And of course, it's ALWAYS super windy here. This baby car seat canopy was a super easy and fun project to make. All together, it probably took me 2 hours to do...and I'm so glad I did it! We used it yesterday (it was raining and chilly) and he was so cozy inside that he fell right asleep! Definitely worth it!

You'll need:

1 1/8 yd minkee

1 yd cotton or flannel coordinating fabric

2 magnetic clasps (you'll also need some felt to put between the clasp backing and the minkee)

grosgrain ribbon (for loops to hang toys inside)

Trim the minkee and coordinating fabric to 35 1/2" X 40 1/2". I finally took out my quilter's mat and rotary cutter and used that to trim the fabric. It was SO easy and fun! I love it and will definitely be using it more often!

Next I cut 4 strips of fabric from the minkee, each measuring 3 1/2" X 8 1/2". You'll use these for the handle straps.

Put your fabric right sides together and sew all the way around with a 1/4" seam. Leave a hole to turn the fabric right side out. Do the same with your fabric for the handle straps. Turn out each piece and press (I didn't press mine beacuse I didn't want to flatten the bumps on my minkee...I know someone that tried pressing minkee with bumps and she ended up with no bumps!) then hand sew the openings closed. BEFORE SEWING THE STRAPS CLOSED: you'll need to add your magnetic clasps. Then sew the openings shut.

Now center your straps on the large piece--attach them by sewing through all thicknesses of fabric.

I decided to attach some looped grosgrain ribbon to the inside to hang toys for my baby to play with...all I did was sew the ribbon into loops, then I sewed them right into the seam from the handle straps.

Baby Dinosaur

My husband and I were reading in a magazine that black and white patterns are really good for a baby because of the contrast, and so I thought that it would be fun to make our little boy a stuffed animal using that type of pattern. It was a bit of a trial and error process because I created my own pattern for the dinosaur, plus I've never sewn a stuffed animal--I've crocheted them before, but this is a different story. I had a blast drawing it all out and getting just the right look I wanted. The toughest part was getting the dinosaur's back just right, I had to undo my stitch around that curve and take in the red minkee. But it turned out fantastic! I thought this fabric was cute because it looked boy-ish. I used red minkee too, for the soft texture. I used felt for the eyes and a hypo-allergenic, washable polyester fiber fill for the stuffing. When I gave it to him, he grabbed for it right away---it made all that hard work worthwhile. :-)