Knit Toddler Pom Pom Hat

What's this?!!  Could it be?!!  Yes!  I'm actually posting a finished project!  Summer was full of gardening, family fun, and other projects that kept me away from the computer.  One project was a transforming a small sitting room into a library.  More on that to come.

For now I want to share this adorable hat with you all!

Poor kid is sick, but she still managed a smile.

I thought my little one needed a new winter hat with the cold weather approaching.  I found this pattern in a book and thought it fit her fun little personality to a "t"!

She loves it, and looks pretty dang cute in it!

Toddler Flared T-Shirt

As the weather begins to heat up I've been searching for more t-shirts for my little girl.  As I open her drawers, I find there aren't that many in there!  So in the true DIY attitude I decided to make some instead of buy them!

I took one of her basic shirts and set to work making a pattern from it.  I don't have pattern paper so I used old wrapping paper.  It works great except for the fact it keeps wanting to roll up!

I traced the front, back and sleeve of the shirt onto the paper the best I could and added a quarter inch seam allowance.

My mom's been cleaning out her fabric stash, and lots of it is finding it's way to my house.  I picked out some of the cute cotton she brought over and started tracing and cutting away.

As I started to sew the bodice together I was encouraged and excited.  Then I put it over my little ones head to test it.   Uh-oh.  It went on okay, but it was a stinker to get off of her!  The material I chose had no stretch to it.  And as many of you know, that's a VERY undesirable trait for a toddler shirt.  Especially for my little girl.  She has a big head!  Seriously!!  We're talking in the 90th percentile!

You can see some of that stretchy material on the side in this photo.

So after thinking about the problem for a day or so, and talking to my mom about it I came up with a solution.  My mom had also brought me some white gathered elastic material that's meant to be used at the top of skirts.  Perfect!  I had to sew two strips together to make it long enough, but it worked great.  I added it to each side seam and it gave the shirt just the right amount of stretchiness so that it easily goes on and off.

I made my own bias tape from the same material to go around the neck.  I know I could have used some white bias tape, but I liked the matching look better.  I attached a button on one side, then rolled up a small piece of fabric to create the loop that attaches to the button.  A simple way to create a clasp for a shirt.

And now for the fun part.  You know, the part where I try to get a picture of the two year old wearing the shirt.  Ya right!  Here were some of the first attempts....

And finally the money shot.  Phew!

I haven't had a chance to make another one yet, but if I do maybe I'll try to come up with a tutorial...

A Great Learning Experience - Toddler Vest & Hat

A friend borrowed some patterns for infant/toddler clothes to me.  One was Simplicity Pattern #5316   which included an adorable hooded vest and winter hat.  I found some cozy giraffe print fleece at JoAnns, and went to work.

I started with the hat and it came together pretty quickly.  It was my first time working with patterns using notches, so it took me a few minutes to figure them out, but otherwise it was a simple pattern.  (Not that notches aren't simple, they were just new to me.)

Then I moved on to the vest.  It's a cute little hooded vest with pockets on the front.  It was a FANTASTIC learning experience.  It was my first time sewing a hood, pockets, working with bias tape, and adding a zipper.  I was happy with the results!

Playing in the first snow of the year.  There wasn't much, but
we made it count!