Mud Puddle Splasher Boys Shorts

 This project is for a July charity sewing project at Hopeful Threads to make little boys short.
I chose to make a Size 7/8.    I bought the soccer fabric at Hancock Fabric's today on sale for $2.09 a yard.

I haven't made a boy's pair of shorts since my son was a toddler (he is now a high school graduate) so thankfully the project was a simple one.   I was able to complete this while watching two hour long television shows.

Items used:

• 1 yd fabric
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
•  Straight pins
• Sewing Machine and thread
• Iron
• 22 inches of 3/8 inch elastic

I used the free pattern and instructions for the Mud Puddle Splasher Shorts (through end of July if you agree to make a pair for donation) at Fish Sticks Design.   I printed off the instructions and pattern then pieced the pattern together using the glue stick.  To the left is what it looked like pieced together. 

I decided to make the option without the faux fly front and with pockets, so I only ended up using 3 pieces.

In opened up the fabric and folded each side toward the center and laid out the fronts (cutting 2 pieces) and pocket (cutting 4 pieces) and the backs (cutting 2 pieces) on the other side.

I followed the remaining instructions with the exception of the elastic; I used 3/8 inch as that is what I had on hand instead of the 1 inch in the original project. 






Also linking up to:

Girls Dress from a Ladies Blouse

When I pulled the blouse from my closet I had originally thought of doing a Tim Burton themed dress, but as I plan on donating it to Dress A Girl Around The World and I didn't want to scare little the little gals that may not understand the reference so I decided to decorate with a cheery flower instead.

This size 4-6 slim girls dress was made using a free pattern and instructions by Dana from "Made" using a women's size 10 blouse, around 1/3 yd of contrasting fabric, green ribbon and a sequin embellishment.

The only variations on this dress is I added I cut two pieces for the front and the back that were 3 inches tall and the width of the top of the pattern and stitched it to the dress to thread the drawstring through to make it easier to adjust and added a flower embellishment on one side.

Items used:

• Free pattern and instructions from Dana from "Made"
• Women's blouse (I used a size 10)
• 2 pieces of fabric 2 1/2 inches by 26 inch fabric for bow
• 2 pieces of fabric to sew to the top of the dress
• Printer and paper
• Black fabric paint
• Scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine and matching thread 
• Straight pins

I followed the instructions up to cutting out and stitching armholes and gather stitching to each side and I made it about 2 inches longer than the pattern.

For the flower, I folded a three inch square into quarters and cut the shape to the right and zigzagged  the top of the flower leaving the bottom open on the front of the dress

I then cut two six inch pieces of ribbon and another around 10 inches.  I folded the two six inch pieces in half and pinned them to the back of the long piece to represent leaves and pinned the top piece underneath the flower and zigzagged the stem piece down.

I then finished zigzagging the bottom of the flower down.

For the embellishment in center I used a sequined start I had gotten in a notions grab bag from Michael's and stitched in down using the machine, but a button could be used instead.

I also top stitched near the buttons to keep them closed (they are more for decorative purposes now).

As indicated above, sewed the 3 inch tall pieces (pink polka dotted) to the front and the back using 1/2 inch seams, pressed under 1/2 inch and then top stitched down.

Right sides together, I stitched the sides  then stitched the long bow piece together and used a safety pin to thread through the shoulder on one side then tie in a bow on the other side.


Linking up to:

Dragon Pin

This dragon pin was made from a "gumball" toy machine at the movies where you put in a quarter or fifty cents and get toy or, in this case, a necklace and it only took about five minutes to make.


Items used:

• Plastic dragon off of the necklace
• Hot knife
• Silver paint (or silver paint pen)
• Pin back
• Hot glue gun and glue stick

I used the hot knife to cut the circular plastic piece off of the top then used a silver paint pen to touch up the white plastic the was underneath where the circular piece had been.











I then applied hot glue to the center or the back horizontally and pushed the pin back down and allowed to drive.

"Suede Says" Patterns for Simplicity/New Look

 Photo:  Source
You may remember Suede, with a large personalitywith the bright colored hair who always referred to himself in the third person from Season 5 of "Project Runway".   In addition to having his own clothing line "Suedesays" he also has partnered with Simplicty Creative Group with patterns of his designs that you can make at home.

There is a page on  Simplicty's site  SUEDEsays that show his current pattern offerings.
There are two girls pattern, two men's pattern and several women's patterns.  Each pattern comes with more than one option so you pick what you want to make it your own style.  Although many of the women's dresses a bit short and great if you have a fab pair of gams, he also offers longer dress for those of that don't (or no longer have).  Another good thing with patterns if you want to make it longer, all you have to do is alter the pattern before cutting it out (although my personal standby is to add a ruffle at the bottom).

The pattern that I liked the best is for the jacket on the left - it could go casual with a hood, edgy with the slanted zipper or girly flirty by adding ruffles. 

Source: simplicity.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

He even has a sporty tote bag  pattern with a portion of the profits going to Keep a Child Alive. 

Source: simplicity.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

 For the more budget conscious, there are also several budget New Look patterns (at the bottom of the page).   One that I really like is 6121 as it has both a short and a long dress along with a little purse. There are not too many piece and it look like it would be easy to make. 

Source: simplicity.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Source: simplicity.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

If your current budget is no budget for patterns right now, he even has free instructions for making this Fringed Scarf

Source: Simplicity

Disclaimer:  I have no affiliation with Simplicity Creative Group or SUEDEsay and have received nothing for this post.