I'm one of Grammy's daughters, and I am also expecting my first child this winter. In eager anticipation for our son's arrival, I spent a week making all sorts of fun crafts. I've linked the tutorial I used within each blurb, in case you're interested.
Craft #1: Inspired by a friend's blog post on baby crafts, I attempted
iron on applique. Although the steps I took were different than these instructions because of the fusing I used, the result was just as fabulous and it was pretty easy. I traced the image onto my stencil, stuck it to my fabric, cut the fusing and fabric in the shape of the image, and ironed it on to the onesie. Cutting out the image is the only tedious thing. I stitched around the iron on to make it last longer. In this picture above, the white and yellow onesies are iron on. But the blue one? That's craft #2.
Craft #2: While googling, I found another great way to decorate onesies (or any fabric for that matter):
freezer paper stenciling. What?!? Yes, it actually works. In this picture, the yellow and green onesies are just that (blue and white are iron on). After you cut out your freezer paper stencil (takes some time, use a razor knife), you iron the freezer paper shiny side down to your onesie and it sticks! Then you paint your shape with fabric paint - make sure you put cardboard in between shirt layers so it doesn't bleed through. After letting it completely dry, the stencil peels right off! Then you just set it according to your paint's instructions. Amazing! PS - I dyed my onesies so they had color! I used little packs of permanent fabric dye and they turned out fantastic. I'm sure I'll have plenty of white onesies so I'm happy to throw some color in there!
Craft #3: After seeing
these blocks for $25, I decided I could make my own to save money. I found
this tutorial for handmade blocks. Sewing squares together is a cinch. When filling the blocks, I stuffed in some jingle bells for fun. Hand sewing the block closed was the hardest part, and although these blocks aren't perfect, do you think my kid's gonna care?
Craft #4: Since
leg warmers will never go out of style (!) I made some masculine ones for our little guy. Honestly, they were mega easy once I figured out how to stitch the cuff to the sock, and I sewed around twice to make sure the cuff was attached throughout. I put them on a stuffed animal to see how they look -- aDORable!
Craft #5: Hooded baby towels are uber-cute, and they're not cheap. But low and behold, someone made a tutorial on how to make your own
hooded baby towel! I thought it would be harder, but it was seriously simple. Maybe that's because I omitted sewing on applique and bias trim (it was late). We'll see how fray check holds up. But it's huge and fluffy and I can't wait to stick my baby in it!
Craft #6: I've seen these all over the place and decided it must be easy enough to make. A
decorated diaper wipes case may not increase its functionality or usefulness, but it'll look a lot cooler in my diaper bag than a plain plastic one! I had to fudge with hot glue and pull the fabric some, but the lime green trim really covered up some trouble spots.
