Handpainted baby leggings, 3 ways

 

Have you noticed the baby leggings craze?  How could you NOT??  They're E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.  And even though there are TONS of adorable baby girl leggings to be found, you can't deny there are some super cute boy designs out there, too! 

 

Since I've got a tiny guy of my own, I decided to board the leggings bus-- just to see.  I spied a simple grey pair at a thrift store one day and decided to jazz them up a little before I went all leggings loco.

 

Lemme show ya what I did.

 

First I gathered my supplies:

craft paint

textile medium

a sponge brush

stencil plastic (not shown)

exacto knife (not shown)

cutting mat

 

Using the stencil plastic and exacto knife I cut out a simple, imperfect chevron design.  The grid on my cutting mat was helpful in getting my lines straight and evenly spaced.

 

Next I slipped a piece of poster board into one leg so the paint wouldn't bleed through.

 Then I got to stenciling!

I made my way around the leggings and eventually my design met up in the back.  It wasn't perfect, but so what? 

I made the lines of the zig zags uneven on purpose because I knew I'd never get a perfectly printed design like you see on store-bought clothing.  So I figured if I made it look intentionally flawed then perhaps my mistakes and flubs wouldn't be so noticeable! (???)

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Don't worry- he likes the leggings, too.  He just doesn't like photo shoots right before lunchtime.  :)

"Please, Mama!  NO. MORE. PICTURES!!  I just want a flippin' CRACKER!"

 

My brother gave me the idea to make some Lego leggings (Legogings?), so I cut up an old knit skirt I had and stamped it with-- what else?-- LEGOS!

Again I used paint and fabric medium, but this time stamping on flat fabric allowed me a lot more control over how the design came out. (See one of my little Lego stamps in the corner of the photo below?)

Then I sewed them up and there you have it!  Another pair of hand painted leggings! 

 Unfortunately a little tragedy befell this adorable pair.  I forgot to heat set the paint with my iron before they got tossed in the wash, so a lot of my painstakingly stamped Legos faded.  Some quite a bit.  They're still cute and wearable, just not as vibrant as before.  *sigh

 

Here's another pair that's in the works.  Just need to add elastic for the waistband.  This time I drew on my design with a fabric marker. 

 

Sorry these photos aren't very clear.  Rowan has decided that it's hilarious to try running away from me before I can take his picture.  The turkey.

 

 

Okay, so now you can see that it is possible to make your very own adorable baby leggings using 3 different methods BUT

what if you don't sew?  What if you don't have the supplies to make these?  What if you the design you want would just be impossible to recreate yourself?  Or what if you just plain ol' don't feel like making them??

No worries.  I got ya covered.  :)

 

 

I happen to know the most affordable and A-FREAKING-DORABLE baby leggings are available at

 

THE LITTLE SPOONS on etsy.

 

Check out just a few of their items:

 

camo

 

wide blue & white stripe

grey and neon

 

ikat 

 (do you recognize this little model?  heehee!)

mustard chevron

 

 grey mustache

 

Most of the leggings I've shown you would be fantastic for boys, but I couldn't resist adding a photo of their precious floral leggings, too.  Seriously, they're my favorite.

 

There are many more designs in their shop, and new designs being listed often.  Go take a peek!  And next time you're out thrifting, keep in eye out for a plain pair of leggings that you can jazz up yourself!



sister dolls

Hello, friends!

 

Just popping in on this stormy Thursday to share a couple of little pretties with you.

 

These lovelies just went to the daughters of my cousin, Addysen and Aubrey.  They are two of THE CUTEST girls I've EVER seen, so I was tickled to get to make a couple of mini doll versions of them for Easter.

Blond hair with blue eyes and brown hair with brown eyes.  As different as can be, but if you could see them in person you'd know immediately that they're sisters.

Built-in BFFs.  :)

An attempt at dollmaking

A few weeks ago I got the itch to make something.  This happens to me a lot.  Sometimes I get the urge to make something specific, sometimes I want to use a certain material, sometimes I just want to make something for a certain person, and sometimes it's all of the above.

 

I wanted to make handmade Christmas gifts for my best friend's children, so I had to come up with what I could make for two boys (ages 8 and 6) and two girls (ages 4 and almost 2).  The idea for the boys ended up being easier than I thought- marshmallow shooters!  Seriously, if you have kids (boys or girls) aged 5 and up, they'll love 'em!  Check out Pinterest.  There are tutorials everywhere!

 

As for the girls, I knew I wanted to make something girly that both would like, and something I could do some hand sewing on.  That was the itch I needed to scratch.  I wanted to stitch by hand.

 

The thought of making a couple of dolls for them made me so happy!  I browsed the Internet until I decided on the look I liked, then made up some paper patterns.  This took a little trial and error, then I had fun choosing fabrics. 

 

This little gal was my first attempt.  And yes, I made her with red hair and blue eyes on purpose.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since this was my first doll, I hadn't gotten the assembly really figured out.  I stuffed the head and limbs, stuffed the dress, then pinned everything in place and hand stitched them closed.  I didn't mind that, but I didn't like how floppy this made her head. 

 

A friend of mine asked if I'd be willing to make her two little girls a pair of dollies, so when I started on those I changed my approach.  This time the assembly took more thought and there was far less hand stitching.  I struggled quite a bit on a few parts and realized that my pattern pieces weren't quite working this time (i.e. adding pig tails made it almost impossible to turn the head right side out through that skinny neck!)  Ugh.

 

They did turn out pretty cute, though. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two gals are the ones I ended up sending to my best buddy's girlies (as a surprise).  Again, LOTS of struggles on these.  I think I made the redheaded doll twice and she still didn't turn out quite right.  Oh well.

 

 

 

Clearly I'm new to this.  The dolls are all a bit wonky, and I still haven't worked out the kinks in my pattern pieces, but the particular itch I had has been sufficiently scratched.  And now both of my sweet friends' sweet girls have little look-alike dollies made by me.  That sure makes me happy!

A little baby spot

Ideally, my baby boy would have a nursery. In this nursery would be his crib, a changing table, my rocking chair, another piece of furniture like a dresser or armoire for extra storage, and of course TONS of adorable decor.

Ideally.

Realistically, however, with a family of 6 in a house that's too small, we just can't devote one of the 3 bedrooms into a special haven for one tiny little guy. So, for the time being, my baby gets a small corner of our master bedroom. Today I attempted to make that corner just a bit more functional-- and cute.


While I was still pregnant I gave the changing table/dresser a facelift. I painted it off-white then added the chevron pattern with a taupe color that I mixed myself. Unfortunately my gigantic stomach wouldn't let me go any lower than almost to the bottom, and I just haven't gotten around to finishing it up since Baby arrived. I replaced the silver cup handles that it had before with some warm wooden knobs from Hobby Lobby.

For a little more storage space (and to boost the cute factor) I built this shelf using half of a narrow shutter, a board, iron brackets and some hooks (also from Hobby Lobby).
The shutter shelf is where I hang the diaper holder that I got during my previous pregnancy (which also serves as a place for me to keep Little One's new bow tie collection), as well as a burp cloth caddy that I sewed up today.
Does anyone else use plain old cloth diapers for burp cloths? I have a ton, and I use them A LOT, so I decided it was time to come up with something that would keep them handy but contained. I just made a tube with some scraps of fabric (including leftovers from the crib bedding I made) and added casings on the top and bottom of the tube. The top casing has ribbon in it so I can open it up and stuff the cloths in, and the bottom casing houses elastic so I can easily pull one out at a time.

Moving on.

I also hung his little white blessing outfit from one of the hooks.

Special softies (gifts from friends and loved ones) are perched on top of the shelf, along with a cute canvas print of a little blond boy playing with blocks.

On top of the changer I can also keep wet wipes and a basket of socks and Baby Legs handy.

Just a short little post this time, but a fulfilling one (for me at least)! :)