Watch Me Grow Winners

Congratulations to the THREE winners!!

1. Stephanie of Murphy's Law

2.  Kyla @ The Simpsons

3.  Bella of Blabber and Blunder

Email me at row35401@ yahoo.com and I will forward your info on to Fern so she can get you the stickers you pick.  Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to the ladies behind Watch Me Grow Stickers!

Ruffle Bib Tank Tutorial

**Don't forget to enter the giveaway in the previous post!**

 

I posted a picture of this tank on Instagram and had a few requests for a tutorial.

I'm going to apologize in advance for these pictures.  I was quickly loosing daylight as I was making the tank top.  Also, as seen in the first couple of pictures, you can make these on regular shirts too.  It doesn't have to be a tank top.

These really have endless options but I chose three fabrics and three buttons for each shirt.

Take a piece of wax paper or tracing paper and draw where you would like the "bib".  This is personal preference.  You can make it as big or little as you want.  Just keep in mind you will be adding a ruffle so you don't want that to go off the shirt.

Cut out your patterns and pin them on the fabric you want as the bib.

Cut out the fabric leaving a little edge for a seam allowance.  Add the length of both sides and the width and multiply that times two for the length of your ruffle.  So I needed my ruffle fabric 28" long.

The width of your ruffle is also personal preference.  I made mine 2.5" wide since I like it a little smaller.

Take your ruffle fabric and fold in the short edges about 1/4" and iron.  Then fold it in half length wise and iron a seam.  You will want to iron it with wrong sides together. (Right sides facing out.)

HERE are good directions to making a ruffle.  Basically set your tension to the highest number (mine is 9) and the stitch length to the longest length (mine is 5).

Sew on the raw edge side, leaving a seam allowance, and plenty of thread hanging off on either end.  Do not back stitch at the beginning or end.  Sometimes my fabric ruffles perfectly and other times it looks like this:

When it looks like that I have to take one piece of thread hanging off and pull it until I get my fabric ruffled like I would like.  Don't pull too hard because you don't want to break your thread.

Cut the fabric you would like to use as the middle piece and iron the seams down.  The size is total personal preference. 

Here are the three pieces you will have.  Pretend the gingham is ruffled in this picture.  :)

 After you iron the edges over on the middle piece, pin it to the bib and stitch along the left and right edges.  Not the top and bottom.

 Once it is stitched on, pin your ruffle to the bib like shown below.  Raw edges together, right sides facing.

Run a straight stitch along the ruffle stitch to attach it to the bib. Be sure to back stitch at the start and stop.

Fold the ruffle back and iron the seam flat.

 Now you have your bib.  You will want to fold over the top raw edges and iron them.

We are almost finished!  Pin the bib on the tank or shirt just under the neckline.

Do a top stitch all around the bib as close to the ruffle edge as possible.  I switched my thread between the navy and white but that is just personal preference. 

Sew three buttons on and you are finished!  I didn't have to switch my thread on the other two shirts and that makes it go a lot faster.

I'm loving all the wooden buttons that are out there.

If you want to make some ruffle shorts or capris, HERE is the pattern we have been using.   Let me know if I wasn't clear on something or if you have any questions!  I am by NO means an expert, and I am still learning the basics but it has been so fun!



14 Months and a Giveaway

On Tuesday Reagan turned 14 months old!  While I simply cannot believe it, I also really love this age!  She is so fun and does the funniest things!  She loves books which is a fun surprise since her brother still doesn't like them too much.  Whenever she sees the camera or my phone, she says, "cheeeeeese!" 

She is into everything and climbs on everything.  I walked into the living room to find her jumping on the couch.  I wasn't ready for that!  Now I really can't take my eyes off of her.  We go outside every afternoon and she loves it!  She plays in the water, rides on toys and plays with our neighbors.  She is so social and tells everyone she sees, "hi!". 

Westin thought she needed a kiss for being 14 months.  :)

The ladies behind Watch Me Grow stickers are offering to give away another set of their adorable monthly stickers.  THREE lucky winners will win their choice!

To enter:
1. Visit their shop, HERE and "heart" 5 of your favorite stickers.  (Add them to your favorites on etsy.)
2.  Like their facebook page, HERE if you haven't already.
3.  Leave me a comment telling me you did these two things.

That's it!   Good luck!  I'll randomly pick 3 winners on Tuesday, June 11th. 

The Month of May

Whew!  I seriously cannot believe June first is tomorrow.  This past month has flown by!  Here is a catch up post with a thousand pictures.

 We have been getting the water table out a lot!  Reagan thinks it is the perfect opportunity to wash her hair.

 Westin had his last day of MDO for the semester.  He won't go back until September.

 He loved his teacher, Mrs. Britten.  He talks about her all the time!

 Can you find Westin in the class picture?  He looks like a baby!

He had his end of the year program a couple of weeks ago.  I told him to stand by the tree so I could take his picture and this was his pose.  :)

 He really got into his songs.  They sang the ABC's and Lord's Army.

 "Yes sir!"

 The Friday before Memorial Weekend I took Reagan to the Dr. and found out she had croup.  :(  Westin was SOOO upset that we weren't going to be able to go to Grammie and Grampy's house and go to the lake.  When we broke the news to him he was the most disappointed and sad I have ever seen him.  Cody felt so sorry for him that he loaded him up and drove him the 3 hours to my grandparent's house to go to the lake.  :)

 I'm glad he tubed for the first time but I'm sad I missed it!

 Reagan still wasn't feeling too well on Memorial Day but she had been without a fever for over 24 hours so we went to a cookout with our Sunday school class that evening.

 She posed for me while her brother was napping.

 Her favorite thing to do is play in the bird bath!

 I love this picture of them but I also don't like the fact that Westin looks like he is 12 years old!

 I mentioned on Instagram (sldavis08) that I got a new sewing machine for an early birthday present and I love it!!  I never realized how my other machine only had the bare basics.  I've made some shirts for Westin, Zach and Colson and made Reagan a knot dress the other day.  I still need to do the  button holes but I will have to watch the DVD again to remember how to do those.  :)

I hope y'all had a great month!  I'm looking forward to June!  Westin will go to his first Vacation Bible School at our church and Reagan will go to my parent's house that same week.  It will be the first time I've ever been away from her for more than a few hours and I know I will miss her like crazy!  However, I am looking forward to having a mini break while Westin is at VBS.  :)