DIY: Stenciled Mickey Shirt Using Bleach

I made my husband a Jack Skellington shirt last time we went to Disneyland so this year I decided to go classic and make him a Mickey shirt.

 

I have been seeing stenciled shirts using bleach all over blog land and decided to give it a try myself.

Materials:

 

t-shirt

 

spray bottle

 

bleach

 

freezer paper

 

iron

 

cardboard

 

STEP 1: Cut out a stencil of what you want your design to be out of freezer paper. Iron the shiny side down onto your surface.



STEP 2: Place cardboard in the middle of your shirt so the bleach doesn't soak into the back.

Mix a solution of 60% bleach and 40% water in a spray bottle (use more bleach depending on the color of your shirt. This shirt was dark...so I knew not much bleach would be needed.)

 

STEP 3: Spray bleach solution evenly over stencil and wherever else on the shirt you want. I sprayed evenly over the front to make it look more even. Depending on the color of you fabric...you will see the change in a few minutes.

 

STEP 4: Peel off the freezer paper after a few minutes so that it doesn't get soggy.

STEP 5: Once you are done applying bleach, soak the shirt in water for about 30 minutes to an hour. Then wring out thoroughly and wash in the washing machine to ensure all the bleach is out. I washed it with some of my cleaning towels just so I didn't waste a whole load on one item;)

 

I think it was quite an upgrade for the $.50 shirt I found at Joann!

Snow White Dress

My daughter's favorite princess these days is Snow White. I finally got this dress done for her and now the only problem I have is getting her to take it off!

I don't have a real tutorial for this but I thought I would still share how I made it.

I started with an existing Snow White dress that my mom found at Goodwill. It was in sad shape and one size too big for my daughter. I also found this red satin blouse for $1 at Goodwill because I knew I could use it to construct new sleeves, a cape, and a matching headband.

 For the cape, I cut out the back piece of the red blouse and hemmed the edges. For the collar, I cut out a collar shape from white satin and ironed on some craft fuse to the back to make it really stiff and stand up. I sewed the cape onto the collar and then the collar onto the sides of the shoulders of the dress.

I did not attach the collar all the way around the back of the dress because I wanted my daughter to be able to get into it easily. So, under the cape is the opening the back of the dress for her to get in and out.

For the sleeves I took some blue satin I already had and some red shirt material and used this tutorial from Craftiness Is Not Optional. Instead of putting a band around the bottom, I hemmed the raw edge under and then sewed elastic onto the edge (pulling it tight as I went so that it would pucker).

The tulle on the dress was ripping everywhere so I cut it off at the waist to leave the satin skirt on it's own.

For the headband, I covered an old headband with some red satin and then used this tutorial from Smile and Wave to make a big bow on top.  

 I ripped out the old stitching on the bodice of the dress and sewed on new silver trim that matched the glittery sleeves a little better.

Oh, and don't forget the red sparkle shoes;)



Happy Friday!

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Tatertots and Jello

DIY Chevron Shoes

Here's a fun DIY that can be completed in one night. I took a pair of shoes that I found at the thrift store for $2.50, washed them (I put them in the washing machine and then let them air dry), a fabric pen, and fabric paint.

I cut a chevron pattern out of paper to use as a stencil. I traced it onto my shoes with the fabric pen, and then painted in the lines with the fabric paint.

All done!

This was a fun and easy project and I love my new shoes. I already got a few compliments on them when I ran errands today:)

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Sugar and Dots

Tatertots and Jello

Motorcycle Onesie Redo

 I was productive today...and it was exhausting. I got 6 projects done and didn't realize how long I had been on my feet until I saw they had swelled to about three times their normal size. Oops.

One of my projects was this motorcycle onesie refashion.

                        

I started with a small romper with a picture of a motorcycle on it that I got for $.99 at Goodwill and a plain onesie that I picked up for $.50 at another thrift store. The romper had a glittery heart on the top that said "biker baby" so it was not approved for regular wear by my husband...so that just means I got to do something crafty with it!

I cut out the motorcycle from the romper and turned it into an applique by using the same method as my daughter's Minnie Mouse shirt.

Then I lined it up along one side of the new onesie and sewed it into place. At first I wished I had a white onesie or at least a contrasting color...but once I sewed the applique on, I ended up liking the gray on gray after all. I did use white thread for contrast...and because it was already threaded into my machine and I was too lazy to change it:)

I keep thinking if I make more things for this baby...maybe he will come out already! Oh well, I am only 38 weeks, so I know, I know...my chances of him coming out soon aren't great...but a grumpy swollen girl can dream, right?

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Tatertots and Jello

Sugar and Dots

Easy Applique Shirt

I've shown how to make an applique before when posting about my daughter's Cinderella silhouette shirt . Here is another basic "how to" lesson on making an easy applique...because they are just so much fun:)

I found this two pack of onesies at Walmart a few weeks ago for $1 (yes, $1 for the pair!) and decided they would make really cute appliques on bigger shirts for my daughter. She is in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse phase right now and loves everything with Mickey and friends on it.

I also used a plain t-shirt I found at the thrift store for $.50 and some super hold Heat N Bond (in the red package).

1. Start by cutting out the image you want to turn into the applique. I cut a large circle around it so I can cut in closer later. Also, cut out a piece of Heat N Bond the same size as your fabric.

2. Iron the Heat N Bond to the wrong side of your image per the package instructions.

3. Now go back and cut out the image with more detail, peel off the paper backing to the Heat N Bond, and iron it to the front of your shirt.

4. The next step is to sew around the edges of your new applique. If you don't do this...the Heat N Bond will eventually peel off your shirt. I like to sew around with just a straight stitch so that the edges curl a bit after washing...but if that's not your style, then sew around with a tight zig zag stitch.

Here is a view of the inside of the shirt:

That's it! Easy, right? Put the new shirt on your little cutie and have them love you forever:) My daughter had to tell everyone at the grocery store that she was wearing her new Minnie Mouse shirt:)

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Sugar and Dots

Applique Baby Hat

I have been working on a few baby crafts this week, and one was a hat for our little guy. He will be a fall baby and the weather will be getting colder shortly after he is born...so I need to keep his head warm. He can also be stylish at the same time, right?

This is a simple way to change up an existing baby hat. I found this black hat at the thrift store with the tags still attached for $.69. I used some left over material from my bassinet makeover and some heat and bond.

The first thing I did was use my seam ripper to open up the seams where the ears were and remove them.

You can see that there were two holes (where my fingers are poking through).

So, I flipped the hat inside out and sewed up the seam openings with matching thread on my sewing machine:

I flipped the hat right side out again and ironed on my applique. You can learn more here about how to make (and apply) an applique.

After I ironed on my applique, I stitched around it on my sewing machine:

The End:)

Embroidered Transformers Onesies

My husband has lots of opinions about how our little boy will dress. He doesn't care for a majority of the boy clothing available in stores and I can't say I blame him. I can only take so much "Daddy's Allstar" and "Mommy's MVP" onesies.

One thing he mentioned would be "awesome" was Transformers onesies. We decided on one Autobots version and one Decepticons version.

I started by tracing the logos onto plain white computer paper with an ink pen. They were rough sketches.

I flipped the paper over and traced over my sketches with a ruler to get more crisp lines and edges so I could transfer the images onto the onesies. I like using computer paper for this because it is transparent enough to see through to the other side.

Next I used my fabric iron on transfer pen. You can get this in the notions aisle of Joanns or another craft store.

I used the transfer pen to trace over my final drawings.

I cut out the images and flipped them (iron transfer pen side down) onto my plain onesie and ironed over them per the pen instructions.

This is what it looked like when I was done ironing.

Note: Your image will appear mirrored once its ironed on...so if you need it to go a certain direction, make sure to draw it mirrored before you transfer it onto the fabric. In this case my images were symmetrical so it didn't matter beforehand.

Here are both onesies after they have been ironed:

Finally I ironed some lightweight interfacing to the inside of the onesie (only where the image was) and stitched over the lines with embroidery thread. My husband was the one who told me that the Autobot needed to be red and the Decepticon needed to be black. Who knew?

Price:

embroidery thread: $.50

2 onesies (from Walmart): $4.00

Total (for both): $4.50

Vintage Mickey and Minnie Birthday Party

My daughter's 3rd birthday was back in March and we had a vintage style Mickey and Minnie party for her. I'm going to be honest and confess that I haven't posted these pictures because I wasn't really happy with the way the party turned out. We had the party in February and I was still a mess (read the above "miscarriage" label if you care to know more) and had just gotten over a flu bug that week. Oh yeah..and I was also pregnant again...but I just didn't know it yet! Now I can look back on the pictures and be happy with it because it made my daughter happy. Sometimes we need not be our own worse "mommy critic", right?

For dessert, I made cupcakes for everyone. They are the easy way out and I love them for it:) No cutting cake and hoping there is enough for everyone!

I found the cute blue polka dot wrappers at Michael's and made little paper flowers for the tops (make sure to let everyone know not to eat them!). The ears were thin mint candies and I just used canned chocolate frosting and a large star tip to ice them. I was going to punch out little "buttons" for the front of the Mickey cupcakes...but didn't have time.

I just ordered some pizza for lunch and this was our "dessert" table:

I drew the Mickey and Minnie myself and put out my daughter's favorite sweet treats: licorice, M & M's and Hershey Kisses.

The cake for her to blow out her candles with was just something simple I whipped up. I baked half a cake mix in a bowl and then flipped it over and iced it. The "ears" are two rice cakes (also iced) and pressed into the cake with toothpicks. Then I just added the silk flower for an embellishment.

I made a Mickey tray for the candy but gluing two small black paper plates to one large one creating a Mickey silhouette. I bought the red and silver Hershey kisses after Valentine's day and picked out all the red, yellow, and blue M & M's from regular bags. (BTW: There are a LOT more green and orange ones compared to these colors. A weird fact that I now know...)

Oh, and the "cake stand" was a round cylinder Tupperware container that I covered with some blue and white polka dot material to look like Minnie's skirt.

For decorations I got some coordinating latex balloons, grouped them together, and taped some Mickey and Minnie pictures to the strings.

I used black paper plates, blue polka dot napkins, and red cups for lunch. On the red cups, I cut out white circles (from sticker paper) and made "buttons" for the front to make them look like Mickey's pants.

I also printed out some personalized labels for the water and juice boxes for the kids.

For my daughter's party outfit, I made her a little dress out of the same material that I used on the cake stand and pulled the red bows off the shoes she wore with her Minnie costume.

Lastly, my party favor bags were super simple. They consisted of handmade coloring books (seriously the BEST favor idea I have ever seen that I found at Prudent Baby), crayons, and little boxes of candy. I found the candy at Walmart during Valentine's Day.

For the coloring books I started with these books I found in the $1 section at Target. Let me tell you, I was SO excited to find an all vintage Mickey coloring book right before my daughter's party! It was meant to be:)

I tore out the pages and trimmed the edges (to get rid of the copyright stamps at the bottom).

Then I made a folded flap for the side out of card stock and used a zigzag stitch to sew them together. I didn't take the time to put covers on them...but I actually liked them that way.

For the crayons, I bought a large box of crayons and divided them up into different groups. I made the little bags by sewing together a little pouch made of wax paper. It was just a nice twist on a traditional crayon box. I then put all the items in fun polka dot party bags that I had found on clearance at Target.

So...that was our fantastic vintage Mickey and Minnie party! I'm glad I finally shared it on here. My daughter STILL talks about it...so I know she was happy that day and that's all that matters.

Plus, now she is already planning her Tinkerbell party for next spring...yikes!