Tutorial - Golden Snitch Shoes

Did you catch the Quidditch inspired outfits I made my kids a couple weeks ago? When Amy and Maegan contacted my about participating in CraftingCon, the first thing that popped into my head for Harry Potter month was a pair of golden snitch shoes.  I took that idea and ran with a whole quidditch theme and incorperated these adorable little shoes into Em's outfit.

If you are wondering what the heck a snitch is, I will fill you in... A snitch is one of the 4 balls used in the wizarding game of Quidditch played in Harry Potter.  It is a small gold ball with silver wings that is enchanted to fly around during the game.  The player who is the seeker has the task of catching the snitch, and when he does, he scores 150 points for his team.

These shoes were quick to make, seriously the hardest part was finding white canvas shoes in Em's size (which I ended up finding really cheap at Walmart).

In addition to the shoes, all you need is some fabric paint, a bit of grey fabric, some heavy iron on interfacing and some grommets.

Want to make some golden snitch shoes? I will show you how!

Start by taking the laces out of the shoes and giving them a good coat of shimmery gold paint.  once the paint dried, I threw them in the dryer on high heat to heat set the paint.

Next sketch out a snitch wing shape (or download mine here, it works well on these size 7 shoes, but would probably work for ther sizes too.  There is only room for 3 grommets but could easily change it a bit to add more grommets, or just lace it in the top three holes on your shoes.) Use your wing template to cut out 2 pieces of interfacing and 4 wing pieces.

Iron the one of your interfacings pieces to the wrong side one of your wing pieces, centering the interfacing on the wing.

Repeat with other piece of interfacing.

Place one of your wings with interfacing right sides together with one of your wings without interfacing.  Sew around the wing just outside of your interfacing, leaving a small hole to turn the wing.  Repeat with the other wing.

Trim your seam allowance and clip and notch the curves.

Turn your wings right side out and press them.  Topstitch around your wing to close the opening, I added some decorative topstitching to my wings to make them look a bit more snitch-like.

Hold your wing up to your shoe and mark where the holes for the laces are.

Add your grommets to your wings.  I painted a bit of silver paint on my wings to make them shine.

Lace your shoes up with the wings in place.

Then put them on with your favorite Harry Potter inspired outfit :)

Taylor Shorts

I made myself some shorts...the Taylor shorts by Greenstyle.  And I love them!  They are part of the Bundle UP promo (the same one that has the peplum and Jenny dress I made last week).  The bundle is available this week so you can get some awesome patterns at a really great price!

The pattern for these shorts has 3 different lengths, I chose the middle length, they have a 5" inseam, and has a size range of 0-18.

They close with a zip fly and button (or you could do a hook and eye instead).  The zip fly sounds scary but it is really easy, and Greenstyle even has a video to walk you through it if you have trouble with it.

I really screwed up when I made mine.  I cut the front of my pattern the right size but somehow cut the back and waist band pieces two sizes too big....whoops!  After some altering I ended up with some wearable shorts, but I need to try them again with all the right size pattern pieces :)

I used some quilting cotton from Joann Fabrics for my shorts and used an interfacing for the waist band.  They are really comfortable and lightweight which will be great for summer.  I found a 1" green button in my stash to finish them with.

These shorts are going to be a wardrobe staple for me this summer!

The Jenny Dress

I am reviewing another great women's pattern over at Pattern Revolution today. This time it is the Jenny Dress by Sisboom, another pattern that will be included in the women's Bundle UP promo.

This dress is a perfect addition to my summer wardrobe AND it cost me less than $8 to make! Head over to Pattern Revolution today to read my review of the Jenny dress.

Quidditch Inspired Kids Clothes - CraftingCon

Hey Guys!  I am participating in CraftingCon over at Mae & K today!  It is a really fun series/competition where the idea is to make kids clothes inspired by "geeky" themes.  But the catch is they have to be wearable, not costumes, something your kid can wear to the grocery store.

When I got the email to sign up for a theme I ran to sign up for this month...Harry Potter month.  I love Harry Potter but I have not done much Harry Potter crafting, just some Harry Potter peg people a couple years ago.  So I was really excited to combine my love of Harry Potter with my love of sewing for my kids!

After some deliberation, I decided to sew up some outfits inspired by the wizard game of Quidditch.  I made outfits for both my kiddos, A's outfit is inspired by a Quidditch player and Em is a fan.

My son's outfit was inspired by the Gryffindor Quidditch team outfits. 

He got a red shirt that mimics the red team sweaters and some grey One Thimble Ranger shorts like the pants the team wears.  Teh I added some with leather knee patches to the shorts, like the leather pads they wear to play Quidditch.  

And of course, you can’t play Quidditch without a broom!  So with a stick, a handful of pine needles and some ribbon, I whipped up a toddler sized Quidditch broom.  It is not something he would take to the grocery store, but it was a fun prop for photos!

For my daughters look, I gathered some inspiration from Hermione Granger, who is usually in the stands cheering on the Gryffindor team. I really like her style and my daughter has the perfect blondish curls to play the part of a toddler Hermione!

Em got an Aster Cardigan by Willow & Co. in Gryffindor colors to give my Quidditch fan that layered look Hermione is always sporting.  I took some inspriation from Hermione's pleated grey school skirt for her shorts, she got a pair of Clover shorts, also by Willow & Co., I love these shorts!

I found a little belt buckle in with a bunch of buttons I inherited from my grandmother and made Em a tiny little leather belt.

 

Under the cardigan, she has a Gryffindor Tee, a simple white shirt I made from one of my husbands old shirts with a freezer paper stenciled lion on it.  This was my first time doing a freezer paper stencil, I love ohw it turned out! 

And to finish off her outfit, a pair of golden snitch shoes! I picked up a pair of white canvas shoes, painted them with the same sparkly gold I used on her shirt and made some silver wings to attach to the laces.

So those are my Quidditch inspired outfits for my kids!  They are perfect for a trip to the grocery store, playing at the playground, or stopping by the Leaky Cauldron for a Butterbeer after the game! Make sure you swing by Mae & K today for even more photos of my outfits.  And head over to Friends Stitched Together too for more fun Harry Potter inspired crafting!

  

Girls Purse Tutorial for Make it & Love it

Everything is so much cuter when it is tiny!  I made a little purse a few weeks ago for Em and it turned out so cute.  She loves it, she has been toting her things around town in it since the moment it came off my sewing machine.

I wrote up a tutorial on how I made this cute little purse and I am sharing all the details over at Make it & Love it today.

The purse only takes a fat quarter of fabric to make and sews up quick.  Make sure you head over to Make it & Love it today to see my tutorial and more pictures of my cutie pie with her new purse!

  

Jocole Peplum

Do you remember the Bundle UP promo they had over at Pattern Revolution? It was a bunch of girls patterns you could buy in a bundle for a great price.
They are having another one, this time it is all women's patterns! I got to sew up 2 of the patterns in the bundle and reviewed them for Pattern Revolution amd today I am over there telling you all about the new peplum shirt pattern from Jocole.

Jocole patterns are all really great quality with clear instructions that make them easy to sew and I love this peplum shirt, it is a really flattering fit!

Head over to Pattern Revolution today to read my whole review of the peplum top and see more photos of me in my new shirt.  And make sure you head back to Pattern Revolution and check out the Bundle UP deal coming next week!

The Jeanine Jumper

I had the chance to test the newest pattern from Sis Boom, the Jeanine Jumper.  I was so excited when Jeanine (the sweet Scientific Seamstress assistant who the Jumper is named after) contacted me about testing.  I remember wearing rompers and jumpers in the summer back in the 80’s when I was small and I had been itching to make Em a romper for summer.

 

I love rompers for summer, they are so easy to pull out and slip on, and comfortable for running and playing.  This romper has a great design with elastic straps that make it really easy to get on and off, my almost 2 year old can even get this one off all by herself.

 

I made Em’s romper with some quilters showcase fabric from JoAnn’s and added a little bit of white crocheted trim below the yoke.  The fabric costs about $5 a yard and I used a coupon, so this whole romper cost me less than $3! Woohoo!

 

The pattern has cutting lines so you can make the romper any length from shorts length to pants length.  I wanted a retro romper look (like the ones I mentioned I wore in the 80’s) so I went with the shortest cutting length and added the optional elastic casing at the waist.  I always forget to prewash my elastic and it shrank quite a bit the first time I washed this romper. So now it is even shorter :) the elastic cinches up above her chubby toddler thighs, I love it!

 

The pattern comes in sizes 3-6 months all the way to 13/14.  I made the size 2 for Em and it is a perfect fit.  

The romper comes together quickly and this one has been worn at least once a week since I finished it. I think she may be getting more Jeanine Jumpers for her summer wardrobe soon!

Ruby Jean's Closet Pretty Pansy Dress

We are going back in time a bit today.  Back about 6 months to when I tested this pattern for the Pretty Pansy dress by Ruby Jean's Closet, it somehow never got posted here.  Better late than never, right?

I love the simple design of this dress.  It has a customizable length, the pattern tells you how to measure your child then where to cut your pattern to get any length you want, from tunic all the way to maxi.  I picked a longer below knee length, which still hits her right around the knee six months later.

This fabric I bought over a year ago at Joann's.  This dress will be perfect for summer and with this color scheme, I think she will be wearing this for 4th of July.

This dress has an elastic back.  I love elastic for kids clothes because it makes them last longer.  She should fit in this dress for at least another year.  The straps can be tied behind the neck or buttoned to the back.  Em still has some room to grow on her straps too, if I add another button hole to those, she might even get 2 more years of wear out of this dress.

She was staring at her sparkley gold shoes in all these photos :)  Man she loved those shoes.  She out grew them a few months ago, I miss them a bit too, they went with everything!

Thanks for reading! Happy Tuesday :)