I am a seamstress wannabe.
I live vicariously through Sarai, and very soon I'm sure, through Brooke (Who Sarai is teaching to sew since they live much closer. Not that I'm the teeniest bit jealous or anything!) :)
Since I will have to wait for either a move back to North Carolina or for some other fairy-sewing-godmother to show up, I have learned to make do.
With an iron, that is. Please don't laugh.
I started with some t-shirts, a little denim bag, and iron-on transfers. Target and the Hobby Lobby hooked me up, but your local equivalents will probably do just fine.
I got home while still doing the happy dance because of the yellow and red stickers. Cuffed tees in matching sizes for my girls... $2.50 a piece and iron-on ribbons@ $.71 each! I paid full price for the bag and baby iron-ons... $1.99 and $.99 respectively. But, hey, they are for a gift after all.
If you're thinking this is a good idea, next you want to wash all your items. Play around with the, dare I say, "patterns" or "monograms" you want to create while you wait.
After the clothes are dry, heat up your iron on the cotton setting. Place all your transfers where you want them to be, cover with a white cloth, and carefully iron into place from both sides of the fabric. In case you forget, these wannabe enablers come with their own instructions too. Taking a picture and ironing... not so much, sorry.Now, for the sake of showing you I meant what I said about being full of do overs and big fat flops, that denim bag was a bit of a pill. Either that or those babies had a fear of lifelong committment to blue jean material. I kid you not:
Smudgy, ghostly looking infants... not exactly what I was going for. So, I did what any self respecting thrifty girl does. I covered up the mistake with the only thing I had left-- scraps! It will be even cuter later when I use my actual needle and thread to put on a few big buttons. That small bit of sewing, I think, I can handle. I also had to reinforce the ribbon with fabric glue because the durability seemed a little iffy.
The t-shirts, on the other hand, made me smile straight away.
Especially after one pair made their debut when we, as you can see, drug our kids to the county fair. And some lady stopped to give us such a sweet, genuine compliment.
My husband all proudly said, "Thanks! My wife just made those shirts." Should we have disclosed the transfer truth??!!
Hmm... anyway, in the end, we have four matching tees and a mini diaper bag for a four year old friend's birthday. About fifteen bucks total for jobs well... well, ironed.
How are you making do around your place?
'Fess up, friends! :)
Katrina
