Toddler Underwear from a Tee Shirt

Ashlee interrupting you really quick

K, how cute are these pick a boo lace socks? I just bought 1 of each (turquoise, pink, yellow and gray) for $8!! Wooohooo!! Head over to Pick Your Plum now!!! Anyway, back to Nat!

I said I wasn’t going to post this.  I don’t want you thinking I’m too crazy, but we’re past that point, right?!  You all know what a cheapskate I am!

So, without further ado, here’s my underwear tutorial!

A few months ago, I got about a million tee shirts off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart for $1.00.  Score!

I’ve refashioned a lot of them, but I've also had my boys wear some of them.  I love cheap shirts, and if my kiddos ruin their shirts, who cares?!  It cost a dollar!

Moving right along, one day, Monkey told me that he wanted to wear “big boy undies.”  I didn’t have any underwear in his size, so I did what any cheapskate good mother would do; I whipped up a few pairs for him.

I started off by making a pattern from freezer paper by using a Onesie as a guide.

Cut the Onesie where the waistband of the underwear would be:

Cut the side seams and open it up.

Lay it on some freezer paper and trace it.  Trace it a bit bigger for seam allowances.

Draw a curve where the snaps meet the front of the Onesie.

Cut out the pattern.  Cut out the pieces.

I was able to cut four pieces at one time by folding the shirt in half.  The only problem with this is that the undies now stretch the wrong way….   I should have folded the shirt the OTHER way.  Oh well…

Now you need to cut the waistband, the legs, and the faux fly from a contrasting fabric.  I used four different colors of knit from my stash. 

You’re going to have to measure your pattern to determine the length of the pieces you’ll need.  The waistband needs to be a little more than 2x longer than the top (or bottom) of the undies.

The waistband I cut was 3 1/2” wide.  The legs were 1 1/2”, and the fly pieces were 1”.  We’re going to fold all these pieces in half.  That’s why they’re cut wider.  Moving right along…

Press all the pieces in half lengthwise. 

Now, take the waistband, unfold the pressed edge, line the sides up and sew them together.  Fold the pressed edge back over.  You should now have a circular waistband.  The pressed edge is the top of the waistband.  See that seam?  That’s what you just sewed. 

Now, measure your victim’s waist and cut some elastic the same length.  Sew the ends together.

Wrap the waistband around the elastic.

Fold the waistband back over and sew the elastic into place on both sides of the seam.

Now, sew around the entire waistband as close to the elastic as you can.

Grab one of the main underwear pieces and line up your “faux fly” on the front and sew it into place.

Why the “faux fly” you might wonder?  Because Monkey is two, and won’t need the real fly until he is much older.  That’s why!  ;)

Next, take the leg pieces and line them up on the “legs” of the undies with all the raw edges together.  The pressed edge of the leg lining is going to be the outside of the legs.  Sew into place.  Do this for both legs.

Serge the raw edges; or don’t.  It’s knit, so it won’t fray.

Now, turn that serged or raw edge under and stitch over the top of it to hold it into place.  You don’t want the legs of the undies flipping out the wrong way.  Lengthen your stitch so it stretches better.

Fold the undies in half with the right sides together.  Make sure your side seams are lined up.

Sew the sides together and serge the raw edges.  (Or don’t…)

Now take the waistband and lower it inside the top of the undies with the raw edges lined up with the raw edge of the undies.  Make sure your waistband seam is in the back of the undies.

Pin the waistband to the undies and sew into place.  Serge or zig-zag the raw edges.

Flip the serged/zig-zagged edge down and stitch into place with a lengthened stitch.

…and you’re done! 

Now make as many pairs of toddler undies as you can!

Four pairs of toddler underwear for $1.00…not bad, eh?!

P.S.  These would be easy to make for a girl, too.  Just skip the “faux fly” step and use cute, girly fabric!  :)

Ditching the Diapers

Guess what?!
 WE ARE OUT OF DIAPERS!!!  WAHOO!!!

…we only spent TWELVE years in diapers…

(total…with five boys…)

You guessed it!  Monkey is potty trained!  I started potty training him right before Christmas.  Why?! You may ask?  Because he was ready.  He was telling me every time he went in his diaper.  Sure the timing wasn’t convenient (and the whole potty training process would have gone by a lot faster if it weren’t for all that Christmas-time busyness…) but I didn’t want to miss that window of opportunity when HE was ready.

There are lots of ways to potty train kids.  All I can say is do your homework.  Research all the different methods and take what you like and toss what you don’t.  Patience is key, and my best advice is to wait until your little subject is ready.  There will be way less tears from both of you if you go on their schedule.

Anyway, when I first started potty training all of my boys, it was a big deal for me to even get them to sit on the potty.  I learned with my oldest that if you have something that they are interested in and it is JUST for the potty, it makes it more exciting for them, and they’ll WANT to sit on the potty. 

For some of my kids, it was books.  For others, it was miniature cars or trains.  We had our “potty cars” or “potty books” and they could only use these things if they were sitting on the potty.  For Monkey, it was cars.  Not just any cars, they HAD to be CARS cars!

(Monkey may some day want to kill me for posting this picture on the internet!!)

I found some miniature CARS cars and bought them for Monkey.

(If you type “Disney Pixar movie toy mini adventures” into the search bar, you’ll find more characters.)

Next, I mounted the map onto a *TV Dinner table.  For the map, I took a picture of our Radiator Springs map/rug and printed it off.  I printed two of them to fit the top of the table, but they were both going the wrong way.  And they were too small.  So, The Hubsters had me email him the jpeg and he printed it off on some 11”x17” paper and laminated it.  It worked out much better!  Email me if you want the jpeg image and I’d be happy to send it to you.  2craftycousins@gmail.com.

Or you could just buy this cute little set that comes with a map and the cars:

*The Hubsters and I got a set of TV dinner tables for our wedding 13 years ago and we’ve used them in potty training all five of our little guys.  Here’s one at Wal-Mart for less than $10.00.

Hopefully this post wasn’t too random, and maybe now you’ll have an idea on how you can get your little one to sit on the potty.  This is what worked for us.  It actually worked five times, so it’s a pretty good tip.  :)

As for the rest of the potty training, I just set a “potty timer” and every time the timer went off, it was time go go to the potty.  I did this until they could tell on their own that it was time to go.

When they had success, they were able to put a sticker on their chart.  My charts weren’t actually charts.  They were just pieces of 8.5”x11” paper taped to the bathroom door. 

This way, my kids weren’t stressed with how many times in a row they made it to the potty; they were just happy that they went.  They also really liked putting the sticker wherever they wanted.  If they want to put the sticker on their shirt?!  By all means, let them!!

After they put their sticker wherever they wanted it, they were rewarded with some candy.  Monkey’s favorite candy is Reese’s Pieces, so after every success, he got three of them.  Yes, only three.  I didn’t want the boy spoiling his dinner!

It’s also important to make a big deal of their successes.  Jump up and down.  Shout “Yay!!  You went potty!”  Call grandma.  Do whatever it takes to get them excited about being a big kid!

It’s a big deal to potty train your little one, but so worth it.  Boy, am I glad I never have to do that again!!  :)

Fabric Yo Yo Flowers

These little cuties can be used in your hair, as a pin, you can use them to spice up a boring shirt or handbag, and you can even use them to make your own jewelry.

I realize this is kind of a girlie craft and I have all boys, but I just spent a week with my nieces.  I think it is so fun to decorate those little girls then give them back to their mamas!  :)

Oh, and if you guessed that we were on vacation in Yellowstone, you were right!  It was tons of fun!  Actually, I am just guessing that it was fun.  We should still be on the road home by the time this post goes live.  :)

Anyway, this is super easy.  All you need for these little bobby pins are:

• small circles of fabric (any kind_
• bobby pins
• buttons
• needle and thread
• super glue

Start by threading your needle.  Hand stitch around the outer inside edge of your circle.  Like so:

Make sure you go all the way around the circle.

Once you make a complete circle, cinch up the thread to bring the outer edges into the center.  Do not cut the thread.

Take one of the buttons and hand sew it into the center of the flower.

Once the button is sewn on, still do not cut your thread.  Turn the flower over and sew a bobby pin to the back of the flower.  Just sew around the curve of the pin.  If you sew it on this way (which is more sturdy) then the pin can only be used to slide into an already done hairstyle. If you want to use it as an actual bobby pin, sew the flower onto the top of the pin.

Knot the thread and NOW you can cut it!  :)

Add a drop of super glue to the back for added security.  You don’t want that cute little flower to unravel in your hair! 

See how cute and fun?!  Now you can make a bunch more!

You can also sew them to some elastic for a head band.

So cute.  My sister-in-law and I sure had a fun day making hair bows for her little girlies!

…even though we did it all the way back in February!  :)

Sigh…I sure wish they lived closer!

Nursery Redo: Part 3

Who’s ready for the last installment of this nursery redo?

I am!

Who’s ready for their baby to sleep in a big boy bed?

I’m not!!

But he is, so we will proceed…and this is just a curtain refashion.  And he’s been sleeping in his bed for a while now, and I’m still not okay with it. 

Sadness.

Okay.  This is what Monkey’s curtains looked like:

Wow.  It’s hard to take pictures of a window.  Sorry.  So, as you can(not) see, the curtains are just plain and blue.

Now let’s look at Monkey’s crib skirt:

Are you pondering what I’m pondering?

Uh, I think so, Brain, but this time you wear the tutu.

My thoughts exactly.  We can spruce up the hum-drum curtains with the crib skirt!

I cut the edges off of the crib skirt and serged the edges.  Then I gathered them at the tops and sewed them to the top of the curtains. 

I took the two shorter sides of the crib skirt and folded/sewed them into tie backs for the curtains.

They’re even reversible!

So easy.

Wanna see how it all turned out?

Ta-Da!  I love the color that it added to the boring curtains.

This concluded Monkey’s nursery redo. 

Ready for a recap?

We went from this:

To this:

…and this:

The room décor stayed the same.  Monkey’s toy box now sits where the crib used to. 

Wanna know what I loved most about this bedroom redo?!

It didn’t cost a dime!

My favorite kind of project!  :)