Free Child's apron pattern and tutorial

My boys love to help me in the kitchen. They often borrowed my aprons that were two sizes (or more) to big. Back a few years ago, I decided to surprise them with their own kid size aprons.

With the holidays, many people spend more time in the kitchen cooking and baking all the holiday goodies, so I thought this would be a good time to share my child's apron pattern and tutorial and let your kids have some fun in the kitchen!

This apron pattern is simple and it even has an option for to have a adjustable neck strap. All the details on how to make these aprons are below. 

My boys two years ago in their aprons. 

These two aprons are my favorite that I recently helped my 

sister make them for her two kids.

 

Aren't they adorable?

Are you ready to make your own? You will need to make a few decisions on the design of the apron before you can begin. 

First decision is deciding if you want to add a pattern or design to the front of your apron.

In this tutorial has the option of having a adjustable neck strap or continuous neck strap. So this will be your second decision.

If you look closely at the aprons pictured above, an adjustable neck strap was made. The neck strap was attached using either buttons and snaps. You will need additional fabric and materials for these options. See the tutorial for more information and the what you need to make this apron!

DOWNLOAD the child's apron pattern and tutorial here. 

DIY Construction Vest

This boy take after his Dad and loves anything construction. He has his own toolbox, tools, tool belt, tool bench, and hard hat. The only thing he was missing was the construction vest. Can I tell you how much he loves wearing it? He wears it everywhere which I don't mind because it is also very easy to spot him anywhere!

Because of the attention and comments this vest receives when we do go out, I wanted to share the pattern I created for others to enjoy. The pattern for this construction vest was designed to fit children ages 3 - 7.  I would recommend adjusting the length of the vest for children ages 3 - 4.

 So, what will you need to make this construction vest?

- 1 yard of fabric. The fabric I used is called orange utility safety fabric.

- 2 1/2  yards of neon lime reflective grosgrain ribbon.

- 3 yards of  black double fold bias tape 1/2".

- 3 inches of sew on Velcro.

You can download the construction vest pattern here and a picture tutorial on how to make this construction vest can be download here.

I hope your little construction worker will enjoy this vest as much as mine does!

Simple DIY Superhero Costumes

My boys love superheros and they like to dress up and play pretend but I just cannot afford to buy every single dress up they want. I found this superhero costume tutorial from Twin Dragonfly Designs years ago and glad I did because this pattern is one of the simplest to make. Both of my boys got to chose one superhero.

                                                              

For my fabric I used a heavy cotton fabric instead of felt and also used snaps instead of ribbon on the sides of the costume so below are additional instructions for these changes.

I searched for a Baymax template I could use but there are not many options so I ended up creating my own. It is very simple template and worked perfectly with the superhero costume pattern.

Click here for the Baymax template and the Baymax mask template can be found here. 

The Incredible template can be found here and click here for Incredible mask template

Click here for the Superhero costume pattern and instructions.

Additional Instructions

1. After cutting out the pattern and template, use ultra hold heat and bond to attach the either the Baymax template or Incredible template to the costume. Follow the directions on the back of the package. 

2. Next if you used a different fabric other then felt, you can either sew on double fold biased binding tape or fold and sew over all the edges of the fabric to avoid fraying. 

3. Last step is adding snaps. There are snap tools you can buy from craft stores and they are not difficult to use. If you choose to not to add snaps and use ribbon then you can follow the instructions in the original superhero tutorial. 

Now your kids are ready to save the world!

DIY Popsicle Holders

With it being really hot this summer, Otter Pops also known as Freezer Popsicles has become our favorite treat. But neither one of my boys likes holding the cold treat in their hand so I have been wrapping  a paper towel around the Otter Pop for them to hold. I feel like money was being wasted using all those paper towels so the solution was to make these reusable Popsicle holders.

These holders are very simple and it  took me no more than 10 minutes to make. Below is a picture tutorial on how you can make your own Popsicle holder.

For the outer fabric I used cotton and the inside is lined with felt.

  I cut the felt shorter so the top hem would not be so bulky.

These holders are also washable, when they get spilled on they can either be hand washed or washed in the washing machine. Enjoy your frozen treats!

Elephant Softie Tutorial

My sister was having her first baby girl and was doing an elephant theme for her baby girl's room. I made her this softie toy to go along with her theme.

Here is how I did it

First gather your material and find your pattern, I found my elephant pattern here. I liked that the patterns are offered in various sizes so you can choose how small or big you want your softie to be. The material will vary depending on the size of your object but you will need.

• Fabric
• Felt (optional)
• Ribbon 
• Jingle bells

2. Using your pattern, you need to cut out two fabric pieces and cut your ribbons. I didn't measure the length of my ribbons, I just varied on the length.

*Optional: If you want to add a felt heart like I did, then you will want to cut and sew the heart onto  the center fabric before the next step

3. Ready to pin!. Take one fabric piece right side up and place the ribbons where you would like them, you can also choose the length of the ribbon in this step.

4. After you have your ribbons in place, sew the elephant pieces together, right sides together. Make sure to leave about a 2 inch opening which I choose to do at the bottom of the elephant so you can  turn the elephant right side out and stuff.

5. Use a small scrap of fabric to make a pouch and enclose the jingle bells (I used 3) . Sew along all edges.

6. Stuff the elephant and then place the jingle bell pouch in the middle of the stuffing.

7. Hand sew the opening closed and you are done!

This is the first time making a softie toy so I also made the one below for practice. 

 

What is great about this project is you can do just about any shape/object you want and it makes a great little inexpensive toy!
 

How to make a kids pool robe

Between the swimming pools, splash pads, and the beach, we spend a lot of time in the water. I  always  put towels down in my boys' car seats so they don't get wet but it sometimes makes it harder and more awkward to buckle them up. So I decided to make these pool robes. There are a lot of cute patterns out there to follow but most of them cost money so I decided on this free pattern. This pattern is from Sew Mama Sew! 

It is a very easy pattern to follow but I decided to change a few things which made it more complicated then it should have been. I skipped out on the bias tape and just sewed a hem, then instead of buttons which would be hard for my boys to do by themselves, I did eyelet hooks. I also added a collar which seemed to be the most challenging for me because I didn't have a pattern for this. Just in case you are wondering, I did purchase beach towels for Walmart to make these pool robes. They are not perfect but my boys enjoy them and we do get a lot of compliments but that might be because my boys are so cute!

Elastic Band Skirt (from Make It & Love It)

I have a couple of friends who will welcome baby girls into this world. I knew I wanted to make them something no sure what. After searching and searching for ideas I came across the website Make It & Love It , I found this easy to follow tutorial for an elastic band skirt. It was perfect. Every little girl needs a skirt or two and it makes a very cute baby shower gift.
 

 I don't have a Serger and wanted a really nice finish on the bottom of the skirt so I added a contrasting band. If you are unsure how to sew on a contrasting band, do an internet search and you will find  there are several tutorials on how to do this.

It can be hard to know what measurements to go with, especially if you are making this for someone, else so I found this for helpful sizing chart from One Haute Tutu Shoppe. This sizing chart is definitely one I will save and refer to in future projects.

Princess Aprons

I have some cute nieces who love princesses and I wanted to make them something for their birthday. I found a tutorial from Fireflies and Jellybeans and used that as my inspiration to make my own princess aprons. I love this girlie stuff and hope I have a girl one day.

The first Rapunzel apron I made. The design on the top of the 

apron is a little different from the tutorial.

This is the second Rapunzel apron I made for another niece. Instead of a square top, I wanted to try something different. My son had a little Home Depot apron so I traced that and used it as my pattern.

 

I had one more niece to go and since I gave her sister a Rapunzel apron already, I decided to make a Merida apron from Brave.

 

Again I used the little home depot apron as my pattern and then kind of made up the rest of the design. I had a really hard time finding the right color for the apron which I was really disappointed in so I just went with this color. It is not perfect but hopefully this will give you an idea on how to design your own.

Free tutorial on how to make monster soap pouch

Awhile back I was at the store and found Johnson's Buddies Easy-Grip Sudzing Bar. It smells nice and is not that expensive but I really bought it because of the non-slip pouch it came in. But I did not like throwing the pouch away after the soap was gone. I thought it would be nice to find a pouch I could use over and over again. After searching the internet, I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I did find a great tutorial on how to make a soap pouch from whimsy-love. So I decided to use their tutorial. It is very easy to follow and did not take a lot of time. The only thing I did differently was put a design on the washcloth to more kid friendly and fun.

Before I sewed up the sides, I used felt fabric to make the monster eyes and teeth. I first used Heat 'n Bond and then sewed for reinforcement.

 

I have been using this soap pouch for over a month and so far it has held up but sometimes the soap feels like it is gooey inside so every couple of days, I take the soap put right after bath time to let it dry out a little but overall it has been awesome and my son of course loves it.