Cast Shorts Tutorial

So my little one is in yet again another spica cast! I thought I would make her some cute little shorts to go over them and in the process create this unique tutorial for all my OI mama and POLP friends! Here we go!

Materials needed : pair of shorts, sharp scissors, 1/2" wide Velcro, sewing machine, thread.

Start off with a pair of store bought shorts a good few sizes larger to accommodate the cast. That's right, store bought... you didn't think I was that crafty did you? Besides this is supposed to be easy peasy! I don't have time to follow patterns! If you are wondering, I found these at Target in the little girls section. They are a girls size 4/5 and my daughter is typically a 12 months size. To make sure I had the right size and shape (some shorts taper in in the leg which is not what you want for thick casted legs) I held them up to her casted waist making sure that the seamed sides lined up to her sides all the way down and were baggy enough to accommodate the casts.

Take a pair of very sharp scissors and cut straight from bottom to top along the side next to the seam. Do not cut on the seam, just next to it. My seam is to the left, scissors to the right leaving about a half inch distance from the seam.

Cut through the elastic carefully.

Open your pair of shorts up.

This is the side with the seam. Since the seam is here on this side we don't need to stitch what we cut, it's already done for us.

Take your velcro and size it up. You want it to be long enough to run the length of the side of the pair of shorts but not too long that it sticks out at either end.

I lined mine up just about a half inch from the top and cut it at about a half inch from the bottom.

My velcro overlaps the elastic and runs down to the bottom seam on the shorts. Since this is the butt side of the shorts (the seam closest to the behind, see the tag) I will use the rough side of the velcro here.

Do not sew your velcro on the side shown above (inside of shorts) rather sew it on the outside of the shorts (the side that shows) close to the edge of where you cut. Sew the velcro on by stitching all around the four edges of the velcro (like a box).

Trim your threads. Take a look at the other edge of your shorts where you cut. There is no seam on that side. We need to make one so that the fabric doesn't unravel. Fold the side of the shorts in, just enough so that you can stitch a seam down the side.

Trim your threads. Now take your softer counterpart of velcro and match up the size needed with the velcro that you have already sewn on. Make sure when you go to sew on the soft sided velcro that the placement is correct and that it lines up with the rough sided velcro.

Sew on the soft sided velcro on the inside of the pair of shorts next to the seam that you sewn.

Trim your threads. Now you have two sewn on velcro strips along the edges that you cut open. Now you can close up your shorts!

Here's a pic to show you what I'm working with here in cast land. Yep, that cast goes up her whole leg wraps around her waist and goes down the back of the other leg. Believe me stretching an elastic waistband only goes so far... in this case it's not enough! Some modifications were absolutely needed! Diaper changing is a whole other story as is her diagnosis.

Here are the first pair I made.

Ok, so here's how you get them on easy peasy! Put the one casted leg through and pull up making sure that the back of the shorts don't get scrunched up behind the cast.

Velcro her up!

Feed her some snacks and juice for being such a champ!

Happy crafting!!!

Black Apple Doll

My first attempt at the Black Apple Doll! Isn't she cute?! My daughter just loves her too! I made her in under an hour last night with some left over fabric scraps and surprised my little girl in the morning with her! What a great way to use up some bits of scrap material! Want to try one? Go to Martha Stewart's website for an easy free tutorial and free pattern of Emily Martin's Black Apple Doll. Emily also has a fun blog to check out here!
Happy crafting all!

It's Finally Finished!!!

My King size quilt that is! It's finally complete! I started this huge project years ago with my grandmother when my oldest daughter (now almost 8 years old) was at the age where she thought it was perfectly fine to draw on this quilt with markers *gasp* while I wasn't looking! At first this quilt was hand quilted stitch by stitch..... I had made it half way through when I had a not so bright idea and decided to sew it with my machine. Well, it was too thick to fit through the machine but I tried anyways and the quilt ended up all bunched up in a mish mosh of stitches! It was a wreck! Marker all over the backing and crumpled, wrinkled and stitched up top!

We pulled it all apart again together, my grandmother and I and we, ummmm.... I mean SHE fixed it ALL for me! She bought a gigantic quilting table and machine, had it set up in her sun room (I helped a little setting it up), bought new backing for the quilt and then she sewed, sewed and sewed some more until it was all quilted and brought back to life again! Her craftsmanship is AMAZING! I just finished putting on the binding around the border and I plan on stitching on a "quilted by" label with our names. It is finally finished, all the love sweat and struggle you could ever want poured into my very first quilt, and only quilt so far... That was crazy hard stuff! I don't know if I have the strength or time to attempt that ever again! Thank you Mommom!

That would be my 20 month old daughter enjoying the comforts of handmade!


I thought it would be great to have a few pictures of it on my bed, but hubby is sleeping in it right now! He's a third shift worker. So I decided to hang it off the edge of my daughter's crib and guess what? I think it blends pretty well with her unique decor! Hmmm... a certain somebody is going to be getting her big girl Montessori bed soon! I would definitely have to fold it in at least half, maybe into quarters for it to be Sonya sized!

T-Shirt Bag

After running across this cool tutorial at Instructables, I just had to try it out! Since I didn't have any t-shirts that were ready to be re-purposed I headed out to our local Salvation Army/ thrift store and found some perfect T's to transform! For just $6 I ended up with 8 awesome bags to use as goody bags at my 8 year old daughter's "green theme" birthday party! Her favorite one is the pinkish red one with the kitten dressed in ruby slippers and diamonds. This was seriously super easy to do! Check it out and have fun!

Snack Bags!

Yay for my first craft post! I first made these for my soon to be 8 year olds "green theme" birthday party as part of the favors. These super cool eco-friendly snack bags are made from empty potato chip bags! You use them just as you would a Ziploc bag, except you can't put anything super gooey or wet in them. Some suggestions would be cookies, chips, pretzels, carrot and celery sticks, crackers and maybe even apple slices. They are hand washable with soap and water and can be stood open and upside down to air dry. In the pictures the bags that I had made have tags on them with care instructions... sorry they block some of the view! They were really easy to do too! Want to make some for yourself? Go to French Sleep Deprivation Study for the tutorial!