Fast and cute baby hats

I've had a little bit of time off the last couple of days.  Feeling a little overwhelmed with the possibility that BG#2 could arrive any day now, I returned to my packing list for our hospital bag and realized I didn't have any hats for BG#2!  GAH!  What kind of mother am I?  Have I never had a newborn baby before?  How am I forgetting everything!?!?

Once, my panic subsided, I remembered these projects that I had pinned a while back.

Source: sewmamasew.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Melissa on Pinterest

They both promise to be quick and easy, so I figured I'd give it a try.  I have a long "to-do" list, but this falls under "make sure hospital bag is fully packed", right?

I also figured I'd repurpose some older sleeping gowns that I'm not likely to use, ever.  T hated them, and I always got nervous trying to get the whole thing over her head.  I have a ton, so I picked a few that I liked the pattern, but were not in the best shape.

First, the tie-top beanie hat:

These actually were pretty easy, but I did make one change.  I like to have the option of folding up the cuff of the hat, so I doubled that length.  The pink one came out a little better, I think because it was a lighter weight knit fabric.  Overall, pretty cute and pretty easy.  Each hat took about 20-25 minutes.

Now, the flower adorned hat:

The hat part of this one was also very easy, took less than 18 minutes (I was cooking my lunch on a timer when I started this one!).  Don't mind the bunching along the top, I didn't bother to iron it flat.  I'm sure it will look cute stretched across my baby's head!  The flower part took longer than the actual hat.  I have an aversion to hand sewing, as called for in the tutorial, so I tried to layer the pieces and machine stitch similar to my $3 maternity skirt.  The bulk of the fabric was too much though and jammed up my machine.  Sigh.  I had to eventually hand stitch the last petal on.

Anyways, three really cute hats in one afternoon.  Phew!  I can check that off my packing list!

$3 maternity skirt

I haven't done a Pinterest Project review in a while, so I figured I'd do one that would meet an immediate need.  It's the first half of March and it's over 80 degrees here!  I need something other than maternity jeans and sweaters to wear.  HELP!

I remembered this project that I had pinned a while back, originally from Simple Simon and Company ...

Source: simplesimonandco.com via Melissa on Pinterest

While walking through Joann Fabrics the other day, I spotted a rack of maternity T-shirts for $2.97 each!  I grabbed an XL in purple just for this project.

First, I turned the shirt inside out, made sure it was laying flat and cut across, right under the sleeves using my rotary cutter.

Being that the sides and bottom are already done for you, all you now need to do is create the casing for the elastic waistband, every pregnant woman's best friend!  I turned over the raw top edge 1/2 inch and sewed, using a zig zag stitch.  Soon, very soon, I will get my serger set up and running, I promise!

Once that was done, I turned that edge over one more time, about an inch and again sewed with a zig zag stitch.  I made sure to leave an opening to insert my elastic.  To determine the length of elastic, I measured my current waist size (the Horror!) and subtracted two inches.  After threading the elastic through, I sewed the two elastic ends together, overlapping them by an inch.  Make sure you try it on at this point before closing up the casing!

So, now I have a very plain,t-shirt skirt.  Took about 15 minutes to this point.  I figured with the left over material, I could make some cute flowers!  I cute 5 ~2 inch circles, and 10 ~1.25 inch circles.  I made a petal shape out of each by folding them onto themselves along one side and pinned them to my skirt.  Placing the pinned petals under my presser foot without clamping it down, I freely sewed in a circular motion several times over all the petals.

Cute right?

Please don't mind the basket of laundry behind me.  It's clean, I promise!  I just need a little more energy at the end of the day!

By the way, I went over to Simple Simon and Company today and was amazed at how many awesome projects I found!  What an inspiration!  You should definitely check it out!