Old Made New: DIY last minute baby gift – hand stamped leggings

By Aurelia

As promised yesterday, here is another post and a totally frilling gift idea from Stephanie of Teal Annie. Thanks so much for your contributions, Stephanie! We hope to see many more “Old Made New” posts in the future! You FRILL us! 

If you are needing a last minute baby gift and really want it to have a special handmade touch, this little DIY is perfect for that special little stylish one in your life. It is pretty quick and very affordable as well.

Original inspiration from the lovely Katie over at Lemon Jitters with her DIY for patterned heart tights.

Supplies Needed:

• baby leggings (I bought these from Old Navy)
• scissors
• small piece of cardboard
• craft paint
• wine cork
• hot glue gun

1. Cut a small triangle out of the cardboard.

2. Using hot glue, attach the cardboard triangle to the wine cork creating a stamp.

3. Lay the leggings flat and stamp the triangle in the pattern of your choice.

4. Let dry and stamp the back if desired. Then, give as gifts!

Crafted Christmas Ornaments

By Fran

Hello Friends!  Today we have a holiday guest post from our dear Caitlin, my almost-cousin and kindred spirit, who totally FRILLS us always.  Cait and her fella Kevin got their creative juices flowing in a Frilling, festive way. Enjoy!
- Fran

Caitlin Martin is the New Media Manager for the Association for Public Art (formally the Fairmount Park Art Association). She tweets, posts, and Instagrams about Philadelphia’s preeminent collection of public art. Trained as an architect, she is also currently working as an Architectural Intern for Loomis McAfee Architects. In her free time, she is a long distance cyclist and is in the process of writing a food guide for cyclists on tour based on her cross country journey completed in August 2011.

Hey y’all! Today I am going to share with you some simple and fun ways to create your very own Christmas ornaments. Kev and I have invited our families to Philadelphia for the Holidays this year! We realized after purchasing our Christmas tree that we had zero ornaments. So, instead of buying a bunch of brand new fancy ornaments, we decided to make our own. We did some really simple and fun things that resulted in an array of unique decorative pieces for the tree.

First, we purchased a bunch of cheap glass ornaments (like $1.99 for a pack of six cheap). We also bought ribbon and lace. I went to Jomar to purchase all of my supplies because they have a great selection of fabric for an affordable price as well as other craft supplies, but you could go to any craft store.

My friend also gave me some feathers that she had purchased from KIMONOS Feathers on Etsy. They have a great selection of colors, and they ship quickly.

All I did here was glue feathers all over the ornaments. I put short feathers of a different color on top of the long feathers to give them a more dynamic look.

We had a lot of fun with the lace, but you can use any type of fabric. First, cut out a large piece of the fabric and wrapped it around the glass ball. Then, wrap a rubber band around the top to hold the fabric around the ball. After the fabric is secured, glue ribbon, feathers, or more fabric around the top to hide the rubber band.

We didn’t want to waste anything, so we placed fabric and ribbon scraps inside some of the ornaments. We also used paint pens to do some decorating, and used more lace scraps and glued them around a wire ball that we had.

We complimented the three dimensional ornaments with some two dimensional ones. We cut circles out of a book of fabric samples and glued a hook to them. Thanks to our friend Gus for the brilliant and simple idea as well as lending us the fabric!

Kate’s DIY Stamped Wall Art

By Fran

My FRILLINGLY creative friend Kate created this awesome DIY wall artwork.  Here’s what Kate said about this simple creative project:

1.  Buy ugly clearance print in a large square.
2.  Paint it white with primer.
3.  Stamp the lyrics to a favorite song.
4. Wait for husband to come home to help hang it.

Loves: I love how the letters don’t have to be perfectly spaced or lined up.  I love how it’s your own personal favorite song lyric.  I love how the letters fall off the canvas.  I love how it adds a typographic element to the room. I love how it makes me think of newsprint.  I love that it could be in any font you can find stamps or sponges in. And I love that it’s a low-budget project.

Here’s an image of the piece in the space.  FRILLING.

(and Kate, is that a navy wall I see? swoon.)

Rainy day crafting

By Aurelia

Yesterday when I arrived home from school, the thunder storm was oh-so-tempting so, instead of doing homework, I got to work on a gift I’ve been needing to work on in honor of my friend’s new babe. This is my second time to do the ruffle-butt onesies. I think they are so adorable, and they definitely worked out even better this time around. I also added some frills to my blanket-stitched applique by adding some cute little buttons to the mix. Finally, I whipped up some baby legwarmers, which Fran did a DIY on over the summer. If you haven’t tried these, you must. You will be amazed at how easy they are!

It’s storming again today, but unfortunately, I’m behind on homework!

- Aurelia

DIY: Add even more frills to your dishtowel

By Aurelia

The dishtowel just might have to be youfrillme’s mascot with all the fun DIYs we are coming up with this summer! In May, Fran wrote a post about embellishing your dishtowel with applique, and in June I posted a video tutorial on the blanket stitch.

Today I’m bringing you a DIY to add to these last two projects.

I made these for a friend’s wedding gift in June. You might remember them from the blanket stitch post. Notice the fun fabric border I added to the bottom of the dishtowel. This is what I’m going to show you how to do today, and I promise, it’s really simple!

So get out the dishtowel that you used to learn about applique and the blanket stitch, and follow along as my friend, Tia, learns how to add this final frill to her own project!

Choose your fabric, and cut it about 2” lengthwise and about 4” wider than the width of the bottom portion of your dishtowel.  

Make sure everything is ironed and ready for pinning.

Press (iron) each long side of your fabric over about 1/4”. THEN, fold over again to make a 1/2” hem and press. Notice that we only made one fold here. This was a mistake. If you don’t fold it twice, your towel will fray! 

Pin each side. 

Sew each pinned side on the right side of the fabric, removing the pins as you go.

Pin your fabric onto the bottom of one side of your dishtowel.  Leave 2” hanging off each side. 

Sew the pinned side onto the right side of the dishtowel, removing each pin as you go.

On the wrong side of the fabric and dishtowel, make a 1/4” fold and press. Then fold the rest of the fabric over making it even with the seam on the dishtowel. Press and pin.

Step 9: Oops, no picture! Sew each side down, removing the pins as you go!

Step 10: Enjoy your newly frilled up dishtowel. And don’t forget to add the applique and blanket stitch! Check out Tia’s almost finished product. She decided to go with a monogrammed applique she cut out herself, and is learning how to do the very easy blanket stitch. Great job, Tia!

For a ruffled finish to your fabric, simply cut the fabric about 2 1/2 times longer than the width of the bottom of your dishtowel. Then, follow all of the directions on this DIY, but when it comes time to pin your fabric to your dishtowel, instead of pinning evenly, pin the fabric making little folds. When you sew your seam, your fabric will begin to ruffle!

- Aurelia

Baby Legwarmer DIY

By Fran

I was inspired by this post (sent to me by my uber-crafty mother) to make these:

They are so easy!  I made ten pairs – some to keep, some to give away.  All you do is cut up some knee-high socks, then use one of the pieces to make a cuff.  I bought all the fun, bright knee-socks at Target for $2.50 a pair.

The middle foot piece is the one you fold in half, then sew all the edges together (right sides together.  I didn’t follow the directions exactly.  Instead, I used a Serger to serge all the edges together.  It worked just as well, I think, and made a nice neat seam inside.`

cute, huh?

Happy Monday!

-f

Frilling Inspiration: Poem Scarf

By Fran

I spotted this post by Lauren of Stamp 48 on Sunset Vine.  Lauren was inspired by a gorgeous We Are Owls cashmere scarf …

…which retails for around $150, to make her own version:

See how she did it here.  I love this.  I am not a die-hard DIY-er, but I love a good inspiration project.  I would prolly tea-stain mine to make it look more like the We Are Owls version.  I wonder what poem I would use…

Nice job, Lauren.  It FRILLS us.

-f

The Bear

By Fran

Remember when I mentioned that I was working on a cute little crochet teddy bear?  Well I finally finished him.  Isn’t he cute?  He isn’t the shapeliest of fellows, but we think he’s endearing.

B particularly likes to nosh on him.

He seems pretty patient with all our shenanigans.

Here’s the pattern again, in case you’re interested in creating your own friend.

Custom Bleached T-shirt

By Fran

Last week was mine and Huzz’s 8th wedding anniversary.  I was in Louisiana, and he was here in SF.  So to celebrate the day, I wore this custom-bleached tee, which I made using Ashley Ann’s amazing freezer paper stencil idea, which I originally saw on her blog, but was reminded of it in an issue of Fresh Style magazine.  Check out my “I love Jordan” shirt.

The process is super easy and fun.  The top I used is a sleeveless t-shirt from Zara that I scored on clearance. You can check out the full how-to on Ashley’s blog, but the short version is this:

cut the words out of freezer paper
iron words onto shirt
spray bleach onto shirt over freezer paper
remove paper and toss the shirt into the wash immediately

cute, huh?

-f

Frilling Friday: 7/1/2011

By Fran

Happy Friday and Happy July everyone! I’m filling in for Fran on this Frilling Friday. Does anyone have any frilling plans for the fourth? I’ll be studying for a final, but after that, my BFF is coming to visit me for a fun Austin holiday. I’ll document our trip and write a post on my favorite Austin spots in a couple of weeks. 

Until then, check out this festive apple pie. If you love to bake, this might be the perfect treat to get your 4th of July party going. 

Also, I LOVE this DIY on 4th of July sparklers. 

And in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their trip to North America, another reason to love Kate Middleton.

This is my crafting pick of the week. Did you find anything good?

And on the style side of things, I’m still loving the Nautical look that’s been so big this spring/summer. This style blog is one of my faves. 

Finally, I’ve been noticing that long skirts are really trending lately. Is there a special name for long skirts? Could someone please tell me so that I can sound more fashion savvy? Anyway, I love how Kendi styles hers on her style blog. Now if only I wasn’t so short. It’s really hard to find a long skirt that doesn’t swallow you when you’re 5’1. 

Did anyone find anything in the blogger world worth sharing this week? Sound off in the comments!

- Aurelia