DIY Baby Block Tutorial

Lately, I've found myself with a lot of scrap fabric.  And I hate wasting fabric of any size, so I decided to whip up a few soft baby blocks for Blake using whatever I had on hand.  It's super, super easy and fun to customize and I think I've made about 8 for Blake over the last week.  Whenever I have a little bit of extra fabric left over from a project I'm working on, I set it aside and make it into a block when I have enough in the pile of scraps. 

Here's how you do it!

1. Cut your scrap fabric into a square.  They can literally be as big or as small as the fabric you have on hand.  I'd tell you how big mine are...but have I mentioned I don't measure?  I really don't.  I ran around my house looking for square objects to trace until I settled on the square bottom of a candle holder in my entryway.  I also used a square board book of Blake's for a slightly larger one, and then a small square picture frame in our bathroom for the smallest of the blocks.  Really, just look around and see what you have!  The blocks turn out best if you have different sizes.  More fun for baby!  Anyway, you'll need six squares of fabric for each block you are going to make.  They can coordinate or not.  Some of mine do, and some don't!  Just trace your object of choice onto your fabric and cut out six pieces.

2.  Now, lay your pieces out in the shape of a cross.  This is your chance to arrange the fabric the way you like, because the way you lay it out is the way you will sew it.  It goes together just like a paper cube.  And yes, I realize that this direction is completely unrelated to the picture labeled as number 2 above.  Just bear with me. 

3.  Head over to your sewing machine and begin at the top of your cross, sewing the bottom of the top square to the top of the square below it.  Right sides together! 

4.  Work your way down the cross, sewing right sides together only on the side that touches the square below (or beside, for the vertical row of the cross) it.  When you're done, your cross should be sewn together with the seams visible only on the back. 

5.  Now, fold up your little fabric cross like a cube so you can visualize what you're about to do.  Working your way up, start sewing right sides together so that it starts taking the shape of a cube.  When you get to the top, sew three sides completely and partially sew the fourth seam but not completely because you'll need some room to turn it right side out and then stuff with filling.

6. Now it's time to turn your block right side out and stuff it with filling!  I use the cheap polyfil from Walmart, and I like to stuff it pretty full.  I also like to make these blocks more interesting by adding a little twist to each one.  I save those plastic baby food containers and then fill them with little bells (from Walmart for like .50 cents) or rice or macaroni noodles, glue the lid on, and then stuff them inside for an instant rattle.  I've also taken wrappers from granola bars and stuffed them inside the block for a little crinkle.  Be creative!  I try to make each one different.

The last thing you'll need to do is hand stitch your opening (where you turned it out and stuffed it) and give it to your favorite baby to enjoy!

And remember....these are totally customizable!  These are a few I've made.  The one with the Duck scrap fabric has the granola wrappers stuffed inside for a crinkle, and the smaller block has macaroni noodles for a great rattle.  My favorite is the owl block, because I used some old ribbons (Save these from packages!  Great way to reuse them) to make a taggy!

Have fun!

DIY Pillow Duvet

So a few minutes ago, I tackled a little DIY project that I think will be aesthetically pleasing for our living room AND highly functional for our lifestyle.  Win-win. 

I've been wanting some new pillows for our couch forever.  But pillows run anywhere between $9.99 and upwards of $30 a pop.  And I'm way too cheap for that.  And, I'm seriously picky about what I want.  And, we have two dogs who are allllll over our couches on any given day.  And....I just didn't want to spend that much on something that will be transformed into a dog bed in less than a week.   

I had considered (and thought I was going to) just make a few new pillows with some inexpensive fabric and pillow forms.  But.....pillow forms are expensive too.  And between those and the fabric, I could have just bought them readimade.

So, that got me thinking.

I really only wanted new pillows to use as an accent to the green curtains that I hung up last week.  And honestly, we only have the accent pillows ON the couches when we have company over (or when I'm taking pictures for the blog....guilty as charged).  Otherwise, they're usually in a sloppy neat pile on the floor.   So it seemed silly to spend that much for something we don't really use every day. 

And then it hit me.  I didn't need to actually buy new pillows....I just needed to transform the old!

I made a quick trip to Hancock Fabrics and picked up a yard and a half of fabric, came home and got down my sewing machine, and set to work.  Our pillows started out looking like this:

Yuck.


But by the end, they looked like this. 

Much better.

What did I do? I just slip-covered them!  Think a duvet, but for pillows.  Took about 10 minutes per pillow, and when all was said and done, I was able to recover four of my existing pillows with a yard and a half of fabric that cost me a total of $12.00.  I may or may not have done a little happy dance around the living room.

I'm especially thrilled with this solution for two reasons:
1. The slipcovers are removable and can be easily washed.  This is wonderful news for a household with two dogs, a cat, and a new baby on the way.
2. On an ordinary day at home, or on a day when we won't be home and the couches will be overtaken by two lazy, dirty dogs...we can just opt to take the covers off and let them lounge all over the old pillows.  Then, if we are having guests over or entertaining later in the evening, we can slip them back on for a more finished, refined look.

I'm in love!  I still have about four more pillows to cover, but since my little experiment turned out so well....that will be tomorrow's project!