A Lil' Birdie told me: Children's Shirt Pattern

WOW!!! Oh my goodness, I totally I thought I would have 1 or 2 people enter and in the end I was planning on just sending both those people the prize ha! When I originally posted the give away I thought, maybe I should pack it in, I don't think anyone is actually liking what I am doing. So thank you so much for all your comments. I just want to let you know how much they mean to me. I really started this blog to try and feel connected even though I am in such a remote area. I absolutely treasure each comment you make, it makes me feel a little closer to home. I have been agonizing over the fact that only one person will win, I actually don't like games like that, I feel like I am personally hurting 34 peoples feelings. So I decided there would be 3 prizes, that way I feel a little better ha! First person randomly selected gets the same thing as before, the second and third people selected will also get 4 napkins and 25 of these fabulous burberry looking tart/cupcake holders I found. Is that okay? Can't wait for tomorrow! Now on to the tutorial!

Do you have a little square of fabric that is super cute but you have no idea what to do with? Are you going to a baby shower in a half and hour and totally spaced a gift, or have plenty of time but don't want to give something run of the mill? Do just want to be creative and make something easy? This is perfect for you!

I originally made this for my amazing BFF in crafting Elizabeth when she found out she was having a baby girl. This was before I was preggy with Evie and I loved any excuse to make girly things. I must have made her a dozen of those bitty booties. (Super cute ones to I might add) Since I have had Evie I have been meaning to make one for her but hadn't gotten around to it. I am so bummed I waited, she could have been wearing these all year. I LOVE them. It meets my moto of minimal fabric maximum cute. I found these pictures on Martha Stewart.com years ago and they were being used for a decoupage project. I thought hmmm I can think of something WAY cuter for those! I've made it super easy to use them by already making the templates into PDF's, they can be found and downloaded HERE and will also be on my patterns list HERE. Never fear if you have a little boy there are also ones for hippos, whales, dogs etc. The one we will be doing today is the single bird. I have also made the double birds talking and think it is crazy cute. (At the end I will show you a little bonus project you can do with these templates)

What you need

A cut out template of your choice (if you want to change the size you can totally enlarge them with a copier)

Scissors

2 Fabric pieces (one small, one tiny)

1 button

1 little square of either wonder under or interfacing

Sewing machine

Needle and thread

A onsie or t-shirt of your choice

Download "Put Your Records On" to get you in the birdie mood

First things first. This easy project would be ever easier if you have wonder under. I do not so I used interfacing. Grab your square of fabric and following the instructions that come with it attach either product to your square. Now that you have a nice sturdy piece of fabric grab your template of the birdie and cut it out. Now cut out the wing trying to keep it as intact as possible. Now pin your template to your fabric and cut it out.

Using the wing you cut out cut a wing out of a tiny piece of corresponding fabric. (You can wonder under/ interface this if you like.) I think Evie ate my wing. I am being totally honest. I was cutting it out on the ground next to her little play chair and when I turned around it was gone. She likes to eat things so she is taking the fall for this one. If your child eats your wing never fear simply pin your template to the fabric and cut out where the wing is missing like I did. (I decided in the end that this fabric was too busy to add to the polka dots and went with a solid, don't worry no fabric was wasted in this decision!)

Grab some buttons and try different ones to decide which one you think looks best. I liked this little metal one.

Now if you have "wonder-undered" your birdie this would be when I would attach the bird to the shirt and then the wing to the bird. I also attached my button to the bird before attaching IT to the shirt. Again, I used interfacing so now I just pinned the bird to the shirt. If you follow me than make sure you pin it well. Since onsies are so flimsy the fabric moves and stretches easily and you end up with a skiddiwampus bird or bunched up fabric. Now head to your sewing machine and put it on a zig zag stitch. Now here is the trick turn your dials so they are on smaller settings, making the zig zags smaller and closer together. I grabbed a scrap of fabric and sewed on it until I got the dials set to the way I wanted them. I decided to sew around the wing first. (Sorry I didn't do a picture) Once this was done I went around the outside of the bird, going very slowly at the legs.

TADDAH! It's an adorable birdie shirt!

I am not a huge fan of the way onsies look with jeans so I decided to go an extra step (totally unnecessary) I cut off the bottom of the onsie where the snaps are. Usually I would just hem it up but I decided to do something cutter. I grabbed a long strip of red fabric and folded it so one edge was finished. I shirred the top and then putting right sides together attached it to the bottom of the onsie, then topstitched where I just sewed. Taddah even cuter Birdie shirt!

Evie is at that stage where she puts everything she finds on her head (um, your kids totally went through that right... no, she's just a crazy little baby who lives to make me laugh?)

What is so fun is the crazy combinations you can make with different fabrics. The one I made with the two birds talking has got to be one of my all time favs. If you have a boy I bet the lion or whale would be down right adorable as well. Okay so can't get enough of the birdies? I totally couldn't when I was preggers with Evie and decided that would be the theme for her room. I wanted some original art work to be hung but I am an awful painter so I totally cheated. I headed to walmart and bought two square canvases for like 2 bucks. Then I came home and enlarged the templates to fit the squares. I cut them out and with a pencil traced them onto the canvas. Then I used the colors from Evie's room and with craft paint went to town. I LOVE how they turned out and it was so ridiculously easy!

If you have some blank walls give it a try!

Cheers

Kelly