15-Minute T-Shirt Dress Pattern - FREE Pattern- Elephant and Piggie Version

One of the best things about blogging (for me at least) is that I've got all my old patterns and projects saved in one place, so they're easy to go back and find....which came in handy this week in making Becca a new T-shirt Dress. 

Even since our school librarian introduced us to Mo Willems and the Elephant and Piggie books (affiliate link), we've been huge fans.  (We love The Pigeon books as well.)  The Elephant and Piggie books are rather like graphic novels, for early readers and are so funny that they pull the most reluctant readers in.  For some reason they're a bit harder to run across in thrift stores and such (probably because no one wants to get rid of them), so we've ordered most of ours online (affiliate link) or request them from our library.

My sister knows we are fans because we've shared the books with her kids.  So when we were thrift store shopping a few weeks ago, she noticed this Elephant and Piggie shirt for me, I knew immediately it would make the perfect Kindergarten dress for Miss Becca.

Olivia (the Pig) Outfit or Costume

I made this outfit clear back in March to be part of For the LOVE of Books and I just didn't get it posted.

We've loved Olivia at our house for a long time.  The stories are funny and the illustrations are wonderful.

If you're not familiar with the Olivia books by Ian Falconer, you're missing out.

Little Guy Floppy Tie Tutorial - Baby Tie Onesie

With Easter right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to re-post my Little Guy Floppy Tie Tutorial.  I shared it several weeks ago on Someday Crafts. 

'Tis the season to make sure our little guys have a spiffy new set of church clothes.  With my older son, his church clothes used to drive me crazy...particularly the shirts.  He looked so cute dressed up, but the button-down shirts seemed bulky and uncomfortable for such a little guy, and the shirts never seemed to stay tucked in...not to mention trying to get a tie to stay on a little guy.

So with our youngest I've gotten smart and made him tie onesies.  I've made a couple versions, but my favorite is this Little Guy Floppy Tie onesie.  This puts a new twist on the classic tie onesie.

Instead of having the whole tie sewn onto the shirt, the tie is loose and just the "knot" part of the tie is sewed down.

My little guy loves having the tie to play with.  I love that I don't have to fight him to keep the tie on and the tie never gets lost.

Little Guy Floppy Tie - Guest Post at Someday Crafts

Today I get to take a break from our For the LOVE of BOOKS series to be part of Crafting for Baby over at Someday Crafts.  With Easter coming up, 'tis the season to make sure our little guys have a spiffy new set of church clothes.  With my older son, this church clothes used to drive me crazy...particularly the shirts.  He looked so cute dressed up, but the button-down shirts seemed bulky and uncomfortable for such a little guy, and the shirts never seemed to stay tucked in...not to mention trying to get a tie to stay on a little guy.

So with our youngest I've gotten smart and made him tie onesies.  I've made a couple versions, but my favorite is this Little Guy Floppy Tie onesie.  This puts a new twist on the classic tie onesie.

Instead of having the whole tie sewn onto the shirt, the tie is loose and just the "knot" part of the tie is sewed down.

Click on over to my guest post at Someday Crafts to see the full Little Guy Floppy Tie tutorial.

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2 DIY Super Easy Dr. Seuss Themed Shirts - The Cat in the Hat and a Star-Bellied Sneech

***If you're looking for the Usborne Books Giveaway and Book Drive for Seattle Children's Hospital go here...***

The best inspiration always seems to strike at the last minute...and these shirts were last minute...and the kids LOVE them.

 If you need a fast and easy DIY Dr. Seuss shirt, you've come to the right place.

Back when I was mentally planning out the different projects and blog posts I wanted to do during For the LOVE of BOOKS, this wasn't something I had planned, but...

DIY Harry Potter Doll Robe - Hermione American Girl Style Doll Tutorial

Are your kids into American Girl dolls?  My girls wish they were.  Right now they've only been blessed with the much cheaper version from Target. Both girls have a jar they're using to save money to buy a doll...I'll let you guess whether the 9-year-old or the 4-year-old has more in her job.

And up until a week or two ago, they only two outfits for the doll, and she didn't have a name.

Well, now she does have a name.  Meet Hermione!

(Our Hermione even has the characteristic bushy hair of the Hermione in the early books.)

As I was getting ready for Katie's birthday, I had the thought that I could probably make a doll robe, the same way I made Anson and Becca's Hogwarts robes for Halloween ...with a T-shirt!

And it worked great...and we couldn't stop there.  She needed a whole Hogwarts school uniform.

Oh...and of course a wand of her own.

In fact it's been so fun making these, that I've decided to carry sets in my shop if you'd rather buy one than make your own, you can purchase both basic sets (robe and scarf) and deluxe sets (robe, scarf, shirt, skirt, and wand) here.

But since I know many of you are DIYers, I'll go ahead and share my secrets.

Here's what you'll need...

DIY Dragon Army Shirts - Ender's Game Shirts

Do you have any Ender's Game fans at your house?  I've loved Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (affiliate link) for years.  It's definitely my favorite in the series, and the Shadow books are my favorite sequels (affiliate link) to Ender's Game.  So I was really excited for the movie to come out.  In fact, it's the first movie I'd seen in the theater in YEARS.  We just don't go see movies all that often.  The movie was good...but of course the book is better.  I have yet to see a movie version of a great book that was as good as the book.  But, I digress...

As much as I like Ender's Game, my brother is an even bigger fan.  So much so, that he named his son Ender...for reals.  I thought it would be fun to make my brother and nephew some Dragon Army shirts...

...and as long as I was making shirts for them, I went ahead and made some for my boys, plus an extra one for a bloggy friend who also loves Ender's Game.

Super Fast and Easy DIY Harry Potter Robe from a T-Shirt in 15 Minutes - DIY Harry Potter Costume

If you need a wizard robe as part of your own little one's Harry Potter, then this is for you.  You can make an awesome wizard robe out of a T-shirt in about 15 minutes.  If you're interested in other accessories and parts of the costumes you see in these pictures, be sure to check out the tutorials linked at the bottom of this post.  I sell Hogwarts House Scarves here.

I was frantically trying to finish up our family's Harry Potter themed costume and folding laundry trying to find the kids' black pants and socks to go with their costumes.  While folding a T-shirt it hit me...perfect starting place for a wizard robe, and honestly I liked the hang better than the "real" robe I'd made for my oldest.

Here's what you'll need:
Oversize T-shirt
Large black button (optional)
Black thread
Scissors
Pins
Iron-on Hogwarts patch  {You can buy one here (affiliate link) or make your own.}  I'll have a tutorial for making your own up soon.
Sewing machine  (although if you don't have a sewing machine, there's so little sewing you could do it by hand or even use a glue gun.)

If you want to make a doll version, they're made the same way.  You can see my tutorial for an 18-in doll Hogwarts Robe here.

DIY National Quidditch League Shirts - Boy and Girl Versions - Freezer Paper Stencil and Applique

We've got one happy quidditch player at our house...

Actually, make that two...

Boy Reading Freezer Paper Stencil - Free Pattern

Some of you might have thought that all I do lately is quilts and Harry Potter themed stuff, but I've got something a little different for you today...

If you've been a blog reader for a long time (like several years), you may remember the Girl Reading freezer paper shirts I made for the girls a while back.  Those were inside a heart for Valentine's Day.

Several years later, here's a boy version...

We needed a baby gift.  One of my husband's high school students had a baby.  We don't usually give baby gifts to his students, but for reasons I won't go into, we felt like she should for this one.  The young mom loves to read, so we thought a reading themed gift would be perfect and practical.