A Niece is born and the projects begin - Lil Sis and Big Sis shirts

I haven't quite figured out why I have this urge to get my sewing machine out when a child is born; for any other gift giving event I don't waste any time in getting myself to the closest mall and shop! But whatever gets me motivated to be creative I'll take it!  This time my little neice has arrived (yay!).  However, in true "Phillips" tradition I have somehow managed to wait until she is almost 2 months old before getting the projects finished and sent off in the mail.  Even knowing that I was running behind schedule I, obviously not thinking, started making 0-3 month little shoes (I'm a true shoe addict so its only natural for me to share the blessing :) ).  So here's to hoping that they will fit her!

Before I get to the adorable stockpile of shoes that are about to be put in the mail (yes I know I probably should have worried about putting them in the mail before posting - but I just couldn't wait to share.)  The first project up was to make little shirts for the new little sisters.  I have to admit I did start out at the local chain stores and of course the mall to try and find "lil sis" and "big sis" shirts.  However, low and behold I came up short.  I was a little shocked, but this gave me an opportunity to get a little creative and bring the sewing machine and the rest of the arsenal out of hiding and onto the dining table. 

These turned out really cute and can't wait to see them on the girls.  I did purchase the tank tops as I'm a little rusty at the sewing machine and the machine is still working on clearning away the dust!  But both me and the machine are working on getting up to par to hopefully tackle more complex projects.  For now, me and some HeatnBond are really good friends. I gathered up some material, printed out some block letters from Word and got started.  After tracing and cutting out the letters I simply layed out the sayings as I pleased and followed the package instructions to apply to the shirts.  Easy! 

Just the saying alone was a little boring, but I didn't want too much more. So along came the simple flower motif.  I simply stacked some odd shaped circles of fabric on top of one another and sewed them in place in kind of a pizza slice sort of way.  So, here you have it.  I unfortunately didn't come up with this idea myself, however I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.  So if you have seen this before please let me know where so I can give credit where credit is due. 


Plenty more projects still floating around in my head to get accomplished and so little time.  But one step at a time...which reminds me, I'll show off the shoes in the next post (they are sooo cute and I can't stop making them!).   

Enjoy!