Sincerest Form of Flattery guest: Adrianna from Crafterhours

 Meet Adrianna from Crafterhours, if you don’t know her already. 

 If you don’t, you should! Together with Susan, the other half of their fabulous blog, they have quite the site full of inspiration and tutorials. Adrianna constantly is making me laugh with her zany sense of humor and funny comments. Not to mention her lovely sewing. A few of my favorite projects are the Milkmaid skirt (on my to do list!), her Ladies who Lunch dress, her Presumptuous potholder, and her Anthro-knock off pillow. I liked that one so much I made my own!


 Take it away Adrianna! (and oh my gosh…you are going to LOVE her projects! swoon!)

Tutorial after the jump!

Hello fabulous CINO readers!!  Isn’t Jess the best?  Here’s a secret from me to you: last year I did an unofficial and private contest in my head for “favorite sewing blog of 2010” and Jess totally won.  Jess, did I not tell you that?  I didn’t want you to see me for the stalker I am, I guess.  And I may or may not have gone back at one point and read every single post you ever did. (insert from Jess: I’ve done the same!)
Anyway….moving on.  When Jess asked if we’d like to participate in a knock-off event, I was definitely for it.  There’s some pretty incredible (and expensive) stuff out there that we can make ourselves, right?  But I decided I wanted to keep it simple and practical this time, so I pulled out my MiniBoden catalog from last summer and got to work.  Bonus: I used all materials that I had on hand!
My 4 yr old doesn’t have much in the way of a summer wardrobe yet (don’t go buying stuff, mom!) so this was a great opportunity to get her started on some comfy, warm-weather pieces.  And since they’re all knit, the emphasis is on comfy!
I started with this fun tunic top:
This is a super easy project. 
See more after the jump!

I took an old shirt of mine and cut off the neck binding and sleeves.
Then I pressed the edges down toward the inside around the neck and arm holes and stitched a casing.
After inserting elastic into those casings and making another casing around the waist, the shirt was done! Then I simply tacked on two bows at the shoulder seams and ironed on a cute fabric flower.
I love me some turquoise and red together.  I think my daughter does too.  (If you want to make this shirt, I recommend using a larger size shirt or a men’s shirt.  I used a small and I wish there were more gathers.)
Next up, a very simple applique project.  I’ve been eyeing that adorable apple for months, and finally got around to making it.
I wish I had a green shirt, but I was working with stuff I had on hand, so I modified the design a bit.  I am proud that my navy center fabric has apples on it though!  Even more appropriate than the stars on the MiniBoden version, if you ask me 🙂
Another fun and easy summer staple (stay tuned at Crafterhours for the matching skirt)
And finally a cute, breezy knit skort.
Oh so valuable for those active girls who tend to have frequent wardrobe malfunctions of the panty-revealing nature.
I love that face.  “Mom, I’m totally going to get you back for this when I’m 13.”  Also, can we have a moment to appreciate those quad muscles?  You’re looking at a future gold medalist gymnast here. 
You can’t see it very well, but there is a pink knit waistband up there.
I didn’t do a tutorial for this skirt, because I don’t want to insult your intelligence and because there are a ton of tutorials for this kind of thing already out there.  But basically you just make some bike shorts and then baste the top of the bike shorts together with the top of your simple gathered skirt before attaching the knit waistband.  Easy peasy!
If you need some visuals, here’s a great tutorial for leggings that you could use for the bike shorts, and here’s one for a yoga waistband skirt, just make the waistband height shorter for this style.
And there you have it!  Some fun mini Boden-esque pieces for summer!  Thank you so much for having me, Jess!!  If you want to see more of what my co-blogger Susan and I are up to, come visit us at Crafterhours, why don’t you?  We’d love to have you 🙂
Make sure you head over to Kojo Designs today for an adorable tutorial from Little Miss Momma! She’s making some cute hair clips!

And don’t forget to check out Knock Off Decor– the sponsor of this blog series! There are knock offs of great stuff from Urban Outfitters, Crate and Barrel, West Elm and more- go check it out!


Comments

  1. Such fun ideas! My only problem is I can’t figure out how you did the casing in the middle of the t-shirt for the waist. Do you just fold up the fabric or add some inside to make it? It is something I have never done myself so it is just one of those odd things I have always wondered how to do.

    Thanks,

    Greta

  2. Love the tunic… really cute. The color combination is gorgeous!

  3. great job!!

    Amanda

  4. Love it, Adrianna! I love that big Amy Butler flower!

  5. Darling! You are so very talented! Thank you so much for all the fantastic ideas!

  6. This is such a cute top! I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
    http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-sleeveless-summer-tunic-top/2011/04/12/
    –Anne

  7. Oh gosh, I love them all! Great job and thank you so much for sharing.

  8. Super cute! I’m wondering about the casing in the middle of the shirt too.

  9. cute stuff! really love that big amy butler flower too! miniboden is such a great source for ideas 🙂

  10. This looks great! I would love to try this out, but how do you do the middle casing?

    Thanks!

  11. I’m also wondering about the casing in the middle. Did you fold the fabric to make it? If so, how did you keep it even?

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