diy Archives - Page 2 of 6 - My Life: A Work in Progress

Giveaway: Babyville Boutique products for sewing

7 October, 2013 11 Comments

NEW Babyville Boutique products!

From Mami’s 3 Little Monkeys:

When I first started making cloth diapers and other baby products, Babyville Boutique is the brand I used. I’ve had good results with their PUL, patterns, snaps, and snap pliers. See the first pocket diaper I made here.
You can read Mami’s 2 Little Monkeys’ Babyville Boutique review here. Read more about Babyville’s release of these new cute and super fun prints here!

Giveaway:

One fortunate winner will have their choice of the new boy or girl products and will receive a package of these products with a $35 ARV! This giveaway is open to US & CAN residents whom are at least 18 years of age at time of entrance and will run until Oct. 28th at 11:59pm CST. One winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, the winner will have 48 hours in which to respond to the email or a new winner will be chosen. To enter for your chance to win, simply complete as many or as few entries on the Giveaway Tools form below that you wish to do. Winning entry will be verified.

Entry -Form

Note: I received no form of compensation for this publication. Mami’s 3 Little Monkeys has received products in the past though for review purposes.

life

Home repairs- what the stats say

21 September, 2013 4 Comments

*SPONSORED*

As a military family, we move every few years. One thing my husband I haven’t completely agreed on is whether or not it’s a good idea for us to purchase a home instead of renting. Hubby sees it as an investment. I do also, but I like that when something breaks in our rental unit, we can call maintenance and have it fixed quickly without worrying about the price tag. The taxes, upkeep, and maintenance for home owners seems daunting to me, and apparently I’m not the only one. Many Americans have faced economic hardships and dwindled savings over the last few years. This has to be affecting home owners and those thinking of buying.

A good option, of course, is to do as many home repairs ourselves, as possible. I’m not very handy with tools and maintenance, but fortunately Hubby is! I’ve been impressed watching talented friends and family of mine not only repair things in their homes, but literally build walls and install cabinets and tiles on their own!

What DIY home repairs or renovating have you accomplished?

Graphic Source

Note: I was compensated for posting this infographic.

DIY

DIY: Fitted Crib Sheet

27 August, 2013 3 Comments

This post is courtesy of my friend Jessica, a fellow Navy wife and former Army reservist. When Jessica couldn’t find a fitted crib sheet in a Star Wars print for her son, with the help of her aunt she decided to make her own in a few simple steps. I’m planning on following her steps and trying it out, so look for another DIY tutorial post next month! -Elisebet

First my aunt and I laid the fabric over the mattress to make the darts. We pinned the fabric together in a line down each corner and then used a ruler to actually draw a straight line (we also took the pins out to draw it then replaced them along the straight line we had drawn). Then we also pinned down outside of the line so the fabric didn’t shift.

DIY fitted crib sheet on My Life: A Work in Progress — Sewing the darts on the corners

After the dart was done (we stitched twice to make sure it would last), we cut off the extra fabric on the corners. After that, we put the fabric back onto the mattress to make sure it fit before doing the other three corners.

DIY fitted crib sheet — Making sure the sheet fits.

The only problem we ran into was the fabric was a little too short on the long sides of the mattress, so it didn’t go under the mattress enough for the elastic to hold. So we had to put binding on it to give it a little extra fabric.

When sewing binding onto the fabric, one thing you want to keep in mind is that you don’t want too much fabric inside the binding. If there is too much fabric inside the binding, it makes it more difficult to get the elastic through. When you sew the binding on, don’t get nervous about the corners. Just sew them like you do on the straight parts 🙂 Make sure you don’t sew the ends of the binding closed, because you’ll thread the elastic through them later.

Once the binding is sewn to the fabric, attach a safety pin to the each end of the elastic (we used 3/4″ elastic), then to one end of the binding. On one end of the elastic, make sure it’s a large safety pin. It’s easier to grasp and thread through the binding.

DIY fitted crib sheet- My Life: A Work in Progress — Finished fitted crib sheet with binding

Use the end with the large safety pin to push the elastic through the binding. Keep the elastic flat while threading it. You don’t want it getting twisted. Once you’ve push the elastic through, pin the two ends together and run a stitch through them. Then close the binding over the elastic and run another stitch over both the elastic ends and the ends of the binding. Be sure to remove the safety pins before sewing the binding closed! Now you’re done!

Do you have any questions or comments for Jessica? Leave them below!