Miss E’s Dresser Makeover

February 17, 2017 by Jessica 2 Comments

I would say it’s about time I started sharing some of the home diy projects that have been keeping me busy the past few months, don’t you agree? I will start with this dresser makeover that I did for miss E’s room back in the fall. It was a lovely dresser that was my mother’s when she was little. It was originally a dark stain, but my grandparents painted it white at some point and it stayed that color for a while.

When it came to live in my room when I was a teenager, I left it white too. We repainted it yet another coat of white after I was married and as we moved and moved and moved it became more and more beat up.

There were so many layers of paint on it (because many of the paint jobs happened before you could just look up online on how to do things right you know) that it was really hard to cover up the many spots where it had been banged off. This is a solid piece of wood furniture, so I decided to do some paint stripping and try to get down to the wood. I used CitriStrip to get the paint off and really like this product. It didn’t hurt when I accidentally got it on my skin and it didn’t smell bad. I brushed on a thick coat and waited for the paint to bubble up.

Once it was all bubbly, I grabbed a plastic scraper and started working on it.

There was so much paint and original varnish that I used the CitriStrip two times and even three times on a few places and sanded for a long time, but I still couldn’t get it all off. I was tired of all this by now, so I decided to embrace the chippy bohemian feel that was left.

Since I wanted it to be lighter, I added a coat of Minwax Pickled Oak on top. I was trying for a beachy weathered kind of look. I will be honest. It took a while to grow on me because it wasn’t what I had originally wanted. But after a bit I have grown to love it. The accessories helped complete the look and brought it all together.

I found these cute knobs at Hobby Lobby to put on and the runner is from Anthropologie. I made the leave garland with dried leaves I found at the craft store (I think they are silver dollar eucalyptus leaves) and they add some lovely greenery to the room. The animals and books are also from Anthro and the potted plant and frame are from Marshalls. I’m so close with miss E’s room being all done. It’s been a process, but I have slowly waited to find/make the right pieces to go in there. Hopefully I will get to share the whole room soon. -jess

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Football Headband DIY (Free Pattern)

September 20, 2016 by Jessica 4 Comments

It’s that time of the year for football and I decided to whip up a football headband and see how it turned out. Fortunately it came out cute! It’s created using my free double sided headband pattern (which is in kid and adult size) with the simple addition of some hand embroidery. It also doesn’t take long to make at all. These would be fun to wear to football games or on game days at home. I made mine simple, but you could add a team fabric or colors for the back part that covers the elastic.

To make a football headband you will need:

Free Double Sided Headband Pattern PDF printed out (see here for download)
1/4 yard of brown fabric (or fabrics of your choice)
Scissors
Elastic (Adult size: 5.5 to 6 inches of 1/2″ or 3/4″ elastic [this can be adjusted if needed], Kid size: 5.5 to 6 inches of 1/2″ or 3/4″ elastic)
Iron
White Embroidery Thread
Embroidery Needle
Safety Pin
Sewing machine and accessories

Start by cutting out all of your fabric pieces. You will have two of each part.

Prepare your needle and thread to sew on the football lines. I like mine thicker, so I loop it and knot the ends together.

Sew one line straight across. I wanted my “football” to be more on one side, so I made this line 1.75″ from the bottom. If you have enough thread, go to the next step. If not, knot it and trim the excess and rethread your needle.

Now sew a line in the middle. I made mine 2″ long, but you can make it longer or shorter depending on preference.

Next, sew the lines that go across that one (I made 6) and then sew on one more straight line across. I made that one the same distance between as the other one. Knot the thread and cut off the excess.

Now place the two top pieces right sides facing and sew down the sides. Do the same for the elastic cover pieces. Turn both of these right side out.

Iron both.

Attach the safety pin to the elastic and pull through the cover. Once the non-safety pin side is right at the fabric edge, hold it in place and sew. Then remove the safety pin and sew that end as well. Just make sure the elastic is even with the fabric edges on that end as well.

Turn the ends of the headband in just enough so no raw edges show. Iron.

Place one end of the covered elastic in an opening and sew in place. I just put it in far enough to cover the seam from the step two pictures above. Then push the fabric in on the other end of the elastic and sew that side in the last opening. Pull elastic to even out the fabric cover and you are done!

Feel free to share your happy together creations on the facebook page or on social media using #happytogetherbyjess and tagging me. Happy sewing! -jess

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Free Girls Dress Pattern: The August Dress Pattern Sizes 2-9

September 1, 2016 by Jessica 30 Comments

Quite a few years ago, I sewed up a cute little dress for miss E to wear at her first birthday (see here). It has been in my head ever since then to create an actual pattern for it so I could sew more for my girls and share with you all. I had fun creating The August Dress pattern, named after miss E’s birth month, and I find it to be simple and cute. I really like how there is no need for button holes, zippers, or other closures since the hand sewn buttons hold the front in place but are far over enough that there is plenty of room to get it on in the neck area.

I, of course, experimented with all the sizes. I did not do a ton of testing as this is a freebie pattern, so you may find you want to tweek some things. Miss J is wearing the size 8/9 in the above photo. I didn’t have enough of the horse fabric to make a dress, so hers is shorter for a shirt option.

Miss E is wearing the 5/6 in her dress here. The bottom is the full length and she has room to grow in it. Below, my sweet friend got her cute grand baby to try out the 2/3. This was my first draft and it was a little wide at the the shoulders and a little too far down, so I adjusted. I did make another one with the adjustments, but I haven’t heard on the fit yet. Hopefully it’s all good

Size Chart:

Size 2/3: chest measurement 20″-21″
Size 4/5: chest measurement 22″-23″
Size 6/7: chest measurement 24″-25″
Size 8/9: chest measurement 26″-27.5″

Supply list:

The August Dress Pattern PDF printed out (*tip: Do not print when opened in “preview.” Open in a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader for the most accurate printing.)
1/2 yard for top main fabric (or less for each piece if you use different fabrics)
1/2 yard for lining
For bottom: 1/2 yd for size 2/3, 1 yd for size 4/5, 1.5 yds. for size 6/7, and 2 yds. for size 8/9 (* of course you can make it shorter and make this a top. That would use less fabric if you choose to do this.)
Scissors
Pins
Iron
2 Safety Pins (optional)
Buttons of Choice
Sewing Machine and notions/thread needed
Needle and Thread for hand sewing
Measuring Tape

*All seams are 1/4″ unless otherwise noted.

*Always back stitch at beginning and end of sewing unless otherwise stated.

Once you have printed out the pattern, lay it down in order to see where to connect the pieces. It goes in order starting at page one at top left and going across and finishes with page 9 at the bottom right. Then cut out and tape together.

Cut out the following using the pattern and measuring tape:

Lining: Cut 1 back, 1 front left, and 1 front right
Outer Top: Cut 1 back, 1 front left, and 1 front right
Bottom Skirt: Cut 2 of the appropriate size- 14.5″ x 22″ for size 2/3; 17″ x 24″ for size 4/5; 19″ x 26″ for size 6/7; 21″ x 30″ for size 8/9

Start by sewing the top outer pieces first. Place the back piece down right side facing up. Take the front left piece and match up on the shoulders, right sides facing. Sew together at shoulder.

Take the outer front right piece and line up on the other side, right sides facing. Sew together at the shoulder. Iron open the seams.

Next, sew the lining together. This will be similar to the outer, but the sides are sewn on opposite. Place the back lining piece down, right side facing up. Then take the lining right side and match up at the shoulder, right sides facing. Sew together.

Take the lining left side and match up the shoulder to the back piece, right sides facing. Sew together. Open the seams and iron flat.

The the outer top down, right side facing up.

Place the lining on top, wrong side facing up. Match the shoulder seams and edges together. Pin in place. Sew together on each arm hole and around the front sides and neck.

Once sewn, you will want to make notches on the curved seams so it lays flat once turned right side out. I simply use my pinking shears (scissors with zig zag cutting sides) and trim all the edges close to the seam. This eases the fabric on all the curves.

Another little thing to do is clip the edges on the top sides of the front pieces. It takes away some of the bulk from this area for when turned right side out.

Turn right side out and iron flat. *Tip: I use the eraser end of a pencil to push all the seams out for a cleaner finish.

Now it’s time to sew the sides together. Open the side seams of the left back side and left front side. Match up at the seams, right sides together, and pin in place. Sew together.

Again, it helps to cut a little notch at that middle seam to reduce the fabric bulk at that point.

Turn right side out and iron. Repeat these steps for the right sides as well.

This is also your last chance to sew a tag in place so the back stitching is hidden. You can do this earlier of course, but I usually forget until this step haha

Place the top down and fold over the front pieces so the side seams are on the sides and the longer side goes over the shorter side. Use a safety pin to keep the front pieces together.

Sew the bottom skirt next. Place the two bottom pieces right sides together. Sew together down the shorter sides. To have a cleaner edge, you can go over it with a zig zag stitch or use a serger.

Iron the side seams and then iron the bottom up about 1/4″.

Fold up the bottom about another 1/4″ again and iron. Sew around the edge.

Now sew a wide stitch around the top of the skirt leaving a long tail at the beginning and end. This means no back stitching at this part. (My machine goes up to a 5 so I use that size stitch). I usually do a line from one seam to another then start another one on the other side. This helps make it easier to ruffle. Pull on the back threads to ruffle each side until it is the same width as the top piece.

Make sure the bottom is wrong side out and the top is right side out. Place the skirt over the top and match up skirt side seams to the top side seams.

Spread out the gathers so they are evened out around and pin in place. Then sew together.

Finish off the raw edge with a zig zag stitch or a serger. Turn right side out and prepare to sew buttons in place.

For the buttons, be creative! Use different colors, different sizes, same colors, same sizes…. have fun Depending on the size will depend on how many you want to add. You can sew them on as you like, but I want to share real quick how I sew them on. I don’t want them falling off, especially when it’s for a younger child, so I really go overboard with this part. I start by threading the needle and knotting the two ends together.

I pull the needle through the two front pieces at where I want the first button.

Then I pull it back through and make a knot again on the end knot that is on the top.

Then I sew the button on by going through the holes and the front fabrics a bunch of times to make sure it’s strong. Then I pull the thread through from the bottom and make a knot around the button (like above) a ton of times for extra strength.

Next, I cut the thread and make a few knots this way with the two ends. Then I trim the extra thread off.

I sew the rest on the same way.

The buttons keep the top together but allows for room to have it fit over the child’s head when placing it on. It’s a nice way to create a dress or top with no button holes, zippers, or other sort of closures. Nice, huh?

Free Girls Dress Pattern: The August Dress Pattern Sizes 2-9 | happy together

She is wearing the 4/5 here.

I love this dress because you can create so many different looks. You can use the same colors or use a variety of fabrics. Use fancy buttons or more whimsical ones. I think it would be even lovely with piping around the top edges too. Make it your own and have fun. I hope you enjoy The August Dress Pattern. Please share your creations on the happy together by jess facebook page or on other social media by tagging me and #happytogetherbyjess Happy sewing! -jess

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Church Coffee Shop Makeover

August 25, 2016 by Jessica 8 Comments

At the beginning of the year I embarked on my biggest diy project yet: our church coffee shop makeover. Even though it took quite a while to finish up, I’m so happy with how it came out. It was fun designing and being creative with using what we already had on hand so we could be wise with our budget for it. I’m very thankful for the many people who helped make this a reality with their time and donations. It’s now a nice area to be used by the church for fellowship, classes/meetings, and provides an area for the many people who come in during the week seeking help through counseling/food bank/other needs/etc.

Before I get into the details, let’s take a look at the before. It was a very nice spot that they had redone when the church first moved into this building. For some background, the building was originally a grocery store. Then another church bought it and started to work on the interior to make it more functional for church purposes. And after they had it, they moved on to a different building and our church moved in and began using it. It still has a lot of work to be done to be used to it’s full potential, but we are getting there. Here is the before (pics courtesy of Clark Miller) :

As you can see, one of the most noticeable transformations was taking that wall down and opening it up. I was told this used to be a children’s area, which is why I’m sure the wall was there (to keep them in there lol). But as a coffee shop, the wall was a hindrance. If people were standing in the entrance, it was hard to get in. Now there is much more flow and it feels a lot more welcoming. We painted the whole area to brighten it up. I ended up going with Sherwin Williams Icy Avalanche (HGSW1497) in eggshell for the walls and Sherwin Williams Carbonzied in semi-gloss (HGSW1481) for the baseboards and cabinets. Since this church has a lot of foot traffic, we noticed the white baseboards on the inside would look dingy and dirty real quick. Painting the baseboards a darker color hides a lot more of the wear and tear.

For the counter area we did a few simple things to take it up a notch. We painted the cabinets, which thankfully went perfect with the main counter tops so there was no need to replace them, but we did paint the back counter tops with special paint just for that since they were red. Someone had some of this paint they never used and it ended up being a great match to the overall color scheme. FIY, the special counter top paint stinks horribly! So if you ever do this, be prepared for that. We had the walls covered in this wood that was actually old shelving from in the back of the church. I gave it a good sanding to get rid of a lot of the scuff marks and then gave it a coat of polycrylic to protect it from food and drink splashes. We had these lights from Lowes installed to give some more ambient light which I spray painted them black to match. They changed the name of the shop to Fifteen Fifty-One, which is the address number of the church, so I created a new logo (using a template from creative market) to update it. To get it on the wall, I used a projector to project the image, traced it with a pencil, and then painted it in.

I used premade chalkboard panels from Home Depot for the chalkboards and Nekoda Derouen framed them with wood and put them in place. We stained wood to create shelves to hold some of the supplies and I spray painted galvanized piping/flanges/caps to hold them in place (here is a great tutorial on all that).

To help with the customer flow, I made an order here sign to place above the counter. I simply stained some wood, created the letters from vinyl on my Cricut Explore, and drilled some holes to hang it with rope.

$Coffeeshop Chalkboard Menu \ Church Coffee Shop Makeover | happy together$
We also decided to make a large chalkboard menu. This was on the large side so I actually used thin wood panels that I painted with chalkboard paint. Then Nekoda put these together as well and framed them and Marybeth Anderson did the amazing chalk design. For the next little corner, I had the idea to create a more comfy and casual sitting area. Nekoda went and found these wicker shelves in church storage and added legs to create benches. He reused tops from other old benches to go on top and a lovely volunteer covered them in a drop cloth for us. The tables were old stools that he cut down and added new tops and painted. I found the metal stools at Hobby Lobby and helped make a bunch of the pillows to go with it. I also added some metal magazine holders so people can have something to look at when they are sitting here.

The “gather” word was another word that I projected on the wall, traced, and painted. Such an easy project with a big impact! Beside that area is what I call the “testimony wall.” I wanted a place where we could share pictures, stories, and encouraging quotes/verses. I was inspired by a board idea I found on pinterest. The words “tell”, “story”, and on the word bubble, were all made from vinyl. I found the wood “your” letters from Target and painted the sides of them, and then Nekoda made those word bubbles for me. I filled in the boards with all kinds of things, but many of the printables I used were from this site.

$Testimony Wall \ Church Coffee Shop Makeover | happy together$
The other side of the coffee shop needed a little love too, so Clark designed these and we had engineer prints made and framed them.

For a few final touches, Nekoda made this barn door to replace the old one and an awesome trashcan cover.

$Barn Door \ Church Coffee Shop Makeover | happy together$ $DIY Trash Can Cover \Church Coffee Shop Makeover | happy together$
All the tables used were also old tables found in the church and made over or made from scratch by Nekoda and the beautiful new flooring was installed by awesome volunteers. I still can’t believe it’s all done, but it is and functions perfectly for what we need right now. I’m currently working on the parent’s room now and can’t wait to share that. I installed my first ever board and batten wall there! Now I’m going to do one in my own home haha. Oh, and if you follow me on instagram you saw that there will be a new {free!} girls dress pattern releasing soon, so be on the lookout for that soon.

-jess

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Fabric Label DIY

July 26, 2016 by Jessica 27 Comments

I have been sewing up some kids clothing lately and needed some more labels to sew in them. I decided it was time for me to go ahead and share this process with you as I have had such great success with it over the years. There are a few methods I have tried, but this is my favorite fabric label diy hands down and they have lasted for everything I have made so far (through multiple washings!).

What you need:

Tightly woven light colored fabric (ex: quilting cotton; and I do nothing to fabric to prep it except iron it)
Scissors
Piece of paper that fits your printer
Printer (I use an HP Deskjet F4280 and use the HP ink for it; I cannot speak for other printers/inks, but if you can please share your results in the comments)
Freezer paper (found in the section with aluminum foil/saran wrap/etc)
Iron
Design to print (I made a simple page of labels in Word, but you can create yours however you like)

Start by ironing your fabric to get any wrinkles out. Then take the piece of paper and use that to cut out the same size from the freezer paper.

Place the freezer paper on top of the fabric, shiny side down. Make sure to turn iron to “no steam” and iron the freezer paper to the fabric.

Cut around the freezer paper and iron edges one more time to make sure the fabric and freezer paper is connected well.

Place it in your printer with the fabric side facing down (or other way if your printer prints differently). I usually put a regular piece of paper on top as I’m putting it in place just to make sure it goes in where it needs to. Then I take the paper out so only the fabric/freezer paper combo is there. When you go to print labels, make sure to choose the best ink option so it takes its time to print. Now, I have had the printer not catch the fabric properly and it got jammed, but it doesn’t happen often. Just watch and if it seems like it’s starting to not catch properly hit the cancel button on your printer and pull it out. I can’t speak for all printers, but I rarely have problems with this method. Just give it a try and see if it might work for you.

Tip: Be mindful of the colors you are choosing to print with. I have only used darker colors as I feel confident they will show up well.

Once printed, you can cut your labels out. But if it’s your first time trying this, I suggest putting the fabric in the wash after the first print so you can see how the ink holds up. Mine always has held up wonderfully well so I hope yours does too! Besides that, I leave them attached to the freezer paper until it comes time to use them as it keeps them nice and crisp and it’s easy to store them. Below is an example of them sewn in (and you can get the free skirted sweatshirt pattern here as well). -jess