This is a common question asked by people sewing gifts for others. Even WITH a childs measurements a lot of the ‘Big 3′ or ‘Big 4′ like Simplicity, McCalls & Butterick that you can purchase in stores the sizing is just way off. I personally have found that the sizing to measurements on European patterns seem to fit much better. But there are lots of great cute ‘Big 3′ patterns so here is the best way to decide on a size for the special little child!
First off find out what they RTW size is (in store size) Then either hit up a garage sale, local thrift store or your local freecycle for a shirt (non-stretchy) a pair of pants & a dress (for girls) to use as a measuring device!!!
Lay the choosen item on the pattern piece you are trying to determine the size for… you want it to have about 5/8″ (or what ever the seam allowance is) on each side… make the size that best fits that! Remember if they have an elastic waist to stretch it out. You will find that the patterns tend to most commonly run wide… so if you have skinny kiddos you may need to size down, in that case just add some length to the pattern piece!
Hope this helps answer some of those questions.
July 12, 2008
And the best part… they are already having a 25% off sale too on all their Christmas fabric with no coupon necessary. This means that you can go fill up a shopping cart of great fabrics on sale THEN use coupon code SIMPLICTY at check out for an additional 20% off your order! Do it fast as the sale ends 7/21 & I don’t know when the 20% off coupon will expire. www.fabric.com
Added bonus…. are you an Ebates member yet? If so go through your ebates account & get 5% cash back on your next bonus check! For more details about ebates you can check out my blog post here.
July 11, 2008
Well its been a while since I posted about this, but I have had a LOT more blog traffic since! I got an email today from ebates letting me know that instead of the normal $5 for siging up that if I refer people this month they will get $10! I love to shop, but I love to save money even more. Last fall some of my online mommy friends told me about ebates… I have since fallen in love! It is totally free & a must have if you shop online! In 9 months I have received $138.43 cash back! And you don’t have to wait forever for your rewards, they send out the check once every 3 months & you can get it put directly into your paypal account or have a check mailed to you which normally arrives with in just a few days!
How does it work you ask? Well its a rewards system for shopping online! If you shop online you should check out ebates, its FREE to use, no strings attached!!! It is a program that is free to sign up for. When ever you want to shop online go to their site & click on the stores link… then shop as usual. After submitting your order it takes 2-3 days, but ebates will give you CASH back into your account. Then every 3 months they send out Big Fat Checks, & you can even get them put directly into your paypal account or a check in the mail.
They have over 800 online stores that offer cash back… any where from 1%-25%. Most popular sites like Old Navy, Wal-mart, Childrens Place & Target offer 3-6%. But there are TONS more including sites like Expedia, NewEgg.com, Shutterfly, Apple iTunes, drugstore.com, Overstock, Home Depot & much, much more! For all those craft lovers they also have 5% cash back on fabric.com as well as tons of arts & crafts sites!
If you are going to be shopping online anyways you might as well be getting free money right? There are NO strings attached to this. The best part… you get $5 just for signing up! Plus for the holidays you get another $5 if you make your first purchase with-in 30 days (must sign up by 8/14/08). That’s $10, no matter how much you spend. Heck it’s at least worth checking out right? To Check Out Ebates Click Here
July 11, 2008
I am always looking for ways to make my yummy favorites a little more healthy! I also like to share them with others so they can enjoy them as well. This is a yummy, easy to make no bake treat that is nearly fat free with only 3.9g of fat & 291 cals per serving and 6 points for weight watchers! It sure takes like its a lot more!
Ingredients
* Pie Crust, Graham Cracker Reduced Fat Keebler Ready Crust
* Cream Cheese, Fat Free, 8 oz brick softened
* Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk, 10 oz can
* Lemon juice, 1/3 cup
* Vanilla Extract, 1 tsp
* Lite Cherry Pie Filling or Topping, 1 cup |
Directions
Soften your cream cheese… the best way is to let it get to room temp or stick it in the microwave in 10 sec intervals til soft. You do NOT want to cook it.
In a bowl with a mixer combine your cream cheese & sweetened condensed milk on med to med/high until smooth. NOTE: with the all the fat free cream cheese it doesn’t always get perfectly smooth, thats okay, aim for creamy.
Once you got it smooth PUT THE MIXER AWAY. You must gently hand stir in the lemon juice & vanilla just until combined. If you do not hand stir it in for some unknown reason (to me at least) it will not set.
Poor you filling into your pie dish & refrigerate for 3 full hours! When your 3 hours is up ad your cup of lite cherry topping, cut into 8 slices & enjoy!
Makes 8 Slices/Servings
Easy variation: Not in the mood for cherries? You can top it with any of your favorite lite fruit toppings!
Number of Servings: 8
Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user KYMY02.
July 11, 2008
With a dress!!! lol… if you know me this probably isn’t a suprise! While blog surfing this afternoon I ran across this dress and fell in LOVE! It’s so sophisticated & yet still perfect for a little girl! It looks like something out of one of those really price catalogs or a pic out of a magazine!
Blog surfing & seeing all these great things others make inspires me to keep on sewing!
July 7, 2008
