heart and habit

Styled To Last / 4

3 things my kids wear quite a lot, but can be difficult to find in stores. I’ve had many questions about; braces, knee-high socks and brother jeans (I call ‘boyfriend jeans’ brother jeans when they are for my little girl) I thought I’d share my tips on how to find and get the most wear out of them.

I love the braces that come with some little boys jeans, and was bummed every time King would grow out of a pair. Sewing 6 buttons on other pants he owns extends the life of the super cute braces. We buy trousers/jeans with braces from H&M, Zara and I have seen one pair at The Gap (a few months back).

I searched and searched for little girls or baby knee high socks and found nothing. So instead I bought Harlow socks a few sizes too large, and it worked like a charm! After a few months they fit like regular socks, huge bang for my buck! I buy most of Harlows socks from H&M.

Brother Jeans just sounds so much better when talking about the ‘boyfriend jean’ style for littles. Harlow is a skinny little thing, so most of the ‘skinny jeans’ I buy her that should fit, actually fit like loose brother jeans OR she wears a pair of her bro’s old jeans. Both ways ensure items we already own get double the wear/use. The best brother to skinny jeans I’ve bought have come from H&M.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Styled To Last | Boys Plaid Shirt

I know most (if not all) mom’s with boys use these styling tricks when your little guys shirts start getting a bit small..but just in case! We like to extend the life of clothes as much as we can, also I only buy items I love (I cannot stress that enough, only buy things you LOVE) so I have an extra hard time parting with them (lets face it it only makes us moms sad when our kids grow out of clothes).

The little boys shirt as a shirt dress, makes the best little dress. Add a belt to make it a bit more feminine (Harlow specially asked for a “pretty” on her waist, my girl knows!) and like I did a little slip/under dress (this also helps to add a bit of length if the shirt isn’t ‘dress length’).

*If your little girl doesn’t have an older brother to hand-her-down shirts, have a look in the little boys section for a cute top to style into a dress! This would be a great way for an older sister to have items to pass on to a little brother too!

A Boys Shirt as a Little Shirt Dress works better when the shirt is a bit slimmer fitting, The Best Stores for Slimmer Fitting Boys Shirts are:

Gap Kids : Love this short sleeve gingham.
77Kids : This checked plaid shirt even has a bit of pink in it.
Zara : This colorful plaid shirt I used in this post would be great with all the wonderful colors.
Crewcuts : Love the color of this flannel shirt.
Little Vida : This Stella McCartney and Scotch Shrunk shirt would be adorable!

Filed Under: DIY AND TUTORIALS

DIY | Printed Glasses Tee

I used to print or hand paint t-shirts all the time! My husband has a whole shelf of t-shirts I made for him (some really embarrassingly funny), Kingston has a bunch of onesies I printed when he was still in the womb, and some family and friends have a few. It’s been way too long since I have made any tees (last one was for King, when he was still in my belly), so I decided to get back to hand printing some tees (I really love doing this). I thought maybe some of you might be interested in making one too, so here’s a quick little DIY with a download for the stencil.

I did a Freezer Paper stencil tutorial a couple months back (and so have about a ca-gillion other blogs), it’s a , if you have never done printing with freezer paper: follow these steps to learn how. Otherwise onward to print a cute little tee!

T-Shirt (I used an Old Navy Pocket Tee). But you could use any plain tee, maybe place the glasses so they look like they are hanging over the collar if there is no pocket.
Paintbrushes. I like to use a round stencil brush for the main stencil, a 1/2″ flat brush for larger areas, and a tiny little paintbrush for finishing details (and fixing mistakes).
Fabric Paint. In what ever colors you please. I use Dylon or Pebeo, but you can also buy an Acrylic Fabric Medium (which when mixed with any acrylic paint makes it workable on fabric).
Freezer Paper. Which you can find in most large grocery stores.
Iron.
Self mending mat for cutting. (or an old magazine).
Exact-o Knife. For cutting out the stencil. not pictured
Ruler or Rulers. Metal cork back ruler (which is great for cutting), a one to measure the surface our going to print on.
Magazine. This is to put between fabric layers when printing (to prevent bleeding). You can use the same magazine you used for cutting.

Download the glasses image below (I made an adult size and child). Print out the image and trace onto a piece of freezer paper (the dull side is the right side up). Using your exacto knife (over a self mending mat to protect your table), cut out all the pieces. I cut the glasses arms separate, but you don’t have too.

Place your stencil (iron it in place), I did the glasses arms first and added a tiny tiny bit of white to the black paint (so it would look less prominent as if it was in the background.

If you printed like I did, glasses arms separate. Wait for the paint to dry. Then place the other half of the stencil, don’t forget the inside of the glasses!

Paint inside the stencil, I like to use a round stipple brush.Wait for the paint to dry a bit before peeling back the stencil.

Once the paint is totally dry, either hand paint the little diamond in the corner of the glasses, or place the glasses cut out as the stencil. If you like you could paint the inside of the glasses here, making them look like sunglasses (maybe use a thin layer of a charcoal grey). And yes, I know I could use a manicure!:)

Let dry, and iron so the paint sets.

And voila! Super cute one-of-a-kind little tee, great for a little girl or boy…or mom and dad!

King LOVES his new tee!

DOWNLOADS (for personal use only, please): Kids sized glasses . Adult sized glasses. (click the links below then right click>save as on the image)

What do you think of this tutorial? If you dig it, I will share my stencils for tee printing more often!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Styled To Last | Skater Dress

One of my favorite items that Harlow owns is this simple Mustard skater dress from American Apparel. Not only because I love the color and the style, but the crazy versatility and length of use (so far 3 seasons of wear) are what make it one of my faves!

Here are a few of my tips, and ways I have styled this simple Skater Dress to last! I bought Harlow this dress when she was 8 months old, she’s now 20 months and still wearing it all the time! I expect we will get at least another full spring and summers worth of wear, and maybe (if lucky) a bit of next fall and winter. I might go and grab one of the other colors (since it comes in others and even more for toddlers), since it’s been such a bargain, and a great wardrobe add on.

A couple other great dresses that would be great to use these same styling tips with and to get that extended wear:

Most little dresses can be worn way past their dress length, and worn as a tunic or top…some of them just work better then others.

Filed Under: DIY AND TUTORIALS

DIY patches for well-loved shoes

Harlow has these shoes, shoes that I really love. But they have seen better days, the toddler wear and tear has left them looking..pretty rough. I am not quite ready to let them go without a fight, so I thought I’d patch the well worn parts. This is what I did (this would be great for your own well loved shoes too!

Shoes (they don’t have to be worn, this would be great to do to any shoe)
Scrap fabric (for your drape/pattern trace) *for best results; use fabric that is very close in quality to your final fabric.
Final Fabric ( I used suede, durable and very easy to work with ). *I recommend leather since you are creating patches and leather does not fray, and conforms easy to shape.
Scissors
Pen/Pencil
Small pain brush
Glue. Plain white glue or carpenters glue work best. (pretty much exactly the same thing)

Lay your scrap piece of fabric (drape) over the place you want to patch. hold in place and begin drawing the base line (along the sole)

Roughly draw the shape you want to patch to be. Just lightly get the shape how you would like. Do this for all places you want to place patches.

Take the scrap fabric with your traced shapes and clean up your traced lines. Make everything smooth and even.

Ideally you would want to transfer your traced patch to paper and create a proper pattern. But your probably only going to use these pieces for this one pair of shoes, so just lay it directly over your final fabric (double layer if you want this piece to be on both shoes). Annnd Cut.

Prep your cut patches for glue. I just laid mine on a larger piece of the scrap fabric.

Glue. Put a small bit of glue in the center and use your brush to spread it evenly. Not too much as you don’t want to glue pouring out from behind the patch.

Place patch on shoe, I started with the base edge (sole edge), and used my nail to make sure it was close and tight to that seam, then the rest. I waited for each piece to dry completely they pulled at all the edges gently, any spot that lifted off I gave another dab of glue.

And that’s it! Basically a brand spanking new pair of shoes, and I think they are even cuter now!

I want to try this with Kingston and Chris’ worn Tom’s, since those always get really worn at the toes. I’m sure it will be alot trickier since they have those two folds at the toe, trickier but not impossible.

I think Harlow might only get a few more wears out of these, since they are so close to being too small. But that’s ok, still totally worth it!

NOTE: This is only a temporary fix, but if the patch ever starts to peel…a quick dab of glue will do the trick! On a pair of adult shoes (since it will be easier to do on a bigger pair of shoes), you could do a little hand-stitch after the patch is glued in place.

I bought these shoes at Zara back in spring.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Styled to Last | kids skinny jeans

From time to time I get a few comments about; how big my kids’ wardrobe must be or how I must spend alot on their clothes. To be honest their little wardrobes are pretty small, and I probably don’t spend much more the the regular mom on their little clothes. We don’t really shop at any expensive stores or buy expensive brands, even though I would LOVE too! Boy would I love too!

I have a budget that I try my best to stick to, I wait until they need things (grown out of clothes, change of seasons or worn out with love) and then I buy. Writing this blog has helped me window shop enough, so when my kids need an item I usually already know where I want to get it or where a sale is.

A few things that I do that help keep me from buying every adorable item I see:

Only buy things that I LOVE, and might wear myself or dress my husband in (but with a little more childlike fun and whimsy).
It must have alot of versatility (if it’s a dress that will only be worn once, most likely I won’t be buying).
Try to shop around deals and sales (buy whatever winter clothes you can at the end of the season even if it’s just mitts and a hat). An buy ahead if you can, if there is a great sale somewhere but they don’t have your kids current size, buy ahead (if their growth has slowed enough where you can predict).
Only buy what you need (they are gonna grow out of stuff fast enough that you can shop again soon). I also have to say we have alot of really great gift givers, and stylish hand-me downers which has been amazing.
If I fall in love with something that maybe costs more then I would usually spend, I find ways to style it to last (because let’s be honest as budget friendly as I try to be, I have my weak moments).

I thought it would be fun to share a few of my own personal tips about how I style items the kids own. Ways I style to get the most wear out of a clothing item I love (usually I just love it so much it always happens to find it’s way into several outfits) and get the last few wears as the kids grow out of it. I’m sure alot of you already do some of the things I might share, which means I’m not alone in extending the life out of little clothes. Maybe my tips might help some of you to pull out those packed away, much loved clothes you thought your kids had grown out of, or you mom’s to be hold onto those little clothes even longer.

My first ever Styled to Last post is about how I style our favorite kids’ skinny jeans to get those last few wears out of them… skinny jeans photo

Of course there are a ton of other things you can do, like chop them into cute cut-off shorts for summer, or other sewing friendly projects. I personally try to only, sew or create cut-offs out of pants when they have been worn out with love (knee holes from playing usually). Also these tips really only work if, your little one is growing out of the pants in length, if it’s in width there is not much you can do to extend their life (it’s not too comfy to wear pants that are too tight).

By far my most favorite skinny jeans for kids:

for little boys are from H&M $12-$17 usually, they fit great and the denim is thick and durable.
for little girls it’s GapKids, just keep an eye on the sales rack or the online sales and then they are EVEN better! I add in ‘fashion’ jeans from other places as well (little vida is having a sale right now)..when the price is right and I totally fall in love. I’m also dieing to try the skinny jeans from Mini Mioche.

I have a few more of these posts I’m working on and they will probably pop in now and again. Is there anything specific you have seen my kids wear that you are curious about how we style it? Or something you would like to see styled a bunch of ways?

PS. I forgot to add, I do love to buy vintage for the kids’ whenever I can also (but thrifting in Toronto, is bad!). So 3 ring circus, Salvage House, Liddle, Kyssa, and Kid Wonder are a few of the places I keep my eye on for great kids vintage.

Heart and Habit

Styled To Last / 4

Styled To Last | Boys Plaid Shirt

DIY | Printed Glasses Tee

Styled To Last | Skater Dress

DIY patches for well-loved shoes

Styled to Last | kids skinny jeans

DAMN, THESE POSTS ARE GOOD!

CULTIVATING YOUR
SIMPLE, STYLISH AND
CONTENT EVERY DAY.

DAMN, THESE POSTS ARE GOOD!

CULTIVATING YOUR SIMPLE, STYLISH AND CONTENT EVERY DAY.

CULTIVATING YOUR
SIMPLE, STYLISH AND
CONTENT EVERY DAY.