Gladiator Sandals for Dolls

Today we have a special treat for you!  You are going to LOVE this free pattern! 

Gladiator sandals are all the rage right now, and we know how much your little ones *love* to match their dolls.  One of our fabulous testers, Jessica Lang, has put together a doll version of gladiator sandals. And they're not just cute - they're amazing! 

See what I mean?!  Simply perfect.  And the best part is that you can make them too!  Jessica is awesome and provided measurements for all three of our standard size dolls:  15", 18", and even the new 14"!  Here's Jessica:

Printable Pinning Labels

One of my FAVORITE things to do is sew a new project! (I'm sure that's no surprise; here I am on a sewing blog.) And yet, one of my *least* favorite things to do is try to figure out what in the world is going on in my sewing room after I had to abandon it for the 5,573rd time in one day.  The life of a sewing mama, right?  There's all these cute pieces of fabric lying in a pile, but how do I remember which one is which? And which one goes where?

 If you can relate to this scenario, then today's blog post is for you!  

Today we have printable pinning labels for you!  I absolutely rely on labeling my fabric pieces. It's just one less thing I need to remember. If that sounds like an extra step you don't want to worry about, please try it out and see what a time saver it really is!  

You might have caught this blog post I did awhile back, that shows how much the labels can help every step of the way. Whether it's labeling which side is the top, or the front or the back end of the sleeve -- or just helping you keep the different tiers and ruffles straight.

Or, let's say you're making three different sizes of the same outfit. You definitely don't want to sew the 2T sleeves onto the 5T dress!  If you label your pieces, you don't have to come up with a scientific way of stacking them, or waste any precious brain cells keeping it all straight. 

Beautiful Cross Hair Bow

In our patterns group we can see you're all busy at work getting those Easter outfits sewn up. They're turning out so amazing! Well, today we have a special guest here to teach us how to make the perfect accessory to complete the look.  Sheri Cata from Izzy's Bow-tique has showed us some bow tutorials here on the blog before, and this may be my favorite yet!  She's always so creative and right on time for the upcoming holidays. This project is exactly that! Here's Sheri:  

Hey everyone, I’m super happy to do another hair accessory tutorial for CKC. I like hair bows with size options so as usual I have done all the math for you guys on using 4 different sizes of ribbon. 

Oh, and I have a great tip at the end of the tutorial for you guys as well! So lets get crafting!!!

Easy Elastic Belt

Have you seen our new Martha's dress that just released?  It's a super quick sew and we love how simple and sweet it is!   It's available in sizing for babies, girls, and women's and can be worn all on its own.  

We came up with an extra look we adore for it on women too, and that's with an added elastic belt: 

Isn't that cute?!  And the good news is, you don't have to search dozens of stores to find the perfect belt -- you can make one all on your own!  

One of our testers, Brittany Kelly, already made a tutorial for an elastic belt on her blog and she has graciously offered to let us share it with you!  Here it is:

Spring Collection 2017

Did you see?!  This week we released our Spring Collection! 

Isn't it amazing?!  Each piece is a fabulous new design, put together with love for you and your littles!  

We had the pleasure of using the Boho Fusion line of fabric from Art Gallery Fabrics. The quality is superb and they all turned out gorgeous!  Thank you to Art Gallery for making this project so easy on us! 

On that note, SGarcia Photography deserves all the credit for capturing the depth of cuteness we were aiming for with this collection.  We can't wait to show you the gorgeous shots and details of each design! And that brings us to our CKC Spring Collection 2017 Lookbook!   Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:   

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What do you think?!  I honestly can't even choose a favorite in all these!  I love the variety of styles you can get from CKC patterns, even within the collection.  There's something for everyone! 

All the patterns in our collection are on sale through Sunday night.  Here's your chance to get in on all the fun Spring sewing going on around here! 

Let's Create! ~ Kristen 

DIY Haircutting Cape with Ties

Are you ready for another free project?!  Today I'm going to show you how to make a haircutting cape!  And not just any haircutting cape.  This one has enough coverage for everyone in the family, even Dad!   And all the way down to the smallest wigglers, of course. 

PLUS -- my favorite feature of this design is that it doesn't use velcro. Yes!

 I don't know about your kids, but mine despise the velcro that you usually find on storebought capes.  It pokes at their neck, it comes undone too easily, and it gets all the hair trimmings stuck in it, ICK. Aside from that looking nasty, it becomes totally unusable after awhile.  Boo on that.  

So I solved the above problems and we love this tie-back cape! 

As you can see it's PLENTY roomy!  In the past I have made my kiddos strip down to their underwear under the tiny storebought cape so we wouldn't get their clothes all hairy. But this cape totally covers all their clothes. Fabulous!  

The best fabric to use for this is PUL or laminated fabric. It is laminated on one side so the hair slips right off, but on the back side it is fabric so it's softer on the skin and won't cling to their skin. 

The neck closes with ties in back, which will make it less obnoxious and much more sturdy. Plus, you can see that the cape falls at an angle to cross in back -- no more trying to get the wiggly kids to help you hold the cape shut! 

 I should add that the cape should only be worn with adult supervision -- I assume you're not going to be leaving the kids alone with scissors and a cape to do their own haircuts... Nope?  Alright, then let's continue!