cute as a button

I learned about this neat technique for painting fabric on one of my absolute favourite blogs and couldn't wait to try it. So out I went, in search of some freezer paper and a plain white toddler-sized t-shirt. I printed out a phrase in a font that I liked and traced it onto my freezer paper to create a stencil. Then I carefully cut out the letters and ironed the stencil onto the shirt. I chose some fun fabric paint colours and dabbed them onto the shirt.

Honestly, this was such a fun technique that I had to stop myself from freezer stenciling everything I own!! Consider this your warning that there will be many more projects like this one to come...

I made this shirt for my friend's 1 year old daughter Brooke.

Once the fabric paint dried I sewed a big blue button onto the shirt.

Earlier this week I showed you one of my books, called Handmade Beginnings, by Anna Maria Horner. It has an adorable pattern for reversible pants and I wanted to make them for Brooke to go with the shirt.

I lucked out and found some fabric with the same colours as the ones I used on the t-shirt (yes I know ...most people would have chosen the fabric first, but not me!) 

 
As usual, I aimed for super girlie. 
This is the front of one side - perfect for Valentine's Day, don't ya think?!
 

...and this is the back of the reverse side.
Aren't they fun? I love the panel on the bum!

Brooke has the most amazing big brown eyes and I just know that she can pull off such bold colours. I made the pants a touch big so that she can roll the hems and grow into them.

It's so much fun to make handmade gifts. To me, when someone takes the time to make a gift it means that much more. What's your favourite handmade gift to make?