cute trim

One nice thing (or maybe an unfortunately deceptive thing) about keeping a blog is one can carefully edit one's life, and only post the bits and pieces that one wants on public display.  If I were to categorize my little blog here, I'd put it in the happier/craftier-than-thou division of the great and spacious bloggernacle of Mormon Mommy Blogs.  So rather than report that we've had a rather ho-hum week with nothing much to write home about, I'm going to perpetuate the illusion of infinitely inexhaustible creativity and productivity and post about a little something I did over a year ago.

My brother's wedding was coming up and it was time to decorate the nieces and nephews to match the wedding color scheme.  We made dreamy blue skirts with ribbon waistbands for all the little girls.  Then each mom was to get a white shirt to go under it.  You all know that I can't leave well enough alone, so we had to fancy up S's white shirt.  Here's what it looked like.

Here's how I did it.  I took a white grosgrain ribbon and started pinning it around the neck of the shirt with this kind of spacing and pleating pattern.  I only did it 3/4 of the way around because I wanted to make sure there was still a little stretch in the neck so she could pull it on properly.

Then I machine stitched around the center line of the ribbon.

Then I got out needle and thread.  Starting from the inside of the shirt, I pushed the needle up under the ribbon, just above the machine stitching where 2 pleats met and pulled the thread all the way through.

Then I apparently had a manicure and made a little running stitch down the center of the pleat in front of where the needle came through...(hoping the picture is worth a thousand of my clumsy words.)

Next that little running stitch gets cinched up and whip stitched a couple of times and voila! you've got a little bow shape.

Keep doing that all along the ribbon and you have a row of cute little bows.

Good enough?  Probably, unless you want to add sparkly beads like we did and they just got whip stitched on over the center of some of the bows.  Easy peasy.

Add one darling girl and her adoring brother . . . .

add a dozen more charming cousins. . .

BLISS!