Hey Little, Little for Every Little One!

These days, moms are thinking outside the box as far as parties go.  We're all looking to be unique when it comes to decorations, snacks, cupcakes, and party favors at our childrens' birthday parties.  Let's face it, with Pinterest and all those oh-so-creative mom blogs out there, our imagination runs wild with possibilities.  Speaking for myself (and many of you, I'm sure), I can get carried away with DIY projects that will leave a lasting impression on the little guests (and their parents!), and end up exhausted in the end.  So....let Hey Little, Little help you out a little - we'd love to make your party favors for you!!  With Hey Little, Little headbands and clips, your little guests with leave with something that will last.  Remember - when you buy more, you save more!  Email us for more information at info@heylittlelittle.com!  Happy planning!

Toddler Dress Part 2

Better late than never.  It has been almost two months since I first posted on making a dress for Jetta, and yes, being that she is a toddler, I had to modify the pattern as I went to accommodate her growing figure.

Here are the steps I took in creating the dress:

1) Draw out your vision.  I said I wasn't going to post this picture because it's definitely not my finest work (okay, by a long shot...for those of you who know me well, I actually do have an artistic streak, but you won't find it in this picture).  Jetta added her thoughts, too...





After drawing out my general idea, I grabbed my trusty side-kick and measured away.  This was one of her favorite parts.  She wanted me to measure her over, and over, and over, and over again.  Too cute to say "no" to (in this instance, anyway)!






2) Draw out the pattern.  I used a brown packing paper that I found in the closet - perfect for the task at hand.  I generally knew what each piece would need to look like, although I had to study up on sleeves, i.e. Google Images :)





3) Gather your supplies.  Fabric, notions (buttons, thread, elastic for button loops), tools.  As you can see, I've got my trusty seem ripper ready, because I never fail to need it.

4) Start sewing!  Right sides together, pin when necessary, stitch length of about 2.5, back stitch at the ends! I stopped here and there to try it on Jetta, just to make sure measurements were accurate before moving on.
The dress turned out so sweet - I will post a picture in the next week when she wears it!  I hope my simple little post will encourage you all to put pencil to paper, or needle to thread, or paint to canvas, or whatever creative outlet you choose, into practice!

Road Trip!

Two weeks ago, Hey Little, Little went on a road trip. The purpose of our trip was to visit new stores that we thought would be a good fit to carry our products. We headed south, and made our first stop in lovely Santa Barbara.

Hopefully soon we will be able to let you know if our hair accessories will be available in Santa Barbara. We made a quick stop for coffee and were on our way to our next stop.

We made our way a little further down the coast to The Luxe Baby in Ventura. We are proud to let you know that they now have a sampling of our products in their store.

So if you find yourself in Ventura be sure to check out The Luxe Baby, she has a lovely store, as well as a photography studio, so you can get adorable photos of your little ones taken (maybe even while wearing a Hey Little, Little headband or clip). After that, we headed further south to the Greater Los Angeles Area. We visited the adorable Naked Baby Boutique in Studio City and were excited to see how much they loved our products. They now have a selection of our products available for sale. Our final stop of the day was in Burbank at Mia and the Dragonfly.

It is a super cute shop, which now carries some of our headbands. So, be sure to check it out if you are in the area. We were so pleased with our day that we then treated ourselves to a congratulatory dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Thousand Oaks.

In my book, cheesecake is always a good way to end a day. We then finished the rainy drive back home exhausted from our busy day, but it was all worth it because we are so very excited to share our products with more stores. We really loved these shops, they all carry adorable clothing, accessories, and toys for your little ones and hope that you will go visit them if you find yourself in one of those cities. We hope our headbands and clips sell well and they continue to carry our products in their beautiful shops.

Here are the addresses of the new shops that are currently carrying a selection of Hey Little, Little products:

The Luxe Baby

1790 E Main St, Ventura, CA 93001

(805) 258-7011

Naked Baby Boutique

12334 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

(818) 760-8851

Mia and the Dragonfly

1005 N Cordova St, Burbank, CA 91505

(818) 846-1500

Be sure to let us know if you have a favorite shop that you would love to see carrying Hey Little, Little products!

Toddler Dress Designing Made Easy!

"Write about what you know."  That's what my husband said, so that is what I shall do.  I know about sewing.  Not knitting, not painting, not cooking an incredibly fancy meal.  It's been many years since I have made my own design and pattern, so I thought I'd embark on making my nearly 2-year-old daughter a dress from scratch (i.e. without a store-bought pattern).  And the plan is for it to turn out a detailed and somewhat fitted dress that will look nothing like a basic rectangular moo moo (because I know from experience, that takes no pattern at all ha!).

Joe graciously watched Jetta while I went to the fabric store so that I could take my time wallowing in bliss.  I could spend all day looking at fabric and notions.  I know.  I'm a sewing nerd, and many of you are probably with me on that. Anyway, once I was there [distraction free], I had so many ideas running through my head.  It's easy to get ahead of yourself when looking at so many fabrics!!

Instead of carrying around "potentials" and then forgetting where they go if I need to put them back, I discreetly pull them out a few inches and continue to walk around.  And this goes on for a while...

So this is what I ended up with.  Prior to going to the fabric store, I had a sketch of what I wanted to make.  I'd post the sketch, but then you might mistake me for an eight-year-old.  It's very rudimentary, but it gets the job done, so we'll just say the end product will be a surprise to you all!

It's been many years since I made my own pattern, and I am far from an expert in that area.  I'm about as novice as you can get because I've mostly relied on pre-made patterns to make clothing.  They have whole classes devoted to pattern-making, of which I have never taken.  But I've got this....I hope.  

So with sketch in hand, I measured Jetta to ensure a good fit (although I added an inch all over so that she could continue to wear it for the next 6 months...I hope).   Surprisingly, she loved this.  She kept asking for "more," waiting patiently for me to measure another part of her body.  So I measured some non-essentials, too - her head, her little inseam, her foot, etc.  I studied some of her clothes to see how they fit together (i.e. the hardest part for me in making this pattern - sleeves).  So as I drew out and cut the pattern, I held it up to Jetta to make sure I had the shape and size right, and modified as needed.  And this is where I'm at right now.  In my next post, I will show you the final pattern and steps I take to make this sweet little dress.

Please feel free to comment about something you've made or plan to make!