funky witch costume

I made another witch costume, but this time it's a little more fun, and less traditional.  It's for a little girl in our neighborhood, who is the same size as Rora (we'll call her Little Miss.)

(modelled by Rora)

I still used the corset-style belt from Simplicity 4139, but this time I made it a little smaller than recommended so that the lacings would be more obvious and Little Miss' mom chose green ribbon for the same reason:

The tutu is a no-sew tutu, except I didn't like the idea of the waistband being stapled, so I sewed it.  I guess it's more of a "minimal sewing" tutu.  (If you don't know how to make one of these, just Google "no sew tutu" and you should end up with plenty of options.)

The cape is simple.  It's 36" wide, and the length that I wanted.  Then I gathered it into a length of extra-wide double-fold bias tape (make sure to cut it long enough to tie on either side of the gathering.)

And the true test of whether a costume/outfit/dress is a success: does it make her want to smile and twirl?

The hat Rora is wearing is the same hat from last year's witch costume.  Little Miss already has a hat, so there was no need to make her one.

tutu (butterick 5545)

Today I got the opportunity to accompany my little niece to her parent/child dance class, since my brother-in-law was unable to take her.  What a fun time we had!  E and Rora were born 6 days apart, and have been good little friends all their lives, so it was super fun to get to do this dance class with them!  (Since E is not mine, I've decided not to post pictures of her here, but you'll have to trust me that the two of them together were simply adorable.)

While at dance class, it occurred to me that I made Rora's tutu more than a year ago, but hadn't posted it here.

I made her tutu from Butterick #5545.

The directions were simple and clear, however it can get a little hairy when you're putting on the 6th layer of gathered tulle. 

Have I mentioned before that I hate gathering? 

I usually love the look it creates enough to power through, but I hate it!

I like how it ties in the back, which means it will last a little longer as she grows:

Just so you have pictures of all angles, here is what the tutu looks like upside-down!

See?  I told you we had fun!

Dance class doesn't get any more fun than tutu's and hanging on the barre pretending to be a monkey!

rope bracelet

Okay, so this didn't take a lot of time, and it's not even my design, but I promised to show you what I've been working on.

The truth is that I've been working on camping, an amusement park with family, and all the other awful regular things that a long weekend creates: dishes, laundry, and the like. But, I did manage to squeeze in this tiny little project:

It's a rope bracelet designed by the georgeous Heidi at Sew.Craft.Create (tutorial found here.)

This one is cotton, and I'm thinking I also want to try it in a stretch knit . . . maybe an old t-shirt?

I also want to give this knit bracelet a go from V & Co.

I'll be back soon!!

crib sheets

My husband's cousin had a baby shower this past weekend, and I found myself wanting to make something different than what I normally make (ie: burp cloths, blankets) since I knew my mother- and sister-in-law, as well as several aunts are quite adept at making those cute crochet-edged blankets and burp cloths.

So, I got to thinking about why it's nice to have all those blankets and burp cloths.  Naturally, it's because babies, while sweet and adorable, are also sometimes little packages of poop and puke just waiting to leak or, heaven forbid, explode.

The worst possible times for this to happen are in the middle of the night.  Imagine entering your child's room in the middle of the night to realize he has spit up or blown out sometime in the 3 hours since you saw each other last.  You find yourself staggering around in the dark, eyes half open, brain completely off from the countless nights without sleep, trying to clean up after your infant and his lack of control over bodily functions, only to reach into the drawer where his sheets are kept to realize that he did this exact same thing earlier in the day, and you haven't gotten to that mountain of laundry, yet.

*sigh*

So, what do you do?

Strip down the bed and lay down a blanket big enough to tuck in on the sides so as not to be a smothering hazard and vow to buy more sheets in the morning.

The next morning, when at least half of your brain is firing again, you wash a load of laundry containing both sheets, and then suddenly the need for more crib sheets is pushed right out the back of your brain until the next time you need more than one sheet in a day.

Having experienced this predicament more times than I care to admit, I wanted to provide the new mommy with a head start.  I made her 3 crib sheets out of varying fabrics so she can decide what she likes.  Hopefully these, coupled with the sheet that comes with her crib set will give her enough sheets to keep ahead of the disastrous projectiles coming out of her sweet little angel.

I winged the pattern all on my own, but if you're interested in making your own crib sheets, I recommend using Dana's crib sheets tutorial.  It's detailed, fun, and like all her tutorials, full of great, easy-to-follow pictures.

The only things I changed were that the sides to my crib sheets were 6 inches, rather than 8.  Also, instead of creating a casing around the bottom edge, I simply serged around and then attached the elastic directly to the serge using a triple step zig-zag stitch, stretching the elastic as I went.

I used flannel:

cotton:

and super-soft Minky fabric:  (this is what I would want to sleep on, if I were a baby)

So, the next time you're making something for a baby shower, don't forget to include a crib sheet or two!

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make-your-own-costume kid craft

Today is trouble-maker #2's birthday.  He's 6, and he decided he wanted to have a costume party.

So we sent out the invites:

When each kid got there, besides the traditional party games, present opening, and cake & ice cream, we had a craft set up (the brain work behind which was mostly my husband's.)

We told each of the kids they could use whatever they wanted from the table to make themselves a *new* costume, and at the end of the time limit, Xavier, the birthday boy, picked the winner.  (He, of course, went the political route and declared them all the winners.)  :)

The items on the craft table included a 10" x 90" strip of fabric for each child, paper plates, regular printer paper, card stock paper, neon pipe cleaners, foam star stickers, yarn, ribbon, penne pasta, crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue, tape, hole punch, stapler, and scissors.







Here is what they came up with:  (sorry about the stars over some of their faces, but not all these little sweeties are mine, so you understand.)

A starry-eyed cowboy.

This little guy made a myriad of accessories, including a gun and a map.

A shield and a whip.

This is an owl with wings.

A necklace with "princess wings."

Even my husband got in on the fun with his goofy ears and funky nose.

the birthday boy!!

In my unbiased opinion, I think Xavier's was the best of them all!  Happy Birthday, buddy!

car seat re-cover

This little project was started before Graham was born, but got interrupted by his birth and didn't get finished until yesterday.

The carrier car seat we own had an awful plaid, lumberjack-ish pad with almost no padding.  So, before Graham came, I decided to redo the padding and sun visor in a gender-neutral, but much cuter fabric.  I got the pad done the week before Graham was born, but other things came up, and I didn't finish the sun visor right away.

Then, the weather here in Utah became extremely cold and rainy for the past two months, so it became unnecessary to finish the visor until recently.  And, while the weather here still is not sunny and warm, I refuse to believe that the wet, cold weather can last much longer.

I've gotten off topic, so without further ado, here is the car seat with new "upholstery."

Without a pattern for a car seat pad and visor, I wanted to make sure the new ones would fit, so I tore apart the old ones and used the pieces as a pattern:

Everything seemed to fit perfectly, and I was able to fix a few things about the old pad that I didn't like . . . namely that the top and bottom edge came off a lot because the elastic had been stretched out and wasn't holding the pad on very well.  Also, I used two layers of batting to make Graham's ride a little more comfortable.

Hopefully, I'll have time for more sewing over the weekend.  Have a great one!

dress to skirt refashion

A friend of mine approached me about a week ago and told me she bought a dress in the children's department and wanted me to turn it into a skirt.  Intrigued and slightly disbelieving, and agreed to take a look at it.

Turns out this thin friend of mine bought matching mother/daughter dresses: one for her five-year-old, and a size 16 for herself.  Looking at the dress, it seemed like the remake wouldn't be that hard, so I dove right in.

The dress started out with this pretty doily-like bodice, which is cute on a little person, but rather matronly on an adult waistband:

The first step was to detach the lacy overlay,

then cut the bodice even with the back (approximately 3 inches above the seam at the top of the skirt.)

I then serged around the raw edge, folded it over to meet the existing seam, pinned it in place, and sewed around, leaving a gap for the elastic.

I added elastic and sewed it shut.

Start to finish, the project took about an hour and a half and I think it tuned out beautifully!

It's nice to get back to being creative!  See you soon!

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Blue Cricket Design