Thursday, July 25, 2013

Fidget Apron #1

Yay! I finally finished my first Fidget Apron for the Hopeful Threads July Project!



It honestly didn't take me long to make as it's a quick and easy sew, but I kept getting distracted by the items  I was adding to "fidget" with! I kept thinking of new things to add. And I wanted to make the best use of the goodies I won in a recent Hopeful Threads giveaway, between the two aprons I am sewing up for donation.

Apron #1 was supposed to be modeled by my handsome husband, but with his current work schedule and my absent-mindedness...well...let's just say it didn't happen as planned.

So I had to BEG our big boy to model this apron for me, and he was MORTIFIED to be seen in an apron (ha ha!), so I had to promise his face wouldn't be in any shot - hence the headless model! He's also super slim, so I actually had to tie the apron around his body and arms to make all the fidget items show! LOL!


I turned the lace from Kristy into a flower and added a big button in the center. A cute owl iron on design will be smiling at the wearer as they look down at the apron. The purple shaggy strip is another item from Kristy and the perfect strip to add a few hanging items on ribbons, like buttons, beads, a stretchy band, and spring.

I had a big open space under the spring that I wasn't sure how to fill, until I spied a little pile of buttons! I made a very light outline of a heart with my washable fabric marker, and then proceeded to sew on buttons into that heart shape. I knotted the thread at the back after each button to help secure them for the many wash cycles they will most likely endure.

The beads and spring are on split rings (like for keyrings) and can easy be removed by those in charge of washing these aprons. I also made good use of my poly snaps and made up a little snap-strap. That strap can either be used to keep fingers busy, or to attach extra items onto the apron if the person can't easily unsnap them.
I also had fun using my prepped hexies to make a cute flower to look at, and I used the loop strip of a diapering brand of hook and loop tape as the stem.
The fluffy white strip and the blue bobbles below were both 1/4 yard impulse purchases at Joann for the apron, and I am so glad I grabbed them when I did. The white strip is so comforting and soft to touch, as are the bobbles.

I made a silly mistake when I started sewing up the pocket, and it ended working out fabulously! I sewed the backing piece to the bottom of the zipper instead of the slightly smaller bottom piece, which means I now had nothing to back the pocket with! I looked at the fabrics I had sitting on my cutting table and saw this pretty tulip print I've had for ages. And one *lightbulb* moment later, my pocket now has a fabulous contrasting inner that will be great to peek in and see!

I'll be starting on the other apron today using the panel and the rest of the wonderful goodies I won! Stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

KCW Day 4,5,& 6: The Lazy Susan!

Day 4 of KCW was really a bit of a bust. I was so tired and busy that I didn't do anything more than sew the dress's flutter sleeves right sides together. Yes, 2 lines of sewing ... that's all I did!

Day 5 was a much better day! I sewed up almost the entire dress, except for the buttons / buttonholes (because I didn't buy them beforehand, silly me) and therefore I couldn't attach the skirt to the bodice.

Day 6: My sweet husband dropped me off at Joann with only the little guy, which means I could take my time finding the buttons, thread and anything else that caught my fancy. And back home I finished up the dress in no time at all while hubby and the big kids went to watch Despicable Me in 3D! I was slightly jealous but I haven't had quiet sewing time in ages, and besides 3D makes my eyes hurt. So I wasn't too heart broken staying behind while Little Man napped. ;)

Without further ado: The Lazy Susan!



What's you secret to make the kids smile and behave for photos? Today it was promising her that she could make silly faces afterwards, and a few really weird sounds to keep her giggling!



Have a wonderful day!


Sunday, July 21, 2013

KCW Day 3: 6 Boxer Briefs and 2 Tanks DONE!

This post is a bit delayed, whoops!

I spent quite a bit of time on Wednesday (KCW Day 3) finishing up the majority of what I had planned for the week. I'm glad I didn't plan more because on Day 4 I hardly managed to get any sewing done at all!

First up are 2 matching PJ sets for Little Man. Both were sewn using the fabulous and free The Tank pattern, as well as the fabulous Undercover Bottoms Boxer Briefs pattern that we love so much!

Set #1: Ooga Booga





Set #2: Dinosaurs


The poor dear has hit the terrible twos with a vengeance, and his days as a sweet and willing model appear to be over. And by this point he was DONE with me chasing him for photos! Ha ha!


Don't you just want to hug and love on his pitiful little self? Yeah well, don't believe for one second he would let me, he was so very upset with me for taking photos of him against his commands to stop!


And then we have 4 (I ran out of elastic and "approved" fabric) Undercover Bottoms Boxer Briefs for Jbug. He says he loves these and wears his mama made undies more than his store bought ones. Isn't that awesome?! :)

I think these are his favorites...I don't blame him. Those are some pretty snazzy cars!

And of course, no project of ours would be complete without coordinating woven labels! JBug was happy to choose the ones to match his undies, and his absolute favorite is the one on the pirate boxer briefs. That one says "Handmade to cover me booty."
And you can only imagine the almost never ending giggles that spilled out of the kids as I read that tag aloud!


Seeing as Day 4 was basically a bust, the KCW Day 5 and 6 post will be up soon!



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

KCW Day 2: The Assembly Line Chugs On

I do so love assembly line sewing, but the sad thing is that you don't have show off photos quite as quickly as when you're just sewing one item from start to finish.

Oh well! By the end of today I'll have a bounty of boxer briefs to show off, and a happy big boy who can finally remove the "I-don't-know-how-he-still-gets-them-on" sized boxer briefs from his drawer! ;)

A few photos from yesterday:

The assembly line of boxer briefs are finally all to this point in the process. Yippee! Just the leg and waistbands are left to be done!


Missy entertaining herself by using my canning funnel as a camera!


And back to the sewing machines I go...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

KCW Day 1: Sneak peeks!

Sadly I never even got to fire up my machines yesterday, but I did spend a couple house cutting out the rest of the pieces for 5 pairs of Undercover Bottoms Boxer Briefs for Jbug, and one The Lazy Susan dress for Missy. On top of that I also cut out 2 pairs of the same boxer briefs and 2 matching The Tanks for our Little Man, to supplement his summer jammie selection!

A  few photos from yesterday:

We had an accidental head-on collision


6 pints of strawberry-blueberry jam (+ 2 little 8oz containers into the fridge...seriously, when will I learn to prep an extra jar every time?!) was canned. It's delicious by the way!


A peek at the Lazy Susan I eeked out of an almost-yard remnant I found at Joann - the fabric I'm using for the contrasting hem,lining, and flutter sleeves will remain a mystery to you for a little longer. It is one I have been eyeing for a while and finally had a reason to buy it - so exciting!


And the pile of Undercover Bottoms Boxer Briefs that awaits me this morning! (bottom 5 are size 14, top are size 4 undies and size 2T The Tanks...I upsized Little Man's undies to fit over a diaper at night as they'll be worn as jammie bottoms.)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Pretty Petals and Hooting Owls

Has anyone noticed how short little girl shorts have become lately? We're working on phasing those shorty shorts out of our closets. Now our family isn't as modest as some, and we're slightly more modest than others. Which means there is a good chance that someone reading this is either going to feel like we should make her clothes longer, or feel like we should be putting her in a bikini to beat the Texas summer heat! But that's not the point of this post. Really, it isn't! So let's step away from that and get back to business.

The point of the post is to showcase two patterns I love! 

And this cute little gal:

The Summer Sailors by Brownie Goose are long enough for her to do just about any display of acrobatics in public that she deems necessary at that moment in time, without showcasing too much. They are utterly adorable, super comfortable, and easy for her to pull up and down. I also love that while they fit perfectly, they are also sneakily hiding plenty of growing room without there being any hint of bagginess!


The faux pockets may confuse littles for the first few minutes, so grab some popcorn while they're getting dressed and be careful while you're chewing ... you're going to be giggling quite a bit! ;)

I personally love the faux pockets (though there is a tutorial for transforming them into real pockets instead). They're so quick and easy and they give the look of a step I just don't always have the time to do!


The Practically Perfect Tee pattern from Muse of the Morning, is one of my very favorites that I have owned since Missy was about 2 years old! It always fits her beautifully but I've only ever done the regular short sleeve with it. This time I went all out and did the super adorable puff sleeve. I am so glad I did. The tee came out perfectly and she absolutely loves her puffy sleeves!


Even from the back this set oozes girly cuteness! 





The Carnival Skort and Shoreline Tank

Fishsticks Designs has a whole new series of patterns out: The Jersey Love Series. They are all fabulous but I knew I just HAD to sew up The Carnival Skort for Missy asap. She loves to wear skirts but she simply doesn't have...ahem...decorum (is that the word I'm looking for here?) in public, or even in the privacy of our home! So short leggings underneath all her skirts and dresses or skorts is a must!


Before my month long break I cut out a couple of these Shoreline Tanks from Jocole, only I made the very silly mistake of being distracted while cutting them out, and I didn't cut them on the fold. Which means instead of a solid piece for the front and another for the back, I ended up with two pieces for each! Oops!


I just seamed the back of the tank together because Missy has only recently moved into a 5T, and I knew that the seam wouldn't take away all the wiggle room in the width. For the front I didn't want a plain seam distracting from the look of the outfit. Thanks to a few suggestions from my sweet friends I cut a length of the same fabric as her skorts (almost double the length of the front, from neckline to hem), gathered it, and stitched it down the center between the two sides I'd cut for the front. I hemmed and then applied the FOE for binding and straps as per the directions. 

Don't like or don't have FOE? Jodi (Jocole) includes several options for the straps and binding. I'm willing to bet you'll find one in her directions that works perfectly for you!


The Carnival Skort requires no hemming and so it goes together really quickly! I opted to serge the skirt panels together with seams hidden, and the leggings underneath are the same solid brown stretch jersey as the waistband. They fit perfectly and I can tell they are so comfortable!


She was so happy with her pretty new set that she decided some spinning around and dancing for the camera was needed to show off her delight! Can you believe how much she's grown just in the past year and a half? She's such a big girlie now.


Thanks for stopping by! Now off you go to make some Carnival Skorts for someone dear to you!




Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Preteen jammies and freshly licked walls

Yes, you read the post title correctly...but I'll get into that in a bit!

JBug has had a few more growth spurts recently (ack!) and so the poor guy only has a couple pairs of jammies left, and even those should really head to the donation box soon! I don't sew nearly as often for him, as I'm always concerned that he's not going to deem what I've made "cool enough" to wear. He's at that stage already. o_O
But he swears he still loves the things I make for him...which isn't that much sadly *rapping my own knuckles with the side of a ruler as punishment*. ;)

So we dug through the stash for a tester pair of Pajama Party PJs. With all the growth spurts he's gone through I wasn't sure which size would fit, but we managed to eek out a pair in size 10 from the robot fabric and co-ordinate that we found! They fit perfectly, but they don't' have much growing room - and we already know he's doing a lot of that lately - so from now on I need to sew him size 12s!!!

                    

The fabric is cotton woven (nice and cool for the summer) and I used snaps as closures. I gave him the choice of either buttons or snaps, and he chose snaps. They're quick and easy to attach, even easier now that I found the metal snap dies for my snap press, and as it turns out I wouldn't have been able to make the buttonholes easily anyway. My favorite machine's automatic buttonhole foot seems to be in hiding, and my other machine suddenly has a broken buttonhole foot guide. Sigh. 



Every now and then I get a glimpse of the man he is quickly becoming. For example in this photo where you can see his neck is a little wider, a little more "teen-like". Sniff.



He has tried wearing these for 5 nights in a row (eew!) and when I caught him avoiding the wash basket he confessed: "But they're just SO comfortable! I just want to keep wearing them!". That's great son, that really is....but how about I wash them and have them back to you before bed, hmm?? ;)



Take one like this Mom!


Oooh, you're in a modelling mood! Let the games begin!
*I pretended to be a fancy fashion photographer and took lots of rapid succession photos while laughing just a tiny bit like an evil villain in an animated film, and this is what the poor boy looked like!




Stop!! Stop!!!Ahhh! The flash!!!


And then I looked over at the littlest minion, who had been next to his big brother the whole time...and this is what I saw.....

Anyone want to guess what he's doing?





And that's the story of how the " No licking the walls" rule came about! ;)


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