A Frock for the New Girl

A new girl just moved into our congregation a few weeks ago. She is a sweetheart, and (bonus!) speaks the same Chinese my family does. That made her an instant bestie. Just to make sure her move was as non-eventful as possible, she happened to time it within weeks of her due date. As in…she is expecting her sixth! child! any! day!

 

Never a group to miss a party, a few ladies sprang into action and put together a baby shower. (Even though this is her sixth child, it is a girl….and her last girl was born 9 years, and three boys, ago. She gave up hope somewhere along the way, along with all of her daughter’s baby clothes.)  Friends in her previous congregation had already gathered stuff for her, and given her lots of hand-me-down baby clothes, so she requested that if we were inclined to bring gifts…..could they please be things for a slightly older girl?

 

Originally, I intended to make one of Made by Rae’s Itty Bitty dresses, but I couldn’t find my pattern. (The pattern, by the way, is a free download on Rae’s blog, and is SUPER adorable. It is a dress that will fit right at birth, hence the itty bitty part. A few readers enlarged the pattern and sent it back to her, so now it goes all the way up to 3T, I believe. Anyhow, it’s an adorable, and simple dress!)

 

My train of thought went something like this. I’ll make Rae’s itty bitty dress! Oh, I can’t find the pattern. I could probably make another pattern from memory…I can find a small t-shirt and make the pattern from that. Hrm…making patterns. That reminds me…I DID make a dress pattern a few years ago!

 

And thus, I made one of my Pretty Frocks for the new wee one.

 

This was made from one of my husband’s cast-off dress shirts. I experimented this time, trying to keep the shoulders a little wider. In past versions, after making a rolled hem on both the neck and the arm hole, the resulting shoulder bit was only about an inch and a half wide. This time, I used some binding that I had leftover from a small quilt to bind off the neck. The arms were still a rolled hem.

You can see here, on the back of the dress, the original button placket from the shirt.

 

I lined some of the more ticklish seams with binding.

 

The dress, honestly, came out quite a bit BIGGER than what I imagined it would. The pattern was drawn up to be 2T, but…it still managed to button around my 4 year old. Oh well – the new little one can wear it for YEARS. Heh. (Kim, if you are reading this, bring the dress to me when your daughter wants to start wearing it, and I’ll hem it to the right length!)

Thing 34: Little Boy’s Messenger Bag (a tutorial!)

  (This is my brain turning into licorice….)

 

Any questions?

 

Heh. Just kidding. The idea was to make a bag where the sides went straight up to become the strap…but I totally underestimated how long I needed that strap to be. So…it’s more of a man purse. *sigh*

 

Cut two matching rectangles as wide as you want your bag to be and twice as long (plus 8 inches) as you want your bag to be tall. (That gives it a 4” overlap for the front flap, plus 2” to go over the top of the bag, and 2” to go under the bottom.) Then cut a piece that is 8” wide by the distance from your boy’s knees, across his chest, around and back to his knee. (Obviously, I took the measurement hip to hip…and that gave me a purse. D’oh!)

 

Sew your two big rectangles, right sides together, making sure to leave a gap for turning. Clip the corners, turn and press. Set aside.

 

Take your big strap piece and fold 2” in on either side so that they meet in the middle. Press. Fold in half lengthwise, so that your folded edges meet and right sides are out. Press. Sew along the length, right along the edge where the two folded edges meet.

 

Now, here comes the part that made my brain turn into licorice. At one end of your rectangle, measure in 4”. Mark that. It’s your “flap. Now, measure in another 2”. Mark that. Now you have the two corners for the “top” of your boxy messenger bag. Now, measure down as far as you wanted your bag to be tall…mark that. Go another 2” and mark that. There’s the bottom of your bag. You should be left with a length that is identical to the back of the bag. 

 

Time to attach your strap! Your strap should have ended up 2” wide, and so should just fit into the “bottom” that you measured out for yourself. Carefully pin your strap into place and sew the short ends to the bottom of the bag, right sides together. Then, sew up the sides to close up the sides of your bag.

 

You’re done!

 

(If you want a stiffer bag, use something heavier than the flannel and cotton/poly bed sheet that I used or add interfacing between your layers.)

 

(PS – I obviously sewed the long sides of the strap before the short side. Do whatever doesn’t make your brain turn into licorice!)

Unmatched Matchy-matchy Frames!

Confused? Check it out.

A quick trip to the thrift store…a pile of wooden frames in various sizes…and a can of spray paint. Voila! Matched unmatched frames.

 

I pulled a huge box into my driveway, and laid out my frames. Since they were all really inexpensive (read: CHEAP) I had to use a screw driver to open up the metal tabs on the back that held the frames to their insides. Once all the backs, fillers and glass plates were removed, I got started.

Ming Wai really, really wanted to help…but somehow, I didn’t think that handing a can of black spray paint to a four year old wearing all white would help anything. So, I did the next best thing. I gave her the camera!

Paparazzi, take it away!

(Hello, Crazy Tiny Manly Hands.)

(She takes good pictures! She, of course, kept the camera for the next half hour and proceeded to take 171 pictures of me, her shoes, leaves, the ground, my rear end, her feet, my legs, a tree, a bird, my head..you get the idea.)

 

The frames are all put back together now…and it’s time to round up some pictures of the kids. I have a wall in the upstairs hall with one. lone. picture, right in the middle. (It’s a Black Apple print, so it’s not such a terrible thing…but, still. It’s lonely!) I hope to fill the wall with memories, faces and smiles. I can’t wait! (I’ve admired this type of frame grouping for…well, for several years now, but I’d never found a suitable cache of wooden frames to use.)

Craft Fail…or Win? (Thing 27)

Do you see that blue dress? The one in the middle? I made it, during the afternoon. I got The Feeling, and I just had to go and MAKE something, or else I would explode. You do know that feeling, don’t you??

I dug through my To Re-Purpose Pile, and came across a long-sleeved navy polo shirt. Size Large, Men’s. Perfect! I grabbed a dress from my daughter’s drawer that always looks nice on her, traced it out, and started sewing! I was going to copy the sleeves as well….and then decided I just couldn’t be bothered. I also decided, after I had already cut it out, to attempt French seams. For the first time. From memory. (Heh. Yeeeaaaah…..)

I ended up with a rather cute dress, if i do say so myself, that is just a smidge tight across the chest. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to re-gift it to my (smaller) niece, or unpick the seams and re-do them sans “French.” (Since French seams are essentially one seam sewn around another seam, undoing the French-ness would give me nearly an extra inch around the chest!).

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of the FRONT of the dress. My camera ran out of batteries as soon as we reached our destination, and when we got home again, it was time for bed. *sigh* The life of a blogger is tough!

A Craft Fair Apron

I made this this weekend for a special someone (who probably doesn't read this blog, so I'm safe). She's a jeweler who peddles her wares at various craft fairs around NY. I couldn't think of what to make for her, when suddenly I remembered that I am the Apron Lady! And what Craft Fair working lady doesn't need a sassy apron??

It's a pretty simple apron, but I love it. It hits just about at the knees, to catch any bits of paper, string or what-have-you that might fall into your lap while you're crafting behind your table. There's a little pocket on the front, just about hand height, perfect for holding a little sketchbook or receipt book and a pen.

And what apron would be complete without a sassy little bow in the back??

This apron is the second one I've made from a thrifted fitted sheet - doesn't that gingham just scream apron to you??!

(Please ignore the sweats and Mariners t-shirt - we were rather short on perky, skinny, sassy little models on Saturday night, and I wanted photos of the apron for Thing A Day!)