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!)

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!

Thing 26: A Pouf!

Ladies, and gentleman, I present to you…a pouf!

(No, sweet husband, it’s not a powf. If’s pronounced poof. Got it? Ok. moving on.)

 

I used this tutorial, from Living With Punks.  Her poufs were a little different – they had some rather smart looking piping around the edges. However, I had neither piping nor the patience to go out and buy some. So…no piping for me!

I learned a new trick with these – a way to make super strong handles! The fabric for the handles is folded twice, so it’s actually four layers of canvas. Also, see that nifty little x’d box there? That makes it really stick to the rest of the pillow. Neat, right?

 

My finished pouf is sitting in my daughter’s room, and I just ADORE it! The hardest part was stuffing it. I used some ripped foam filling that I scored off of Freecycle. Now, I love me some free, but that stuff makes a HUGE mess. And my three year old was helping me stuff. And my one year old was sneaking handfuls of the filling and launching it down the stairs. And I very nearly took the (unfinished) pouf, the “helpful” three year old, and the maniacal one year old and locked them all in the cellar to sort themselves out.

I didn’t.

But it was close.

(The fabric is a home-dec weight cotton from IKEA.)

Thing 25: An (itty bitty) Man Purse!

My daughter, Ming Wai, received an invitation to attend a birthday party last weekend. We were thrilled, of course, but a little stumped. See, the party was for a little boy. Turning three. And I prefer handmade gifts over store-bought ones.

So, what, pray tell, does a three year old boy like?!

I decided that most little kids, regardless of gender, need bags to carry around their “treasures.” And so…I made an Itty Bitty Man Purse! It was originally going to be flannel on the outside (see the strap? That flannel.) and grey cotton on the inside. However, after I finished quilting it, I couldn’t bear to put the grey inside! So…I just folded it the other way, and let the cotton shine.

Then, I needed to find a model. My first model was difficult to work with, and seemed to dislike the product.

 

(He couldn’t figure out how to get it OFF….and he HATES being tied down, in ANY way. Thus, the half-nekkid Floor Tantrum.)

I moved on to another model, just to show the versatility of the bag.

 

This model was much easier to work with, and really knew how to “work” the product!

And then, just to show what a good sport he was, our first model decided to give me a Goober Face Shot. Just to be nice. (See, Mom? No more tantrum! I’m easy going – don’t tie me up, and I won’t fall to the floor screaming like a banshee on crack. Honest!)

 

PS – I didn’t have a pattern for this one. If anyone is interested in a tutorial, please let me know! I thought I could explain it pretty simply, but it’s something that’s better seen than…read? Just leave a comment if a tutorial would be helpful.

Easter Outfits

I made these up for the kids this morning, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out! (I'm less than pleased with Siu Jeun's cooperation during the photo shoot...but what can you do, right? I just barely managed to snap this before he ran off. Even Ming Wai couldn't hold him down. He was a boy with places to go!)

The dress and the shorts are made out of a short-sleeved button down shirt I saved from our Goodwill-Bound pile. The shirt used to belong to my husband. I believe he bought it back when busy brown floral prints were still all the rage in men's wear.

 Heh.

(PS - A tutorial is in the works for both the dress, and the shorts. The dress used up most of the body of the shirt, and the shorts use the sleeves. Pretty slick!)


(PPS - I promise that Siu Jeun will be wearing more clothes than this on Easter. I was too anxious to get this shot to get him dressed first! I'm picturing a nice cream colored polo shirt...)


PPPS - Happy Easter, everybody!

A Shop Update!

Well, the big wait is over!

Could you guess what I've been working on?


A small army of hair clips, fit for a fairy...or a princess...or a fairy princess!





These are all up in the shop now.

Rainy Day Fun

If any of you live anywhere along the East Coast...you'll know that it has been rather wet lately. Damp. Soggy. Somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature that the first day of Summer is just days away!

When my husband reminded me that Father's Day is even closer than summer, and we had yet to get any sort of cards in order, I was tasked with taking the kids out to find cards.

Excuse me? It's not that I mind being given the task - I usually adore shopping for cards! However, heading out in the driving rain with a two year old and a six month old to shop for cards just didn't sound like a good idea to me. So, what's a crafty mama to do?

Foist the job off on someone else!

Out came the construction paper, a new set of brushes I picked up at IKEA, and some non-toxic paints I found at a local bargain store.

Usually, paints and paper will keep my toddler occupied for about 15 minutes...or about three sheets of paper, whichever comes first. However, I underestimated the power of the Brush. Painting has been of the Finger variety up until this point, but I don't think we'll ever go back!

17 sheets of paper later, she announced herself Done.

(Grandpas, this is the point where you stop reading, m'kay? Thanks a bunch.)

Most of these are going to be carefully stowed away for later use. I chose out four of them, folded them in thirds, wrote a Father's Day note on the back, and sent them out in the post to all the papas.

A card, and original artwork, all in one!

I might take a few of these and cut them up to be pasted onto blank pre-folded notecards as well.

Beaded Necklace - A Toddler Tutorial

When the baby, Siu Jeun, is asleep, my main concern is keeping him that way. Usually, this involves elaborate schemes to keep my (very, very noisy) two year old...quiet.

Luckily, she has a weakness - she loves anything and everything related to princesses. If it's pink, it counts. If it's jewelry, make up or a skirt, it counts.



During a recent nap, she started begging to wear a necklace she found in my bathroom. Granted, the necklace is hers...but it belonged to my grandmother first, and I did not save it for my daughter just to have her tear it apart before she's old enough to know better.



Thinking quickly, I grabbed her hand and said, "Do you want to go make a necklace??!" Did she ever! She was so excited. I wasn't sure how I was going to proceed - we'd never done a project that required such fine motor skills before - but I was willing to give it a shot.



I have a large bag of old calendars sitting in my supply pile. I grabbed one out that looked promising (full of pictures of flowers, butterflies and birds), a pair of scissors, some yarn, some tape...and set to work.



First I set the two year old up with her own page out of the calendar and a pair of her own (safety) scissors. She happily snipped, ripped and mangled while I figured out the easiest way to turn my own page of the calendar into beads she could use. I used the calendar because of the pretty colors. I was going to use magazine pages, but my pile of magazines was in another room...and the calendars weren't.

I cut the page into 1" wide strips, then cut each strip from one corner to the opposite corner, forming two long triangles.

Each triangle was then rolled over the fat end of a chopstick and the end secured with a tiny bit of clear tape. (I could have used glue - or Mod Podged the whole thing - but when working with two year olds, immediate results are best.)

I took tape and wrapped up about 2 inches of one end of a length of yarn. I knotted one of the finished beads on the other end of the yarn, which would stop the other beads from slipping off while she threaded them onto the string.

As fast as I could make up the beads, she figured out how to string them onto the necklace. As I handed her the last bead (and, coincidentally, the last bead the string would hold as well), she said, "More, mommy! I want more beads!" Luckily, she was satisfied with simply repeating the project. The beads were dumped out into a bowl, and she proceeded to restring the necklace two more times.

All in all, this project took about 45 minutes. If you ask me, that is a rather impressive span of time for a two year old to pay attention to a single project!

*Please ignore that wayward piece of pasta in the last shot. I think it's from dinner the night before...though I don't know how it managed to escape the post-dinner clean up! I think BBJ hid it somewhere...

This tutorial is listed on Make & Tell, over at the 6 o'clock Stitch. Head on over and check out the other great tutorials!