GIVEAWAY: SILHOUETTE DIGITAL CUTTING TOOL!! | Prudent Baby

GIVEAWAY: SILHOUETTE DIGITAL CUTTING TOOL!! | Prudent Baby

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It's Autumn!

Oh, kids. Thank goodness for Google Reader. If it wasn't for that...I'm fairly certain nobody would be reading this at all.

I've shown you my craft room. Yes, I have a room all to myself....but I'll be jiggered if I ever get in there. There's a baby gate up to keep the kids out, and so when I need to put something away....I just sort of...throw it in there.

Ugh.

So, the room is a mess, and it's no fun to be in there.

Which reminds me...the kids playroom had the same sort of description two weeks ago. I got upset one day and went on a rampage. Every toy, stuffed animal and block was dumped in a pile in the middle of the room. Only the stuffed animals, blocks, cars, balls and toy food were allowed to stay. Everything else was lumped together in a big cardboard box and shipped off to the garage.

Sounds like my craft room needs some tough love...

Thing 30: A House Coat (and a Tutorial!)

This is one of those projects that stewed around in my head for MONTHS before I ever sat down to attempt it. Of course, when I sat down…I had only a very, VERY vague plan in mind.

 

Like. Really vague.

I wanted something snuggly and warm, but not something that would be too cumbersome. Something just for the kids to wear around the house to keep them warm. So…cozier than a sweatshirt, but less in-the-way than a traditional robe.

So, here’s how I did it.

Step one – Find a shirt that fits your kid. (This housecoat was for Siu Jeun, my little dude.) Lay it out on your snuggly material (I used fleece, but flannel would work as well. Or minky if you’re crazy. Or stretch velour, for that matter, but I won’t admit here that I have some in my stash. Or that it’s purple. Moving on.)

If your fabric allows, fold it in half so you can cut both pieces at once. If not, just cut the Back Piece out first, and then we’ll fold it in half for the next step.

Step 2 - So, lay it out. You’re going to make a really quick n’ dirty pattern here. Use a fabric marking pen to make your cut line for the top of the coat. Leaving a 1/2” seam allowance, trace around both sleeves and the neck. Be sure to mark where the neck begins and ends!

 

Then, move on to where the armpits are. (I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of this part…but you really can’t mess it up.) You’re going to make an A-line coat, for maximum move-ability. To make this coat (for a 21 month old) I drew a 14” line, angling out from the armpit. Where the line passed the hem of the shirt, it was 2” away. (With those two measurements, you can easily make both sides identical without any tricky folding.)

 

Step 3 - Now, cut it out! (If you didn’t have a square of fabric big enough to fold in half and still fit your whole coat, take the piece you just cut out and fold it in half, stem to stern. Or neck to hem. Whatever. Fit that piece somewhere on your fabric and trace it out, exactly. Fit it one more spot and trace THAT out, exactly. Cut those two pieces out, and you’ve got your Front Right and Front Left pieces! Make sure to flip it over for the second Front so that you end up with the Right Side of the fabric…on the right side, when you put them together.)

(If you cut out Front and Back together, on folded fabric, take your Front piece and fold it in half, stem to stern, and cut it along the fold. Now you’ve got your Front Right and Front Left. Nice, yes?)

 

Step 4 – Take a look at your neck line. Do you see where it ends? Now figure out where, on your Front pieces, mid-way down the chest would be. Fold the top corners of the pieces away from the chest, from the edge of the neck to mid-way down the chest. Sew those down. (I like them on the outside, but folding them to the inside, hemming it 1/2” from the edge, and trimming it off works, too!)

 

Step 5 – Sew it together!! Sew your top seams. Sew your side seams. (Right sides together, please.) Hem up the bottom if you like, and the opening in the middle. Or don’t. Whatever. It’s a housecoat! It’s made of fleece! It’s all good.

Step 6 – Stick it on your kid. For extra fun, get the kid to run away from you after you put it on them. They look like some sort of rich Super Villain. Excellent.

 

(Step 7 (optional) – make one for big sister.

Thing 29: The Pants from the Shirt that Made the Dress

Do you remember, a few weeks ago, when I made this dress for Ming Wai?

Just humor me here, ok? Tell me you remember it.

Got it? Good.  (I mean, how could you forget those fancy hands???)

So that dress was made from the body of a large men’s polo. The sleeves were saved.

 

For these.

They’re not perfect, by any means (the legs are different lengths!) but I am getting better at making these. The waist fits much better than some of the first shorts I made him.  And I’m kind of diggin’ this cropped length.

Also? Mardi Gras beads – not just for New Orleans anymore! (Gold is rather fetching with navy, though, isn’t it?!)

The Craft Room: The Whole Story

Hello, friends. Can I call you friends? Cronies? Pals? You know I love you, right?

Like, really, really love you?

I’m ready to prove it now. Are you ready?

*deep breath*

I am ready to show you…the entire craft room. In all its glory.

 

Just keepin’ it real, folks. I have BAGS of foam, waiting to be turned into cute little poufs and chairs and whatever else I can think of to fill. I have scads of fabric waiting to be made into quilts, and armfuls of old clothes waiting to be made into new clothes for smaller people. I have wrapping paper, and detritus from a childhood of pack-ratting…and this is where all the magic happens. But can’t you just see the potential in there? Once the boxes are dealt with? And the fabric is folded? And the kids can be convinced to stop rifling through my gear, looking for their crayons?

I have to admit, I’m a little leery of this room. I’m afraid that by the time I get it Just Right…there will be a new little LoLo, and he’ll swoop in and take over my craft room. Isn’t that silly?? It’s ok…maybe the little LoLo will prefer Daddy’s Den!

(PS – No, I’m not pregnant. No, I’m not trying to be pregnant right now. That is all. Carry on.)

Thing 28: A Little Red Dress

It’s been a little quiet around here this summer, yeah? Just a smidge? I hope y’all have been having loads of fun in the sun…or whatever you like to do in the summer.

My family just returned home from a fantabulous little reunion in north-central Washington, on Lake Chelan. We meet there every summer, rent houses, play on jet skis, go tubing, play tennis after the kids go to bed, and generally enjoy ourselves. (I think the Moms of Young Kids might enjoy themselves the most…there are so many extra adults around, it’s really easy to slip out with our husbands while the kids nap in the afternoons, or after they go to bed. Hooray!)

This year, there were four grandkids in attendance – my two, plus my twin sister’s two. Three of those four are girls. And so….three of those four were in matching dresses.

This was for Ernie, the biggest girl. I had a size 5, a size 4 and a size 3. Quick and easy, and the girls looked pretty sweet in their matching frocks!  They were really quick – I made up three of them in one evening. Just a sliced-off white top, with a red skirt attached. I cut the skirt fabric as long as I wanted the skirt to be, and two and a half times as wide as the shirt. I sewed that into a tube, used the selvedge edge as the hem, and gathered it up to match the top shirt. Easy peasy!)

(I also made two more of these, so the other girls would have dresses to match my daughter’s, for church. So much fun! But it was a busy day there, making five dresses. *grin*)

(The tops were all pulled from the Outgrown Pile, and the red fabric was a Freecycle find last year. I think it’s vintage – there was an old-fashioned tag stapled to it, with an address from Canal Street, NYC.)

The Polo Dress, Part II

 

Do you remember this dress? I first posted about it here.

Here are the front shots, and Ming Wai’s…er….Fancy Hands.

The dress is cute….but even cuter on my niece, who is two. The buttons don’t pop open when she wears it. Heh. Oh well. Live and learn…and next time, decide what kind of seams I’m doing BEFORE cutting out the dress! At least it’s sturdy…with all those nice (seam allowance eating) french seams!