Kid's Christmas Bathrobe (Catching Up Post #3)

Catching Up Post #3

Handmade Christmas

New bathrobe for Grace

This poor kid was wearing a bathrobe whose sleeves reached just past her elbows and that barely covered her thighs.  A pretty sad sight.  All the more so because she is my hot blooded kid and wears what I would consider summer jammies all year long.  Those winter mornings in flimsy princess nightgowns are mighty chilly!  Her handmade Christmas gift, then, was a new larger and softer bathrobe.

Its made of fleece.  Not my favorite substrate in the world but for a kid's bathrobe thats going to get breakfast crumbs spilled on it every day I think its an okay choice.  I used this pattern and lengthened it a bit so it'll cover her legs better.  I also made a huge sleeve cuff so there is the possibility of lengthening the sleeves later.

The robe seemed a little blah (and was a super fast sew/serge) so I embellished it a little by adding a pocket for her favorite snuggle.  Who wouldn't want their snuggle right up close on their chest?!

Its now April and the robe has gotten lots of use and has washed well so I'm happy to have made a useful and practical gift.

Jane Austen embroidery (Catching Up Post #2)

Catching Up Post #2

This is a second embroidery I made for Christmas last year.  I came across this Jane Austen quote somewhere a few years ago and knew it belonged on our wall.  My husband is a huge Jane Austen fan and we are the most home-body family you could ever meet.  Our kids are not in many extracurricular activities, we all have home based hobbies we love to do, we never go out in the evenings unless we absolutely have to, we don't love to travel, etc, etc.  We just like being at home!  The idea simmered for well over a year before it came together to be a Christmas present for my husband and we all love how it turned out. 

The quote is from Austen's book 'Emma'.  

I haven't read that one so I can't expound on its context, but it perfectly fits our family.  

The background is tan linen, the floss colors are earthy - brown and green, and I was able to find this gorgeous wood frame that sets everything off nicely.  It took a bit of hunting to find a large frame that was square, not rectangular, but I'm glad I kept looking until I found one because the round leaf motif really needed a square frame.  (I drew the leaf motif.)

Here is a close up of the stitches.  The wrinkling of the stitched linen drives me a little batty but I'm sure I'm the only one who notices.  

My husband was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the gift and it now hangs prominently in the living room next to one of the bookcases and the fireplace.  

I did forget to stitch my initials and the date in the bottom corner, like I do on my quilts, but I'll leave it for now.  If I ever take it out of the frame to rectify the wrinkles I'll add it then!  

Button Snowmen Embroidery (Catching Up Post #1)

Catching Up Post #1
(see the Folding Coin Purse post just prior to this for an explanation as to why I need to catch up!)

A Christmas present for my mom, who loves and collects snowmen...

It might look like a random assortment of snowmen, but its actually a family tree.  My parents are the big snowmen at the top, their five children and five kids-in-laws are the middle sized snowmen, and their grandchildren are the smallest snowmen.  (We'll just ignore the fact that I found out I was pregnant right around Christmas time so the family tree was outdated BEFORE I EVEN GIFTED IT.  Sigh.) 

The top hats for the boys and bows for the girls were hand embroidered after the snowmen were made.   We have one grandson (thus far) in the family and I tried to make him a baseball cap instead of a top hat but it never looked quite right so in the end he got a top hat too.  

The background is a nice grey linen and the frame is a store bought 8x10.  

I got the idea from here.  It didn't translate exactly how I imagined it would but I still think its cute.  It was fun to sort through my button jar and I believe I only had to buy around 4-5 buttons to make all the sizes work out.   I wanted an eclectic mix of buttons rather than all matchy-matchy and I think it worked.  I suppose sometime after August I'll have to take three little buttons and some floss up to my parent's house so I can squeeze the new baby into its spot in the family.

Merry Christmas Mom!  

Folding Coin Purses

Well, hello there.  It's been a while.  My last post was from late October of last year - the Halloween costumes.  Life has interfered in between:

November - sewing mostly Christmas presents that can't be blogged until they're gifted
December - more of the same, plus holiday hoopla
late December - What?!  I'm pregnant again?!
January - large shows at the costume shop and morning sickness... 'nuff said
February - more of the same... yuck
March - light at the end of the first trimester tunnel, finishing up at work, and catching up at home
April - Here we are!  Feeling much better and actually have time for peripherals like blogging.

I will do a catch up post soon on Christmas presents and subsequent sewing projects, more for my own record keeping than anything else.

Today, though, I'll share this quick whip up project because I think they're just adorable.

I came across this tutorial in my morning-sickness-Pinterest-trolling time and thought it looked cute and simple.  Last week I needed a little something to go in a gift and these totally fit the bill!  They sew up super fast and are pretty handy.  I needed these in a short time frame so I didn't piece the fronts and I used sew-in snaps I had on hand rather than the ones you need a press for.  Maybe next time.   I think I'll make a bunch more - I could use a new card holder in my purse and they'll be handy to have around.  The cutting and machine sewing part takes only a few minutes and then the hand sewing is a good TV or summer porch project.

Here's to more sewing (and time to blog about it) before the new baby arrives at the end of summer!

Halloween Costume 2016 - DIY DC Superhero High Harley Quinn

My younger daughter was Batgirl last year.  She was in a big DC Comics phase, which then faded in favor of all things Star Wars.  However, late this summer she discovered the new SuperHero High series/books/action figures, so DC Comics came back into favor.  I'm okay with that because this request for (an age appropriate) Harley Quinn was easier to make happen than her favorite Star Wars Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano.  I'd rather make goofy shorts-over-leggings than togruta head tails any day!

So, here is our 8.5 year old Harley Quinn from SuperHero High!

Because not everyone knows who Harley Quinn is (I didn't) and because there are tons of inappropriate adult version of Harley Quinn out there, here is the look we were going for...

... and here is how we did!

Not bad, huh?  Grace is pretty pleased.  

This costume was a mix of freshly made items of clothing plus clothing we had in a drawer already.  First, we needed a pair of leggings with one black leg and one red leg.  I made them from fleece - its late October in Wisconsin and I'm a mom.  :)

Then a pair of blue shorts to go over those.  (I tried to get her to skip those because I just don't understand the whole current shorts-over-leggings fashion trend but Grace wouldn't budge.)  So, blue shorts it is.  More fleece. 

The shirt was a fun remake.  I took a white long sleeved shirt we already had and an old black turtleneck of Keith's that had the collar all worn but the rest of the shirt was usable black jersey knit and did a mash up.  I removed the white shirt's collar and added a black mandarin collar.  I took off the white long sleeves and added black puffed short sleeves (Grace is determined she's going to wear this in summer and it HAD to match the action figure. For now, she's wearing a long sleeve black shirt underneath.)  The diamonds were cut from fleece, fused, and then stitched on to the shirt.  A black band around the bottom to mimic the action figure's belt, six black buttons stitched down the middle and viola - a Harley Quinn shirt!  

The whole shirt remake only took a few hours over one weekend.  It was definitely more of a hack-and-sew mash up than a properly drafted shirt but I'm fine with that.  It started a bit large so that it could fit over a long sleeve shirt for warmth and its a costume for pete's sake.  Mash ups are fine.    

The mask was next.  It has two layers stitched together... fleece for smoothness/softness against the skin and felt for sturdiness, with an elastic band around the head.  

We tied ribbons around hair ties for the colored hair.  I did that wipe-in hair dye last year for WyldStyle... never again.  I let Grace make the rules on most of this costume (blue shorts... short sleeves...etc) but I put my foot down on hair dye.  That stuff is nasty. 

We skipped the mallet that Harley Quinn carries around.  Too impractical for school parades and trick or treating...

And here is our Harley Quinn!  

Check out this post for her sister Princess Leia.  

Halloween Costume 2016 - DIY Princess Leia

Its Halloween time already!  How did that happen?!

Two years ago we had Lego Friends.  

Last year we had the Lego Movie and Batgirl.  

This year we have one Star Wars character and another DC Comics superhero.

First up is Princess Leia for my 10.5 year old.

We used a few ideas from Pinterest and made up the rest. 

 I used white fleece for both warmth and ease of sewing. 

Here you can see the basic shape of the tunic.

I laid the fleece on the floor (with a fold along where the shoulders/arms go), had Leah lay on top of it, pinned a rough outline and then we tweaked it from there.  A hole for her head, a collar for that neck hole, a long hood, and a wide sleeve.   I was able to cut the hood and collar from the fabric that had been cut away from the underarm area.  I bought 3 yards of fleece and used just about every scrap.

The belt is made from some shiny silver dancewear fabric I found at Hobby Lobby with sturdy fabric and batting on the inside for structure.  Leah designed the shape of the belt and the stitching, including a request for the 'L'.  Apparently it stands for Leia on Halloween and Leah on all other days.  :)   It closes with velcro in the back.

The buns are yarn on an earmuff frame.  I bought a cheap pair of earmuffs and cut off the store bought covering, leaving just the plastic frame.   Then I cut a piece of craft felt roughly larger than the earpiece to use as a base, braided some long lengths of super bulky brown yarn and hot-glued the braids to the felt base.  Using another piece of craft felt I made a sandwich of felt, plastic earmuff piece, and then braid-covered felt and hand stitched around the sandwich to hold it all in place.  The buns were a bit flat so I ended up hot gluing another braid on top to make them puffier.  Another strand of yarn was wrapped and hot glued around the headband part of the frame - it looked too goofy with the white plastic part showing.  Although, really, its all relative... some might say yarn-buns-on-earmuffs are goofy enough to begin with!  Leah likes them so that's all that really matters.  

The entire costume (tunic, belt, earmuff buns) cost about $30 in supplies.  (We had the wooden blaster pistol already from a previous wood shop experiment and she already owns black boots.)  It was 3 yards of fleece, the silver fabric (1/2 yard?), earmuffs, and yarn.  Considering you can pay $30 for a costume in the store made from cheap scratchy plastic that'll fall apart in one day, I'd say that's not too bad!  Leah is already looking forward to wearing the tunic as a bathrobe after Halloween because its just one big body wrap of snuggly-ness.  :)  

 This weekend, though, it'll be all about Princess Leia saving the republic.  

  

Denim Skirt... not quite right but still wearable

It is time to catch up on a bit of sewing project news.  I made this skirt at the end of summer and it has taken until now to get pictures of it...

I'd give this skirt a B-/C+.  Unfortunately I didn't draft it quite right and so I'm not in love with it.  Actually, it's drafted correctly, but the draft is not a good fit for this fabric.  The exact same draft in a soft flowy fabric would be perfect.  No so much with denim.  It's an easy mistake to make, but still a little frustrating.  Also, the buttons aren't quite evenly spaced. I don't know how that happened but it drives my perfectionist side crazy.

I do like the faux wrap part of the design with off center buttons, though.  That part was successful.  If I make another one I'll just draft it with back darts instead and not quite so much flare.  After looking at the pictures I think it actually looks better than it feels when I'm wearing it.

All in all, its still a wearable skirt and it goes with just about anything.  This year is supposed to be about sewing wardrobe staples for myself and this fits the requirements.