eager little mind

Besides sewing up a storm, I’ve also started a project for Daphne’s room.  I’ve had this table and chairs set for nearly three years now, with the intention of painting and reupholstering when it came time for her big girl room makeover.   It’s a cute set, mostly metal, very sturdy.  And only $20 at a garage sale.  Woot!  But I’ve struggled with how to blend the style with my style.  Right now it looks like an old-timey ice cream parlor set.  And the seat fabric, even if it wasn’t stained from the previous owners, just won’t work.

So, I’m spray painting the set a robin’s egg blue color and will reupholster the seat with a laminated cotton fabric.

Before and after:

Here’s my dilemma, fabric lovin’ friends… what should I choose to cover the seat cushion??  Her bedding will be a hodgepodge of various colors, a polka dot sheet set, all pulled together with a quilt (that I haven’t made yet) from Sandi Henderson’s Ginger Blossom fabric.

I know I can find a few laminated cotton Ginger Blossom prints that coordinate with the blue on the chairs, but I don’t want to be too matchy-matchy.  So, maybe a Nicey Jane laminated print?  I like Cherry Hop Dot, especially since Daphne has a retro, red play kitchen.  And turquoise/red is one of my favorite color combos.

Any other suggestions?  Do you think the laminated cotton will work for this project?  I’ve heard it drapes better than oilcloth.

Or does anyone want to come over and spray paint this set for me?  I hate spray painting.  Hopefully before she turns 3 I’ll get this set (and the quilt) finished.

I’ve had MADE’s market skirt tutorial in my list of things to sew for quite some time.  Why did I wait?  What an easy, cute and cheap project!!! Doesn’t the seersucker just scream SPRING!?

Market Skirt

Ignore the Hair

Please ignore the crazy Princess Leia buns, they started off higher up on her head.  Crazy kid.

So, I made a few changes… I knew if the white was see-through that it would bug me, so I doubled up the hem and the pockets.  It doesn’t have the same bouncy quality as the original tutorial due to the extra weight, but that’s ok.  I also topstitched the hem.  Oh, and I didn’t make the white hem a few inches wider than the seersucker.  I didn’t want to gather it only 2 or 3 inches, so I made it the same width as the skirt pieces.  The pocket is a hybrid of MADE’s pocket pattern, with Made by Rae’s pleated pocket instructions.  Total finished length for my 2T girly- 10 inches from top of waistband to bottom of the hem.  I adjusted the length of the skirt, but not the width.  My elastic piece was only 16 or 17 inches, instead of 21, so our skirt is a little more full.

I think total cost for this skirt was around $4?  I only used about 1/4 yd seersucker, some white cotton scraps and 2 buttons.  Not bad!

Last year I made Daphne a pair of ruffle capris and I loved the way they turned out. Instead of buying a ruffle pant pattern, I just added a ruffle to a basic toddler sized elastic waist pant pattern. Worked great! Fit well through the seat and legs. I was very pleased. Here’s little D last spring:

This year I decided to go ahead and buy a pants pattern from youcanmakethis.com. I like e-patterns, since I’m not very good with keeping up with my printed patterns. Plus, I liked the idea of drafting your own pattern based on your child’s measurements, since commercial patterns seem to run huge. I chose the Easy-Fit Pants. They were very, very easy. The only problem I had was determining the size. Based on Daphne’s hip and waist measurement, I should have made a size 6 months. I knew that would never work, so I went with the size 1. They are great through the hips and leg, but the rise is too short. Didn’t think about that. Well, crap. She’ll be able to wear them, but they are definitely low rise pants.

Sorry for the crappy pics. I’m calling these her dandelion pants, even though the flowers on the fabric are mums. Mums aren’t very springy.

Modeling her new pants after bath time.

So, I’ll try the pattern again with a size 2 and might make some adjustments based on this great article from Sew Mama Sew on modifying pants patterns for kids.

And guess who is getting a hair cut this week? I’m excited to see what it will look like after being shaped up by a professional (and not hacked on by mommy’s sewing scissors).

Next sewing project (besides another pair of pants, hehe)- the Market Skirt from MADE’s tutorial. Stay tuned.

A few months ago, I added Wardrobe Refashion to my Google Reader. Wow, what an interesting site!! I’m constantly amazed at the transformations, like the plus sized ankle length maternity dress refashioned into something that Twiggy could have worn in the 60’s. Such talented people! The site has definitely encouraged me to take a second look at pieces in my closet, or things I might see while thrifting.

Last week I did a mini-refashion of my own. Remember this simple sundress from last summer?

This dress was slightly too small from day one. That’s what happens when your toddler won’t stand still to be properly measured and you are sewing while she’s asleep. But she always got compliments on it. Strangers at the mall would come up to me and ask where I bought her dress.

I didn’t want to just pack it away, so I took the remaining yardage, cut the skirt off the old dress and turned it into a Matilda Jane style halter.

Not the greatest pictures, but you get the idea. I’m just thrilled that it turned out exactly as I’d hoped. I’m 50/50 with drafting my own patterns for Daphne’s clothes. It could work, or be a complete disaster. Luckily, this works and I saved my measurements and the bodice pattern I drafted to make another.

Next thing you know, I’ll be ripping down the drapes for play clothes, Von Trapp children style.

All of a sudden whenever Daphne puts on a twirly dress she says, “Mommy, I’m a princess!!” Although we are not anti-princess, I don’t make it a point of encouraging it either. And I’ve never called her a princess. Funny how they just pick things up. Possibly from her princess-obsessed cousins.

Here’s the latest “princess” dress.

I needed a springy dress/top for Daphne ASAP for Spring Mini Session promotional stuff, so I opened up my fabric stash to see what I could whip up. I don’t think I should really call it a fabric stash anymore, just a scrap bag, since I only have a few pieces of yardage left. I pulled everything out to see what could possibly work together, and I had just enough to create this little peasant top from the Portobello Pixie Claire pattern. Just shortened the peasant dress and did a square apron instead of rounded. I think it’s cute. Very storybook. Like a cross between the princess dress, and the dress the princess wore before she found out she was a princess and was still mopping the floors. I wish I had some more trims or buttons or something to “Matilda Jane” it up, but this was a total stash buster and I didn’t want to purchase anything to get it finished.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate for outdoor pics. Princess Daphne was freezing. Maybe another day.

If you’ve been reading along, you know I was asked to do a crafty workshop at a womens event last weekend. At first, I was all enthusiastic. Yeah! I’d love to do it! And then it hit me, what was I going to talk about? And since a Make & Take project was involved, I needed something that everyone could do, regardless of skill level, in a very short amount of time. Like my talking time and the crafting time was 40 minutes total. So I decided to focus on felt, since it was versatile and easy to work with. We discussed some different kinds of felt, I presented a lot of ideas (too many ideas probably!) for kids projects, accessories, and home decor and then finished up with a felt rose pin project for Valentine’s Day. It went over pretty well. Here are some of my favorites:

Coffee Sleeve/Cozy. Clearly the easiest project I’ve ever done. Ha!

I just felted a 100% wool sweater, cut off the sleeve cuff and slid it on a disposable coffee cup. Since the sweater was already felted, you don’t have to worry about finishing the cut edge. And the buttons were already there, so I didn’t even need to embellish. I also did a similar cozy out of a red felted sweater. A His and Hers coffee date set.

And using the same felted sweater, here’s a little nest pin from a pattern by Betz White.

I love birds, and this was another super easy project. Just cut and glue. I was under a time crunch and didn’t have the opportunity to felt my own little eggs, so I just had to use cheapo tiny plastic eggs from Hobby Lobby. I think this would make a cute spring package topper, or napkin ring. Or maybe have a little nest sitting at each place setting on your Easter table.

Same idea, just bigger. This wreath is for my mom.

Just wrapped a silk/mohair blend yarn around a foam wreath base and added the felted wool nest. Very easy!

And another really easy project, that would make a great Mom’s Day present (or for Grandma!), a custom silhouette.

The hardest part of the project was getting Daphne to stand still for a profile shot, then I just used that picture as a pattern to cut out my wool blend felt. And this pic really sucks, the reflection in the center makes the felt look like it’s faded. It’s not. I was too lazy to Photoshop it out.

And you might have noticed Daphne’s headband in the last post.

That was just a simple child’s size Goody headband with a scrap of ribbon glued to the top. I used Yoonie At Home’s Peony tutorial for the flower, and vintage enameled flower pieces and a pearl for the center.

And I needed something to wear in my hair, so here’s my headband.

The flower is from Heather Bailey’s Le Fleur Debris pattern. The center is one of my mom’s vintage clip on earrings. Black Headband- $0.75 at Forever 21. Gotta love Forever 21 for cheap headbands.

And last, but certainly not least (since I had to cut out 50 of these babies), the felt rose Make & Take project.

I’ll be glad to scan in and upload this pattern if there’s any interest. I had to draw about a million scalloped felt spirals to get a flower shape I was happy with. This is a really easy project, just roll and glue.

I did a bunch of other projects, but that’s all I can bear to look at right now. I’m on felt overload. Taking a crafty break until February, when I start sewing for Daphne.

So, my crafty friends… what are you working on?

After my last post I thought it would be nice to move on to happier crafting ideas.

How about some fun clothing ideas for your little one?

Snowglobe shirt tutorial from Lil Blue Boo. I love this. I might use a similar technique to do a fish bowl shirt for Daphne this summer. So, so, so fun!!

And also from Lil Blue Boo, a Frog Prince shirt. What a great alternative to the often tacky (sorry, I had to say it) Disney character clothing. We looked at The Princess and the Frog shirts today at Walmart and Daphne just loved the frogs.

From Samster Mommy, Painted Jeweled Onesie. Totally going to do this for Daphne.

Ruffles and Stuff, Flower Cluster applique necklace. Super cute!

And I’m completely in love with this ruffled jacket from Wonder Woman Creations.

So, my crafty friends… are you thinking about your spring projects yet? Once the weather warms up in Feb and March, Daphne will have nothing to wear. So I know I need to sew a few things. Please share your projects. I can always use more inspiration.

I’m 0-2 this year on handmade gifts for my husband. I’ve never really tried to make him anything, because he’s usually pretty obnoxious (hehe) about his gifts. Every time I get creative, the gift usually flops. FLOPS, I’m telling you. And maybe it’s because we’ve been together for 18 years, but he’s past the whole “fake it and tell her I love the gift” thing. I usually find out he hates it. See? He’s totally obnoxious. So, I ask him for his list, purchase an item off the list and call it a day.

But this year? *Sigh* I’m doing this whole Handmade Holiday thing and making gifts for everyone on my list, and limiting my store bought gifts. And I’ve made a lot of nice things, but both stinking items I made for my husband totally didn’t work out. #$*&%#!@$*

First gift- “Frak Off” soothing eye mask. I used an eye mask tutorial from Sew Mama Sew (I think?), had planned on freezer paper stenciling “Frak Off” using a Battlestar Galactica font I found on dafont.com, and planned on filling it with rice. My husband has a ton of sinus problems, so I thought he’d like being able to heat the mask up in the microwave. And the Frak Off thing was just a little BSG joke. You know, to let the world know he wasn’t feeling well and to leave him alone. Soooo… the eye mask pattern was a lot smaller than I thought. Barely covered your eyes once it was filled with rice. If I made it again, I’d increase it by at least 35 or 40% on my copier. And the BSG font? It was completely, totally, frakking impossible to use as a freezer paper stencil. I would need to run some fabric through my printer instead of trying to stencil it on. A few nights ago, Chris came home and wasn’t feeling well, so I gave him my screwed up eye mask to use, without telling him I made it. You want to know what he said? “This STINKS! What’s in here?” (I can’t win, people!!) For the record, I didn’t think the rice was smelly. It reminded me of Daphne’s rice cereal when we were starting her on solids. But he did appreciate how the mask worked.

Second gift- Moleskine notebook cover. Chris has a ton of moleskine notebooks and he always uses a specific Sharpie pen that doesn’t bleed through the moleskine pages. So, when I saw a moleskine notebook cover with a place to store a pen, I knew I had to make one. Using another tutorial from Sew Mama Sew, and the fabric from a pair of his holey old black twill pants, I went to work. The fabric was really hard to work with. My sewing machine ate the pen pocket. And when I went to try it out on a notebook? The ^$*@&!( thing wouldn’t fit. Didn’t come close. Completely defeated, I went in to the living room and showed my husband what I’d attempted. And he actually really liked the idea. I just need to make my own template, which is probably not happening before Christmas.

But, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Is anyone else completely stressed that Christmas is just around the corner? I have so many projects to finish. And what do I do instead? Oh, clean house, do laundry. Typical Jenny procrastinating. In my defense, I need some time without Daphne hanging on me to sew, and I need my husband’s help/input with a website we are building. So, after picking up and doing laundry, I made this yarn wreath while watching Daphne color.

Photo processed for that “straight out of a 60’s craft magazine” look, lol!

I never make anything for myself. And since I’d been drooling over several yarn wreaths on Etsy, I decided to look in my stash and see what I could come up with. Not as cute as the Etsy wreaths, and boy did it not photograph well. It’s all cute and sparkly in real life and the glittered leaves and flowers closely match the yarn colors. But considering I only had to buy a $4 styrofoam wreath base, I guess I’m happy with it.

Now to put Daphne down for a nap so I can get some real work done.

Only 12 more days.

Way too many amazing things on Etsy lately. I need more money in my Paypal account. Ha!

Here are my recent faves:

What are you loving on Etsy, lately? Comment with a link.