My Take on the Crayon Apron

I had never seen a crayon apron until I opened a catalog that came in the mail the other day. I was overcome by the cute, girlishness of the crayon apron pictured and the clever idea. But, the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that it wasn't really a practical idea. Crayons break constantly, immediately upon use. Then they wouldn't work in the apron pockets anymore because they would be too short. I also didn't think that little ones, of the crayon using age, would be all that interested in putting crayons back into little slots. I decided to make one as a gift that uses Twistables, the Crayola colored pencils that you twist up rather than sharpen. They will always stay the same height and are a bit more appealing than crayons to the preschool/kindergarten crowd.
After I made mine, I searched and noticed that they are all over Esty so the idea is hardly new, just new to me! I am guessing that there are several tutorials out there too. In case there are not, I will share the measurements that I used. My apron is appropriately sized for those age 4 and up.

1. For the main body of the apron, I cut a piece of fabric measuring 33" wide and 11" high.
2. The pocket piece measures 33" wide and 6 1/4" high. I finished the top edge of the pocket with a 1/4" hem. I then sewed baby rick rack 1" down from the finished edge.
3. I placed the pocket piece on top of the apron piece, right sides up. I located the center of the pocket and stitched straight down. I then made vertical, parallel rows of stitching 1" apart to form the pockets.
4. Next I made a narrow hem on the sides and bottom of the apron. I think bias tape would have been a better choice but I was bias taped out from recent projects and didn't feel like using it again! The hem worked fine as an alternative.
5. I then gathered the top of the apron to 14 1/2".
6. To make the ties, I cut one piece out of the pocket material measuring 15" long x 2" high and two pieces from the main apron fabric measuring 22" long x 2" high. I stitched the narrow ends together with a 1/4" seam, with the pocket fabric in the center.
7. I then pinned the center portion of the tie to the apron top and stitched (about a 1/2" seam).
8. Then I pressed under 1/2" all the way around the ties and folded it in half and pinned. Then I stitched close to the edge of the ties beginning at one edge and ending at the other.
9. Now for the fun part, I arranged the pencils!

Pink Easter Tie

He is six, in kindergarten, and loves pink. I was so happy to find this shirt in Marshalls, on sale no less, because it included pink. It seemed to be an acceptable way for a boy to include pink in his Easter outfit without teasing! My son also likes to dress up for holidays and wanted to wear a tie, like he did last year. I decided to try to make one following the great tutorial on The Purl Bee, http://www.purlbee.com/little-boys-tie/. I asked if he wanted me to find fabric to match the blue, the green or the pink. He chose the pink. I was able to find some material that I thought coordinated nicely without being too pink, you know the bubble gum shade that I am referring to? I think he will look so cute. I couldn't tie the tie for the picture because I don't know how! He'll have his daddy do that on Easter! It was nice to have something to sew for him because he does get a bit jealous over the sewing the I do for his sister. It's harder to find projects for boys but I do try to even things out the best I can.

Crazy? Quite Possibly...

I'm pretty sure that I have the neighbors talking, or perhaps more likely, laughing. Last year, the deer came right up to our house to a garden that I made in the center of our circular driveway. The garden is mostly herbs and I have read that they dislike the smell of herbs and stay away. Well, they didn't. They left the herbs alone but just as my trellis full of morning glories was about to blossom, they ate off each and every leaf from the vines! I also have three hybrid tea roses in this garden and sure enough, just as the buds were about to open into beautiful blossoms, the deer would eat the flower right off! I was livid! In addition to this garden, they also disturbed my holly bushes and yellow twig dogwood. They also entered into my perennial garden which had a tee pee of morning glories, and decimated them as well. I just located a picture of the morning glory disaster (We were working on the house at the time, as you can see.):

My mother had similar experiences in her yard and we are both determined to try to do something about it. Last summer, she visited the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller estate and gardens in Vermont. The gardeners had hung bags of Irish Spring soap on 1-2' stakes every 3' around the perimeter of the gardens. They did this in the early spring when the deer map out their paths for the season. Apparently, they are creatures of habit and tend to follow the same trails each day. The scent of the soap is distasteful to them so they make paths that avoid the garden. We thought it was worth a shot. I have since read many mixed reviews on line but am still hoping for success.
My mom found little green bags that she hopes will help this spectacle blend as the plants grow. I picked up stakes and Lowes and soap and BJs. Actually, my husband was sent to pick up the soap and felt very silly buying 3 packages of 20 or so bars of soap each! We cut the soap into quarters, put them in bags, stapled them to the stakes and put them every 3' around the gardens and near the shrubs.
It looks ridiculous. I hope it works!

American Girl Doll Outfit

My friend requested donations for a silent auction at her son's preschool. Her mom also teaches there so I thought I would like to contribute something. I gave her a list of possibilities to choose from and she thought that an American Girl doll outfit would be a hit. I made this from a Simplicity pattern 8692, bought a number of years ago when I was making outfits for my husband's cousin for Christmas gifts. It is a frontier prairie dress with bonnet and pantaloons. I learned that there is an American Girl doll named Kirsten that is supposed to be from the Minnesota frontier prairie. I am hoping this will be just right for someone's little girl and it makes some money for the school. It is modeled here on my three year old's 18" non-American Girl doll!

Goodbye Gift

I was able to give this gift to its recipient this weekend so now I can blog about it! My little boy's first best friend is moving from town, all the way to England. I wanted to do something for their family and have a special way for the boys to say goodbye. This weekend we had a goodbye dinner for them, with cake, so that my son would consider it a party. Of course, all parties have presents right? I made this quilt for the family to remember their house by. I know that they really love their little house and will miss it. The house used to be a schoolhouse and is full of charm. This is a small lap size quilt with an appliqued square picturing their house. The other squares are scrappy log cabins. I used only scraps for this quilt, basing the color scheme around the colors of the house, sky, and lawn. They seemed to like it and I hope it brings them many happy memories. We will miss them!

My Daffodil Garden

Since spring is taking its own sweet time arriving, the kiddos and I "planted" our own fully blooming daffodil garden in the kitchen windows today. I cut the petals, stems and leaves out of construction paper for them while they painted the egg cartons that we used for the cups in the center of the daffodils. Then they assembled everything with glue. Once dry, we taped them along the bottoms of all four kitchen windows, three in each. Our little garden has added a bit of cheer even though, as I look past the flowers, I can still see snow.

Today we heard a sweet birdsong outside our sunroom window and ran over in time to see a little bird entering the wren birdhouse that I was given for my birthday. I don't think that the bird was a wren though. I need to try to take a quick picture of it if it returns (I hope it will) so I can figure out what it is for sure.

Anna Maria Horner Fabric Giveaway

Look at this giveway! You can win two yards of Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks fabric!
http://wondermommy.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/good-folks-giveaway/

Pintuck Perfection Baby Dress Tutorial

Version 1, with radiating pintucks at neckline and lace at hemline.

Version 2, with vertical rows of pintucks at neckline and a ruffle at the hemline.

I was excited to hear from a number of people who share my love for pintucks and would like to try out this little dress. It's just a simple pattern but that is my preference for baby clothes. My disclaimer is that my baby hasn't been born yet so I haven't tried the dress on a real living creature! From holding it up to store bought clothing, I believe it to be about a 3 month size. It is also the kind of style where it could be worn as a dress when the baby is little and then with leggings later on. That adds some flexibility.

Pattern:

Pintuck Dress Pattern.pdf

Materials:
1/2 yard lightweight cotton fabric
6 small buttons (about 3/8" diameter)
thread
1 yard lace (optional)
40" of 1/4" wide double fold bias tape
pintuck presser foot and double needle for your machine

1. Cut your pattern pieces. Cut piece A along the fold. You should have three cut pieces of fabric when you are done: one piece A and two of piece B.

2. The next step is to add your pintucks along the neckline of piece A. See my tutorial (http://duringquiettime.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-pintuck.html) for making pintucks. You can arrange your pintucks in many different ways. Begin by finding the center of the dress front by folding the dress piece in half along the fold line and marking it with a pin at the center of the neckline. Draw a chalk guideline to follow for your first pintuck. For my first version of the dress, I used a radiating design. In case it isn't clear enough in the picture, I started in the center and stitched a straight line. Then I stitched to more rows of pintucks on each side. The center pintuck is the longest and the outermost pintucks are shortest. For this design, you will want to draw guidelines for each "arm" of the radiating design and then stitch your pintucks.

You could also try vertical rows of pintucks as I did in the second version. First, make a guideline in the center and stitch. Then you can simply make pintucks to either side, no guidelines necessary. I used 15 pintucks.
3. Once you are happy with your pintucks, it's time to sew the side seams. Place your pieces right side together, pin and stitch. I have allowed a 1/4" seam allowance for this pattern. Press seams.

4. I wanted to make the hem while reducing bulk since the dress is so tiny. To do this, I chose to edge-finish the hemline on my machine rather than folding it up a 1/4" and then another 1/4". You could do that if you prefer. After edge-finishing the entire length of the hem, I folded it up 1/4" and ironed.

5. Next, I made the placket for the back of the dress. On both pieces for the back, piece B, I folded under 1/4" and ironed. Then I folded another 3/4" and ironed. At the bottom, I folded the edge finished hem to the inside to leave a clean corner at the bottom of the placket. Then I stitched along the edge as closely as I could. Perhaps this is most clearly shown in the photo below (pardon the yucky ironing board cover. I was reading today about an online tutorial for ironing board covers. I might have to look into this!).
This picture shows the edge-finished hemline folded in on the placket portion for a clean corner.

This picture shows the same, after stitching along the edge of the placket.

6. At this point, you can add your edging to the hem. I used lace in one version and a ruffle in the other. For the lace version, simply fold under a 1/4" at one end of the lace and align it with the edge of the back placket and pin along the hemline. At the other end, again, fold the lace under 1/4" and align it with the edge of the back placket. Then stitch. Your stitching will catch the edge-finished hem.

If you prefer the ruffle, cut a 2 1/2" strip across the full width of your material (44-45"). You could use a contrasting material for the ruffle, or even the same material as the bias tape if you are making it yourself. I chose to use the same material as the body of the dress. Fold under 1/4" at the narrow ends, iron and stitch. Then fold the strip in half and iron. Then edge finish the top, raw edges on your machine. Then make two rows of long stitches along the edge, just shy of 1/4". Pull the threads to gather. Pin the two ends of your ruffle, aligning them with the edges of the back placket. Adjust the gathers to fit, pin and stitch. I used two rows of stitching for the ruffle.

7. Now it is time to stitch your shoulder seams (1/4" seam allowance). Iron seams.

8. Next I made the bias tape. I took a piece of fabric that was 1" wide and 40" long and folded it in half and ironed, then folded each raw edge in and ironed, resulting in a double folded bias tape measuring 1/4" wide. You could just buy this type of bias tape or use a bias tape maker and save your fingers from potential ironing injuries!

9. Pin the bias tape to the arm openings and to the neck, folding under the raw edges. You can then stitch the bias tape on the machine or by hand. I can never seem to sew the bias tape on, using the machine, and feel happy with the results. I prefer to take the time to stitch it by hand. This is clearly a personal preference.

10. The final step is to make the button hole on the left side of the dress, as you look at it from the back. I made my top button hole at the neckline and then allowed 2" between each of the remaining button holes. You will need to make 6 button holes. Mark the placement of the buttons on the opposite placket and sew them on.


You're done! I hope that this tutorial was clear. If not, please let me know and I will try to clarify.

Pintuck Baby Dress, Version Two

Nap time is nearly over and the bus is on its way so this will have to be brief! I finished the second version of my pintuck baby dress. This time I added a ruffle at the bottom instead of lace and made a series of vertical rows of pintucks at the neck, rather than radiating lines. Otherwise, it is virtually the same but my pattern pieces were slightly better and probably ready to be shared now. I will try to post them on Monday.

I should mention that the material I used was yet another stocking stuffer from my husband, years ago. Do you see the stocking stuffer trend going on here? It was a nearly one yard remnant and I used half for the dress.

How to Pintuck

I was asked for a brief tutorial on how to pintuck. There is really nothing to it but there are countless variations in the way it can be used. I love them all!
For starters, you need a pintuck presser foot and a double needle. These will be specific to your sewing machine. I use a 10ish year old Husqvarna Viking Easy Sew 350. My double needle is a Schmetz 2,0/80. When you buy your presser foot, the packaging will tell you what kind of double needle to buy. I believe that I have a 5 groove pintuck foot. There are many varieties. For my machine, the current prices for the feet are under $20 and the needles are about $4.00.

When you thread your machine, you need to have two spools of thread. My machine has an attachment that you can pop in place to hold the second spool. You then thread both threads together through the machine, down to the needle.

Then you thread one thread into one needle, and the other into the other needle. And, of course, you put on your pintuck presser foot.

Now you are ready to go. I am using purple fabric and white thread here for contrast in hopes that you will be able to see it ok. You would want to use matching thread if you were actually sewing on a garment or other project. If you go ahead and stitch one line you get a single pintuck as seen above. You will want to make sure that your pintuck is straight so you should either follow a guide along the edge of your fabric, or draw a line with chalk.

When you make your second pintuck, you can allow the first pintuck to ride in the groove in the presser foot to make sure that you have even spacing.

Two rows look like this. Then you can line up for a third and so on.

Sometimes I prefer to space them apart a bit, as demonstrated on the right side of the fabric above. To do that, I just followed a different groove in the presser foot.

Of course you don't need to make your pintucks in rows. The dress I made yesterday (see the post below) has a sort of radiating design. To do that, I marked the top and bottom of each pintuck with a pin. Starting at the top, I stitched from the top pin to the bottom pin. I have a pretty good eye for measurements and direction so I eyed this rather than drawing lines with chalk but that might be helpful.

Pintucks are often used at the top of a garment, near the neckline. They are also used in rows along the hemline. I made a tree top angel for our tree a number of years ago and used pintucks along the hem and it looks very attractive. I should also mention that pintucks work best in lightweight fabric.

I am working on another version of the pintuck baby dress and hope to have it up in the next couple of days!

Pintuck Perfection

I found this material on clearance a few weeks ago and for some reason, it really appeals to me. It just looks so cheery. I wanted to make something for the baby with it and I wanted to use pintucks. I am very partial to pintucks on baby's clothing. My husband actually put the pintuck presser foot in my Christmas stocking about 8 years ago, before we had children. I always hoped to use it on little girls' clothes! I came up with this pattern and believe it to be about a 0-3 month size. I am going to make another one soon to fine tune it a bit. I have enough fabric left over for a gift that I am planning. If anyone is interested, I could share the pattern that I came up with, rough though it may be.

Another Camera Bag

I just finished up another camera bag following the same tutorial that I used for my son's camera bag (http://duringquiettime.blogspot.com/2009/03/camera-bag.html). The strap was the only adjustment. This one will be a gift for a fall birthday. There is nothing like having a baby on the way to get someone to plan ahead! I really like the "Diamond Eye" fabric pattern used on the main bag.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! If any of you moms out there are looking for a craft for the kids, this was fun. We did this about a week ago. I cut random shapes from magazines and made dots of color on the table. My preschooler sorted the magazine pieces onto the correct color dots and thought that was great fun (my kindergartner finished his homework). Then we cut a paper plate in half for the rainbow shape. I drew lines for each color of the rainbow so that they would know the order. Then they chose their shapes and glued them on with a glue stick. Then we cut pots from construction paper. The "gold" was made by stamping using the end of an empty spool of thread with sparkly yellow paint. They loved this craft and it took nearly the whole morning...another bonus!

Snowdrops and a Crocus!

Look at what we found when the snow melted! I am so excited because I love gardening. As soon as it gets warm and things start growing, my sewing decreases and my time in the garden is first and foremost.

More Dishtowels

I made some more dishtowels, this time for my sister's housewarming gift. She moved into the house in September but I haven't seen it yet. We will be visiting in two weeks. At least this way she had time to decide on the colors for her kitchen so that I could make these towels! My mom again assures me that these colors will work and that the design will work for her more modern decorating tastes. I used scraps leftover from the knitting needle roll that I made a couple of months ago.

Storybook Character Day

So, Friday was storybook character day at school. They only gave us 2 days notice to produce costumes for our children to wear! I thought that was a little ridiculous. My son's favorite storybook character at the moment happens to be Hank the Cowdog. Thankfully, I made him a dog costume two years ago for Halloween. It is a bit short in the arms and legs but he was able to wear it at least. He wasn't thrilled because the costume has spots and Hank is a solid brown dog. He was hoping that I could just whip up a new costume. My husband came up with the idea to copy Hank's "badge" from the cover of the books which we attached to the front of the costume. That idea saved the day and my son was happy then. I was glad that the costume was worn again. It is always hard to make a costume and see it worn for only a couple of hours on Halloween. My daughter is very into dogs, as I have mentioned here before, so I wouldn't be surprised if she wears it next year though I am holding out hope that she will request a fairy or princess or some other fun to make costume!

Patchwork Dishtowels

I made a number of patchwork dishtowels for Christmas gifts. I just finished this set for my daughter's godmother's birthday gift. She lives in Georgia and I have not seen her kitchen in person but my mom (who has seen the kitchen) assures me that these colors will coordinate. I hope she will like them.

Little Project for the Little One

I kept this basket in the nursery with a thermometer, diaper creme, cotton swabs, baby brush, etc. but I had made a green and white striped lining since we did not know the gender of our first two children before birth. Since we know that we have a girl on the way this time, I made a new lining for the basket to match her nursery. I used scraps of fabric from the quilts that I made for her and added a little ruffle made of some of the tinier scraps. I reused the same ribbon so I felt very thrifty! The basket is all stocked now except that we need a new baby brush. Not bad!
If the ultrasound tech was wrong about this baby being a girl, I will be so upset after all of this sewing! However, I do have a cute train quilt being formed in the back of my mind.

Disappearing Nine Patch Runner for Spring

In another attempt to sew spring into reality, I made a spring-time table runner for the dining room. It suits the subdued colors of the room well. I saw the idea for the disappearing nine patch (http://turkeycookies.blogspot.com/search/label/twelve%20square) a number of weeks ago and knew I needed to try it. I love to try out new patches on table runners because they give you a good feel for it without the commitment of a whole quilt.

Roadside Find

The fall version.

Spring has sprung!

Not last summer, but the summer before, I was walking with the kids in the stroller and spied two old chairs on the side of the road. I particularly like mismatched old chairs and saw potential in them. However, I couldn't figure out how to get two chairs home on the jogging stroller since I still had nearly 2 miles to go! We got home and drove over in the car and fortunately, the chairs were still there!

Then they sat in the barn for a good year. Last summer I finally finished sanding and priming and painting one of them for my dining room. I recently finished painting the second one as well. Only the first has cushions. I made one for fall/winter and one for spring/summer with fabric that I bought on Sew Mama Sew. Today I decided that I would jump the gun on spring and put out the spring cushion.

I attempted to use up batting scraps for the chair pads. The fall version is a bit more tailored. I used some of the old puffy awful batting that I don't use anymore and covered it with the nicer cotton stuff for the padding. I made three covered buttons to secure the batting, sewn in a little triangle pattern on the chair pad. The spring version used only the awful polyester batting so it is puffier and I hand tied it in many locations with matching embroidery floss.

My other chair is still waiting for a cushion. It sits in the opposite corner of the dining room now, painted the same color as the other chair. I think it might be my new sewing chair though and will replace the folding chair that I have at my sewing machine table. It's in the ajoining room so it will coordinate well. I am thinking of making a cushion with selvages for that chair (see post below). Now I just need to collect enough selvages.

Selvages

I have always thought that selvages were neat...I loved the dots of color or squares of color and reading the names of the fabrics. I recently stumbled across a selvage web site and have started collecting my selvages instead of tossing them. There is a giveway that would really help my collecting....

http://modalissa.blogspot.com/2009/03/selvages-tell-story.html?showComment=1236724200000#c2039773787017160751

Camera Bag

My son requested a camera bag and it just so happened that a tutorial was just posted for a camera case that I modified a touch (1/4" bigger all around, Velcro enclosures instead of snaps, and a strap) and voila, he had his camera bag! The tutorial can be found here:

http://amyalamode.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/cozy-camera-case-tutorial/

I made the bag a bit bigger than necessary so that his camera could fit in either vertically or horizontally since he is only 6 and I wanted it to be easy to use. The pouch on the back holds extra batteries. This would have been helpful on Saturday when we went to the zoo and his camera shut off due to low batteries after he took only two pictures. He wasn't happy! I made a strap that is long enough so he can wear it over his shoulder and across his body so it won't go anywhere. We happened to have this scrap of dinosaur material in the house from a t-shirt applique that I made for him last summer. I also had the dinosaur button on hand so we added that for a little fun. He loves it!

Amy Butler's Nigella Yoga Bag inspires my Tripod Bag

I gave my husband a tripod for his recent birthday and was thinking that some sort of carrying bag would be helpful. When I saw the free pattern for Amy Butler's Nigella Yoga Bag, http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/free_patterns.php, I thought it looked like a great place to start. In case anyone is interested in making one, mine was made to fit the Sunpak 757B. I measured the widest part of the tripod to determine the width of the main fabric piece, and measured the height to determine the height of the bag, and the placement of the top of the strap. Then I added 6 inches to the height. I cut the main bag and lining piece to be 19 1/4" x 36". I cut the strap 14" x 36". The bottom circle has a diameter of 6.4". I then assembled the bag according to the yoga bag instructions, skipping the exterior pockets. I also used 5/8" seams on my version. I added the extra 6" beyond the strap in order to close the bag so that the tripod couldn't accidentally slip out. I made 12 evenly spaced button holes 2" down from the finished top edge and wove a cord through the buttonholes which can be pulled and tied shut.
This would have been a great project to try out with some fun home dec. fabric but since my husband needed to like it and be willing to carry it, I went with a basic blue and neutral striped exterior and tan basket weave patterned interior fabric. I used home dec. material for both the bag exterior and lining and used lightweight interfacing. My husband is happy with it and said that he likes the way it stays close to his body.

Habitual Simple Kimono Wrap

I finally got around to making one of the baby kimonos from the free pattern on the Habitual web site. See here for the free pattern: http://habitual.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/updated-kimono-pattern/

I have been wanting to make one for awhile and was recently reminded of it by another woman who completed one. I had it all cut out last week but couldn't find the right color green thread until yesterday. This project really made me wish that I owned a bias tape maker too! I think I will suggest it to my husband as a great stocking stuffer idea for next year. My fingers had too many close calls with the iron as I made the bias tape. I found the walking foot to be really helpful when finishing the thick ends of the binding.

Bunny Bag Pattern

I created this pattern for a whimsical little Easter bag to match my daughter's dress. I didn't think to take pictures as I went or to measure out the fabric requirements, but I do have the pattern and directions to share with anyone who is interested. I used the same material as my daughter's Easter dress for the outer bag; the lining is pink dotted swiss. She loves the bunny ears, alluding to a possible hiding bunny in the outer pocket. For her, that makes the bag. Enjoy the pattern and please share pictures of your creations!

Directions:

Bunny Bag Directions.pdf

Pattern:

Bunny Bag Pattern.pdf

Sew, Mama, Sew was gracious enough to share the link to this tutorial as part of their Spring Sewing-Easter Tutorials, http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=771. I thought I'd set up a Flickr group for those who pop over and decide to make their own bunny bag. Please feel free to post your pictures on the new group site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1076311@N21/. I can't wait to see them!