Ask First, Commit Second

I really need to learn to ask first, commit second. I asked the PTO if they would like me to make a "baby girl basket" for the craft fair this fall. I roped my friend into it too. She will be knitting a few items for the basket. Then I asked what the deadline was....October 23rd! I thought I had into November. Within the next month, we have Halloween costumes, a fourth birthday party, the PTO donations and more.

I am starting with a very quick and simple quilt for the PTO. I bought the 5 yards of the white fabric with polka dots for only $4.00 a few months ago when a store in town was closing. The woman who owned the store sews purses and was selling her extra material. I thought it was steal and would be perfect for the back of a baby quilt. I looked through my scraps for similar pastel tones and am going to make rows of squares with polka dot sashing in between. At least, that is my current plan.

Tonight I am helping a friend with her first sewing project, a pumpkin Halloween costume for her daughter. It is a no sew pattern that we are improving with a little sewing.

Happiness is...

Happiness is a reason to vacuum the dining room floor other than the usual assortment of crumbs. I pin basted my quilt tonight. Now I need to decide how I want to attempt to quilt it and begin!

Horsing Around Jumper Tutorial

Horsing Around Jumper Tutorial

Here is a quick tutorial for the jumper; written after the fact so it lacks pictures. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

All seam allowances are 5/8”. My jumper is approximately a girls’ size 5. For this size, I used a yard and a half of light weight corduroy plus a 9” x 11” piece of cotton for the bib lining, about 10” of 3/4” wide elastic, two 7/8” buttons, four 5/8” buttons. The measurements that I used are in parenthesis. You should measure your child for the best fit.

Fabric Cutting

Cut a rectangle for the jumper bib out of lightweight corduroy and one out of cotton to line it. (8 ½” wide x 10 ½” high) If your fabric does not have a large scale design that you are showcasing, like the horse in my example, you could add a pocket or applique to the front bib.

Cut two straps ( 3” wide x 19” long)

Cut front panel of skirt (11½ ” high x 40” wide) --Cut a little longer than need be if you want room to adjust length prior to attaching ruffle.

Cut waistband (3” high x 13 ½” long) The length is one half of your child’s waist measurement plus the seam allowances.

Cut back panel of skirt (13” high x 40” wide) --Cut a little longer than need be if you want room to adjust length prior to attaching ruffle.

Cut two ruffle pieces (45” long x 3 ¾” wide)

Sewing Directions

1. With right sides together sew front and lining of bib together leaving an opening for turning. Cut corners and trim seams, turn, iron and hand sew opening closed. The bib is complete.

2. Fold under ¼” along upper edge of waistband, press. Gather upper edge of skirt front and attach it to the other edge of the waistband. Press waistband up. Fold waistband in half, press, and hand sew the inner edge of the waistband. This completes the front skirt panel. The finished waistband should measure 1”.

3. Fold under ¼” along upper edge of back skirt panel, press. Fold down an additional 1”, press and stitch close to the fold. Measure child’s waist. Cut a piece of elastic that is half the waist measurement and insert into the casing. Stitch it in at either end.

4. Serge or use an overcast stitch to stitch skirt side seams. Make sure that they are neatly lined up at the top. Once you stitch one side seam, try the skirt on your child. You can make the waist smaller by taking a larger side seam on the other side if necessary for the best fit. At this point, adjust the length and make sure that the front and back of skirt are the same length.

5. Stitch the ruffle pieces together at the narrow ends. Finish bottom of ruffle by folding under ¼” pressing, another ¼” and stitching. Gather upper edge of ruffle and attach to skirt bottom.
Find center point of the bib and mark with a pin. Find center point of waistband and mark with a pin. Line these center points up and attach the bib to the waistband with four buttons. You can make button holes or just stitch them through the two layers like I did.

6. Make straps by folding the strap pieces in half and stitching one short edge and then length then turning(using a 1/4" seam allowance). Edge finish the raw edge. Make buttons holes on the finished end and attach buttons to the front of the jumper. Try jumper on the child, buttoning the straps in the front. Cross the straps in the back where they naturally want to do so and safety pin. Then put two more safety pins in the waistband where the straps will attach. Remove jumper and top stitch a diamond shape where the straps cross in the back. Stitch along the waistband seam to hold the straps in at the back.

I believe that is the gist of it. Good luck! I’d love to see any that you make.

Pajama Party!

Today we held a pajama party in honor of Sew, Mama, Sew's September Pajama Party Sew Along. I spent my "free time" this week making the kids new pjs for the winter. I bought the material over a month ago but I got caught up in other projects. The kids picked the material, of course. Since I finished the pjs today and the kids were in need of a quiet day after a very busy week, I told them that they could have a "pajama party." It consisted of changing into their new pjs at noon on Sunday, having quiet time in their new pjs, having a short, Mommy sanctioned pillow fight, and watching "Robin Hood" with popcorn. They were in heaven.

The boy's pajamas on the left were made using Simplicity 2771 Child's/Teens' size S which I would say translated into a size 6/7. It was an easy, straight forward pattern that had a few nice details like the pocket, sleeve bands and optional piping. The material my son chose makes me laugh. It has sharks wearing snorkels all over it.
The girl's nightgown was made using McCall's Easy Stitch'n Save M5355. I modified this pattern over the summer to make a sleeveless nightgown. This time, I followed the pattern and made the long sleeves. I really like this pattern. It is simple and perfect for sleeping. There are no fasteners of any kind, given the neckline. It just pulls on over the head. The sleeves are so traditional with the gathered top and elastic forming a ruffle at the wrist. The bottom dips in the front and back which looks cute and is sort of unique. I made her nightgown a little on the large size because she does not like to be restricted by her clothing at all, but short enough so she doesn't trip going up and down the stairs. It was made a size 5, but the length was closer to a size 3. I have some more flannel waiting to make a final pair of girl's pjs. I will use the same pattern but might make the pants and top version for variety.

Horsing Around

Lily is in a horse phase. I guess this is common in little girls her age, though I never experienced it myself. We were at JoAnns a few weeks ago and spied a one and a half yard remnant of lightweight, brown corduroy with off white horse designs. As soon as I picked it up she said "Is that for me?"
I knew right away that I wanted to make a jumper with a bib front that had a horse right in the middle for her to look at. I haven't seen any patterns around for this style, though it is hardly original. I decided to give it a try without a pattern. This was a first for me and I am really pleased with the results. I was a little worried that I would have ruined the fabric and ended up with nothing to show for it and one very disappointed little girl!
The front bib is lined in a dark brown cotton with off white polka dots. When she moves, you catch glimpses of it and its really cute. The bib is attached to the skirt with buttons, just decoratively. I skipped the buttonholes since there was really no reason to have them functional. The front waistband is flat and the back is elastic. The straps button in the front, cross in the back and are stitched into the waistband in the back. I added a ruffle on the bottom. I spent many nursing sessions planning this outfit in my head over the past week or so. When I began to sew, it went together quite quickly.

It passed Lily's twirlability test with high marks!

And I made a matching covered button for her ponytail.
All in all, it was a success so I might be brave enough to try some more pattern free clothing provided they are equally simple designs!

Halloween Costume Hint

Here is the Halloween costume hint number 2. If you don't all know immediately now, I think I will roll it up in a ball and call it quits. Pomona already guessed correctly but not in a comment. So, you can go ahead and guess but she is the winner!

Ivory it is

It seems unanimous so ivory it is. I had to stitch a few pieces together to see how it looks. I now have the backing material and the batting too so there is nothing stopping me but time, a Halloween costume and a jumper made of horse material... Thank you for chiming in with your advice!

Blocks are Complete!

My quilt is now ready for sashing! I really got excited about this project and have been working on it non stop for the past few evenings. I have all the blocks ready now. The quilt will consist of stacked coins and modified log cabins. Do they have a name? Some quilter out there must know. I just saw them in another quilt and liked the idea! I used fussy cut butterflies for the center and what I will refer to as not quite so fussy cut butterflies for a couple blocks when I started to run out of butterfly fabric! As it turns out, it was sort of a happy mistake because it looks more like those butterflies are taking flight so I like it.
I am trying to decide between white and ivory colored sashing. I think white might work better with the majority of the fabrics. I have ivory in the house though so it is tempting. The hall where I plan to hang the quilt has tan walls and ivory trim. For that reason, I am also tempted to go with the ivory but I imagine that quilting is like framing. You should choose the mat for the piece, not for the room where you are hanging it. I suppose I should choose the sashing that works best with the other materials in the quilt rather than the space where it will be hanging.
For the time being, I will need to put this project aside until I get to the fabric store, just like the Halloween costume. I hope to fit that trip in this week.
Until then, I have a preschool backpack to repair for my soon to be preschooler.
I nearly forgot. I have never hung a quilt before. I am fortunate to be married to a wood working hobbiest and he has volunteered (agreed) to make me something to hang it from. Does anyone have any good design ideas? I was assuming that I would sew a pocket along the top edge of the quilt and would insert a rod which would rest on something that he would construct on either end. Maybe there is a better way.

Take a Guess

Can you guess what he is going to be for Halloween? The jeans are not part of the costume. The footwear was a bit of a challenge since they slip over his regular shoes. I have to keep reminding myself that this costume will only be worn once so not to spend too much time and energy on it. Taking that into consideration, I think that they will be just fine. Now I have the rest to work on but need some more supplies first.

Here is a bit of one of the blocks I have started working on for my new quilt. I am enjoying working with some new fabrics and colors!

Baby Legs

I made Penny a pair of baby legs last night following this super simple tutorial: http://littlebirdiesnest.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-legs-another-baby-legs-tutorial.html. The knee socks that I used are just solid, brown, cable knit. I bought them in a two pack and her big sister will wear the others as actual knee socks. For Penny, I cut off the heel and toe and turned that small foot piece into a band, attached to the raw edge of the knee sock. Basically, baby legs are leg warmers. They are great for easy diaper changes and I can strip them off when it gets warmer this afternoon. I definitely want to make more so I am on the look out for cute patterned knee socks next!

Penny's Hats!

My friend, Alyson, knit Penny four adorable hats that I just had to share! Aren't they the sweetest? Only three are pictured because the fourth is still too big. I just love all of them. It's been chilly enough this week for hats too. In fact, she was sporting the strawberry hat this morning at the bus stop, along with her sleep sack! These hats will help me to accept the return of chillier temperatures.

Edited to add: More information on the hats from Alyson:
The strawberry hat is called the “berry baby hat” and is a free download on ravelry.
The pink cotton hat is called “sweet and simple baby hat” (free on ravelry.)
The long tailed hat was based loosely on http://sewliberated.typepad.com/sew_liberated/2009/02/irish-pixie-hat.html and a similar hat in the book “itty bitty hats” by Susan B. Anderson.

Praying Mantis Report

After our praying mantis egg hatched, we only saw them for a couple of days. We thought that they had all been eaten by something else until this weekend when we found one! We also noticed that the roses are aphid free! They must be around and doing their job.

My sewing "during quiet time" today consisted of one 4 1/2" seam. As you might guess, there were no good naps to be had around here.