sewing

Jack’s Party: Decorations

Posted by Nat on Mar 28, 2012 | 10 comments

Jack doesn’t really like any one particular character enough for me to be able to say, “Oh, we’ll have a _______ party.”  He is just now getting into Toy Story, he loves helicopters and motorcycles, but he’s not totally obsessed with any one thing just yet.  Well, except one thing. Balloons.

About six months ago Jack got a balloon.  We went to the dentist.  He screamed the whole time because of a chipped tooth trauma from a while back.  He hates the dentist.  But when he got that balloon his whole demeanor changed.  And when we got home, all he wanted to do was play. with. his. balloooooon.  And so, the love affair began.

The balloon obsession, combined with the fact that about 90% of the time Jack is one happy boy, I decided to just throw a party with some fun balloon decorations and keep it happy.  That is, after all, my theme this year.

Just a reminder that I’m saying thank you to my friend, Tonya, for all of the pictures she took.  You’ll be able to pick her work out because I thank her in all of the pictures that she took. 🙂

First, I made this balloon wreath.  If you search “balloon wreath” on Pinterest you will see lots of examples, but I was particularly drawn to this one at Landee See, Landee Do (say that three times fast).  I decided that I want this wreath to be a family tradition.  We are going to hang it on our door for each child’s birthday, and I’ll make a new center circle for it for each child on each birthday.  Now that the main work of making it is over, I think it will be easy to keep up with.

I didn’t use ribbons the way Landee did and like the simplicity of it.  I may go back and throw in more purple- we’ll see. I ended up with very few purple in my bags for some reason.  I bought the balloons for this wreath at Dollar Tree; I think I bought 8 bags but only used about 7.  These balloons are cheap for a reason- if you blow them up they are super tiny.  Doesn’t matter for the wreath, though. 🙂

In her post Landee says her thumb was sore for days- I must have tough thumbs.  However, I did make this over a few nights, not all at once.

For the center circle I just made a graphic in Photoshop Elements and cut it out with a circle cutter.  The font, if you’re interested (I love it) is Ribbon from Lost Type.  I used the coordinating ribbon and attached it with more floral pins to the top.  I also hung the wreath with wire and covered it up with ribbon- it is rather heavy and I wasn’t sure if the ribbon could hold it alone.  Just looking at this wreath makes me smile, and Jack loved it.

The other decor that I just loved were the balloons themselves.  I’ve seen these big balloons so many places and just loved how different they looked.  They are HUGE.  I got them at Shop Sweet Lulu.  They ship very quickly- both orders I placed for this party were shipped the same day I ordered them, and each order came with a piece of taffy.  Yum!  I’m sold.

One thing I will say: these balloons took all the helium I had.  How much did I have?  I had two Balloon Time tanks*; one was used from a previous party and one was brand new.  By the time I filled up all three of these balloons, the helium was g-o-n-e GONE.  I think next time I will call Party City and see how much they’d charge to fill them up.

The balloon banner was made the night before and slept in our playroom.  I woke up before the kids and hung it outside on our newly-paved patio (my husband is awesome) and was elated with how bright and cheery it was.  I was inspired by Design Mom, and you can find her tutorial here.

While I didn’t get a raw thumb from the balloon wreath, I did get raw fingers from tying off all of these balloons!!!  My husband would have helped but he came home with back spasms the night before Jack’s party so I let him rest so he could be my work mule the day of the party.   It was really easy to make.

In Design Mom’s post she uses an upholstery needle.  My moment of desperation was laying out all of my balloons, getting my string (she used waxed twine but my plain ol’ string worked great, too), and realizing I wasn’t sure I had a needle that would work.  Then I went through my knitting supplies and found my plastic yarn needle and it worked perfectly.  What’s even better- I didn’t have to worry about popping the balloons because there was no sharp metal tip to wield.  Hooray!  Time-wise, start to finish, I think this took me about an hour and a half to make.   Totally worth it- when Jack saw it he said, “Mommy, my balloons! My balloons!”  He loved it.

Lastly, I made these streamers:

I saw these on Made, and Dana’s tutorial was great.  I could spend hours on her tutorials alone.  I wasn’t even planning on making them and then when I was at Walmart getting a few things I saw them and thought, “Oh, what the hey, I’ll give it a try.”  It was a bit cumbersome at first and then I found my magic tool:  a wooden spoon.  Dana had a dowel, I think, in her tutorial, and she used it to keep her streamers from getting tangled up.  I didn’t have a dowel, so I went with my longest wooden spoon and it was perfect.  You hit a rhythm after a while, and then just as you think, “Hey!  I’ve got a rhythm going here…. ”  …your bobbin runs out of thread.  I rolled these up and will use them for other parties.  They are so cheery and fun!

 In case you’re wondering how long the big balloons lasted in terms of float-i-ness…  the green one popped in the wind the next day, but orange and red lasted from Saturday to Monday night.  We brought them inside and the kids were in heaven playing with them.  This is them on my birthday on Sunday:

Up tomorrow: the scavenger hunt!

*I did NOT pay the price you see in that link to Walmart for my tank. If you get them in-store they are much cheaper!

Operation Organization: Pouches for Toys

Posted by Nat on Mar 21, 2012 | 2 comments

I fit some sewing in a few weeks ago and am so happy with what I ended up with.  My kids had a few toys that needed to be contained.  Some blocks that needed a better/cuter home than a Ziploc bag, and Connectagons from my mom at Christmas time.

I knew just where to go for what I needed.  My friend Kari’s blog, Handmade Mommy, has a lovely tutorial on fishing reel drawstring bags.  I thought they’d be perfect for the kids because they are easy to open and shut, and you can make them whatever size you need.  Here’s my final product:

Aren’t they cute?  I lined the inside with white flannel just to keep them a bit thicker and sturdy.

These blocks look so much better in a cute bag, don’t you think?

Thanks so much for the tutorial, Kari!

Anna’s Coat

Posted by Nat on Oct 31, 2011 | 3 comments

*sidebar:  Alternate post titles that were considered:

Respect the Coat

Go Big or Don’t Sew

I Fully Admit I Have No Idea What I’m Doing (my former tag line)

What Was I Thinking? (already taken- see here and here)

Coats are Magic

Irons Are Hot and Dangerous

*end sidebar, other than to say that this post will be LONG.  It’s therapy people- almost like giving birth.  Feel free to just scroll and look at pictures, but I will type out my thoughts, too, though it may be a bit wonky….  Here goes…

A while ago I introduced you to Anna’s Bear, and how I was incorporating him into part of her Halloween costume.  I finally finished!  Here are some photos of Anna in her coat:

The coat by itself:

(some of these photos make the corduroy look really wrinkly, but it’s been pressed, I promise!)

And here are some specific photos in the book that led to my choice of fabric, pattern selection, etc.

Lastly, I couldn’t resist a side-by-side comparison- isn’t she a cutie?

And the backstory:  Anna decided that she wanted to be the little girl from Corduroy, which surprised me given her affinity for ballerinas, princesses and other typical 4-year-old-girl stuff.  One night, as we were reading Corduroy, I mentioned, “Hey, that would be a fun costume for Halloween! We could use Bear as Corduroy, and I could make him some green overalls just like in the book.”  I didn’t think it would stick, but it did.  I asked her randomly for several weeks if she wanted to be a princess, like Rapunzel or Snow White?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy (her name is Lisa, but she doesn’t seem to remember that).  Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy.   A butterfly?  Nope.  The Girl from Corduroy.  All righty then.

I was on a mission.  After sewing the overalls for Bear I started looking for pink coats (this was also an issue- she said it was pink, I thought it looked more red, but we all know that if I made her a red coat when she wanted pink….).  At the time of my search there were no dark pink anything online- lots of powder pink.  So I searched the books at Joann’s and found it.  Burda #9596 (this link is to a Flickr stream- I cannot find a link to it for purchase online!).  I figured that I could sew it for her in a bit larger size and then we’d have more than just a costume- we’d have a coat for a while, too.  Here is where things got hilarious.

Have I ever sewn a pattern before?  No.

Have I ever sewn an article of clothing for a human to wear before?  No.  (Unless you count some horrendous shirt I sewed in my sewing class that I think I took when I was 8 or 9.)

Have I taken any kind of sewing lessons as an adult?  No.

Hmm.  Well, that makes it perfectly logical to think that I could just whip up a coat, right?  Heh.

I actually bought the pattern and the fabric and other necessities when I bought the stuff for Bear’s overalls, but then we got busy.  My parents were here, my wonderful friend from college was here, and it was a great excuse to mentally prepare.

Some skills that I learned in this process:

• I learned what facings are.  I can’t really tell you what they are in a text book way, but if you take a coat and look just inside it, you’ll probably see the same fabric that’s on the outside of the coat run around the edges and the collar.  Then the lining of the coat will be sewn to it.  Those are facings.
• I learned how to sew pockets into things.
• I learned why, when you buy certain garments, the pockets are sewn shut (actually, they are basted shut).
• I learned why it’s so important to press open seam allowances.
• I learned how to not burn myself when pressing open seam allowances.
• I learned about interfacing.
• I learned how to read a pattern, though there are still parts I don’t quite get.
• I learned that I should probably take a sewing class or two, but am not sure when that will happen.

There are several imperfections on the coat.  One of them is that I somehow missed the part where I was supposed to sew the top and bottom facings together.  I looked back over the instructions and it was not clear at all.  So I made little patches to go over the exposed hems that were a result of my newbie status and called it a day.

The pocket openings are two different sizes, but Anna has yet to notice- she’s just happy to have pockets.  This particular pattern was definitely assuming that one knew what one was doing (ha) so I had to look up a lot of things online.  There was also a lot of lingo that made no sense, so I had to literally stare at the pattern diagram, stare at the coat.  Stare at the pattern diagram, stare at the coat.  And then after about 20 minutes of that something in my brain would click and all of a sudden it would make sense.  I also couldn’t figure out how to sew the lining to the inside of the cuffs at the end of the sleeves, but no one will see that unless I show it to them, and I may have a friend who can help with that.

Overall I am uber-happy with how it turned out.  If I could go back, I would buy a more sturdy, higher-quality corduroy for the coat.  But lesson learned- hopefully it will hold up…

So there you have it- Anna’s coat.  And someday, Emily’s coat, I hope.  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank my mother.  Some day I will post pictures of the plethora of dance costumes she made for my sister and I.  They were almost always made of satin, lined, and lots of tulle was involved as well.  Props to you, Mom- after one coat, much respect!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I’m linking up to Mady by You Mondays on Skip to My Lou

Microcrafts: Halloween Bunting

Posted by Nat on Oct 20, 2011 | 1 comment

I am so excited to tell you about a new book, “Microcrafts,” by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz, and Friends.  I was sent this book by Eric at Quirk Books, the publisher.  The book itself is very nice- quality paper, great photos and instructions.  If you Google it you’ll find lots of lovely reviews with photos from the book, but I’m more into showing you what I’ve made from the book.  I’m new to the world of microcrafting, and after looking at this book I’ll be trying several things from it.  Having a little girl obsessed with tiny things helps.

The first and most accessible project for me (given when it arrived with family and friends in town) was bunting.  I guess one would call it “micro-bunting” because the little flags are only 3/4″ across!  It was super easy to slice up the paper. I dug into my crafting stash and found an angle guide for my paper cutter (which is broken- I need a new one).

I decided to add to our Halloween decor, so I chose the paper, and cut it into a few 1-inch strips.

Then it was just time to make triangles:

 As I was slicing I gained an assistant.  Often I have to tell Anna that she can only watch with my projects, but she is totally into using scissors right now, so I just gave her a few strips and traced the triangles on for her- she loved helping, and she actually did a great job.  She also helped me sort the triangles after slicing them so that I could load them into the sewing machine in a pattern.

I got lots of “awesome mommy” points that afternoon- she was so happy.

The only problem I had (please share if you know a solution) is that they won’t lay flat like they do in the book.  My first attempt was too embarrassing to post, so I tried again, lengthening the stitch, and that helped a little.  I tried flattening them overnight with a magazine or two (hot doctors can always help, right?)…

…But they still don’t look as nice as in the book.  Oh well- they are still super cute.

I’m going to make some more for our laundry room, which will be updated soon, so I’ll post more about them if I figure out what helps them lay flat. Maybe something to do with the tension in my thread…  There will definitely be more microcrafting posts coming up!

Disclosure:  While I was not paid for this post, I was sent the book for free with the expectation that I’d do a review.  Thanks, Quirkbooks!  If you’d like to get your own copy, it’s available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Project Runway…for Stuffed Animals?

Posted by Nat on Sep 13, 2011 | 2 comments

I’m sure this would never fly, but it was a funny thing to imagine- I’m sure there are many moms out there who make this and that for stuffed friends and dolls- we should be recognized.  Then my brain had visions of stuffed animals walking a runway, a la Project Runway…. but I digress…

A while ago I introduced you to Bear.   And, drum roll please…  Here are Bear’s finished overalls!

They turned out okay- I won’t be writing a tutorial because I totally rushed didn’t have time to take pictures amidst the naptime and night time sewing that must occur here these days at Crafting Crazy.  I can tell you that it was pretty easy to do, and I learned a few things:  1)  Plan better.  2)  I can do a buttonhole, even if it takes 9 tries.  Yep.  9.   3)  Bear is a tricky body shape to design for.  I liken him to the challenge on PR when they have to design for non-models.

This is what I started with:

Here is the back view (the straps cross, just like Corduroy’s in the book):

And here are a few details:

This was my first sewing venture in a long time, and I’m glad that it wasn’t anything with too much pressure.   My next sewing project, however, is going to be Anna’s part of this costume.  That has lots of pressure because I want her to be able to wear it all winter.  Yikes!  More to come, soon!  My parents are in town at the end of the week- I’m not sure if that means I’ll be posting more because I’ll have some extra hands, or if I’ll be posting less because we’ll be off having fun, but I do have lots of posts to write- it’s a matter of finding a time when I can sit down and stay awake to write!

I’m linking up to

My Friends, Meet Bear

Posted by Nat on Aug 24, 2011 | 1 comment

This is Anna’s bear.  He’s very pleased to meet you.

Every child has some sort of lovey or thing they are attached to, right?  Actually, I don’t remember having one as a child…. oh wait, I did.  It was my thumb.  If I could go back and change things up, I’d pick a bear.

There’s a special project in the works for this bear, though, so I thought I’d introduce you ahead of time.  And this is a special bear for our family.  Special as in, “Oh my LORD we can never, EVER lose this bear because there is no replacement” kind of special.

When I was in 7th grade I had a cyst in my left hand.  It was no big deal in the grand scheme of life, but to a 7th grade girl who is falling in love with the piano it was a rather big deal (and I was pretty dramatic in general- I’m sure my mom and sisters would back that up).  I needed surgery to have it removed, and to our surprise, they put me out for it.  When I woke up in recovery, my hand bandaged up and head throbbing, this bear was the first thing I saw through the hazy effects of the drugs wearing off.   It was the holiday season, so he was actually holding a candy cane and wearing a little knit hat.  He was wonderful- and actually a very well-made bear.

Fast forward to Anna’s arrival.  I’m not sure when Bear came back to me.  Maybe I grabbed him during a home visit, or my mom sent him out with some of my other belongings.  Somehow Bear made it into Anna’s room with her stuffed animals, and somehow she zeroed in on him as “the one” she needed for comfort. Needless to say, I was elated.  I’ve also been heartbroken in the last few months as 4-year-old Anna selects other friends as her #1 choice for playing, comfort and general preschool fun.  But I’ve come to notice that when in a pickle, Bear is the only one who will do.  He goes to school, and just this past week he accompanied us to the dentist and even had his teeth cleaned.

Over the last 4 years he’s gotten a little tired in a few areas…

…but overall he is sturdy.  I haven’t had to sew any holes shut, and when we wash him, he holds together just fine.

Anna also waxes and wanes about Bear’s gender.  Sometimes Bear is a boy, and his name is Bear.   Other times she will proclaim that Bear is a girl.  I’ll ask her, “Well, what’s her name going to be then?  If Bear is a girl we need to be able to tell.”  “Just Bear, Mommy,” she’ll say.  Hm.

However, our upcoming project will perhaps define that scenario a bit more.  Here’s a little hint:

I can’t wait!  More to come!