McCall's Native American Child Costume Pattern MC5953

Really straight forward, easy pattern.  I did peices A & G and it took no time at all, just a couple of hours one afternoon.

The ONLY complaint is with me and my lameness/stupidity/lack of trusting patterns/whatever.  When I was cutting out the shirt pieces (A) they looked WAY too small, so I cut a much larger size than my skinny little six-year old needs.  Yeah, the thing is I didn't take into account that 1/4 of the top is a seperate piece that gets added to the main part.  I was able to trim off the bottom, but it was too late for the neck line, which is pretty gaping on him.  But he loves it, so whatever.  Mistakes make homemade projects more endearing, right? Blergh.

He's actually been sleeping in the pants for a week.  Between the fabric material and the fringe it's a crazy fire hazard, but it makes me feel good he loves it so much.  And it's all about me.

Native American-Inspired Quiver

I know I said I'd do a holster tute, but my six-year old has been patiently waiting for a quiver for his Native American costume, and well, the one-year old really doesn't care about his holster, so...

Native American-Inspired Quiver!

Here is how I made it...

Materials:

-two contrasting suede-like fabrics

-fleece

-plastic canvas

-fringe

1. Cut the plastic canvas down to approximately 16" by 12".

2. Cut one of fleece the same size as plastic canvas.

3. Cut one of each of contrasting fabrics approximately 1" larger on all sides than plastic canvas.

4. Cut strip of fringe the length of what will be the outside fabric. Zig-zag stitch (I chose zig-zag for aesthetics) down center of fabric's length.

5. Straight stitch fleece to plastic canvas. It may stretch and bunch in places, not a big deal. This won't be seen, it's just to add dimension.

6. With right sides together, sew contrasting fabrics together on three sides. Leave fourth side completely open and unsewn. Turn.

7. Slide plastic canvas/fleece into the contrasting fabric "bag" you just made, pillowcase-style. Fold open edges under and top stitch to finish the fourth edge.

8. Form your project into a tube along the length. Using embroidery floss and needlepoint needle (which I neglected to mention and picture earlier, so SURPRISE!) stitch along the outer edges, closing into a tube.

Hint: I kept the other end closed with a large safety pin until I worked my way further down the tube,

Your thumb and pointer finger may start to bleed. It's all part of the fun.

9. Standing tube upright on contrasting fabrics, trace a rough circle/outline apx. .5" around. Cut out one in each contrasting fabric.

10. Wrong sides facing, stitch contrasting fabric circles together. I chose a zig-zag stitch, again for decoration. Trim excess close to stitches w/out clipping thread.

11. Place circle on one end of tube and prepare to cry. Using that same embroidery floss as before, whip stitch the circle to the bottom of the tube.

By this point I was using a pair of pliers from my husband's tool box. I may have snapped a needle in two by pulling too hard at one point. Good times.

12. After measuring the future owner of the quiver from shoulder to waist (or just guessing, if he's still at school and you have no patience), cut a strip of one of the contrasting fabrics 2" wide and apx. 4" longer than the measurement.

13. Fold with right sides in along length and stitch edges, leaving open at one end for turning.

14. Turn right side out, and fold open edges in.

15. Top stitch closed, and then I decorative-stitched along the edges.

16. Pull out those pliers, needle, and embroidery floss again. Whip stitch strap to either end of quiver, at top and bottom of seam.

 

17. Give it to the kid you made it for and send him off in search of sticks to make some arrows with.

19. Bask in the love of a child that now thinks you're the boss because you made him a freaking amazing quiver, despite the throbbing in your thumb and pointer finger.

That's love.

Lil' cowboy holster

My three-year old's cap gun holster is done! Woo!  One-year-old's participation willing, I'll have a tutorial for it up tomorrow.  Cross your fingers.

And, yeah, we need another cap gun.  But I'm picky and cheap, and so far the local thrift store has only provided one $1 vintage die cast 6-shooter.  Still looking...

I know, I know...

More fitted diapers. But I made them, so here they are.

A friend needed a larger size than the regular one-size pattern I use. I took the other pattern and added 3.5 inches length to the middle. I also made a much larger soaker, covering more back area and being longer. I want to go back and make the new soakers for all of our fitteds now!

And with my new serger it took me DAYS less time than the last fitteds I made, and not even one was eaten by the serger-beast. Happy day.

these are all bamboo: velour on lining and outers and a layer of fleece sandwiched in between. SOFT! and should be pretty darned absorbant, too.

Little Cowboy Chaps

I've been getting a lot of hits lately on my kids' halloween costumes from years past. So this year I'd thought I'd show how I made some of what my kids will be wearing. Hopefully I'll have a holster tutorial up in a day or two...

A simple little tutorial for making simple little chaps for a cowboy costume.

You'll need:

-A pair of your child's pants that currently fit

-Measuring tape

-Freezer paper, wax paper, or just something to make a pattern with.

-1-inch wide elastic

-leather/suade-like material

-sissors (regular and fabric)

-a crayon

1. Fold the pants in half length-wise and lay on the paper. Use the crayon to trace, apx 1 inch out, around the folded pants. I used a crayon because if I slipped and somehow hit the pants, it wouldn't leave a mark. At least not a permenant one.

2. Remove the pants and cut the pattern out. After pattern is cut out, mark a rounded section from the top "butt" corner to the lower "butt" angle of the pattern, as seen in the lower right of the picture. Cut this section out of the pattern.

3. Lay the pattern on the fabric and cut two on the fold.

4. On each leg sew from the lower "butt" angle to the ankle, right sides together.

5. Hem all along all raw edges, double folding under for a finished edge. Put aside.

6. Measure your child's hips OVER their pants (unless you plan on sending them out David Lee Roth-style...)

7. Cut a strip of fabric roughly 1.5 times the size of the measurement and 2.5 inches wide.

8. With right sides together sew the long edge of the fabric, leaving ends open, making a long tube.

9. Turn tube right side out.

10. Cut strip of 1-inch wide elastic aproximatley one inch shorter than child's hip measurement. Run elastic through tube, using a safety pin to aid in giding it through. Be sure to secure other end of elastic, so that you don't pull the other end into the fabric. You need both ends of elastic on either side of the tube free of fabric.

11. Zig-zag stitch both ends of elastic together.

12. Pull one end of fabric tube up and over the other end of fabric tube, encasing all of elastic. Fold the raw edge under and straight-stitch close.

13. With right sides together, stitch top of legs to the newly-formed waist band, catching only the fabric and not the elastic.

And that's it.

Now, if you want to add a fancy-shmancy gold buckle...

You'll need

- a small amount of gold-metailic fabric

-fleece or other stabilizer.

-embroidery thread

-embroidery needle

1. Trace an oval shape on the backside of metallic fabric, cut out two.

2. Cut out two ovals out of the fleece or stablizer.

3. Sandwhich the fabrics as follows:

metallic, metallic (right sides togther), stablizer, stablizer

4. Sew together, leaving a small opening to allow for turning.

5. Turn so metallic right sides are facing out. Turn opening raw edges under and top stitch all around the "buckle".

6. Using the embroidery floss, decorate the buckle with your child's name or whatever.

7. Sew or otherwise attach buckle to front of chaps, along waist band, between legs.

(I used snaps for mine, so that I could switch the buckles out when the next boy moves into them.)

You could embelish the chaps before sewing them with patterns, fringe, whatever. My son insisted that he wanted NOTHING on his, so whatever. I'll probably add at least fringe to the baby's, but didn't think about it until his were done.

Baby Girl Crib Bedding

Bumper pad, crib skirt, nusery organizer, and two pillows for my sister's baby girl due next week (!)

I used Simplicity pattern 3795. Overall, I really liked the pattern.
-I omitted the flowers because they just seemed so busy.
-The tabs on the bumper are too long. I guess the flowers would have covered this? But why so long? My sister's crib has pretty wide slats, and even then these are too long.
-I didn't read the instructions on the pillow, so it's not near as cute as it should be.
-The crib skirt pattern was pretty stupid. That bottom fabric? It requires more than twice what you see, only to have it taken back up and sewn to the back. No hem? Point of that other than to waste really cute, discontinued, I-bought-all-they-had-only-to-have-most-of-it-not-even-show? Stupid. I'm slightly bitter.

And I made an extra little throw pillow with the fabric swatches she gave me from the quilt I was matching. I need to get a picture of it all in Josie's (my soon-to-be-born neice) room, along with the amazing quilt her friend made. Until then, these will have to do...

On my baby's crib, with my baby admiring.

The pillows and organizer

All wrapped up for the giving.

10.20 edit: Look! in Josie's room:

My boys' room

alternately titled:

What I Did With a Can of Spray Paint

This frame, spray painted it silver.

This random K that I had laying around, I spray painted *it* silver and hung it on the end of my oldest's bed, Bert and Ernie style. I need a random S now...

These star pegs used to be red. But not anymore!

I took some customizable white boards, put alien themed pattern paper in them. Then I printed out my boys' responsibility charts on transparency film, SPRAY PAINTED (I know!) the frames, put it all back together and got these cute little ditties.

SO, the whole room. I think I'm done, at least for now.

Oh! I also put some of the silver pin striping on the already hung hat hook board.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. The boys seem to like it, too. So yay! for silver spray paint!