The handmades

Handmades found their way into all the kids hands this year. And while I was nervous they would make me happier than the kids, I am pleasantly surprised by their positive response to them.

Yoda for Ephram.

Clarice (we may or may not have watched Rudolph A LOT last month) the Deer for Elin. 

And a new little dolly (a la Shelley!) for Wren.

Elin got a new little play kitchen this year as well so I got my hands into the felt food pot and we're hooked, me and her. Even if I didn't really love all the little stitches it takes to make these (and I do!), seeing the play it has produced would be more than enough incentive to keep adding to her grocery bag. 

Food
Deer
Dolly

Everything is coming up blue.

I've kept this little number filed away in my memory, knowing that someday I would have to try it.

After finding a huge bag of lace at the thrifts and with wedding season upon us, the time has come. And the results are pretty pleasing, if I do say so myself.

A simple little skirt was sewn up (out of an old white bed sheet) and then row after row after row of different laces were stitched on. This took a surprisingly long time, but was a good outlet for the evening's frustrations with a certain 65 year old housemate. Side note: Who knew a driveway could be such a contentious issue?

After all that sewing, I was definitely nervous to commit to 1. a colour and 2. the process of dying, but it looked a little too pioneer-ish as it was, so I knew I had to. When consulted, Elin thought blue would be the best color and my insides almost burst with happiness that no where in the conversation were the words 'pink' or 'purple' uttered. Bolstered by this small color victory, a dye bath was drawn and yards of lace plunged in.

Twenty minutes of nervous checks and continuous stirring later, the skirt emerged.
Success!

The kids got an afternoon project out of the deal too, because you can't let a pot of perfectly good dye go to waste without tie dyeing something, can you?
Nope. You can't.

Ephram especially, loves the results of his shirt. He thinks the circle on the front is like Tony Stark's chest piece. The kid loves his comics... 'How does the belly look?' actually came out of his mouth while I was trying to get a shot of the shirts. He's also a stickler for keeping character/costume integrity apparently.

I may have dyed a dress for Wren too.
And I may be fighting back the urge to something crazy with our duvet cover.

I can't help myself.
The kids have taken to calling me and my blue fingers Beast. And I find the added level of character believability* during our superhero fights (as well as their giggles) worth at least one more dip in the dye bath.


*maybe he gets it from me.

fabric

I have brought home somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 metres of fabric in the recent weeks and only spent around $30 total.  That's an average of 75¢ a metre. Yeah,CENTS!

Huzzah!

Stripes and dots. 

Solids and Patterns. 

Gingham and plaid. 

Cotton and Linen.

LINEN! 

75¢! 

Plans are in the works for all of it.

A tie.

Made from this pattern (though there were quite afew modifications); a tie. 
A yellow tie. 
Because all true men need a yellow tie. 


Right Stephen?

A new hat.

Yesterday was sunny, borderline hot even. 
Never has the baby's bald little head seemed so exposed. 

So during naptime a new little sunhat was made.

How handy that all the little girl dress patterns I've swiped from my mom's stash have some sort of bonnet or bucket hat included.

In keeping with the husbands legacy of large headed children I cut out the largest baby size possible (it's worth noting that even the largest size would never have fit on the older two past their 3 month birthday - yep, these large pattern pieces were cut to fit on my smallest baby yet, hooray for me; the birthing mother!)

I'm so happy I made the call to finally cut into my prized (thrifted! $2.00!) turquoise linen. Look at those eyes!

Inspiration

Wedding season is upon us and I am looking to sew up some special little party dresses for the girls. I'm thinking vintage inspired, short with fluffy petticoats kind of special. 

The sleeveless black one in particular is calling my name. I mean,  Elin's... But that little one on top with the tiny little jacket and the perfect little hair bows has me swooning too. Gah, just look at all those little ankle socks. Perfect. 

On the other hand, some of these old pattern illustrations are killing me. The two on the left of each pattern envelope below! Just loving life those two.

All images via.

Knot Shorts

These little knot shots have been made twice in two days. I love them.
Now if only I could get my girly to wear something possessing a waistband and two leg openings.

Finally

It feels good to be sewing again. 

tink, revisted

We have a birthday party today for a sweet little four year old and when we got the invitation I knew immediately this little costume would be perfect. A Mad Hatter Tea Party and to attend one MUST come costumed. 

Perfect for my little pretenders and inspiration to revisit this little tutorial. 

the christmas costumes :: Pan

I don't want to leave this little series hanging on any longer but supper is calling so we'll let the pictures speak for themselves today. 

the christmas costumes :: Luke Skywalker

If it wasn't apparent to us before, the affection in Ephram's heart for all things Star Wars, has confirmed that we are firmly in the land of 'boy'. 

We knew he was being gifted a light sabre from one the doting Aunts we spent Christmas with so there was no question when I decided to make costumes that Luke's tunic, belt, and boots needed to make an appearance as well. 

This one was SUPER simple to put together thanks to one of Rob's closet purges the week before. I removed the pocket (this was easily the most time consuming part of this costume - stitch ripping with a dull stitch ripper is painful!), shortened and hemmed the sleeves, cut off the collar and buttons and then hemmed up the front and around the back. Voila! Super simple. The belt was fashioned out of some old flannel and the leftover velcro from Wren's diapers. I had some loose ideas about how to make the boots so I went for it and, will wonders never cease, they worked! Slightly wonky and not totally what I was hoping for, but still, they worked! 

Luke isn't really Luke without his dad, Darth Vader, so I'm thinking maybe now a Rob-sized Vader cape is necessary. I'll keep you posted on that! 


*Until I saw how miserable my children look in these posts I was quite sure the costumes were hits. Now I'm not so sure. HA! 

the christmas costumes :: Wendy Moira Angela Darling

A theme emerges! We are big Peter Pan fans around here, obviously. It's rare that we get away with simply referring to the eldest Darling as 'Wendy', nope, this little stickler insists on Wendy Moira Angela Darling. Of course. She's serious about her Pan. 

I wasn't sure how Elin would react to this one. Blue is strictly for boys in her book, but she got it right away and has worn it consistently since Christmas morning. 

There is something impossibly cute about seeing her play in this floor length 'nightgown' (which is just from a super simple dress pattern that I lengthened). There's a hair bow too but I couldn't get a decent picture of it and truthfully, it's a little too big and too floppy and if it weren't for my self imposed rules for these projects I would have redone it right away. She hasn't noticed and I'm actually finding it quite peaceful to just let it go. 

the christmas costumes :: tink

With my fabric closet overflowing and our bank account not this Christmas I decided to make some new costumes for the dress up bin as this years stocking gifts. 

My rules were simple:

1. I had to use only what was on hand.

and

2. I couldn't let myself be stressed about any part of it; the prep, the construction, the 'accuracy' of the costume compared to the 'real' thing... nothing. 

And to my surprise, it worked! The costumes came together simply. Sure, the seams are unfinished and some of the stitches crooked, but they were fun to make and the kids love them. Success on all fronts I'd say. 

I'm going to spread these out over a few posts because the light is so dreadfully bad in here this morning. I apologize for the less than stellar pics, but for today's costume it'll do. 

This Tinkerbell costume is by far my favorite and I was sure it would be hers too, but she prefers tomorrow's feature so this photoshoot was short lived. I couldn't even get her to put the wings on, so this fairy is wingless... you get the idea though and I'm hoping that even if she doesn't warm to it, her sister will in the years to come. 

I used this tutorial and it came together in an evening. Instead of using grommets I sewed button holes into the back for the straps to be laced through. It came out smaller than I was expecting even using measurements adjusted to Elin's body so if you attempt it yourself you may want to consider that. This was a seriously fun little project to sew, so if your little girlies believe in fairies I highly recommend adding this to your dress up bucket. Happy sewing!