Monkey Butt Clown Pants

In honor of Maddy's half birthday, I made her a pair of pants (Maddy is Whitney's baby)! Maddy's parents are into gender neutral clothing and love colorful clothes for her, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to use some Juicy Stripe yardage I had laying around.

I used Made by Rae's Big Butt Baby Pants pattern and it worked perfectly for this wonderfully chubby, cloth-diapered baby. Since she's so big, I made the pants 12-18 mo size. I thought I was making shorts since I shortened the inseam by half, but it turns out they're pants on her, who knew!

The pattern was great and easy to follow and I think they're super cute!

Happy half birthday! You and your parents are doing great!!

Draw String Maternity Skirts

A friend of mine, Whitney (who is a seriously talented knitter), is expecting this fall. In an effort to save money and have cute, professionally appropriate maternity clothes, we made some skirts this weekend and I have to say they turned out pretty darn cute. In total, we spent $20 on material for 3 skirts! She tells me they're super comfortable, too! The key seems to be the uneven waist (we cut room for the growing belly) and elastic in the drawstring so it has some give when she sits down.





Since we're planning to make some more, I thought I'd write out our tutorial here so we have it for later and maybe it'll help someone else (if the instructions don't make sense, let me know). First, we bought 1 yard of fabric which was enough for us since Whitney is fairly petite pre-pregnancy and not particularly tall. The orange skirt above was typical cotton 44" wide fabric and the other black and white one we made with a linen type fabric from Joann that was a little bit wider, so the skirt turned out longer. We also bought another yard of a muslin-type white fabric for lining. If you want to make a bigger, fuller or longer skirt, you will probably need 2 yards of each fabric.

To figure out how big to make the skirt, we measured Whitney right below her belly figuring this was the widest part we were going to go around. She measured 38" so we used these measurements to create a 38" waist at the top and a little more fullness towards the bottom (keeping in mind 1/2" seam allowances):


Then we cut out a matching piece of the lining fabric using the outer skirt piece as a pattern since the lining fabric may be shorter or longer.

After cutting, we sewed the sides of the lining and outer skirt pieces with 1/2" seams and then zig-zag to reduce the chance of fraying.

Next we put the lining and outer skirt together right sides together (one inside of the other) and folded it in half so the seams were touching. This is when we created space for the belly. We measured the height difference between the bottom of her belly in the front and where she wanted her skirt to sit in the back (about 3.5-4"), then cut that much fabric out of the FRONT half of the skirt only.



Once we cut the belly piece out, we sewed the lining to the outer skirt at the waist using a 1/4" seam. Then we flipped the skirt right side out and top stitched at the top of the skirt:



Then we put in two button holes (only through the outer skirt fabric!) for the draw string


Then we did a line of stitching to complete the draw string casing


And finished by hemming the bottom.

To make the draw string, we cut two pieces of fabric 2" wide and about 25" long. We folded each piece in half (the long way) right sides together and sewed along two of the open edges. We turned them right side out and pressed flat. Then sewed a 6-8" piece of elastic between the two drawstrings:


Thread the draw string through the skirt and you're done!



From start to finish, the first one took about 2 hours and the second one only an hour and a half. Not bad for a $6 skirt! :)

Toad and Toadette Halloween

Things have been quiet on the blog lately since I've been busy getting our Halloween costumes done and then having fun wearing them out! Jon and I went as Toad and Toadette from the Mario Kart and Mario Party games and the costumes were really well received and super comfortable!! Jon wore his costume to work on Friday and wore the hat for 8 hours and it was great! I used some of the ideas I originally had, and ended up revising others. Since I had a lot of trouble finding helpful instructions, I'll give you details, but I won't be offended if you just scroll through the photos. If you have questions though, feel free to let me know!

The dress went fairly well considering that I hadn't made one before. I used Simplicity 2485 and extended the bust pattern piece by about an 1.25 inches so it wouldn't be completely inappropriate for my proportions. It worked fairly well but I had some issues working out the placement of the darts since I'm clearly more busty than the model... but in the end I was happy for the experience since I want to be able to make my own dresses and shirts since I have trouble with clothing off the rack. If you use this pattern, I would definitely lengthen it, it worked out fine with shorts underneath, but it is fairly short.





After looking around for a bunch of ideas on how to make Toad and Toadette hats and not finding many I liked, I decided to essentially make big pillows. I wished they had been smooth but this ended up being so easy for me, that I can't really complain. I made a hat using the pattern that came with the dress as a base (a store bought bucket hat would also probably work). I elongated the pieces so that the hat would be less of a beanie. To make the top, I cut a big circle (about 36" diameter) and basted around the edge. I pulled the threads on one side to gather the top, attached it to the hat and turned it right side out before stuffing it with polyfil. The circles are appliqued on my hand using Naptime Quilter's awesome circle technique since I didn't want to iron on over the gathered ripples.

For the pigtails I use the tutorial for cloth balls from Grand Revival. I used the biggest and smallest sizes. I was actually able to use fusible web to iron on the dots to the pigtails. I had no idea that would work as well as it did since I couldn't really press hard since the pigtails were basically pillows.






The vests were done by tracing the back of a t-shirt and cutting 2 of them. I cut one of those in half and sewed it together at the shoulders. I did the rest of the fitting by trying it on and eyeballing how to get it to look right. My vest has darts coming from the arm holes. The trim is satin blanket trim that I bought in a little package. I really didn't like working with it since it was really slippery and didn't have any give at all. You can't see it in the picture, but the trim actually gathers a bit behind the neck. If I were to do it again, I would use bias tape.





P.S. If you're looking for other ideas to make these hats, popular ideas seem to include
- paper mache (which is really heavy)
- sombrero with bubble wrap and fabric over the top
- half inflated beach ball with fabric over the top
- egg crate foam to create structure inside the hat

Coming soon

It's almost October so I think it's okay for me to officially announce that Jon and I are going as Toad and Toadette (from Mario Kart and Mario Party) for Halloween and I'm starting to work on costumes.



I bought all the fabric I'm going to need last weekend. I'm going to make the vests by making a pattern from a shirt and use satin blanket binding for the edging. I'm planning on making myself a basic pink dress (it'll be my first dress, but it's Halloween so I'm not too worried if it doesn't come out perfect). Has anyone tried this pattern (Simplicity 2485)? I'm a bit busty for my waist size, but I figure this pattern should be easy to alter to make it work.



The hats are going to be the major challenge, and I'd love hear your ideas if you have any. My current plan is to cut a big circle and gather the edges of it. Then I'll attach the circle to a brimless hat (either from the dress pattern or a bucket hat from a store) and stuff it full. I also bought styrofoam balls for the pigtails. :)

Any ideas or advice??


P.S. Don't forget the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosting by Amy at Park City Girl. Her awesome festival last spring is what got me back into quilting and crafting.

$5 and 2 hours

That's what it took for me to make this skirt last night. I wanted another one before I left for out of town today, so I finally did it. I got the fabric free from Sew, Mama, Sew for doing the buttonhole tutorial, the lining is a cheap broadcloath and I bought the zipper with a Joann's coupon, so I think I'm generously estimating the cost of this skirt at $5.



The fabric is from Valori Wells' Del-Hi line and I love it! It's a perfect big print for a skirt like this. The fabric is also great since it isn't stiff at all so the skirt has great movement! I made the waistband with a Kona Cotton I had laying around and it has fusible interfacing on the outer layer.



And I got a new haircut yesterday. I'm in love! I just hope that I can make it look this good myself! :)

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Holy cow, it's been hot this weekend! After what has been a really cool summer, I was completely thrown off by the 90 degree weather this weekend. Without A/C, that is entirely too warm to turn on the iron and get much sewing done, but I did make quite a bit of progress.

Today I made a block for Marilyn (aka Spiced Coffee) over at Traveling Threads and managed to do while hardly turning on the iron! I didn't plan on making a second block since I am going out of town later this week and didn't think I would have time this month, but when I saw this pattern, I just had to make another block. I did the vast majority of the paper piecing with just finger pressing and only turned the iron on for sewing the sections together and didn't have any problems. I was really proud of myself for finding a stay-cool way of doing this for her and the block turned out really well.



My friend, Sarah, came over Friday night and we each worked on some sewing. She successfully made a pair of "pirate pants" for her boyfriend. He's going to wear them while playing on a pirate and ninjas themed ultimate frisbee team. She looked so proud I had to put her on the blog.



While she sewed and we chatted, I also got lots of cutting done (a much more weather appropriate activity). I cut a bunch of strips for the improv log cabin summer quilt I'm planning.



And I got my Traveling Threads packets all set to go! I'm sending out modern Christmas fabrics and I'm asking people to make scrappy blocks with square, rectangles and strips. I figure that the fabric is festive enough that it will be cheerful without being kitchy. I'm so excited to see what these amazing ladies come up with.

Nerdy Project

This is a totally odd and nerdy post, but since so many of you have kids, I thought I'd share what I've been up to.

I'm a grad student in a cognitive science department and as one of only 3 people in our department who owns a sewing machine and the only one willing to sew without a pattern, I got commissioned to do a unique project recently.



Some people in my department study how kids learn language and more specifically, how kids figure out what sounds go together to form words and what sounds just happen to be next to each other but don't make a word. For example, how do little babies figure out that "whataprettybaby" is actually "what a pretty baby" and not "wha ta pret tyba by".

There is a new, cutting edge method that uses light to monitor brain activity. My colleagues are using this new technique to try and see what part of the brain babies (6-10 month olds) are using to learn language and figure out where the words are. Babies are perfect for this because they don't have thick hair and skulls to block the light. It's so new that the manufacturers haven't designed caps or headbands to hold the sensors on a baby's head in the way that my colleagues want.



This is where I come in... My colleagues have been commissioning me to make a cap/headband to hold these little flexible 3" by 4" sensors onto a baby's head in specific locations. Babies don't seem to mind wearing these types of headbands and hats while watching little movies sitting in their parents lap, which is pretty awesome. This is probably the 3rd or 4th version of this that we've come up with, but I think it's the best so far.

Using tulle and black cotton fabric, I made pockets for the sensors and then using some black knit fabric to make a stretchy band and chin strap. There's a second knit band that goes over the whole thing to help keep the sensors next to the scalp. Let's hope it works and keeps the sensors in the right places on the babies' heads!



Thanks for indulging in an overly academic post with pretty boring photos. :)

p.s. If you're interested in getting involved in participating in studies with your kids, there are labs at any university all over the country studying everything from motor development to language to counting and more. Usually participation only entails your child watching a movie or playing a game.

Cupcakes and Cats!

My amazingly talented baker friend, former roomie and fellow grad student, Sarah, didn't have an apron, so I made her this one for her birthday with the Emmeline Apron pattern from Sew Liberated. I love how cute this apron is and I love that's made for a female figure! I thought this was a pretty cool project for us since I sew to keep my sanity in grad school and she bakes.



I forgot to take pictures, so she gave me these ones from when she made cupcakes last week for a co-worker's daughter's birthday party. I love the cupcakes she made and you have to see the other deliciously awesome cupcakes she makes, so click the link already. :)



The reverse side has a black and white cat print similar to this one since her two loves are cats and baking!

Rainy Day=New Skirts!

A few weeks ago, Bee Square Fabrics closed and had an amazing 50% off everything sale. I bought some great fabrics with the intention of making some new summer skirts. Today was pouring rain all day, so I made two! I'm hoping to make a few more and have a new summer wardrobe.

Here's the first skirt in Alexander Henry's Yen Rose. The picture doesn't capture the colors very well but they are great and totally me!


...and another using Moda's Arcadia line. These colors are more new to my wardrobe and I'm honestly not sure if I have shirts that match, but I really like it.


I didn't use a pattern, instead I based them off of a couple of store-bought skirts I already own. I traced the waistband from one and then just improvised with the pleats and length. They both have an invisible zipper and are lined with white broadcloth.



I made a bunch of stupid mistakes with the first skirt and had some serious bonding time with my seam ripper, but the second one went much more smoothly. My favorite mistake was when I was putting the zipper in. I had twisted the skirt so when I was done with the zipper, it was a complete mess and couldn't be turned rightside out. I really wish I had taken a picture because it was priceless!

Sunday of Tops

This was quite the weekend for sewing. Yesterday, I attempted to make Rae's Spring Ruffle Top, but sadly it just didn't work out. It looks like a cute shirt, but it doesn't fit right and wasn't flattering at all.



I probably should've known before I started that I'm a little too busty for this shirt to work well. I also made a mistake with my measurements so the top band was too tight so it sat too high. All in all, I probably could try this shirt again and it would go better, but I think I'm just going to rip the thing apart and use the fabric for something else.

On a happier and more successful note, I'm coming along with my Rockets Quilt. Last week, I visited a local quilting shop and found a great dot print that goes perfectly with the Bots N Rockets fabric I already had. Since the colors are so bright and I wanted a fun, kind of crazy design, I decided to go with a disappearing nine patch. I started with 5" patches that I sewed into nine patch blocks.


Then cut them in half...

and voila! Disappearing nine patch blocks


Here's what they look like all put together. I'm thinking that I'll use the gears fabric for a border to make it a bit bigger and then bind it with a bright solid. Red, maybe? What do you think? Should I use something different for the border?

...and I'm back!

I'm back from my sister's wedding and it was a smashing success! I had a great time and my sister looked beautiful.



She also asked me to turn this absolutely beautiful dress into something. We're thinking that it would make a beautiful quilt since she doesn't want to hold on to it as a dress. Any of you have experience or ideas of what to do with this great fabric?



My mom also offered that we can use her wedding dress (that my sister and I have NO way of fitting into, and haven't since we were teens) as part of the quilt too. It's a very intimidating project, but one that I think is a great way to save and cherish the dresses rather than have them sit in closets.

Since I've been home this weekend, I actually finished a project. I've been wanting a kitchen apron for a while and when I saw the pattern for the Emmeline apron, I knew that was what I wanted. I learned a bunch making this pattern, like how to gather and make bias tape. I really like how it turned out and since it's reversible, it was two-for-one. I can't decide which side I like better!
One side has forks and spoons...


and the other side has plates with a couple small forks and knives. :)


Finally, I got my STUD (Swap Til Your Drop) partner and I'm really excited about starting that project. The theme this month is alphabet mania and I got assigned the letter Q. My mini quilt has to incorporate that letter however I want. After perusing crosswordsolver.com, I have some good ideas that I think my partner will like. We'll see how that goes...