Christmas Round Up: Cat in the Hat Pajamas

The Monkey loves anything Dr. Seuss. Especially the Cat in the Hat. I found some great Cat in the Hat flannel when I visited one of my favorite Atlanta-based fabric shops last fall. I knew right away I had to get some to make pajamas for The Monkey.

I decided to keep it simple and just make PJ pants, and get a simple white tee-shirt for the top. After buying the tee-shirt, I had a brilliant idea: jazz it up with the Cat in the Hat's signature bow tie (or Tie Bow as The Monkey calls it).

I printed out a picture of the bow tie, scaled to the size I wanted it, then played around with the shape a bit to allow for the pleats. I wrapped the center piece around it to appear as if it were "tied." I used fusible interfacing to tack it to the shirt, then stitched it on to secure it better.

He LOVED his new pajamas. He put them on right away, and wears them several nights a week. And it warmed my heart when he gave me a hug and said "Thank you for my Cat in the Hat jammies! I love them!"

Christmas Round Up: Super Hero Cape and Mask

As soon as I came across this blog post, I knew I had to make a Super Hero cape for the Monkey.

I have a stack of old t-shirts in my craft room that have been waiting to be turned into projects. I also have lots of felt sitting around in my fabric stash. So I had plenty to pull from to make this cape.

After cutting out the cape pieces, I found a Superman logo online, and used it as a template to make the "S" for the cape (since the Monkey's name begins with an S). I decided to go with blue and yellow because I didn't want it to be an exact replica of Superman's. The tee-shirt I used to make the cape was an old college shirt that had the name of the school up at the top. So I covered it with the blue and yellow stars around the collar.

He had a Super Hero cape that one of the church nursery volunteers made for him, but he always needed our help to tie it on. Since this one attaches with velcro he can put it on himself!

After making the cape, I came across this post, and realized every Super Hero needs a mask! So I quickly threw together a mask to match his cape.

After opening presents Christmas morning, we took a walk to the park to run off some energy. The Monkey insisted on wearing his new super hero outfit.

Blast off!

Christmas Sewing for Monkeys

I've been working on Christmas gifts for The Monkey and Baby Brother.

The Monkey will be getting the Cat in the Hat Quilt, Cat in the Hat Pajamas, and super hero cape and mask. The fabric taggy Grinch book and the iFlirt shirt are for Baby Brother. More on these projects after Christmas when I can get some better pictures of them. Til then, Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Hannukah! Or Happy Solstice! Or Happy December!)

H & L's Wedding Quilt

My cousin H got married recently. H and I (and my brother and her sister) pretty much grew up together. She's awesome. One of those people that lights up a room the second she walks in. Knowing that H & L love homemade gifts, and that they met in an environmental education program, I wanted to make them a wedding quilt using all (or mostly) fabric from my stash.

A friend of mine once made a crossword baby quilt, and knowing that H and L both love puzzles, I had to steal the idea. I envisioned a traditional looking crossword puzzle, brightened up with a colorful border or orange and green (their favorite colors). The quilt came out even better than I pictured it in my head!

I read through H & L's wedding website, paying particular attention to the "how we met" stories to pull words for the crossword puzzle. Then plugged them into an online crossword generator to get the layout. I had to tweak the layout a little bit to make it fit into the size I wanted, but for the most part, I let the computer do all the work.

The vast majority of the fabric was pulled from my stash (though I had very little orange, so I had to buy some of that). I thought that having the main field completely black would be a little too much, so I scattered in some white-on-black prints to break it up a bit. I think it was able to keep the feel I was going for, without it being too dark.

Because it was all squares, this quilt was very easy to strip-piece. The puzzle is made up for 2.5" squares, while the border is 5" squares. The letters were appliqued using fusible interfacing. I found a font a liked and printed out an alphabet the right size to trace onto the fusible. I adhered the fusible to the black fabric, cut out the letters, then ironed them on. Finally, I finished them off with a zig-zag stitch along the edges.

When I found this orange fabric with trees on it, I knew it was the perfect backing fabric for this quilt. H & L love nature and the outdoors, so I wanted to incorporate that into the quilt. The green trees brought that element of nature, and the orange allowed me to keep it with the color scheme of the quilt.

I knew that this quilt was an ambitious project, especially with a newborn in the house. So to make it a little less insane, I opted to tie the quilt, instead of stitch it. I found some orange and green embroidery floss in my stash and tied it up. I like the little bits of color the floss adds against the black background.

With a simple, black binding, this is a quilt I can be proud of!

I asked H & L to open the gift at the wedding, because I wanted to see their reaction.

First peek at the quilt

Taking it all in

H & L loved the quilt. And I LOVED making it for them. I hope it will be well loved and well used throughout their marriage. Congratulations H & L!!!

Patchwork Penguin Baby Blanket and Plushie

Some friends of ours are expecting a baby next month, a little girl. I wanted to make something fun, and decided that a nice monogrammed taggy baby blanket would be just right.

I love making taggy toys for babies. From the very beginning, the Monkey has loved the tag on his little stuffed dog, Spot. When he was younger he would suck on it. As he grew, he started playing with it and putting his fingers in it to hold it close as he sucked on his fingers. In fact, Spot's tag got so much love that it fell off, and the Monkey said he didn't like Spot as much without the tag. So I made spot a new tag with some soft satin ribbon. There's just something about tags that lots of babies seem to love.

I figured a taggy blanket could provide warmth over a car seat, be a good tummy time floor mat, and also be a good toy, with all the tags to pull on, suck on, and twiddle.

I wanted the blanket to have a patchwork feel to it, and I wanted a mixture of fabrics and textures. I also knew the mom-to-be dislikes pink as much as I do. So I walked into JoAnn's looking for some really cute, fun, not-boyish, not-pink fabrics. After loading up my cart with a bunch of different things, I found this wonderful patchwork penguin fabric. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a winner!

The fabric included some woven cotton, some flannel, and some nice soft minky. And since it was already pieced together, it saved me from having to patch something together myself. With such a fun patchwork fabric on one side, I felt a nice, simple, coordinating solid flannel would make for a good backing. After finding the off-white flannel, I found the black ribbon with white polka-dots and knew I had everything I needed. I pulled some solid black fabric from my stash and some nice fuisible to monogram the blanket.

When I went to the cutting table, I discovered that there was just over a yard left, and the remaining end-of-bolt 15" would be half price. I couldn't pass it up! That was just enough to make a couple of plushy toys!

I free-handed a penguin shape and cut it out of the fabric. I pulled some orange fabric out of my stash and made a diamond for the beak and free-handed some feet. I then stitched it up, stuffed it, and closed up the opening, and I had a cute little penguin plushy to go with the blanket. (There was even enough fabric left that Baby Brother got a penguin too!)

This was a fun project, and the blanket with matching plushy made a great gift for a special little girl.

Ring Sling

I love baby carriers. I carried the Monkey in my Ergo from the time he was big enough to fit in it until I got pregnant again with Baby Brother. We'd use it to walk the dog every morning. And it made travelling so much easier!

When baby brother was born, I got a Moby. I love how close and snug I can carry him in the Moby. Especially when he was itty bitty. There were times I even slept in the Moby because it was the only way Baby Brother would sleep. But as much as I loved carrying him nice and snug in the Moby, it took a long time to get on properly. And sometimes it didn't work right the first time and I'd have to start all over.

I wanted a carrier I could get on quickly, and wear comfortably. For those times when Baby Brother was fussy and needed to be held right away, but I needed my hands to play with the Monkey. Or do dishes. Or cook dinner. I started checking out ring slings, but didn't want to pay $85 for essentially a piece of fabric and some rings. So I decided to make one.

There are lots of tutorials for making a sling. I read through tons of them then got to work. I chose a cute little puppy fabric in a heavy weight cotton, and lined it with a coordinating gingham. I ordered some rings online. Then followed the instructions for one of the pleated sling tutorials. I was almost done with the project when my sewing machine (which was badly in need of repair) gave out on me. Fortunately, Suzanne at Hip Stitch let me spend a few minutes on one of her machines to finish up the project. And while I was there, another customer/friend came in to chat. Turns out she used ring slings for all of her kids, and gave me a few pointers on how to use it.

Look how cute and cuddly he is snuggled in there! This sling has been wonderful. So easy to get on and off, and Baby Brother is happy and content held tight against my chest. It's been a life saver on many occasions. And I like having a one-of-a-kind sling for my little guy. I've gotten lots of compliments on it, and love wearing him in it.

Kitchen Storage: A Fabric Box Tutorial

Last Christmas, Santa brought the Monkey a kitchen, and lots of food to go in it. He loves his kitchen, and is actually rather particular how it's "organized" (Gee, I wonder where he gets *that* from...). So, I decided to make some boxes for him to put his food and kitchen stuff in.

I knew I wanted food-related fabric, so when I saw this fruit fabric at JoAnn's I couldn't resist. It was even on sale! The Monkey picked out the cherries, grapes, and bananas for his kitchen boxes. For the lining, I found an old canvas curtain I'd saved, figuring it would make its way into a craft project sooner or later. It was perfect for this project.

While there are many different fabric box tutorials out there, I figured I'd throw my own into the mix. So, here goes...

Materials:

Outer Fabric

Lining Fabric

Stiff, heavyweight interfacing (I used fusible, but you don't have to)

Needles, thread, sewing machine and other sewing essentials

1) Determine the size of your box. Then, from the outer and inner fabrics and interfacing, cut panels the size of your box plus one inch. (For example, my boxes were 8"w x 10"d x 9"h. So my box had a base of 8" x 10", two sides of 8" x 9", and two sides of 10" x 9". So I cut a base of 9" x 11", two sides of 9" x 10", and two sides of 11" x 10".) It's not as confusing as it sounds.

(Base and sides cut from outer fabric, inner fabric, and interfacing)

2) Fuse (or baste) outer fabric to interfacing and set aside.

All fused together

3) Take your lining fabric. With right sides together, sew sides together, leaving 1/2" seam allowance. Stop sewing 1/2" from the bottom edge of the box. (This will become important later). Press seams open.

Fold in half and sew ends together, leaving 1/2" seam allowance, and again leaving 1/2" at the bottom.

Look, you have a bottomless box!

4) With right sides together, pin the base to the sides. This is where that 1/2" you left at the bottom comes in. Start sewing, with a 1/2" seam allowance, leaving 1/2" at the beginning and end of the seam.

Getting ready to sew, starting 1/2" in

Sew each side of the base to the sides in the same way. The 1/2" you left on each seam will make it much easier to maneuver the corners of the box.

Look, you have a box!

Repeat the process with the outer fabric/interfacing. Turn box right side out.

Look, now you have TWO boxes!

5) Here's where it gets fun. Place outer/interfacing box inside the (inside-out) lining box. Make sure side seams are aligned, and pin. You may have to do a bit of pulling and tugging to get seams and edges to line up.

6) Stitch around top edge with 1/2 seam allowance, leaving 5" - 6" open. Reach in through opening and turn box right side out.

Your Box is almost done!

7) Tug lining down a little and top stitch around the edges. This will keep the lining in place and close up the opening you used to turn the box. Top stitch again about a 1/2" away. You can match your thread to hide the top stitching, but I thought it would be neat to use a contrasting thread and use some decorative stitching to jazz it up a bit.

You're done! Enjoy your box!

This is how I intended the boxes to be used.

But this is how the Monkey likes to use them :-)