Plaiderpillar

There she is in her new choochoo wagon with two of her cousins.  I think this might be the fanciest she’s ever been dressed.  That little sailor dress is the one we went back to buy the night we found out we were having a girl.  It seemed like she would NEVER be that big.  She had a family birthday celebration at our house, cake smash and all.  It was a very Pinterest party.  It was forest themed, and I sent out these invitations.  Here are a few of the details:

Above right:  Ladybug cheeses; acorns made form Hershey kisses, Nilla wafers, and butterscotch chips.

Above left:  I used yarn scraps to make a bunch of pompoms and strung them for inside decorations.

Above right:  The front porch banner is ripped calico tied onto a rope.  Why not buy crepe paper you ask?  Cuz I’m only doing this once!  She’s gonna have a forest themed birthday with a calico front porch banner EVERY YEAR.  Hah!

Above left:  Her bear cake that later got ripped into.  This was moments before (if you know my dogs you know what I’m gonna say) Charlie took a chunk outta the corner.

Above right:  We needed a little extra cake so I made a spare.  She really is into cats.

Above left:  This frame idea was Rob’s.  He wanted something to hang up all the stuff that accumulates on our fridge.  Our old house just has a ledge where the ice box used to go by the back door, so every time we brush past it stuff falls downstairs.  I used milk paint to refurbish an old frame and strung twine and stapled it to the back.  For her party I hung photos from each month.

Above right:  A little toadstool project I finished up for her party.  Upholstered top with felt spots hand stitched on, epoxied log stem, and green fur-covered base.  You know, just a lil’ sumpin’ sumpin’.  Her little bunny is one from a batch that I made to go to RNG Gallery, so head over there if you want one!  I kept this one for her, as it was a vintage calico that was my mom’s, and I had tea dyed it.  It smells like . . . well, tea.  Real nice.

Above left:  Vintage sodas from my bro’s restaurant and paper straws from the same gal as her invites on Etsy.

Above right:  Demolishing the bear’s head.  Frosting everywhere.  Tubby time in the middle of the party.  So fun.

Happy birthday, my little one.

This is the follow up to the name banners for Berkeley and Britton post, showing Berkeley’s bunting instructions.  You might want to take a peek at Britton’s post first, as I describe some of the process in more detail.  In this post I’m going to show you a few how-to tips and tricks for making the name bunting banner.  OK, let’s jump right in.  To make the pattern, I determined how large I wanted the letters to be, added a little wiggle room, and made a triangle shape that I was sure they would all fit into.  (Below you can see I printed the name out so I had it handy for pattern reference.)  I traced the triangle pattern onto paper and added a 3/8″ seam allowance on all sides.  I used a mix of new and vintage calico fabrics and stabilized the material with a fairly stiff interfacing so the material would hold up while I appliqued the names.  On the right above you can see I packed them in closely, and the interfacing is iron-on.

Above left:  The interfaced bunting fronts matched up with their coordinating non-interfaced backs.

Above right:  The printed letters (excluding duplicates), and the fabric I chose for the text.

Above left:  I usually apply Heat-n-bond to the back of the applique material and then trace directly onto the paper in reverse.  It saves you some time compared to cutting the letters from the Heat-n-bond, applying to the fabric, and trimming.  Plus, you get a sharper edge.  Just don’t use your fancy fabric shears to cut through the Heat-n-bond paper!

Above right:  My Geeg!  And also . . . Peel off the backing paper from the letter, center them on the front bunting pieces, and iron them in place.  Applique the letters to the front pieces, and the sew the front and backs together, leaving the top open for turning.

Above left:  Clip your corners!  Or don’t.  But then your points will look like junk-o.  My teachers always said, “Clip to it, not through it!”  That means clip closely, but not TOO closely.  Or it will ravel and look like junk-o.  THE PRESSURE’S ON!  DON’T BLOW IT, BUDDY!

Above right:  Turn your points real nice-like.  Again, don’t blow it.  Many a well-intentioned project is turned to puke by a crappy ironing job.  (This how-to is getting really casual, huh?)  OK, turn the pieces and pick out a fancy ribbon that’s long enough for the bunting pieces, plus for some tying-up for hanging at the ends.  Iron that ribbon in half down the middle (the long way) for a guide and pin your buntings on, butting the cut edges up to the fold line.  I had planned my 3/8″ seam allowance to fit right into this particular ribbon, but whatever.  I feel like you get this idea.  Also, I know my pinning is incorrect here.  They should be perpendicular to the pieces, but I was there, man.  It wasn’t happening.  Also, space the bunting chunks as you see fit.

Above left:  I suggest taking the time to baste the buntings to your ribbon before sewing it shut.  I’m picky and wanted the spaces between them super even.  Again, your funeral.

Above right:  Close the ribbon, pinning in place to prevent shifting, and stitch it in place.  This should catch both sides of the ribbon and the bunting pieces in between.

That’s it!  You did it!  I’m so proud of you.  I love the way you pinned correctly, clipped properly, and kept your stitches from going off the edge of the ribbon.  Your pressing job is superb, as well.

What’s that?  Your points have holes?  Your ribbon is shifty?  Hey, man.  I tried to tell you.

Hahaha!  What a jerk I am.

This is the follow up to the name banners for Berkeley and Britton post, showing Britton’s embroidery hoop banner instructions, above on the left.  Here we go!

Above right:  I purchased a bunch of different sizes of wooden embroidery hoops at the fabric store, decided what size I wanted each letter of her name to be, and picked the materials and hoops to coordinate.  I selected vintage and new calico fabrics and used a medium-weight iron-on interfacing to stabilize the materials during applique.  Here I was just test fitting the materials to get an idea of the finished look. You can see my inspiration pics in the background.

I used the letters I had printed to trace the text onto the back of Heat-n-bond.  Heat-n-bond is like iron-on glue paper.  It sticks two fabric layers together.  It also will get gluey junk on your ironing board and iron if you are sloppy with it!  I used my window as a light table and traced the letters in reverse onto the paper and roughly trimmed the letters out.

This is one way to transfer the text neatly to the applique fabric.  I used a slight variation on this trace-and-apply method for Berkeley’s name banner, which you can see in the next post.

Above right:  You can see I kept the letters on-grain (no wonky gingham lines for this gal!), and fit them together closely.  Then I used my NON-FANCY shears and snippers to cut the text out.  That Heat-n-bond will dull your blades, man.

Above left:  Make sure you keep track of what letter and base fabric go to which hoop!  You don’t want to finish and realize you accidentally switched hoops and spelled your kid’s name wrong or the fabrics look gross next to each other!

Above right:  I had allowed some wiggle room when cutting my base fabrics, so it was fairly easy to center the letter on the material.  Just peel off the paper back from the Heat-n-bond, and iron it in place.  This picture shows you what you’re shooting for, but don’t try to iron the letter on while the fabric is in the hoop!

Above left:  Zig-zag that baby in place!

Above right:  Put each letter in it’s hoop, and pull it real taught.  Keep an eye on the fabric grain so your stripes don’t pull funny, and so your letter isn’t crooked when it hangs.  I used a utility knife to carefully trim the excess away . . .

Above left:  . . . And ran a bead of glue in the indentation to keep little hands from popping the material out of the hoop.  Once it’s popped out of there, good luck getting it back in!  You could always finish it with the exces pulled to the back, but I wanted it to lie really flush against the wall.

Above right:  Pick out some pretty ribbons and hang that baby up!

One month, two months . . .

Three months, four months . . .

Five months, six months . . .

Seven months, eight months . . .

Nine months, ten months . . .

Eleven months, twelve months!

Some things I’m remembering:

The first thing she really said was during a diaper change in the middle of the night.  I was mindlessly babbling to her and asked her who Daddy was.  ”OB OB OB OB OB”  My husband’s name is Rob.  She babbled it for a really long time!

She cracks up playing a little Czech game her Grandma Margie taught her, wherein you bonk your heads together.

She is fascinated by my sewing machine.

The two songs that consistently put her to sleep are “I Gave My Love A Cherry” (or whatever that folk song is really called) and “Tuppence” form Mary Poppins.

She makes a sniffy face that is a riot.  If you meet her, ask her to sniff something.

I have never had anyone puke in my face.  She has managed it several times.

Taking her swimming at a loud indoor pool.  She was ecstatic and shrieking, “YEEE-AWWWW!”  Rob thought a little boy asked what she said.  He had actually asked what her name was.

Boy:  ”Her name is YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAWWWWWW???”

Rob:  ”Oh, no.  It’s GeeGee.”

Boy:  ”Her name is GEEGEE?!”

Totally blew his mind.  Then a little girl swam by and said, “She looks like a marshmallow.  I’m going to call her Marshmallow.”

Before GeeGee was born, we were blessed with the most awesome cache of baby gear you can imagine.  A family friend gifted us the baby toys, gear, and clothing that her girls (Berkeley and Britton) were done using, and it saved us a ton!  I am beyond grateful to her for that, and for continuing to commission me to do other kiddo projects for her girls.  The latest was a request for some kind of wall display of their names for their rooms.  I sent her a few inspirational images and she chose pennants for Berkeley and embroidery hoops for Britton.  The names are appliqued, and the fabrics are a mix of vintage and new.  She sent me images of the girls’ bedding for color matching.

The project seemed like something worth passing along.  It’s fairly straightforward, but there were a few tricks to getting everything looking sharp.  Stay tuned for a how-to post on each girls’ banner . . .

These are a few more items I was able to finish while semi-occupied with baby happenings.  (A fancy way to say, “while I was waiting for the inevitable wake-up-and-holler session.”)

On the left are a pair of baby booties I knitted for my friends’ baby using this free pattern.  The soles and body of the shoe are made using fisherman’s wool that felts in the wash, and the top is made from a wool blend that doesn’t shrink.  What you’re left with after laundering is a fuzzy, thick slipper with a sock-like top.  Next to the booties is a crocheted ball I made using some of my favorite colors:  sage green, teal, mustard, greys, and eggshell white.

On the right is my little GeeGee sporting a pair of crazy leg warmers I whipped up with scrap yarn.  There really isn’t a pattern.  I just made a knit 2, purl 2 ribbing at top and bottom and worked them until they were even with each other, as the yarn was slightly different weights.  She was much littler then!

This giant crane is what happened when I decided to make a “mobile” over my daughter’s crib.  He is named Grus (read why I named him that).  Crane are said to symbolize happiness and eternal youth.  I wanted to make something large that would fly above her like a protector.  At first I thought I had created the world’s creepiest baby mobile, but now that he’s installed, he looks peaceful and happy.

He is almost entirely hand sewn, with the exception of the neck seaming between materials, and the structural outer stitching on the beak and wings.  The exposed stitching on the eyes and wings, beak shaping, the overlays of fabric on the head, and EVERY LITTLE GATHER on the body ruffles are hand sewn.  The parts are joined by hand, and the trim on the wings and the two eyes are vintage materials.  The ribbons on his neck are ones I’ve saved from a special stash of antique sewing supplies.  The legs can be bent in different positions.  My dad found and cleaned up a couple old cleats for the cord tie-offs on the wall . . . BECAUSE HE’S A PUPPET!  See the video below.

He flies over a painting of Rob’s that we simply call “The Moon Man.”  Near the beak are birds we have collected and made that sway in the breeze along with Grus.  On the left above are the old wooden beads I saved that should be easy enough to grab that GeeGee can handle them.  I made them long enough that she can reach them even when she is teeny tiny.  On the right above is the picture I took right after finishing him at about 3am while he was still hung from the ceiling fan in my sewing room.   OK, check it out:

Flickr Video

Allens Furniture asked me to create a new Gabe The Pants for their store.  Why is he called Gabe the Pants?

BAM!  That’s why.

Well, well, Mr. Snake.  What are those lumps in your body?  Ah, I see.  That’s where you keep your mouse friends.

This is what I made GeeGee for Christmas.  It is a pattern I purchased from Mochimochiland, but I made a few alternations.  I decided not to stuff the head, as it was tricky enough to get the mice in and out as it was due to the stiff yarn I chose.  It made the snake look structured, but it also made it thicker.  Because of this, I also chose not to fully line the snake.  His lining goes to the base of his head and is sewn inside the neck.

There is a daddy, mommy, and baby mouse that fit inside.  The original pattern features toupees on the mice and snake, but I thought the concept of a snake eating mice was enough for now!  I used up some yarn scraps by mixing up the stripe colors, and sewed the buttons on with button and carpet thread so they are safer.  Eat up, Mr. Snake!

This does not count as a sewn creation, but it used some of my favorite fabric scraps at least.  It is the world’s simplest baby toy, made from an old wipes box.  I used pinking shears to cut fabric squares, and GeeGee and I practice “take it out” and “put it in.”  She likes the different textures and colors.  This has kept her more busy than many of her actual toys, so I thought I’d share.