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Aprons

August 22, 2008 at 4:27 pm | In Craftin' With Hali, Crafty, clothing, sewing | 2 Comments
Tags: aprons, crafts, gifts, kids, sewing

Despite the weather (it’s been raining every day this week and doesn’t look like that is going to change any time soon) I knew I’d better snap a few pics of completed projects while I remembered. This is Hali’s apron. I just made up a pattern, because I wanted something very simple. Just enough to protect her clothes when she helps me bake or for particularly messy crafts.

She liked hers so much, I decided to make another for her friend who just turned four yesterday. I had her model it before we headed out to his party:

With my assistance, Hali ironed on some letters to personalize the apron a little as well. This apron is actually made from a dish towel I picked up at Garden Ridge. I just added some matching bright green bias tape (you can’t see it well, but there are a couple rows of bright green stitching in the towel) and flipped up the bottom to make pockets. As this was a gift for a boy, the little princess cat that was embroidered at the bottom of the towel also had to be cut off.

We made and bought a couple other gifts for him as well, I just didn’t manage to get pictures. Maybe next time we are over for a play date.

Does This Bow Make Me Extra Pretty?

July 21, 2008 at 4:59 pm | In The Mundane, clothing | No Comments
Tags: clothing, night clothes, target, complaint

Dear Gilligan & O’Malley clothing,

Your stretchy soft comfy night shirt that I recently purchased at a Target near me is the perfect thing. I do not enjoy wearing pajamas during the summer. It’s just too dang hot. But, my heart goes out to my daughter and neighbors, who should never have to see that which should at least be covered by a bathing suit. Your sleep shirt is a great compromise. It’s comfort is unparalleled.

However, I do have two issues with it:

Upon an early(ish) morning burst of energy last week, I decided it was time to do a quick clean up in the living room. Bad idea. When I commenced to bend over, your lovely night shirt refused to stay put. No longer was it covering up my girlie bits as I believed it would. I was thus bent over at a rather unfortunate angle, with my rear end facing the uncovered window when traffic started zooming past my house.

I can only apologize to any nosey neighbors who had the great misfortune of nosily looking into my house. And to my poor daughter, who is luckily too young to understand just how disgusting that all really was.

Might I suggest adding just a few inches to the bottom, so that it maybe reaches my knees?

My other beef is, well, this:

Why the tiny bow? Does the bow make this night shirt so wildly sexy that I should not be showing it on the internet without special licensing? I do not understand the bow. I consider myself to be something of a girlie-girl. But this has me stumped. I asked my husband if he found me more appealing with the tiny bow on my nightgown. Considering he didn’t even look away from the tv to answer me, I am guessing NO. It doesn’t make me feel prettier, either.

Rest assured, my handy tiny sewing scissors did a wonderful job of rendering me bow-free. Sorry if you feel I have desecrated your garment. I promise, worse has happened to your night shirts.

Two Black Cats

November 27, 2007 at 6:05 am | In For Hali, accessories, clothing, sewing | 2 Comments
Tags: black cats, black hair, costumes, Halloween

For Halloween Hali and I were both (as per her request) both black cats. I made us ears and tails. I also made her some furry little cuffs to go around her tiny wrists to complete the look. She already had the clothes, so it was a very inexpensive costume. I was really prepared to go all out and sew up some fabulous costume for her, but she just wanted to be a black cat ( I think because her idol, Dora the Explorer also has dressed as a cat for Halloween) and she wanted Mom to be one too.

The big surprise of the night was me dying my hair. I am actually a blond, but decided to have some fun and try something new for Halloween. Turns out I really like it (for some reason my hair looks super greasy in that picture though) and so does everyone else. So it remains, although it is already fading.

I just realized that I didn’t draw and whiskers on myself. Just as well- Jeremy’s cousin was so kind as to point out that Hali’s look like a spider…

Getting Use Out of the Useless

September 1, 2007 at 3:42 pm | In Crafty, clothing, sewing | 2 Comments

I am very picky about fashions in clothing. One item of clothing that I have never been particularly fond of is the bloomer. You know, those cutsie little elasticized diaper/underwear cover ups? To me, they are just overboard. Too much. I have to say that they just don’t look comfy, either. Plus, down here in the south, where its over 100 degrees, plus the heat index (which is a lot seeing how humid we always are) it is just one more extra layer of clothing that no one needs.

Unfortunately- or rather fortunately, now that I have figured out what to do with them, they come with dressed for little girls a lot. I brainstormed after cleaning out Hali’s closet a few weeks ago, and came up with in my modest opinion, a great use for them.

No, something better than laying them out on your carpet or wearing them as masks (though that is super fun and entertaining for a little while)! Keep going….

Purses! Or is it a bag? What’s the difference? Should I look this one up? Should I medicate my OCD?

The cute little bugs on this fabric were just too cute to toss, so I cut off the leg holes, sewed the bottom up, added a liner (my very first liner, I might add, thank you very much) cut some white ribbon for a handle, and presented it to Her Royal Highness.

Her Highness was quite pleased and proceeded to Her Royal Bedchamber wherein she commenced to Fill it with Jewels and Coins- not to mention the ever-so-important Markers and Paper.

This is the biggest purse she has, so it did seem very spacious to her. I was just happy she managed to hold still for exactly two and a half seconds so I could snap a picture of her with it. Not to mention she actually modeled it for the shot- normally she refuses out of principle. What that principle that is, I don’t know…

First Official Entry

July 6, 2007 at 5:04 am | In clothing, sewing | 1 Comment

This being my first official entry for my craft blog- my other blog being Mom and Me, I thought to start off with the first clothing item that I made. Ever. I made this last week in preperation for our beach trip:

It was inspired by this (who was inspired by her- I read them both religiously and love what they come up with). I started thinking what a great cover up it would make and having not found anything that I actually wanted to buy for Hali, I decided it was time to sew my very first article of clothing.

I learned a bit in the process. I didn’t do the sides the way I should have (doubled them over so they don’t fray). Ruffles really aren’t that hard to do. I like double bias tape- it’s my friend. It looks a bit wrinkled in the picture, but it actually went on quite smoothly. I just didn’t feel like ironing for a picture. I hate ironing.

I did not however, start with a pillow case. I just used what I had: some soft solid pink fabric, some pink dotted fabric, and white bias tape. The little rectangle on the chest was appliqued on using the smallest zig-zag setting on my machine.

I had to beg Hali to try the dang thing on, and when she finally put it on, she didn’t want to take it off and got spaghetti sauce all over it, so I got to wash it so it could be worn the next morning to the beach.