Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Christmas Project - Work in Progress

So here we go - the big Christmas Project. It's big because it has
many, many parts. The final product itself probably won't take up
a lot of space - so much of it is just fabric anyway. Still, something
that will take me several months to complete, given my level of
(im)patience counts as big.

But I'd better hurry up already and say what it is and stop
blathering on about size and whatnot.

It's a dress-up box for the girls.

Erm, actually, they already have a dress-up box.

But it's a collection of random dress-up things, stuffed
higgledy-piggledy into a storage tub, including some cracked and
crushed plasticky stuff. They've served Emily well over
the past year or two, but I'd always wanted the girls to have something
open-ended that left lots of room for their imaginations. And I'd hoped
to give them beautiful things with interesting and rich textures that
they would enjoy the feel of.

I also decided it would be fun to have people follow along with this
work in progress as it evolves, rather than do a foolishly massive post
around Christmas if when it is all complete. And perhaps if anyone is
interested in putting one of these together for their own little ones,
they might decide that dress-up things can be made.
Yes, made! Not only bought!

The challenge, of course, is doing it all in secret for several months so
the recipients of said box are successfully left in the dark till Christmas.

Enough!

Here's the first of what's going into the Dress-Up Box,
and it's a no-sewing project, incidentally.

Playsilks!


The 30" x 30" white silk scarves came from here although if I were
still in Singapore, I'd probably head off to Arab Street or Yue Hwa
in Chinatown for some. They were dyed with Kool-Aid and vinegar
in Tropicana OJ cartons in the microwave oven. There are many
tutorials out there but I used the excellent one by Anna at
Three Sneaky Bugs. Stop reading this now, click on the link and go
visit her - you'll immediately feel the urge to make some of your own.


Here are the pouches that will be their home.
They are lurid fleece on the outside and black satin inside,
with ribbon drawstrings.
Sorry - OK, the pouches are sewn. It's just the silks that aren't.

The larger one will stay with us and house the 9 scarves and the
smaller one will go to another pair of girls we love - I had so much fun
dyeing the scarves that I made a few more for them.

These playsilks are going to be good open-ended playthings for the
kids - anything from capes, cloaks, picnic blankets, the sea, the sky,
doll bedlinen, dance props... Or even for just the tactile experience-
who doesn't love the feel of silk? Yum.

More box innards to come. And a tutorial (easy, I promise)!

1 comment:

  1. I'm so glad you did these and they turned out great! I especially love the little bags which is what I'm missing. I was thinking of making a bag out of the silk but I think I like your idea of the fleece better.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for talking to me! If you have a question, I might reply to it here in the comments or in an email.