Toadstool House Pattern!

I am happy to say that the Toadstool House & Fairies pattern is finally available for purchase.

Read the story behind the pattern in the original post here.

It has been a long journey -longer than I thought - to get it from my sewing table to yours. I am grateful for all the feedback and photos from my beta-stage pattern testers, as well as the actual work they put in to sewing the fairies and toadstools. The vetting and checking are as complete as is humanly possible at this stage, but if there are any mistakes, please let me know and if I end up doing a review, I'll send you a free updated version ASAP.

To all the readers who have sent me the When Is The Pattern Coming Out Already???? emails, thank you for your patience. I know I am slow with my patterns, but even I am mortified at how long this took. It was not an easy pattern to write, largely because I wanted to be sure I was using the simplest possible explanations and sequences to help you make something as complex as the Toadstool House. Before you purchase the pattern, here are some things to note:

The toadstool house is beautiful, yes. The construction is sturdy, the seam allowances are all hidden (I am anal that way), it's whimsical, the kids love it. BUT it is not for the beginner seamstress. I wish it were, but I need to be honest. I would recommend that it be used by people with at least intermediate sewing skill, and specifically in the following areas:

• sewing around curves (there are very few straight seams in the House).
• attaching bias tape
• working with stiffer fabrics like canvas, duckcloth and being confident to try out plastic canvas in a 3D construction.

Also there is a lot of hand-stitching involved - I'd say a quarter to a third of the sewing of the House is done by hand, and this includes hand-basting to hold layers in place. If you hate hand-sewing, please don't buy this pattern. But if you don't mind sitting on the sofa after the kids are in bed, attaching bias tape with a neat little running stitch, you'll probably like it.

The Toadstool House is the more challenging of the two projects in the pattern, of course. The fairies are much simpler - especially if you enjoy hand-sewing felt toys. I don't have the patience to hand-sew felt toys much, so I used the machine wherever I could. The pattern includes options to make the fairies by hand and by a combination of hand+machine that might just please most people. The pieces are small, but they stay put because felt isn't slippery. And because they are small, I would strongly recommend using at least a wool-blend, if not pure wool, felt.

So there- I've done my bit of marketing and anti-marketing. Now, if you're still in, read on:

Most of the materials you need can be bought at typical fabric stores - stuff like canvas, duckcloth, home-dec weight fabric, regular cotton, stuffing. Most of you probably already have these in your stash. Here is more information on three of the materials that might be more unusual - unless you are already dabbling in the er... specialty crafts that require them, you might have to actually go procure them:


1 Wool or wool-blend felt
I buy mine by the 36"-wide yard at JoAnn. Depending on the percentage of wool, they can cost from $8/yd upwards. Use coupons when you can and know that even a quarter yard goes a long, long way with tiny felt toy pieces. Colors are limited in the store- the JoAnn store I patronize has only the colors that you might find in food. Here are some online felt stores that I know of - I haven't actually bought felt from them because I still have a deliciously large stash inherited from Grandma.
Prairie Point Junction
Purl Soho
American Felt and Craft

and they sell 9" x 12" pieces in a wide variety of colors.


2 Plastic Canvas
A familiar staple if you are into cross-stitch and yarn weaving. I buy mine from JoAnn (again) and it comes in sheets of different sizes, mesh size and stiffness. The mesh size is unimportant unless you want the leftovers for cross-stitch. I wouldn't recommend the ultra-stiff (as said on the label!) variety - the regular stiffness (nothing said on the label) is sufficient. You'll need a single 13" x 22" sheet for the whole project or a 12"x 18" plus a 8.5" x 11" sheet. They cost between 99c and $2 per sheet.

Or you could buy them online at JoAnn's online store here.


3 Poly beads or Poly Pellets
These are the things that people put in the bottoms and appendages of dolls and beanie toys to make them sit squarely. You can easily substitute small beans, but I am always paranoid that some child in my house will gnaw on a toy containing said beans and cause them to germinate. Bad case of Science Mother Gone Mad, but there you are. Poly beads are inert, as far as I know, and can be bought by the bag at craft stores like Michaels and (I imagine) Hobby Lobby and JoAnn. A small bag costs about $8 and lasts forever.

I am not affiliated to any of these stores, incidentally - I'm just telling you where I shop.



Two more things to say:

One, at the request of some readers, you can now find all my patterns on the last tab "Patterns For Sale" under the blog banner. Each pattern is listed along with the sort of sewing skills you might need to be more comfortable tackling it, and a link to the original story post so you can see more photos and read a little more before deciding if you want to make it.


Two, the final stage of developing this pattern involved me, 4 months after the first prototype, sewing up a brand new sample using my own instructions. Most of the refining happens at this stage - the instructions get further simplified, new photos get swopped in, my ego gets a nice big humbling puncture from reading my original directions, and I make this brand-new extra Toadstool in the process:





I've put it in the shop if anyone would like to buy rather than sew one. I am not planning to make more Toadstool House-Fairies for sale - I love them but I want to move on to other projects.

So some buying options -

Go here to buy the pattern and read the download instructions.



For the limited-edition ready-to-ship Toadstool House and Fairy Occupant, go to the shop.


My wonderful pattern testers, and patient, patient Joy, who won this pattern in my giveaway last century, I'll be emailing you with your free patterns. Thank you, everyone, for your interest and support!

Sick Day Crafts

Actually, we were sick last week. I say "actually" because life went on as if we weren't. We caught one of those bugs that made us suddenly and violently ill overnight, and then left us by the morning. A phenomenal amount of laundry in its wake, along with children who were too sick for school but too well to nap all day long.

So we watched movies, lounged in pyjamas and - when the kids got very, very, very bored - we made some stuff.

Fabulously clear and focused picture that reveals absolutely nothing:

Ah - slightly better:

Here be crowns.

Cardboard wrapped in foil and decorated with permanent markers. I let the kids use my Sharpie collection when they are less animated than usual.

We also made scepters

which were polystyrene balls stuck on dowels and wrapped in more foil.

Some of us added gems.

Some of us didn't.

But everyone got to play Empress Dowager later that day and order everyone else around.

We're all mended now, though.

We Have Weapons!

What's new at our house this week?

Honor, glory and sacrifice.

The girls are in a musketeer phase now. They are running around shouting and pointing broomsticks at each other and attacking dastardly, if invisible, enemies. They asked me to please make them swords so they could fight more fearlessly ("and also so we can decorate the thing the sword goes into", says Emily).

Sure - if it's cardboard, I'll do it.

These swords were made from the inner tubes of wrapping paper rolls. We flattened and pointed the ends, slotted them through another cardboard strip to make the hilt

and wrapped the blade in aluminum foil.

I also cut lengths of webbing to make sword belts:

An adjustable slide at one end

a loop instead of a scabbard somewhere in the middle:

Took maybe a little over an hour to make 3 sets.

The girls decorated their swords-

even the blade -

and went off to protect the King/Prince/some important guy.

En garde!

Parry!

They are going to be musketeers next Halloween. They've got it all figured out. I might just do it - finally a change from princesses.

Cultural Giveaway Winner And My Bit Of Learning

First, thank you all for sharing your learning stories! It was heartening to read about all the education going on, formal, informal, accidental and incidental. I'm a retired teacher, and I always like it when people tell me their learning stories. There is a wealth of resources within the comments - websites, books and personal experiences - so please browse there for more things to learn and new ways to learn them.

Second, we have a winner!




Commentor #20, Michelle, who said,

I learned how to piece curves from a library book I can't remember the title of and a bunch of different magazine articles.

And I learned from your website that I, in theory at least, could come up with my own pattern. Haven't tried that yet, though.

Congratulations, Michelle! I've sent you an email!

Confession: I was supposed to close the giveaway at midnight but it was 11:53 pm and I was sleepy. Sorry if anyone commented between then and midnight.

Third, here is my own learning story for the year. Thought it was only fair to share, since you were so generous with yours. It's a list (of course):

10 things I learned about sewing this year:

1 I don't like it as much as I like making cardboard stuff. This is primarily because sewing is mutually exclusive with young children participating (if you want them to be safe, that is), while making cardboard stuff allows full children participation. And I always like full children participation (as if I can avoid it, anyway).

2 I still find it excruciatingly difficult to buy fabric online. I have a gift certificate for a very fun online fabric store stuffed with designer fabric and I haven't been able to use it. I've tried at least ten times but everything has prints on it and I loaded and unloaded my shopping cart and I still haven't bought anything. And no, I am not going to give the cert. to any of you. I am going to make myself use it or die trying. Nothing like working at one's shortcomings and overcoming them.

3 All the fancy needles* I bought this year have increased my enjoyment of the sewing process. This is the first year in my life that I've used needles other than Universal and Stretch (which came free with my sewing machine). Best low-cost investment I've made as far as sewing improvement is concerned.

4 I cannot do any decent sewing in the summer. So I might as well not even try.

5 Pattern-developing is hard work, and anyone who has made a pattern for sale and who felt like she/he wanted to charge $50,000 for each copy simply for all the hours of work that went into it, is perfectly rational.

6 It is worth serging (and first getting all three children into the car to go out to procure) clear elastic into the shoulder seams of knitwear (like a Tshirt-style dress) to avoid the stitches breaking later after the children have worn them 100 times.

7 Children really prioritize twirlyness in a dress/skirt over any other feature, including color.

8 If you go to JoAnn on the weekends, good luck to you. Bring a book.

9 I am quite happy to wear ill-fitting store-bought basics like Tshirts if it means not having to sew them myself. Ironically, when I see substandard-fitting clothes on my children, I feel I have failed them as a mother.

10 I've re-learned drafting. Most of it was by just bumbling through what I thought I knew from childhood, and making myself quantify the rules. But I got a great kick-start from Mum and Auntie Laura, and along-the-way support from Jen, who did the drafting series with me. Not a lot from books, I'm sorry to say. Partly not my learning style, but mostly because I haven't yet found a book that read like a teacher willing to answer dumb questions.

Fourth, I am going to start a new tutorial series this month all about pockets. There are 26 different pockets to learn to make - from easy-peasey patch pockets to Oh-I-Feel-Like-A-Real-Tailor types like bound double welt pockets with flaps**. Whoo!

* Except wretched Wing Needle. It is likely that I didn't use the right weight of linen, which is not really any consolation, either.

** I don't actually believe that's their proper name. I threw those words together because they are separately accurate and, combined, sound fancy. You know, like I-N-V-I-S-I-B-L-E -Z-I-P-P-E-R. Which reminds me: my sewing goal next year should be to learn the proper names of things, beginning with the parts of my sewing machine that I now fondly refer to as The Round Underground Bobbin Cave, The Pneumatic Drill That Drives The Needle Up And Down, and The Manual Steering Wheel.

Rainbow Dress

Rainbows are Jenna's favorite thing at the moment. Everything she draws or colors is elevated in her esteem if it has rainbows in it. For her birthday, we made these rainbow cookies, even though they had nothing to do with the Rapunzel theme. They made her grin so wide.

I'd wanted to make Jenna a dress for her birthday so she'd have something new and handmade to wear. When I asked her what kind of dress she'd like, she said "A rainbow dress" and wouldn't elaborate on the design, other than that "I like the rainbow stripes." Nothing came to mind so I sat on it (like everything else). I only knew that I was not about to applique rainbows, clouds or anything motif-y on the dress, nor was I going to be sewing rainbow-stripe trim or doing any rainbowy embroidery.

Then I saw Meg's beautiful rainbow dress and showed it to Jenna. And she smiled and got very excited. Lovely!

So last week - long past her birthday - I made her Rainbow Dress. Well, in the summer it could be a dress, but it's a pinafore for the cold months now. Part Wimbledon, part cheerleader, part carnival, it's something you have to be four years old to carry off. Technically, it is my favorite dress to date - all those clean, clean lines and old-fashioned styling!

Here's the front

and the back.

I used white stretch twill and fully lined it with cotton. Because the pinafore buttons at the shoulders, facing the whole garment was easy.

There's a faced drop-waist band

and a full skirt of inverted box pleats.

In spite of being very enthusiastic during the construction stages, Jenna was not very excited about wearing it when it was finished. She explained that it was because the dress was white and "white is not in the rainbow and I like the colored parts but I don't like the white parts".


So I told her that it was actually a Cloud Dress that had a Secret Rainbow in it. When she was still, the rainbow was hidden,

but when she started to twirl, the rainbow peeked out

and yelled Hello! to the sky.

Like this - see?

And that brought her smile back, like sunshine after the rain.

P.S. When she accessorizes this dress with her her dangly necklaces, bracelets and dressy slippers, I swear I've been transported back to the 60's.

P.P.S. Never mind that this particular rainbow has only 6 colors, which I'm glad Jenna hasn't noticed. The girl notices everything.

Rapunzel Party

Here's another post I forgot to publish. Why am I not surprised?

I've blogged about almost all the elements of Jenna's Rapunzel Party in previous posts, so this is just the formality summary, with some in-action pictures. Since it was an indoor party, the lighting was dungeon-esque. Quite fitting though, given the theme.

Here are two more crafty-type handmade parts of the party that didn't get their own post.

First is the Hopefully Pin The Hair On Rapunzel game, that my kids seem to think is a staple at parties, in theme-appropriate form.

We drew the poster the night before the party when Jenna was too excited to fall asleep. I let her stay up with me and tell me what sort of poster she wanted drawn. We did five windows with the Prince, Rapunzel, the Horse, the Witch (again, silly rather than scary) and The Salad. Grandma braided a plait of yarn to stick onto Rapunzel.

Second is the craft the kids did when they first arrived. Here they are decorating plastic wine glasses aka Medieval Goblets with self-adhesive gems.

When they were finished, they got to drink white wine (apple juice) out of them.


Some old familiar stuff -

The cardboard Rapunzel Towers and Rapunzel peg dolls:

The Nab-A-Prince Fishing Game:

The pull-apart Tower Pinata:

The dress-up outfits -

dresses

and wigs

and a happy little four-year old for whom I am unspeakably thankful:

Now that we have three children who are of Birthday Party age, I'm forseeing a lot of themed birthdays in the next few years. Since I like lists, I thought I'd make a new section in my sidebar listing them, for your easy reference. Not saying you need to do parties in the same manic way I do ours, but just in case you want to use some of the ideas therein for regular crafts of your own. I'll link each theme to the respective Overall Party Posts (like this one), which will then have links within them to take you to the different elements of each party. I know, I know - I'm so Type A.