Celebrate The Boy

Do you sew for boys?
Do you wish there were more ideas out there for sewing for boys?
Do you complain about the dearth of fabrics for sewing for boys?
Do you have trouble finding patterns for sewing for boys?


My answer to all of the above is actually "No", but that's because I have three girls. And they keep me busy enough.


But those of you who answered "Yes! For the love of all things non-floral, yes!" will rejoice to know that last year's fabulous resource-and-inspiration-aganza for boys is back! 

Hurrah! Beginning today, Rae and Dana are hosting a whole month of boy-focused projects, resources and inspiration! There will be guests! There will be clothes! There will be toys! There will be reason to cheer! Click on the button below to go to the archives of Celebrate The Boy 2010, if you'd like to see more.

Remember this?

I was there last year and I loved it! 

And, in spite of still being rather overly-focused on girl sewing, I'll be there again, with these:

Two clues:

1. It's something to wear
2. It's unisex -

so that I can keep celebrating the girls in my world along with the boys in yours.




P.S. Thank you, thank you for all your wonderful, helpful, springboardy comments to my last post! You all far, far exceeded my expectations of ideas and thought-sharing and I am so glad. I'm taking my time to sort through and classify all those fun possibilities for curricula (yay!) and Make Plans For The Year. Will post again about it! 

Here's Where I Drone On About My Midlife Craft Crisis

Lately I've been bored with blogging. I think it's because it's the same old stuff - totes and pouches and clothes and drafting and cardboard-that-I-cannot-get-to-because-Emily-has-cut-up-all-my-boxes. I have all these posts written up, right? And photos all edited. And tutorials done. And even more projects sewn that I can't bring myself to take photos of because they are boring. Different garments, different bags, different fabrics, different details, yes, but they are still clothes and bags. And I've done clothes and bags. UGH!

So I've been slacking off, exhuming eclectic photos from my past, finishing up old projects - just to buy time till I can figure out what might be exciting to do this year. Check out my feeble ideas:

• Ethnic sewing - saree tops, Chinese suits, that sort of thing. 
• More toys - but my kids are growing up and into board games now.
• Costumes - but that's clothes again!!!!!!!
• Carpentry - take those cardboard ideas and venture into wood as a medium. Nahhhhhh - then we wouldn't be able to toss them when they become obselete.
• Reupholster our house - nahhhhhhhhhh. Too much work for the price of buying new stuff ready-made.

Know what? I think I want to write curricula. I think I miss teaching. Not homeschool-type teaching, no. I think somewhere inside me, I want to write sewing curricula - not for a book, no, no. For classes. 

I was in Joann last week - the first time since before Christmas (see? I'm just losing interest) and there was a class of bewildered-looking students holding up fat quarters and trying to find the selvedges. I wondered, "what is the lesson, I wonder? Maybe Discovering Fabric 101?" Came home and told the husband how bored I am with blogging and selling patterns and how I secretly want to teach sewing.

"Like in a community college?" he asked.

"No. To people with no money and who might learn to sew to make a living." I could see the wheels turning as he considered that I might take off to a third world country to hold classes for village women with children strapped to their backs while he and the kids lived on mac-n-cheese for the next year.

Or maybe I'll start in church, and see if they'll let me teach people how to sew. But there's already a lovely quilting group full of gentle, well-behaved ladies there that rolls bandages and sews blankets for newborns. I joined them once, and sewed bags-to-hang-on-wheelchairs for a mission trip. It was fun - for one day. 

Or maybe, when the kids are older, and I can leave the house for hours on end, I might go to Joann and see if they'll take me. I might have to promise not to say bad things about their quilting cottons section and I might have to make myself enthuse over a 2D project in floral polyester that has only 5 steps, but I could take a big swig of molten nutella and do it.

A reader wrote to me last week for advice on how to teach mending to a group of girls. I loved her question, and - poor thing - I sent her back a sample curriculum. I think she's still reeling from the overload. It's the teacher genes, I swear - I can write tutorials if I want, and I can probably call unsuspecting fabric stores about running a project-based workshop, but oh, to write curricula!!!!!!! A 10-week sewing course for teenagers! An 8-week course on beginner sewing! A 6-month course on drafting! To teach sewing skills! To actual, non-virtual people with non-virtual bewildered faces! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

I wrote up a 2010 Round-up post at the end of last year, like so many bloggers do - and it was so boring that I didn't post it. I mean, I did a lot of random nonsense in 2010. No architectural megaprojects like the Princess Pavilion Tent or the Little Blue House of 2009, pity. A lot of patterns (OK, four) and interactive softies. An inordinate number of costumes. And two big tutorial series-es: drafting and pockets. I liked those last two. They were like curricula. And I began to see a pattern forming.    

Or maybe it's just winter getting to me. I miss being outdoors. I miss swimming.  I miss being in a classroom with thirty teenagers on that first day of the school year with a brand new curriculum to dive into. There I am, rubbing my hands in glee, dressed in some outlandish ethnic outfit, gloating, "Hyuk, hyuk, you're stuck with me! We're going to learn Physics!!!!!!" and we go on to have a smashing year.

Does this post even have a point? 

Sorta. Here's my self-analysis. I like teaching skills, right? But most of you like learning projects. I prefer doing tutorials on techniques and generic elements of projects, like pockets and gussets and styles of garments and adapting slopers and stuff like that, and let you all go on to personalize them and make them your own. Because that's what teachers - even retired ones - do. But many of you like strawberry bags and stick horses and gathered skirts and cardboard ships (and that's why I throw those in the mix). Here's the thing: those What tutorials don't get me excited like the Why and How tutorials do. Plus, maybe those Whys and Hows are beyond what most of you would like to handle, or have time for? We all have day jobs and small kids (or both), right?

Self-disclosure over - now for a question:

What would you like to learn this year that I could write a curriculum tutorial for? 

I'm not asking, "what would you like to see on this blog in 2011?" - because I'll get this typical answer: "Why, more of the same, please!" Flattering, but not as  helpful.

So take your time to think of an answer and share it in the comments, and maybe it will shape a new curriculum for the year!

Parting words: what in the world was that first photo about? Hot pads, is it?

Answer: No - it's one of my famous random photos!

OK really, it's just a new pocket. I'm always making new pockets.

I made them this weekend for fun, just to see if I could get piping all around a lined pocket from the inside. These are faux-flap piped lined patch pockets. What a mouthful! 

They're going on a garment for Kate. I'll take photos soon. 

Promise.

Handmade Wedding Gown

Have I ever shown you mum's wedding gown? 

I er.... borrowed it for my wedding. 

Mum made it out of ribbon lace and bridal satin. It's a classic column gown with bell sleeves and a scoop neckline. Not gathered, not pouffy. And she made her little pillbox hat, which I thought was the cutest thing.

These outdoor photos were taken in Singapore. We were married in Minnesota, and we took a quick trip to Singapore to do the whole thing again there for our friends and the rest of our family. Our Singapore photographer was into architecture quite a bit, which explains the gorgeous backgrounds. My bouquet in these shots was some random bunch of dusty artificial flowers mum grabbed out of one of the vases in her house and wrapped in a doily - I'd completely forgotten I needed flowers. Also, I can't get over how proper and well-behaved I look in the photos. Couldn't be further from the truth. 

When I inherited the gown, it had to be let out A LOT. Mum worked on it in Singapore while I was living here in Minnesota - we did all the alterations by phone (so ridiculous). Her hand-beaded train was very chic, but very discolored over the years, so we had to make a new one.   

Now about this train - I still feel the strains of insanity when I think about it. It's one big rectangular piece of voile, right? Plain. Mum cut out all those lace flowers and stitched them by hand all over the middle of it. Then she took a plane with dad to come visit me, handed the train over, saying, "you've got better eyesight - you finish it". So I did. I stitched the border, in between writing assignments and my counseling internship in grad school. It probably was child's play to mum, after making stuff like that tablecloth. But it was a stretch for me, much as it was a nice distraction from school, since I prefer sewing-machining everything if I can. I don't think I've made anything since that has anywhere near that amount of hand-stitching.    

This is the back of the gown where the train begins. I must say that I haven't met anyone yet who can do fabric roses like mum. 

So that's my/mum's handmade gown. I'm hoping one (or all of) my girls wear it someday. I'll think of some tediously beautiful part of it to have them work on, so we can pass down the family tradition of sewing oneself into a stupor days before one's wedding.

And I found a picture of me wearing a Chinese thing!! It is the most recent one I could find, even though it is eight years old. We were having dinner on a train, some months after our wedding.

Eight years later - here are our kids are wearing Chinese clothes:

None of these are handmade - they were all bought in Singapore. But I want to make some soon, because I love mandarin collars, especially on actual Chinese suits. And then, yes, I'll do that frog button tutorial.

I hope you enjoyed the photos! Some of you asked to see what else was in my Ethnic Clothes Closet - well, it's mostly stuff like this, and also one lurid neoprene wetsuit (I filed that under Miscellaneous). I miiiiiiiiiight have a photo of me in a saree and cornrows (long story) but that's even further back than 8 years ago. Like I said, I was..... different..... then. If I find it, I'll scan it and share it here.     

Egg Nightlights

Some portable nightlights the girls and I made this weekend. 

This was my initial design - squat and compact:

But I remembered in time that this was for children, so it needed to be a little more robust than a jello box. We found some hard plastic cups and hid all the wiring inside them. Then the girls chose half a plastic easter egg each, and stuck it on top with Scotch tape.

Here's the schematic diagram:

and, roughly, this is our materials list:

• 2 AA batteries
• 1 battery holder
• 1 bulb with voltage compatible with 3V
• 1 bulb holder
• 1 switch (ours was click-on-click-off)
• Circle of corrugated cardboard
• Connecting wires
• Top half of a large plastic easter egg
• Scotch tape

I buy my circuit components in bulk in Singapore, but I've found them at places like Radio Shack and educational supply stores, as well as online. Some of these store-bought circuit components can be substituted with homemade versions like this bulb holder and this switch.

We wanted this to be a stable but temporary set up, so no glue or solder. We just twisted the wire ends together and taped everything else together. This way I can take everything apart when the kids get tired of their nightlights and reuse my components. And if you connect the circuits in advance, even almost-3-year olds can assemble the housing on their own and feel like they made their own lantern. Emily was very happy to just sit in a mass of wires and alligator clips and practise making circuits. So long as she remembered the Necklace Rule (i.e. closed loops), the bulbs always lit up, which made her happy.

Three things:

1. If we'd wanted to go one step further, we could have decorated the eggs with markers or stickers to make shadows and pretty patterns. 
2. The egg parts are easily replaced by other eggs if your kids want a change of color later. Just remove the Scotch tape and retape the new egg on.
3. While I could have made a pretty, cleaned-up version for photos, I thought I'd leave these nightlights the way we made them, crudely assembled with tape everywhere - more real. But feel free to dress them up and use neat glue and natural brown cardboard and all that if you make them. 

The girls took their night lights to bed with them that night. But first they darkened the house and held a dance recital in the light of these little lanterns. 

Some sewing coming up soon. Lots of finished stuff, just too lazy to blog about them. Stay warm, everyone, and hang in there - Spring is just around the corner.

World Nutella Day

It's today and I almost missed it. If not for Natalie (thank you! Thank you!), who wrote to tell me about it, I would've missed it. I didn't even know it was elevated in other people's lives to this level of greatness. I thought it was just me, loving it - secretly in the beginning, and now loudly and proudly. 


All hail the brown jar of supreme sustenance:

Today is your day!


In honor of today, I hereby resurrect an old tribute to your goodness - my self portrait:

P.S. Check out the kinds of nutella lovers in this list here. Quite good, except they forgot #51: The IV drip and #52: The Straw. Tsk. Clearly I am still Queen. Fall on your knees.

Happy New Year!

It's Day 3 of the Chinese New Year! We spent Days 1 and 2 trying to do Chinese things. I say "trying" because it's weird celebrating Chinese New Year without family here, or mum's cooking, not to mention the fact that I'm quite hopelessly unChinese in practice. The girls and I visited Emily's and Jenna's classrooms and did a little Chinese presentation on CNY. We got all dressed up in our fancy Chinese outfits - the sorts that hang in our closets the other 364 days of the year- and handed out clementines and red packets containing chocolate coins to the kids. In order to get all dressed up, I had to first go rummage in my Ethnic Outfits Closet* for something I could still wear post-baby. 

Found this Chinese blouse I sewed -what, almost 20 years ago. 

See - princess seams! Told you I put them in everything. I think it is funny that even back then I was print-averse. This blouse was a sample I made for the seamstress who later outfitted our high school choir for a vocal competition. Not quite as flattering as the classic mandarin-collar style but it was going to be mass-produced, so we wanted to be kind to the poor lady who had to sew them (and she had small children at home with her, besides!). Alas, I cannot show you a picture of me actually wearing it now without being immodest- I can no longer button it up. But still wanted to share it because:

• it's Chinese New Year and I needed a Chinese-looking thing to photograph
• this is probably the only garment about which I can say I made everything from scratch, including the buttons (although no, I didn't farm the silkworms from which to harvest the silk to spin into the fabric).

• it's always funny to see stuff I made years ago- he he he!
• it's always funny to see how thin-as-a-rake I was years ago
• it reminded me that I must do a tutorial sometime on making those frog buttons. Would anyone be interested? Or is this way too ethnic?

I didn't make those last four, incidentally - I bought them in Singapore, as samples for the tutorial-that-hasn't-happened-yet. They're easier than they look, except first I need to google "Turk's Head Knot" to refresh my memory on the knot technique. And maybe I also need to sew myself some new Chinese outfits that actually do fit, so those buttons actually have somewhere to go.

* Why yes, I do have an entire closet of ethnic outfits - what else can I play dress-up with? It contains sarees, aodais, qipaos, kurtas, baju kurongs, sarong kebayas but not a kimono or hanbok (yet). I used to wear them to school when I was a teacher. Ridiculously flamboyant, but hey, I was a different person before motherhood tamed me. Plus, it was all in the name of cultural education. 

Happy new year, everyone! Eat lots of food. And you folks back in Singapore, eat one million teeny fried shrimp rolls for me.

Stick Horse Giveaway Winner

Sorry I slacked off this morning, everyone. I was supposed to do the draw earlier today but I had to go to the fabric store. It was an emergency, OK? I ran out of serger thread. And they were having a 50%-off sale on thread. Rarely do the stars align in my favor like this.


But back to you. We have a winner! The stick horse goes home to Commentor #57, Lee, who said,


"Wow - what a great tutorial and a surprise at the end! thank you so much! I would love to win and give to my niece!"

Lee, I've sent an email to your inbox - please contact me with your name and mailing address and I'll put the horse in the post on my next trip to the P.O.


Found another stick horse tutorial via One Pretty Thing this morning. Different, and fun. Thought you all might like an alternative if you prefer not to steal jeans from innocent family members to make mine.