Wig

Of all my handmade birthday gifts-for-other-people, the most requested is this Rapunzel wig. And by "requested", I don't mean that my girls suggest I make it for their friends; I mean the friends themselves ask my girls to ask me. Or they get their mothers to telephone me and put in a good word. Or (as one girl did at Emily's birthday party) they whisper shyly to me, "Please can you make me that Rapunzel wig for my birthday when it comes?"

I am always happy to oblige because it's such an easy, quick and inexpensive thing to make, plus I always appreciate the courage it takes for a little kid to actually ask someone to make something for them. To really ask - and not in the demanding, self-entitled way that some kids (and you know which ones I mean) do, but with a bit of um-ing and uh-ing and blushing and the huge grin when I reply that it would be my absolute pleasure to. 

I've made so many of these wigs in the past and realized I've never shared the tutorial! This week, I made a wig for Kate's best friend and decided I'd slow down and take some photos for you. First, you'll need the template, unless you want to draft your own. This one fits Kate but, really, the fleece it's made of stretches to accommodate many sizes of heads. It even fits on my head, if a bit snugly. 

Click HERE to download template.

As for the amount of fabric you'll need, I'm going to say at least a yard. You won't need the full width (60") of that yard, but you will need the full length. In fact, if you can afford it, buy two yards because that will give you a two-yard-long wig. The length of the longest panel (L) in the template plan is the length of fabric you bought. I used 2 yards, so L = 2 yards. The 60" width will give you about 4 wigs.

You'll need to cut out six panels, some longer than others. The cutting plan is on the template sheet. Note that, for once, the 1/4" seam allowances are INCLUDED. Shocking! Also note that the stretch direction of the fleece should be sideways i.e. the fabric should stretch around the circumference on the wearer's head and not vertically from crown to chin.

Here are the six panels, in the arrangement they will be attached to each other.

We're going to sew the wig in two halves, with three panels in each half. The first half has the two short panels and one long panel. Follow the stitching line guides below

and sew them together as shown:

Here's a close-up of the intersection of those seams.

Repeat for the other three panels to make the other half of the wig.

Lay those two halves with their RS together and those top intersection points meeting

and sew around the rounded edge, according to the stitching guides.

Here's what that seam looks like.

And that was the sum total of all the sewing needed! Now it gets braided. It's actually easiest if you have your kid wear the wig now and braid it while it's on her head. Note that I used three long panels (and that shorter amputated-looking one) because most people know how to braid three strands. I've made this with four long panels and it made a thick, gorgeous braid, so you can do that, too.

The numbers show the sequence of layering the panels to camouflage that short piece.

As you braid, tuck that short piece back into the overlaps to hide it.

The last step is to snip the bangs in the front short panels of the wig.

All the previous wigs I've made were finished at this point because they were mass-produced for parties and last-minute gifts and I didn't want to take the time to embellish them. This time, however, I made some pinnable flowers.

They could be sewn on but let me tell you: your wig-wearers will, without exception, unbraid their wigs and run through the house with the long hair (all three strands of it) trailing behind them, singing, "When will my life beeeeeegiiiinnnnnn?" and then ask you to rebraid it for them. Best to have those flowers detachable.

They're very easy to make. Just cut shapes out of felt or fleece, embellish

and glue a safety pin to their backs.

Pin them randomly on the crown

and all down the braid.

I had so much fun making them because I got to use up all my felt scraps!

And Kate had fun modeling the wig for me.

Also thought I'd organize the old blog a bit more and add two more labels to some of my posts. First is the Gifts label - if you want to access my handmade gifts (for kids, teachers, friends, mothers-in-law, mothers, fathers-in-law, fathers, husband, etc), just click on the Gifts label in the category cloud in my sidebar.

The second is the Reviews label. I don't review products as a habit but every now and then people will contact me and send me something and I am happy to review it for free. Incidentally, I have turned down products in the past because they were irrelevant (e.g. crochet books, scrapbooking software and other such stuff) to this blog. So don't everyone send me freebies just because you like how I review things, okay? They have to make sense and they have to be something I can actually say something nice about because I'm even slightly familiar with the subject matter. So anyway, in addition to the occasional product review, you can also find sewing and drafting book reviews and that infamous IKEA sewing machine review. Just click on the Reviews label in that same category  cloud.

Another kid gift coming up - see you back here soon!

P.S. I'm done grouch-posting about the weather. What is the point? There's been an evil prophecy of snow all week so naturally today I wore a short-sleeved Tshirt, capris and flipflops and took the kids for their swim class. We do what we can to cope. I also bought 5 bars of chocolate. 

Kiwi Crate

Some weeks ago, Kiwi Crate sent me a sample crate for the girls to play with. I'd heard about these crates even before this and had thought they were a great idea for gifts, so I was very excited when this turned up on my doorstep one evening. 

The girls responded exactly as I thought they would.

"Wow, Mom! That's a great box! Yeah, don't throw it away, okay? We should save that box to make something with!"

Brava, my children. I have trained you well.

They did eventually get past the box, of course.

Ours was the Colorful Inspiration crate:

The folks at Kiwi Crate were nice enough to pack enough supplies for all three girls to play. I love that they didn't need to share; each girl got to do all three included projects.

The girls enjoyed the contents of their crate over the next few weeks and weekends. Rather than devour the lot over a short afternoon already packed with homework and extra-curricular pursuits, they took their time with the projects.

The first was a simple spinner and color-mixing activity.

It was fun watching how the different ages of my kids translated to different experiences with color mixing. Kate (4) drew multicolored radial lines on her paper circles, Jenna (6) turned hers into a six-slice rainbow pizza and Emily (8), who'd done a module on the color wheel in art at school, really got into color mixing.

I loved all the supplementary literature that came with the project - questions to extend the learning experience

and a photo gallery of what other kids did, along with background and commentary from the designer of the project.

Project #2 was a faux stained glass collage made with a cardboard frame and colored cellophane, cut up and sandwiched between two sheets of contact paper.

Kate was very assiduous with this craft and it occupied her for a good amount of time.

When Jenna came home from school, she worked on her frame

and then went a step further and decorated the white backside of it. Jenna believes that there is no point leaving something plain if it can be rainbowed. 

At the time of this photoshoot, Emily hadn't made her picture yet, but already a trend was emerging: the older the child, the tinier the pieces of stained glass. 

Project #3 was a tissue-paper dyed canvas tote bag.

We followed the instructions to wet-and-squeeze the entire bag before applying the tissue paper squares, onto which we then dropped more water.

Here is that wet-fabric effect on two of our bags: a light, diffuse, blended pattern.

I thought I'd experiment and slightly disobey the instructions - I found the same canvas in my stash, cut out rectangles but did not pre-wet the fabric. The result: more distinct shapes, and brighter colors.

Even naughtier, I pressed a second rectangle onto the first, to get a mirror image from the same tissue paper squares

and then sewed the fabric into a pinch-frame iPod case.

The girls had so much fun! Let me tell you what I liked about our crate:

• The materials are of really good quality and  gorgeously packaged. We love the lime green Fiskars scissors! 
• The crate was generously packed - the wooden spinners, for instance, were accompanied by a whole stack of paper circles to make multiple versions of the project and there were enough tissue paper squares in each one-serving pack for us to make three totes and the spin-off iPod case.
• The instructions and literature were fun to read, easy to follow and full of delightful illustrations. 

Would I buy these? Definitely. As I mentioned earlier, I'd heard about these crates even before Kiwi Crate contacted me, and I'd actually had them on the girls' wish lists for gift ideas from grandparents and suchlike. With schoolwork and extra-curricular activities going on during term time, the girls don't really craft as much with me as they did when they were smaller. Consequently, I don't feel like I need to prepare craft activities for them as often as I used to. Every now and then, however, they still turn up in the kitchen, moaning about being bored. Those are the times I wish I had a secret stash of prepared crafts to pull out. In that sense, these Kiwi Crates are sheer genius. They're packed and ready to enjoy and are designed precisely for that age group (3-7) that's just old enough to be enamored with creating but not quite old enough to be fully swamped by schoolwork - the age that us moms refer to as The Busy Years. From what I've seen on their site, the projects range from the ingenious to the more familiar (especially if you've been in the craft blog circuit for a while) but they all look gorgeous and well-designed and, really, nothing beats having all the materials prepped for you so you can dive right into the making.

More information about Kiwi Crates can be found here. They can be bought on a subscription basis or as individual crates. Each crate is typically packed for a single child (our sample crate was specially packed for our three girls to be able to enjoy all the projects) but you can choose the Add-A-Sibling option for any crate or simply buy more than one. See here for what comes in the actual individual-crate version of ours. The single crates, of which you can pick the themes, are obviously perfect for birthdays and holiday gifts. But think of other the possibilities: the kid whose Mom just had a new baby, the parent who needs concrete ideas for a themed birthday party, the kids' table at a wedding, the raffle prize for the fundraiser...

Other fun links to check out on the Kiwi Crate site: here is the gallery of recent sample crates, this is the list of all the crate themes, this is where you can write to the good people at Kiwi Crate to give feedback and submit ideas for projects and here's a fun contest (you'll have to like them on FB to enter). 

Thank you, Kiwi Crate, for our enjoyable afternoons playing with color! 

Wrap Version 2.0

So it's not in the shades of the ocean, as planned here. I decided that this other chevron fabric had a nicer drape and went with it instead.

I'm going to share some instructions on how to make this wrap dress, because it's very easy. But I'm not going to insult (or even just frustrate) you by doing a full 100-step tutorial because it will come out different for different bodies; instead, all you need is this overview picture

and some annotations, and you should be good to go. 

You need to start with a rectangle whose width is roughly 1.5 -1.75 times the circumference of the widest part of your body. For most people, this will be their bust or their hips. Now, in the diagram, it says "1.5 -1.6 times" because that's the ratio that works for this particular stretchy lycra-blend jersey. If you were using a non-stretchy fabric like the rayon in my Version 1.0, you'd be more comfortable with a bigger ratio.

Two things have been done to change the shape of the initial rectangle:

1. Armcyes in the upper corners. Cut these small to start and fit them against your body, cutting them wider and deeper if needed. If you are using a non-stretchy fabric (like my rayon), you might want to consider armhole darts for a more fitted armscye and less gaping.
2. Curved bottom corners and tapered sides, to shape the front flap of the dress and to reduce the amount of fabric that hugs your legs as you walk. You'll shape these sides at the last stage of construction - again, it will be different for every body and the fabric you use, so don't ask me for angles or ratios or whatever.

The length of the dress (i.e. the height of the rectangle) is again dependent on personal preference. 

Let's go back to the armscye for a while now. You can do many things with the armscye, e.g.

• serge or rolled-hem the edge and attach straps
• Bind it with bias tape in a loop

I was using a stretchy knit, so I bound it with a straight strip of the same material (see tutorial for knit binding here) and left the ends loose 

to tie in a knot. I wanted it adjustable mostly because I wasn't sure how this fabric would hold up to heavy use and I didn't want it to stretch over time and leave me with saggy armholes.

The back drapes in folds - the tighter the wrap around your body, the lower and more drapey the back will be. 

Well, go forth and plan for summer now, friends! After a brief departure from ashen skies and depressing cold (lasted two? three? days), it's back to being odiously grey and icky outside again today. 

Unrelated, I'm suffering from serious Sherlock withdrawal symptoms. Finished Season 2 yesterday while on the treadmill and now I don't know what to do with myself. How many thousand hours must I wait before Season 3 turns up? Incidentally, my very good friend stood behind Benedict Cumberbatch in line at the P.O. once and carried out a bit of a conversation with him. Why don't I ever meet anyone at the P.O when I'm there, emburdened with brown paper packages of etsy stuff for you guys? Maybe because you'd drop all those packages on your own foot and hop around in pain and make a right fool of yourself in front of said Anyone, my sense of reason soothingly assures me. 

Regardless, I have no more Sherlock to watch. And to cope, I'm drowning my sorrows in fabric and sewing clothes. When I hate sewing clothes (remember? How I'd rather buy them? And how, whenever I have no choice but to sew clothes, I procrastinate by making cardboard toys and attending rock concerts?). So when I actually pick sewing clothes as a means of therapy... this is how I know things are really, really bleak. 

Oh, wait - I just looked out the window and . . . it's snowing. Ha. Ha. Ha. I think the bottom officially just fell completely out. 

Another Wrap

What day is it? What month is it? I've lost track of time!

I blame this interminable winter. Not only does it feel like time is frozen (literally), it also puts a person in a particularly vituperative mood. For six months. How does one cope? Obviously, we can bundle up and hide away, like the typical stoic Minnesotan. Do you know that when I first came to Minnesota and turned up in school with my black wool coats and fancy scarves and berets, my professor laughed and said, "Oh, we don't bother about fashion here! We just care about keeping warm!" And then tucked his hands into the pockets his Columbia ski jacket, pulled on his unmatching beanie and stomped away in his waterproof winter hunting boots. Very depressing. I mean, there are only two reasons for which a person would live in a place that's an icebox half the year - skiing and winter fashion. Well, one out of two isn't bad, I guess. I did go skiing. Dressed unfashionably, but warm as toast. I'd assimilated.

Or we could fight. Like Kate's preschool teacher, who went to the bottom of her driveway and threatened the big hunk of ice with boiling water, shouting, "Begone! Begone!" She's got spirit.

Or we could live in perpetual denial. I do that. I walk around the house in shorts, tank tops and the pathetic tan that's left over from Singapore. When people ring the doorbell to deliver packages, frozen groceries and the odd sled that got left in someone's backyard, they stare at me in shock. I stare back. So what if I have goosebumps to rival sandpaper? So what if the cold has gotten into the very marrow of my bones so that I don't think I will ever be warm again? I will not yield. Last month, the children and I got our season passes to the waterpark. So what if we were wearing sweaters in our mugshots? People need something to look forward to.

Last week was spring break for the kids. So we drove to the fabric warehouse and bought summer fabrics. Yes, all four of us. We may be winter fashion disasters here in the upper midwest but, by gum, we were going to make a splash in the other, unfrozen months of the year. 

Here's a swim-wrap dress I've been meaning to make ever since I pinned it on my To Sew board.

Sometimes when you have a particular fabric in mind, you need to forgo the convenient chain stores and wait till you can get the right stuff, in this case rayon that's tie-dyed indigo. Drapey, weighty, unstretchy (i.e. unclingy, especially to wet skin) and with a print that camouflages wet patches in embarrassing locations.

I very seldom sew by draping. I much prefer drafting because it is faster and more precise, but sometimes a person has to do whatever it takes to get the fabric to do whatever it needs to. This is my practice-run dress, incidentally - it has bad straps, exposed selvedges, slipshod rolled-hem armscyes and boxed-pleat armscye darts. And -worse - I didn't iron it. Shudder.

The next version should be nicer - it's in a loose-weave chevron knit in the colors of the ocean. I must remember to do proper pleats, bias-bind the armscye and shape that side hem properly.

Well, it's a start. I have to believe that spring isn't just a myth. And that, in the summer, that breeze whipping the skirt about will actually feel nice.