Recent Acquisitions

Just finished some secret birthday projects yesterday so will do 

a post on them soon, once the birthday people have received their 

gifts. In the meantime, here is a short report on stuff I recently bought: 

Large spools of embroidery thread from a fabric warehouse that I

only patronize when someone can watch the kids. No point letting 

them see mom when she has absolutely no self-control. Up to this 

point, I have been using regular thread which has worked quite well. 

But these are so shiny! And a deal at $0.50 - $1 a spool!

The husband will out of the country for a few days for a work 

conference so to cope, I went fabric shopping at the local fabric 

store. It made me smile to think that in the old days when I was 

young(er) and chic(er), retail therapy for me was shoe shopping. 

Or clothes. Or CDs. 

Or something else that normal people liked a lot of. 

Pink fleece, chiffon and trim for Emily's halloween ballerina suit. 

Fleece! How many dancers do you know wear winter-weight 

fabrics on stage?

Fleece for baby blankets and other miscellaneous projects.

And more flannel for bibs, of course. Fabric therapy is not actually 

therapeutic without these. I must have looked slightly rabid because 

the store person measuring and cutting my fabric yesterday actually 

told me to stop buying these flannels. First she said, tactfully, 

"Wow, you're going to be busy," and no, she wasn't referring to Jenna 

and Kate in my shopping cart. Then, when my eyes glazed over, 

imagining the gratification of sewing close to a hundred bibs during 

the cold winter months, she said, "Why don't you come back when 

these (other fabric in my cart) are on sale? You have a lot to 

work with already."

Not even ashamed, let alone offended. It is hard for the 

unenlightened or those of sound mind to fathom. 

Some day bibs will rule the world. 

Painting Without Paint

A quick post about how we try to minimize mess in the creative 

process in our house. I love painting but not the cleaning up. And 

Emily has the shortest attention span nowadays- 10 minutes at 

least to set up the table, lay newspapers, fill the palettes with paint 

etc. and she paints for 3 minutes and says she's done. Jenna makes 

it more worth my time - she'll paint for as long as we let her but 

the process is usually truncated when she starts dumping colored 

water on herself and the floor. Mess is important in developing 

creativity, I've always felt, and the usual state of our living room 

might suggest that our children are masters in that aspect. But for 

the times when I am just not in the mood, here are three things 

we do when we still want to paint but not with paint:

First, the paint-with-water books. Not much creativity or self-

expression, since the pictures and the colors are chosen for you, 

but good for young kids learning to use a brush and older kids 

learning more advanced brush control and water use. And the 

magically-appearing colors are of course fascinating for little 

minds who haven't yet grasped the un-magic chemistry behind it all.

Observe the very un-messy table - hurrah!

Next, watercolor pencils.

You use them like regular color pencils and then paint over them 

with water to create water-color paint effects. Or, as Jenna likes 

to do, dip the pencil tips in water and draw with them so they come 

out smudgy and like paint. Pardon the seasonally-inappropriate 

drawing below - it was the only thing that came to mind when I was 

sitting at the kitchen table drawing yesterday - a simple example 

of how to (badly) fake a watercolor painting. 

                                                      Before water                  After water

For an even more arty outcome, make a faint black and white 

photocopy of a landscape on vellum, then color it in with the 

pencils, and brush over it with water. 

Watercolor crayons and normal blackboard or sidewalk chalk 

work the same way.

Finally, bleeding art tissue.

Very versatile, this bleeding tissue. Comes in a pack like this:

which you can cut shapes out of, or just use in big pieces

Emily did this in preschool and was very excited to show Jenna 

and me how it was done. Essentially, the tissue paper is put on 

the background paper, and a brush dipped in water is used to wet 

it so that the dye stains the paper underneath. 

Creates a nice watercolor effect - unless, like Jenna, you paint 

too forcefully and turn the background paper 

into a stencil for the table underneath.

Still, Jenna produced some nice tie-dye-ing in her piece, 

by using a lot of water. And with big random-shaped pieces 

of the tissue paper, you can make your own batik wrapping paper!

The Doll Party- Nuts and Bolts

It is often a challenge to fight (and be victorious over) the insidious 

merchandizing and commercializing out there when it is time to hold 

a birthday party. Emily loves princesses, dolls, fairies and all things 

girlish. And she always wants Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, 

Cinderella (and her Disney cronies) whenever she thinks about toys, 

parties and presents. I prefer old-fashioned non-character stuff to the 

pink-and-glitter plastic in the stores, but I also want Emily to like 

how her parties turn out. So we try to compromise and I try to help 

her see that it's OK not to have stuff that everyone else seems to have. 

Unique is good, not bad, and handmade unique, 

while risky, might be even better. 

This year we had a Doll Party. 

You can read the full post in the family blog but, on the advice 

of a good friend, I'm posting here too so I can include all the 

other goodies like How Tos and supplies and sources and stuff 

that would send regular people into a coma. 

Still interested? Then read on!

First, the welcome activity:

We'd done bead-stringing to death at last year's Princess party, so this 

year we hopped on the Peg doll bandwagon and made our own peg dolls. 

No paint, of course- too messy for a group of little kids, so we used 

fabric scraps, ribbon, white glue and fine-tip permanent markers. 

Nothing makes me happy like a table laid with colorful craft stuff 

ready to be attacked by little hands! 

Incidentally, the wooden blanks came from here although I've seen 

them at Michaels sold in pairs. We only made girl dolls (the ones 

with the skirts) at the party but I also have the peg people blanks 

shaped like other family members and thought you might like a 

picture of them, with a clothespeg for size reference. 

Isn't the tiny baby to die for? 

I've been inspired by some extremely talented people who have done 

marvelous things with their peg and spool dolls. Someday when the 

kids are older, I plan to paint our own family dolls. Until then, they 

sit in my project box with about 20 containers of acrylic paint and 

varnish, taunting me.

Next, the game:

For want of a better name, we called it Dress The Dolly - 

a variation of Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey.

Essentially it's a picture of a doll drawn on posterboard/vanguard 

sheets, with accessories for sticking on the picture. I used my old 

pungent art markers bought about 15 years ago from Art Friend:

Make enough accessories for each guest to draw one from a bag, 

stick a loop of masking tape behind them and have each blindfolded 

participant try and stick that accessory as close to the actual spot as 

they can. At the end, have everyone vote on who did best 

and that person wins. 

The picture on the left was how it would have turned out if 

everyone could see. The picture on the right was how the 

8 blindfolded, giggling girls did. 

Look - two games in one - let's Spot The Differences! 

Incidentally, the purse/handbag-sticker won. 

And this was her prize:

- a big (10") brown stuffed gingerbread dolly made of scrap fleece, 

buttons and ric-rac trims. 

Everyone else got mini-versions of this, with embroidered details 

(too tiny for ric-rac).

The food:

It was a lunch party, so apart from pizza (which I did not make), 

we had doll sugar cookies. I prefer my sugar cookies thin and crisp 

to chewy, and these were rolled out the day before, cut out with 

gingerbread boy and girl cutters, baked and then frosted. 

The hair and eyes was simply chocolate chips melted in the 

microwave and piped from a small plastic bag (like Ziploc) 

with a corner snipped off. The clothes were piped the same way 

with tinted frosting. 

The doll cake:

This was a boxed cake-mix. There is nothing like a good made-from-

scratch cake but I have made peace with myself about waiting till the 

kids are older to do the fancy gourmet stuff. Till then, Betty Crocker's 

French Vanilla supermoist thingammybob in a box is very, very good!

This was made in a rectangular pyrex dish, and then cut to shape 

when it was cool. The fun part was decorating it, and all it took was a 

little star nozzle and a plastic bag. Oh, and three sleeping kids. Phew. 

Other excuses to further the doll theme:

Emily wanted a pinata and I was tempted to make a papier mache one 

from an old favorite craft book I'd had as a child. But I decided to wait 

till she and Jenna were old enough to help with (and enjoy) the paper 

pulp and save it for another birthday. So we bought an inexpensive one, 

left it undecorated (since it was going to be bludgeoned to death 

anyway) and saved the fancy doll motifs for the goodie bags. Here 

are the dressed-up plain brown lunch bags to contain the candy 

from the pinata and all the other takeaways from the party.

Why is that little pink one in the bottom row nameless? you ask. 

Emily drew it before she lost interest in the party prep 

and it was too precious to give away.

And finally, the blowouts. Emily was really passionate about wanting 

"the things that go "whee" when you blow on them and they shoot out" 

at her party. She'd tell anyone who mentioned her upcoming party 

that she was going to have them. We had to improvise with cardstock/

vanguard sheets and glitter glue, of course, since store-bought ones 

weren't likely to have weird bald doll/gingerbread-person themed ones. 

Tomorrow, Emily has to bring a blue item to preschool and she's 

picked the blue blowout. Minus the doll decor, which had become 

damp and fallen off from overuse. Yes, she saved her bare blowout, 

so highly favored as a plaything has it become.

Which reminds me - I need to get the thank-you cards done. Oops.

Dress-up Clothes

Two years ago just before Jenna was born, I started sewing dress-up 

clothes for Emily. She was two years old and beginning to be very 

interested in pretend play. So I began with simple things in response 

to whatever she was playing at the time. She was cooking and baking 

a lot, both with plastic food and real dough with me in the kitchen, 

so I made her an apron, chef's hat and oven mitts

which she wore even when not playing kitchen. 

Perhaps because it was her only dress-up outfit at the time.

Then she wanted a medical career, and a library book about a 

fictitious Dr Amy Baker so captivated her that she became Dr. Baker. 

So she got a lab coat to go with her doctor accessories 

(no, I did not make the bag).

Then Jenna was born, and life was a flurry of feeding, restless nights 

and adjusting to life with two small children. 

No fancy sewing for a while - just good old bibs.

The following Halloween, Emily wanted to go trick-or-treating, 

and she wanted to go as a princess. In the cold. So I made her a 

princess outfit from strips of fleece in my remnant box (hence 

the panel skirt). The more I worked at it, the more paranoid I 

became that she would freeze in it, and the more elaborate the 

project became as I added more stuff to it - longer sleeves, then 

a shiny cloak, then a fleece lining to the cloak.

And just for the sake of completeness, I also made a tiara from 

chenille stems and whatever plastic beads we had in the house, 

using this tutorial. Emily never wore the tiara but it was fun 

to make it anyway.

She did wear the dress, though, over a turtleneck and pants. And 

even with the cape, she greeted the neighbors on her rounds 

through chattering teeth. 

Then Kate was born and, as with Jenna, I reverted to comfort 

sewing (i.e. bibs). And conveniently, Emily took a break from career 

exploration and embraced commercial girlishness, contentedly 

alternating between Princess and Ballerina, with the occasional 

Fairy variation. This fairy skirt is simply strips of fabric sewed 

onto an elastic waistband.

But with the typical attention span of a preschooler, she was soon back 

to trying out non-traditional careers, pulling Jenna along for the ride 

as well. So one Bob-the-Builder day, I was moved to 

make them both toolbelts. 

And henceforth, with two dresser-uppers, I now had to make 

two of everything, like these felt-and-ribbon star wands

and doubles of stuff Emily already has, so they could be, 

in Jenna's words, "twins together".

Halloween is almost upon us again, and Emily is entertaining 

unfeasible costume ideas, totally inappropriate for October 

temperatures on this side of the world. Am planning to use peer 

pressure on her and convince her to dress in normal clothes 

like the rest of the neighbors.

And finally, here's a kitchen ensemble for the daughter of a friend

(Look out for them in the post, G!). 

These are (I think) improved versions 

of the adjustable chef's hat,

elasticized apron,

oven mitts that actually fit

and a canvas tool belt for her son

Will post tutorials for these soon, for those interested in making them.

What career dress-up clothes or costumes shall I make next? 

As the three girls get older, the possibilities are endless - 

although the Three Little Pigs come immediately to mind.

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Two quick projects

Mum and Dad are here visiting so I've been busy hanging out 

with them. In the course of all our happy wanderings about town, 

the inconsistency of the kids' naps has left my sewing table slightly 

dusty from disuse. Still, kids must sleep at some point, so during 

those spare moments, I've been working on several unrelated small 

projects. Here's another batch of baby gifts for a friend-of-a-friend 

in Illinois, sent out just today. These were not made recently- I just 

picked them out them from my stash of stuff:

A fall linen dress for Emily's birthday. 

This was adapted from that peasant dress pattern in an earlier 

post in preparation for the cooler fall days ahead. 

More projects, pictures and tutorials coming soon 

- check back again soon.

How To Sew Shorts

One of the nicest things about summer is being able to sew dresses, shorts and other light, breezy and happy kids' clothes. I did some calculations and decided that the cost of sewing shorts isn't substantially less than buying similar ones from stores like Target. So rather than the savings, it ended up being more about the time of year we needed them. We make a yearly trip to tropical Singapore in the middle of winter here where we live and I always find that last summer's shorts are already too small to pack for this year's vacation. And since it is near impossible to find shorts in the stores in February, the alternative to wearing climate-inappropriate clothing is to sew shorts for the kids for their trip.

These shorts have elasticized waists which are extremely useful for potty-training, and can be cut and sewn in half an hour, provided there are no small children needing a snack, Band-aid or to be read a storybook nearby.

For one pair of shorts you will need:

• Half a yard of fabric
  
• 18" - 22" of 1" elastic (wrap the length of elastic around your child's waist to desired snugness and cut, giving an additional 1.5" for overlapping at the ends)
  
• A large safety pin (like a diaper pin)
  

in addition to a sewing machine and matching thread.

You can make your own pattern from a pair of shorts that fit well, or you can use mine below. Sorry they aren't pdf files - I haven't got a clue how to upload those. If you can print them out so they fill a US letter size paper, they'll be the right size. This pattern is for a 3-year old, so size it up or down for children of different ages.

The numbers in the pictures below indicate the sewing sequence so if you are already used to cutting and sewing fabric, you can ignore all the texty instructions and just follow the numbers as a guide to assembling the pieces.

How To Sew Shorts

• Fold fabric lengthwise (selvedge to selvedge) and cut out two front pieces and two back pieces. The length of the pattern should be parallel to the selvedges. So in the picture below, the selvedges were vertical.
  

• Place a front piece and a back piece together with right sides of the fabric facing in. Do the same for the other pair of front and back pieces.
  

Sewing Step 1
Sew the short inseam of each pair as shown.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the edges to prevent fraying.

Sewing Step 2

Line up the long sides of each pair and sew together.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the edges.

You have just made two "tubes" - one for each of the wearer's legs.

• Turn one tube right-side out
  

• Flip that tube over and insert it in between the layers of the other tube.
  

• Line up the edges of the U-shaped center seam
  

Sewing Step 3

Sew the edges of these two tubes together all along the U.

The aim of this step is to connect the two separate tubes

in the earlier picture to each other.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the seam edges.

• Turn the shorts right side out - looks almost finished!
  

Sewing Step 4

Fold in the bottom edge of each leg 1/4" (1st fold) and then

fold over again 3/8" (2nd fold) to make a hem about 3/8" wide.

Top stitch all around the hem.

• A close-up of the leg hem showing the top stitching.
  

• The waistband is essentially a casing for the 1" elastic. So fold down about 1 1/4" of fabric as shown, and tuck in 1/4" of the edge

• to make a hem that's a little wider than 1".
  
• Here is a close-up of the 1"-wide folded hem with the elastic for reference.
  

Sewing Step 5

Top stitch close to the edge of the hem, so that the finished width

of the hem is adequate for the elastic to fit inside it.

• Leave an opening of about 2" so the elastic can be threaded through the hem.
  

• Using the safety pin, thread the elastic through the hem, leaving both ends sticking out of the opening.

• Overlap 3/4" of both ends (i.e. total of 1.5") of the elastic, ensuring that it isn't twisted, and sew to join the ends.
  
• Top stitch the opening closed.
  

The finished shorts

worn by Emily who refused to let me pre-shrink

them in the wash first (see note below).

Some miscellaneous notes:

1. My favorite types of fabric for these shorts are knits - specifically, cotton-lycra blends with four-way-stretch. They sew easily, are not too flimsy and allow a lot of freedom of movement. I don't pre-wash the knit fabrics before cutting and sewing because they are easier to handle without all the curling edges. So the pattern I use makes allowances for shrinkage after washing. If you are using non-knit fabric, you will need to cut the pieces about 1/4" - 3/8" smaller all round the pattern.
2. The finished, unwashed shorts might fit loosely and hang rather low in the crotch at first. I usually fold the waistband over itself the first one or two times the kids wear them. After two or three washes, the shorts fit just right. It's odd but true.
   
3. Different elastic has different stretch, and some are "tighter" than others, and most shrink a bit in the wash. So give some allowance (1/2 to 3/4" should be sufficient) when measuring your child's waist for snugness. I like the no-roll elastic because it doesn't twist the waist hem around after a wash.
   
4. I use regular thread but I do use a needle for knits because regular needles pull on the fibers of knits.
5. These shorts work for little boys, too, especially if they are really little (like younger than 4), if you pick appropriate fabric prints (i.e. probably not floral!)
6. Although the back and front pieces are cut from two distinct patterns, the finished shorts are completely reversible - a feature of the knit material, I think. If you think your kids might be confused, you can always sew a tag under the waist hem at the back of the shorts. My kids don't particularly care.