Indian Costume #5 March 31, 2013

Well, if there’s one thing I’m good for, it’s making American-Indian costumes for my kids and their cousins. I suppose on my tombstone someday the epitaph might say something like, “She was a great maker of American-Indian costumes for her beloved family.” It all started a few years ago when my oldest daughter really wanted to be an Indian for Halloween. And since that costume went so well, and because my kids and their cousins love to play dress-up, last year for my niece’s birthday, I made her a similar costume. And then this past October, one of my nephews said, “Will you please make me an Indian costume for my birthday?” So, Aunt Addy did her best and managed to draft a pattern and come up with a boy’s American-Indian costume. And then when my son saw it, he wanted one too, so he got a matching one. And then, most recently, my other nephew said, “Aunt Addy, will you make me a costume too?” So, he got his AddyMade Indian costume yesterday for his birthday.

All the cousins wore their costumes both yesterday and today and have been having an awesome time in their imaginary world of teepees and pow-wows. And Great-Grandpa was having so much fun watching the little papooses play that he gave me a wad of cash to buy them all moccasins to wear. Those will be a nice treat when they come in the mail in a week or so.

Water Bottle Totes September 10, 2012

I’ve been meaning to make these water bottle totes for ages. Finally, last Friday our family was planning to go on a hike, and the hour before we were leaving I whipped out 3 of them for the kids. I still plan on making one for myself. The kids really enjoyed using these on our hike, and I think we will love them on bike rides too. They took only about 10 minutes each to make, once I had the fabric cut out. The kids loved carrying their own water, and I loved NOT carrying everyone else’s water.

Bunk Bed Organizer How-To March 4, 2012

A friend read my posts about the bunk bed organizers (here and here) and wants to make one for her son, but she emailed me saying, “I don’t know where to begin.” So…. I’ll try to provide some more information here.

First, I took my tape measure and I measured from the back middle of the rail (This is the top of the rectangle I’m going to make, and it is where my first piece of velcro will go), and around the top.

Then I folded the tape up, just before it hit the mattress and pulled the tape measure up to where I thought I’d like my pocket to end. The measurement I got was 23″. This is the length measurement for my organizer, but I’ll add 1/2 inch for a seam allowance (sewing 1/4″ seams), so my final length measurement is 23 1/2 inches. By the way, my son’s bunk bed has shorter rails, so his length measurement was 15 1/2 inches.

This picture is a little wonky, because I’m holding the camera and the tape measure; I would normally use two hands to hold the tape measure. Next I measured how wide I wanted my organizer to be, and I figured that 23″ looked good, so I ended up determining that my final cutting length and width would be 23 1/2″ x 23 1/2″. (My son’s was 15 1/2″ x 15 1/2 “. I’m not sure if a square is always the right choice, but it worked out well for both the organizers I made.

So, I cut two squares 23 1/2″ x 23 1/2″ out of my fabric, and I cut 1 square of the same size out of batting. I put the right sides together on the two pieces of fabric, put the batting on top, pinned all three layers together, and then sewed almost all the way around the square, leaving a few inches open for turning. Then I turned my fabric sandwich right sides out and top-stitched all the way around the square.

Then I took my square to the bunk bed and wrapped it around the railing, the same way I had wrapped my tape measure around the railing, to determine where I needed to sew the velcro on. I put a pin in the spots where I wanted to sew the velcro. I cut a long strip of velcro that would span almost the entire width of the organizer, and I sewed it on. Then I went back to the bunk bed, wrapped the top of the organizer around the railing, and folded up the bottom to determine where to sew the pockets. I pinned it in place. Then I drew lines on the tops of the pockets to determine where to sew lines for the pocket dividers. My daughter’s organizer was wider, so I made 3 pockets on hers, while I made only 2 on my son’s. Then, I top-stitched the pockets on both ends and anywhere I wanted to divide them, and my organizer was done!

Here’s the finished front and back. You can see the black velcro on the 2nd picture.

And here they are, hung on the beds. If this still doesn’t make sense and you’d like a full tutorial, perhaps I could manage that…. Just let me know!

Top Bunk Organizer #2 March 2, 2012

When I made my daughter a top bunk organizer, my son immediately wanted one too. I figured I’d just use some fabric from my stash, but last week I discovered Star Wars fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and knew it would make my son’s day to have something made out of it, so I bought a yard. (This project used about half of it.)

This is a quick, less-than-an-hour-from-start-to-finish kind of project. My son is thrilled to have a special spot for his pirate diary, a pen, and a book to read.

I took a few pictures of the front and back, opened up, in case the construction of it seems confusing. For this organizer, I cut two pieces of fabric and a piece of batting 15 1/2″ x 15 1/2″. (You’ll need to measure your own child’s bed railing to determine your dimensions.) I sewed them together, right sides together, turned it right side out and top-stitched the whole thing. Then I wrapped it around the railing to determine where the velcro should go, and I sewed that on. Then I folded up the bottom to make the pockets, and it was done. Let me know if you have any questions about making your own!

An Organizer for the Top Bunk February 19, 2012

When my older daughter moved to the top bunk right after Christmas to accommodate her little sister’s graduation to the “big girl bed,” I knew I wanted to make her something special to make her bed a little more homey. Today I finished making her an organizer that will hold a book, flashlight, her diary and pen, and any other little goodies she’d like to keep in her “upstairs apartment,” as we like to call it.

We’re both really happy with how it turned out. I, basically, sewed a big rectangle with 2 layers of fabric and a layer of batting. Then I sewed a long piece of velcro along the two contact points. Then I folded up the bottom to form the pockets and sewed along the edges and the lines to form the pockets. Voila! And now I have another child who would like one….

Lunch Money Cuffs December 23, 2011

I saw this tutorial for lunch money cuffs a while ago and knew I would need to try it sooner or later. So…I spent an afternoon a few days ago making four of them! I really got on a roll and felt like I could whip them off in no time at all.

I made 3 with pirate fabric (leftover from the pirate apron I made my son) and the 4th with soccer fabric. They’re for my son, two nephews, and my son’s best bud. So far, my son and his friend have received them and have loved them!

A Little Boy’s Apron December 10, 2011

I made this apron for my son. I used bias tape for the edges, so it took me under 30 minutes to make. (Daughter is trying it on in the photo so it can be a surprise for Son! )

Arrrrgggg, Matey! I think he’ll like it!

Barbie Birthday Bash November 12, 2011

To celebrate my daughter’s 8th birthday, we had a Barbie-themed party yesterday. It was so much fun! And, because I love hand-made, there were a lot of hand-made touches to the party!

First of all, I made these invitations. I found the image of a vintage Barbie silhouette online, and then I enlarged it and put the words on top of the image using a text box and white lettering. I’m sure there was an easier way, but my computer illiteracy could only take me so far…. I printed two to a page, and then I cut them all out with an exacto-knife. At that point, I was really, really, really wishing that I would win a Sihouette or Cricut giveaway somewhere in blog-land….We glued the silhouettes to pretty scrapbook paper, hole-punched for her hair bow, and then I tied a ribbon through the holes to finish them up. I liked the way they turned out! (I blurred out the personal info, in case you’re taking a closer look to read the words…)

Next, I made these pink dresses as party favors. As each girl arrived, we gave her a dress for her Barbie. They were a hit, I think! Thanks to Jessica, from Craftiness is Not Optional for the great dress tutorial. Her Barbie tutorials are fabulous! I used fabric scraps from the Glenda dress I made my daughter for Halloween. Thrifty, eh?

We encouraged the girls coming to bring their favorite Barbie stuff, and we set up a “Barbie village” in the living room with 3 Barbie houses, horses, cars, a “beach” and vacation area across the room, etc. They had a great time playing together, and it made me smile to see all the pink dresses romping around Barbie-land.

Next, my dear friend Kelley made this cake. I was actually supposed to make it, with her teaching and guiding me, but at the very beginning we ran into trouble, and I was happy to have her just take charge and do the best she could with a precarious cake. I love how it turned out. We had read online to bake the cake mix in a Pampered Chef batter bowl to make the skirt shape, but it turned out that one cake mix filled only about half the bowl, and when we inverted it onto the platter, the top of the skirt came only up to Barbie’s knees. Well, I had made cupcakes too, for our family party later, so we decided to use cupcakes under the batter bowl cake, to give it more height. It wasn’t a very firm foundation, and it kept the skirt from being perfectly smooth, but it did the trick and saved us! I think Kelley did a great job rescuing the cake and making it work!

In a previous post I showed you the shirt I made my daughter using freezer paper stencils.

Besides playing with Barbies and eating snacks and cake, the girls also colored Barbie coloring pages and played a memory game using the plate of Barbie stuff in the picture above. They had to try to remember everything on the plate and write the items down. The girl who remembered the most items won a prize.

It was a great party, and I think the homemade touches are the memories that will stick with my daughter and me.

Barbie T-shirt October 21, 2011

In the midst of sewing Halloween costumes, I’m also planning a Barbie birthday party for my daughter. We’re going to make a Barbie cake (a friend is going to help me, because if there is one thing crafty I can’t do, it’s cake decorating), decorate with lots of black, white, and hot pink, and the guests will play Barbies while they’re here. Pretty simple, eh? Well, except for the fact that I’m making a Barbie ball gown for each of the guests. We’re limiting it to 6-ish girls, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And it will delight my daughter, so it’s worth it! I’m using the scraps from the Glenda the Good Witch fabric. Perfect, eh?

I had a hot pink t-shirt in my stash (I stocked up on a few colors when Hobby Lobby had them for $1.50 each), and I decided that a freezer paper stencil shirt was in order for this birthday bash! I found an image online, and this is what we came up with:

I think this shirt needs something more. Any ideas on embellishments to jazz up this shirt? At least I’m going to make a bow (black and white?) and tack it onto Barbie’s ponytail. Anything else that would pretty-up this somewhat plain shirt?

And, if you have never done freezer paper stencils, you must! It’s sooo addicting! We’ve got a Darth Vader shirt in the works too…..

UPDATE: I added the bow and love it! The pictures don’t quite do it justice!

Glenda the Good Witch October 4, 2011

In our house, we make a big deal out of preparing Halloween/ Fall Festival costumes each fall. My kids LOOOOVVVEEE dressing up, and this time of the year when there are parties and a night devoted to costumes is one of their favorite times of the year.

I have fond memories of my mom using her creativity to make us really fun costumes from stuff lying around the house. And since I think creating costumes is 75% of the fun, I try my best to avoid store-bought costumes and try, instead, to make as many of our costumes as possible. The ones I’ve made so far have been real family treasures. And I try to make my kids whatever costumes they want, which sometimes leaves me scratching my head for a while.

Well……we’ve decided this year that the whole family will dress up in The Wizard of Oz theme. I get to be Dorothy (yay!), I scored a really great tin man costume at a consignment sale (store-bought, I know! But a really good one!) for my son, my younger daughter will be the lion, my husband will be the scarecrow, and my older daughter will be Glenda.

Well…..whenever I had looked at those costume patterns in the pattern books, I was always frightened by them. They look so hard and detailed. But….I decided to take the plunge and I bought the Glenda pattern for my daughter. I used Simplicity 4139. Also, I had never sewn with poly-satin or with tulle before, so I was afraid of those too. However, the pattern was really easy to work with, the materials were no-big-deal, and the dress turned out marvelously!

Now…you might notice that our Glenda dress looks a little different from the one pictured on the pattern. First of all, it’s supposed to be a peachy color, but my daughter insisted on pink. No problem! Second, the pattern called for a lot of applique stars and butterflies and flowers, but my daughter did not want those details on it. Also, we decided not to make the tall hat. My daughter did not like it at all. So, she’s going to wear a regular tiara instead. We do have a star wand ready to go. I found it at Target on the $1 aisle.

Also the neckline was a little low, so I added a scrap of fabric in the front to bring it up a bit and make it more appropriate.

So….this dress does not look like a replica of Glenda’s dress, by any means, but it will do the trick. And with the rest of us in the Wizard of Oz theme, hopefully it won’t be too hard to figure out who she is. But I think the thing I like most about this dress is that it will work again and again for any kind of princess-themed costume. I like it that we made it different, because I think it’s more flexible now.

I’ll post more pictures of us all dressed up when the time rolls around. Are you making Halloween costumes? If so, what are you working on?