Uno by Sew Inspired

I can’t believe that the series is already coming to an end!!! How did September fly by? AHHH! Today’s guest is a real life in person friend of mine from our local quilting guild! Vicki blogs over at Sew Inspired and makes amazing pieces. I’m in love with her new moths project! And you’ve got to see her rhino quilt. One day she’s going to teach me how to do free motion quilting beciase she’s a PRO at it! Until then, let’s check out her project!

Welcome Vicki!
Thanks, Louise, for inviting me to participate in Sew Ready to Play! I enjoyed looking through all the past years’ projects while I was brainstorming what I wanted to make. I ended up deciding to make a case for our new Uno cards. My dad bought a few games to play with my kids when he and my mom visited us this summer, and the Uno card box isn’t holding up that well. So I put together an easy fabric card case that can hold our Uno cards without tearing, complete with a pocket on the back to hold the instruction sheet. Here’s how you can make your own.
Materials needed:
1 fat quarter of fabric (do you like my corndog fabric??)
9″ x 18″ of moderately heavy interfacing (I prefer sew-in interfacing, but you can use fusible if you want)
1.5″ of hook and loop fasteners
Thread

Step 1: Cutting. From the fabric, cut two 7.5″ x 12″ rectangles for the main pouch, and one 5 ¼” x 8 ½” rectangle for the pocket. From interfacing, cut one 7.5″ x 12″ rectangle and one 5 ¼” x 4 1/8″ rectangle.
Step 2: To make the pocket, fold the 5 ¼” x 8 ½” rectangle in half with right sides together, then place the interfacing on top of the folded fabric rectangle. Pin. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew the three sides of the rectangle, leaving an opening so you can turn the pocket right side out.
Step 3: Trim the corners on the pocket piece.
Step 4: Turn right side out. Poke corners out and press, with the edges of the opening folded in. Edgestitch close to the fold edge of the pocket.

Step 5: Layer the two large fabric rectangles right sides together and place interfacing on top. Pin and sew ½” from edge, leaving an opening so you can turn it right side out.
Step 6: Trim corners. Trim interfacing to about ¼” wide.
Step 7: Turn right side out, poke out the corners, press. Make sure the edges of the opening are folded in.
Step 8: The opening with edges folded in is at the bottom. Place pocket (hemmed edge on top) on main pouch piece 4″ up from the bottom edge. Pin in place.

Step 9: Edgestitch pocket in place, about 1/8″ from edge of pocket. Backstitch at both top corners to reinforce the pocket. Make sure your instruction sheet fits in pocket.
Step 10: Pin hook part of hook and loop tape to the main pouch piece, centered and about 1 ¼” up from the bottom edge. Also, sew 1/8″ from bottom edge to close the opening left from turning.
Step 11: Zigzag hook tape in place, backstitch to secure.
Step 12: Fold bottom edge of pouch up 4″ and stitch sides in place. Backstitch at top corners. My seams are about 3/16″ here. Topstitch around edges of the top flap.

Step 13: Pin the loop part of the hook and loop tape to the top edge of the pouch so it will fasten correctly. Also, make sure the cards fit in the pouch.
Step 14: Zigzag loop tape in place.
All done, congratulations! I’d love to see pictures if you make a card pouch with this tutorial!

Hungry Hungry Hippo with Frances Suzanne

Today’s guests are more new friends from my days with Project Run and Play! I can’t wait to meet these follow Alabamians one day! The ladies at Frances Suzanne make the most precious clothes for their nieces! Amazing work! To me it reminds me of the south and the clothes I grew up in.  I am so jealous about how beautiful all their piping is! They also run a really fun series on their blog, Flip This Pattern. I love seeing what everyone creates from the different patterns! Be sure to check them out!

Welcome Ashley and Emily!

Hi, I’m Feelin’ Crafty Readers!! We are thrilled to be joining you in the “Sew Ready to Play” series, and are thankful Louise challenged us to once again get those creative juices flowing….while producing a garment, based on a theme. In case you aren’t aware of us {or what we do}, we are two sisters that sew for our other sister’s children – three girls, ages almost 4 to newborn. And, if you like what you see….we welcome you to follow along on our many sewing adventures as we work to create some unique and special garments for our nieces.

A few months ago, we introduced EA and CL to the “Hungry, Hungry Hippo” game….a LOUD, childhood favorite of ours. Yes, the original game…from our childhood. You’ve got to love those colors, don’t you?!?! Well, CL FELL IN LOVE with it! As in, she asks for it whenever she comes to visit…

Ground rules have been established: There is absolutely no playing of the game when anyone is asleep in the house, and all marbles must be accounted for upon completion of the game. Oh, and to start the game we all throw our hands in the air to get started {keeping it fair for anyone trying to get a “head start!”}.

After YEARS of game play, we have ALL our marbles {literally, not figuratively}…..save one. Pretty impressive, huh?? Still, to incorporate that little trivia fact into our dress, the green hippo is sans one marble button. Technically, it might have been because Jo-Anns had no more button “marbles” left after we passed through a few weeks ago, and they hadn’t restocked yet. BUT, the story sounds so much better :).

So, about the dress…. We began with the Oliver and S, Roller Skate Dress {size 18-24 mo}: A COMPLETELY “flippable” dress {sewn once before with minor flips}, but for this one we left it practically as-is and detailed instead.

“Color-blocked” piping was added around the neck and sleeve edges. While we LOVE adding piping to garments, we had never tried a “color-blocked” affect. Super easy, and super satisfying!!

“How easy?” you might ask. SIMPLE!! Follow the directions below to make your own color-blocked piping. Choose your colors, choose your width….and you have yet another way to make a garment completely unique…

We then reverse appliqued four “Hungry, Hungry Hippos” along the hem of the dress {using this tutorial}….mimicking the game board, and positioned in the same order. Each hippo had a little top-stitching detail added, as well as two button eyes for good measure.

Then, five button “marbles” were added beside each one – with the first “marble” being placed on an additional black tab. Again, just like the game board!

What did CL think?? First…she thought they were owls {??? Monkeys maybe…but OWLS???}!! Just keeping it real, people :).

But after further inspection, she noticed the “marbles” and then recognized the dress as the “Hippo Game” dress. YAHOO, and SUCCESS in our books!!!

Our only regret: not being able to incorporate the hippos’ names within our design. Classic, huh? We especially find humor in the pink hippo’s name: Harry!!!

Currently, we are bucking for CL to be the “Hungry, Hungry Hippo” game board for Halloween. What do you think? Would it pass inspection in your neighborhood??

Queen of Hearts by Cook Clean Craft

Today, my quest needs no real introduction because she’s one of the founding Sew Ready to Play participants! She’s Narelle from Cook Clean Craft. She’s always up for playing and has had fun games every year! One thing I love about blogging is getting to know people all over. I remember when her ‘Queen of Hearts’ was born! Crazy!! Narelle blogs about all sorts of things on her blog, hence the name! Ha! She’s got some of my favorite recipes and great sewing projects! One of my favorite tutorials she’s done recently is her stuffed snail. Totally cute!

Welcome Narelle!!!

Hi all, it’s Narelle here, from Cook Clean Craft, ready to have some fun playing along with Sew Ready to Play. I’ve had so much fun in past years, and always had a clear idea what I wanted to make. This time around, I was all out of inspiration. I’ve lost my sew-jo lately, and couldn’t even think of a game that inspired me. So I procrastinated.

And procrastinated.

Then finally inspiration hit. A simple deck of playing cards was my inspiration, and before I knew it, the Queen of Hearts dress was made:

As a redhead who blushes like a tomato, I’ve never been able to wear red, but my blonde kids look great in it. When I bought the fabric, I was worried that red and black are a bit grown up for a 4 year old. So I went with a simple dress with very cutesy hearts. I searched for fabric with red hearts and couldn’t find any (what?), but found some perfect iron on appliques at my local fabric store.

Queen of Hearts playing cards tend to have gold trim around the next. I found some sequin trim that was just perfect for my sparkly little girl.

It’s shirred in the back – much easier than buttons or a zip for an independent girl to dress herself!

My model wasn’t in the mood, so most of my photos turned out like this:

This Queen’s got attitude! But believe it or not, she loves the dress.

Here’s how I made it:

The fabric I used was poplin, basically because it’s cheap and I’m supposed to be on a fabric diet!

I started with a basic bodice pattern (this was from the 5 and 10 Designs eBook). I drew a line where I wanted the seam between the red and white sections and added seam allowances.

For the back bodice, I added a couple of extra inches to the back to allow for the shirring. I should have made it a bit bigger since it only just fits over her head – oops!

For the skirt, I cut out a rectangle of fabric for the red section and then cut off corners to create the angled look, and matched up the same for the white section, making the top the same width at the bottom of the bodice.

I also cut strips of 1 1/4” strips of black fabric for faux piping.

I sewed the bodice front centre panel to the skirt centre panel.

Then I sewed the side and shoulder seams of the bodice (I actually should have sewn the sleeves before I did the side seam, but no making things easy for myself here!

Then I gathered the red skirt section (I prefer to machine gather, by using a long stitch length and high tension):

Adjust the gathers to that the skirt width matches the bodice width, and sew, right sides together:

Fold the black strips in half, lengthwise and press. Pin to the right side of the front seams, lining up the raw edges, and sew a basting stitch inside the seam allowance:

With right sides together, sew the centre panel to the red section of the dress:

The black piping should create faux piping like this (press it to one side for a crisp look):

Sew the underarm seam of the sleeves, and then sew into the armhole:

To finish the neckline, sew bias tape right sides together to the neck hole:

Turn the bias tape to the inside, press and then stitch in place (don’t worry about the contrasting thread for the front panel – we’ll cover that with trim):

Press and sew a double-fold seam for the sleeve and bottom hems:

Draw two lines across the back bodice down from the shoulder with chalk or disappearing pen:

Sew shirring elastic across the back panel between the two lines (or you can shirr the whole back bodice, if you prefer:

I jumped across between the rows rather than stopping at each row end. I didn’t pull the elastic enough, so the shirring pulls up a bit at the back. It annoys me, but not enough to fix it!

Finally, I added some gold sequin trim across the neckline (covering the contrasting thread), and added iron on appliques to the bodice from panel.

I also added one heart to the skirt section and more sequin trim along the bottom hem stitching.

And there is my cute Queen of Hearts!

Come over to Cook Clean Craft for more fun sewing projects, plus family-friendly recipes, household cleaning and organization tips and other craft ideas. Thanks for having me again, Louise!

Picnic Party with Froo & Boo

I can’t believe this month has totally flown by! Behind the scenes I have been busy as a bee and one thing I’ve been working on is a 6th birthday party…  And our next guest has also been party planning for a 6th birthday, but was still able to put together an adorable project for us! Irene is the blogger behind an adorable blog, Froo and Boo, where she sews fantastic clothes for her also adorable kids! You’ve got to check out her amazing wedding outfits she just made! And yes, you probably remember her from Project Run and Play as well! Super talented!

Welcome Irene!!

I’m excited to be here today! My project is based on a “game” that my kids, aka Froo & Boo, play all the time. Picnics. Tea parties. Picnic tea parties. Any combination or variation of the two. Anywhere, anytime. Just the other day, I found toy lettuce in my bed. While making this skirt, I overheard Froo say to Boo, “Ooh, look! Mommy is making us a new picnic blanket!”

I know it’s not really a game in the traditional sense–with an objective, a bit of friendly competition and an outcome, but it involves imaginative play, a sense of humour and fun. It can get pretty serious: Froo & Boo have a “clubhouse” where they meet on a picnic blanket and no grown-ups are allowed.

Anyhoo, I was inspired to make a patchwork skirt, while looking at the lovely quilts that Louise makes and posts on her blog. For a fresh and updated look, I decided on bright pink gingham, instead of the traditional red & white gingham used for picnic blankets.

Let’s begin the tutorial!

To get started, cut your patchwork squares using a rotary cutter. For Froo’s skirt, I cut 4×4″ squares (28 bright pink squares, 49 light pink squares and 21 white squares). I cut enough squares for 7 rows and 14 columns.

In the end, I only used 5 rows! The top photo shows 6 rows, but I hemmed one row up afterwards! Let’s just call it a miscalculation that would have made the skirt long enough for me to wear. You can always play around with the size of the square, the number of rows and columns, but the number of columns must always be an even number.

Piece your squares together. The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmaker, by Elizabeth Hartman, is an excellent resource for getting started with patchwork piecing. There is also a great tutorial on chain piecing on the Sew Mama Sew blog.

One thing I modified for everyday wear: increased seam allowance to 3/8″. I also used pinking shears to cut 1/8″ from the unfinished edges before pressing the seam allowance open. This is what your fabric should look like from the inside:

Measure your patchwork piece. Then cut a piece of white fabric using the same dimensions. This will become the backing of the skirt. Cut another piece for the waistband, the same length and 3.5″ wide. This will become the waistband.

Sew your patchwork piece into a tube using a 3/8″ seam allowance, trim with pinking shears and press open. Repeat with white piece.

With right sides together, sew the backing to the patchwork piece with a 3/8″ seam allowance. Flip the fabric so wrong sides are together and press. Then, baste the top of the skirt together using 1/4″ seam allowance.

Sew the waistband together at the short ends with a 3/8″ seam allowance, then press the waistband in half, with the wrong sides facing. You’ll notice that mine is just the 7th row pieced together, but you could cut one solid piece.

With right sides together, sew the waistband onto the top of the skirt with a 3/8″ seam allowance. Press seams upward.

Press the unfinished edge of the waistband so that it is just over the seam line.

From the right side, stitch in the ditch over the waistband seam, making sure the inside waistband edge is catching the thread. Leave a 2-3″ opening. Topstitch the top edge of the waistband together. Thread a piece of 1″ non-roll elastic through the waistband. The elastic should measure the circumference of the wearer’s waist minus 1″. Stitch the elastic together. Sew the opening of the waistband closed.

I have this silly decorative stitch of ants on my machine–which I sewed onto a piece of twill tape with a piece of tracing paper underneath as stabilizer, to make a small tag to indicate the center back.

That was a long one! It’s definitely not a quick project, especially when you make some crazy miscalculations, but I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Thanks, Louise, for inviting me to your Sew Ready to Play series!

Cash Cab with The Shaffer Sisters

I love the Shaffer Sisters! One day I hope to meet them for real! They seem like so much fun and I love how they all craft together! They joined in on the fun last year with a fantastic dress and I’m so excited to have them back this year. I don’t remember how we ‘met,’ but I sure am glad we did! And I didn’t plan this, but they are competing in Project Run and Play with a hugely talented group of women this season!

Welcome Al!

Hello I’m Feelin’ Crafty Readers,

I am Al the youngest of the Shaffer Sisters. It is always our goal to encourage, inspire, uplift, and create with you. If you think that sounds like you or something you need in your life please don’t hesitate to follow us. We could really use your support as we compete in Project Run and Play in the upcoming weeks.

We are so tickled to be back at Sew Ready to Play. The parameters of this series always make it easy to say yes. Despite the fact that we love it, it always takes us forever to decide on project.

I love this series because each year it gives me a great opportunity to reflect on my kids and family together time. Life with kids is like getting to see the full spectrum of colors. Without them in my life things would be much more bland and predicable, but with them there is a flooding of emotions. Moments to treasure like a first smile, or something that becomes funny just because of your child’s uncontrollable laughter that leaves everyone feeling good inside.

Lately things have been crazy busy and it has been hard to notice those glorious moments in the stress of deadlines. But I was given my glimpse of heaven this week as my husband came home from school and began playing with the kids. They didn’t need a special toy for entertainment, just the presence of someone special giving them love and attention.

To be honest this dress only came after 3 failed attempts to make my son, Heber, a sweatshirt that I could make Uno themed. It was going to be witty and funny, but it didn’t work out. He has a sway back and massive head so each pattern I attempted either didn’t fit over his head or they had such a narrow fit that they almost looked girly.

Right now is such a busy time with real life, a new baby, and Project Run and Play that I really didn’t have time for these failures. Scary offered up the idea of a Pictureka as a final backup plan and I thought that we could put the “girly sweatshirts” on Boston who is a girl and have her model it. But I was feeling so down. The option felt plausible but was also a let down to the creative process.

So I went back to the drawing board and figured out this look. Without a doubt, of all the games our little family has, Cash Cab is definitely the most used and loved. The kids don’t yet get the trivia of it, but they love rolling the dice, moving the cars around to different destinations, and playing with money. I have to keep this one at the top of the closet because it is so interesting to the kids.

I love how fun and modern this look is. I feel that if you didn’t have the context of cash cab you could still really like the dress. The design of the skirt was inspired by the logo on the TV version of Cash Cab. I made it by just doing a little math and planning out the exact size I wanted of my finished squares. Then I added seam allowances and cut out my pieces. It’s a little complicated, but if you take the time I’m sure you can figure it out. After piecing the skirt together, I pressed open my pieces and top stitched inside each box with a coordinating thread.

I made it using the Caroline Party Dress (affiliate link) from Mouse House Creations. I thought the lines of it could read city if it was paired with the right fabric. It was a first time sew for me and I seriously loved it. The pattern (affiliate link) gives such a nice finish and fit. It’s wonderful to have the capped sleeve as just part of the bodice. For the most part, I’d rather make dresses with some kind of a sleeve so I don’t have to find a sweater to pair it with later.

The skirt was lined with the same mustard yellow as the squares to give it a stronger color and stability to the piecing. All the fabric was just basic colored broadcloth that you can get at about any fabric store for pretty cheap. I loved using it because I was able to go to the store with an exact plan and be in and out in about ten minutes as opposed to walking the rows of fabric debating the right one for an hour. Works better for 3 kids don’t you think? Also I didn’t have to spend a lot and feel guilty about it later.

P.S. I have a funny story I want to share that came up in creating this project. When the last sweatshirt didn’t work out, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to have Scary around to take pictures. I would have to resort to using the camera on my phone.

When I told Ty that I was making her a dress and that I would be taking her pictures, she got this confused and slightly betrayed look on her face and said, “Not Scary?!” I told her I could take pictures, but I think in her mind Scary is her own personal photographer. You can’t take a model away from their photographer. I love four-year-olds!

So instead, the kids woke up at 5:50am so that we could drive to Scary and be at her house in time for good lighting and to get this blog post done.

Here is a picture with the little darling and her photographer on their way back from the photo shoot.

 

Name That Tune! A Boombox Pillow Tutorial

Today it’s me here at Sew Ready to Play! I don’t think I need to introduce myself, do I? So we’ll skip that part and move right in to my project! We’re all pretty excited about how this one turned out!

I’ve been wanting to make this for a while. Maybe 2 years now… So when I was thinking about my Sew Ready to Play project, it hit me! Name that Tune is a game! We try to play it, but the kiddo always sings the same song and I’m horrible with song names! So it’s not our favorite, I’ll admit, but it’s a cool project!!

It’s kinda a Land of Nod knock off. A few years back I saw that they had this boombox pillow (it’s not on their website anymore) and it was pretty cool. But it was just a pillow… Why wouldn’t a boombox pillow play music??? Our night time routine is typically a couple of books and then a book cd. And I have a bunch of books on my iphone… So… Combine the pillow, cd’s and iphone and you have a perfect boombox pillow! Yep!

Dad loves to fall asleep listening to the radio and I like to fall asleep to white noise after reading. Needless to say, we had a little problem. So I bought Dad a speaker pillow. It’s perfect! He can listen and I don’t have to hear it! So the kiddo is super excited to have his own pillow so he can fall asleep listening to music too! Just like Dad!

So I got to making my own! And it’s a hit! When he was modeling it, I told him, ‘Back when I was a kid, people used to walk around with them on thier shoulders.’ So we took some pictures and then a few minutes later he said, ‘Hey, let me carry it like they did in the old days!’ hmmmmmmmmmmm…….. The old days…. Really?

The pillow has real hidden speakers behind the stenciled speakers.

And a pocket on the back to hold the iphone (or mp3 player of your choice!). And a handle to make it easier to take to your next dance party!!

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

OK! Does it look like so much fun that you want to make one? I’ll show you how!

Your materials- 15x10x3 piece of foam (or how ever big you want to make it), you can use my template (but I warn you the file is very low resolution, but it works!), a zipper (I started with a 25 inch one), grey fabric, a little bit of black fabric, cutting supplies, speakers and freezer paper.

And not shown in the picture, but I also used a scrap of interfacing, a scrap of batting, fabric paint, 3 inches of velcro and about 10 inches of webbing. Also, I just happened to have a super big pipe cleaners for my ‘antenna’. But if you don’t happen to have those, I’d use a regular pipe cleaner wrapped in batting.

First, cut out your pieces of fabric. For my 15x10x3 pillow, I cut:  2 pieces at 16×11, a 4 inch strip about 40 inches long, 2 strips about 2 inches wide and 25 inches long. The pocket was a scrap about 10 by 10ish. The pocket really just needs to be big enough to hold the mp3.

Cut out the pattern in the freezer paper, iron it on and then paint it. For more freezer paper stencils details see this tutorial!

Next we’ll prepare the back. Iron on your scrap of interfacing. I made mine centered and down just a little bit. Then draw on a rectangle, mine was about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch tall. Cut the inside lines, but not the outside rectangle. Then iron over and top stitch around the rectangle.

Time for the pocket! Fold over the fabric (RST), add the batting on top and stitch along the short sides. Trim the bottom with pinking shears and snip the top corners. Turn right sides out, iron flat and fold over the bottom. Sew on the velcro to the pocket and the pillow back. Then sew on the pocket to the back of the pillow, covering the hole you just made.

And the sides! Sew the two skinny pieces of the fabric to the zipper, using a zipper foot, and iron flat.

Sew the zipper piece and the side piece together. Then, to get the best fit, I wrapped the piece around the pillow and marked exactly where the other ends get sewn together. I overlapped the zippered by one inch on each side. This helps with getting the cushion into the pillow case!

 

Sew together the black fabric to make the antenna. And stuff it!

 

 

Prepare the pillow! Carve out a spot for for the speakers. It doesn’t have to be pretty! Then cut a slit to slide the speakers through.

Sew together the top, bottom and sides, RST. Turn right side out. This is where I decided to sew on the strap to the top for the handle! Then insert the pillow! You’re done!

 

Just pull the cords through…

plug in the player!

Adjust the volume and you’re ready to go…

Just like in the old days, namin’ that tune!

 

Puzzles with Filles a Maman

Today’s guest is another amazing designer, Mel of Filles a Maman!  You’ve seen her pattern work around this here blog a couple of times. She is the pattern designer behind the Rose Skirt and the Mimi Top! Be sure to check out her other awesome patterns in her etsy shop! She has been such fun to work with and I just love her sense of design.

Welcome Mel!!!

I’m so happy to be a part of Louise Wackerman’s Sew Ready to Play series. My house is full of toys, for sure, as I have 3 girls. Most are pink, but anyway, they tend to hang around. I saw an opportunity to do something useful and fun. I was inspired by the outrageous amount of puzzles that we own. We love to do puzzles, but it is frustrating to realize that there is a missing piece because the box is broken. Because of this, I created the Puzzle Pouch.

The pattern is available here: Puzzle pouch

Print the pattern at 100%, without scaling. Check the 1 inch square on the first page to make sure that your printer is correct.

Assemble the pattern following the layout.

You will need a 6 in zipper and a 2.5 in X 2.5 in square of clear vinyl.

Don’t worry if you have never sewn vinyle, I will show you how!

1-Cut 2 pieces to make the shell and 2 more to make the lining.

2-Cut in half 1 piece of the shell and 1 of the lining.

3) Sew the zipper of half of the fabric with the right side of the zipper facing the right side of the fabric.

4-Sew a half lining over the zipper.5-Turn to the right side and topstitch along the zipper at 1/8 in.

6-Place the other part of the zipper on the right side of the fabric and sew. The right side of the zipper should be facing the right side of the fabric.7) Sew the lining over the zipper and turn to the right side.

8-Topstitch the zipper at 1/8 in. 9-Install the vinyl pocket with pins.

10-Place small pieces of paper (o,5 in large) over the vinyle to be able to sew the pocket. My granddmother was using tissues. If you don’t do this, the vinyl will stick on your feet and you will have some issues to sew a nice straight line. Otherwise, you can use a leather or walking foot.

11-Sew over the paper on the sides and on the bottom of the pocket.

12-Remove the paper.

13-Open the zipper. Place the fabric (green) right sides together and the lining wrong sides together with the fabric, making a sandwich.

14-Sew all around the puzzle shape at 3/8 in.

15-Cut the corners and snip the rounded corners to be able to turn the pouch properly.

16-Turn to the right side and press. Be careful not to press the vinyl.

Fill it with your treasures.

Enjoy!

Mel xx

Dominos with Simple Simon and Company

Today I’m so excited to welcome liZ, one of the two, from Simple Simon and Company! The ladies behind one of my favorite blogs! I’ve read for so much beautiful inspiration for those times I decide to sew for the nieces. There’s just a real elegance going on over there! I’m sure I’ve said it before, but my all time favorite project from their blog is the Audrey Cape! So pretty and so simple to make!

Welcome liZ!!!

Hello!

I’m liZ (one of the two Elizabeth’s) from over at Simple Simon and Company and we are so happy to be joining Louise again this year for her Sew Ready to Play series!

I had visions this year of what I was going to make….and I was in love with my plan…and then real life happened, plans were changed, and Grace ended up choosing what we made for the final project.

Which I still like…but people….I’m telling you my other idea was awesomeness…so I guess Louise will just have to invite us back again next year 🙂

Anyways, back story aside, the outfit we put together today for Sew Ready to Play is a Domino inspired look.

Our kids are into playing Dominos right now.  (So much so that we made them a giant set for Christmas last year.)  And Grace thought this giant polka dot fabric that I had in my stash was perfect for a Domino skirt.

The skirt we made is a simple colored blocked skirt with an elastic waistband and then she paired it with her favorite leggings (from Target, not handmade), a hand-me-down T-shirt, and a black blazer from last year.

(source)

She was pretty proud of the styling.  Her whole outfit was black and white….and it has the dots on the skirt….and the stripe on her leggings….and the solid on her blazer….

This is how she looked when she wore it to school this morning.

And I can’t argue with that face.

She loved her “Domino Clothes”.

Thanks Louise for inviting us to your series.  It’s just so much fun!  We love it!

-liZ

Chutes and Ladders Superhero Edition by Begin With B

And today it’s another Project Run and Play star joining us today!! Today’s guest is Jacqueline from Begin with B! If you didn’t follow along for our season of PRP, you should check out her projects here! they were fanatstic! We bonded pretty fast since we live in the same city! And we’ve been trying to get together ever since…. One day soon…. Jacqueline sews for her three boys and runs runs runs with them! I love watching thier escapes on IG!

Welcome Jacqueline!!!!

hi!

Oh games….I LOVE games. I have many childhood memories playing games with my family, especially my grandmother. To this day my boys will ask to get a game out and I get excited. Mouse Trap, Don’t Break the Ice, Chutes and Ladders, and Rock, Paper, Scissors are the most frequent requests. So when I had to pick one- it was hard!

I almost went with Mouse Trap but we don’t ever actually play the game. We set up the crazy contraption, we crank, hit the stop sign and watch the marbles roll to drop the trap. But as far as the actual game….I have no idea how to play! We never did as kids either- the contraption was the biggest draw.

Decided to go with Chutes and Ladders instead. Our version isn’t the old school one though- it’s superhero. Mae picked it out long before he was old enough to be into superheroes. Long before he started introducing himself as Captain America or Batman. But it is easily one of the most played games we own.

What I love about this game it is always so much more than just the superheroes climbing ladders and sliding chutes. Every time we play it turns into these heroes hoping onto toy firetrucks and rushing to a fire. Or driving the crane truck to rescue the mice stuck under the trap. The game pieces become alive for our boys and the game board is left behind.  I wanted to create something that would extend this play even further but be wearable everyday.

With the Dark Knight image in my mind I set to work to create a tee that was not a costume but would still allow Mae to pretend. I started with a black burnout knit that I ironed a knit interfacing onto the backside. This allows sewing to go much more smoothly and gives the knit (which is so thin!) a bit more weight.

Next I created a half batman drawn on freezer paper- to make sure that both sides were symmetrical. I then ironed the freezer paper onto the knit/interfacing piece and then cut. At this point you should have a sandwich with interfacing, then knit, then freezer paper- all in the shape of batman. Tear off the freezer paper and you’re ready to move to the tee.

Before sewing I used wonder tape to attach the points- knowing they would be finicky under the feed dogs of my machine. Then sewed with a zigzag around the the edges- working slowly.

This shirt is much loved. It has gone through the wash a few times already and the appliqué has held up great. And of course a few other tees have been requested.

Thanks so much for having me!!

Balderdash by Paisley Roots

Today I’m excited to introduce Karly from Paisley Roots. Yep, she was another amazing contestant in Season 8 of Project Run and Play. And yes, she won! She makes some beautiful clothes for her kiddos! They are probably some of the best dressed kiddos around! She also has a pattern line, Paisley Roots Design,  and just issued her second pattern, the All Spice Dress. I’m waiting to see what she comes up with for boy patterns….Hint hint…

Welcome, Karly!

Hey! I’m Karly from Paisly Roots and I’m so excited to be over here talking about my families favorite game. Balderdash.

The game is for people 12 and up so my kids haven’t quite gotten the grasp of it.

If you’ve never played it before I will give you a run down.

There are 5 different categories:

WORDS – what is the definition of this word?

PEOPLE – what is this person known for?

INITIALS – what do they stand for?

MOVIES – what is the basic story line?

LAWS – complete the law!

 

There’s one person that will be in charge each round and that person decides which category they want the round to be. Once the category is chosen the word on the front gets read out and everyone then has to write out some lie that sounds believable and pass it to the person in charge.

They all get mixed up and read and then everyone goes around choosing which they think is the correct one.

We adore this game and have so much fun with it! Unlike Monopoly where fights would constantly ensue, this game just makes us laugh and laugh and is played at every family gathering.

Seriously, the things we come up with…..

So now onto our shirts. I used the Tinley Tee pattern to make both. For Zoe’s I used a purple knit sheet to match the game colors and used Freezer Stenciling with fabric paint. For Aevaries, I wanted to try and show a little on how the game is played. We chose the initials and had fun coming up with acronyms for it. I used a pencil that I dipped in fabric paint to then draw out the words, since there was no way I was going to cut all of them out in a stencil! Aevarie also added a little extra to hers (aka: hearts and smiley face).

It wont take long for these guys to have this game down like pro’s.

Thank you so much Louise for having us along!

Here’s the list of amazing creators that are playing along this year!  Be sure to join us often!!!

Sept 5th- Jenn from A Jennuine Life

Sept 8th- Karly from Paisley Roots

Sept 10th- Jacqueline from Begin with B

Sept 12th- liZ from Simple Simon and Co

Sept 15th- Melanie from Filles a Maman

Sept 17th- Louise from I’m Feelin’ Crafty

Sept 19th- One of the lovely Shaffer Sisters

Sept 22nd- Irene from Froo and Boo

Sept 24th- Narelle from Cook, Clean, Craft

Sept 26th- Ashley and Emily from Frances Suzanne

Sept 29th- Vicki from Sew Inspired