KCW Day 6- Monster Tee

I was crossing my fingers the whole time I was sewing this shirt, hoping and hoping that it would fit over the noggin’!

And it did! Not even a struggle! Woo Hoo!

I also have a huge problem finding cool knit fabric for the boy. So I finally resorted to online. I found a few great ones at Banberry Place. Including this monster fabric by Lillestoff, a European import. Please explain to me why cool knits are so hard to find in this country??? I love Lillestoff! Love! It’s so nice and soft and the design is COOL!

My original plan was to use the Flashback Tee again. I used it once before and it was a bit tight, so I wanted to try it again the next size up. But then I was like… Well, maybe I reuse the Winter PJ top cause it fits so well. But the head thing… The winter PJ’s top goes on easy, but it’s kinda hard to get off.

So I went with the original plan to use the 4T Flashback tee pattern. And it’s perfect. Easy on. Easy off. Cute. Fast. Not too tight. Love.

I even remembered the tag! The kiddo was pretty excited about that!

And he wanted to be sure we showed the back of the t-shirt. Since it’s so different from the front….

Shared with these Link Parties!

TuTu Monster Wreaths

I love blogging, but there’s one problem with it… The holidays bring everyone making holiday inspired crafts… So first off, I see things that other bloggers are making and I’m like, OH, I need to make that too…. And there’s the whole, I love being crafty so I want to make something new….

So… Here I am… It’s not like I am sitting around looking for something to do. I have a full to-do list, for sure… And I don’t need another Halloween wreath… But then the other day I saw this Tulle Wreath by She’s Crafty.

I thought it was really cute, just the way she made it, but… I also saw a monster… I saw her wreath taken in a little different direction and turned into a monster! I had to make one. Or two.

I thought it would be a fun project to do with the kiddo, but it was a little much for him. He helped with the color selection and the design of the monster faces. The red and orange was his idea! But he wasn’t really into helping tie on the zillion pieces of tulle! But he didn’t mind trying it on… So not only can it be a TuTu Monster Wreath, but it can be a tutu crown! Or a tutu, too!

We got the foam wreaths and the tulle. The 10″ wreath took 3 yards of tulle and the 12″ wreath needed 4 yards. I cut the tulle into 2″ x 10″, or so, strips. The set about tying each piece around the wreath. It’s kind like making a yarn wreath. It looks simple and quick, but it’s simple, yes, quick, no. Once that was FINALLY done, we embellished the wreaths with felt teeth, pipe cleaner antennas and eyeballs.

We were originally going to make our eyeballs, but then we found these eyeballs at the dollar store for another project and decided to use them.

As I was making this my husband said, ‘That’s not looking very scary, ya know.’ Yep… I wasn’t going for scary on this one…. So they’re monsters, but they look kinda like tutu’s too, huh?

What projects have you seen online that you decided to make?? Any good ones I need to add to my list??

 

Shared with these Link Parties!

Dragons, Monsters and Dinos, Oh My!

Yep, I’m blushing again! To my surprise the dragon wings were featured again and this time with Made by Rae’s Celebrate the Boy week in the Creature Feature Roundup!

And man, the dragon wings are in some amazing company!!

1. Dino Sike Crochet Hat and Pattern, 2. Amigurumi baby dragon, 3. Monster Snow Hat, 4. Monster Baby Hat and Shirt

5. Tissue Monster, 6. Dragon Sweatshirt, 7. Yo Gabba Gabba Fleece, 8. Pillow Tee Monster

9. Sweater Monsters, 10. Yep, that’s me, the Dragon Wings!, 11. Yellow Tee Shirt, 12. Monster Art Tote

13. Sock Dragon, 14. Winter Dino Hat, 15. Pipoooo dentinho, 16. Fiery Dragon

Sooo… If I have to pick one, my favorite would be (besides the dragon wings of course…) the sock dragon! I’m blown away by that one!

Check them out, most of them have tutorials as well!

Which one is your favorite?

And check back tomorrow for my very own CTB link love! I”ve found some great things!

Monster Towel Tutorial

I said I was going to make the Towel tutorial ages ago… Thought I had actually. Then this weekend I realized that I had taken all the pictures, but never written the tutorial. So, here we go!

Materials

Old Towel

Old Sheet (or fabric)

Fleece , for eyes and back spikes

Flannel, for eye balls and teeth

Thread

Scissors

Straight edge

Step 1:   Cut all the pieces:

Towel   49 inches wide x 23 inches tall

Fabric side of towel    2 pieces 25 inches wide x 23 inches tall

Towel Side of Hood   2 pieces, 8.5 inches wide x 10 inches tall

Fabric Side of Hood    2 pieces, 8.5 inches wide x 10 inches tall

Teeth   10 pieces, 2 inches wide x 2.5 inches tall

Eyes   2 ovals about 6 inches x 4 inches

Eye balls   2 ovals about 2 inches x 1.5 inches

Back Spikes   14 triangles, 4 inches wide by 5 inches tall

For the hood, round the edge. Stack the 4 hood pieces, and cut a curve. I used a plate to make the curve and came over 3″ from the corner at the top and back. See photo below!

Step 2: Sew together the teeth and back spikes. Right sides together. Trim edges around points and turn right side out. Top stitch back spikes.

Step 3: Sew the eyes. First sew the eyeball fabric to wrong side of eye fleece. Then topstitch the eyes onto the fabric side of hood.

Step 4: Put together fabric side of hood with the scales. Pin hood fabric together, right sides together. Place back spikes between the fabric, with points facing in between the hood fabric. Sew together.

Step 5: Sew the two towel hood pieces together, right sides together.

Step 6: Finish Hood. Pin together the fabric and towel hood pieces. Pin the right sides together and place teeth between with points facing inside.

Step 7: Turn hood right side out and topstitch front edge.

Step 8: Sew together pieces for the fabric side of towel. Pin fabric side, right sides together. Insert the rest of the back spikes, spaced equally and pin with points facing in between the fabric. Sew together.

Step 9: Pin front, back and hood together. Right side of fabric to right side towel. Insert hood. Align seam of fabric side of hood with seam of fabric side of towel. Right side of fabric hood to right side of fabric side of towel.

Step 10: Stitch together along outside of rectangle. Leave a hole about 6 to 8 inches. Trim corners.

Step 11: Pull towel through the hole, right side out.

Step 12: Topstitch.

Step 13: Bathe that little one and wrap him/her in the monster towel.

Tip… Don’t tell the little one that he’s a scary monster! My son loved his monster towel, but too many silly scary monster jokes and now he’s scared of it…. I’m trying to convince him that’s it’s a googly eyed silly nice monster towel….

This was actually the second tutorial I photographed and I obviously missed a couple photographs for some of the steps. I hope it’s easy to understand despite the lack of photos. Please let me know if anything is confusing! And do show pictures of your monster towels!

More T’s for KCW

Like I said on Monday, we’re fixing the things in my mending bag this week! I don’t think I’ll be featured on any of the KCW features, but it needs to get done!

Here’s another one you might remember! About a year ago I made the monster tee! I was so proud of myself for sewing with knits! I loved this shirt. I was kinda rigging my machine to use the double needle and it was a pain! the thread kept getting twisted and breaking….

Then the hem came out. I threw it in the mending bag and forgot about it!

But it’s back! And I figured out how to set my machine up properly to do the double needle and it went so smoothly! And the hem is fixed.

And the kiddo is excited to have him monster shirt back!

So then I moved on to the taxi shirt! I wish I could find a picture of the kiddo wearing this when they were pj’s. We bought this in NYC about 3 years ago. The pj’s fit then. It was kinda like a onesie with legs.

It fit, but it was kinda funny, because it was so wide! The legs and the sleeves were the right size for a 2T. But the width wasn’t. It was super wide! And three years later, the sleeves are a bit short for a 5T.

So I cut off the legs and it still fits! 3 years later! I hemmed the bottom. I was going to take off the sleeves and add red ones, but then decided that since the arms still fit, I just made it a short sleeved t-shirt instead!

More KCW done. You?

Free For All PJ’s

ok, yes, I love to make the kiddo pj’s! I don’t know why…. But I do! So I did it again!

My lady friends over at Frances Suzanne ashed me to participate in their newest project, Free for All. It’s a part of thier Flip this Pattern series, but the kick to this part is that you have to use free patterns and you don’t have to Flip them! And right around when they asked me, I saw See Kate Sew’s pj pant pattern and I know I had to make them!

It’s all been just perfect timing! I saw Kate’s pants, right around the time I got asked to do this. I had already ordered the monster fabric I wanted to use to make PJ pants and the kiddo just had a growth spurt and outgrew a few pairs of pj’s!

But PJ pants need a top right? So I also needed to find a free for all boy’s top! And I did!

I tried out the Back to School Raglan Tee from Stacey at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts. The pattern is a size 6 only, so I was a little worried it would be too big. It is a little big, but not too much! The only thing I did differently on this top is that I didn’t add the bottom hem since the shirt I upcycled already had a hem.

I was a bit worried about the neckline too. But I love how it turned it out! The kiddo has a larger head and I’ve had problems with some patterns being hard to get over his head, but not with this one!

As I was sewing the sleeves, I thought, no way are these going to be long enough! But once I added the cuffs. Perfection!

I asked him if he really likes his new PJ’s and he LOVES them! He did say that he likes the shirt, but he likes the pants the best!

The sizing dilemma I had with the top was just the opposite! The PJ pants pattern is only in a size 5, so I was worried they might be too small. But… They are a little big… I’m confused! Ha! I might need to resize the elastic….

For this one, I did do a few things differently then suggested. First, I lined them with a thin flannel. So I basically made two pairs of pants and put them inside each other, then added the cuffs and waist band. For the flannel, I did as the tutorial says. After I made the lining, I was debating on how to do the monster fabric. I didn’t want to cut it up too much. So I taped the front and back pattern pieces together and overlapped the seam allowance. This allowed me to not have the side seam and have the monsters wrap around the edge, uninterrupted!

I did add the cuffs, per the tutorial, but mine aren’t as tight as I thought they would be. No one’s complaining though!

Both peices are super comfy! And who says PJ’s can’t be a little loose!

I just love this picture! The pup and the blanket have been with him since Day 1, pretty much! This Christmas the alien was added in to the crew. And a couple of weeks ago, Kangaroo Rat was added to the crew.

Can I leave on the PJ’s mom? Of course, cutie!

And don’t forget to check out everyone else’s free pattern sewing!

FrankenZombie Gift Bag

I’m bringing home a post I did for Go To Sew last year. yes, it was last year, but we still love it, so I hope you do too!! I thought about making a treat bag! A treat bag in the shape of candy corn would be cute and easy, right? Yep! But then I realized we’d never use it…

And then came the FrankenZombie Treat Bag! The kiddo has a treat bag that he loves and doesn’t want to replace. We use it every year. And then I remembered the zombie birthday party invitation that he brought home the other day!  So why not make a zombie gift bag that can then be used as a treat bag??? Oh yeah!

We got the whole family together for a design meeting! And then we got started!

The materials we used were cute Halloween fabric for the inside of the bag, green felt for the outside, random fleece and felt and yarn scraps for the embellishments, felt glue, some ribbon and cutting utensils.

Step 1- First I cut out the outside fabric. I made mine 14 inches tall by 11 inches wide.

Step 2- I found a circular item to round off the corners. Draw the circle and then cut.

Step 3- Next, I used my felt outside as a template to cut the inside fabric.

Step 4- The fun part is cutting out the scraps into zombie parts!

Step 5- Deciding what to sew and what to glue was tricky! At first the kiddo wanted to glue everything. Then glue nothing and sew everything! So I decided to sew the eyeballs, scars and mouth yarn. So I sewed those pieces down.

Step 6- Place the front and bag of the bag, right sides together. (I did add hair to the back, too!)

Step 7- Sew the inside pieces together, right sides together. And don’t forget to leave a hole!

Step 8- Turn the inside of the bag right sides out and insert into the outside of the bag.

Step 9- Don’t forget to also pin in the ribbon strap. Put this in between the inside and outside of the bag!

Step 10- Sew along the top of the bag! Then pull the bag right side out through the hole you left in the lining.

Step 11- Now glue down the pieces you have decided to glue! I glued the teeth, the nose pieces and the eyeballs! I also inserted a piece of paper inside the bag, just in case any glue went through, it wouldn’t glue the bag together! Then take that paper out once everything is dry.

Step 12- Sew the lining hole closed.

Step 12- And topstitch!

Step 14- Then get ready for some monster trick or treating!

Or use it as a gift bag!  I love how the tissue paper looks like hair!

 

I thought it was going to be kinda small, but once we added goodies, the size seemed to be just right! What kind of treat bags do your kids use? Do they have a special one? Happy Trick or Treating!!

 

The Jack and Jill Shirt turned PJ’s

Last month I was a lucky lady who got to work with a fabulous woman (who you probably all know), Shannon, the woman behind the blog, Little Kids Grow. Shannon has recently started a pattern line called Peaches and Peanuts. And I got to test her first pattern, the Jack and Jill Color Block Shirt.

The pattern is a unisex pattern with all sorts of options in sizes 4 through 12! You’ll have to check out Shannon’s story on why she started her new pattern line. It totally makes sense! And so far, she’s on the right track!

Our shirt is a little wacky, so I thought I’d show you how the other testers made theirs. Theirs are a bit more reserved. And it just goes to show how lovely this pattern can be. When I saw Shannon’s son in the shirt, I knew I was in love! He’s adorable! It’s just a lovely shirt that can be very dressy, casual and as I’m showin’ ya, very casual!

I chose kinda crazy fabric for a couple of reasons. One, that’s the way the kiddo and I roll. Bright and Crazy! And Two, I knew I wanted the shirt for some PJ’s. I think Shannon was looking more for the not so crazy, but she was sweet about our craziness just the same!

The pattern has a few details that make it stand out from other boy’s shirts patterns. I’ll start with the back detail. The back pleat is a nice detail that I think makes the shirt a bit more comfy. From the front it looks like a slightly fitted shirt, but you know there’s some real room to run and play in it!

The sleeve detail is also a refreshing change from the usual. I got a bit confused by it. But that’s why I was a tester and Shannon quickly updated the pattern (before publication) based on my confusion so you won’t be confused! Look how cute it looks once I figured it out!

I’ve always been a bit confused about dress shirts and collars. But that is a confusion of the past! After working her pattern a light went off and I have figured it out and am no longer afraid of dress shirt collars!

And what do you think about that pocket? The long pocket is fun! Especially since my monsters fit perfectly for the size of the pattern!

The pants are not part of the pattern. They are my own pattern that I made using my tutorial for Comfy Pants.

So, I asked the kiddo to model his pj’s and it was like pulling teeth to get him out there. I said, ‘you know you love it once I’m taking pictures.’ And he said I could only take 3 or 4 pictures. But do these pictures look like he hates having his picture taken? Um. No. He even made me take more and more! What a ham!

Be sure to check out Shannon’s Jack and Jill pattern for your kiddos! I know one kiddo who’s happy to have it!

An Unplanned Blogging Break, kinda

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I haven’t been blogging on my usual schedule lately. Have you noticed? I’m kinda curious!

I’ve seen a few other bloggers take an August break from blogging and I thought to myself, that’s a good idea, but then didn’t plan on it. But my family and I have gotten bitten by the end of summer travel bug and I haven’t been able to keep up with my blogging like I usually do because we’ve been off having a fantastic August!

I don’t usually share too much about my life outside of crafting and sewing on this blog, but since I’ve been a bit sporadic this month, I thought I’d show you what I’ve been up too!

The first weekend of this month, we headed ended up with a random camp spot at this place that we probably would never have picked out for ourselves, but we had a good time! It was down on the Hood Canal, a bit south and west of Seattle. Max’s first tent camping experience! No that he’s new to camping! Oh, no, he’s been going since he was about 6 months. We usually have a little trailer where we camp. And I found a MASSIVE amount of sand dollars! I’ve never found a full sand dollar on the west coast. We also love our happy face rock!

Then we went to Bellingham, a nice getaway, but nothing spectacular. And then came the most fun weekend… Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens! Not long ago the kiddo had compared something to Mt Rainier and I realized that he had never been there! So we went! And the little kiddo climbed almost 1000 feet up Mt Rainier! It was awesome! I’ve wanted to see a marmot for YEARS and now I can say I saw one!

We stayed in a teepee! How cool is that? I’d seen it last year and knew we had to check it out. It just happened to be right between the two mountains. So the next day we headed to Mt St Helens. I thought it would be a little drive in, look around and drive back. Um…. It was that, but so much more than that. I was shocked at how cool it was. We went in through the blast side and the force of nature, 20 years later, is still magnificent! That white stuff in the lake… is trees. Thousands of trees uprooted from the blast! And we found a million frogs! Some still tadpoles. A fantastic science lesson for the kiddo!

We had such a great time that we came home on Monday night, figured out a road trip for the next weekend, and headed out again on Saturday. This time we headed east, to Eastern Washington. Again. Amazing! It’s so amazing how Seattle is this lush green place that you think of when you think of the Pacific Northwest. But the state changes dramatically as you drive over the Cascades Mountains! We headed east, visited friends, went fossil hunting and did some more camping! I was just in awe of the changing landscape the whole time! And back home on Tuesday night!

Soooo…. See why I haven’t been crafting and sewing too much this month? I hope you don’t mind! We did collect all sorts of things for crafting though. I just might have a sand dollar craft coming up…. And we collected a lot of driftwood down by the teepee for Driftwood Monsters and then we’re going to do a little crafting with our fossils too! Fun things coming up!

In short, I didn’t take a full on break, but I’ve been busy having a blast with the family and the blog hasn’t been top priority! Summer is winding down and I’ll be back full force in September with fun things!

Did you do much traveling this summer?

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season where ever you might be and whatever you might belive!

I’m going to start this post by taking a peek at some of my favorite projects from 2011.

Curious George Dressed Up Like A Monster, Project Organization, Halloween Paper Cut

Magnetic Bookmark, Pillowcase Dresses, Dr Seuss Party

Winter Paper Cut, Monster Towel, Fabric Flower

I decided to start by looking back because I needed a little end of the year boost….

Should I make a New Year’s resolution??? I don’t know! My life is so up in the air right now! I don’t know what to do! I’ve been looking for a job, not very intently by any stretch of the imagination. there aren’t many jobs out there for my profession at the moment. Here’s my dilemma… Do I take this opportunity to make my sewing, or crafting, or photography my new profession? I’m grappling with a huge confusion over what to do, how to do it, how to plug in…. I see so many wonderful bloggers writing books, having huge blogs that generate an income (Or a bit of an income anyway), being featured on TV and in magazines and just in general making it by making their creative spirit work for them, and I’m not… So after having said all this, I am taking this time off from work to enjoy my family and my creative spirit! So maybe my first New Year’s resolution should be to take that huge leap of faith to try something different…

image via Dear Musketeer 

I’ve been reading a bunch of other end of the year posts and what I have found the post interesting is despite everyone’s beautiful blogs and happiness that oozes from our daily and weekly posts, not everyone has had a great year. But a lot of us don’t blog about the things don’t make us smile in our personal lives. Yes, I’m sure plenty of people do, but the blogs I follow, you just don’t hear much about ‘those other’ things.

Then Yesterday I was in my end of the year blues and came up with a long list of pity party themes!! And I wanted to write a long blog post detailing everything that I didn’t do this year. I won’t bore you with the details…. Athough for entertainments’ sake, I will tell you the broad range of themes I came up with to sulk about…. Some about blogging, some about my unemployment status, some about my parenting skills, some about my life not being ‘exciting’ enough, some about my lack of architectural prowess, and just some random things….

Luckily for us all my brain just kicked itself in the arse and by the end of the evening I was making fun of myself for some of the thoughts I had!

Then today 2 things happened! I decided to sit down and look at my blog and pick my favorite projects! And secondly, I read this blog post by decor8 about listing your accomplishments rather than your to do list or resolutions that didn’t get done…..

One of my pity party themes was about blogging and being featured on thier blogs. Then I realized, (as my son says) ‘WHAT????‘, I had a great year! And part of that was being featured on other blogs!

My Owl Barn, Prudent Baby, Sugar Bee Crafts

Madigan Made, Freshly Pressed, Stitch Steals

Celebrate the Boy, All the Dragon Wings made by readers and more, The Southern Institute

Thank you, a huge thank you, to all those that featured me and those that made my dragon wings! And thank you to all my guests this year. And lastly, but not the least for sure, thank you to all my readers! You’ve helped make my blogging and crafting/sewing year a success!

image by Drew Melton of The Phraseology Project via Twig and Thistle