once upon a thread: emily’s balloon

i love participating in blog events. it’s one of my favorite things about blogging. so when i saw that katy dill was hosting another round of her awesome “once upon a thread” series, i couldn’t wait to join in. children’s books + sewing = right up my alley! and luckily, i’m raising a little bookworm of my own that’s happy to oblige, especially when a balloon is involved.

my inspiration was a sweet book we love to read together, emily’s balloon by komako sakai. it’s the story of a little girl named emily, who one day is given a yellow balloon. she loves the balloon very much, but has a little trouble holding onto it.

so her mother ties the balloon to emily’s spoon. it floats, but it doesn’t fly away!

emily is happy. she takes the balloon outside to play.

but then, a gust of wind blows it into a tree and her mommy can’t get it down! oh no!

emily is sad, because she wanted to eat dinner with the balloon, then they would put on their pajamas, brush their teeth, and go to bed. her mommy promises she’ll use a ladder to get the balloon down in the morning. this is where the sewing part comes in! as cute as they are, i don’t think my girlie would let me dress her in gray overalls with rickrack trim like emily wears in the beginning of the book. however, comfy star pajamas are something she can get behind.

the fabric is a couple of my husband’s barely worn white t-shirts that didn’t fit him well, which i hand stamped with red fabric paint to make the star design. the pajama pattern itself was self-drafted, which i’m pretty proud of, because i don’t usually have great luck with going “off the cuff.”

i used jess’ keyhole shirt tutorial (without the keyhole) as a general guideline for constructing the top, and added red cuffs in leftover t-shirt knit from O’s halloween costume. the pants pattern was drafted from a set of leggings that fits her well. i made them so there are no outer side seams – just two main leg pieces – and again added red cuffs.

i didn’t have enough material left to make a hat for the balloon, but she didn’t mind.

we had a lot of fun with this one. thanks for putting this on, katy!

ps – it’s my birthday today! i’m turning thirty and still getting used to the idea… 😉

20 thoughts on “once upon a thread: emily’s balloon”

  2. Crystal says:
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    Happy Birthday. I love this, my first thought was “where did she get that fabric?” I love that you made it, I need to do this. So many ideas so little time 🙂 Great job!

  5. gail says:
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    great job with this, the pjs and your photos are super duper wonderful! we love that book, too, it’s such a sweet one. happy happy birthday to you and welcome to your 30s!!

  8. Susan says:
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    You depicted the book wonderfully, bringing the story to real life. The jammies are great, and your photos are amazing. Oh and, your model is adorable! Happy Birthday!

  9. Lucinda says:
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    so, so cute!! what adorable pj’s – and the book too looks like a real keeper. Must look that one up. And happy birthday – 30 is spring chicken to this recent 40 yr old!:)

  11. Trinh says:
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    supercute as usual. love that you printed the stars on the knit. and great job on drafting your own pattern! happy birthday! this is a big one. hope you found a way to celebrate it appropriately:).

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