film petit: the big lebowski

February 27, 2013February 27, 201361 Comments

film petit february! as i re-watched our chosen film this month, i realized something – apparently my husband and i quote it constantly, maybe sometimes without even realizing it. it’s everyone’s favorite highly quotable quirky bowling movie – it’s….The Big Lebowski!

if my husband remembers to get something at the store that i forgot to put on the list? i tell him “he’s a good man, and thorough.” someone’s carrying a drink and a kid bumps into them? “there’s a beverage here, man!” something gets spilled on/damaged? it “really tied the room together.” and just at random times… “8 year olds, dude.”

am i wrong?

anyway, before i fall down the rabbit hole of movie quotes (in the parlance of our times – GAH), i suppose i should talk about the movie plot.

ummmmm wellllll it’s kind of hard to explain. let me give it my best shot. 1998’s The Big Lebowski was directed by the Coen Brothers. it tells the story of the mellow and lazy Jeffrey Lebowski (aka “The Dude,” or “Duder,” or “El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing”) perfectly played by Jeff Bridges. The Dude is mistaken for a rich man also named Jeffrey Lebowski, and is suddenly drawn into a crazy kidnapping caper, when all he really wants to do is drink white russians and bowl with his buddies. it’s a pretty weird but beloved movie, and one i’ve seen about a million times.

typically we all pick different movie characters for film petit, but we felt that we should each make tiny Dudes this month to sort of swamp the internet with them – a mini Lebowskifest! mine is “pre-opening credit Dude,” the two scene intro that sets the stage for the rest of the movie. the Dude goes to the grocery store to grab some half and half for his white russian…

but comes home only to find himself getting dunked in his own toilet and his rug micturated upon by a couple hooligans attempting to shake him down for money he clearly doesn’t have.

film petit: the big lebowski

i sewed for O again, figuring the smaller the Dude was, the funnier it would be. and actually it was pretty hilarious – this is the MOST recognized character during one of my film petit photoshoots. people at the more-crowded-than-i-expected-it-to-be-at-that-hour grocery store were giggling and saying “haha, is that The Dude?” left and right. i started out a little self-conscious about it, but then ran with it. i think O liked the attention.

his bathrobe is made of wide wale corduroy from JoAnn, and the pattern is the Just Like Dad Flannel Robe from Sewing for Boys. i made it in a 2-3T for the length but chopped 3″ off the sleeves (and they’re still roll up-worthy!) so he’ll definitely wear it a while. the shorts are the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shorts made out of daddy’s old ones.

the undershirt, which i didn’t get a great photo of, is Made by Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee, made out of daddy’s old t-shirt, short sleeved, with a v-neck!

i’m actually pretty excited about the non-overlapping v-neck and might share a mini tutorial for it a little later; i’ve always wanted to know how to do that and it wasn’t hard once i figured it out.

my little Dude got the munchies at the store and picked out a couple snacks. figured that was probably pretty true to character (the Dude likes to “smoke Js”).

while my little dude is snacking on chili cheese fritos and abiding, you can head over to see the other little lebowski urban achievers that my partners sewed up!

our guest this month, Sabra from sew a straight line, sewed both “bowling alley Dude” AND a mini walter sobchak! both are absolute perfection. she even gets us a toe – you don’t want to know how, but there are ways. thanks so much for joining us, Sabra!

and my partner Jessica, not to be outdone, sewed “playoff/funeral Dude” with some awesome details, AND took photos at a very special locale! go check it out!

proud we are of all of them!

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be Dana from MADE!
please add any of your movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too!
this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.
film petit archives: the life aquatic with steve zissou, amélie, fantastic mr. fox, psycho, moonrise kingdom, ferris bueller’s day off

P.S. this is not ‘nam, this is bowling. there are rules.

P.P.S. do you see what happens, larry?!

P.P.P.S. i am the walrus.

super mario bros. shirt

February 25, 2013February 25, 20138 Comments

as Celebrate the Boy kicks off over at MADE and Made by Rae, i thought it’d be fun to bring home a post i did for I’m Feelin’ Crafty’s “Sew Ready to Play” series a few months back. O is actually wearing this shirt today, though it’s starting to look even tighter on his growing toddler belly!

***

growing up, i was the kid who didn’t have any sort of video game system at home and was constantly trying to talk the neighbor kids into playing nintendo. if you were the kid with a nintendo, you probably had an annoying friend like me, right? i was pretty persuasive in getting the neighbor kids to play (not too hard), and i especially loved super mario bros. i’m talking about the original one here…super mario 2 was fine, 3 was better (remember how you could drop behind the background?) but the original was the best. it’s still fun…have you played it lately? do you remember how to turtle top? i could never quite get the hang of it.

so anyway, it was almost a no brainer that i needed to make my toddler son a super mario t-shirt for this series!

i used my favorite basic pattern, made by rae’s flashback skinny tee, and knit fabric from two sale rack men’s shirts (my tips for sewing with sale rack t-shirts here). i appliquéd a mario scene right onto the front! the scene appliqué idea came from my friend cherie, and what exactly to put on there came from a quick google search of super mario bros images. want to make one?

gather scraps together in the appropriate colors along with some steam-a-seam lite fusible web…

draw a grid of 1/2″ squares for the stairs then cut them out, and a strip of woodgrain fabric at 1/2″ for a base. sketch and cut out clouds, a pipe, a hill, and bricks. i then added a little stamped mushroom left over from one of my project run & play creations! i just played around with the scraps until i had the shapes i wanted.

add the fusible web to each piece and arrange the scene on the front piece of the shirt, not yet sewn together. once you have everything where you want it, fuse it down with an iron and then stitch around each item with black thread, for a sketchy outline look. if you’re good with a free motion foot i’d recommend that here for the little curves, but i used my regular foot and just lifted it up a lot as i sewed around.

super mario bros flashback tee

finish the shirt as instructed per the pattern, slap it on your little guy, and he’ll be looking like a child of the ’80s!

i love how this skinny tee clings to his toddler belly…

and he likes how soft and comfy it is!

ready to play! thanks so much for having me, Louise!!

PS – i didn’t even realize when i was making this how close the colors and theme were to narelle’s post from the other day! who doesn’t like old school video games, eh?

polka dot geranium dress

January 1, 2013January 1, 201329 Comments

happy new year!

i know a bunch of my sewing blog buddies have been doing 2012 recap / 2013 goal setting posts, and since so much happened for me with this blog in 2012 i still might do that, but right now i feel more like blogging this dress!

it’s Made by Rae‘s newest release, the Geranium Dress. you know how i love Rae’s patterns, and i think every time she releases a new one i say “she just keeps getting better and better” but it’s really true. i was a pattern tester for this dress and i only had nitpicky type comments for her, really; it was already a high quality pattern even before the testers got our hands on it! I think this could work as a “first pattern from pieces” dress for a beginning sewist ready to tackle buttons and pleats; it’s all explained so well.

this pattern is also Rae’s response to requests for a “mini washi dress (remember when i made one myself but had the big head problem?), but Rae also built this pattern to give the sewer oodles of options to make a different dress every time…check this out:

three sleeve options, two skirt options, three neckline options, two length options, and pockets! the way she presents the choices isn’t confusing or overwhelming, it’s really clear and easy to follow. love that.

i picked faux cap sleeve with dress-length pleated skirt, side seam pockets, and notched V neckline. the bodice is 3T and the skirt is 4T (i just increased the seam allowance on the skirt a little to make it line up). i picked the options that would be the quickest to sew and the most “formal” looking, since i was on a time crunch before Em’s ballet recital but wanted her dress to feel holiday-appropriate.

it’s a really quick and satisfying sew, and i made it in a night! considering i started from taping the pattern together and was taking pattern test notes too, it’s seriously fast.

she wore this dress to her ballet Christmas program, her school Christmas program, and Christmas Eve festivities with the family, plus out and about (basically whenever it’s clean). i sewed it in a cheap black and white polka dot cotton from Joann that I also used to pattern test Rae’s pierrot tunic last fall – totally different feel on a more structured dress though, right? i love that it looks like snow.

i used the rest of the pink elephant buttons i first used for her japanese tea party jacket. she loves that touch of course.

for her “fancy occasions,” i made her a little sequined headband out of some trim that i just hand sewed together and hit with some fray check. she loves wearing headbands and other hair accessories lately, it’s always interesting what she comes down wearing. 😉

get your Geranium Dress pattern from Rae, and happy new year sewing!!

PS – need more Geranium inspiration? Rae posted all the pattern tester versions here, and my personal favorite is my pal Cherie’s eyelet dress. SO gorgeous!