a wintry first birthday party

9 Comments

well, hello!  i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas.  both of our families live in town, so we were bouncing back and forth a lot from party to party.  luckily, we had a few days off of work this week, so there was plenty of relaxation too!

back at the beginning of the month, we celebrated O’s first birthday.  i cannot BELIEVE he is one already.  i feel like he was just born, and frankly am still trying to wrap my head around his amazing birth – it was a 5 hour, deliberately all-natural whirlwind that was the greatest experience of my life, and i’m so grateful to him for cooperating with my plans (i had an epidural with Em but was determined to go natural with him).  he was a little butterball, too – 8lb 13 oz!  i’ll share the full birth story someday, but i need to edit it down for public consumption.  for a short labor, it’s a very long story.  i wanted to remember every detail.  😉

this little guy never ceases to surprise me with how fast he’s growing up.  he still doesn’t quite walk yet (just a few steps), though i’m sure he could if he wanted to.  he IS trying to say lots of new words, signs “all done” and “more,” points to body parts (on command he finds his ears, head, nose), plays peekaboo, and throws a ball overhand.  he gives high fives, hugs, blows kisses, waves goodbye and says “daaaaah!” (which means “bye!”).  he likes to brush his hair and teeth, and to sweep the floor (a toy broom was his santa gift this year, and he loves it).  he likes most foods, all baths, and he adores his big sis.  he’s a super sweetie pie, and we love him a lot.

unfortunately, the poor guy was born in december.  being a mid-november baby myself, i know that the closer it gets to christmas, the harder it is for your birthday to feel separate.  this year, we did go get our tree and put up some of our christmas decorations before his party (which we probably won’t do once he’s old enough to realize it…unless he wants us to), but i also tried to stick with a more general “wintry” theme of aqua blue, white, and silver.  party ideas had been collected for months on my pinterest board.

i had the idea to hang snowball ornaments from our ceiling in the dining room with invisible thread.  the birthday boy giggled at them!

i made him a birthday banner, in blue and white wintry fabrics from my stash, and painted a letter O from hobby lobby with coordinating blue and silver.

for a couple birthday parties we’ve had, i’ve almost completely copped out on cooking and ordered pizza!  i’m the type that doesn’t want to stress out about food the day of a party.  i gladly accept offers to bring salad and chips with dip, i always bake a cake, but as for the main dish?  DELIVERY!  so worth it.  we held the party at lunchtime (translation: after morning nap and before afternoon nap).

i plotted months in advance to receive this bundt pan for my birthday after seeing it here.  it’s so pretty!  i made chocolate cake with cherry pie filling and mini chocolate chips mixed in, and topped each slice with whipped cream frosting.

the cake was well-received…

…as were some cupcakes topped with the perfect blue frosting that my sister-in-law made.  the bigger kids liked those, while O looked on (sorry buddy – i can’t resist feeding one year olds chocolate cake.  the mess is a must!).

we’re so happy to have this pleasant little fella in our lives.  he got to eat his first cake and received some pretty sweet toys and shoes (“shhzzzzzz”), so i think he had a great time too.  i especially feel good about avoiding “second kid syndrome,” because even though a lot of it was pulled together at the last minute (i appliqued his t-shirt at 11pm the night before), he ended up with a pret-ty coordinated-looking little party!  phew!  🙂

PS – did you see that the themes for this season of project run & play were posted the other day?  now you’re in the loop!  i am back to sketching and sewing furiously now that christmas is over.  so fun, and so nerve-wracking!  i’ll be glad when it all gets rolling next week, because right now it’s just all bottled up inside!  i can’t wait to share with you all.

pink gradient bunting

7 Comments

i definitely didn’t get too ambitious with handmade gifts this christmas.  aside from the cape, this is the only other handmade gift i’m giving.  woops!

my sister requested “one of those triangle banner thingies” for her daughter C’s room for christmas.  C is almost three years old, and a big fan of pink like Em is.  they just moved into a new house, and C’s bedroom has been painted light pink!  my sis asked for pink/orange/magenta, though i had to clarify whether “raspberry” was okay, because i don’t have much magenta fabric.  it was.

this one actually gave me a bit of trouble, color-wise.  i have tons of pink fabric around, since Em wants me to make her nothing but pink dresses, but i wanted to mix prints like my other banners (spring, fall, winter, and sisters, for example).  it wasn’t really working for some reason.  however, once i decided to go with a symmetrical gradient solid-ish scheme with just one obvious print (my long-hoarded heather ross far far away I) it came together nicely.

  i can’t do JUST PINK without a bit of grounding, so i used charcoal bias tape on it (store-bought).

i snapped these photos in our room while they were on their way over to visit this morning, so i can get it wrapped up!  meanwhile, my kids did this:

she’s wearing her christmas dress and my shoes, and he’s playing with a broom in our messy closet.  nice.  🙂

back to wrapping!

superhero cape tutorial!

33 Comments

super hero cape tutorial // skirt as top

back in august, i made a superhero cape for Em. i’ve made a few before – they’re kind of my go-to boy gift, because boys are generally harder to sew for. today i thought i’d share a little tutorial for you! these are a quick sew – definitely time to whip one up for christmas if you are stumped on what to give a little guy/gal. i’d say this cape fits ages 2-4, though you can easily adjust the sizing – use an existing shirt of theirs for general length/width, and add a few inches to the bottom.

MATERIALS:

  • 3/4 to 1yd main fabric and lining
  • fusible web (i like steam-a-seam 2 lite)
  • two contrasting fabric scraps for the letter/symbol applique
  • velcro
  • point turner/knitting needle/pencil
  • light/medium weight interfacing (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

fold your main fabric in half, and cut the following shape out on the fold. make the place where the neckband meets the cape a sharp V, then draw out a few inches before rounding down for the shoulder to the bottom corner. you can use a straight edge to get the outer edge straight. i like to angle it out a bit so the bottom is wider than the top. the photo makes it look like the very bottom edge is angled too, but it should be perpendicular to the fold.

use this piece as a pattern to cut the same shape out of the lining fabric.

make your applique. i like to use gill sans bold font in about 500 pt for the recipient’s initial, but it could be fun to do a lightning bolt or an existing superhero logo too. cut a circle that your logo/letter will fit inside. don’t forget to trace your letter backwards! i trace my letter onto steam-a-seam paper first, peel off one side, stick to the fabric, then cut it out together using an older pair of sewing scissors.

place your applique on the main fabric, using the fold line of the cape to align the applique. fuse with your iron.

sew the letter/logo applique onto the cape. i like to use a blanket type stitch like number 11 on my machine. i change the length to 3.0 an the width to 4.0, but you can play around with it on a scrap to see what look you prefer. then sew around the edge of the circle with a wider, longer zigzag.

stitch it on…

you can actually see it better from the back…

fuse a strip of interfacing that’s about .5″ smaller than the length and width of the neckband to the wrong side of the main fabric (so about 1.5″ x 18.5″). interfacing helps the neckband stands up a bit like you see on a real superhero. 🙂

pin the main cape and the lining right sides together, allowing a 3″ section at the bottom for turning.

sew around the perimeter with a 1/2″ seam allowance, pivoting and sewing down a few stitches at the point where the neckband meets the shoulder area, then pivoting again to continue down the side of the cape.

clip outside corners, and clip into the inside corners of the neckband as shown below.

turn the cape rightside out through the opening, press out the corners using a point turner/pencil/chopstick, and press.

topstitch around the entire cape, closing the opening as you sew.

add velcro as shown. the “scratchy” part should be on the main (outer) fabric and the “soft” part should be on the lining. use 2″ inches of scratchy velcro, and 2.5″ of the soft velcro, so there’s less chance of the scratchy part touching skin.

sew into place around the edge of the velcro.

YOU’RE DONE!

this cape is actually a christmas present for my nephew S, the youngest of three boys. he’s 3.5 and loves to dance crazy hip hop moves to justin bieber music, so he gets purple lining in his cape. i’ve already made capes for his two older brothers (here and here), and he also has cape envy of Em’s. it was about time i made him one too!

since it’s a christmas present, he can’t model it. i was lucky enough to have lila, daughter of the very talented gail, model alongside Em in their awesome reading nook (it’s also famous – it was on ohdeedoh!) during a playdate. the girls play together, O makes messes, and gail and i talk sewing. it’s the best.

check out these two cuties in capes!

up, up, and away!

is lila a good guy or a bad guy? very mysterious… 😉

reaching for the clouds!

sweet buddies (they’re about 10 months apart in age – Em is older, but they’re the same size).

CAPES! i hope this all made sense. if you use this tutorial to make a superhero cape for a little one, please add it to my flickr group! i’d looooove to see them. feel free ask questions in the comments too, i’ll try my best to answer.

happy sewing!

twirly red christmas dress

18 Comments

it was a sewing mama’s dream come true. Em’s dance teacher announced that the holiday recital costume wouldn’t be provided, but instead would be “a festive party dress” of our choice. JACKPOT!

twirly red christmas dress

i made the bodice of the oliver + s bubble dress in a 2T, which i also used for her easter dress. instead of the bubble, i attached a circle skirt for maximum twirl (tutorial here by Dana).

i cut it up the back to be able to follow the bubble dress skirt-attach directions as written and to give her room to get into it, and lined the whole dress with cream batiste. i wasn’t sure if she’d have the coordination to really be able to twirl it, but i must have been kidding myself. this girl is a dancer. look at her go!

i actually had to bribe her with mini marshmallows to HOLD STILL so i could try to get a couple detail photos. seems counterintuitive, but it worked for a second.

the red satin made me dizzy to sew, but once it had turned into a dress, it was worth it. i added a pre-made cream satin piping between the bodice and skirt, and cream buttons.

it also doubles as a blanket. isn’t it fun? 🙂

as for the recital, she was mad that they had to dance tap instead of ballet, and got a bit of stage fright (i bet she would have been more into it if it was ballet and she got to twirl and dance on her tiptoes the whole time). she made it on stage with no problems, but she just stood there for most of the song. still adorable to see all the little 3 year olds up there, though. it was held at the grant high school auditorium, of mr. holland’s opus fame! she’s so tiny, my little gal…

i’ve got much more to blog about (O’s first birthday party! the fabled superhero cape tutorial!) so let’s everybody just agree that a few hours need to be added to each day so there’s time for everything we want to get done. i did get my first PR&P project finished too, which is a huge relief! glad to get something made and out of my head.

i’ll try to be back posting more here soon!

the big announcement…

19 Comments

sorry to keep you in suspense…and it’s funny that a couple people immediately thought baby, because that’s what i always think when other bloggers have a “mystery announcement!”  hehe.  no.  the big announcement is…

I’M GOING TO BE ON PROJECT RUN & PLAY!

if you’re not familiar with it, project run & play is an online sewing competition for kids’ clothes, loosely modeled after one of my very favorite TV shows (get it?  runway?  run & play?  say it fast).  there have been two seasons so far, with some truly incredible designers (and designs).  for season 3, i was invited to join in the competition!  i’m sooooooo excited (and totally nervous).  i’m in the sketching and planning stage now, but can’t wait to get going on sewing.  go check out my fellow designers, aren’t they awesome?  this will be really fun.

so the question is, which of the following PR phrases will i work into my PR&P posts?

carry on.

what happened to andrae?

make it work.

you have 30 minutes to caucus.

that crotch is IN-SANE!

i mean, i’ve already worked them into my normal, everyday vocabulary, so it should be easy.  😉

this season, the organizers have added a more formal way for everybody else to play along and show off their PR&P designs, which is great.  you can even win prizes!  i would love to see what you guys are making too, so be sure to send me links in the comments here, okay?  promise?

the competition begins january 2.

I’LL SEE YOU ON THE RUNWAY!