a little fox, with a little help

It was a Black Friday impulse purchase. My daughter loves foxes. I had intended on buying a fox oil painting kit and wound up with a fox felting kit in the cart, too. The paints have not been opened.

felted fox

I read something a long time ago about a mom who straightened her daughter’s knitting rows late at night. Friends told her that was cheating — she was robbing her daughter of something she truly made herself. I’ve never forgotten her response. She said evening out the stitches was just a little boost to help her daughter continue falling in love with the craft while she climbed the learning curve.

I think about that a lot. At our local paint-it-yourself store, there’s a sign that discourages parents from helping their children. If they see parents helping too much, they will charge an extra fee. While I appreciate this sentiment, sometimes my child wants help. I am not about to say no if it will help her stay in love with creating.

felted fox

I always offer and I’m mostly turned down, but my daughter knows I’m there if she needs me. Sometimes it’s adding a sharpie outline to Hogwarts crests because details on round surfaces are hard. Other times it’s saving a felted fox from having a football-shaped head.

When we help children over creative speed bumps, we help them learn to love creating. When they see us struggle, and rip apart, and re-felt football-shaped heads, they see even adults don’t always get it right on the first try. Sometimes your idea can inspire them to fix it themselves.

felted fox

Then, when you’re not paying attention, they’re finished with a fox, a mouse, and working on a little chick. They have dug into your into your wool stash and book collection, and they no longer need your help. Well, maybe a little with the chick beak.

felted fox

stash: This is the bag of wool I had in my stash. The mouse and chick patterns are from Kyuuto Japanese Crafts, the Fuzzy Felted Friends book. We upgraded to a better needle when the kit one broke. Little chick photo to come.

started: puppy sweater

puppy sweater

This friend is getting the full treatment. After re-stuffing and sewing yet another new nose, my daughter convinced me to make a sweater to cover up the bald spots. I survived eight years before getting a request for “doll” clothes. I guess I can’t complain.

details: christmas jammies

christmas jammies

I wish I had more to tell you about these jammies, but I didn’t even follow a tutorial. I used last year’s pajama bottoms as my pattern and just added about an inch to the seam allowance. The only thing I really paid attention to was adding extra length for the rise and the inseam.

christmas jammies

There are quite a few inches in the hem, and I’m hoping that I can let them down next year and she’ll get another season out of them. I may have to re-hem, though, because she tripped over them while dancing in the kitchen.

christmas jammies

The top is just a plain white shirt from Target. She picked the fabric and art directed the tree. I used heat-n-bond to hold it in place while I edge-stitched it down.

I’ve made pj bottoms before and had lots of links to tutorials in my old google rss. When I transferred everything over to feedly, I lost everything. Years worth of linking gone in a flash! If you are looking for specific instructions, here’s what I can remember: Don’t Get Out of Bed Tutorial, How to Make Easy Kids Pants, and Vintage Pillowcase Pants. The last two are more for little kids, and I used the Vintage Pillowcase Pants five years ago. (Five years ago?!?!)

christmas jammies

last minute christmas jammies

christmas jammies

We are at a frustrating time where clothes that fit her in the body are way too short and those that are long enough are too big everywhere else. I have a longer story to tell about a fancy red dress and elf pajamas with only boys on them, but the shorter version is last night she asked me if I would make her some Christmas jammies today.

I really winged it. I had to let my perfectionism go. Also, my serger is awesome. Whipped the pants up between lunch and Christmas Eve mass. Appliquéd the tree on the shirt while she was in the shower. I’ll post better pics and links to helpful tutorials soon.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

download: summer reading log

summer reading log

My daughter’s Tae Kwon Do academy is having a summer reading challenge. She has to track how many minutes she reads a day. I looked around online for a nice, simple reading log, but couldn’t find anything I liked, so I made one. Then I thought: I bet others would like something like this, too!

I created a blank version and you can download it here.

There is space for 12 weeks worth of reading. Fill in the days of the week at the top with the day you start. We started on a Monday. On the left, you can write in the start date of each week to help keep track. Happy summer reading!

how to: my third (and final?) waistband tutorial

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It’s that time of year again. Spring. When leggings from last Fall are too short, but it’s not warm enough to pair them with sandals and call them capris.

My daughter is a size 7/8 waist and a 9/10 inseam. It’s so annoying.

To the casual observer, it might seem I’m obsessed with waistbands. I’ve already written two tutorials on the subject: taking in the waist on jeans and adding adjustable elastic. But what about comfy pants and leggings? That, my friends, is super easy.

Materials
elastic
small, sharp pair of scissors
pin, needle and thread

Step 1
If you can find a seam, grab a seam ripper to open up the waist. So far I haven’t been able to do this. A lot of times the elastic is actually sewn to the fabric. Find an inconspicuous spot and snip a hole.

Step 2
Measure your/your child’s waist size and cut an elastic the same length. Thread it through the casing right along with the original elastic.

Step 3
Overlap the ends about an inch and stitch together—by machine if you’re too lazy to sew by hand, by hand if you’re too lazy to get out your machine.

Now would be a good time to try on and make sure all is good.

Step 4
Stitch up the little hole you made in Step 1. I used to just add a few drops of Fray Check on the raw ends, but my daughter says it’s too itchy.

I’ll be assembly lining a bunch of these tonight. Happy Spring!

peeps fondue for dessert (yes, we are insane)

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We did a crazy dessert tonight: Peeps fondue. I know, it’s a school night and all that sugar!

My daughter received this Peeps “cookbook” last year and has been talking about the fondue recipe since then. Yes, for an entire year. It’s Peeps season. How could I say no?

We limited her to two and had big bowls of fruit and angel food cake for dipping, but have no idea how she’s going to sleep tonight. She was so excited all day and evening, helping to prep everything, that it was totally worth it.

For the record, we made Michael Chiarello’s recipe and it was really good. I highly recommend it for a non-school night treat.

saturday evening eggs

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My daughter was in charge of dyeing the eggs this year. Everything was bare bones, non-pinterest-worthy basics and she had a blast. She used crayons, a paas kit and 99 cent eggs. All I helped with was some oil to do marbling, which turned out pretty cool.

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once a refashioner…

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After you’ve been taking apart clothing for a few years, you start to deconstruct items before you even buy them. I found this cute dress for my daughter’s First Communion, but it was sleeveless and she’d have to wear a shrug, which covered up the cute flower on the front. I immediately looked at the stitches and tried to figure out how easy it would be to remove. Then I thought, I could buy a simple veil and stitch it on to match the dress. It turned out pretty perfect. I love when that happens.

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