Matching Scrub Cap and Mask

I pushed to finish two last projects before sending off my buddy's box. I have made her scrub caps in the past, but from a different pattern (M4116, view G IIRC). I figured it was worth trying a new one (that wouldn't take as long) since she has much shorter hair now. If she likes it, I'll make more in the future. This is the Hummingbird pattern from Miss Muffet.

And then the mask is my standard pleated mask pattern.

 

Here's hoping she likes them!!!

Going Away Gifts

When you've got a work buddy who's leaving for greener pastures, you have to send them along with stuff to remember you by.....

She had seen me wearing a similar mask a few times and requested this one, with hair elastics that she provided. So she did know this was coming but not when....

And scrub caps have been an on/off needed item at work. They became even more important recently when disposable bouffants became hard to find. So I thought she needed a few for her journey. 

The rainbow paw prints seemed like a given, but there were several colorways at the fabric store when I went. I ultimately texted her to ask "Pink or purple? Or blue?" And the answer was "PURPLE"

And when I spotted this goat yoga fabric, it was a total no brainer! How hilarious is that?

 She was surprised and very pleased on her last day, and the mask and goat yoga scrub cap were immediately pressed into service. Very gratifying. 

More Scrub Caps

So as mentioned in my last post, I need motivation to work on some of my unselfish sewing. I'm not a big fan of sewing these scrub caps, even though they don't take a lot of time, so I need a push. Especially since I have so many other projects to work on. But since I just made one, I decided to suck it up and make the next three at once. So these are ready for birthday/Christmas gifts for some coworkers.

 Whale Watching pattern

New Scrub Cap

Unselfish sewing isn't always easy. I had previously made a scrub cap for a colleague (her request and fabric, but it became her Christmas gift that year - first one in this post). And she loved it and wore it all the time.....but then she lost it. So she asked if I would be willing to make her another one, and she provided this fabric. I said I would, but also no guarantees on when I'd get around to it. All depends on free time and motivation. (Both in short supply.)

Well, it's now apparently impossible to buy disposable scrub caps, so our inventory person said everyone needed to start saving theirs for re-wear or using their washable caps. Which means that my colleague is SOL until she can find her missing cap....or that I needed to suck it up and find the motivation.

It really doesn't take long to make these. I already had the pieces cut out and interfacing fused in place. I just had to.....sew it. She won't even be at work tomorrow, but I get to leave this in her cubby and wait to find out how excited she is to find it on Friday.

This time, she asked for the "regular" size, as her friends kept making fun of her cap and saying it looked more like a chef's hat. Guess I'll see how well this one fits her before making her next Christmas gift.

 Whale Watching pattern

A little detour!

So I follow Kadiddlehopper's blog, and she has just started posting ahead after a bit of a hiatus. And today I saw that her most recent post was a free pattern/tutorial for a reversible scrub cap. And it just so happens that my cat-sitter might love a new scrub cap! So I had to drop everything and try this out!

Thing 2 helped me pick the fabrics. One side (the "main" side to me, just because this is the one I knew she needed) is rainbow cats.

And here you can see the back.

And the reverse is this multicolored paw prints on black. I think it goes with the rainbow cats pretty well.

The orange bias tape is homemade, from the bias tape I used to trim a friend's baby sling (looks like I didn't blog about it, but I made a black linen sling, trimmed with orange bias tape - she loved it!).

This worked up quickly in about an hour or so! Hopefully it fits the cat-sitter's head!

Back to the scrub caps

It's been awhile since I've made any scrub caps.  The first one was a Christmas gift for a new colleague.  She liked the ones I made for other colleagues previously and asked for one for herself.  She chose the fabric, and I provided the labor as a gift.  She has a bigger head and a lot of hair, so she requested the "enlarged" size I made up from the Whale Watching pattern - the Dalmation prototype.

While I was at it on scrub caps, I decided to stitch up another pattern prototype - the Hummingbird pattern.  I've had the pieces cut for months but just never found the time/inclination to do anything further.  This wasn't difficult to make up, though there are a couple of fiddly steps.  Ultimately, I realized yet again that I have a big head and a lot of hair, so this one isn't going to work for me.

I have one more pattern prototype cut out.  Maybe I'll stitch it up sometime soon.  And I have my eye on a few more patterns to try at some point.

Scrub caps

 You may remember that I previously was asked to make scrub caps for coworkers, which I did, using a free pattern.  And then I did make more as Christmas gifts for a few coworkers, though apparently I didn't take pictures. :(

Anyway, I was asked by another friend about making scrub caps for her and her coworkers.  At this point, I had given away my original prototype, so I needed something for them to try on.  I pulled the sea life print out of stash and made it up, using the same free pattern - no changes.  While I was at it, I made a scrub cap for another friend (late Christmas present) using the Dr. Who fabric.

Then I had the brilliant thought of trying to enlarge the pattern a bit, to see if it would be helpful for those with big heads or a ton of hair.  (I have both problems, and I haven't been wearing my own creations so far.)  The 101 Dalmations print was also from deep stash.

Ultimately, they were happy with the original size, and these are the resulting scrub caps, which are now ready for delivery!  I hope that they enjoy wearing them!

I decided to try out some of the other free patterns available on that site - but they are cut and pinned at the moment, not sewn.  So hopefully eventually those results will be pictured here.  It seems kind of strange that so many at work wear my creations, but I don't!

Coworker gifts

So when you have a lot of coworkers, gift season can be difficult.  You want something that can be personalized, doesn't cost a lot, is quick/easy to finish, and I prefer that it be practical if possible.  Enter the plastic bag holder.  Since I'm in the veterinary profession, almost everyone I work with has animals, and plastic grocery bags are awesome for poop scooping, as well as trash can liners, etc.  So I made a whole bunch of plastic grocery bag holders to hand out.  Most of them are shown in this pic, but there's a few more that sadly didn't get photographed.  I tried to semi-customize the print to the person, but almost all were animal related.  Mine were based off of this pattern, though I didn't follow it exactly.  All my holders have loops made from self-fabric, for example.  I really like these - I actually have one in each of my bathrooms, plus in the closet (for the dog bags) and near the cat box.  Great assembly line gift if you need one.

A colleague had asked me about making scrub caps quite a few months ago, and I had said sure, but don't know when.  Good thing I said that, since it took months to get around to it!  She gave me the paw print fabric to use, plus another one that apparently never made it into the photo, and I found a free pattern online.  I made four out of the paw print fabric.  The monster print was leftover from my scrub shirt, and that will eventually be a gift for a colleague's birthday.

My original prototype was the bug print on the left - I had a bunch of that in stash.  Not sure why the monster one showed up in a second pic, but there it is.  And the Walking Dead cap on the right became a Christmas gift for another colleague who is hugely into that TV show.

Now that I have the pattern down, I figure caps may become popular gifts for coworker's birthdays....