Angry Birds!

Thing 2 loves Angry Birds.  Never mind that he's only played the game once.  He's in love.  So when I was flipping through a pattern catalog and spied McCall 6481, I about fell over.  The pattern description is basically just "stuffed toys," but let's not kid ourselves.  These are Angry Birds!  Fortunately, JAF was having a sale on McCall patterns, so I just snatched it up!  This is view D, which is basically the red Angry Bird (though in different colors on the pattern cover, and minus the black tail feathers, which I still might go back and add....I haven't convinced myself to bother yet).  I changed the colors to match the red bird, and then I went to work!

Basically, this is a round ball with wings, facial features, and a comb.  It's awesome.  I used fleece for everything except the eyes and eyebrows.  Those are felt.  The pattern calls for using a fusible webbing on the eyes/brows and fusing them to the fleece.  Now haven't we all learned that we're not supposed to put an iron on fleece?  Well, I approached it with fear and trepidation, because there's really no way to machine sew these on, and I really didn't want to hand-sew them.  And now I can tell you that by using a press cloth (mine is an old thin piece of flannel from a practically threadbare sheet) and lots of steam and even moderate pressure, you can safely fuse things onto fleece.  Granted, this is generic, non-fluffy, non-special fleece, so YMMV.

I stitched up the pieces in half an hour or less, then ignored them for over a week, just because I didn't want to do the handsewing to attach the beak and comb.  Silly me!  When I finally buckled down and just did it, it probably took me half an hour.  I should've just sat in front of the TV and done it earlier.

I left the Angry Bird knockoff on my husband's nightstand, because Thing 2 always comes into our room in the mornings to announce that he's up and moving.  And DH's nightstand is visible from the doorway, so I figured he'd definitely see it there.  I was already up and in the kitchen, but DH said that the reaction was everything I had hoped for - the classic double-take in the middle of a sentence, then the cautious "Is that for me???", followed by joy.

Of course, now Thing 1 wants one.  Go figure.

Going green....

I have a cousin who is expecting a baby in the next month or so, and I have another diaper clutch in progress for her (I cut both out at the same time - good thing it turned out so successfully!).  But I also know that she switched to cloth diapers when her older child was around 2 years, and she plans to cloth diaper this baby from the start.  Not sure if it's more a financial or environmental decisions, but either way, go her!  In any event, because I know she's committed to cloth diapering, I decided that cloth baby wipes would be a nice gift!

There are 90 or so in these stacks, mainly because I was having fun cutting up flannel that was in the "huh?  What was I thinking?" category, as well as flannel that was leftover from other things but I just wasn't sure what to do with the leftover pieces.  And also because it was strangely fun and addicting.  These are all 8x8, with slightly rounded corners to make serging easier.  They are double-layer flannel, because I didn't have a stash of terrycloth or anything else for the backing, and I decided that I wanted this to be stash-busting instead of a reason to go shopping.  The apple, diaper pins, and beach flannel on the right and the penguin in the middle were all leftover pieces.  The Sesame Street on the upper left was purchased for making crib sheets for the local pregnancy center years ago, but obviously I never got around to using that particular flannel.  And the fall leaves on the left and polka dots on the top are both flannel sheets from the thrift store.  They were purchased to become PJ pants, but that hadn't happened yet, so I sacrificed them for this.

Now it turns out I have another pregnant cousin who is thinking about cloth diapering, so I'll send her some of these.  Maybe 2 dozen.  But Cousin #1 gets the rest, because I know that she'll cloth diaper. ;)

And since I was on a roll, I also cut the fall sheet into cloth napkins for an early Christmas present for another friend.  I decided that the casual fabric should mean a casual finish, so these are also serged with slightly rounded corners.  I got ten napkins out of the queen sized sheet, plus a half dozen or so cloth wipes.  Not bad!  Hooray for stash-busting!

"Green" party bags

For Thing 1's birthday party, I bought paper gift bags that I customized with printed tags.  For Thing 2's birthday party, I decided that I would rather sew reusable cloth bags that hopefully would be useful later for holding treasures.  Of course, I came up with this brilliant idea somewhat at the last minute, so they had to be easy-peasy.

Hancock Fabrics had their relatively cheap broadcloth on sale, so I had Thing 2 pick out four colors.  His brother helped, and together they chose green, blue, red, and orange.  Nice, bright colors!  I was concerned that the fabric would be too thin to be really sturdy for bags, so I chose plain muslin to line them.  That also meant that I didn't have to worry about seam finishes. ;)  

These are very simple bags: basically, the linings were squares with squares cut out of the bottom corners for boxing them.  For the outer fabrics, I added an inch and a half in length for folding over the tops to the inside and covering the top edge of the lining.  I could have simply sewed them right sides together and then turned them right sides out, but that would have meant handsewing an opening shut in the lining.  I didn't want to deal with that, and I wanted to try this.  The raw edges of the handles were tucked under the outer fabric, when it was folded to the inside (does that make sense?), and then stitched in place when I stitched next to the fold on the inside.  Then I folded the handles back up over the top of the bag and topstitched around the top of the bag.  So that stitching also holds the handles in place.  I would have done an "X" over where the handles attach if I thought these bags would be used for really heavy treasures.  But given the size of the bags (I think they ended up something like 7 inches wide, 9 inches tall, and 4 inches deep.), I didn't think that they'd ever have to hold anything too heavy.

I hadn't figured out the sizes for the bags when I bought the fabric (brilliant, huh?), so I bought 1.5 yards of each color broadcloth and then 6 yards of muslin.  In the end, that gave me 3 of each color bag, plus some leftover of each color.  I have probably half the muslin left, because I could get 3 lining pieces to fit on it width-wise.  (Of course, then we ended up having only four kids at the party, due to illness and scheduling conflicts, so now I have eight bags stashed in my gift stash.)  I thought that this project turned out really well, and I do hope that the kids have been using their gift bags for books/toys/whatever.

Wacky Creatures

Wow!  I really have been horrible this summer about posting.  Oops!  Guess it's time to play catch-up.  Well, this is a project that was finished over a month ago.  I have had the pattern (McCall 5826) for a long time - I know that I had it before we moved, so it's been at least 1.5 years.  Sadly, I had traced it before the move, intending to make some wacky snuggly creatures for the monsters for Christmas then, but obviously didn't do so!  The Pattern Stash Contest on PR prompted me to finally get around to making these up last month.

I had originally intended to use interlock from stash for these, just to make them softer and more snuggly.  Well, I still used stash, but these are batik-type cotton prints that I've had long enough to have forgotten where/when I got them.  The bonus is that Thing 1's favorite color is green, and Thing 2's is orange.  So this worked out well!  

The pattern has tons of options to customize your creature - two basic body shapes, and then different shapes/lengths of limbs, ears, etc.  There are also different options for facial features.  You do have to trace this pattern - I always trace mine, but here it's absolutely necessary - in order to put the chosen options together and have a pattern to cut.  Once you do that, it's a simple matter of cutting two pieces - front and back are identical.  Put your facial features on, sew around the sides, turn right side out, stuff, and sew your opening shut.  Voila!  Wacky creature!

The creature is a little larger than the picture looks - mine are about 13 inches tall and 12 inches wide (depends on arms).  Still a good size for a kid to hug.  The only quibble that I have with the instructions was that, despite telling you to put on most facial features before sewing front/back together (good!), they tell you to sew the eyes on after stitching front/back together (bad!).  They do take a LOT of stuffing, so keep that in mind if you make one.  Oh, and I machine stitched the lines for the teeth, and I used top-stitching thread for it.  I thought that made them stand out more.

All in all, these were fun to stitch up.  My boys loved them, though they have not so far become favorites.  However, they've only had them a month, and their favorites tend to rotate.

Continuing the theme....

Still making baby presents, though this is for a different baby. ;)  A friend from grad school is expecting her first baby, a girl.  While I wouldn't mind making her a diaper bag, I'm concerned that I really don't know her taste well enough to invest the time/money in a bag that she may dislike but can't exchange.  Instead, I decided to make her a diaper clutch, which is available as a free tutorial/pattern from A Beginner's Needle.

It's an ingenious idea - a small diaper bag, just big enough for the bare necessities for a short outing, with an attached changing pad.  If I'd known about this when my monsters were in diapers, I'd have probably made one for myself!  I thought this was so cool that I cut two out at once - though I've only sewn one up so far....

I used a pretty cotton print from my stash as the outer fabric and interfaced it with a relatively stiff interfacing.  The lining is a white PUL from JAF, originally intended to become wetbags for my cousin, but I hadn't cut or stitched those yet, so....I'll get more PUL later!  This is the closed version, with a hard travel wipes case and two T5 pullups in the pocket.  I did change the closure from the recommended velcro to snaps.  Here, I've used two snaps, though I'm thinking about doing four (in two rows) in the future, to make it more adjustable for when the pocket is more or less stuffed.  We'll see....

And this is the clutch partly (mostly) open.  It's so long that I decided to photograph it like this, rather than trying to find something else to stand on so that I could get the entire piece in one picture.  Yes, I'm lazy....Anyway, you can see that the pocket is fairly substantial.  Even with the wipes case and two T5 pullups in it, I still would have had room for a wetbag and a tube of diaper cream or something similar in it.  (For those who cloth diaper, I think you could get at least one diaper, a few cloth wipes, a wet bag, and some diaper cream in there, assuming that it's packed carefully and not haphazardly crammed in.)  There is fusible fleece in the center of the changing pad, which should aid in baby's comfort during changes.  The outer thirds of the changing pad fold in, before the pad is folded up from the bottom to then go over the pocket.  The top flap comes down to fasten it closed.

This really is a pretty cool idea!  I was pretty pleased with it when I got it finished last night.  And I showed it to my DH, who really liked it!  (The man is not stingy with compliments, but he doesn't exactly throw them around, either.  So when he says something is a really good idea, he means it!)  Useful and practical, yet pretty.  And of course it's machine washable, which is even better!.

Anyway, I would totally make this again.  I need more PUL before I can make the next one, but once I get it, I'll make the next one for my cousin (as well as her wetbags).  And then I want to make at least one more, for another pregnant cousin.  After that, I'll keep it in mind as more friends get pregnant....

A diaper bag that doesn't look like a diaper bag

My sister-in-law's birthday was earlier this month, and I wanted to make her a diaper bag.  I've had Amy Butler's Nappy Bag pattern for years - ever since Thing 2 was a baby - but I've never made it.  Silly me!  Anyway, I decided months ago to make this for my SIL, and I even bought the fabric months ago!  (The lining fabric was the last to be purchased, and I bought that in January.  So it really has been months!)  But you know how things go....you lose your steam, and then it doesn't seem urgent, blah blah blah.  And in my case, it was partly that I'd already given her a ton of baby stuff, and I wasn't so sure that she would appreciate this, so I just ended up putting it on the back burner.  But since I'd already purchased the fabric, I figured I'd have to get to it eventually, and eventually turned out to be just in time for her birthday.

One of the things that I really like about this pattern is that the bag doesn't necessarily look like a diaper bag, as long as you don't choose fabrics that scream "diaper bag."  With that in mind, I chose a rich black Kona cotton for the outer fabric, figuring that though it will attract lint and such, it is fully machine washable, and she could feel good using this anywhere.  (Because I used a black cotton, I made sure to get black canvas for the interlining.)  It is BIG!  I don't remember the final dimensions, but the upper part of the main front piece is 21 inches or so wide.  So lots of room to put stuff....

This cell phone pocket is a really neat idea, though I reworked it.  As explained in the instructions, the pocket is smaller and goes higher up, on the strap part.  It should also be closed with velcro, but I don't like velcro for things that get washed frequently.  I had read reviews that cautioned that the cell phone pocket would not fit some smartphones, so I texted my brother to get my SIL's cell phone info, then used the phone specs to redraft the pocket.

Because I wanted to use snaps instead, I interfaced the entire pocket, as well as interfacing both sides of the flap.  And because of the size, I had to move it down onto the main piece in order for it to fit.  But this should be much more functional for her now.

The lining fabric is geared toward my SIL's taste.  She loves horses, and when I first saw this fabric, I thought it'd be perfect.  However, at $10/yard (though I did end up buying it on 50% off), I texted a photo to my brother to make sure it was good.  He thought she'd love it, so I stalked the JAF sales flyer until I was able to use a 50% off coupon.

The "circles" are to show the topstitching along the top of the pocket, along with the stitching lines that divide the pockets into thirds.  I'm very happy with how well I matched up the print on both pockets!  And I just used black cotton for the other side of the pockets.  No sense wasting $10/yd fabric, right?  And between the three pockets on each side and the large space in the center, this bag should hold a lot!

One addition I made was to put in a D-ring on one side, about the level of the top of the pockets.  This is to be used with the (not pictured) key leash I made, using more of the lining fabric and two dark swivel hooks.  With a bag this size, it's just not going to be easy to find your keys unless they're attached somewhere!  (And my SIL has already told me that she loves this feature!)

All in all, I really like how the bag turned out.  It was simple to make, and I love that you can make a completely launderable diaper bag that is customized to the recipient's taste and doesn't have to scream "diaper bag!"  That said, I will not be making this again unless I know the recipient well enough to really know their taste.  I bought everything for this bag on decent sales (at least 40% off), but I still have at least $40 in it, without even considering my time.  I think it's totally worth it - don't get me wrong!  But since it's nonreturnable, I wouldn't put that much into a baby gift if I wasn't sure that the new mother was going to like the fabric choices.  But if I needed a diaper bag again, I'd totally make it in a heartbeat.  (Though I would consider adding a couple of snaps or magnetic closures so that I didn't dump everything out when I set it down....)

Oversized denim bag

So I was thinking about what to do for an upcoming birthday gift, when I looked through a Linky Thursday post from Stacy Sews.  And there I saw it: the Hobo/Sling Bag tutorial from Morning by Morning Productions. And I thought, cool!  That looks like a fun yet practical gift!  I really wanted to find a long leather skirt to make one in leather (as she does in part 2), but no such luck was with me during the thrift store hunt.  Alas....maybe later.  I'll keep an eye out in the future.  But until then, the long denim skirts would have to do.  This one was made from a denim skirt that looked like those skirts that are made by splitting the inseams of jeans, then adding some fabric in the middle.  I don't think it was actually made that way, judging by the consistency of the thread color throughout the entire skirt - I just think it was made to look like those, which is why there's the diagonal seam in the lower right.

I cut off the waistband to help the skirt lie flatter, also removing the zipper fly - I have a friend who reuses old but working jeans zippers and wants to use the belt loops in a project, so I'm saving those for her.  I removed the back pockets and the coin pocket, then folded the skirt so that I could cut each piece on a fold.  Before sewing the pieces together, I stitched the pockets back onto the bag but in more useful places.  I couldn't find rivets I liked, so I ended up with decorative flower eyelets.  (They'll also show up on the next one - the smallest packet I could find had 50 pairs.)

The "lining" was made from a striped sheet I found months ago at the thrift store.  I was thinking originally of boy PJ pants from this - but there's plenty left, I think.  There's no mention made of interfacing, but I decided that since I don't know what will go in the pockets, it would be best to use some lightweight interfacing over the back of the lining piece.  It doesn't cover the entire piece - just a few inches around the pocket.  I managed to line up the stripes on the pocket really well on this side - not so much on the other. ;) I really like how it turned out, though!