The Fickle Hobbyist

Archive for the ‘sewing’ Category

That title just popped into my head.  The girls always say this little rhyme: 

Apple, peaches, pears and plums, (repeat)

Tell me when your birthday comes. (repeat)

They claim Joci made it up, but I don’t know, the cadence is just too good.  I think someone is pulling my leg.

Anyway… I just wanted to come and post this little dress I made for Abber-doodle.  I love this fabric!  It’s too fun.  We first chose the fabric, and then went to go look for a pattern, and lo and behold, the fabric on the pattern was SO close to the one we had chosen.  It was fate.  (if you believe in that sort of thing.)

The pattern is a McCall pattern number M5613 as seen here:

Pattern Found Here

I made Joci the dress on the right, but really should have measured her.  It’s a bit too long in the straps and wide in the chest.  She’s like a little string bean, tall and skinny.  Instead of altering it, we’ll just wait a little bit.  She grows so fast anyway, it won’t be long before she’s wearing it. 

For Abby I made the one on the left, and I have to say, it turned out great!  I’m not usually very good at reading and following patterns.  I get kind of confused (which is why I don’t crochet, because I can’t follow the directions!)  However, this one just clicked for me, and I’m really proud of the way it turned out!

I love the pleats in the front.  I considered doing them on Joci’s dress too, but didn’t want them to look basically the same.  I mean, they’re close enough as it is.  I’m still toying with the idea of the pockets.  They certainly add something.  I might just add them still.

What I love is that Abby also loves the dress!  That’s always a big thing.  I can make a bunch of things, but if she won’t wear them, then there’s really no point, huh?

Her favorite part?  The red buttons. 

-Autumn

I’m called the Fickle Hobbyist for a reason.  If you haven’t noticed, I jump from one interest to the next without so much as a passing glance.  This week I seem to be on a sewing kick.  In the last two days I’ve sewn the girls three dresses.  I mean, I know that’s no record, but it’s the most I’ve ever sewn in that amount of time.  Part of the reason I’ve not lost interest yet is that the dresses I’ve been sewing have been SO easy.  I mean, I think I’m going to end up making a closet full of these little shirred dresses before the week is over.

See, this is what happens when you let your 4 (almost 5!) year old choose her own fabric.  You end up with something seriously loud.  But whatev.  She loves it. 

What’s nice about these dresses is that both the girls can wear them.  Because the top is stretchy, it will fit around both of them.  I just have to make sure that when Joss wears it it’s not too short.

Even then, if the hemline gets too high up there, we can just throw a pair of leggings on her and she’ll be good to go.  I <3 leggings.

I can’t wait to post the other two dresses that I made last night and today.  I just forgot to pick up buttons when I bought the pattern.  I swear, I’d forget my head…  Did you know that Joann’s had McCalls patterns on sale for $.99 the other day!!  I need to see if they are still on sale.  I want to go back and get some more.  Stay tuned for the other dresses tomorrow.

-Autumn

I’ve got a handful of friends who are married to military men.  All of these women have children, and all of these women and children have had to endure a deployment at least once, are about to deal with one, or have had to go through multiple separations. 

One particular friend is going through what seems like her 100th deployment since I’ve known her.  While the actual number is somewhere closer to 4 (?), it’s suffices to say, she’s kind of an old pro.  She’s got a young son, however, who is just old enough to start missing his daddy.  The last time his dad was deployed, he was really too young to understand what was going on.  Now, however, seeing as he is a big-time fan of his daddy, he really misses him.

I wanted to do something special for him because, being a former military wife myself and having to do one deployment (with a toddler and a fetus), I definitely understand how tough it can be.  My heart went out to the little guy.  Little did I know, that April was the Month of the Military Child.  It seemed like the perfect time to get my project ideas underway.

Now, I have to start by saying, I had had the idea to make a soldier doll with an iron on of his dad’s face.  Um yeah.  After making TWO examples of this idea, I thought it better to not scare the poor kid.  The doll was hideous.  It looked like an alien with a uniform that was 2 sizes too small.  My kids, however, thought it hilarious to laugh at my ugly project.  At least someone liked it. 

The second idea I had was much easier to execute, and I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

I started by printing off a photo of dad and son on a piece of iron on transfer paper.  If your photo has words on it, be sure to print the reverse of your photo so that the words print out correctly.  If it doesn’t, don’t worry about it.

Now, the paper that I have says not to iron it on using an ironing board.  Mostly because it needs a hard surface.  The only hard surface I had lying around was my serger box, so that’s what I used.  You need to use the pressure of two hands when ironing on, and hold the iron in place for 10 seconds at a time before you move it to another part of the transfer. 

I know, I’ve got a fancy set-up. 

So then, I took a pair of pants I got for $2 that used the digital camouflage print and pulled all the seams out.

I used the pants to make a pillow case with the photo on the front. 

I hope that if he gets sad, or misses his dad, he can snuggle this pillow and smile.

I’ll be sending it out tomorrow with a bunch of other goodies.  (sorry, Randa.  He’s getting candy!) 

Do you know any children of military parents?  Do you plan on doing something special for them?  …Does anyone have a good doll pattern? 

-Autumn