It’s been a crafty week here at Chateau d’Arbo because there are only so many places we can walk to in this snow (see also: neighbours still not shovelling their friggin’ sidewalks – a pox on all their houses).
It started with me FINALLY getting my collective poop together and starting a scrapbook. Its been something on my “to-do” list for a while now – I wanted to scrapbook how our family became a family, and want to be able to add pages as things happen. When planning our wedding I kept all sorts of mementos, and these were sitting in a box waiting for me to take them out and make them into some sort of orderly “thing”. I really don’t know what I am doing – I bought a bunch of little embellishments on clearance at Micheals and I bought a “kit” that came with a bunch of sheets of paper and what not, and WAAAYYYY back in 2007 I bought a silk covered memory book to hold the pages. So last week I finally printed out some of my favorite pictures and went and bought some glue dots, and sat down and scrapbooked and finally am finished and am really happy with the results. These are photos of the pages from my book:
I’ve also been dying socks, as I mentioned. Well, I also made a purple pair, and this time I took pictures of the process and made up a tutorial, in case you were interested.
I also made a bib for Mr. Drooly Pants. I used some PUL that Melanie sent me, and some fabric scraps. PUL is laminated polyester, so its essentially waterproof. Its what Kale’s awesome diapers are made with. The green tweed and navy stripes is canvas I bought with the idea of making some shopping bags but never got around to, and the orange is some scraps of the bamboo jersey I bought to make onesies with, but then decided that its too stretchy. I used a modified version of a pattern I got from Burda Style.
And finally, I made some Taggie Feelies. What are Taggie Feelies? Well, Taggies are a registered, trademarked, patented blah blah blah children’s toy. They are basically soft things with tags sticking up because kids like the feel of them. So I made fancy Taggie Feelies. These are made with black Minkee dimpled fleece and Italian satin (again, fabric I bought for different projects) with ribbons picked up from the thrift store sewn in. They are soft and silky. I made four of them, and Kale selected the one he likes, the other three I will list for sale on Etsy provided I don’t get sued by the Taggie people for making something like their product.
So, you know, its been a whole lotta crafty up in here. I like the fact that I have knocked off a few projects but I am running out of stuff to do and my sewing machine is in desperate need of a service so I’d really rather the rain came and cleaned this place up. Otherwise I can see myself with 30 pairs of dyed wool socks pretty stinking soon.
If anyone knows of a good service place for my sewing machine, I am all ears. The shop that Ross bought my zillion year old and totally indestructable Kenmore in has closed down. (Reason number eleventy seven I should open a fabric and sewing shop in New Westminster).
Posted by Jen | Under Crafty, Jen
Monday Nov 24, 2008
Is there some sort of law that says “if you are a manufacturer of kids clothes, just make up a size because its not important?”
Kale is currently fitting into clothes marked newborn all the way up to 18 months. Not to get all Seinfeld-y on you, but what the hell is with that? There is no regulated sizing in infant’s clothing, just like there is none is women’s clothing (which is why I fit into an 8 and a 18) and the only way I can tell if Kale will fit into something is to a) put it on him or b) guess. Nothing like putting on clothes on a squirmy 4 month old with busy hands only to find out that this sleeper? Yeah, good luck doing THAT up. Pfft.
I have two boxes in the closet, one marked “Next Size” and the other marked “Future Sizes” and a third Rubbermaid tote under Kale’s laundry basket that is marked “Clothing That No Longer Fits” and…
Sidenote: is anyone else as obsessed with Rubbermaid totes as I am? I *heart* them. I *heart* them so much, here is a haiku:
Full Rubbermaid tote
Clothes for the future contained
Strong and silent you are
….anyway…. So as items fall into the “no longer fits” category, we just chuck them in there, and when that box gets full, I sell it on craigslist for $50. Its a good system. Now that Kale is getting a bit older, the incredible surplus of clothes is subsiding (he had clothes he grew out of before he wore) and now we are down to items in constant rotation. Because part of the fun of having a baby is dressing the little dude up, I’m feeling like I want some new clothes to add into the supply, but can’t justify just going and buying some.
So I’m currently making some onesies and sleepers with some lovely bamboo jersey I picked up. The cost of the bamboo is likely considerably more than the cost of any clothes I would have bought but this way I’m making them so its also entertainment for me. The first one (although still unsewn and just pinned together at this point) is friggin’ huge. As a result, Kale’s little friend Caden, a week younger and yet mysteriously a number of pounds heavier (“Stringbean, meet brick shithouse, Brick shithouse, meet stringbean”) is getting a snazzy little orange number, and I’m back to the drawing board.
The pattern I followed (hindsight says “why did I waste the money on buying this pattern, duh?”) is a McCall’s pattern orignally produced in the early 60s from the looks of it and not changed since then other than a new baby on the package, and apparently babies were bigger in the 60s. Like, a LOT. I guess they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.
So I have to tweak the pattern and I honestly might as well just make my own. I use really light tracing paper for pattern making, and I recently read about using felt for pattern making as that way when you use your rotary cutter, you are less likely to trim pieces of paper off. I am kind of getting into pattern making these days. In fact, I am getting back into sewing in general and well, let’s just say I am knee deep in crafts these days:
And since so many projects tend to get put down and picked up at the whims of a 4 month old boy, the picture above is sadly about what it normally looks like during the day. In fact, today I actually had to extend the table because the stored crap no longer allows for room to actually craft things. The table we bought is a little square table that actually doubles in size when you slide the top and pop out a hidden equal-size bottom layer. See that blue Rubbermaid tote? That’s my sewing machine, waiting for me to finish cutting out that satin so that I can sew: the orange onesie, three ties I’ll likely sell on Etsy, a green sleeper, and a black dimpled Minkee car seat/carrier fleecey cover thingie with a hood and zipper that I am also patterning and working on. I have one last project too – which the ingredients are not out for because I need one more part – PUL bibs made from the PUL that Melanie sent me to fiddle with.
In addition to the crafty things I am making with fabrics, I am also in the middle of making a bunch of food-related things for Christmas gift baskets for the family. I’m not going to post what they are, since there are family readers here, but let’s just say I had to make extra to ensure I have some all for myself because Hello? Friggin’ yummy much?
Enough blogging, its time to get on with some of those crafts.
Before I actually had Kale, we had decorated his room using a variety of things acquired from both used sources and new. One of the “used” things I bought was a Lillberg rocking chair from Ikea. I like its design, but in practise this chair is kind of useless as the seat part is sooooo long that my little short legs stick straight out and can’t bend at the knee if I sit all the way back in the chair, and as a result, I can’t make the chair rock. Its footprint is also ridiculous, and it takes up more room than it really should in a little boy’s room. So I sold it on Craigslist this weekend, and went and picked up a new to us chair that is a small 24X22 recliner that converts to an ottoman. It is covered in mocha coloured microsuede and is in near perfect shape.
Also, earlier this summer, Ross and I rescued a ficus tree that someone had abruptly abandoned in front of our place and after bringing it inside, it promptly dropped all its leaves. We nurtured it all summer long outside on the patio and now it sports fresh green happy growth. We have to make sure it survives the winter, so we brought it inside again, only this time we’ve added it to Kale’s room for some colour. I firmly believe that all rooms should have at least one plant, and so now the only room without a plant in our house is the bathroom.
I also was digging around in my closet for something else, and came across a rag rug I had previously had in the kitchen, in shades of green, rust, and brown, and so I have added that to Kale’s little space as well. I’m really happy with the results of these little changes and I am now thinking about the curtains I need to sew for his room! It never ends.
Speaking of sewing, my friend Melanie sent me some PUL to experiment with, and I think I have come up with a few ideas and need to get my sewing machine out of Kale’s closet. I have three projects on the go right now that require my sewing machine, and every time I find myself with a few minutes to do some sewing, Kale is asleep in his bassinet in his room and I sit and get anxious to get the machine out. Oh how I long for a room all my own to keep my crafting and sewing goodies out on tables and ready to use at the drop of a hat!
Anyway, I have a million other things I can do (like laundry! Yay!) so I had better go take care of that. I’ll leave you with this picture of Mooki doing whatever it takes to sleep in the sun.
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