Kinetic Kids and Special Olympics

Kinetic Kids is a San Antonio organization that helps children with special needs enjoy sports, and foster the development of courage, confidence, fitness, pride, joy and community.  I am so grateful for them and for Special Olympics which my bear cub enjoys so much.  

The bear cub has been in gymnastics for a relatively short period of time (over a year) but it has done so much for her confidence and strength.

BTW, the leotard is a Jalie pattern.

Tunic for the Bear Cub

I need to make some long sleeve tunics for the bear cub.  People with Down syndrome in general tend to have long torsos, shorter arms, and shorter legs for their heights compared to duosomy people of the same height.  The bear cub still loves dresses but it makes it more difficult to use the restroom by herself.  Also, it's getting colder and so long sleeves are a better idea right now. Unlike the nerdlet, the bear cub prefers her outfits to coordinate and be as feminine as possible.

I started with a t-shirt that I thought would fit her.  This is a modified Ottobre 4/2018-9, a basic long sleeve t-shirt pattern.  I shortened the sleeves by two inches, added 2 inches to the bottom length and width, and curved the back lower in the back.  This was basically a muslin to see the fit so the inside isn't finished with the serger and I hemmed it with a zigzag.  It's been so long since I did a finish like this that I had forgotten that you can still get a fairly nice piece without the fancy equipment.

You can also see how my nerdlet has decided to wear one of the pairs of pants I showed in my last post.  They are watching Supergirl before they go to school.  Darth Monkey is obsessed with that show.


The fabric was given to me by my cousin and I used it before right after she sent it to me in 2011 to make a shirt.  I don't have any idea what happened to this shirt, but I do believe that I need to pull up Simplicity 4076 to make me some more of them as I remember really liking that design.

I also had forgotten how this knit has such a cool, subtle, silver sparkle. I couldn't quite capture it on camera, but you can see it a bit in this picture.  I have a tiny piece left and I may just have to make my grandbaby a t-shirt or something.

Day 4 of Thanks

First amazingly there was a brand spanking new playground at the park yesterday for the Nerdlet's party.  The playground was bigger and had more activities than the previous one and has a canopy and they added swings.  It was kind of amazing and I couldn't help but comment multiple times on how they put it up so fast.

Today I am also thankful that the Catholic church that I attend has a great program for people with special needs.  We are working on the Bear Cub and Darth Monkey doing both Reconciliation and First Communion together this year and in anticipation of that I enrolled the Bear Cub in the Special Needs class and had her repeat the 2nd grade class with her sister.  Normally I sit outside during the Special Needs class because I don't want to distract my daughter or the other children, but today she was the only one present so I decided to stay and go through the class with her.  I'm very impressed with how they go over the mass and other aspects of faith and even cover the current mass and prayers.  I was so pleased with what I saw and am even more confident that the Bear Cub will be completely ready for these sacraments.  I have heard some really bad stories about children with special needs not being welcomed in their respective churches (Catholic and other) and I am blessed that this is not the case with ours.

The Dresses Worn

 Doesn't the nerdlet look cute?  She decided that she thought the shirt was too short and ended up putting a long sleeve striped shirt on underneath it right before she walked out the door.  It totally ruined the Minnie Mouse, Liitle Orphan Annie look of the outfit.

I had a really hard time getting the bear cub to stand up and show off hers.  So I ended up having to take the pic after she put on her backpack right before she headed out the door.

Minnie Mouse Outfit

So this outfit was a trial before I made the same outfit in red polka dots as a Minnie Mouse outfit. The top is Ottobre 6-2009-19 in a size 98 in width and a 110 in length.  I decided to try to use snaps instead of buttons and was not entirely successful in having the front hang perfectly flat.  The bottom is Jalie 2796 with an attached circle skirt.  

I showed the bear cub the skirt and asked if she was going to wear it tomorrow.  She said, "No!"  The nerdlet immediately piped up that she would wear it since her sister would not.  I'm hoping that it isn't too childish for 2nd grade because I don't think that there is anyway that I could talk her out of wearing it.  I just don't want her to be teased and since she is already a bit of a bully magnet so I worry.

Now that the bear cub has rejected the first of the line I plan on making, I'm wondering if she'll wear any of them.  The only sure thing is Sofia the First because the bear cub loves her.  Next up is Merida.

I'll try to post a picture of this one and it's trial with the girls in them tomorrow.

More versions of Ottobre 1/2016-18

After I finished the nerdlet's recent peacock dress, I made a number of other versions of the dress.  I'm just going to post pictures and not really go too much into them.

This one was for my niece.  I let her pic the fabric and when I pulled it out, her sister and my nerdlet wanted dresses from the same fabric, so I ended up making three dresses with this fabric.

The nerdlet's is only slightly different.

And a few more.

This last one was made from a fabric that Darth Monkey insisted that she had to have a dress from.  After it was made the bear cub decided it was hers and that was that.

Bear Cub Sweater

The best sweaters for my bear cub are a design for infants and toddlers from Ottober Magazine 6/2011.    The reason that I think it is the best is because it is lined and none of the seams touch the body.

It goes up to size 86 which is a size 2T.  I was planning to use the 86 and blow it up to the bear cub's current size, but I couldn't find either the magazine or the pattern sheet.  So I had to improvise.  I used a boys's sweatshirt with raglan sleeves that started at size 98 from Ottober 4/2010 for the length of the shirt and sleeves and estimated the size and shape of the pieces.

Here is Darth Monkey modeling the sweater.  Please ignore the dishes behind her that need to put away and may or may not have needed to be put away for quite some time.

My MIL bought the pink sweater fabric at Hancock's last week and she also bought it in purple and green so I will be making more assuming that this fits the bear cub well.  Based on the fit on Darth Monkey, I imagine that I might have to shorted all the pieces, but either way the bear cub will be wearing this one tomorrow since it is supposed to be close to freezing tomorrow and for us this means very cold.

My girls

My cousin dubbed this 'Hear a little evil. See a little evil. Speak a little evil.'

A few more sewn items for the girls

I spend a large portion of last weekend tracing off a bunch of Ottobre patterns for the girls (from the last two children's editions).  This week I have sewn a bit even though I haven't posted along with my finished items.

First version 8 of McCall's 6875.  This is a straight size 4.  When I asked who wanted to model it, the nerdlet gladly volunteered.  Her mood did an about face the moment I pulled out the camera to take pictures.

Next I did a couple of versions of Ottobre 1-2014-13 (Blue Orange) in a double-sided rayon and cotton knit from Jo-Ann's.  This fabric is so soft the girls were all willing to try it out and wear it for me.

 Like the bow?

It's a straight size 110 and as you can see it turned out way, way to big, but I did do a pretty good job of stripe matching.

Though it isn't going to last since when I sew it smaller the stripes are unlikely to still match and I don't plan on taking the whole thing apart, but just sew down the sides.

The second version of this is the same fabric but with the stripes on top and the diamonds on bottom.  For this one, I just serged off 1 1/2 inches off each side (so 6 inches total), and you can see that it fits a lot better and still has room.

The last piece that I just finished is a pair of ruched leggings.  This is Ottobre 1-2014-15 (Green Lines) and is in a size 110 in length and a size 86 in width.  I made them in a lavender crushed panne.  I love this stuff but I rarely use it because I have been told it is beyond the lines of taste.  That doesn't stop me from using it altogether.  The nerdlet loves her new leggings and has said that she would like them in every color.

This leggings are great for her.  She has never had a pair that has fit her so well.  I'm not sure I'll make a pair in every color, but she'll get at least a few more before I start looking for a non-ruched legging pattern for her.

I actually have a number of the other patterns I traced already cut out and still another pile that needs to have fabric picked for it.

More Little Sister Hats

After making the nerdlet her hat, it was clear that my other two also needed their own versions (and the drama princess has requested one for herself, too). I could only find yellow in the thick Redheart yarn and as I didn't want to go to more than two stores, I settled. It's a good thing that Darth Monkey has the least issues about what she wears.

The bear cubs is the same yarn as the nerdlets but in blues and purples instead of greens.  It is also made smaller.

Afterward, I decided to make Hannah one, too.  For Hannah's, I used an 'E' hook and sort of winged it.  Here is Hannah as a 'rock star' as Darth Monkey calls her in the sunglasses.

The outfit and sunglasses are actually from Build-A-Bear.  Someone gave me a gift certificate at the nerdlet's baby shower and I finally got around to spending it this week.  The cashier was skeptical when she saw the date on it and I told her it hadn't been used, but the full credit was in there.  I chose the brave dress because the bear cub loves Merida.

Here is a glimpse of her meeting Merida at Disney and you can see how happy she was about it.  The outfit came with a wig, too, but the bear cub was not interested in keeping that on Hannah (though she did wear it herself for a while).

I may make one more of these hats for the drama princess, but it's kind of a wait and see since I didn't purchase any yarn for hers.

McCall's 6875 - Versions 1 and 2

Version 1 front

Version 1 back

Version 2 front

Version 2 back

I actually liked the blue a lot better, but I only had enough for one dress and I even shortened the straps to make it work.

Don't they look so sweet.  Until you realize that they aren't hugging.

These are both straight size 4s.  The yellow print is a Tutti Frutti fabric and the trim on both is quilting cotton.  I really like these dresses and will definitely make more of them.

Hip Stability Shorts tutorial

Kids with Down syndrome have low muscle tone.  This means that they do the splits very easily.  When our children are first learning to crawl and walk, they often need some hip support so that they can keep their legs together while learning the skill.  They sell various types of shorts to do this, including Hip Helpers.  They are fairly inexpensive to buy (starting at $16.00/pair), but much cheaper to make, and they aren't that difficult.

I made the bear cub's when she was learning to crawl and didn't think I would need them again after she was up and going.  Today, the drama princess is having a birthday party at the skating rink.  We bought the nerdlet adjustable roller skates a few weeks ago and tried them out on all the girls.  The nerdlet and Darth Monkey took to them right away, but the bear cub started to immediately do the splits each time we put them on her, so I decided to make her a pair of hip stability shorts.

Here is what I did.  I measured the bear cub's waist, hips, the length from waist to knees, and how far up her legs that I wanted  the stitching to come.  I added an inch to the hip measurement for the width of fabric and two inches to the length.  I used a knit with good recovery, but I have used swimsuit fabric for more support when she was learning to crawl.  I used 1 inch elastic and cut it to her waist measurement - 1 inch. I had two small pieces of elastic so I just sewed them together for this.

I sewed the elastic to the wrong side.  Here I used a three step zig zag stitch, but you could just serge it to the top.

I folded the elastic over to the wrong side.

And folded the right sides together.

Sew or serge the sides together.  If you don't have a serger, make sure you use a strong thread and zig zag stitch so that it will stretch when your child moves instead of snapping the thread.

Hem the bottom and turn right side out.

Draw a line halfway across the measurement you took for how far up the leg it should be.

Sew a straight stitch on this line and secure both ends.

It was pretty easy and fast to do.  I tried them on the bear cub and she immediately tried to do the splits in them.  She simply pushed the leg parts up her leg until they were bunched there and she could have full movement again.  Luckily babies that are learning to crawl and walk haven't figured this out yet.  We'll see tonight if the bear cub will leave them down while we try her on the roller skates.