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.

Underwear/Panty/Diaper Cover Update

It's been a long time since I posted here, though I think about it quite a bit.  I've still been busy with sewing and my girls.

Today I've updated the pattern for the child's underwear cover.  My bear cub has gotten taller and her legs have gotten longer and thicker, but her waist is about the same size.  I thought I would post how easy it is to update the pattern for thicker legs and also another pattern change that makes the cover fit better for an older child.

Here is the changed pattern.  The first change is that I dipped the front and raised the back.  I did each about 3/4 inch (I started with 1/2 inch, but it got bigger when I folded the pattern in half and evened it out, but it worked well in my sample).  The other change is to enlarge the leg openings about 2 inches in total circumference, which is about 1/2 inch around the sides.

The rest was made I showed in my previous posts.  I will say that the ease on this is less now than it was before since they are only used with the bear cub instead of having to fit multiple girls.  These have slightly less than 2 inches of ease and are snug over her night time diapers and pretty loose over the panties she wears during the day.  I have considered making two separate sets, but I haven't had the motivation to do it yet.

Cell Phone Arm Band

I finally upgraded from a dumb phone to a smart phone.  Those that know me know how long I resisted doing this.  I've had it less than a week and decided that I really needed to utilize the mobile music aspect of it.  So without any research as to what was available I decided to make myself an armband for running around with.

I have this pretty swimsuit material and decided to use it because my other sports types of fabric are in the garage and it is really cold outside today.

I measured my lower arm (a) and the height of my cell phone (b) and cut a rectangle a x 2.5b (so two and a half times the height of my phone by the width of my arm).  Next time I will make this slightly smaller.  I didn't this time because there is 2 1/2 inch difference between my upper arm and lower arm and I was afraid of cutting off the circulation of my arm.  I won't cut off much, maybe 1/2 inch because it looks like it is going to work as is pretty well.  I serged down the height of the fabric.

Then I used the coverstitch machine to hem both sides.  If you don't have a coverstitch machine, zigzag the hem up.

Next, I folded it over so that the inner front came up to the top of the cell phone and let the upper front fall where it landed.

Then I drew a line in white where the cell phone would fit.

I sewed in the ditch of the seam and again at that line.

I punched a hole in the top big enough for the ear piece to go in.  I did it at the half way point.  For the next one, I will place it over the actual hole which is nowhere near the middle.

When I was done, I decided to look up how much these things cost and they are inexpensive.  I'm going to try this one out and if it works well, I'll make some more, but I might buy one for comparison, but this one seems to be super comfortable.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts 2014 - part 2

Yesterday, I posted about the first four bags that I made for teacher appreciation week.  Here are the other four that I made.  I still plan on making a number of pillowcases for the bus drivers and aides, but I likely won't post about that, but it will be two coordinating batiks for each pillowcase.

I didn't plan it, but apparently there is exactly a four inch repeat on my favorite butterfly fabric. Which makes for identical straps.

The two identical butterfly bags one turned each way.

And the last two identical bags, one turned each way.

If I had purchased enough fabric, I would be making one of each of these and the ones I made yesterday for myself.  I really love these fabrics, and the bags are so sturdy.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts 2014

This coming week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  Last year, it was later in May, so I thought I had more time.  I had purchased fabric to make more bags already, but I hadn't really started anything until yesterday.  I was going to make them all out of batiks, but upon a visit to my local quilt store, I found this fabric on the clearance wall and felt it was perfect to go with the red that the nerdlet insisted upon for her teacher.

After working with it all yesterday, I still like it a lot and I'll buy the rest of the bolt if there is any left on my next visit.

I'm using the same reversible bag pattern that I drew up for last years bags.  I'm still using the first bag I made like this heavily and while my dragons have detached somewhat, the bag itself shows no signs of any wear even from multiple washes and hard use, mostly carrying loads of books.

So far, I have four bags done.  For some reason, they are taking me longer this time to make.  I'm not sure if I am spending more time pressing and ironing or just being too much of a perfectionist.  I haven't had to seam rip or redo anything so I don't have an easy explanation for the slower work.  Luckily for me, Q entertained the girls for me most of yesterday so that I could work mostly uninterrupted.  This year, I am making gifts for the bus drivers in addition to the teachers, speech therapists, and aides so I still have a lot of work to do.

Blueberry Ketchup and the First Drafted Skirt Block

Have you ever made blueberry ketchup?  I'm a big fan of Chocolate Covered Katie, who spends almost all her time trying to create healthy desserts, but occasionally posts recipes for other things than desserts, like this recipe for blueberry ketchup. I like ketchup all right, but I get bored and often swap it out for Heinz 57 sauce, barbeque sauce, chipotle three cheese ranch, or if I'm out whatever they have that looks interesting, so the blueberry ketchup was something I've been thinking about making on and off since she posted the recipe. I made it a few days ago and it's been sitting the in fridge just waiting for the opportunity to be used.  Last night, Q made a late night snack run and gave me some of his fries to taste it.  I don't think anyone that only ever uses traditional ketchup is going to be sold on it, but if you're like me and like some variety, I think this is a good recipe to try.  I will make one note and that is to not skimp too much on the sugar like I did as it does need a little sweetness as mine was slightly reminiscent of A1 Steak Sauce.

I also finished the single dart skirt sloper from Building Patterns The Architecture of Woman's Clothing. I used the suggested 20 inch length and a high hip of 4 inches and a low hip of 7 1/2 inches, though the suggested is 4 1/2" and 8 1/2".  I'm just under 5' 4", but I have a very short torso for my height.

 The front 

The back

I think I need to work a little on this before I move onto the variations. The front isn't too bad.  I'm tempted to take the center waist down about 1 1/2 inches.  I've always had that weird dent across my waist at my belly button (it was even more prominent before I had kids and looks even more weird when I was thin)  and I wonder if the skirt might be better if I place the top of the skirt there, though I'll likely keep it where it is for now.  I'm using this fabric as my muslin because the dots are really too large for me to make something for my girls with and I'm not sure I'd ever wear anything made with it.

The side fits well except that the seam line down the hips is supposed to be vertical and not slanted forward from the waist to high hip.  I think I'm going to draft the skirts again and for the waist I'm going to add 1 1/4" to the front and take 1 1/4" from the back instead of the 1/4" suggested, though I wonder if I could just reduce the front darts to 1/2" and add that space to the back darts.  I also think that there is too much fabric in the back so I think I'll curve the bottom of the skirt in 1".

 

The back is actually better than it looks from the waist to low hip.  I didn't do a zipper, but just used safety pins for this opening because while I've been adding more zippers to my stash lately, I'm still getting a feel for what to stock.  The book does have you make two measurements for the right and left side to the ground, but it doesn't have you make those same measurements for any of the other measurements, like the waist to knee.  I'm going to add 1" to the right side and the center back of the left side.  

I'm planning on making these changes and another muslin before moving on to the first variation which is a yoke skirt.