Thursday, September 29, 2011

"Can you show my mom how to make those?"

I was doing some Uglydoll research for a project a friend had inquired about. I left the window open and my 5 year old son was in love with what he saw. He wanted to buy one, but they are very expensive for what they are. I offered to make him one and he was delighted. He chose the body shape and the face design that he liked and I set to work on it today. Luckily I had everything on hand to make this for him, just how he wanted it. What are the odds?  Together we drafted the pattern and traced it onto the black fleece. While he was at school I hand stitched the face in place and machine stitched the mouth.

The sun washed this picture out.

These colors are more accurate.  I think the red dots in the eyes need to be larger, I can do this while he's at school tomorrow.

He got to put in lots of the stuffing himself. I don't think he has ever been this happy with something I've made. This picture is washed out too, hrmm.

The boys had swimming lessons this evening at the Y. He insisted on bringing his new friend along to play in the playstructure before his lesson. A little girl he was playing with came up to me and we had a little conversation.
"Did you really make that for him?"
"Yes, I did."
"Wow! Can you show my mom how to make those?"
"Well...."

I thought that was pretty sweet. Anyways, I'm happy with how it turned out. I can't believe they charge $50 for these. It surprised me how simple it was to make. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

King size duvet cover and other things.

I've been busy lately! Not all sewing but definitely some. It all started with a clean spot, isn't that always the way? I steam cleaned the carpet in the basement, and that led to painting the faux wood paneling.  I've been itching to paint the basement since we bought this house 6 years ago. It's an old house and we've been picking away at renovating/improving each room over the years. Now that the boys are both in school again I have had some time to work on bigger things. My youngest is only away for 2 hours each afternoon, but I can still get some work done. He and my husband went away for the weekend and my oldest and I worked on the paneling. It had to be washed with TSP, primed with bullseye 123 and then painted. It's a lot of walls to do, and we have some furniture dowstairs so I had to work around stuff. There is still 1 corner left to do, it's my sewing area, plus a fake rock looking wall that will get a different treatment. So, this is phase 1 of updating a very dated basement living space. I'm not much of a decorator, but we'll be going to Ikea in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll find some good things there to cozy up this playroom/tv area and the sewing side.


 I think we need a long/lowish bookcase along the wall under the window.

The door to the furnace/sewing room. I still need to put the ceiling panel back up. Shaw was here hooking up cable and they needed access in there. I know, the couches are icky. We have 2 little boys... You can see the rock wall here. I'm going to paint it light grey, then let it dry before rubbing dark grey into the grooves.

I freshened up the white sides to the stairs. They were badly chipped and worn looking.

The door to the laundry/utility room. I've since finshed painting the door/trim and replaced the doorknob. To the left is my sewing area. I think I will paint it very light blue.

This is what the paneling looked like before. Ick, right?

A few days ago we were shopping and I found a good deal on a nice king size sheet set. I washed them yesterday and put them on the bed. We don't use a flat sheet so I went to put the dark brown sheet into the closet with the other linens and then I had an idea. The new sheet coordinated nicely with the old one that we had never used so I thought I should sew them together to make a duvet cover. I sewed three sides together and threw it on the bed. It looked perfect! Until last night we each had our own blanket since we didn't have a king size duvet. The bed was always a mismatch of a queen size quilt and a twin size boy themed duvet cover. We were at Costco last night and found a really nice king size wool duvet for a great price. It fits perfectly into the duvet cover I made out of the flat sheets. I had left the bottom open so I could close it up at the right length. I measure it against the duvet and then sewed 2/3 of the bottom closed. Presto! A coordinated grown-up bed set. After 12 years, this is our first matched set.

I used the tops of the sheets as the top edges of the cover. There is an embroidered strip across the top of the front and the back that coordinated with the pillow cases

Last is a picture I took of my little guy on our way to kindergarten. He's wearing a few things I made. Backpack, raincoat and pants. Just wanted to share because it's cute.


Thanks for looking!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Marie-Grace is here!

Marie-Grace is my birthday gift this year.  When I first saw her online early in August I wasn't sure about her facemold. It's different, and new. And it grew on me. I think she has a finer featured, more delicate version of the Josefina mold. Welcome to the Dynamite household, Marie-Grace. Of course, it wouldn't be a warm welcome without some new duds. While I waited for her to arrive I made her an outfit with Addy's patterns. I made a couple of minor changes for her.

I couldn't wait to get her out of her Barbie pink dress. Didn't even bother to take pictures in it, sorry AG. It's a nice enough dress, but Marie-Grace is much happier in her new skirt and blouse. I'd like to make her a bonnet and little jacket to go with this, but I'll have to go shopping for supplies. I made the blouse and skirt with things from my stash. She is wearing her crinoline and chemise as well. My kids got a kick out of looking up her skirt last night. Boys!



Addy's school blouse pattern calls for a stand up collar, but I changed it to this style. I put tiny scallops along the outer edge and handstitched the front in place. I like collars to stay put on dolls.



 I also changed the cuffs. I don't like velcro so I lengthened these to overlap and accomodate a metal snap closure.

Inverted box pleats. The topstitching really makes a nice defined waistband.



Thanks for looking!