The Way to an 8 Year Old's Heart!!

Robbie, the 8 year old in question, has been asking for a Creeper sweatshirt for months.  And his requests got much louder closer to his birthday.  The only problem??  There weren't any available in his size.  So the next request??  You guessed it.......Mom, you can make one!  And as that thought was running through my head, I just couldn't argue with his logic no matter how hard I tried to find excuses.

If you aren't familiar with "The Creeper", this is some little creature from a very popular computer came called Mind Craft.  I don't know what all the hoopla is about, but these boys are obsessed with it.  I guess if I were an 8 year old boy, I would understand completely.

As luck would have it, I had a pattern in my stash (Burda 9860) that I could use for the hoodie, and I found a terrific idea on The Creeper here.  Katie made a pillow for her 7 year old, but I thought I could use the same concept to make up my applique.

I had to adjust the sizes to accommodate the smaller surface area.  If you do this, make sure you drop the hoodie in the back and mark where it falls.  You don't want the hoodie covering up your work.

Here is a closer look at The Creeper.

I went with quilt blocks thinking it was the easiest way to do this.  But I'm guessing you could use fabric paint as well.  I wanted to put some batting behind the eyes to give it some dimension, but Robbie didn't want that.  He has very specific ideas about these things, and he was involved in the process from start to finish.

He was the talk of the neighborhood yesterday when it was finished.  It was nearly 75 degrees yesterday, but he was determined to wear it for a while to show it off.  And since I made the jacket a bit larger, he'll be able to get 2 year's wear from it if he doesn't have a major growth spurt.

This was one of the easier patterns I've made, and the first time I've ever sewn with sweatshirt fleece.  I would definitely make this pattern again and recommend it even to the novice sewist.

Happy Monday!
Angela

Finally Finsihed!

So this is the dress I made for my little friend, Gracie.  This is a dress I found in Sew Beautiful Magazine made by Kathy Dykstra.  You can find the original here.  Be sure to check out all her creations while you are there.  She is amazing!

The lace alone for the original would have set me back about $300.  I couldn't justify that cost any way I tried!  So I left out the lace and made my own tatting to adorn the top of the dress both front and back.

Don't pay really close attention to my bullions.  Some of them leave a lot to be desired, but I started on the less conspicuous ones and migrated to the ones that would be very noticeable as I got better at them.

I had some issues with the floche because it wasn't as bright at my dress fabric or the DMC floss.  But I liked the contrast and went with it.  But I had to change out my tatting to a slightly different color to match the floche on the front.  I thought the contrast looked much better matching the bullions rather than the brighter white floss.  I used the brighter white tatting on the back, since I had no bullions there, just geometric smocking.

I love how this turned out even if it is a much simpler version of the original.  This was by far one of the most time consuming dresses I've done because of all the bullions.  But once I figured out how to make them the right way, it went much faster.

Did You Know?

1. Did you know that an eye of a needle has a right and wrong side?

If you have difficulty getting your thread through the needle, try turning the needle around and thread it through the other side.  Threading through the "right" side is much easier.

2.  Did you know that floss has a grain?

Do you notice sometimes how floss will come apart at the end you are threading.  Try threading the other side of the floss.  Also make sure if you have more than one strand, they are all facing the same direction.


3.  Did you know that the needle number is printed on the shank of your machine needle?

If look closely, you can see it.  If you can't see it while it's out of the case, put it back in the case and look.  The top part of the case is slightly magnified so you can see it inside the case.

4. Did you know on most good quality cotton fabrics, you can tear across the selvage to get the straight grain?

Snip about an inch with your scissors, then tear the rest of the way across the fabric. 

5. Did you know you can use your needle to get the perfect end knot on your thread?

Once you have your needle threaded, take the end of your thread and wrap it around the end of your needle holding the thread snug. 

Then slide that wrap all the way down the needle 

and continue down your thread to the end.  

 Perfect knot every time.  Adjust the number of wraps to how large or small you want your knot.

Just a few little fun things for you to ponder on a very dreary day here in Georgia!

Have a great Thursday!
Angela