OVERALLS

The title deserves to be capitalized because of how much Edwin wanted new bib overalls. I would look (at his request) every time we stopped at a thrift store, but I never found any his size. So I decided I might as well make some. Let me just say that I have a lot more respect for whomever it is who sews my jeans. Like jeans, overalls have a lot of top stitching, and that part was more difficult than the actual construction of the clothing. Now I understand why overalls cost what they do in the store. Chances are the people sewing them don't get paid what they should. I've been thinking about that much more since making these overalls.

It might seems strange but these were Edwin's Christmas gift. He was pretty happy with them, except that he didn't like that it was a surprise. He wished I'd have told him I was making him some for Christmas. Go figure.

This pattern is Kwik Sew 3948. I used the same denim as my Lisette Traveler dress, but this is the right side. It's too lightweight for overalls, I think, but it worked well enough, and they certainly aren't too heavy for him to wear comfortably. Because of the thinness of the material I had to reinforce the areas where I attached the metal buttons. I almost ruined the overalls when attaching one of the buttons. They can be tricky, especially when it's midnight and you're trying to finish them the day before Christmas Eve. Thankfully, it all worked out, and no one sees the patched hole beside one of the buttons. I'm glad I made them, but I won't be making another pair any time soon.

Birthday Backpack

Elena turned two in December, and I'm finally getting around to mentioning it. We keep birthdays fairly simple around here, because I am not a party planner. The thought stresses me out. We gave Elena a gift on the day of her birthday and then had both sets of grandparents over for a birthday dinner and cake the following day. (The cake is a whole stressful story of it's own. All I'll say is that I made twice as much cake as I planned and none of it turned out the way it should have.)

Anyway, here are some pictures of Elena's birthday backpack. I had made one for Edwin when he turned two, before leaving for Botswana. Elena had been wanting to wear Edwin's, so I figured it was time for her own. Plus, she's out of diapers now (!!!), so we've retired the diaper bag and use the backpack instead.

Many thanks to indietutes for the free toddler backpack pattern. I made some changes to the pattern that includes a small zipper pocket on the back, open pockets on the front, velcro closure, and I added about 1/2" all the way around. Plus, I lined the backpack and use fleece as a padding in between the outer fabric and lining.

Distractions

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been sewing a lot lately, and one of my recent projects was Simplicity pattern 2246, the Lisette Traveler Dress.  If you do a google images search, you'll see that it was a popular dress pattern among home sewers.  There was one blogger in particular who made a very cute version. Although I don't often wear button down shirts, I somehow decided that I should make this dress. 

                                   

Because I knew this would take a good chunk of time and energy, and I really didn't want to make a dress I wouldn't wear (this has happened on more than one occasion, unfortunately), I made a muslin. Meaning, I made a sample dress in some random fabric I had on hand. Maybe I'll work up the nerve to show you that dress. The sample dress is hideous, mostly because the fabric looks like wallpaper. But I like my finished product. 

As you will see from my pictures, I didn't stray too far from the pattern when it comes to fabric choice. I'm not very good at choosing the right fabric for dresses (the main reason some previously sewn dresses did not look so great), so I decided to play it safe.

                                  

I bought a very lightweight denim and used the "wrong" side of the fabric (according to the way it was on the bolt) as my right side. Overall, I'm pleased with the result. I did make a couple alterations as well. I added darts in the back so that there would be a more fitted shape and I used 5/8 inch buttons instead of standard 1/2 inch buttons. One thing I would change if I made another is to widen the upper part of the back pattern piece. This is the second fitted garment I've made that is a bit too tight across my shoulder blades. So now I know for the next project.

                                        

The pictures aren't the greatest quality, but I'm not too picky. 

Shortening

I have been sewing like a mad woman lately. Canning season ended the other month and Dan has been working a lot of evenings, so I've been filling my time with some garment altering and sewing. As soon as I get some pictures, I'll show you my latest project (click here to see what pattern I used). Until then, let me show you one of my projects over the summer.

I spent some time this summer refashioning some of my skirts and dresses so that I would actually wear them. I had two in particular that I wasn't wearing at all, and I figured if I hemmed them shorter, I'd probably actually wear them.

Above is one of the skirts I shortened. I generally like maxi length skirts, but it was the wrong fabric for a long skirt. It's Shwe Shwe, purchased in Swaziland 10 years ago, and I sewed this skirt not too long after that. It's fairly heavy, because it has a tight weave and lots of white printing on top. Long summery skirts need to be lightweight and airy or else they're just too hot for me to wear in the humidity. Plus, it felt too loose and bulky at the hips. So I took it apart and made a shorter skirt with a different pattern. And here's the new version: 

It was a success! I wore it to a family wedding soon after finishing it.

And as a side note, I had to laugh at myself while I was shortening some of my skirts and dresses this summer. Remember when all those postings about modesty were flying around facebook? Here people were talking about how they began to dress more modestly, and I was baring more skin!

Chopped

I got my hair cut. I didn't actually cut off as much as I'd planned. Somehow I let the hairdresser convince me that since I like the freedom to not spend much time on my hair, I should keep it long enough to pull back into a pony tail. I think she was right, but part of me was really feeling like having short-ish hair again.

I go in spurts with my hair and over the past decade and a half I have alternately grown my hair out and then cut it short (I even cut my hair myself from time to time. I actually trimmed it the week before our wedding because I didn't have a hairdresser I trusted back then.). These past couple years have been the longest that I've had long hair.

A few hair cuts ago, I realized that I use hair cuts as a form of stress relief. Something about the change and having control over something. And sitting in a chair while some one washes, cuts, dries and styles my hair. I love it. My hair cuts are also fairly spur-of-the-moment. I go about twice a year, and I rarely schedule the appointment more than a few days in advance. So I was feeling antsy last week and so, voila!

Before...

After!

For My Brother

A few weeks ago my brother asked me what my typical day or week is like. I found myself stuck trying to explain it, and when I did, I felt like I sounded like I don't do all that much. I know that's not true, so last week I decided to write down my activities for a day. Here goes.

6:30 - Alarm went off.
6:35 - Got up to exercise (Good morning, Shaun T!)
7:00 - Put towels in washer, hung up diapers inside on drying rack
7:15 - Mixed up baked oatmeal. Put in oven.
7:30 - Shower, get dressed, make bed. Elena wakes up.
8:00 - Oatmeal is done. Take out of oven.
8:01 - Pick most of the basil from the garden.
8:10 - Went back upstairs with Elena to get her changed after she used the potty.
8:25 - Ate breakfast with Elena (Edwin is still sleeping!).
8:30 - Edwin wakes up. Get him dressed. Strip sheets off bed so they can be washed. He eats breakfast.
8:45 - I start cleaning up from breakfast.
9:00 - Begin making pesto. (Kids help pick the leaves off the stem and wash the leaves. Elena escapes to her bed with Blankie Bunny when I start using the blender.
9:55 - Finished with pesto making/cleaned up. (We got over a quart!)
9:57 - Put the wet wash in the dryer.
10:00 - Redd up. Start getting ready to go to the Delaware Children's Museum (DCM).
10:05 - Kids eat a snack while I finish getting ready.
10:15 - Put sheets in washer. Make "to do" list for the afternoon.
10:30 - Leave for DCM.
12:00 - Return from DCM.
12:30 - Eat lunch.
12:55 - Clean up lunch.
1:25 - Clean up toys.
1:30 - Put chicken on to cook for broth.
1:40 - Put Elena down for a nap (diaper change, read a story, etc.)
1:55 - Naptime for Edwin. (also known as awake-playing-quietly-in-his-room-time) Read a story.
2:05 - Computer time for me. E-mail, pay bills, read blog postsetc. (sometimes also known as "waste time on facebook)
3:15 - Put sheets in dryer. Eat a snack while sitting and reading.
3:45 - Elena is awake. Kids get up. Eat a snack.
4:00 - Letter activity with kids. "E"
4:35 - Redd up again (I had to use this PA Dutch term, of course!). Tape some broken kids' books
5:00 - Patched moth holes in cashmere cardigan while kids played. Read a book to Elena. Spun Edwin around in the desk chair one time.

I stopped writing things down at this point. I can pretty much tell you that after that I probably took care of the laundry (meaning, it got piled onto the futon and remained unfolded for a few days), and started supper prep. Dan had been gone all day and was working that evening (residency is so much more than just the shifts he needs to work), so we had leftovers of some kind or another for supper. After supper, I cleaned up the kitchen, played with the kids or read to them and then we went upstairs for the bedtime routine which includes a bath (some nights), brushing teeth, pajamas, reading a story and singing a song. I would've had the kids in bed by 8 pm. I'm pretty sure I had a nice list of things to do for the evening, but I can't remember what it was at this point. Either way,  I don't think I did them. I sat on the couch and read instead.

So, there you go, brother!

Multi-Tasking

I've been bitten by the sewing and mending bug lately. Stitching up holes in Edwin's pants, mending torn seams in Elena's shirts and taking apart failed sewing projects from previous years in order to make something better.

The multi-tasking part comes into play because of where I've been doing this mending and seam ripping. Since we don't have much of a back yard to speak of we go to the park for a chunk of time every morning when we're home. The productive side of me does not like to sit on a bench doing nothing while my kids play in the leaves and dirt for a while, and I don't feel the need to join right in with their playing (I admit I have opinions about parent-free child play). So a while back I came up with a fabulous solution. I take along my crochet, or mending or seam ripping project, and after we're done hiking to what ever part of the park we're going to play in, I sit down and get to business while the kids run around, collect things, roll in the leaves and dig in the sand and dirt.

It's great because this is stuff I don't want to sit around doing at home (except maybe in the evenings) but it's perfect to be done in smaller amounts of time and it's okay if I get interrupted, which inevitably happens. And the kids are engaged with their surroundings and not clamoring all over me trying to "help." (No, sorry, you can't play with the seam ripper even though it looks like so much fun.)

I know this idea is nothing new: women have been using their sitting down time for knitting, sewing, etc. for centuries, but it was a new concept for me to take it to the park. Elena is now old enough to know what she's doing on a playground, so I don't need to be right next to her anymore and I have the freedom to sit and do handwork, if I so desire. So far the only time I've regretting taking my work to the park is the time when I forgot to bring it back home with me and lost an almost completed baby afghan and all but two of my crochet hooks. Otherwise, it's been really nice to use that time to be outside, give my kids exercise and get small projects done.