Don't Be a Lion's Lunch

I think the Once Upon a Thread series that Katy puts on over at No Big Dill is my absolute favorite blog series around.  It combines so many things I love-- children's books, artwork and illustration, and sewing, of course.  Anyway, I decided to play along again for chapter three.  Though this time around, I tried something completely new to me.

 

I made a softie.

Softie, stuffie, plushie, stuffed animal- whatever you call it.

And this softie is 3-D, which I'll explain more about later.  I know my lion is a little block-like.  He's not the most sophisticated softie in the world.  In fact, he's pretty ridiculous.   But I'm awfully proud of how he came about.

But first let me talk about how this all started.

I read Lion's Lunch? by Fiona Tierney to one of my first grade classes the other day.  I collect any sort of kid's book that has to do with art or drawing or anything like that.  

The story starts when Sarah wanders in to the jungle where she is accosted by an angry, grumpy lion.  

Lion is upset that Sarah is walking and singing in his jungle and tells Sarah he is going to eat her for lunch.  

Sarah pleads with lion not to eat her.  She strikes a deal with lion that if she can do something no one else in the jungle can do, she can stay (and not be a lion's lunch).

What can Sarah do that no one else in the jungle can do?  Sarah can draw.  She draws all the animals in the jungle.  And she draws lion.  But lion doesn't like what he sees....

You'll have to read it to find out what happens in the end.  It's a cute story with very cute jungle animal illustrations.  And Sarah draws and saves the day, which I like.  After I read the book, one of my first grade friends was inspired to draw some jungle animals just like Sarah.  She drew this picture and gave it to me.

It is the most awesome lion I have ever seen.  You can totally tell that he's a grumpy lion, can't you? That expression.  The upside-down-heart nose.  I absolutely, positively LOVE kid's drawings.  I know I'm in the right profession, being an art teacher.  Kid's drawings have so much personality and style. They are totally fearless when it comes to art, something we adults should take note of.

Also part of the inspiration of this lion was the discovery of artist Wendy Tsao via this article.  Tsao turns kid's drawings in to one of kind stuffed animals.  Her blog is definitely worth a look.  Such a genius idea.  I bet her waiting list is insane.  So between the book Lion's Lunch?, Once Upon a Thread, the drawing and the idea of turning kid's drawings in to softies.....

 .... this fella was born.

I giggled the entire time I was making this.  Seriously.  It was so much fun.

At first I thought I'd make the lion more two dimensional by cutting out a front and back just like the drawing and stitching it up.  Then I decided I wanted to be fancy.  I wanted to make it three dimensional.   But I was stumped on how to come up with a pattern.  Are you ready for how I did this?  I'm pretty stoked that it worked.  It was just kind of brought forth from playing around.  I wasn't too sure it would work out in the beginning.  

Ok, you may not be as excited as I was, but still...

I made a very rough body and head shape out of newspaper and tape.  We were just finishing up a paper mache project where we did just this to build an armature.  Then I used muslin and straight pins and I cut the pattern pieces by draping and pinning the muslin on my balled up newspaper body.  See those scraggly looking pieces of muslin in the photo?  They are the basic shapes.  I refined and traced them out on paper, then used my paper pattern to cut the orange fleece.  I made the body in two pieces so I would have seams to sew the legs and tail in to.  I crossed my fingers and stitched it together. 

And it's a 3-D softie!

Hilarious.

You can see the seams pretty well in the photo above.   Now I know that my lion is pretty, um, square.  He kind of has a block head.  But I'm so pleased that working with a 3-d form to make the pattern worked.  This is backwards from the way I'd normally create a pattern.   And my experiences are pretty limited, mind you.  Anyway, the possibilities are endless. 

 

 This lion is made from fleece.  Fleece is very stretchy and forgiving, good for making softies.  His face is actually felt.  I embroidered his features.  I found some crazy fluffy trim in the home decor section for his mane.  His crown is a glittery vinyl I found at a craft store.  It's sewn on by hand.  Otherwise he's all machine stitched except for a little hole at his neck I slip stitched after he was stuffed.  I used a poly-fill stuffing.  Isn't he great?  He's going to live on my bookshelf at school.  He'll probably help read Lion's Lunch? to my first graders next year.

Guess who else likes him?

 

 That is the same grumpy expression, is it not?

 

Ridiculous.

Thanks Katy, for your ingenious series!  I enjoy seeing what every one comes up with and discovering new books.  So inspiring.

Happy sewing!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

 

Ok, ok.  Before you make judgments about my personal style, just know that I approached this as an art project.  Not necessarily something I'll be wearing on a regular basis.  Though there is a part of me that really likes this jacket.  Call it batty old art teacher style.  You'll see it all over the runways soon.

 

Do you read no big dill?  If you don't, I highly recommend it.  Katy is a designer/sewist/mom extraordinaire who comes up with the most creative, artsy things.  I enjoy reading her blog so much and I love her sense of style and color.   She's also the genius behind the Once Upon a Thread series where sewists are challenged to create a project inspired by a favorite children's book. 

 

 

I decided I wanted to play along last week.   I love sewing practical and useful things, of course- but isn't it fun to make something totally wacky and frivolous every once in a while?  I wanted to try some techniques I haven't attempted yet.  Painting fabric, namely.   It seems like the perfect marriage between my day job and sewing.  

 

Now I realize that most people who participated in this challenge sewed for their own children.  I don't have any children of my own yet, but I do teach art to almost 600 a week!   I spend most of my day socializing with four to ten year olds (oh the things I hear...) so I felt like this challenge was right up my alley.

I chose the book I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow.  I collect kid's books that have to do with any sort of art-- being an art teacher.  But I also L-O-V-E the illustrations in this book.  They're completely wild.  Very Dr. Seuss-esque.  For those of you out there who are horrified by the improper language, just know that Karen Beaumont based the words on an old folk song, It Ain't Gonna Rain No More.  The book can be read, sung or chanted-- whatever.  I've read it and I've also sung it to my kindergartners.  But only when the aide is not in the room.  I have no problem singing to 25 six year olds, but not to another adult ;)

The book starts out-

One day my momma caught me 

paintin' pictures on the floor

and the ceiling

and the walls

and the curtains

and the door

and I heard my momma holler

like I never did before...

 Don't you love the drawings?  Look at those little feet sticking up out of the bathtub.

But of course the main character does paint again. Then the book goes on and talks about all the places he paints.  Good for teaching body parts.

I read some reviews of the book where parents were upset about the book encouraging kids to paint all over the place, but I think most kids know the book is silly and fun.  At least the age that I read it to does.

 

Here's my fabric painting set up in case you are interested.  I sacrificed a few old towels and laid them out on our dining room table. Then I covered the whole thing with brown postal paper.  It only seeped through in a few places on to the towels.  I decided to cut my pattern pieces first instead of just painting the whole piece of fabric.  I figured I would have more control over what color went where.  I used a white cotton bull denim, which was a dream to work with.  I wet my pattern pieces first so they would absorb the paint better.  I tried to treat it as I would a watercolor painting but not all the same techniques applied.   Tricky to do an even wash on cloth.   Fabric is much more absorbent than paper, so the paint continued to "travel" long after I stopped painting.  Some colors overtook others while some seemed to have less pigment.  It was a fun experiment.

  

I used Jacquard Dye-na-flow paints which I ordered from Dharma Trading Company.  They have any number of fabric paints.  I chose these particular paints because they are thin- like dye- so the fabric stays soft.  You can heat set, too, which is a plus.  I cut a few linoleum stamps for the paint splotches and ants.  I brought out my old printmaking supplies and blew the dust off.  Super fun.  Funny how I keep band-aids in with my linoleum cutters-- and yes I needed one later.  I always poke myself.  I used standard black fabric paint for the stamps.

 The ants are on the inside, creeping out around the lapel.  I love me some stripey buttons, too.

I decided to put piping around the faux pocket flaps and lapels.  I wanted to bring in some more black like the illustrations.  All the top stitching is done with black thread.

 

The jacket pattern is Butterick 5647.  I used the variation with the shawl collar but also used the cuffed 3/4 length sleeves.  I wanted the jacket to have a shrunken feel so I went down a whole size.  I actually really like the fit even if it is a tiny bit short on me.  Quite a nifty little jacket pattern, if you ask me.  I liked the construction.  This one will be bookmarked for a more wearable jacket one day. 

 

Quit all that racket!

Gonna paint my....

JACKET!

(sorry- lame attempt at rhyming...)

 

 I sure did have fun working on this.   I'm happy I broke out some old art supplies, too.  It's about time some of those things saw the light of day again.  Hooray Katy, for your awesome idea! I really enjoyed seeing all the things made that were inspired by kid's books.

There's got to be SOME time and place appropriate to wear a hand painted jacket, right?

And I can't promise you that I ain't gonna paint no more...

Fashion According to Six Year Olds: Green Stripey Monster

 

Oh boy, am I tickled with this one!  I giggled the whole time I was sewing this up.   It's been in my head for a long time now.   Back in February, I blogged about an art lesson I was teaching my first graders.  They answered the question, Is clothing art? and designed their own clothing using all sorts of wallpaper scraps.   It's a great lesson.  We designed clothing on a large sheet of paper underneath an oval.  At the end, we cut out the oval and the kids "try on" their creations by holding their face up to the oval.  Hilarity ensues.    

Anyway, last year I had students spend a day sketching ideas first, much like a real fashion designer would.  Six year old fashion designers!  Their drawings were so amazing- I was totally inspired.   I knew I had to try and make something they designed.   I finally got around to it this past weekend.

 

:)

I had the perfect fabric in my stash for the little green top- this stripey rayon knit.  Don't you love the scallops?  Ha! That's what convinced me to make it up.  It's not exactly like the drawing, of course.  Just my interpretation of it.  The fabric is quite possibly the most difficult fabric I've worked with yet.  It's lightweight, bouncy, super drape-y, clingy and very stretchable.  I fought with it.  Battled with it.  I ended up underlining it with a cotton interlock that was much better behaved.  I was very careful not to stretch out the rayon knit as I basted it to the interlock.  I think it worked out.  I'll be interested to see what happens when I wash the dress.

It's definitely not perfect, but I love it anyway.  I used my favorite Burda 2-2011 long sleeve tee pattern (are you tired of hearing about it?) to make up the dress pattern.  I also used my a-line skirt pattern to help guide me on width and length for the bottom half of the dress.  I wish I had actually made a paper pattern because I'd love to make another tee shirt dress in the future, but I didn't.  I just pinned everything on the fabric as I went.  I had to piece the back because of the direction of the stripes.  We'll just call that an intentional design feature.

 

 

Alright, so it may make my butt look big-- I'm okay with that.  It's a tee dress.  For loungin'.

I sewed the scallops first.  I fused tricot interfacing to the hem of the rayon knit and then sewed the scallops with the interlock, right sides facing.   Sherry, your tutorial was mucho helpful.   I flipped the interlock to the inside, carefully poked and pressed the scallops.  It didn't take long at all.  Then I treated the interlock like an underlining and basted all the edges.  At risk of upsetting the sewing gods, I didn't do it by hand.  I used a super wide zig zag stitch and loosened up the top thread tension all the way.  Worked like a charm.   Then I sewed up the rest of the dress with a narrow zig zag, matching stripes.  One sleeve is a tiny bit off.  Luckily I am not a perfectionist.  I love the neck binding and how it looks like two different pieces.

I had an incredibly awesome time making this.  So much fun bringing one of those drawings to life.  I may have to try another soon.  That bicycle tee is calling my name...