Life Cycle Of A Butterfly

It starts with a tiny egg, attached to a leaf.

 

 Next, a tiny caterpillar hatches and begins to eat, starting with the leaf she was attached to.

She eats. And grows. 

And eats.  And grows.  And eats some more.

Did I mention she EATS?

Soon, the caterpillar turns in to a chrysalis.  She appears to be resting, but really there are big changes going on.  

Guess what happens next?

A beautiful baby butterfly emerges!

 There's a little science lesson for you.  Baby Jane makes quite a cute little caterpillar/butterfly, doesn't she?

I've been up to my ears in cheapo poly fleece this past week.  There's nothing better than making a costume for a baby.  I figured I better go ahead and start the tradition- a handmade Halloween costume for my sweet little bub every year.  I'll certainly be able to keep that up, right?!  Riiiiiggggghhht.

The idea for this costume started with Jane's sleep sack.  She sleeps in these wearable blankets, basically a sack with armholes and a zipper up the front.  The idea is that she won't get tangled up in a blanket when she's sleeping.   I really like her sleep sacks because this baby is all over the crib now.  She's rolling all over the place.  I wake up in the morning and find her crammed in to a corner, sound asleep.  Anyway.  When Jane is in her sleep sack, J and I joke about how she looks like a little glow worm.  Thus the idea of the caterpillar was born.  And when else will I be able to dress her in a baby bunting costume like this?  Never.  I want to enjoy my immobile little nugget while I can.  Then I thought, wouldn't it be awesome if she could turn in to a butterfly?  A convertible costume!

I traced one of her sleep sacks for the bunting and narrowed and rounded the bottom end a bit.  That was the easy part.  Then I made the wings for the butterfly.  I fused the top layer of fleece to some stiff decor bond interfacing left over from my bag.  I cut out some organic shapes for the design on the wings (keeping them symmetrical, of course!) and "appliqued" the shapes to the wings.  I put that in parenthesis because I'm not sure if that's what I should call it.  I stitched the shapes down with a zig zag.   It was all really rough and quick.  But I like it.  There was something really satisfying about the way the fleece puffed up after it was stitched.  Every baby costume needs a little ric rac so I put some jumbo around the edge.  I could have done a better job there at the inside corner, but eh.

The hard part was figuring out how to make the wings hidden.  It took a little bit of engineering.  I sewed the wings to the back piece of the bunting and then cut another back piece that would be used to cover the wings.   Not an entire back piece.  Like a kangaroo pocket.  That's the best way I can describe it.  I knew I wanted the pocket to have two zippered openings.  I ended up sewing the zippers to the pocket piece first and then to the back piece leaving some additional seam allowance.  Next, I sewed the top and the bottom of the pocket piece, enclosing the wings.  Then I sewed the whole back/pocket piece to the front bunting piece being careful not to catch the zippers.  And it worked!  I'm truly amazed that it did.  Truly amazed.  The wings fold up and fit inside of the back pocket.  It's bulky, but that just makes the squishy caterpillar even more adorable.

  

The cap is actually little betty's awesome, awesome bonnet pattern minus the brim with some antennae stuck in the seams.  The leaves were an afterthought but I think they are a crucial part of the costume.  It was all so much fun to make and even more fun to put my sweet little baby in.  Well worth the work for one or two wears and some memorable photos.  Sorry for the photo overload.  I really did narrow it down ;)

Not sure how I'll top this costume next year.  Better start planning now. 

Happy Halloween, friends.  From a very hungry caterpillar who turns in a to a beautiful butterfly- ha! 

Here's to some crazy Halloween sewing.  Anyone else make any costumes this year?

Mama's Got A Brand New Bag

 

Well, hello there!  Yes, mama's got a new bag among other practical sewing projects.  Just so you know, I am blatantly exploiting baby Jane's cuteness to make a post about a bag more interesting.  

Tasty straps!

My goodness.  I think these photos would warm even the coldest of souls out there.  I love her so much I can't stand it sometimes.  Ok ok, so I made a bag. And holy cow, friends.  Bag making is not for the faint of heart.   I made this bag veeeery slowly over the past month and there was some serious wrangling of heavy fabric at the end.

I needed a bag to carry all my junk to work.  Since the beginning of the school year I have been carting about three or four small bags- my lunch bag, my purse, some sort of grocery bag for supplies, my laptop bag and my breast pump.  That's actually five bags.  And that's not counting baby Jane's diaper bag, which actually stays at daycare with her.  Anyway, I wanted a gigantic flat-bottomed bag where I could combine everything in one spot.  So I did what any good sewist would do in a situation like this- I made one.

 

I used McCalls 6297.  I made view D with the addition of a couple of interior pockets.  This thing is massive.  It's awesome.  This project was done entirely with stash fabrics and notions except for the interfacing.  I had a piece of leopard print canvas I've been saving for a while now with the intention of making a blazer type jacket.  But I decided it would make a nice bag, too.  There may be enough left for the jacket anyway.  The zig zag fabric is leftover from the bench I covered over two years ago.  I interfaced the exterior fabric with a heavy duty decor bond.  I wish I had interfaced the lining fabric, too.  But then again, I don't know how I would have sewed it all together.  I had to use a size 18 needle when I sewed all the side seams.  It's heavy duty.

The pattern has one flat pocket on the outside of one side piece.  And one interior pocket that's made to hold two bottles of some sort.  The pattern is obviously a reusable grocery bag on steroids.  I added a divided interior pocket for my cell phone and keys and a zippered pocket.  I piped all the pockets just because.  And look at the nifty little mini clutch there!

 

I was toying with the idea of making a matching wallet when Cake patterns announced the release of the free Red Velvet Mini Clutch pattern.  It was exactly what I needed.  See, I don't carry an actual purse anymore.  At least not like I used to.  I have a small bag that holds my cards, phone and keys that I chuck in the diaper bag.  Then when I go somewhere sans baby, I take it out and just carry the little bag.  Now I have a matching one :)

 

The mini clutch pattern was super quick and very cute.  I made the "boxy" pleated version.   It's the perfect size for a phone and a few cards.  I actually made a pocket on the inside of the lining to hold my credit card and my license.  I just happened to have a red jeans zipper.  Serendipitous, eh?  Don't look too close at my straggly, goofy tassel.  It was fun to make.  There is a lobster clasp attached to the wrist strap.  I had the foresight to sew a loop in the interior of the big bag so I can clip my mini clutch in place.

 

 

And so you can see that I really am alive and kicking, here's a photo of me modeling my bag.  Ha!  I actually took this picture because I made the skirt, too.  It's not even worth writing about truly.  I made a tube of fabric, tried it on and pinned out the excess above my hip.  Then I added a yoga type waistband and called it a day.  It's actually two layers of knit fabric.  The stripey fabric is some sort of mystery knit from Joanns.  It's underlined with a slinky rayon knit.  It feels thicker and more secure than your average knit pencil skirt if you know what I mean.  I like it so much (and I like how easy it is to wash and throw on in the morning) that I made a charcoal ponte knit version as well.  The charcoal version has a little more ease.  This stripey one is pretty snug.  Eh.

 

I made a white tee, too.  Another knit Scout tee.  This version has all of my modifications along with the high low hem that I liked so much on my green version.  It was made in the same slinky rayon knit I lined my stripey skirt with.  It really is the perfect white tee.  I think I've worn it twice a week since I made it.  I had full intentions of putting it on and taking a modeled photo of it.  But someone woke up from her nap.  

 

And such is the life of a sewing mama.  Little snippets of sewing interspersed with lots snuggling.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

What's that?  You want more baby pictures!?  Well, I guess I can oblige.  I mean, since you asked so nicely.

 

I can't believe how big baby Jane is getting.  She's six months old now.  And sweet as pie.  All of her dark hair has fallen out and new sandy colored hair is coming in.  And those blue eyes are starting to turn green.  Looks like she's going to take after her daddy and his hazel eyes.

So glad I can sew and make things specifically tailored for my needs.  You know, like a bag to carry all of my treasured posessions ;)

 

Happy sewing, friends!

 

Baby is the New Black

The hottest new accessory this summer?

Babies. 

Don't pretend you don't want in on this trend.

Hands free!

Excuse my tired face.  I am tired.  There is a whole world of babywearing fanatics out there that I've only just discovered.  Obviously, not having a baby to wear before now.  We received a Baby Bjorn carrier as a shower gift and I was really excited at the prospect of being able to pop newborn baby Jane in to it and carry on about my business. (I'm also excited about J wearing Jane a la The Hangover- tee hee!) Unfortunately that is not what happened.  I've tried several times to get her in to the Baby Bjorn unsuccessfully.   She screams and yells and is not happy.  Since she can't hold her head up yet she has to go in facing me with her little legs frogged in front of her.  It truthfully doesn't look very comfortable.  I think she doesn't like it because of the large leg openings on the sides.  It feels to me like she could slip out of one of those leg holes if she squirmed around too much.  Not very secure.  Once she can hold her head up I know we'll get lots of use out of it.  Then she can face forward and stick her legs through those openings.   But for now it's a no go.  So my dream of packing my little bub in to the carrier and leisurely strolling around Target was shot down.  It's the little things that get a new mom excited.

Enter the ring sling.  I learned about the baby ring sling after seeing a beautiful silk version on Sew Fearless.  She linked to the instructions she used for making it by Jan Andrea of Sleeping Baby Productions.  Holy cow.  Everything you ever wanted to know about making a baby carrier and wearing your baby is covered and linked to through her website.  I was so impressed with how much thought obviously went in the construction of her slings.  

I used instructions for a reversible, unpadded ring sling using two fabrics of differing weights.  The fabric is pleated at the shoulder to fit in the rings and then fan out over your back.  I used an ivory handkerchief weight linen for the inside and a printed linen for the outside that was slightly heavier.  In hindsight I wish I had used only handkerchief weight linen.  My sling is a little heavy and as a result is kind of difficult to slide through the rings.   I'm hoping it will soften up with use.  Plus I don't really love the print I chose.  It's pretty earthy, if you know what I mean.  But then again, I am wearing my baby.  I did have to cut away the fabric underneath my pleats to take away some of the bulk.  I bought my rings from SlingRings.com.  Like Jodi said, DO NOT use any old ring you find at the craft store.  These rings are made and tested to support the weight of baby.

The first time I put Jane in it she wasn't too impressed.  But we've used it a few times now and she really seems to like it.  One thing that made a difference was making sure her bottom was down lower in the sling than her legs.  That definitely made a difference in her comfort level.  What I love most about my ring sling is that it's fully adjustable.  You pull on the tail to tighten up any spot in the sling that needs it.  I like that I can sit her up high- more on my chest.  Much easier on my back.  For reference, baby Jane is five weeks old and about ten pounds.   I have her in an upright "cuddle" hold.  She is sitting in the sling much like she would in the Baby Bjorn except she is totally supported by the fabric.  It's super snug.  Here's a photo without her in it so you can see how the fabric makes a pouch to hold baby.

I've worn her around the house for short periods of time.  Today she was kind of fussy until I put her in the sling and she promptly fell asleep.  But I do have to walk.  Can't sit down with her in it or she starts fussing.  Maybe I'll get that leisurely stroll around Target soon.... bwahahahaha!

So that's that.  I actually sewed something-- with a five week old baby.  Yay me! 

A Mobile For Baby

Been working on nursery stuff.  Of course.  I can't believe how quickly time is passing during this pregnancy.  And at the same time, I can't believe how slow it's going either.  It's like some sort of bizarro time warp.

 I made a mobile to hang above baby Jane's crib.  I'm calling her baby Jane from now on.  No, that's not going to be her real name.  We actually don't have a name picked out yet.  We are so indecisive.  I think we are going to wait until we see her before we pick for real.  So baby Jane it is, for blog purposes and for the fact that she is still a no name baby.  I finished the crib skirt, too.

Anyway, the mobile.  So much fun to make.  So much fun.  I knew as soon as I was pregnant that I would make as many things in baby's nursery as possible.  I've done a few sets of baby bedding for friends and friends of friends in the past couple of years.  During my initial research on how to do it all, I realized that I was not too keen on all the bedding sets that were available at chain stores.  And I hated the plastic mobiles that attach to the side of the crib.   I especially dislike the fabric cover they put over the arm of the mobile.  Blech.  So I knew I wanted to make my own mobile.  Every nursery should have a cute mobile.  

I wanted silly animals.  Silly little animals are my favorite thing to draw.  I draw animals all the time at work.  I'll have to show you my crazy mixed up animal book some time.  If I have the time, I'm going to do some drawings to hang on the walls in the nursery, too.  I thought it would be great to have some funny looking fat cats hanging from a mobile.  Which made me think of my own two cats.

I did some internet research on making mobiles but was stumped on how to put it all together.  I've made mobiles before as art lessons.   Wire mobiles with hanging shapes.  Wooden mobiles with paper mache things dangling.   They are a pita to balance.  I had some elaborate Alexander Calder system in my head and no idea how to execute it.  And then Nancy over at Owen's Olivia posted an etsy feature about Pink Cheeks Studio.  And I was totally and completely smitten with the pigs in tutus.  The tutus. Ha!  All the work at Pink Cheeks Studio is whimsically amazing.  Is whimsically a word?  If not, it should be.

I needed a mobile with animals in tutus.  So I blatantly copied the tutus.  I think I even found some of the same trim, or close.   And I decided I needed a pig.  And pom poms.  The duck came after I thought about all the pink and yellow in the nursery.   All the animals are made out of fleece and felt.  I had to make a few prototypes before I came up with the right size and shape.  They are all sort of shaped like a cone.  With funny little arms, legs and ears sticking out of seams.  The two cats just make me giggle out loud every time I see them.  Did you notice that the calico cat has one orange leg?  She has a tiger leg in real life.  We call it her party leg.  Her other legs are all business.  Socks, unfortunately, is not amused.  He does not appreciate the tutu.

J helped make the actual hanging device.  It's an oval embroidery hoop cut in to two pieces.  He glued it together in the middle, painted it white and drilled holes in the end for hanging.  The string above the wooden hanger is actually what balances the mobile, fyi.  It's one continuous string from animal to ceiling.  There is a knot below the hole in the hanger.  After I strung on all the animals, I held up the mobile and adjusted the strings above the hanger to balance it all out before I tied the final knot at the top.  Then I begged J to install a hook in his beautifully painted ceiling.  He did so very reluctantly ;)

My favorite part: the butts floating in mid-air.  I hope this mobile makes baby Jane smile as much as it makes me smile.

So how are the cats doing with all the change going on 'round here?  Just fine.  They'll be fine.  The little calico one is learning where she is and is not allowed.  She is allowed on the ottoman.  Or the floor.  Not the glider or dresser, though.  And definitely not the crib.

Hanging a giant dangle-y cat toy above the crib sort of sends mixed signals though!  That's where the tin foil comes in.  Thanks so much to whoever suggested using foil.  She hates it.   I cackle evil-like when I think about how much she can't stand the foil.  Though it leaves something to be desired when it comes to the decor.

Baby Jane, we are (all) anxiously awaiting your arrival! :D 

Bringing It Home: Apronalong Guest Post

I only made one Christmas gift this year.  I decided early on that I wasn't going to make any.  I thought I'd use pregnancy as an excuse to not stress myself out over the holiday.  But I did end up making this one gift for someone special.  Although next year....

I made another screen printed apron. This one was for my mom, who is also an art teacher. Her name was printed across the front pocket, which is why I'm showing a side view.  I used a heavy weight denim for the apron and white ink to print.   I also used my same art supply drawings to cut my stencils.   My screen prints were a lot better this time around.   I didn't do anything differently.   I used all the same supplies I did before, but I was careful about stretching the sheer fabric really, really taut.   I also didn't skimp on ink.   I squirted out more than enough for each print.  I really enjoy this home screen printing process.   It's different than just using a freezer paper stencil because you can print the same stencil over and over again (since the stencil is fused to your screen instead of your fabric).  I am working on a way to make it accessible and easy for my students.  Maybe my art club should print their own tee shirts.  How cool would that be?

Anyway, I'm bringing home my how-to on quick and dirty screen printing from my Apronalong guest post over at Did You Make That?  I was absolutely thrilled to write this post when Karen asked me to a few months ago.  It was a fun project.   And I wear my apron almost daily- I really do!!  It definitely wins the award for my most worn garment of 2012 ;)

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Hey you, Apronalongers.  My name is Liza Jane and I am super excited to be guest posting here at Did You Make That?  I hope you are all having major success in making your aprons and looking like domestic goddesses.  I know I enjoyed making mine. 

 

My apron is not for doing domestic duties, if you can’t already tell from my photos.  I’ll be honest, I’m not very good at doing any sort of domestic duty.  My apron is for work.  My day job is an elementary school art teacher.  I teach art to around 650 five through eleven year olds every week.  Calling my job messy is an understatement.  My days are calamitous. Practically everything I own has at least one spot of paint or ink or glue or glaze on it, though I tend to still wear things if it’s just a little spot.  An apron is my saviour for keeping the big stuff off my clothes.  I wear an apron all day long.  I’ve even caught myself leaving for the day with it still on before.  So when Karen asked me if I’d like to guest post for the Apronalong, I jumped at the chance to make a new one.  And I took a little creative license in creating the fabric.

I’ll start with the boring details first.  I did use a pattern, though really I could have just traced around an old apron had I had one handy.  I toyed with the idea of making a fancy, frilly apron.  But in the end, I decided utilitarian was the way to go.  My apron covers me and has pockets.  That’s all I need.  I snagged Simplicity 9565 at a 99 cent sale and used it for the pattern pieces.  Yes, that is a “Sewing for Dummies” pattern– which is totally appropriate for me most of the time.  I just used the pieces and put the apron together the way I thought it should be put together.  I can’t comment on the instructions except that they looked super in depth.  I used a white cotton bull denim so my apron is heavy duty and hardy.

Now I bet you’re wondering where I found my totally appropriate art teacher fabric.  And if you’re not, well then… too bad.  Indulge me, please.  I screen printed it myself and I’m awfully tickled with how it came out.  It’s definitely not perfect screen printing.  In fact, a lot of my individual prints are pretty poor.  But I’ll tell you why that happened.  I’m really just excited about testing out the process.  I’m truly a printmaker at heart and I love process.  I think that’s one of the reasons I love sewing so much, too.

This is not a tutorial.  It is just an explanation of what I did.  I was inspired by a photo I spied on Pinterest this summer.  I’m always on the lookout for simple ways to do more complicated art processes so I can adapt them for teaching kids.  I like to keep things easy.  So this is super basic screenprinting.

 

These are the supplies I used.  My screen was actually a piece of polyester window sheer fabric.  I have about six yards of this in my stash and it has been there for about three years now.  Obviously my illusion of making curtains for my giant picture window fell through.  The fabric was not ideal.  If I did this again, I would use actual silk (as in silkscreen…).  Or I would use a sheer fabric that was smoother and had a tighter weave.  This fabric had an uneven weave and it was pretty scratchy, which made it difficult to attach my stencil.

The sheer fabric was stretched in a embroidery hoop.  My stencils were made from freezer paper.  I cut my stencils with an x-acto knife. And I printed with a screen printing ink from a local hobby store and used an old credit card as my squeegee.

I sketched some art supplies before I started.  I tried to think about the objects in terms of positive and negative space since I would be cutting each as a stencil.  Once I worked it out in my sketchbook, I traced the shape (1) on to a scrap of freezer paper sized to fit on the embroidery hoop.  I cut my stencil with an x-acto knife (2) making sure to save the pieces that needed to be fused separately.  Then I stretched my screen in the embroidery hoop (3) taking care to keep it as tight as possible– like a drum.  Next, I fused the stencil to backside of my screen (4).

 

Here is a picture of how I fused the freezer paper stencil (5).  I laid a scrap of denim on my crappy old dining room table.  I don’t recommend ironing on your dining room table normally, but ours has really turned in to a hobby table.  I’m going to paint it one of these days.  Next, I laid the stencil, plastic coated side face up.  Then I laid my stretched screen so the stencil would affix to the backside.  Followed by another scrap of denim as a press cloth.  And yes, my iron fit perfectly in my embroidery hoop.  That was serendipitous.  I’m not completely happy with the way the freezer paper stencil worked, but I think that was because it did not fuse seamlessly to my scratchy, rough weave fabric.  If I did this again, I would use contact paper or acetate to make a stencil like I’ve seen in other tutorials.  Or better sheer fabric.  I saw another tutorial where someone painted glue on the screen to block out an image, but I would imagine that would make it hard to get a crisp edge.

 

Once my stencil was fused in place I was ready to print.  I laid my screen on my apron fabric and squeezed out a blob of screen printing ink at the top of the stencil (6).   Leave enough room around your stencil so the ink doesn’t go off the edges.  I used an old credit card as a squeegee to pull the ink down and through the screen (7).  And then I repeated many, many times adding more ink as needed (8).   Like I said before, my prints are not perfect (9).  They got better as I went along.  It took some practice to gauge whether I was using the right amount of ink.  The larger stencils took a fair amount.  You don’t want to continue to push ink through the screen or it will squeeze under the edges of your stencil.  I think my images would be a lot clearer with a smoother fabric.  But this is quick and dirty screen printing.

 

The best part is that the screen is easy to create and dispose of.  I took the whole screen out of the embroidery hoop when I was finished with it and then created the next (10).  The fabric paint I used dried enough in between stencils that I didn’t smear previous prints when I added more images to my apron.

And that’s it!  I heat fixed my screen printing ink after letting it dry and sewed up my apron in no time.  I love it.  I love it so much, in fact, that I haven’t worn it at work yet.  I don’t want to get it messy.  Hmmmmmm……..

 

Thanks so much for having me, Karen!

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Wishing everyone a fantastic New Year!   Hope it's full of sewing, fun and never ending bobbins!