Brachiosaurus aka Long Neck Dinosaur Costume

Yes, this is belated Halloween post, but that is how I work around here. :)  The girls wanted to be long-neck dinosaurs, specifically Little Foot from The Land Before Time.  I had already made monster/dinosaur costumes twice before, but adding in a long neck would be a bit of a challenge, but I was happy with the way they turned out.


While this won't really be a tutorial per se I will explain how I made it in case you want to tackle something similar yourself.

Fabric
I used fleece fabric, since I needed quite a bit and it is relatively cheap.  In the past costumes I used a more furry fabric.  I used a cotton/polyester interlock from Joanns for the lining of the sweatshirt, and to make some of the bumps on the back.

Pants
I used the Willow Wayfarer Hipster for Slimster pattern.  I LOVE this pattern.  I think this is my number one most used pattern.  They fit great, seem to be comfortable and I can sew up a pair of these in less than an hour.

Sweatshirt
I used the Heidi and Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie pattern for this.  I LOVE this pattern.  This is my number two most used pattern.  The fit is great, it is fully lined, and the style is uber cute.  I made the sweatshirts with the hoodies, but after I finished I realized I shouldn't have.  The hoodies hung over the bumps on the back so we ended up just tucking them in.  The bumps were simply circles cut out and sewn on the back piece before assembly.  I stuffed them with the fuzz you use for stuffed animals or pillows.  I can't remember exactly what its called at the moment.   The tail was made by cutting out two big triangles, sewing some bumps on, sewing them together, turn inside out, and stuffing with fuzz.  I basted the tail between the band and the back piece of the shirt and then sewed the band on.

Head

I made a pattern for the head that roughly looks like the above.  I cut two of the head pieces out and then sewed the rectangle around the edges.  Then I got a rectangle of 1/2" thick craft foam and looped it into a circle and stuffed it up the head to give shape and support.  I stuffed fuzz behind the foam into the nose.  I sewed a small "pillow" filled with fuzz and just stuffed it into the top of the head.  I didn't secure it at all but it seemed to stay propped up by the foam.  I folded the bottom of the fabric over the foam and sewed around the whole thing, not at all neatly.  I should have done that a little nicer. ;)  Selena drew mouths with a permanent marker, and we sewed buttons on for the eyes and the nostrils.   I did make Allie's hat slightly shorter as she had a harder time keeping the hat balanced on her head.

If that isn't clear, please feel free to ask me questions.

Sewing Some Kids Play Pants

This is a review of the Willow Wayfarer Hipsters for Slimsters kids pants pattern.  I bought it a while ago off of Etsy and have now made 6 pairs of pants from it.  The smallest size in the pattern matches Selena's measurements exactly, and the pants fit her perfectly.  The pattern is made for woven fabrics, but so far I've only used it with knits.  I have even made Allie some pants from this pattern and by using a knit they fit her with a cloth diaper on.  I'm not a huge fan of the large hem (see middle gray/blue pants), but that is easily remedied.  The pants sew together fast.  Probably 30-45 minutes from cutting to finishing.  It is a pdf pattern that you have to print out and tape together, so a bit of work, but also semi-instant gratification.  The pattern is one piece and so simple, yet you can not believe how hard it is to get a pant's pattern that has the crotch curve just right and the waistline just so, believe me I've tried.  While the pants I've made haven't been heart meltingly cute, they have been highly functional.  Hopefully some day I will make a cute, fancy pair, with pockets and applique.

Also I highly recommend the creator's blog Indie Tutes, she's got lots of great stuff.  I also won a copy of her Spitfire Playdress in a giveaway and can't wait to sew it up, though Selena is begging for a ballet leotard first.

From left to right: 

• Old cotton/lycra yoga pants of mine recycled for Selena.  I wore them while pregnant with Selena so they were both too small, and too big at the same time. ;)
• Nice 100 Polartec Fleece.  I didn't have enough of this left to cut so the stretch was width-wise, so I had to cut it with the stretch length wise.  Since the pattern is for wovens I had no problem.
• Some random knit I bought at Joanns for very cheap.

Here is Selena wearing her pants (on the right).  The ones Allie are wearing are from Old Navy, however the jacket is a monster Halloween costume I made for Selena when she was two.  Allie wears it often. I just want to add that these girls get along so much better when we are outside.

* This review is of a sewing pattern I purchased.  I was not given anything for this review, or even asked to write it.  

Heidi and Finn Chic Everyday Coat

So Selena doesn't really like the rain jacket I bought her.  She says it is too rough and makes funny noises.  So I decided to make her a double layered fleece jacket.  The pattern is super cute, though I was a bit bummed that the coat did not have a hood, but that could have been easily fixed if I had put the effort out.  Ideally I has planned on making a scoodie to go with it, but she has a ton of hats so I probably won't ever get to it.

After making multiple versions of the Heidi and Fin Hoodie I was excited to try another pattern from her.  I chose the Heidi and Finn Chic Everyday Coat.  The sizing goes from 12M - 6T, but really there are only four different sized pattern pieces. Unfortunately I did not have as much success in the sizing as I did with the hoodie.  The 3T and 4T sizes were combined on the pattern pieces and really that size fits like a 4T.  The neck was a bit big and the sleeves were about 4 inches too long.  The largeness, especially in the neck area, is probably exaggerated by the fact that I used a stretchy fleece instead of a woven.  I kept all the extra length in the sleeve by folding it inside the hem, so hypothetically I can let the sleeves out as she grows and she'll be able to wear the coat for a long time.  If I were to make her another one I would go with the 2T size.  Besides that the directions were wonderful (colored picture in a pdf), and the coat went together very easily.

The one change I made to the pattern was to add pockets, because Selena adamantly requested them.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how I would make the pockets.  Ideally I would have made a welt pocket, but supposedly those are tricky.  What I ended up doing was simply cutting a slit in the shell, bar tacking the edges and then after I had attached the lining to the shell I topstitched a pocket shape--so the coat lining acted as the pocket lining.  Very simple and it worked, and a little bit of white peeks out of the pockets, which I think looks nice.

Back View

Pocket

* I bought this pattern and did not receive any compensation for this pattern review.

Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie

One of my online friends made some sweatshirts for her children from the Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie pattern and they were so cute I wanted to make some too!   I saw a link on another blog that there was a buy two get one free sale so I bought this pattern plus the Girly Cardigan, and the Chic Everyday Coat patterns, which I haven't tried yet.

This pattern was great.  This was my first time making clothes from an independent pattern maker and I am really impressed.  I have had not too great results using Simplicity, Kwik Sew, McCalls, etc. The directions given aren't always the best way to assemble the garment, and the patterns tend to be ill fitting. But this pattern the fit was perfect.  The sizing was perfect. The instructions are clear and include color photos.  It goes together fairly quickly (considering it is completely lined) and the sewing is fairly simple.  The pattern comes in a pdf file so you have to print it out and assemble it, so the downside is it takes a bit longer, but the upside is quick "shipping" (it took one day for her to email the pattern to me).  The sweatshirt is completely lined so it is warm, and no seams are showing, so the finish is professional looking even if you don't have a serger.

I've made three of these sweatshirts so far.  The first I made was actually Selena's Halloween costume.  I made it with a weird poly minky type fabric for the shell and a dark green non-stretchy cotton knit inner.  I added blue spikes and a tail.  The second I made of some nice 100 Polartec fleece on the inside, and a cheap waffle knit print on the outside.  The third I made from some 200 weight Polartec Fleece on the outside and a gray Joann's cotton knit on the inside.  (I am on a mission to use significant amounts of fabric from my stash.)  I used poly-resin snaps instead of buttons.  The instructions give two options for the sleeve cuffs.  I chose the simpler method of not adding a cuff because sewing cuffs on really tiny sleeves is hard.  My only tips that were not included in the instructions are to machine baste the hood onto the outer shell, and to machine the bottom trim together before attaching to the main body.  In both cases there are lots of layers and it made my life a bit easier.  Also the pattern is not reversible.  I initially thought it was.  When I realized it wasn't I thought I could make it reversible by using the snaps, but you can't.  The overlapping front makes it not work.

Selena loves the sweatshirts and only tells me how snuggly warm they are.  She also brags to people and tells them that I made it for her. 

 If you are wondering, Selena chose to wear shorts with leg warmers that day. :) 

** This recommendation is purely my own opinion.  I  paid for the pattern and am not receiving any compensation for this review.

Reversible Skirt and Jalie 2805

I whipped up this reversible skirt a couple months ago.  It was a satisfying project because I was able to complete it in about an hour and a half.  Selena loves it.  She likes wearing skirts and tights.   I used more of the Marcus Brother's Porcelina fabric.   I think I still have enough fabric left for one more project.   I think I used only 37" of fabric and made it 11" tall.  She keeps asking me to make another one for her, and one for Allie.

The shirt pattern is Jalie 2805 and worked pretty well.  I used a holey old jersey knit sheet for the fabric (being green and upcycling).  My big complaint with the pattern was that the pieces are mislabeled in that the pictures don't match the view labels (for example View A has a picture of View B--not sure if that is the exact problem but you get the idea) so I cut out the wrong front piece, but other than that the pattern went together well.  I love Jalie patterns because they don't have excess ease in them and you can make adult and kid sized clothes.  I made myself one as well and it fits great.  Hopefully I'll get a picture later.  I made a long sleeve version as well (but she stained it with chocolate ice cream the first time she wore it).  The second time I made it I lengthened it a little.  I don't think the pattern drafts for a small child's protuding belly (which is oh so cute) but because the fabric is stretchy it still works.  It goes together quickly.  It takes me just over an hour to sew it up after cutting it out.

Toddler Backpack

I made Selena a backpack for preschool. She puts her daily show and tell in it. It is so nice for her to have a backpack that doesn't dwarf her. I bought the pattern from Made By Rae and really liked it. I have also made her Lickity Split Bag, and so far am very impressed with her patterns. I need to get her Big Butt Baby Pants pattern next.  I am contemplating trying to make a camera bag out of the pattern.  I think it is about the right size and if I just added a bunch of foam it might work.

I used some more of the Marcus Brother's Porcelina collection. I really, really like that fabric.  Allie is wearing the backpack in the picture.  She keeps stealing it and many fights have broken out over it.  I really should make Allie one of her own...

Refashion - Men's Shirt to Girls Dress

I've been really anxious to sew.  My stuff was all packed in the garage, but I finally got it out/organized.  However my free time is very limited so I wanted a project to do that was quick and didn't take too much thought.  I saw the shirt dress in blog land a while back and Google turned up this shirt dress tutorial for me which worked perfectly.

The shirt was a gift from a student to Floyd.  Not exactly his style, but it is silk and pretty.  I thought it would be very nice for Selena.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Now the only problem is laundering a silk play dress. ;)  The project was very easy.  My only comment is a reminder to pay attention to where the buttons lie when placing the pattern.  I put the edge too close to a button so when I went to fold it over to make the casing the button was in the way.  So I had to pick off the button and move it down.  

How to Use a Soft Structured Baby Carrier

This video explains how to use the soft structured carrier that I make.  It is mostly for those who are lucky enough to have received one from me ;)  but maybe it will help other people with their carriers as well.

The soft structured carrier is by far my favorite type of carrier because I can wear the kids on my back.  The carrier should work even when they are toddlers.  I still put Selena on my back sometimes, however she only weighs 25lbs, but I'm sure it would work for heavier kids as well.  Please make sure you check the seams on the carrier frequently.  

Here are all my posts on soft structured carriers.  

Simplicity 3856 - Sewing Toddler Pants

I used some of the Marcus Brother's fabric to make Selena some pants. They are super cute. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to the measurements on the pattern and neglected to make the pattern longer so they were way too short. So then I added a ruffle. They are still a bit short, but I'm going to make her wear them for a bit and then I'll retire them and save them for Allie. :)
Here is my complete review of the pattern.

Lickity Split Bag

I bought this pattern after I read Made By Rae's blog post about her perfect bag. She describes it as a stroller/diaper/shopping bag. The fact that it could be sewn up quickly was the main selling point for me. Size wise the pattern piece is very similar to the Amy Butler Nappy Bag I made earlier, but it has squared off corners and of course ties at the top instead of being connected. I think that I might like this bag better than the Nappy Bag because stuff seems to get lost in those pointed corners plus you can untie this bag and dig through it, or dump it out if necessary.

I've made two of these so far and as promised they are a quick sew. Even cutting out the pattern is quick. The second one I made in exactly one hour from start to finish (no pockets) with Selena "helping" me.

I used Marcus Brother's Porcelina collection for the fabric. I bought 6 yards of fabric from this collection and I think I am going to use it up quickly. The bag below was made for a baby shower gift.

Sew Ruffled Capri Pants

I love the way these turned out. I've been meaning to make them for a long time, but there wasn't much point in the winter and I didn't have a good pattern and wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the time making my own. I almost bought the Britches & Bloomers pattern, but it seemed like it should be pretty simple to make myself.

I ended up putting both elastic in the waistband and a tie drawstring because the elastic lost its stretch when I sewed it. Next time I'm going to try some knit elastic, versus the woven I used, because I think its supposed to do better when sewn. But I might like the drawstring better anyway.

When I made the pattern I tried to make a wider area for the crotch and included a raised center back to accommodate her cloth diapers. It ended up working pretty well. They fit well when she is in a diaper or in underwear.

For the ruffles I wanted to use my gathering foot on my serger, but I couldn't get it to work consistently so I ended up using elastic.




The front is the left piece and the back is the right.

Well the good thing about still being pregnant...

is that I've been able to finish a lot more sewing projects than I thought I would.

Here are four fitted diapers I've been able to make. I wasn't going to make any newborn size diapers because the baby will only be able to wear them for about a month, but I had some french terry bamboo fabric that was only big enough to make newborn diapers and they are so tiny and cute that I figured why not. I also made a couple size small fitted diapers.

I used Shar's version of Wee Weka Side Snap, adjusted to a NB size for the newborn pattern from theNappy Network, but I found the front wings too wide so I trimmed them at least an inch on each side for the second one I made. I used my own pattern for the small sized fitteds.

From left to right: bamboo french terry, quilting cotton outer bamboo french terry inner, unknown knit with a bamboo velour inner, bamboo velour

Also I was really excited because I got to use my new snap pliers. I've been wanting to try and make snap diapers for a while, but in order to apply snaps I would have needed a $130-$150 snap press, which I really couldn't justify buying. But then I found out that there was a yahoo coop for a set of snap pliers for $20. So I got them and they are perfect. I haven't had any problems setting the snaps and they are in really tight, almost impossible to remove (I had to use a drill to remove them when I made a mistake).

I also was able to make another soft structured baby carrier. After making two carriers as gifts from this free SCC pattern I decided that the resulting carriers were way too big for me, so I went back to the original pattern I had made but included the darts in the body from the free pattern. I also couldn't decide what kind of padding (camping mat, versus yoga mat, versus foam) I wanted in the belt so I made it have an opening that I could unsnap and I could switch out the padding whenever I wanted. This also will make it very easy to throw the whole thing in the washing machine. I loved the way it turned out, but I'm afraid I made the straps a little short. It is hard to tell since I can't exactly try it on due the gigantic belly I currently have. I don't think they will be too short to make the carrier not useful, but they might make it not quite as comfortable as it could have been. We'll have to see. I still have to sew on the chest strap, but I'm going to wait till after I have the baby to figure out the best placement.

Sew an Infant Car Seat Cover

Before

After

So Selena hated the car seat when she was a baby. She would scream and scream and scream. Sometimes if I turned the radio onto white noise and turned it up really loud it would help. Finally when she was 4 months old I bought her a new car seat (a Britax Roundabout Convertible Car Seat) which helped immensely.

So with this baby I was going to skip the infant seat. Some people love the ability to carry their baby around in them it was too unwieldy and heavy for me to carry even if Selena wasn't screaming in it. But even though most convertible car seats say they are okay for 5lb babies, most don't have straps that are low enough. So this baby will be in the infant car seat for at least a little while. While I was looking at the car seat I decided that maybe Selena didn't like it because the cover is kind of rough, so I decided to give it a makeover and make a new cover out of some soft cotton.

I wanted to get some of the Eric Carle Brown Bear fabric that I had seen advertised at Pacific Fabrics, but when I went there they didn't have the exact one I wanted. So instead I got some from Michael Miller's First Sight collection.

HOW I DID IT:

• I took some tracing tissue paper and laid it over the car seat and stuck pins in the corner's of the pieces I would make.
• Took off the tracing paper and connected the dots made from the pins.
• Added 1 inch seam allowances to the tissue paper and cut out a cover from some scrap fabric.
• Machine basted the scrap fabric together and put it over the car seat. Amazingly the seams were good. I trimmed a bit on some edges here and there, but it was a pretty good fit.
• Sewed some elastic on the top and bottom corners of one side of the cover to see how that fit and to estimate where I would need to put the elastic.
• Used my seam ripper to undo the pieces, and trimmed off 1/2" of the seam allowances (they were 1 inch) and used the scrap fabric as my pattern.
• Used the pattern to cut out the cover fabric. I also cut out a layer of microfleece for some slight padding. Below is what the pieces ended up being shaped like.

• Serged together the pieces for the top of the cover (microfleece and cotton fabric together)
• Serged together the pieces for the bottom of the cover
• Serged the top and bottom together
• Used fold over elastic to bind around the edges. Stretching the elastic in the places I had chosen earlier.
• Put the cover on the car seat and used chalk and a ruler to mark the openings for the belts.
• Made gigantic button holes for the belt openings.

That's it! If you wanted, instead of serging or sewing the pieces in one step you could sew them separately and then bind them together with the seams facing in and then it would be reversible. You could have a cozy fleece side for winter, and a nice light cotton for summer. But I didn't think of this until after I was done.

If I have enough time before the baby comes I might try to make a pretty shade protector to match.

WARNING: Making your own car seat cover may be unsafe due to the fact that the covers that come with the car seat are made of flame retardant material and ones you make may not be. However maybe you don't want your child absorbing toxic flame retardants through the largest organ on their body, the skin. Wool is a natural flame retardant material may be a good compromise.

Amy Butler Nappy Bag

So I just finished making a new diaper bag. I used a backpack with Selena and I liked it, but it almost has too many pockets so I would have to dig through 5 pockets to find what I needed, but it was nice to have when I would wear Selena in front in a baby carrier. But I got it stuck in my head that I really wanted this diaper bag so for my birthday I asked for the pattern. It was pretty easy to make, but takes a ton of fabric. Apparently I did not make this bag to save money as I spent $50 on fabric and interfacing plus the pattern cost $12. But it was all birthday gifts so I can justify it.

I tried it out yesterday and it worked pretty good. It is very comfortable on the shoulder and is a nice generous size. The bag has 3 pockets on one side and I put two pockets on the other side. One to fit the changing pad, and one for wipes. I added a loop inside the bag to attach my keys to, and that is very convenient. It is long enough that I can unlock the door (yes I still actually have to unlock my car doors and don't have a magical button to push) without detaching it and can even drive without detaching it as well. I also added a small credit card pocket so that when we go to the library or YMCA I can put my cards there so they are easy to find. The only kind of weird thing about the bag is that the top of the bag is connected so you can't take the handles and open the bag wide to look through it. There is plenty of room to get in it, but my first instinct was to open it up completely and then realized you can't do that.

Here is my official review of the pattern.

But I think the bag is very pretty and I am very pleased with it.

Sew your own footed pajamas

I love footed pajamas with a zipper. Selena lived in them for the first three months of her life. Snaps are annoying because they always seem to get mismatched when you snap them up and socks never stayed on Selena's feet so I loved having the footsies built in.

Since we don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl I wanted to make some cute gender neutral pj's. I really like bright colors but most baby clothes are pastels. So I made the new baby two pairs of pj's. One in a luxurious organic bamboo velour, and one in a red cotton t-shirt knit. I wanted to dye the bamboo red, but most advice on the internet said it would most likely end up pink so I decided not to bother. I used Kwik Sew 2919. Click on the link to see my review of the pattern. There is something so satisfying about making teeny tiny baby things.




I also made Selena a pair out of a lightweight organic bamboo knit, but they are too big so she'll have to grow into them.

Sew your own soft structured carrier

So in my last post about sewing baby carriers I mentioned that I was sewing a new one from this free SSC pattern. It was a gift for a friend, but it seemed to work pretty good. I think it will be great for back carries, but I'm not sure if I made
the strap buckle be able to slide up high enough to allow someone to buckle it in the back (for a front carry) without help. The darts in the seat are great, and are a big improvement over the dartless seat I made with my own pattern. I didn't make a sleeping hood, but probably should have. I didn't really know what they were for, but then realized they are to prop the head and avoid head flop. (See picture.)

I only tried a front carry with my friend's super cute 5 month old and I didn't use the strap buckle (I hadn't attached it yet). I did put Selena in a back carry for a

short period of time, but I'm pregnant so my belly was kind of in the way. The shoulder straps and waist band were also too big for me (but I am pretty small). I am making another one for another friend, but will soon make one for me for the new baby, but I will narrow the straps towards the end and may angle them a little bit more up (instead of out). I will also make a smaller waist band, more the size of the one I made with my my own pattern.

I also am unsure about the use of the camping mat for the waist band. In the first one I made I just used high density foam that you can get at Joanns. This seems more comfy for front carries, especially if you need to sit down, but for back carries the thicker foam seems a lot more substantial and supportive. I will make one with the camping mat for me since I already have one with the thinner foam.

Just to note it costs me around $15-$25 to make one of these (depends on the fabric) compared to the $100-$150 it costs to buy a similar one.

Sorry the pictures are kind of lame, but I was in a hurry and then I gave it away.

Sew your own baby bibs

These are my two favorite kinds of bibs to sew and I have never seen them in stores so they make great baby shower gifts.

The first are made of fleece and simply serged around the edges (which isn't even needed because fleece doesn't ravel) and then sew some velcro for fastener. I just traced a bib I had bought for the shape. The fleece bibs work great for drooly babies because they last longer than a cotton bib and keep the baby's clothes drier.


The second is a sleeved bib, which is really nice for when your little one is feeding themselves and they are really messy. This will keep their sleeves clean as well as their front. Here is a link to the free long sleeved bib pattern.



These aren't homemade, but I think they are the greatest bibs. They catch all the food your child drops, and you just rinse them off in the sink. I was washing tons of cloth bibs, plus Selena's clothes because they didn't really keep her very clean. The Bibbity bib is excellent for going out because you can roll it up and it doesn't take up much space. The Baby Bjorn one is a little more structured so it catches food a bit better and is easier to wash, but doesn't fold up. I use the Baby Bjorn bib at home and the Bibbity one stays in the diaper bag or purse.

Sew your own cloth diapers

Here are some various cloth diapers I have made over the last year. I have finally perfected my patterns to fit Selena just right.

This was the best free tutorial I found on how to make a cloth diaper cover. I use fold over elastic and aplix. I really recommend using aplix or touchtape since anything else does not last very long at all.

Her method for drafting a fitted diaper is ok too, but I tweaked mine so the shape isn't very similar. Mine is more similar to the shape of a GAD pocket diaper. When I make pocket fitted diapers using the pattern I use fold over elastic on the pocket opening so I don't have to account for the pocket in the pattern.