Head Jewelry for Renaissance Festival

We were planning to go to the Renaissance Festival this fall but decided last minute not to. I made a piece of head jewelry for each of my daughters plus an extra.

Katara Costume Pajamas from Avatar the Last Airbender

My oldest wanted a Halloween costume as Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender, but this last Halloween was not the best time for it- (not that Christmas time is much better!)  I bought a pajama pattern to use to make it and ended up not even opening it.

Finished

First, I found a dress and shirt that I knew fit her well and used them as the base for the pattern. I allowed extra room around the chest and waist since these are pj's and she is very particular about comfort.

Pattern like I want it to look before adding seam allowances and pattern pieces

I drew with rulers and careful hand the entire layout of the dress. Then I folded it down the center and made sure it was symmetrical (change drawing/trim to even out).

Paper placed over Pattern and traced to make smaller pieces of the pattern.

Next, I put the tracing paper over the full drawn dress and made each piece by tracing and adding seam allowances.

 Always remember to do seam allowances if you make a pattern!

Close-up to pattern pieces

Purple pieces

White trim pieces

Cut and Ready to Sew

Cut and place on the appropriate fabrics and cut and sew!  If you have a basic knowledge of how a garment is pieced together, you should be fine.  This one didn't have sleeves! Yea! That's the beauty of making your own patterns- you make them as simple as you want.

She loves wearing this to bed, and it looks so cute on her!

Halloween Craft Activity- Black Widow Spider

 

One Halloween my sister put together some Halloween crafts for her kids and my kids to do.

 We all made spiders out of pipe cleaners and pompoms with wiggle eyes. Most were 'daddy long legs' with one middle body. This is what I did for mine. There is a magnet on the bottom with 4 pipe cleaners bent to look like 8 legs, and 8 wiggle eyes of 2 kinds, red felt hour-glass for a Black Widow, and 2 pompoms large and medium sizes. Easy peasy.

Idealeon

Easy Pioneer Trek Skirt Instructions DIY

My aunt needed a couple of trek skirts for the stake youth conference coming up, but they were for unspecified young women.  I have no idea the height or weight of the girls, so I had brain storm an idea so that it would fit anyone or most anyone AND look a little attractive so that they would wear it.

Here is the pattern I came up with.  It has a waistband in the front and a drawstring/tie back.  The back half extends to 40 inches in length from one side of the front to the other.  The front is about 14.5 inches across.  That is about 54 inches, give or take for the waist expansion.

I used a Full Size Bed Sheet.  I used the top and bottom edges for the hems of the skirt.  The + 2.5" hem is the extra length needed if you are NOT using a bed sheet.  I made 2 skirts- one for a 5'8" girl and another for a 5'4" girl out of one bed sheet with a little extra leftover.  I apologize if these are confusing patterns or instructions- someone with a little knowledge of basic construction should do okay with it.  Most of the 'how to' is with pictures.  If you need clarification, just let me know!

Here are the measurements and instructions

Earth Day Activity for Kids- Recycle and Grow

Wow- the beans sprouted within 3 days!

For Activity Day Girls, we planted seeds in aluminum cans.  We also had a short lesson on Faith is like a Seed.  Here are the results, and my daughter's plant above (only a week later!)


MATERIALS:

Adults should do the holes

We used 16 oz. cans.  If they have a ridge on the bottom, you can use a bottle opener/can piercer to poke it.  If not, just use an ice pick and hammer.  I used the cheapest dirt at Walmart- less than $1 per small bag.  We used yogurt or sour cream lids as water dishes/catchers.  Water it a little everyday to keep the dirt moist until the seeds pop up.  My daughter and I kept ours inside by a sunny bathroom window that tends to be very warm (almost like a greenhouse).

After we planted the seeds

If you want to use the 'flags' here is the document:
Cut just below the upper word 'grow'.  It folds down over the popsicle stick and then tape/glue.

Happy Earth Day!

Lucky Four 4-Leaf Clovers

#1 & #2 clovers

I was taking my normal morning walk and happened to glance down at a patch of clovers and noticed one that was larger standing out above the rest.  I thought, "What a perfect clover... wait! There are 4 leaves on that clover!"  And just inches away was another one just about as big and proud.  What are the chances of that?  Not one, but two 4-leaf clovers without even searching!  I don't know how many hours I spent as a kid looking through clover patches and never found one.

Look in the very center- #3 clover

About a week and a half later, I found another one a couple blocks down the path by just glancing down again but decided to leave it.  I went back to save it from the lawn mower a couple days later, but was too late.

#4 four-leaf clover with the first two clovers

So, I went back to the original patch where I found the first 2 and... Voila! Another one!  And it only took about 1 minute or less to find.  I don't know whether they are more common than I thought or if I am more uncommonly lucky than I thought.  Four 4-leaf clovers in less than 2 weeks!  Wow.

I'm going to press and dry them for good luck!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Putting Sleeves into a Sleeveless Dress

A friend of mine needed sleeves added to a dress she was wearing to wedding.  This was the right color, just no sleeves.  I hunted all the local fabric resources and found some fabric that was the same color at JoAnn Fabrics.  It was knit, so I was happy because that's what I work with mostly right now with my nursing shawl business.

   

First we determined how far down from the top of the armhole we needed to make the sleeve.

Denim Quilt Red White and Blue

It was probably over 1 1/2 years ago that I started this quilt with a friend, who has posted on this blog once- the dumpster truck cake.  I would teach her to sew and help her do projects while she taught my kids to play the piano.  I wouldn't recommend making a denim quilt the first sewing project for someone because she's lost the taste for sewing for a while.  (Quilts aren't my usual project of choice.)

We used her husband's old jeans and bought some red and white fabrics to use in the middle and for the bias tape (which I can post a how-to-make-bias-tape post if anyone is interested.).  She had her 12-13 year old girls church class help tie the quilt at an activity.

Here it is!

Almost King-sized- backed with flannel

Center- long yarn stitching on the red fabric

back of quilt- long yarn stitching

Yea- it's done!

My website

Gold Coin Gypsy Head Jewelry

When I was a teenager I went to a local Renaissance Festival and fell in love with head jewelry I saw there.  I wanted to make some ever since.  Last year I finally found affordable supplies to make some to sell in my etsy shop.  I've also grown interest the last few years in India and Pakistani traditional clothing, along with other cultures in the regions round about.  So, here's a 'gypsy head jewelry' inspired by the coins and bells that you might see in current 'tribal' or 'gypsy' belt jewelry.  I originally bought the 'coin' charms/tags to stamp letters and words on.  I'm just a renaissance festival nerd.  I love dressing up!

Tag Turtle Toy for Babies

Here is a 'tag toy' I made for a cousin's baby out of my mother's scrap polyester knits, ribbon, and batting. It was way easy especially since I left the raw edge out. You can get away with that with double knit polyester! I also used a straight 'stretch' stitch to make sure the ribbons and head were secure. It's about 6 inches long tongue to tail.

http://www.idealeon.com

Simple Brown Skirt Tutorial

So about 7 years ago I had a brown skirt that I would wear all the time. It used to be my mother's. One day I was cutting out some fabric while wearing the skirt. Yes, I was dumb and careless and cut a nice big 5 inch cut into my skirt because part of it was underneath the fabric somehow. I was so mad at myself for doing something so dumb! I've wanted to make another brown skirt for a while. I've had the fabric sitting and waiting for at least 3 or more years. Other projects always took priority until last week. I finally made it! It was very easy and simple. I love easy stuff.

I used a 54 inch wide lightweight polyester/spandex knit (stretchy) material for this skirt- exactly the type I use for my nursing shawls that I sell on etsy!

First, I measured about the length I wanted it on me. Next, my waist and 'halfed' it, adding seam allowances and an extra couple inches. The fabric is folded in half with selvages on either side. I used the measuring tape to make a curve on the corner, made marks with chalk. Next, I used the measuring tape as a compass, holding the end at the corner, and holding the chalk and the tape at the point of the waist measurements. I made more exact curve/waist markings pulling the tape side to side (see photo above.) Add the length of the corner to the waist to the length of the skirt you want and do the same 'compass' technique to mark the hem of the skirt. Cut.

Next, I measured out about 5 inches wide and a generous length for the waistband (about 4 inches longer than I thought I would need.) I will use 1 inch wide elastic. Sew right sides together at 1/4 inch seam allowance(my favorite size- I really like to conserve fabric, and I was going to trim it off to that size anyway...). Trim of extra length of waistband.

Pin right sides of back seam together, matching waistband seams. Stitch using a straight stretch stitch. Say that ten times really fast.

Pull the fabric with both hands as you stitch this back seam to prevent 'bunching' of the seam. (I know you might have heard that you should never pull fabric through when you sew, but you are not pulling it through the foot faster, you are only stretching the fabric!) See photo below.

(See Below picture) Fold the waistband over to the inside and pin, matching seams. Leave a 1 to 2 inch gap for elastic. Have the outside/right side showing when you stitch. Use a decorative stretch stitch. (This hides any imperfections if you don't sew straight!) Make sure the waistband has been sewn down. I had to go back and redo about 3-4 inches that didn't get connected (I hardly ever pin anything unless I have to match up seams.)

Put the elastic around your waist to your comfort and mark with chalk or pin or marker. Use a large safety pin to pull the elastic through. Pin it at the point you think will fit and try it on. If it is good, cut, making sure you've left the space to connect it. Sew the waistband space closed.

Try on the skirt to make sure that the hem is even. Trim to adjust as necessary. To finish the hem, fold over and sew down at edge. I never pin because it would make the stitch look crooked. It is about 3/8 inch double fold. Pull the fabric a little as you do this to make sure there isn't a 'buckling' or 'crumpled' look at the bottom. You are finally done! Good luck!

Idealeon

Easy Quesa-pizza Recipe!

This is something I did to use up extra pizza sauce. It's just pizza sauce spread thin on a flour torilla, onions (chopped and frozen-easy to grab), grated colby jack cheese, parmesean cheese. Put on a hot (medium-high) griddle until the cheese starts to melt and then take it off. The cheese will finish melting on the plate. It really took like a minute to heat or less. Great for feeding multiple children at one time. I really like pizza, too!

Idealeon

Homemade Ladybug Tag Toys

I've been on a ladybug theme lately. I made a turtle tag toy a while ago, and wanted to make more. I wanted to give a couple of these to someone who had twin girls.

These are super easy to make. Double-knit polyester is great durable fabric for baby toys.

Babies seem to love the tags on the toys the most, hence 'tag toy'.

Handkerchief Shirts for School Clothes

I found some cute bargain fabric at Walmart($1.50-2.00/yd.) and had this pattern I bought on sale for 99cents somewhere (Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's). I finally made a shirt for each of my school girls. The shirts were very simple to do. The knit was pretty stable, having a good 'stretch-back'. (Sorry I'm bad at vocabulary.) I made each one probably under 2 hours after cutting.

Fudge Truffles

They are just as good as they look!

I made fudge and, sadly, it didn't set up.  Since I had recently dipped marshmallows in chocolate, I thought about what the fudge would be like if I dipped it in chocolate, too.  It would be easier to pick up by hand in a hard outer chocolate shell.  I figured the outcome couldn't turn out too badly! We liked these so much that my mother is thinking of putting this recipe in her next cookbook!

DIRECTIONS:
I refrigerated the fudge so I could cut and separate the pieces onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet, and then froze them.  I used Ghirardelli double chocolate dipping squares and carefully dipped each one and put them onto another wax paper lined cookie sheet.  White chocolate might be something to try, too.

(If you need a recipe for fudge, here is one from the can label I used that works fine, called: Old Fashioned Western Family Fudge.  Type 'old fashioned fudge' in recipe search.  I didn't add the nuts, and I used margarine instead of butter.)

Man, these are a good idea to repeat!  Thank goodness for failed fudge!

Come visit my etsy shop to see my head jewelry and nursing shawls!