Owl burp cloth tutorial

You know how when you're pregnant, you're not really supposed to say if you want a boy or a girl? The correct stance is: as long as the baby is healthy, I'll be happy. As a mom of a baby who was decidedly not healthy at birth, I get this, totally. That said, I'll admit: the first time I found out I was having a boy, I felt disappointed. I think to some degree, we ladies all want a baby girl, a daughter who will grow up and share things with us that boys just can't. I'm totally happy with the way things worked out for me with two adorable, sweet, smart little boys. But the wanting-a-girl thread is still in there something deeply buried. I know this because when I found out my sister-in-law is pregnant with a baby girl, I squealed and basically skipped around the room in excitement. A girl! A niece! My first. I'm so very excited. 

It's fun to make little girl things at the sewing machine. Here's my first project for my niece, due in May.
An owl appliqued burp cloth! I guess some people never use burp clothes because I suppose their children are perfect little creatures who never regurgitate anything. Mine were quite the opposite. I went through at least one a day. I suppose I hope it runs in the family!

For this project, first I cut three rectangles of fabric and sewed them together with about a quarter inch seam. Iron those seams flat and then fold the new long piece of fabric down the middle. I use another burp cloth I like as a pattern. I love burp clothes in this oversized bone shape. They fit on your shoulder well and cover a nice portion of your back, which is nice when the adorable baby really lets it fly. 

After getting the top done, I turned to the owl applique.

I freelanced a pattern by cutting and play with the pieces. For mine, you need an ovalish body, a smaller oval for the belly, a half-circle for the face, two oval-shaped eyes and the wings. I cut the shapes and then ironed them onto medium-weight interfacing and cut them out. The interfacing makes the applique process a little sturdier and also, I hope, will prevent from fraying of the ends.

First I sewed on the body around the edge with a straight-stitch. You could also use a zig-zag, but I went for straight stitch with everything on my owl. After the body, I sewed the face on top, overlapping the body slightly.

I then placed the wings and sewed them only along the inside edge. You'll sew the outside edge down when you attach the owl to the burp cloth. 

 

Finally, I sewed on the eyes. The left one looks better because I took it really really slowly, hand-cranking the stitches for the most part and rotating the fabric every two stitches.

Here's how our little owl looks ready to be appliqued on!

Then it's simple. Place Mr. Owl in the middle of the burp cloth and sew around him using an edge stitch. And the top is done!

I backed my cloth with white terry cloth. I used my top as the pattern, placed the two pieces right sides together and sewed, leaving a hole for turning on one end, with a quarter-inch seam. Turn right-side out, iron very well, and then top-stitch around, being sue to close your turning hole. And you're done. One cute owl burp cloth for one, I'm sure, very cute niece.

Olive and S puppet theatre and holiday recap!

Brotherly love on Christmas morning at grandma's house.

Had to share this one because as my husband put it, Luke looks like he is about to poop a turd of happiness. Hahahaha.

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. We did. It was nice -- and also so very tiring and hectic! We had things going on and people to see Friday, Saturday and all day Sunday, and then we were both back to work on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was spent sorting through my house, trying to get this disaster area in order. The aftermath of Christmas is always a mess, isn't it? Boxes, wrapping paper, twisty ties, toys everywhere. Thing must be put together. Old toys must be stored. New toys must find new homes. And of course, everything must be played with. It's all intense. I was still wearing my robe and PJs yesterday at 2 p.m. And I was pretty much fine with that.

The hectic-ness of the last two weeks did me in when it came to handmade gifts. I had so many plans for handmade gifts. I accomplished only two of them. The Olive and S puppet theatre for my boys and an apron for my mother-in-law. The apron was finished around midnight on Christmas Eve because I scraped my first totally finished apron and started over from scratch at about 10:30 p.m.. I do not recommend this. Stress! Hello, stress!

I'll share more about the apron fiasco later. For now, can I show you the finished puppet theatre?

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Of course, I know every little thing that is wrong with it (uneven bottom anyone?). But overall, I think it looks cute, and it's completely functional, and Luke took right to it.

If you plan to make this project, know that the instructions are great, but there are many many steps and this is something that takes hours. I'd guess I put at least 10 hours into this. Not a quick turnaround by any means. But I have a feeling we will be playing with this for years and years.

Did you give any handmade gifts this year? Did they get the reaction you hoped for?

Baby blanket for Rhonda

I made my cousin this blanket and gave it to her at her baby shower last weekend. She's due to have a baby on Jan. 31 -- the day JJ was born last year! I'm hoping the second cousins can share a birthday. Wouldn't that be fun?

I used a tutorial from the book Simple Sewing for Baby as my inspiration, but didn't make the pocket. It's meant to be a play quilt for the floor, and it could be used as that for sure. But look how perfectly it fits in a crib, too! (And although I use sleep sacks for six months or so, here's my dirty little secret -- we're totally using a blanket in the crib these days. Shhhh. I think it is OK.) The front fabrics mostly came from an Erin McMorris fat quarter bundle, from the line Summersault. Aren't they happy? I mixed in a solid green from a sheet I thrifted as well as that green-and-pink dot fabric, which I had in my stash and matched really well.

The back is minky.

I thought it turned out well, but the next baby shower, I won't gift a blanket again. I think my cousin literally received 20 blankets from a shower with 23 people at it. There were at least four other handmade blankets. Ug! And mine was opened last. So that was it for me and baby blankets, unless someone asks for one. There are so many cute ideas out there for baby gifts, for really practical things... Changing pad, diaper and wipe holders, bibs, snugglers, etc. I'm sticking to those from now on!

One more Henry Shirt post: Pictures and resources

There it is! My Henry Shirt in action. Isn't it cute? I really do love it. I'm so thankful for this Sew Along because I don't know I would have tackled this project without it.

Two notes about those photos: isn't that dogwood a wonderful red? I love it in the fall. And yes, my kid is wearing his pants backward. You're not crazy. 

Back to the Sew Along wrap-up: I learned so much. I know next time the results will be even better. I want to jot down a quick list, for my reference and anyone else's. Here are some things I would do differently next time:

• Take more time cutting. I think my cutting was not 100% as accurate as it could be. 
• Use 3/8 inch -- or maybe even 1/2 inch -- seams. This is because I make such skinny little children. (Like, my 3-year-old weighs less than 30 pounds.) The shirt doesn't fit too badly honestly, but a slimmer cut would work well, too. 
• Try a fabric besides cotton. I love cotton for the ease in sewing and the fabulous patterns and for being the fabric I'm most comfortable working with. But I think it might be good to try a different textile for this shirt, especially for the main body pieces. 
• I'd follow Leila's lead and cut the shirt a little longer. I believe she did that by adding two inches or so to the main front panels, the side panels and the back. This would help not just to lengthen the shirt but to make my hemming issue a non-issue. 
• I'd add some top-stitching to the pockets and the collar. 
• I'd like to try buttons next time, if only because these snaps just aren't working for me! (And I realize the issue there is probably me.) After I took these photos, they all basically popped off. 
• My collar skills need work. This one is a little messy. 

If you want to make your own shirt and follow along with this Sew Along at some later point, here are all the posts you need.

• Day 1: Preparing your fabric and getting ready. Krista /Leila
• Day 2: Cutting. Krista//Leila
• Day 3: Preparing to sew. Krista ///// Leila
• Day 4: Assembling the shirt body. Krista/Leila
• Day 5: Assembling and attaching the yoke and sleeves. Krista/Leila
• Day 6: Assembling and attaching the collar.. Krista/Leila
• Day 7: Finishing touches(snaps and hem) and reveal. Krista / Leila

Also, here are a few links to some other relevant Web sites and resources.

Sewing for Boys: Official Web site
One Girl Circus: Blog of book author Karen LePage
Patterns by Figgy
Sewing for Boys Flickr Group

That's it! Thanks to anyone who followed along. :) I can't wait to try something else from this book. What should we do next?!

Henry Shirt Sew-Along, Day Five -- here she goes

Day Five, Henry Shirt Sew Along. This was a tough day for me! Tough but ultimately really satisfying, because everything works out. And by the end of this, your shirt is really allllmost a shirt. Miracle of mircales!

The agenda today is sewing together the yoke and sleeves. Ladies and gentlemen, can I say, until this day a "yoke" to me was always the pretty yellow inside part of an egg. Apparently, it also is what you call the upper back (and front?) part of a shirt, the part that connects the two sleeves. I figured that out a while ago, but I'd never sewn one before, and I'm just throwing it out there for anyone who is nearly as clueless as me. You're welcome.

So yoke and sleeves. I took many photos of the various steps (Steps 14 through 25 in the rad book Sewing for Boys) but the problem is this: I made a major mistake in this sewing round. I misread the diagram that shows how to pin and sew the yoke pieces to the bod. I actually misread the directions as well. My problem was I stopped stitching things together when I hit the seam on the underside of the arm.

Let me show you. 

SEE?!?!  This is where I stopped, leaving my front panels flapping in the breeze.

I don't know why I didn't get this. When rereading, I see that the diagram is really very clear, as are the directions. I guess it just comes down to never having made a garment like this, and to sewing at night or with kids running around. Distracted and clueless -- this is the result!

It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but I moved forward and stitched my arm holes together.

 

Then I took these photos, all proud of myself.

But yeah, the yoke front is still not attached. I thought that was happening at the same time that the collar would be sewn on.

It wasn't until I started work on that that I realized DUH I was supposed to stitch the whole yoke together. HAHAHA!  And I could no longer turn the shirt inside-out properly, because I'd closed up the arm holes.

Thank God for ye old seam ripper, my truest of true friends.

Ah, there. That's better.

Come back tomorrow when we'll attach the collar. And things don't go nearly as wrong there as you'd expect after this!

Don't forget to check in on Leila at Bilingual Baby. Her shirt is looking killer!

Henry Shirt Sew-Along, Day Three

Anyone out there sewing along with Leila and I? (We're making the Henry Shirt from the book Sewing for Boys.) I'd love to hear from you! Or, if you come across this at a later date, I'd love to hear that, too.

Onto day three!

Today is all about getting prepared for the major sewing. It's the section titled "Prepare the details" and includes steps No. 1-8.

If you do this section with a sense of focus, it shouldn't take long at all. If you do it like me -- while drinking wine, watching reruns of Sex and the City and Seinfeld, and using a needle meant for knits for quite a while before realizing that's why your thread keeps going all bonkers -- than, yeah, it might take a bit longer.

First on the list is ironing on your fusible interfacing. I used a Pellon light-weight fusible web found everywhere. Follow the instructions. Easy peasy.

First you iron it to the closure strips. 

Which you will then iron in half length-wise with wrong sides together. Then unfold and iron the non-interfaced length down, wrong sides together, a quarter inch. I had to be really mindful of that quarter inch, because if you have ever made your own bias tape, the instinct is to fold it all the way to the crease and then iron. Nope! Just a quarter inch.

Then you iron it onto the back of the upper collar.

Next, you're going to make an inverted box pleat on the back. This is where I got nervous and re-read the instructions 25 times. Because "inverted box pleat" is not something I do every day. First, I put the markings on my fabric. You can do this during the cutting stage, but I often do it like this. Once my fabric is cut, I lay it right on top of the pattern paper and use a water-erasing marker, folding the fabric down to make the line line up. Does that make sense?

Here you can see the full box where the pleat will form drawn on.

Next, following the diagram in the book, I pinched the fabric together, bringing the two sides of the box together. With right sides together.

Then I sort of flattened it down.

I flipped the fabric over to see how it was looking on the right side. This matched the diagram in the book fairly well, so I am hoping I got it right. Gulp!

I pinned it and pressed it.

Then put a few basting stitches (a stitch set to your longest stitch-length with no back sewing at the beginning or end) across the top and down two inches into the pleat.

So it looks like this. And I hope that's right!

Moving on, you'll press the pockets to form the top (make sure you have your fabric going the right direction if that's an issue for you!) Then you'll sew the bottom edge, right sides together.

Finally, you'll add the pockets to the side panels. One note: the instructions don't call for a top-stitch along the top of the pockets. I didn't add one, but I think it might look nice if you did! The pockets first get basted along the sides (stay inside the seam allowance!)

Then the bottom is edge-stitched in place. Edge stitching is just what it sounds like -- stitching that runs right along the edge.

And that's it for today!

Hope you're having fun! The shirt is really going to come together in the next day or two. Exciting, isn't it?

Henry Shirt Sew Along starting Friday!

Are you joining in the Henry Shirt Sew Along that's coming later this week? I hope so! Here are some details to get you prepared.

Leila from the blog Bilingual Baby and I will be tackling The Henry Shirt from the recently published book Sewing for Boys, starting on Friday! There's still time to join us. The book is available on Amazon.com, and it has great reviews, beautiful photos and many, many unique and detailed projects for a little boy's wardrobe. Plus, one of the authors is a metro Detroiter, so I gotta put that out there. 

Order the book, grab a couple yards of coordinating fabric, a little interfacing, and some snaps. Then you'll be good to go. Here's the (loose) schedule if you want to join! I'm going to do my best to stick with it, but you know how it is. Mommy life with a baby and a 3-year-old and a new position at work and a holiday next week -- there are all sorts of ways I could get off-track. But it's casual, right? Right.


Day 1: Getting started and talking fabric choices. Leila's also going to write about fit and adjusting for your child’s body. I will probably talk about how I'm intimidated. Yeah, I've never really sewn a nice, detailed garment for my kid before. It's going to be new for me.
Day 2: Cutting
Day 3: Prepping details and any catch-up.
Day 4: Assemble the body.
Day 5: Attach yoke and sleeves.
Day 6: Collar
Day 7: Finishing! And showing off your final shirt!

See? Very doable! I think you'd be able to participate if you have an hour to spare a day, and some days likely much less. So please join us! We'll have a link party ready to go for Friday where you can drop a link to your blog or flickr page if you're participating. 

Anyone in?

Matador costume hits the Halloween party circuit

We went to a big old party for kids with congenital heart defects on Saturday. It was quite the shebang.

That was just the dessert and decor. There was also a lunch buffet, a DJ and dance floor and a spooky trick-or-treat trail.

It was such a nice party, and totally free, put on by Hearts of Hope Michigan for its members. And of course, it meant our first run-through in the Halloween costume. Introducing, el Matador Luke!

Witness: the ribbon ripping out of his cape within the first hour of the party. I guess it's back to the sewing table with that one!

The costume came from a book called Cute and Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids. I snagged it from Border's going-out-of-business sale for $11. It was magic: I pulled it off the shelf and flipped it open and landed on the matador page. We'd been planning on having Luke be a matador since the spring -- and there was a blueprint for me! Magic!

Most of the work went into this little bedazzled vest. I had some major issues with it, mostly due to rushing. I didn't take my time measuring and cutting correctly. That's always a really stupid thing to do. When I started to put the vest together, it was too short and funky, things weren't lining up. I added length to it, and that's why the rick-rack doesn't go all the way to the bottom.

But it works, right? I had to add "Ole" to the back, just for fun.

A felt hat and tie -- super easy -- were the only other pieces I made. Well, and the satin cape. The black leggings and pink socks came from a Mom2Mom sale. Did you know matadors wear pink socks? They do! I'm sure everyone looks at his costumes and wonders why our little boy is wearing pink socks, but you have to be authentic as possible about these things.

This little guy? I'm not done with his costume. He'll be the bull, eventually. This weekend, he was a hot-dog. A hand-me-down from Luke.

I really want to eat this hotdog right up.

I guess I'll still make his bull costume. Because it'll make more sense when it's a matador and a bull, rather than a matador and his friend, the hotdog. Right?