Rapunzel’s Hair

First part of Sophie’s costume is done. And it’s not even Halloween Day yet! Wait, not totally done – I still have to trim the bangs/pony/fringe and tack the braid in place. And decide if we’re cutting off the stuff that drags on the ground… or pinning it up?

Materials used:

• 7 oz Red Heart Super Saver yarn, color: Cornmeal
• old adult T-shirt

A few photos and quick comments of what I did…

Cut one sleeve off T-shirt. Running stitch, pulled tight and knotted, gathers the sleeve opening to make a crude cap.

For the bangs/fringe: Wrapped the hair, put tape on one edge, cut the other.

Sewed along center of tape.

Pulled off the tape and sewed the center of the bangs (where I just sewed) to the edge of the cap. Swept all the strands forward (so half of them are folded over the stitched seam).

For the long hair: Same as for the bangs, except a lot longer. I made the cardboard jagged at one end so there would be “layers” in the finished hair. Thought that would make a tapering braid, if I braided the whole thing. If I were to do it over, I would have probably made it all one length…

Scrunched the yarn at one edge together until it was about the width of the wig base from front to crown. Put packing tape on this edge.

Sewed down the middle again.

Sewed yarn to wig base. I’m wishing I had put the “part” off-center instead of smack down the middle. But then again, another year we can just add some tie dye and bell bottoms and have a flower child wig. : )

Poll was taken regarding “curly” or straight bangs. Straight won out, so under the iron it went.

Since the hair was only attached at the center top “part”, if it swung forward or back, the white cap was visible. If I’d wanted to spend more time and yarn on this (which I didn’t), I would have make some more hair to add under the hair already on here. Two or three rows, probably. But instead, to keep the hair where it belongs, I smoothed the hair down, put more tape (from one ear, around the back, to the other ear), pinned the taped hair to the cap (all while Sophie was wearing the wig), and then sewed over the tape and hair.

So the braid is not just for decoration; it also covers that second line of stitching.

Next on the list: the tower…

SEWING :: The Anna-phant, Part 1

The project for my baby niece Anna did not get finished before I saw her in August. Didn’t even get started beyond Sophie helping me pick the fabrics and me starting to draw out a pattern.

So now it’s my “I have a few minutes, let’s see how I can move forward” craft activity. And rather than wait til it’s all done (which is hopefully before Dec. 25), I’ll show some bits and pieces as I go.

By the way, this was NOT all done in one sitting.

I’ll cut into the real stuff once I know my pattern will work.

First version of trunk did NOT work. Despite my profuse pinning…

…and slow sewing,

… connecting a totally straight piece to a massively curvy piece was NOT going to result in a pretty trunk.

Jury’s still out on whether Trunk Attempt #2 will work; I’ll know more once I stuff the thing properly.

My respect for people who regularly make critters out of tiny pieces has skyrocketed! Trying to pin a tiny circle into a tiny tubular leg was near impossible…

…until I realized an acrylic paint bottle was just the right size to squish into the leg and give it some rigidity so I could get some pins where they needed to be. : )

Oh, and also helpful was cutting some of my 1/2” seam allowance away before sewing. What was I thinking leaving that amount on there?!? Way too much fabric!

[cue abrupt ending]

Well, that’s all for now.

BLOG :: Out with the Grey–In with the Autumn-y

Isn’t it funny how you sometimes love something and then grow to hate it? Well, maybe I didn’t ever love my grey with red flowers background but ugh I certainly don’t like it anymore.

And once I had changed the background, the header looked so empty, so I changed that too…

There are lots of online tutorials explaining how to change or add a “tiled” background in Blogger, so I won’t explain it all here again.

But some great websites I used along the way are listed below:

I made the yellow background image at bgpatterns.com

If I want to have stripes next time, I’ll go to stripegenerator.com

And I could even create a plaid using my very own color choices at tartanmaker.com

(I think these would also be a fun place for digital scrapbookers to make their own backgrounds…)

Once I made the image and downloaded it to my computer, I still had to get it onto the Web somewhere so that I could add the link to my Blogger template. Enter the tinypic.com website.

You upload a photo, tinypic stores is online and gives you a short address right to it, for example: http://i54.tinypic.com/zwepzs.jpg

So then under the Blogger Dashboard – Design – Edit HTML, I just had to find the body { section and add the link address to the background url.

Enjoy making your very own backgrounds. I sure do!

SEWING : : Nursing Cover Thank-You Gift

Another gift for my friend who loves brown and orange…

Recently I went camping---in a tent!---for the first time in about 25 years, and this friend hooked me up with all the “essentials” I was missing: tent, tarp, camping pad, sleeping bag, nice Columbia jacket with “pit vents,” socks, headlamp, and more!

So when she mentioned she’d love to have a nursing cover, I knew just what to do!

I found these fun fabrics in the remnant bins, one yard each. Hooray – more than enough for this project with some leftover for another…

As before, I used quadruple-folded felt instead of boning; but this time, I made it 14” instead of 16” long. I also changed the strap configuration, attaching the D-rings to a strap I cut to be 16” (so it’s about 13.5” after being sewn). So now, to tighten, a mom can pull the other strap down, instead of having to pull it upwards behind her head. Only thing I’m worried about: after a certain point, you can’t pull it any tighter. (See in the photo below how the D-rings are pulled down right next to the edge of the cover?) Perhaps after using it a few weeks, my friend can tell me if it’s working well or not…

And when she’s done with nursing, she could drop it off, let me make a few cuts here, a few new seams there, and she could have a cute apron!

P.S. I really don’t purposely match my outfits to my finished projects but I like that it keeps happening…

How does she do it all?

I ask that a lot, about many of the women I encounter – both online and in real life. Sometimes, I am happy for them and their accomplishments. Other times, I can get a bit down. Envious. Sad. Even resentful. Bitter.

(Note: photo has nothing to do with post content; just pretty filler.)

And then people ask it of me. Especially after they’ve read this blog  or seen something else I’ve made or done.

“How do you do it all?”

Short answer: I don’t.

Beauty of a blog is I get to pick what’s in it. So I talk about the good stuff and don’t openly share the bad. But it’s there. Oh, it certainly is! My weaknesses. Failures. Mistakes. Shortcomings.

You don’t believe me?

Well, I could start listing stuff, but it’s a depressing list... Just imagine your worst day and think about how you felt. I feel that same exact way on a regular basis.

Recently, I’ve been changing the question.

“She seems to be doing what is most important to her and what she is good at. How can I do the same?”

And that’s one reason I haven’t posted since August. Other things have pushed blogging, and even “making stuff,” way down on the list. But I do miss it. So will try something new:

• Make stuff when I can, but not if it requires:
• overusing a mindless activity that keeps my children out of my hair,
• conveniently forgetting that we need to eat every day,
• wading through household debris on the way to my sewing machine,
• in general, abdicating my various responsibilities.
• Limit blogging (writing, uploading photos, fiddling with blog design, etc) to 15-minutes a day. 

I’m way over that time limit for today. Oops. So to end, how about another random photo?