Strollerderby : sewing

Presents for Cheap—If You Can Sew

Miriam Axel-Lute — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:37:00 GMT

Ah, the holiday presents frenzy in the midst of economic hard times. A lot of us are feeling the squeeze—what are we to do? The good folks over at You Can Make This are here to help—kind of.

Specifically, the DIY site has launched a Thrifty 50 challenge, where you can follow along the escapades of 50 cheapskate over-acheiving black-belts in crafts who each appear to have devoted an entire room of their house to a "stash" of fabric, ribbon, and assorted other craft materials, making it deceptively easy for them to whip out clothes, bookmarks, centerpieces, and "door hangers" for practically no cost. (Am I the only one who's never heard of "door hangers"? They appear to be little pillows hung from ribbons on your doorknob for some reason. I don't get it. See picture.)

To be fair, some of the simpler, more useful ideas they're churning out do seem within the reach of a mere mortal like me, and some even seemed fun, but I still have to admit to being skeptical of the "super-cheap yet Martha Stewart" ethos. First of all, where in the world do they find the time for this? And secondly, the gift lists many of the 50 are trying to fill seem to contain not only multiple kids, but extended lists of in-laws and even kids' teachers (really!).

In recognition of these, um, ambitious, obligations, apparently participants don't actually have to come in under $50 total, as long as "some portion" of their gifts are under $50. Which means . . . what, exactly? That you're at least spending under $50 per gift? With all that time put in, I sure hope so. Otherwise it's a bit like New York magazine's idea of cheap. To be fair, reported actual costs per project so far seem to mostly come in well under $5, not counting depleted "stash," so even if the rules are lenient, these folks do knw how to stretch a dollar.

As for me, I'm torn: I like the idea of handmade gifts, repurposing things you already have, and not feeling guilty over not buying expensive crap. And I love the feeling of having just the right thing for someone. I do expect to be cobbling together a few pieces of decidedly unfancy dollhouse furniture for my kid this year, and I might pick up a few other ideas from these sewing ninjas.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that hanging on to the idea that we need to have the perfect, special, professional-quality thing for everyone we know plus the mailman, even when we're broke, is less stressful or less distracting from enjoying the holiday season than the mall-warrior approach. To me, I think "thrifty" is going to mean downplaying the presents mandate to its proper, small, part of the festivities.

More by this author:

Crafty: Sack Up

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:00:00 GMT

There are some crafts that I hesitate to suggest because they require specialized equipment. Most folks don't have pinking shears or spirit gum or an orifice tool just hanging around the house. Still, I couldn't resist with these bags simply because they are so cute and useful.

Skip to My Lou walks you through the construction of these oilcloth lunch sacks. Yes, you do need a sewing machine -- you could hand-stitch but that seems overly tedious -- to whip these up. But the actual assembly is so easy and the result so satisfying that it's worth it.

As a bonus, oilcloth comes in all sorts of kicky options - and the resulting bags can hold more than just your lunch.

Photo credit: skiptomylou.wordpress.com

Strollerderby Playdate: Sew Dreamy

Amy Kuras — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:31:00 GMT

In my ongoing quest to find my inner Martha, I acquired as a Christmas gift this year a nice entry-level sewing machine.
Here's the problem. The only person I know who sews? My mother. I love her, but her teaching me things tends to reduce me to a bratty teen. I still don't like to think about what went down when she tried to teach me to drive a stick shift. Un-pret-TAY.

I took a sewing class a few years back, and have a couple nice, remedial-but-hip kind of books that don’t assume you’ve been doing this stuff since home ec (which I did not take). But being a blog addict, I needed more.

Too many sewing sites are either, um, a little retro, or they are done by high-end sewers who seems to have no idea this doesn't come super easy to a lot of us, nor do we novices want to spend $45/yard on fabric we're likely to screw up.

But I've found a few that are inspiring, cleverly written, or beautifully designed, and often all three.

Stitch Lounge is the online outlet for a sewing lounge in San Fransisco —a place where people can come, work on projects together, and use the kind of tool they might not want to carve out a space for in their small city apartments. This is a brilliant idea and I wish there was such a thing in my city. Add cocktails and/or coffee and childcare and I might move in.

Also proffering tutorials is Sew, Mama, Sew, on things like fitting patterns, and how to assess your learning style to make patterns easier to figure out.

Finally, A Dress A Day. I am such a sucker for dresses, and while most of Erin's dresses are way beyond my skill level, a girl can dream.

Now to find time to finish that dishtowel project….

Image: A Dress A Day

Strollerderby Playdate: Spring and Playclothes and Yogurt, oh my

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:00:00 GMT

There are playdates you have because your kids love their kids. There are those you have because you love the parents and can tolerate the kids. And there are those you have because the parents make the simplest things look fabulous. This is that sort of playdate.

Disdressed's Liesl -- yes, she does know her blog name is misspelled -- is a woman whose skill with a pair of scissors or a bowl of porridge is a thing of beauty. Not only is she a mom to a cutie-pie little girl, she also is a sewing dynamo who crafts kid patterns and sells them as Oliver + S.

Even if you aren't into the crafty thing, you can't help but fall for her New York neighborhood. Maybe "fall" isn't the right word. Perhaps it should be "live vicariously through while you briefly curse your luck that your home isn't quite as well curated."

Still, I like playdating with Ms L. -- even if I do it in hopes that her way with things will rub off on me.

Crafty: Cherished Kid Art

Adrienne Martini — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Like every other parent in the flippin' universe, I have a drawer full of kid art that I just can't part with. Problem is - it does me no good in a drawer where I can't see it but I don't know what else to do with it. I've framed bits of it as holiday gifts. I have a rotating gallery on the fridge and on a magnetic wall. Still, there are pieces I can't put in the trash with all of the kitty litter and coffee grounds because they are just too special.

I've heard rumors of crafty chicas who duplicate the art on quilts or t-shirts. While I think it's a fine idea, the process of copying of art to fabric eludes me. But Fiona at hop skip jump hit on a solution even I can do. Give fabric markers directly to the kids and cut out the middle man -- or, in this case, middle medium.

Since I don't own a fancy-schmancy sewing machine, I'll be embroidering by hand over the lines that my kids draw. And I'm thinking that some supervision with the markers will be required, lest we have a reprise of the "let's draw on the cat" incident. My oldest is almost to the age where she can do her own sewing, too, so I might be able to set up a little kid art sweat shop in my dining room. Despite those pesky child labor laws, I think I know what I may be doing when we're snowed in this weekend.

Crafty: Reversible Fabric-Scrap Headbands

Patti — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:08:00 GMT

This is the next project I'm going to take on, right here. When I saw Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio's take on these headbands, with their unmatched but totally perfect combinations of fabric, it reminded me of nothing more than my five-year-old's patient explanation of how "see, Mama, the red shirt has a little purple on the butterfly here, so I've got a blue skirt with a purple flower, and then my shoes are silver to match my barrette and my socks have green stripes because the purple flower on the skirt has green leaves. THAT'S matching". Why not encourage that kind of creative thinking with headbands like this?

The full tutorial is here, and do you really need a rotary cutter to make these? I'll find out soon enough, 'cause I'm a scissors girl. And I'm off to pick through my scrap basket, and to sort through the too-stained-to-give-away clothes and pick out the coolest fabrics.

Crafty: Saving Blankie from the Ravages of Time

Patti — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:53:00 GMT

Most of us, sooner or later, are going to have to face the imminent demise of our child's favorite blanket (or whatever they've chosen to destroy with the power of their love). Can you fix a blankie and have it still be Blankie when you're through with it? You can, and someone has. Somewhere there's a kid named Rachel with a very nice Aunt Jan whose blanket restoration has been documented at Be*mused.

You don't have to be a skilled quilter to take on the task of repairing a lovey. You really just need to be patient, consult with the kid to make sure you're not crossing any lines that would alter the soul of the , and put a whole lotta love into the project. And maybe use a thimble, if you don't want to put a whole lotta blood into the project too—blanket and stuffed animal fabric isn't always easy to push a needle through.

Crafty: Frankentoys!

Patti — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:37:00 GMT

I'm all about Ugly Dolls and their ilk, or at least I was until they turned out to be totally ubiquitous, mass produced, and overpriced. Here's a better way to satisfy the misfit-toy urge: take a page from Toy Story and do a little bit of surgery on your stuffies. Especially well-suited for damaged or handmedown toys (the originals were put together out of chewed-up dog toys), creating a Frankentoy doesn't require much other than a needle, thread, and some imagination.

Crafty: Everyone Needs a Smocket!

Patti — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:28:00 GMT

It's a smock. It's got pockets. It's a smocket! Alicia at The Mayfly whipped this up from a vintage pattern, which you can download here. You can size it up or down (I'd take the pattern to Kinko's and just let the copy machine do the work on that one). Use it to protect clothes during art projects and cooking, or use it for everyday wear. Make it reversible, make it thick and plushy for a winter vest, make it in a single layer of light fabric for a little girl's summer top or pinafore. The smocket's your oyster!

Avoid Lead By Making (or Buying) Homemade Toys

Karen Murphy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:32:00 GMT

We gave you a pretty long list the other day of great toys you can buy that don't contain lead and aren't made in China, but what about making your own? Or, failing that, buying toys someone else made? I have some ideas about both.

First, if I can learn to knit so can you. And what if your first projects were 1.) easy, 2.) pretty quick to make, and 3.) resulted in actual toys your actual kids would actually like to play with? A winner, huh? Then get this book. Don't be put off by the title; so what if it's a kid's book? That's the beauty of it! I learned to knit from this book and so can you, plus with it you can make a horse or a pig or a lion.

Next, what about other toys? Do you sew? Then you need Sewing Tiny Toys. With it you can sew little cats, giraffes, monkeys, parrots, penguins, almost any animal imaginable (armadillo? why, yes!).

Um, so what if you don't sew and you're convinced that knitting needles will somehow stab you in the eye of their own accord? So you give up and go buy some awesome handmade toys, that's what! You can't go wrong starting over at Etsy. Want more? This article had a great-sounding site to link to but I couldn't enter it; maybe you can.

Got any toy-making ideas to share? Or handmade toy-buying ideas?

Crafty: Getting Bibby With It

Patti — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:25:00 GMT

Since bibs have been added to the list of Things Full Of Lead Which Will Kill Your Baby, this bib-making tutorial from Amy at Happy Things is a timely part of the whole "OMG Now What Do I Feed My Baby With???" zeitgeist, only softer and cuddlier than a steel sippy cup.

A quick and easy project that you can remake endlessly in millions of fabric combinations (it's reversible!) and that will lend itself beautifully to recycled/repurposed fabrics, you could become a bib-making expert after whipping out a couple of these babies and have your baby-shower-gift requirements squared away for the foreseeable future.

(via Craft, thanks to Amy for the image)

Strollerderby Playdate: More Crafyliciousness

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:02:00 GMT

You know you want it. With all your free time and energy and creativity that's been left untapped after you've spent all morning singing Barney's greatest hits and trying to figure out ways your kids can turn the contents of your wallet into some kinds of educational toy while you have an adult conversation with the teenager behind the counter at Starbucks. Here's a few bits plucked out of the blogo to give you the inspiration you need (the babysitter and fabric glue are not included):

Scrapgasm is just the right mix of sessiness and scrapiness. How could you not love that?! If I weren't so lazy, I would totally get this challenge going.

DIY Life's done all the work while we sit around and ooh and ahh. Their ten best craft sites is sure to inspire, or at least glance in the direction of your hole punches and rolls of ribbon and think about one day maybe using them again when the kids have finally left for prom and the house is quiet for more than four minutes at a time.

Scrappy Sketches and Ideas by Shanna reveals the mystery behind making beautiful books full of family memories (as opposed to stuffing them in a box that you shove in the closet to deal with after...yup...prom).

Adam Knits hats for his dogs and intersperses yarn talk with tequila quotes. I kid you not.

If you're not feeling like the glitterati yourself, you can always stop by Crafty Mama Creations to drool (I love these purses so much, I'd almost be willing to put a few PullUps and a paci in them if I could have one).

And let us not forget our own needle maven Mike, who makes stuff like this, wielding a machine like no other man we've seen (be careful with our hearts, man).

Crafty: Let Hello Kitty Inspire You To Sew

Patti — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:25:00 GMT

My general distaste for character-driven merchandise kind of trails off right at the shores of Japan, because that's where Hello Kitty lives. I'm a sucker for a mouthless feline, what can I say?

So I'm excited about this Hello Kitty sewing machine. It's well-priced, it's produced by Janome, a well-known and highly respected manufacturer of high-end sewing equipment, and if the Kitty didn't get me, the cherries would. It's definitely bare-bones (not a lot of complicated stitch types) but it's totally uncomplicated, perfect for a total newbie and ideal for a child, especially if you're not entirely comfortable using your own machine as a teaching tool. And it'll look adorable as it sits patiently on the table because you're too lazy to put it away when you're done hemming curtains.

There's a slightly, and I do mean slightly fancier model available, but I wouldn't say that the few additional features are worth the extra cost. Plus, no cherries. When you (or your kids) are ready for more power, you can go big.

I'm pretty sure I know what my kid's getting for her birthday this fall. Maybe she can start making her own damn Barbie clothes.

Ecofriendly Crafts: Turn Your Kids' Clothes into Cute Totes

Patti — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:27:00 GMT

It's been a week and a day since the last time I posted an idea from Craft Chi (are you saving your wine corks? I am!). If she keeps up the pace I may have to put her on my payroll, because this is another excellent idea for people with an excess of adorable clothing that's no longer wearable.

This tote is made out of a girl's dress (and includes an optional section made of quilted fabric, but you wouldn't need to bother with that). Think of it: all those dresses that you're too sentimental to part with, just gathering mildew in a box in the garage. Why the heck would you not make one or two or twelve into a handbag? She uses contrasting fabric for the binding, but you could use a sash or store-bought trim, or a piece of another item of clothing, or whatever you want.

I love that it's handmade, I love that it's an automatic keepsake, and I love that it repurposes something that may otherwise sit unused in obscurity for decades. Guess what all the grandmas and aunties are getting for the holidays this year.

(photo from Craft Chi)

Linklove: Tell Your Kid To Sew It

Patti — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:00:00 GMT

My crush on Mia at One Hour Craft is fierce, and it just got hotter with this post: lesson one in How To Teach Your Child To Sew.

She so carefully outlines the steps, with pictures (of an actual kid, so you know it's really possible), that I'm practically salivating to get my girls off to the fabric store and then up and running. Oh, you think ages four and two-and-a-half are too young to sew? Well, you're wrong. Erin at A Dress A Day profiled a three-and-a-half year old last summer who did most of the grunt work on her very own dress.

So when your mother used to tell you she made all her own clothes by the sixth grade, she probably wasn't shitting you.

LinkLove: Sock Monkeys A-Go-Go!

Patti — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:00:00 GMT

There's this basket next to my dryer where I put all the socks that come out of the wash without their mates. Once exiled to the Island of Misfit Socks is to be forever exiled; the matches never surface. I remain an eternal optimist and a frequent purchaser of new socks. But it being a new year and all, I think it's time to face reality and empty the damn basket.

And as always, the blogosphere comes through with perfect timing: via whipup, the Sock Monkey Tutorial. The folks at Super Sock Monkey also sell socks, if you somehow have no mismatches or if you're really into the traditional red-heel sock look, and they sell pre-made sock monkeys too, if you have a sock monkey urge but aren't inclined to make one. As for myself, I'm all about the colorful versions as pictured to the right (web-goddess's monkey via craftbits). web-goddess's own tutorial is here, and don't miss her sock monkey tribute to Brokeback Mountain. Once you see it, you won't be able to quit it.

It's settled: I'm setting up a sweatshop and teaching the kids to shove batting into tails. It remains to be seen whether this will be considered a great honor or a terrible punishment.

Cover Your Butt: Four Sustainable Ways to Pants Your Kid

Patti — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:03:00 GMT

My girls are deep into a dresses-only phase--at least, my four year old Molly is, and 2.5 year old Daisy just wants to do whatever Molly does. So even though I'm a little skirtsy myself, I sometimes find myself fighting pants envy.

Katurah of Luckybeans started me down the road today with her beach pants tutorial. As a devoted teeshirt surgeon, I am always relieved to find a new way to chop up old dot.com freebies, and when it's a kidcentric project it's even better (how many halter tops do I really need?).

I love the idea of these soft, comfortable shorts and can't wait for summer (although, who am I kidding? I'll be making beach skirts). But what with the weather outside being frightful and all, I had to hunt down some winter warmth.

Kath's pants instructions at her Handy Home Projects blog (currently not updated, but you can find her posting at whipup.net) are easy enough for a novice seamster to follow. At right, Whitney of rookiemoms shows off a successful version of Kath's pants pattern made from a recycled teeshirt (hey, maybe I don't have to wait for summer to burn a few shirts!).

Michelle at Green Kitchen serves up some wicked cute trousers made from the arms of old sweaters--cute, cozy, and environmentally sound.

I think these might pass girlie-girl muster in my house, since they could almost pass as the only type of pant with the Four Year Old Girl Stamp of Approval (that would be yoga pants, because Molly has apparently gone Hollywood). Make them from 100% wool sweaters and they're also great covers for cloth diapered kids. So, if the Doctor Huxtable sweater Aunt Jane sends for Chanukah this year just "happens" to get shrunk in the laundry...

And the pants de résistance?: Tammie at Head Full Of Pixies empowered her son Jack to design his own underpants. Now that, I think my little skirts will buy.