Off the Clock

  S (just turning 5yo): 21" waist, 18" inseam to bottom of ankle B (will be 3yo in March): 19" waist, 13" inseam to ankle D (just turned 1yo): 18.5" waist, 10" inseam to ankle I love the idea of sewing for the grandkids, but in reality they grow so fast that it is hard to justify the time and effort that goes into a home made outfit.  I just received some new supplements for my Lutterloh collection and one of them was chosen simply because of a child's basic dress pattern.  Working with Lutterloh you only use the chest or hips sizes to lay out the pattern, but I only had on hand the girls' waist sizes.  I decided to look up what Simplicity has for sizing guides.  I think I can work with this.  I have the girls' measurements from their Christmas jammie pants (above) but they are all already like capris so I know the girls have grown since then.  I think I will add an inch to the waist measurements as well as to back waist measurements as they ar...

  I finished the chair pad covers and love the combination of the blue and brown fabrics so much that I decided to make a coordinating tea cozy.  I found a youtube tutorial  to get me started and bought an applique embroidery pattern to go on it.  There are four layers; the outer skin, a layer of batting, a layer of insulate fabric and the lining.  I used the feather fabric of the applique cup for the lining.  I can't believe how well it works!  I can make a pot of tea and two hours later the tea is still warm.  So it is functional while brightening up my kitchen.  That's the best type of project!

  I bit the bullet, pulled on my big girl panties and had another go at a Bionic Gear Bag.  I struggled with the first one I made but I've got a lot more experience with quilting and binding since then, plus I've found helpful videos for a similar bag on Youtube to hold my hand through the process.  In all the years since I made the first bag the designer never did make the videos available that she frequently mentioned, although some folks have said that she later charged another membership fee to make them available.  I have no idea about the helpfulness of those videos (if they actually were made available) but these videos from other folks definitely helped; this bag turned out MUCH better. I've been on a quilting binge so I though this could be a small scrappy stash buster.  I quilted the outer skin this time.  That is one of the questions I couldn't get a response from the designer first time around, so instead I learned from my experience of makin...