Making it work

Sometimes there are difficulties and hurdles to life and you just have to figure out a way to make it work. Tenacity, patience and creativity almost always win the day. If you can't figure out a way, think outside the box. Create something that works for everyone. Compromise.

Such is the way with Chey's wardrobe (What? You thought I was going to get serious or something?). Chey doesn't care about clothes. She doesn't like dresses, she doesn't like skirts.... and she hates princesses and frilly, girly things. I, on the other hand, had a daughter for a reason, damn it! She was to be my little dolly to dress as I pleased. She was going to wear all manner of frilly, girly items and she and I would be best friends, shopping for accessories, getting manicures and facials and gossiping over lunch.

She had other plans, however, and I had to learn to adapt (she does like shopping, but not for clothes. She loves antique stores though! ) I look for clothes that meet both of our criteria and sometimes she gets her way (her way is a souvenir T-shirt and jeans and she's got quite a few t-shirts that have deadly creatures on them) and sometimes I get my way (a toned down version of my way, anyway... I don't want her to hate me, or clothes).

And so, I was thrilled when I found a shirt in Anthropologie that was covered in foxes (her newest animal obsession .... she always picks the fringe animals to be obsessed with. Things that are hard to find in girl clothing. I have yet to find a shark on a girl's shirt, or a dinosaur...at least not on a non-souvenir type shirt.) I thought it might make a cute tunic/dress for her and so I bought it.

It was perfect and she loved it.... except the neckline was WAY to big and it kept falling off her shoulder which is not appropriate for a seven year old.

Sad girl with a too big top

So I finally fixed it yesterday with my new sewing machine. I added a shirred band to the front and sewed in some elastic to the back. This was my first attempt at shirring and I think it turned out OK. I used elastic thread in the bobbin and had to futz with the sewing machine to make it work, but voila!

Cute, well fitting top...

Shirring on the front

A great compromise... which really means "I figured out how to trick you so that I can get my way," but don't tell anyone, especially not my kids or hubby.....

What just happened??

I've been a very busy girl, since last I wrote.....


When I walked into my house last Sunday, I was struck by all of the things that I've been ignoring. The disorganized mess of the mud/laundry room (room is a bit generous... it's more like a walk in closet leading from the garage to the rest of the house), the state of the carpeting upstairs (I'm pretty sure it is original to the house which was built in 1997 and it's gross), Chey's disused "playroom", Chey's crowded bedroom, the fact that, aside from some small changes, we have not painted since we moved in and the ENTIRE house needs a paint job..... in other words, I lost my marbles and went, for a lack of a better term....completely off the rails.... and Dale let me (not that he could stop me, mind.... when I get like that, the best thing you can do is smile and nod and hang on for the ride......). I immediately dropped my bags  and got to work.... my first goal.... making Chey's room a little less crowed.

My plan for Chey's room was to move the two tall Pax wardrobes from Ikea into her "playroom" which I would then convert into my studio (leaving her toy area intact). This would allow for more space in her room and more storage in mine. I then planned to buy her either a captain's bed or a loft bed. After a quick perusal of various sources of children's furniture I decided to check Kijiji and found a solid maple loft bed with an included dresser for super cheap and the plan was born......

Chey's room Before: (this is really before.... like way back when she moved from a crib to a bed... I've reorganized her room several times since; you can't really see how crowded her room was, so you'll have to trust me). It had the two Pax wardrobes, plus a desk and a bookcase and that ugly fan... I hate ceiling fans! There was only a narrow alley between the bed (which was against the wall at this point) and the rest of the furniture.

Chey's room Now:

Much better, eh??

In case you were wondering what I did UNDER The bed.... I made it a little library and attached some book slings, that I made, to the bed frame. I also made a book sling for beside her bed.

Under the bed

The end of the underbed area

Bedside Sling

I made the slings after being inspired by THIS tutorial, although I didn't follow it at all. I used a double curtain rod set (it was cheaper than buying all the parts separately like she recommends in the tutorial), but the downside of using a double curtain rod bracket is that the book sling can't carry as many books because the rods only sit an inch apart (a problem for fatter books). I'm not sure how this could be solved, but it's something to consider if you make your own book slings. Perhaps off-set, single brackets or extended arms or something..... The fabric was purchased at Ikea and I still have a bit of the bug material which I plan on using to make a body pillow to replace the flip chair that is currently under there (it takes up too much room).

The other big craft project that I did to make the room tidier and roomier, was to make a stuffy storage thing-a-ma-jig (it's a stuffy jail, there is no better way to describe it, I'm afraid). I was inspired 

by a stuffy Zoo that I found online, but decided to try to make one myself. I re-purposed a VHS storage cabinet that my Mom made for me in the late '90s that has sat empty since we converted, first to DVDs, and then to Digital movies. I didn't want to get rid of the cabinets though (they are solid pine and my Mommy made them) so I've been lugging them around for a years.

First I took off the doors and installed a dowel.

Then I stained the entire thing green (Chey's favourite colour)

Then I took a hammer and expressed some lingering frustration in a most satisfying manner...... this is known in DIY circles as "antiquing"

I then added hooks and bungie cords

And made this pile of stuffies (which were contained in TWO overflowing, pop-up laundry bins)

Look like this.....

Now that Chey's room is done... I can move onto my studio...... which currently looks like the place where our extra crap goes to die (it was tidy before Chey's room was demolished, but I have no photographic evidence to support this statement). I should paint first, but I can already feel the urge to skip that part setting in..... must resist?

Zoological and a new knitting pattern

Immediately following the release of my last knitting pattern Mesh Panel Tee, I decided to downsize it and release it as a child's pattern. This was accomplished over a month and a half ago with only a final edit holding me back from publishing. And so it sat..... and sat and SAT... until FINALLY, today, I did the final editing (basically a spell check and some measurement conversions) and got it published on Ravelry (link to buy at the bottom).  I'm not sure why I didn't finish it before, but there you are.

The main purpose of this post is to show off the skirt I made for Chey. I've mentioned (many times) that my daughter is not very girly, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. She hates pink and loves green? I knit her an acid green skirt (Silly Frilly). She hates Barbies and Princesses... how about a Zombie Mermaid?? (check out the shirt in the picture linked for the skirt)?? I sneak in the girly in every way I can...nail polish, feathers for her hair, ladybug shirts, butterfly shirts, animal shirts with lots of sparkles. The result is that we're both happy. She gets her way and so do I.  It was with this happy medium in mind that I found a cute skirt tutorial on Pinterest and somehow stumbled onto the most perfect fabric at The Purl Bee. It's a black and white printed fabric with every imaginable animal: from ants, to crocodiles to zebras, to dolphins to rhinoceroses. I started it last week and finished it today. I didn't end up following the tutorial at all, it was more my inspiration, but look at the result.....

I interrupted video games for a photo shoot. She hides her mood well, no?

It's a very simple skirt to sew. I cut three strips of fabric, each twice as long as the last (the longest piece was two strips sewn together) and did a double fold hem on both the top and bottom of each piece. I threaded a piece of elastic through the top hem of the shortest piece and sewed it down on each edge. I then sewed each of the longer strips with the fold to the OUTSIDE of the fabric so that it would ruffle slightly above the ribbon trim. I created the ruffle by pinning the fabrics together in 1/8th sections and then bunched the excess between the pins as I sewed the pieces together. I then sewed a length of grosgrain ribbon over the ruffle seams and finally, sewed the whole thing together down one side..... Another win for the both of us.....

If you'd like to buy the pattern for the top she's wearing... It's my latest: Mesh Panel Tee: Child (perhaps I should try to use my imagination to come up with something more interesting for the next one??)

DIY: Adjustable waist

Eli is small. OK....... that may be a slight exaggeration, sort of like saying an elephant is big. Eli is tiny. He is 10.5 years old and is about the size of a very slight eight year old. This causes me nothing but problems when I go shopping for pants (don't get me started on swim suits and shorts!) because most clothing manufacturers make their clothing for average sized kids and "average" is getting larger all the time. Some manufacturers do make adjustable waist jeans, but that seems to fade out of usage in the size 10 & up range....... Yes, I can buy the super-skinny type jeans (which are still way too big), but how many pairs of skinny jeans does a kid need??? And non-skinny legged jeans are difficult to find in a slim fit that is actually slim enough that the waist doesn't bunch and create it's own fanny pack in the back of the pant. So, once I find a brand that isn't terrible, I buy it. Unfortunately,  they all require belts and Eli hates belts...... which is why I decided to try to make my own adjustable waist for him. This only really works if you only need to take in 2-3 inches of the waist... more than that and I think you'd need to alter the waist first. The jeans in the photo below were altered originally, by removing the waist band and putting pleats along the inside of the front pockets (I removed about 3-4 inches of waist that way and left a couple of inches just-in-case). Also, I should mention that I am not much of a seamstress which means anyone can do this.....

Here are 2 of the 4 pairs that I added waistbands to. I'm thrilled about this because swimsuits don't usually adjust AT ALL and he ends up wearing a size 4 or 5 so they stay up (which look ridiculous because they are too short).

First I measured between the two side belt loops. 

Then I cut a length of soft flannel with a slight seam allowance and 2 and a bit inches of depth. Enough for a seam allowance on top and bottom and enough so the bottom part could be sewn right below the waistband of the jeans. I then sewed the two ends down. 

Next, I pinned the flannel with the flannel right side to the inside top of the waistband and sewed through along the top seam of the waist band from the outside. I found I had better control of the pant this way, than if I had sewn the flannel side up. I carefully "walked" my sewing machine over the belt loops along the seam that was already there (I skipped the bottom belt loops or they would have been half the depth). 

 Once that was complete, I ironed the flannel down and folded the bottom hem of the flannel under (and ironed it) so that it would be sewn as close to the bottom of the waistband (but not on the waistband) as possible. I also sewed this portion from the outside of the pants (once it was pinned down) and skipped over any belt loops (you could removed the belt loops and sew them back down, but I thought a quick hand seam where I skipped would be faster).

 I tried to either partially remove and then restitch the back "brand patch" or like these, follow the existing stitch line (not well).

Here is the hole from skipping the belt loops, this I just hand stitched closed....

I then sewed in a pair of buttons and threaded some maternity elastic that I found at Walmart for under $2.....

Voila! Adjustable waist pants that actually get worn......