A Mini Minnie Skirt

We welcomed a new nephew to the world recently, and he is fortunate enough to have an adorable big sister.  Becoming a big sister can be a rough transition, so the boys and I set out to find something just for her.  A trip to Target yielded some adorable Minnie Mouse socks, and a Minnie Mouse board book.   They were sweet, but seemed to be lacking something.  After a bit of brainstorming, Clark and I decided that the Big Sis needed a polka dotted skirt to wear with her socks.

Joann's had the perfect pink and white polka dot cotton fabric, so we snatched up 1/3 yard of pink and white dot, and white on white dot for a lining.

I modified the Buttercup Skirt, to fit a 2 year old, skipped the paper bag waist, and the minnie mouse skirt was complete.

A simple serged rolled hem, repeated the pink, and made for a fun contrast hem.

The skirt fits a 24 month old, and hits just above the knee. The skirt is really full, which any Minnie Mouse skirt should be.

Here are the basic dimensions: (24 months)

Lining: 2 panels 9.25"x21.5"
Skirt: 2 panels 9.25"x21.5"
Elastic for waistband: 19.5"

You can find the full Buttercup Skirt tutorial here.

Thanks for reading.  Happy sewing.

Captain America Shield

Clark celebrated his third birthday at the beginning of October.  I wanted to make him some gifts that would keep him entertained and promote imaginative play.  I decided to make some dress up props.  Being a three year old boy he is obsessed with super heroes.

I decided that a Super Man cape, and a Captain America shield would be fun for him.  He loves them.  I just wish that I could keep him from throwing the shield like Captain America does.

The shield is my own design, and I was in such a hurry to finish up the projects that I didn't make a full tutorial, but I'll share some basic details to help you create your own.

I used craft felt for all of the exterior material, doing so means that you don't have to finish off any edges, but it also means that it is going to show wear more.

The shield has an interior layer of peltex (a rigid interfacing often used in bags), and a layer of cardboard for rigidity.  If you were wanting to save money and use only cardboard I'd recommend three layers at a minimum.  The cardboard (single layer) has bent as the shield has been used to fight off villains. In front of the cardboard I used some shredded plastic bags for stuffing. The plastic bags help cushion the shield and give it a slightly domed appearance.

On the back of the shield I attached two bands of felt (double thickness).  The bands are used for holding the shield, and were attached prior to sewing the front and back pieces of the shield together.

The shield could obviously be made any dimensions, but my shield is 16" in diameter, and the cardboard inside is probably a half inch smaller than that.

For the front of the shield I created a printable for the center ring and star.   I then cut out a red circle that was 3" larger in diameter than the blue, and attached the blue circle.  Each underlying circle is 3" larger than the layer attached to the top. When sewing it together I started with the star and worked my way down layer by layer, by doing it this way I only ever had to sew through two layers of felt at a time.

If you want to make your own you can find my printable file here.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm sure that I left out some details.

Clark loves his new toys, and wants to wear all of his props at one time.  The dinosaur tail was blogged about here.

Dress Up: Super Why Halloween Costume

I just finished up Clark's Halloween costume.  Phew, it is such a relief to have it done.  I'd hoped to make it prior to Miles' arrival, but that didn't happen.  Thankfully, I was able to purchase the materials before Miles' birth. Last week when my mom was at my house helping out I got the pattern drafted and the pieces cut out.  I've spent all of this week stealing small chunks of time to come up with the costume.

We threw around several costume ideas this year.  This is the first year that Clark has had a strong opinion.  Initially he was set on being Thomas the train.  I really had no idea how I'd tackle that one, so with a bit of persuasion we sold him on Super Why.  For those of you that aren't familiar with the character, Super Why! is a PBS character that has the power to read.  Clark really enjoys the show, and I don't feel guilty about letting him watch it.  Clark also loves super heroes, so this seemed like it would be a good fit, and the costume seemed doable.

The costume consists of a sparkly green glitter foam mask, a shiny blue cape, green leggings, a green and blue top, and blue briefs with an attached yellow belt. I used a pair of tight fitting pajamas to draft the top and the leggings.  The cape is my own design, and the mask was also. I really love how the costume turned out.   We still need to come up with a Why writer, and add some lightening bolts to his shoes, but I think that I'll wait on those, otherwise they'll be destroyed before the big night.  

My only complaints are that the shirt is a bit too short and doesn't stay tucked in like I'd like it to, the orbits on the appliques are sloppy due to too much material to stitch through, and the mask is a little wonky, but all in all I like it.

 and if you can't tell....

...Clark loves it.

 I love my little super hero.  

Are you making costumes this year?  If so, what?

Dress Up: Polka Dot Dinosaur Tail

Jess of Running With Scissors, offers a fantastic tutorial for a dinosaur dress up tail for kids.  Clark just celebrated his third birthday, and I thought that some imaginative dress up props would be perfect for him.  

I followed Jess's tutorial, and came up with my own polka dotted felt version.  I used only materials I had on hand, which made it very economical.  I used my Accuquilt Go! Baby with my circle die cuts to cut out the polka dots.  My Go! Baby definitely saved me lots of time (click here for the giveaway).

I personalized the dinosaur tail by stitching the year and love mom on a couple of polka dots on the inside of the tail.

One thing that I wish I'd done differently is the spikes.  The two layers of felt provide it with quite a bit of rigidity, but I wish that I'd topstitched the edges to hold them in position better.

I mentioned that I used only materials that I had on hand, and that includes the filling.  Rather than using a poly fill, which can be a bit pricey, I stacked up plastic grocery sacks and used my rotary cutter to cut them into strips.  I then used all of the plastic strips to tightly fill the dinosaur tail.  There is a bit of a crinkling sound when Clark straps on the tail, but he doesn't mind one bit and either does my pocket book.

Clark loves his new dinosaur tail, and if I don't happen to finish up his Halloween costume in time, this would be a perfect back up.  What dress up props do you have in your home?  I'm thinking that a box of props is going to help beat cabin fever come winter.

Remember that there are just a couple more days to enter the accuquilt Go! baby giveaway.  Also, starting Monday of next week I'll  be kicking off Top-toberfest, so gather all of the links to your top and tee creations so that you can link them up to the party.

Thanks for reading.