a dolly for beezus

Beezus has been asking me to make her a rag doll for as long as I can remember, but with my sub par sewing skills and lack of enthusiasm for learning, that didn't really seem like it was going to happen. But finally, on Friday, she wore me down. And I started a little project. She picked this out of a book she received from Danielle called Sewing with Children, though Bea didn't really help, and I didn't do anything close to the pattern, but it gave me a quick pattern for how to make each part.

Anyway, I didn't photograph along the way, but I do have some after shots with my girl.

She had named the rag doll Violet and has been carrying her around incessantly. She claims Violet helped her stay in bed last night. Thank you, Violet.

The trickiest part for me was figuring out all the little quirks of doll making, like how to put on hair, and hide embroidery floss knots since I put the face on after she was sewn together and stuffed. (Next time, all those things clearly should happen before stuffing takes place. Also the body/head section was basically one piece a rectangle with one curved side, then I gathered the neck after she was stuffed. Not exactly the most graceful way to do it, I realize now.

Bea also wanted a new dress for her, and that was a challenge since I really have never made a dress before, so I let her pick out a fat quarter from the fabric store and made this little dress, which was easy. Now, I am going to try to make one of these.

The thing Beezus loves most about her is that she is tall and looks like she could really be her daughter, which is exactly her words.  She is kind of cute. I had to restrain from making a wee little smile on her, so she wouldn't look like the Dolly for Sue from the Island of Misfit Toys. (Incidentally, did you know her misfitness is caused by psychological problems caused by fear of abandonment and grief?) Watching that again, though, is making me think I need to dye her cheeks red. That is so cute.


 

tea bag holder

The other day, Beezus and I went out to this little tea shop near our house for an impromptu tea party. This place also has little gifts, and I saw this fabric tea bag holder for your purse. It just screamed the perfect thank you gift for a friend who was present for me when I had my miscarriage. I also always "borrow" tea off of her. I go to a great deal of meetings where only coffee is served, but they'll give you some hot water, if you bring your own tea. And I kept thinking about it. Not wanting to spend the fifteen bucks for the fabric one from the tea shop, but also it became the "perfect" gift for Marie. Google and a sewing forum later, I found a description of how to put one together and thought I would share it here.

Not sure what a tea bag holder is? Here is a finished product:

Okay. Take a piece of elastic, or binding. Or 1" x 9" strip. You are basically folding in the edges to create a nice seam, and sewing it to be about 1/4" thick. This is going to be your button loop. I do think elastic would be good for this part, but I just didn't have any.

Start with a piece of fabric 20" x 16"

Fold the long side (20" side) together. Good side in. Then press it.

You then sew the side opposite the fold together. 1/4" seam.

Move the seam to the middle and then press it.

Sew one of the smaller unsewn edges together. 1/4" seam.

Fold the opposing edges in about a 1/4" But leave unsewn. You will finish that later. Now, turn it right side around and press it.

Take the sewn edge, and fold it 2 1/2" in and pin it.

Sew the fold with a 1/4" seam.

Now take the opposite side and fold it 5" up.

 Then fold it back 2 1/2". Pin that bad boy.

Take your loop and tuck it into the unfinished seam. (the one you tucked in.) Pin it. Sew a 1/4" seam. The first time I did this, I broke a needle, so make sure it is not too thick.

Now sew 1/4" seams at the side edges. (The two sides perpendicular to the loop.)

Now you are going to make the pockets for the tea bags by measuring in 3 1/4" from each side. Sew the line straight down the project, though, because this is also going to create your folds. This project is tri-folded.

Press the heck out of it. And fold it and press it. You fold in each side, then in half once. Do that and measure based on your loops where the button will be sewn. Hand sew this, making sure not to sew the outer pocket to the inner one.

Fill it with your favorite teas, and artificial sweetener, if you use such a thing. I don't. But I think my friend does.

Then fold it into a pouch and throw it into your purse. Eh, voila!

Hope this was clear. Happy to answer any questions in the comment section.

grocery bags

My children don't have many chores. They are one and four, almost two and five. Their weekly chore is doing the recycling. Their daily chores are making their beds and clearing the dishes from the table. Thor needs to be supervised. He is, uh, ambitious, yes, rather excited about recycling. My husband supervised last week, and by supervise I mean of course brought the bin from outside to the inside, then walked away. After the children filled the bin, he put it back outside. Apparently, the children threw away all of our canvas bags for food shopping, a dust pan and brush, and the lid for our recycling bin.

That is soooo not the point of bringing your own canvas bags to the market. I even had produce bags in there. Four of our bags were ones that said "Yingst Family Market. Est. 2006." Our family name and the year we married. And the other three were ones that zipped into a convenient little pouch and the money they cost went to feed African children. Those were incredibly convenient too. I found one, being used for books, and a produce bag.

I used the grocery bag as a template for some new ones. I am terrible at sewing, as I am just learning the art of consistently pressure on my sewing pedal. And what all these dang stitches are for. My husband was embarrassed that he wasn't watching the children, so he said, Hey, there is a big piece of canvas in the garage. I found it a few years ago from the previous owners, I will wash it for you.

So, he did. And it was hella large. I didn't measure it, but I did use it for new bags.

There is virtually no overhead for this project. Just thread and manpower. I admit that sewing isn't particularly something I am good at. My seams are crooked, and uneven.  But here were my first two. They are a little too large, I think.

I covered an ugly seam with some fabric, and made it into a courier type bag because I often ride to the farmer's market in the summer, and wanted something that wouldn't open.

Then I made some smaller ones experimenting with stitches and seams.

I was using different seam techniques, and did one with a contrasting thread, but the problem is that I cannot sew straight as a matter of course, so the contrasting thread is very very visible. Or rather, my mistakes are VERY visible. So, I hit the fabric shop yesterday and found this cool native american ribbon and sewed it on top of the crappy seam, and it looks better. Much better. Going to do it on the other one too.

Crappy seam.

Awesome ribbon covering crappy seam.

I still have more than half my canvas left, so I might research how to make the ones with the zipper on them, and create a few of those. I also am going to figure out how to make produce bags, because those are damn useful.