August 2013 - Bookweek Alien

August brings Book Week and that means dress-up time.This year's theme was 'Reading across the Universe' and the kids were encouraged to come to school dressed either in a space theme or as a favourite book character.

  Jack wanted to be an alien so we dug through the book shelves looking for alien books and found 'My Brilliant Book' which has three-eyed-aliens who attack earth.

 

We had an inflatable alien head and hand set in the cupboard, bought on sale some time ago with the thought it would come in handy sometime. As luck would have it the head was a three-eyed-alien.

 

We needed a body so used a tracksuit pattern to draft up a one-piece jumpsuit with back opening, similar to a skeleton costume he already had, and went shopping for some fantastic shiny green dance fabric.

 

I did the work on the costume while Jack was asleep - bad idea, as was the idea of joining a tracksuit top and bottom pattern together to draft a jumpsuit. I should have traced the costume he already had and just made it bigger. Instead I did something wrong and ended up with a jumpsuit that was far to narrow and far too long in the body.

To salvage it I shortened the sides and added width by adding a shaped insert to each side seam from just below the underarm to the hip, gathering the side seams to fit. Jack thought they were gills and apparently gills are awesome. I added a row of gathering along the centre seam from front neckline through the crotch to the back neckline, and then stitched the gathers in place. It worked but the gathers didn't hold in place very well and a strip of elastic would have been better.

 

Jack thought he was super cool and had a great day, even though several people thought he was a frog. As a bonus he got to wear the same costume to a Space dress-up night at Scouts two weeks later and won a prize. 

Halloween dress up day

seems to come around faster every year.

I took the easy option this year and the only sewing I did was to insert some elastic at the wrists and ankles.

But seriously for about $15 total who is complaining. Certainly not this little boy. Doesn't he think he is the bees knees!

Ah-hoy me hearties...!

Pirate day at day-care - we've been reading pirate stories and talking pirate-speak for the last week!

I thought it would be easy to buy a pirate hat but everywhere was sold out, so we designed our own from black cardboard, glue, tape, staples and gold braid. It took much longer than expected but turned out rather well.

The parrot was non-negotiable. The pirate in the book (I wish I had a pirate suit by Pamela Allen) had one, so we had to have one too.

Thankfully there was a parrot finger puppet in the toy box (from Ikea). Some pipecleaners for feet, some green feathers for wings and two big safety pins to attatch it to the shoulder and the pirate parrot was ready for action.

Every pirate needs some treasure. Our gold and silver coins were made from bottle tops flattened out with a hammer. They smell a bit beer-y but that's okay.

The pirate sword was cardboard covered on both sides with some sticky-backed foam found in the 'useful stuff' in Dad's shed. Apparently it is used for concrete slabs? It made a nice soft sword that shouldn't cause any damage.

One of his mates had a telescope. Of course Pirate Jack noticed, turned to me and said "Mum, where's my pirate-scope?".

EB New year swap - part 2: revealing my creations

As soon as my partner (Vikki) posted her list of things she would like to receive, I knew exactly what I would make for her.

She asked for a 'Make it Perfect' Versatile Wrap Skirt, and I happened to have the pattern sitting in my 'to-do' pile crying out to be used. Picking some fabric proved a little harder. After a fruitless trip to Spotlight and several hours online I found some that sort-of met her tentative request for brown and aqua. The skirt was very easy to make and I really liked the end result. I've got more of this fabric, and also some with a cream background instead of the brown. I'm planing on making one for me as well.

Vikki also had a superhero cape for her son as another item on her list. The tutorial for a reversible cape she had linked was actually sitting in my list of bookmarks - another item on my to-do list. As the skirt had been so easy to make that I decided to make tughhe cape for her son and one for mine. Because I could fit three across the width of fabric I made a third at the same time and gifted that to someone else as a surprise.

These were all made entirely from my stash, and are identical except for the letter on the black side.

I used shot duchess (sort of like satin but with a rough texture) for the blue side. It shimmers from blue to silver in the light. The emblem is my own design and uses the reverse of the main fabric for the shield and some black crepe and green felt for the rest of the design.

The other side is silky black crepe with red satin for the diamond and some flame-print polar fleece for the initial.

Applique on slippery satin fabrics turned out to be a little challenging, so the diamonds are not as neat as I would have liked, and it took ages to do three at once, but I think the end product is pretty fantastic.

Jack refused to wear his so I hope the other ones went down better at the other end!

And so this is Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Okay, so I'm a week late but the thought counts, not the time frame.

Our Christmas tree. It was only a small gathering this year, but look at all the presents. And there were even more under there on Christmas morning. The tree may just last another year if we don't water it too much!

There is a little table to the side holding our nativity scene. It gave hours of playtime fun, and it is unusual to see all the people in a straight line. Most of the time they have been 'dancing' in pairs. Jack managed to break both the camel and Joseph in a very short time (ceramic figures and tiled floors do not get on very well). He now thinks Dad can fix anything but is a little young to fully appreciate the magical powers of superglue.

'Santa Claus is coming to town' has been sung from dawn to dusk in our house for several weeks. Finally he came to town and look at the sack full of goodies he left behind.

I made the sack for his first Christmas and the ducky pj pants last year. After I let down the cuffs this summer we've managed another year out of the pjs.

The prize gift this year was a Thomas the Tank Engine umbrella. Rain every day for the last week has made one little boy very happy. Again, last years monster pjs are peaking out at the bottom of the coat - cuffs let down and still fit perfectly.

Another hit present was a kit containing poster paints. We finally gave in and let him loose. Here he is creating some thankyou letters that will be going out in the mail over the next month.

I hope your Christmas was as wondeful as ours, and wish you all the best for a happy 2010!

Beach day

Hey Auntie Suze - notice the Jinormous Jack beach bag?!

I'm a dingle, dangle scarecrow

...with a flippy, floppy hat...

...I can shake my hands like this...

...and shake my feet like that!

Halloween daycare dress-up 2009 - my little scarecrow!

Halloween Wizard

This is Jack in his wizard costume I made for his Halloween dress-up day at daycare.


The cape is black panne velvet with a silver star pattern all over and it is lined with blue satin. It has a hood and I made a double loop and button fastening at the neckline because I didn't want to risk loose cords hanging around his neck. I made it without a pattern and was surprised how easy it was. I did make it a mile too long because I didn't allow for the weight of the fabric and it has about a 10cm hem - but that means it will fit for years!

The hat was originally a cheap witches hat from Spotlight, but when I took it out of the pack the fabric/plastic of the brim ripped apart from the crown. I decided to pull it apart and use it as a pattern. I used the same wire in the brim but it was rather wonky so the hat ended up with a wobbly shape to the brim.


Jack loved it but the daycare leaders had to confiscate the hat when he started to get a bit rough with it. He puts it on his head and then spins it like a top, and then takes it off, holds it by the point and bounces it up and down. Apparently it is great for whacking other kids with as well.



When I dropped him off I hung around for a while to accept the compliments from other parents - I've turned into one of those mothers and he isn't even at school yet!