I saw this tutorial for superhero capes but put it out of my mind. I didn’t think I’d be sewing a superhero cape for a few years. But Isabelle surprised me the other day with her superhero antics. So I immediately went looking for it. It gives you the basic idea for the cape and how to do the appliqués.

But don’t just wing the neck area like I did. That’s how you end up with two superhero capes (which isn’t a bad thing for a big kid like me). I screwed up the first cape using my real red fabric. What happened was, I didn’t quite understand how to do the neck area. I thought, it’s just a cape. How hard can it be? Well that resulted in a cape that wouldn’t fit around Isabelle’s neck.

I didn’t want to waste more red fabric without testing it on muslin. And the second time, I was smart. I measured her neck. What an improvement. It actually fit around her neck.

I was about to make her another one when Alan said, why don’t you put an “I” on it for Isabelle. I didn’t have any felt or fusible web so I thought I’d test yellow fabric out on the screwed up cape. It worked but it’s a little puckered.

But before I could even start on a new cape, Isabelle noticed the “I” on the red fabric. She went gaga over it, yelling, “super baby! super baby!”. So instead of cutting new red fabric I cut more of the neckline away. It was a pain to turn the fabric but it worked, it fit around her neck. Yeah…blah blah blah. You want to see the pictures right? Here they are:

Mild mannered baby…

with a secret identity! It’s SUPER BABY!!

She leaps tall buildings in a single bound.

Or ummm errr steps.

Up, up, and away!!

Hee hee!

Sorry. No pictures of me in my super cape. I couldn’t find it this morning. I was sort of bummed that I didn’t know where it was. It’s not as fun running around yelling “Super Mama!” without the cape. And when I did find it, Isabelle wanted to play with SUPER DOG!!!

Oh and how we photographed Isabelle flying.

Oh my gawd, I’m just kidding. Do not throw your baby. It was actually done through Photoshop, of course!

Posted in: Family, Finished Project, Illustrations, Sewing
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It was at that exact moment that I realized I say, “damn it” too much.

And I said “damn it” a whole bunch today. We had three power outages in our area. 100 degree weather. No AC. No fans. Hot damn! Hope it’ll stay on tomorrow.

Go to cute baby #17, super baby.

Posted in: Cute Baby Series, Family, Illustrations
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Isabelle turned another month older last week. We forgot to take a family picture. Again. So we took it late. AGAIN.

I just asked Alan, “when do you want to stop taking monthly family pictures”. But I don’t think we’ll ever stop. I like looking back and seeing the changes in Isabelle. In fact the pictures on Flickr aren’t complete. Maybe I’ll go back and add the rest from her first year on there…

Posted in: Family, Monthly Family Picture
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I’ve been sewing and ripping like mad. That’s because after the hot weather we had last week, I was determined to make some clothes for the summer.

So I tried this top again, pattern 18 from ISBN 9784579110438. I was hoping the problems with it would be solved by using a knit. I used the original pattern without altering it. I thought, “oh it’s a knit. It’ll just stretch everywhere.” Well no. It didn’t stretch everywhere as much as needed. It’s a rib knit so it stretched horizontally but not as much vertically. Which meant it wasn’t too tight anymore but the waist still sat too high, all the way in the boob area.

So rip, rip, rip. Cut, cut, cut. Some more sewing and I made it again with the alterations from before. Well then it seemed the waist sat too low. Accck how frustrating! So I cut away some of the top piece to lift the waist area and ended up with this.

Oh my gawd I reworked this a gazillion times and I DON’T love it. I give up!

So, onto the next thing. Pattern 2 from the same book in muslin. Guess how many times I had to make this.

TWO, damn it! I had a total brain fart and didn’t think about the sizing much. I just thought, “it looks gathered. There must be enough room there for the girls.” Ah…NO. It turned out just a bit tight and shorter than I liked. Thank goodness for muslin. And thank goodness this was so easy to make.

So I altered it and also lengthened it by 1.5 inches. The 1.5 inches was an arbitrary amount based on how much paper was left at the bottom of the pattern piece. Because I am a GOOBER.

So opinions on pattern 2? Worth making with real fabric? I think so. But maybe longer…

Oh and don’t you love how Isabelle inserted herself into the picture. I think she was saying “cheese!”

Posted in: Crafting Japanese, Finished Project, Sewing
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Also the way she says I love you: “wuv wa” is darn tootin’ cute too.

Posted in: I Love Series, Illustrations
5 Comments

I’d run away too if Isabelle was always grabbing my butt.

Posted in: Family, I Love Series, Illustrations
1 Comment

Alan’s had a cough and I haven’t been much in the mood to go out. So at the last minute, on Monday, we decided to go to an amusement park. The last time we were there, Isabelle was too young and small to really enjoy it. But now, look, she’s tall enough to ride by herself.

On the carousel Isabelle wasn’t scared anymore. She wasn’t holding on for dear life. She didn’t need to be held. She actually enjoyed it and said, “weeeeeeeee!”

And she absolutely loved this firetruck. It only went back and forth but she thought it was the best thing ever. There were two more rides like this right next to it, a Batman and an ice cream truck that went up and down and back and forth. We gave her tokens to choose the ride and she chose the firetruck every time. I think she enjoyed pushing the button for the siren.

We were right there with her for every ride. Well, except for this one.

We weren’t originally going to let her ride it because we couldn’t sit with her. Then I changed my mind and told Alan to put her in. I snapped a couple of pictures, then started imagining her trying to get out and falling from the plane once it was in the air. You know, basically freaking out. I said to Alan, “I’ve changed my mind. I’ve changed my mind! I’VE CHANGED MY MIND!!” Alan just calmly says, “too late” and off she went.

I didn’t have anything to worry about. She loved it. She loved it so much, she didn’t want to get off.

More pictures here.

Posted in: Family
2 Comments