Me: Sure. Which one? The round one?

Isabelle: Yes, the round one.

Me: What kind of dolly do you want me to make? Do you want me to make it directly from your drawing like the us dolls? She’ll be a little flat.

Isabelle: No.

Me: How about I sew it up like your Isabelle doll?

Isabelle: Uuuuuummmm….no.

Me: Ok let me think. *think, think, think* Ok, how about I crochet it like your little red airplane?

Isabelle: YES! OK! YES!!

Me: Ok what color do you want her body?

Isabelle: Blue.

Hook. Hook. Hook….

Me: Ok Isabelle. How about her legs and arms? How about this color?

Isabelle: No, how about this color.

Me: And her feet?

Isabelle: This color. And I want this color for her eyes and her ribbon.

And more hooking and knitting and sewing and embroidering.

Me: Here you go Isabelle! Does it look like your drawing?

Isabelle: YES she does! Oh thank you mommy!! Thank you! I love her!

Me: You’re welcome honey.

Isabelle: I’m going to name her Horsey.

She runs off and plays with Horsey.

Nathan: I want a dolly too mama!

I found that out quite quickly when I was measuring Isabelle for her costume. As I was measuring, Nathan wanted to be measured too. Every single time I tied some string around Isabelle to measure her, he wanted a piece of string tied in exactly the same way. And if Isabelle tried on the muslin, Nathan wanted to try it on too. Oops. I felt so bad. I should have started costumes early and made one for him too. But there was no time. We ended up going to Target to buy his costume.

There was no way I could have made his costume too. That is because, this year, I thought I wouldn’t go with a pattern for Isabelle’s. I wanted to try making it straight out of my head. I knew I could do the bottom, I was planning on a circle skirt, but the bodice would be the challenge.

I have a drafting book for sewing but have come to the conclusion I suck at drafting (or caved under the pressure of getting it done by Halloween). My front piece looked ok but the back piece looked crazy. So, me making a bodice went out the window. I went and dug up a bodice pattern from one of my Japanese craft books. I used the sleeves from there as well made up a collar and I then added a circle skirt. And I winged it with the apron.

I think it looks a little large but it isn’t all bad. My favorite part of the dress is the underskirt thingy, that’s what I’m calling it. I love how the trim peeks out on it. That trim costs just about as much as Nathan’s costume.

I was hoping the dress would poof out more. But it’s only a little poofy. I even made a petticoat trying to give it some more poof. But my material choice didn’t cut it. I didn’t want to use crinoline or tulle because of the scratchiness factor. I used yards and yards of muslin instead and well…no poof.

But look how happy she is.

I am sure I have a stamp carving block but I didn’t use it. This was a quick throw away project. I don’t see me needing this kind of stamp in the foreseeable future so I didn’t want to use my block. I went with a potato instead. I think it turned out rather nice.

It was a last minute, we’re going to a birthday party tomorrow, quick project. I thought Isabelle would get a kick out of it. I showed it to her, telling her I carved a potato! She was all, “uh ha”, stamped it once, then walked away.

I finished Isabelle’s bucket hat last night. Yay!! And I didn’t need to buy any fabric for it, everything is from my stash. Double YAY!

Did you know this pattern is for a reversible bucket hat? REVERSIBLE!!

I wasn’t sure about this contrasting thread when I sewed the first line but I figured if I hated it, Isabelle didn’t need to wear it with this side out. But I think it looks great.

It is a big hit. BIG.

With Nathan that is. I took this last night on my cell phone to send to Alan. As soon as I was done sewing it, he put it on, and wore it for a good long time.

In fact, this afternoon, as I was trying to take pictures of it, Nathan tried to grab it.

Yoink!

And how does Isabelle like it?

Miss Posey Pose a Lot likes it ok.

She went all crazy with the posing with it.

As you can tell.

This one is my favorite.

Where she’s posing like an Asian. Bwa ha ha! I asked her where she learned that from because Alan and I DEFINITELY do not do this. She said she learned it from a book.

Isabelle likes it but isn’t ecstatic about it. She said, “thanks for making me a hat mama!” then tossed it aside. Nathan definitely had it on longer than she did. Guess I should make my little guy one too.

Project Notes
Pattern: Oliver + S Little Things to Sew

The only other change I made from the pattern is, I opted to use cotton flannel instead of interfacing. I was worried it wouldn’t be stiff enough but it came out nice.

It’s a pattern by Dana at Made. I originally bought it hoping it would fit Isabelle, seeing that it fit Dana’s 5 year old daughter. But I completely forgot, I have a VERY TALL 5 year old.

I need to adjust the pattern a bit for Isabelle. But in the meantime, I made one for Nathan, the 18 months – 3 Toddler size. I made it from two bath towels, two orange bath towels. Yes orange. You can see quite clearly it’s orange.

When I bought the towels, the reasoning behind the color was, I thought Nathan looked nice in orange, like his daddy. I somehow neglected the fact that his swim trunks are bright orange. And his swim top is bright orange. I just made my little boy this brighter than the sun outfit.

Maybe Nathan doesn’t like being brighter than the sun. What am I talking about? Can’t you tell from the pictures? He does not love it. I think that’s why I didn’t blog about it right away, I couldn’t get a good picture of him in it. Still can’t.

When I put it on him, he’s all, “off!! OFF!!” I thought he’d be less objecting once we were out. But nope. Same reaction.

I so enjoyed making this. It was a nice sewing project, easy and not too large. I miss sewing. That’s why I joined this Oliver & S sew along. We’re sewing from the book, Little Things to Sew. I thought it would be a perfect thing to take part in since everything is small and therefore quicker to make. We’ve started out with bucket hats! And guess what color I chose for the fabric?

Orange.

But allergies are kicking my butt. My eyes are all itchy even with the air purifier and I don’t know if that’s why I’ve been feeling a little run down. In fact, today I took a nap with Nathan. A nap when he doesn’t usually have a nap. That is of course why he is WIDE AWAKE now. And he’ll be up late too. Sigh.

Oh well. Never mind that. Look at this instead. Something new!

OOohhhh! A little crocheted elephant.

Isabelle originally wanted a little boy elephant, a bright blue one. But partway through crocheting it, she requested the elephant with the skirt instead.

Nathan likes her long nose.

Poke, poke, poke.

Project Notes
Pattern: Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet
Yarn: Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver
Needle size: Size G hook/4.5mm (thanks Bethany! I was able to crochet part of this in the dark with the light up crochet hook you sent!)

I used this eyepatch tutorial for occlusion therapy by LucyKate Crafts. Isabelle chose the colors. It’s made of felt. Even the button! Well, I think the button is felt. I can’t remember what it said on the packaging. All I know is that it’s soft and not hard like regular buttons.

It’s nice not to use bandaid type patches.

Why didn’t I make one sooner?

I couldn’t find the umbilical cord hat I knit for him. Yes, I misplaced a knitted item. Sigh. I made it back in December and put it in a safe place until I could see them. They live up the street from us and this was the first time we met the little guy. Either that or I put it on Nathan’s head to see how much he’d grown and he walked off with it.

Ok back to what I was saying, easily distracted today. Since I couldn’t find the hat, at the last minute I sewed the baby a blanket with some fabric I had in my stash.

I think the fabric was from my friend, Veronica. She used it to wrap Nathan’s birthday present. How awesome is that? A present wrapped with FABRIC!! I made a baby blanket with it. Just a very simple blanket with chenille on one side, backed with this dinosaur flannel fabric and inside a layer of flannel. It’s nice and super thick. And for some reason I always mix up flannel and fleece. I have to ask Alan every time, what’s this fabric that’s in my stash. Ok went off the trail again.

While I had the fabric laid out and was cutting into it, Nathan was all over it. Later after the presents were all wrapped up, I felt bad. I should have saved the fabric to make something for Nathan.

But as I said, in that post, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Take this gorram thing off of me mama!

Nathan sure didn’t want to wear it.

Whoo got it off!

And that is why every single photo of this hat is a little blurry.

Much better.

But ain’t it purty? Whatdya think? Too unusual for a baby shower gift? Stay with umbilical cord hats as gifts?

My most recent posts have followed a similar pattern. Family, craftiness, drawings. And eeeep, that makes me so happy! I don’t know if I can keep it up but I can hope.

Here’s one of the recent things I finished, another umbilical cord hat (from Stitch N’ Bitch). I seriously love these things for new babies.

Though I love this pattern, I may have found a replacement hat. I say may because the new hat fits Nathan now, so it’s not for tiny babies. And though I like it, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I’ll share in a few days when the next cycle of my “pattern” of posting comes along.