Baby Toys

A friend just had a baby so i figured an infant would need fuzzy toys more than anything for Christmas. I made her a cat and a dog. The dog was much more successful than the cat, I think based on the pattern instructions I used.

Here are the cat instructions and the dog instructions.

The cat pattern traced onto fleece. (Note: I traced the pattern with a sharpie which showed up well on the fabric as you can see but also ended up all over my hands when I was cutting it out.)

all four layers of the body
inside look at the body layers
the cat sewn together but not turned right-side out.
completed kitty... works better as a baby pillow but still cute.
The Scottie dog all cut out
sewn together
turned inside out with initials sewn into the side. (Almost reminds me of pound puppies)
Completing the dog surgery.
The finished dog.

PJ Pants

I made three people PJ pants for Christmas. To make the pattern I traced existing pj's that fit me well onto newspaper. Then I traced the pattern onto the fabric and completed the pants by sewing them as shown in this video by Joann's. I am not as fussy about ironing seams and such i just fold and pin things. I only use and iron when it is absolutely necessary. The video will give you a basic idea of the process. Sorry I was in a rush and forgot to take progress pictures.

Dog PJ's
Shark PJ's
Breakfast PJ's
Not the waist is different than the rest of the pants because I had to get the fabric in two pieces and the first was just long enough to make the pants. I used the second piece to make a cap that holds the elastic and later a ribbon in place.



Update: 2-14-11 I made some cupcake PJ shorts using the same basic idea as with the PJ pants. This time with measuring the elastic for the waist i only used about 3/4 of the actual length around my waist. This way the elastic will keep the shorts up and not just fall down like it did with the pants. You could also use a little more elastic and string a piece of ribbon around for a closer fit.

Fused Grocery Sack- Bag

For Christmas gifts I thought I would try and "go green" with the wrapping materials. Green was taking more time and plastic bags then I had so i made 5 of these beauties and will make more in the future...

This is a picture of the finished bag overall and
inside of the bag

I followed the instructions from this blog post on Etsy to make these bags to the size of the grocery store reusable bags that i have found to be a good size.

In short you cut off the handles and the bottom of the bag and then cut the bag down the sides to get one long sheet.

collect 6 of these sheets and orient any logos as you want but make sure the ink is in the inside.

then place the 6 sheets of plastic bags between two sheets of parchement paper or wax paper and iron carefully. If the iron is too hot it will melt and make a big hole in middle of the sheet and if it is too cool it won't melt at all. patience is required when fusing bags.

Also note that the sheets will shrink a little as they are fused so you will probably need more bags than you think.

To make a larger sheet just place the sheets overlapping by 1/4 inch and sew a zig zag stitch to connect them. When sewing the edges of the bag place treat it like any other fabric and sew the edges together with the "good" sides of the "fabric" facing each other.

I recommend using the zig zag stitch for all seams and have fun with the color of thread.

Drawing Pad Tote

I made a couple girls Drawing Pad Totes for Christmas. The idea was to have a note pad where they could draw and have crayons or colored pencils (as age appropriate) stored in the same place.

I began by measuring the size of the paper and then tripling (plus seam allowance) it to get the base size of the of the tote. I sewed along three sides leaving an opening about 1/3 of the length open on the long side. This was done so you could turn the fabric inside out as well as place a stabilizer in between the layers.
also while sewing one end shut i also sewing in one of the handles which were 1.5 to 2 inch fabric tubes. I made large handles to make them easier for the girls to handle. Also at this stage add the ribbon between the handles to tie the tote shut. [not pictured :D]
Next I added the stabilizers to the turned out fabric. I bought two kinds of placemats to give the bag structure. I used hard plastic placemats under the middle panel and the panel where the paper goes. Under the side where the crayons go i used a foam placemat that I could sew through.

Once those were in place I sewed two lines to keep the stabilizers in their panels.

Then I added a some fabric over the opening which will later be sewn down to give the crayons individual pockets. I doubled over the fabric so I would not need to hem the material at the top but also to give the pen pockets extra strength but being held in place under two layers of fabric. the length of fabric needs to be longer than the size of that panel to allow for a "pleating" like effect when sewing the pockets.

Before the pencil pocket gets sewn in place don't forget to add the handle and a tie ribbon at the joint between the pencil panel and the middle panel.

Once you have decided how many pockets you want just sew along the lines you made and you will have pencil pockets on both side of the pencil panel.

This is the finished tote when you first opening it
Then opening the tote
The fully open tote view.
I also made a tote in purple. The pink one has erasable colored pencils and the purple has twist up crayons. [Hopefully the twist up crayons won't make a big mess if left in the hot car...]


The closed totes.