Borrowed from the video game hit Five Nights At Freddy’s, this morning Phoenix received her own Foxy 2/”The Mangle” hat. Those familiar with the game will think, Oh my god that is perfect! Those who aren’t will think, Why on earth would you make something so terrible?
Nels, male model. Adorable times One Hundred! You know. I made all the clothes pictured: the Finn hat, the Flyer Jacket, the skinny wool trousers (Banyan by Figgy’s), and the hooded pearl-snap shirt. AW YEAH. Hell I (arguably) even made the child. Yeah. Yeah I’m pretty awesome.
OK, so down to brass tacks: I have two new garments to show you, and two patterns to discuss. Across the internetz many (mostly)lady-bloggers are sewing up a batch of boy patterns. They are all PDF indie designs, have a wonderful size range of 3 months to sizze 16, and they are all featured on sale this week. I was honored to be asked to participate. August 26th I will be submitting my second entry. If you like what you see here, you might pee your pants on the 26th! No, really. It’s that good!
So for today: I am showcasing the P51 Flyer Jacket by Terra’s Treasures and the Lumberjack Shirt by Patterns for Pirates, and I’ll be discussing them here and in my Flickr tagset.
Today – at least – I snapped a picture of the jacket gifted to a wee gentleman at his 2-year birthday party.
Double-sided fleece, self-drafted pattern. Super-pointy hood and seven hand-made pom poms. Trippin on pom pom-makin, biatches
***
Yesterday morning I wake –
after only a few hours sleep –
to the most oppressive sense of fear.
Slaps me awake and lasts at least half the day. I’m up and I try to do a few things then rest, but I can’t. My mind keeps trying to find a way out of the fear. I can’t think of anything else for long, before jolting back. Might as well make the coffee. Hot shower. Time to get up and go. Got responsibilities.
My mind like to drive me mad. Thinking, thinking, over-thinking. Trying to set it aside but it rises up again through my body. Fear racing through my chest and my kids talk to me, my husband asks after me, and I answer as best I can when I can pull my mind off the fixation. Can they tell? I don’t know. I don’t think so. They’d ask if they knew something was wrong.
Days like today I remember smoking. Pulling on a cigarette, getting that edge. Somehow it always seemed to help, keep me in that space of what I thought was alertness, but in reality: agitation.
And anyway: I quit smoking a while back. And now I’m over the bridge and into breaking sunlight when I know the only thing that will help me, since I’ve done prayer on my knees and lit a candle and eaten food and tried to breathe and tried to quit thinking, is to Help Others. Help Without Regard For Return. It’s not even like I think I get some reward if I help. It’s that the state of Helping takes me somewhere different, and things shift, and clarity comes.
My daughter wraps her arms around me. “Love me,” she says. I hold her and kiss the top of her head, her dry straw-scented hair; Heaven. Later. Running bath water. Kitchen light low. Hot water and a tablespoon of molasses. A heater ticks in the dark. My arm: aching. The laughter of my son in another room.
Cold to the bone, a darkness stretching out. Only a small candle but it’s enough.
UM, it is super-hard to get rid of inventory. I made this a while back but hadn’t taken photos, posted photos, shared in any way, or even put the garment in a local shop. LOL at me because I am a pretty-okay seamstress but not really a businesswoman in any real sense.
Anyway – here we have an all-fleece Max, more in line with the film’s version of the costume than that of the book. Hoping this version finds its way to a sweet little 2T/3T kiddo out there.
[ Etsy listing ]
Some of my Christmas sewing. Some. Click on pictures to be directed to my Flickrstream where I detail a bit about how I made these items, what patterns I used, when I self-drafted, where I got my fabrics, etc.
First, and some of you got a preview here and there – the kids’ Christmas coats:
Nels is saying, “Taking a picture of me? Too mainstream.” For realz.
Let’s talk about Nels’ coat for a minute. Please pause and take a moment, close your eyes, and emit a string of foul-mouthed oaths. That’s how I feel about this garment, which I choose to privately christen the “F*ing Frock Coat”. I will seriously not bore you with how much went wrong and how often. Some of this is due to the source pattern which I shall not publicly name. Some of it was just weird, and bad, luck.
My son enjoys the coat, though. He doesn’t have to know it almost made me resort to arson.
Natch, Phee loves her YETI-riffic coat. She wears it everywhere, including to sleep! It is warm and luxurious.
Some casual digs sewn on Saturday:
While the t-shirt was a lot of fun, I am happiest with the Plaid Skinny Jeans (which aren’t “jeans” at all) – specifically the linen front yoke, the perfect welt pocket, and the back elastic. Most of the details I like the most are those I self-drafted, so don’t count on the source pattern helping you if you’d like to emulate my results.
“To Gir With Love” – made for a friend, who’s step-daughter loves a certain cartoon character. Phoenix and I made this yesterday. She did absolutely all of the design work, except for the basic hat shape, which I took care of.
Up close: 100% wool sweater upcycled for the black detail.
Skele-Quilt:
The backing: a brightly-colored spacescape – I love the intensity:
Hand-bound:
I’ve been working on this quilt for five years. Fortunately, I kept it enough on the DL my daughter hadn’t yet seen it. Even more fortunate, both my daughter and I still love the fabrics, meaning she liked the gift and I liked working on it. I was sewing on a binding right up until Christmas Day. It just isn’t Christmas Sewing without the last-minute shite.
Finally, a hand-embroidered wrist pincushion for my brother’s fiance:
I designed the whole business here, including yes the Jack Skellington Shrinky-Dink pin and the safety measure of a plastic insert so one won’t accidentally stab oneself. Linen & cotton.
If you have any questions on how I made anything, please ask either here or at the Flickr photos. I love sharing the craftivism!
I made somethin’ new, sumthin’ purdy. Pikachu, again.
It is a farce I even spend a few minutes NOT sewing with wool. I avoid wool in the summer because it seems other people find it unseemly. But I never find it unseemly! I would gay-marry wool fabric!
Oh and yes. I know my daughter is beautiful. Like, unearthly-beautiful.
I present you two custom hats for my little ones. Who are into Pokeman like you wouldn’t believe.
Phee’s Raichu hat was made from orange minkee. Extremely messy to work with, although not the worst I’ve sewn with.
For a change: a super-super fast project, and a very inexpensive one (it cost about $4.50 per hat). I also drafted the patterns by hand. For sewing, I used a walking foot, although I am adroit enough at handling fleece it wasn’t needed. A stretch needle assured no skipped stitches; I also double-stitched each seam for sturdiness.
I am particularly proud of the Raichu ear squiggles. For those, I sewed a tube from a long strip of fleece, simultaneously attaching 1/4″ elastic at the seam as I stitched, and stretching the elastic while I sewed. Ralph turned the tube and the squiggles curled up on their own.
Normally I don’t dig working with cheap-ass fabrics and this time was no exception. Particularly working with inexpensive fleece, ew. The main point is, the kids are pleased.
I’ve sewn sewn sewn away but haven’t given you all some pictures lately. Here are a few goodies:
mp3-riffic!
A hoodie with secrets! The idea here is your iPod (or whatever) is snug in a secret inner pocket. It stays out of the elements and the cord snakes up through the neckline, where it is secured by little earbud holders! Observe:
This way the headphones won’t get caught or pull on anything. Also the little safety-pin deconstructed sleeves, which Phoenix loves – and a secret sleeve pocket. The entire garment is lined, no seams felt on the inside.
Not-So-Scary Red Monstre
Commissioned for an expectant couple down in L.A. Outer shell is wool, inner shell super super soft Michael Miller cotton knit. YES HORNS TOO. & mittens. Tiny, wonderful-to-knit, mittens.
Brown Bear
A relatively conservative design all my own. Reminiscent of a very early bunting I made Nels so long ago.