toolbelt for Marcus

I am slowly getting things ready for Easter baskets this Sunday. Last week I sewed up this cute little flame toolbelt for Marcus. He is forever putting tools into his (and my) pockets, so I thought he would like his own belt.

Marcus is a lover of fire. Kind of scary. The fabric is Alexander Henry (I also used it for this superhero cape). I used this toolbelt tutorial from Make It and Love It.

Charlie also has a toolbelt like this that he made himself. It has been out of commission for a while because it was torn during some serious construction play, but I finally got around to fixing it up.

This Thursday I will be fashioning a pirate vest for Charlie. I am hoping that it turns out because I only have one night for sewing before Easter Sunday. Crossing my bunny ears!

:) Shelly

from aunt "selly"

Our two weeks in Chicago are coming to an end - we fly back to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. I squeezed in a couple of additional on-location projects on Tuesday night. These are gifts for my sister, Mel's, kids. I had grand plans of making special somethings for each of my two nephews and two nieces, but I only managed to accomplish half of them. Zach and Maddie will be recieving a package in the mail soon, I promise you, Amy and Kim!

I made this ballerina backpack for my niece, Abby. She was very interested in Charlie's and Marcus' Hobo Sacks, so I decided to make her a backpack version.

My mom had this book sitting near her sewing machine. It is full of quick, easy bag ideas, and the directions are written very well.

I made Abby's backpack using the instructions from this page - I just sized it down a bit to fit her petite frame. You could easily make this backpack using the Hobo Sack from MADE directions. You'd just need to make the straps longer (take the length of the backpack panel + width of the backpack panel, then multiply the sum by 2). Leave 1/2 inch gaps in the bottom corners of the bag, then thread the ends of the straps through the holes and stitch them closed.

Charlie was a good sport and modeled the backpack so that I could check the fit before Abby came over.

Hooray! The backpack is a perfect fit. I was so happy that she liked it so much.

I also made another tool belt using this tutorial from Make It and Love It. My nephew, Bobby, is a big tool guy.

Bobby was not too excited when I tried to put the belt on him. He was more interested in acquiring the hammer that was hanging on the loop. So, here's a picture of Marcus sporting the belt. I'm sure Bobby will eventually like his belt - especially when he can put it on himself!

Wish me big buckets of luck for my plane ride home tomorrow - I'm flying as the solo adult with my two little hooligans. Yikes. My mantra: We will survive.

Girlie Gardening Aprons

Happy Spring!

A first birthday present - for two little birthday girls! I made this gardening apron (aka: toolbelt) using the fabulous toolbelt tutorial from Make It and Love It. Our awesome weather on Saturday and the sweet birdies & flowers fabric encouraged me to go the gardening route with the toolbelt. I also decided to mix-it-up with denim and different bias tape. I was quite pleased with the result.

When picking up the plastic kid's gardening rake and shovel, I meant to also grab a couple of packets of seeds to stick into one of the pockets. But, I forgot. Arghh. I didn't want to run out to the store again (and the birthday party was only a couple hours away), so I printed this fun sprout growing instructional from this site. Charlie is doing this at preschool right now, and I just love it! Plus, I love sprouts! Yum.

So I rolled the instructions up and tied them with some nice orange wool yarn. It looked okay. But, instead of obsessing about it, I decided to take a shower. I think it was a good choice.

And both birthday girls now have gardening aprons!.. And I need to cut our lawn!!

Toolbelt By Charlie

This morning Charlie helped me sew this fabulous toolbelt! We used a toolbelt tutorial from one of my favorite blogs, Make It and Love It.

Charlie chose the fabric for his toolbelt last week. He also helped me measure and cut out the pieces, which is why the pattern on the fabric is oriented the wrong way. Ooops. (Also, Charlie chose his own outfit this morning, just so you know.)

Charlie's interest in my rotary cutter was bordering on dangerous, so I distracted him with a tracing wheel and some scrap fabric I had nearby while I finished cutting.

Apparently that scrap fabric really grew on him because he insisted on incorporating it into the toolbelt as the hammer loop. This was the first piece he sewed - my machine has an automatic feature so that you can sew with a push of a button instead of the foot pedal. I rarely use this feature because old habits die hard and the foot pedal just feels more natural to me. Charlie really liked the button, though.

Next Charlie sewed the bias tape (yes, bias tape again!) onto the top of the pocket.

He also used the foot pedal for a while while I steered.

And this is what we came up with! To be honest, I'm a little bit obsessed with the design on the fabric going the wrong way. But, I'm trying to get over it. I'm so happy that Charlie had fun sewing it and that there were no injuries as a result!

Charlie is delighted with his first sewing project! And, I love that he still has a death-grip on the tracing wheel and marking chalk. He actually wanted to put those into his toolbelt! Atta-boy!!