The Boys' #MugRug Sewing Journey

Check out this gorgeous little ditty my kiddo made! I'm so proud of my Big Boy and the creations we're making together.

With all my work travel -- I've been gone in fits and spurts for most of the last two years -- we haven't done much sewing in a very long time. Still, he hasn't lost a bit of his skill, and with the maturity that comes with being 8 years old, he cranked out this pretty Christmas tree a few days ago. My only contribution: The quilting and binding. Period. He did the cutting, piecing and pressing for this beauty, and he designed the quilting motifs. For the next one, though, I'll let him go to town on the quilting, too. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of him holding it. (This one was made primarily from leftover scraps of Cherrywood Fabrics from my entry in their August 2014 Wicked Challenge. If you haven't checked that out, whoa. Just whoa. You gotta.)

Two years ago, we made our first #mugrug together, and it's become a holiday tradition for him to make them for his teachers and a few special adults in his life each Christmas.  Here's the star effort from last year (2014) -- he loves doing raw edge applique.

Here he and his brother show off their first effort from Christmas 2013 (before binding):

We gifted them rolled up with a simple ribbon.

I knew your basic scrap, quilt-as-you-go technique was something my little guys could handle, and would be a good way to introduce them to sewing and quilting. When starting kids sewing, it's important to pick a project where precision cutting and sewing aren't required to create a nice final product. Here's how we tackled it in 2013:

At the time, Bitty was only 4 years old, so even the cutting was a bit of a struggle.  He got discouraged pretty quick.

No matter, though. Some colors and a huge post-it pad brightened his spirits... 

 

...and got him back in the holiday mood!

 

Big Boy, at 6 years old, was serious about his first real quilting project. 

Wow, he looks SO young in these pictures! He's grown SO much. 

He did a great job cutting batting and backing to the size he wanted.

The strips they cut were pretty ragged, but I didn't want them trying to use rotary cutters or even adult scissors. For what it's worth, even though the kids' safety scissors they used made really short cuts, they did go through the fabric and batting with relative ease.

He did a great job of mixing the colors and values!   

Such concentration!

 

We started by stitching the batting down to the backing around the outside edge. Then we anchored a strip to one edge through all the layers. After that, we added on by laying a new strip right sides together with the anchor strip and sewing through all layers on the loose edge of the anchor strip. 

He learned to press it open, then to lay the next strip down and keep plugging along across the project.

Over the course of a couple of days, we assembled four of them.

Here's our beautiful mess after the piecing was complete. No need to worry about perfectly cut strips... 

...or perfect sewing lines!

Bitty decided to team back up with his big brother for some clean-up trimming.

They did such a great job making them. All. By. Themselves. (As any parent knows: That's important!)

There was nothing left for me to do except bind them. By the way, these are great projects for flatlocking small scraps of batting. Waste not, want not.

Finally, a picture of the finished product with one of our favorite Christmas decorations...

My sweet mother saw this Christmas display and just knew SuperHusband had to have it. I love it.

Once we finish this year's lot of mugrugs, I'll share some more pictures! Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day and a Merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping in!

Easy Scrap Wreath a.k.a. The Boys' First Video Tutorial!

Check out my cool new wreath on the front door! Doesn't it just proudly proclaim, "A quilter lives here!" I can't remember where I first saw this idea -- somewhere on Pinterest, I think -- but I loved it. A few months ago, I came across a metal ring while going through my mom's sewing things, and realized that it was perfect for this project. It's a simple afternoon craft, and very kid-friendly.

The hardest part was taking the time to cut the scraps. I cut them 1" x 5.5". I cut waaaaaaaaay too many, so I'll probably go on the hunt for another hoop soon.

Once you cut the strips, it's as simple as tying a single knot around your ring.

 Meet my little hams -- they wanted to do a demo for you:

This is my normal front door decoration...it was made for my mom and dad by my Uncle B. 

For a few weeks, though, I'm excited to show off this beauty!

Happy sewing!

Tutorial Part 3: Upcycled Finds into Wild Kratts Costumes for Less Than $35

Holy Tamoley! So, yesterday, a lovely lady name Marney commented on Part 1 of this tutorial, asking for a link to Part 2. I replied with the link and then started editing the first two parts to make sure they both had backlinks to one another when - BAM - I suddenly realized, "I never did write part 3 about the gloves!!"

You guys, seriously, I'm crazy sometimes, and the blog has been WAAAAAAY on the backburner for the last couple of years. If you've seen my last few posts, you've probably gathered that I spent most of last year working out of town on reserve duty, and in the meantime, I'm still wading through my parents' estate, almost two years later. (That, blessedly, is soon to come to an end.)

But I'm back now, so, please accept my apologies, and with love, here's the final installment to the Wild Kratts costume!

Blessings!

---

So, this is the easy stuff. Start with a couple of pairs of black gloves...those dime store one-size-fits-all stretchy ones work great for this. I used one pair of those, plus one pair of old fleece gloves I still had in the box from our Colorado days.

Step 1: From your green and blue fabrics, cut 5 little circles for the finger tips and one larger circle for the palm. The size totally depends on your gloves. I winged it, but my finger tips were about 5/8" in diameter and my palm circles were a shade smaller than 2" in diameter...about 1 3/4".

Use the same fabric glue you used in Part 2 -- (I used Mod Podge Fabric) -- to glue them to your gloves.

At this point, you could go the easy route by skipping to Step 3 and being done. Your kids will be just as happy, and if I had it to do over, that's what I would do. 

Step 2: Not knowing any better, though, I took it one step further, and made the gloves come up the arms a bit like the Kratts, and made a strip of binding from the colored fabric for the edges. That was easy with my old fleece gloves...they were already longer.

It was a little tougher when it came to the dime-store gloves, so I cut two cuffs from leftover fleece from Part 1, and put the green colored binding on the edge.

From there, it was simple. Fold right sides together, stitch a seam, turn them right side out and voila!

No need to finish the top, because the fleece won't fray or ravel. I didn't attach them to the gloves -- they fit nice and snug, so once we put them over the gloves, they stayed in place.

Step 3: From there, I used Tulip Glow in the Dark Dimensional Fabric Paint -- no, I'm not getting paid by any of these companies...just telling you what I used -- to outline the colored circles.

That's really the money step. If your kids are into Wild Kratts, you know certain parts of the outfit glow. I didn't ring every single piece that glows on the Kratts, but you could. The gloves were enough to delight my kids, who holed themselves up in the closet, admiring the soft glow of their fingertips, for the better part of a day. :)

Ta-Da!! You're done! (And I finally got back to finishing this up!)

This has been one of my most popular tutorial series. Thanks for hanging with me, and please share photos of your finished costumes!

See Part 1 of this tutorial series here.
See Part 2 of this tutorial series here.

Into making kids' costumes? Consider trying this Craftsy class:

Costume Box Class

I have NOT taken this class, (though I've been intrigued by it for a long time!) If you decide to try it out, please let me know what you think!

* * *

As always, the modest revenue that comes from pattern sales and blog ads helps me support my family, as well as my sewing and quilting addiction, which then lets me share those tips I learn and tutorials I write with you. If you find that you want to purchase a class or item I recommend here, please consider using the links I've embedded. And by all means, if you try a class or product I recommended, or have your own recommendation to share, allow the rest of us to benefit from your experiences by sharing them in the comments!

Tutorial: Upcycled Finds into Wild Kratts Costumes for Less Than $35

This.  This right here.  This is why I love Halloween so much.  What could possibly be better than dressing up and exploring another identity for a day?  Especially when that identity is someone you think is cool!  

The kids embraced it with their usual verve.  They were awfully proud of themselves as they bounced around the neighborhood pretending to be the Wild Kratts pretending to be various creatures.  :) I'm pretty proud of myself, too.  I've made the kids some cool costumes over the years including last year's Toothless dragon and shark costumes, but this is the first year I've managed to do it for so little moolah!

Shark Costume Part 2: Drafting and Cutting Out the Tail

UPDATE!  See this link for the Shark Costume Pattern

Welcome to part 2 of the Shark Costume Tutorial series!  This posting will focus on drafting and cutting out the tail. 

I love making Halloween costumes.  In fact, Halloween costumes were the first project to really make me want to learn to sew.  I just HAD to have something different from the standard brothel pirate costumes and Elvira wigs at local stores, but I didn't exactly have the funding for anything elaborate.

So the requirement was "uniquely cheap."  Or maybe "cheaply unique."  :)

Did I mention I had no idea how to sew?

I went to the local Joann's and browsed the Halloween patterns, trying to find something I could manage on my own.  Eureka!  The Flintstones!  How hard could it possibly be? 

Turns out it was a little harder than I thought, but after some trial and error it turned out bueno.  I made costumes for my roommate, myself and our dates.  Roommie K. and her beau were Fred and Wilma.  My short, blond date and I -- with my sassy little bob -- made a picture-perfect Barney and Betty.  It worked out perfectly and I was hooked!  Okay, perfect except my date felt a little too twinkie-esque and added horns to his forehead with fake blood running down into his eyes.  Harumph.  Boys...)

Didn't the costumes turn out cute?!  Sorry for the quality...and cropping.  No creepy ex-boyfriends on this blog!

Anyway, here's how this shark tail thing is going to go down...

Tutorial: Basic Jelly Roll Quilt - QuiltWest

Goodness!  We're about halfway through our project to make quilts for the families of first responders in West, Texas.  Several people have asked me how to make a Jelly Roll Quilt, so here goes!

First, check out this great video tutorial with Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co on this technique.  A lot of people call it the Jelly Roll Race, because it goes so fast that they want to race each other to see who can get it done quickest!

Now that you have the basic idea, let me walk you through in a little greater detail.

Supplies you need:

Best Practices: Pin Perpendicular to the Seam

I have a confession to make.  With few exceptions, I am a perpendicular pinner.  Though you may find it counter-intuitive, I am unapologetic.  No matter what your grandma taught you, I'm pretty sure I'll have you converted by the end of this post.

Wanna take that challenge? 

Tutorial: Scrappy Roll-Up Changing Pad

A few weeks ago, I outfitted this already useful, pretty Thirty-One Utility Tote with a pocket divider liner to make a totally fabulous diaper bag for my girlfriend.  When I finished the liner project, I had lots of large bits left over from the fat quarters.  What better way to use up the scraps than make a matching accessory?  In this case, I thought a changing pad was in order.

Quick Fix: The Pajama Problem

Bitty Boy owns some very special truck pajamas.  In fact, these truck jammies are far and away his most favoritest jammies.  Here's the problem:  These tight-fitting jammies had cuffs at the ankles...and those cuffs posed a major problem when he needed to potty at 1 a.m.  What to do when I'm cleaning up my third middle-of-the-night accident but the boy LOVES these jammies?  

Time for a quick fix. 

Thirty-One Utility Tote Liner Sew Along Part 6 - Mission Complete!

The tote liner turned out FANTASTIC!  And yes, though I'm guilty of dragging out my postings, I did complete it and send it to my friend _before_ her baby debuted.  Gorgeous little K.T. joined us Jan 14, and I'm so pleased this reached her loving momma in time.  :)

So, are you ready to see the final step?