loose ends

Since you endured my kvetching throughout the month of September, I thought you might like to hear how a couple of things have panned out.  On the Crafty Bastards front, it went swimmingly!  Our booth was a mad house, due in large part to the lovely ladies of Coralilie with whom I shared my booth.  Our tent looked like it had been sacked by the Huns by about 1 pm.  It was a very affirming First Craft Show experience.  I followed all of the advice I could dig up regarding clearly marked items, varying display heights, a neat and tidy presentation, and I really felt good about how things looked.  One of the things that I read pre-show said that seeing your customers respond to your work first-hand is one of the most valuable outcomes of a big show, and I have to agree.  It was fascinating to hear people talking with their friends as they handled the merchandise.  Particularly intriguing to me was the response that men seemed to have to my offerings; one dad even asked me to make him an adult-sized t-shirt with a rocket ship on it since he did not think he could wedge into the 2T I had for sale.  That left me wondering whether men have been left out in the cold a bit on the handmade front.  Maybe not every man interested in handmade wants to be ironic or punkrock.  Food for thought, anyway.

Regarding the lion costume for Cal's preschool, I was finally able to check that off my list.  It was waaaaaaaay harder than I thought it would be!  Observe the original lion costume.  Cute, but doesn't it look simple?  Well, I knew right off the bat that I would not be using the curly faux fur that was on the original mane and tail nub.  I wanted to figure out a way to do the whole thing in polarfleece, keeping it simple enough to toss into the wash frequently since it is destined to live its life in a nursery school dress-up corner.  I started by tracing the parts as best I could and cutting out new pieces.

I then began sewing.  My machine would not sew anything correctly.  It was jamming, knotting, dropping stitches.  A montage of my entire sewing machine's life was flashing before my eyes.  Even my husband was worried, and not just about the nervous breakdown I was having.  Finally, I switched to a stretch needle.  Magical!  It fixed everything. 

My next hurdle was the mane.  I wanted to keep it simple and stylized, but I also wanted it to be immediately recognizable to the children.  My original plan was to create several rows of loops and attach these to the hood.  But when I went to attach the first loop, it seemed like there just wasn't that much room with the ears already in place.  If I had proceeded to attach several rows, it would have not only looked crowded, it would have also been very heavy and caused the hood to fall over the child's face.  Instead of following my original plan, I went with a fringe framing the face.  I used a simple loop for the tail.

The final product is cute and serves the purpose.  It won't be used to outfit Simba for The Lion King on Broadway, but my son insisted on wearing it to school, so I think it will do just fine.

i'm so excited and i just can't hide it

A short, short post this week because I am madly sewing for Crafty Bastards, the craft fair that I have been obsessing over for months.  In an exciting turn of events, the good folks at the Washington City Paper got a real live cartoonist to illustrate the how-to for the wreath of recyclables that I blogged about a while ago.  They did a great job and, to be perfectly honest, I actually shivered with excitement when I saw it on the screen.  The weather is supposed to be great this weekend, so if you happen to be in the DC area, why not pop on by?  I will be the spazzy vendor scaring customers with her out-of-control zeal.

and we're back to costumes

So, today I got an email from my son's nursery school teacher, a desperate plea for a sewing parent to help out by whipping up some new costumes for the imaginative play corner.  Even though I am sewing around the clock for Crafty Bastards and have not even started the jellyfish and crab (yes, that's right, Little Brother has now migrated from sea tortoise to crab--sketch to follow), I of course committed to sewing new costumes for the preschool.  Turns out the problem is that a particular four-year-old so favors the lion costume that she has worn it down to a nub.  Also, she makes it look so exciting to be wearing it that, though intended to provide joy, the lion costume is now causing dissent amongst the Fours.

I took a look at the favored costume and it was quite simple, just a little polar fleece tunic with a tail and a matching cap with ears and what I assume used to be the mane.  The teacher expressed a need for some other costumes of a similar type, so I thought, maybe a monkey?  In my brainstorming mode, I turned to Etsy to see what sorts of costumes those folks were coming up with.  I found quite a few that would be great for Halloween or anytime:

Two Little Bluebirds offers loads of fodder for imaginative play, including a Pink Pirate Set and this Superhero Set.  You do see a lot of superhero capes on the market, but I love that she has included a belt and the cuffs and even that little badge at the throat.  That kind of detail is really the strength of this shop--the pirate set even includes a little roll-up map and a bag of "booty" (not the R. Kelly type).  Fantastic.

Tangle Wit Designs really knows its way around some polar fleece, and these hats do double duty as dress up outfits and real cold-weather accessories, complete with ear flaps.  The Cardinal Hat is especially great for those little ornithologists in your life.  Actually, I might buy this myself.  It would be a great way to pick out your kid on the slopes! 

Her Flying Horses has a wonderful selection of very reasonably priced costumes ideal for pretend play.  My son would adore this Dragon Cloak (which is just a great idea) because it would be so easy to throw on and get right to the fun part of chasing his brother and roaring at the top of his lungs.

Imaginative play is such an important part of childhood.  According to all sorts of sciencey people, it is essential to developing well-adjusted, bright, happy humans.  And while it is sometimes frustrating for me when I address my son and he replies with, "I am a robot I am a robot" in his automaton voice, I know that this is crucial for him on almost every level.  And imaginative play also gives them something to do while I am sewing.  Which I need to go do now.

two and a half weeks? are you kidding me?

The Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair is going to take place in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C.  on October 2, a scant two and a half weeks away.  This is a well-known fair in these parts and beyond, bringing together tons of super-talented vendors from all over the dang place.  For me, it is exciting because I will be sharing a booth at said craft fair with my great friend of many years who co-invented a tres flattering dress called the Coralilie.  But it is even more momentous than that, as it is the first time I will be in any craft fair at all.  So I am completely freaking out.

Aside from ignoring my children, spouse, dog, household, and job so that I can hole up in my dining/sewing room and develop carpal tunnel, I am just becoming more and more aware by the hour that I have no idea what I am doing.  Sure, I have been to my share of craft fairs, being the craft-fair-loving gal that I am, but I am such a stranger to on-the-ground selling.  I couldn't even hold down a job at the Disney Store when I was 16.  I am planning to bring about 800 items and see what people like.  As I am planning to do this, the words of Jen Menkhaus, whose wonderful work I admired at Pile o' Craft in Baltimore is ringing in my ears--to streamline your offerings, thus preventing your guileless customer from wandering off in an overwhelmed haze.  But it does seem like a good opportunity for me, as the seller, to actually see with my own two eyes how people react to my work.  Maybe they will think, "What, no owls? No mustaches? I'm outta here."  Maybe they will think, "This beautiful youngish lady is just the person to write that book my publishing house has been looking to put out." Maybe they will think, "Why is this vendor staring at me as I look through her things?"

Oh, and if anyone I work with/for is reading this, just kidding about ignoring my job.  Have you seen my sewing scissors?

adventures in costuming, part I

Halloween season is upon us and my son has requested that I make him a costume.  For his first couple of years, he was content with the Children's Place/ Old Navy/ Fill-in-the-Blank Chain Store costumes that we inherited from our benevolent hand-me-downers, but this year I could tell he had something special in mind from the moment the first Halloween-themed catalog crossed our threshold.  For quite a while, it seemed inevitable that he was going to go with Octopus, since he has been obsessed with that particular creature all summer.  I was stumped by the arm/leg situation--would I incorporate his existing arms and legs into the eight required legs or kind of start from scratch?

Luckily he has changed his tune and decided that he wants to be a jellyfish.  I have some preliminary ideas involving polar fleece and various shiny/iridescent materials, and, actually, he had a lot of good ideas, too, mostly regarding the stingers (which seem to be the crux of the entire costume for him).  We have also determined that his baby brother will wear a complementary Sea Turtle outfit.  (Again, in a stroke of good fortune, we moved off of the idea of the baby going as Lobster--it would be adorable if executed well, but in my hands I am afraid he would look like he was dressed as a Chewed Twizzler.)  Because nothing looks worse than things I sew from a pattern, I knew that finding some delightful McCall's costume was just not going to fly.  So, I will chronicle this odyssey in crafting, beginning with my preliminary sketches herewith:

Wish me luck!  I heartily welcome any words of wisdom.

memories rock with memory rocks

There's something about that family beach vacation that is indescribable--a blur of sun-drenched days and breezy nights, a Mary Cassatt painting come to life.  One way that my family celebrated our vacation this year was with an activity that my sister and I always loved as girls, painting rocks.  The collecting is just as much fun as the painting, every single person in the family can participate, and the resulting product is something that can be a paperweight or rest in a dish back home.

Now, when my sister and I used to do this, we used giant conch shells and day-glo tempera paint.  This time round, I selected inexpensive, non-toxic acrylics in a range of colors and a set of brushes that came in a variety of sizes.

We collected the rocks together at the beach and washed them in salt water.  The kids had a ball finding their favorites.  Back at the beach house, we covered the dining room table in a few layers of newspaper and got to work.  Some people chose to commemorate something specific, like a caught flounder or a jellyfish sting, others chose general themes, and the youngest members of our family went "abstract" (though they can tell you exactly what it is they painted!). 

We dried our masterpieces on the front porch banister--also on several layers of newspaper--where they were the rightful subjects of much admiration.  What a wonderful reminder of these perfect summer days.

wait! don't throw that away! a wreath of recyclables

Who doesn't like to find a new use for things that are just lying around doing nothing?  I am always trying to think of projects that use items bound for the recycling bin.  It takes the pressure off.  So you mess up--it's not like you are botching up some zillion dollar material.  (Which, by the way, I have done, and it stinks.  Orla Kiely oil cloth, anyone?)

This wreath uses any lightweight cardboard that you have.  It could be holiday cards, the flat or folded kind, photographs, cereal boxes, whatever.  It does not require any form, just a gluestick, scissors, and a piece of ribbon for hanging.  I used leftover invitations to my one-year-old's birthday party, and we hung the wreath on the front door to welcome guests to his fete.

The steps are very simple.

1. Create a circular form out of lightweight cardboard (like a cereal box).  I traced a small teacup saucer to get the size I wanted.  Then I centered a glass and traced that so I could cut an even circle in the middle.  I created a second circular form with a slightly larger circular opening in the middle.

2. I cut pieces, approximately 2" x 5" out of the invitations.  I then cut that piece in half, about halfway down.  I used a pen to curl the pieces different amounts.

3.  I glued the pieces to the larger circular form, overlapping them as I went.  After I completed the circle, I glued the smaller circular form into the center.  I glued another, top layer of overlapped pieces, staggering them with the first layer.

4.  I taped two long pieces of ribbon on the back (the wreath is so lightweight that tape holds), tied the ribbon in a nice bow, and hung it on the door.

That's it!  But, while I'm singing the praises of recyclables as party decor, I have to show you the wonderful garlands my friend Kim brought for the party.  She sewed discs of papers she had lying around--even brown paper bags--and made these whimsical decorations.  We still have them up because they look so festive.  Moral of the story--before you toss it into the recycling bin, why not try cutting it up and turning it into something else?