Scarlet Pimpernel Costume

My almost-8-year-old chose to be the Scarlet Pimpernel for Halloween. Sir Percy Blakeney is known for his impeccable fashion taste. I don't think he would have worn rolled-up jeans, but that's okay.

Step One: The Coat - My son tried on several women's coats at the thrift store. This is the one he chose because it's supposed to be "really fancy." He didn't like the solid navy wool coat that I chose because it wasn't fancy enough. I relented because I'm trying to let him make more choices (even though I wouldn't have needed to modify the navy one to fit him!). He knew what he wanted and it was perfect. Or soon would be. Once home, I put the coat on him inside-out and pinned along the underarm seam and down the sides of the coat. He helped with the sewing. After sewing I trimmed the seam allowances with pinking shears. I also turned up the sleeve cuffs. Simple and easy. I even sewed and trimmed right over the pockets! The coat is nice and long on him. He seemed upset when I seam-ripped the shoulder pads out, but I didn't feel like giving in on that point.

Next comes the lace: The jabot (jah-boh), cravat (not pictured, but what is just a rectangular strip of white fabric tied around the neck), and the cuffs (which have elastic on them). I never thought I'd ever buy lace for my son's Halloween costume!

The jabot is made of strips of gathered lace sewn to a trapezoid of cotton (actually, two), then sewn to a ribbon with a velcro closure. This particular ribbon and velcro originally came around the Christmas pajama pants I got the kids from Target last year. Yes, I saved it. Yes, I used it. I think I deserve a pat on the back for that. I just realized that I forgot to make lace and/or buckles for his shoes. Ah well, Halloween is always rushed. I don't think I would have had time, anyway!

I didn't know if anyone would recognize "what" his costume was supposed to be, so I asked Alexander if he wanted me to make him a name tag. He said yes, as long as the writing was fancy enough. Apparently my penmanship met his approval. I used some parchment paper scraps I just happened to have around.

The oversized scarlet pimpernel flower was a cheap-o poinsettia from the dollar store. It used to have seven petals but I cut off two to make it star-shaped and hot-glued the empty spaces together as I was gluing the flower to the name tag. Yes, I also have a stash of brooch pin backs.

The green vest was from an old white rabbit costume that my sister wore in a ballet recital many years ago. I'm glad it didn't clash with the coat. Black trouser socks and dress shoes finished off the bottom half of the costume. The sword helps balance out the masculinity of the costume. Sink me! If only I had time to find a magnifying glass for a chain around his neck.

They seek him here, they seek him there...

Scripture Brief Cases - Missionary Style

I finally made the boys some scripture/church cases. This is another one of those projects that has been a couple years in the making. I knew I wanted some manly briefcase-style scripture totes, but I didn't find the unfinished cases I wanted until just a couple weeks ago (Hobby Lobby for about $7, if I remember right. AND, by the way, Alexander's already needs a new latch!).

Once I had the right cases I still didn't know what I wanted them to look like. I knew I wanted their names on the outside and the missionary name tag popped into my mind. Then the whole shirt and tie just came together after that. I already knew I wanted some fun patterned paper, although I had considered vinyl for a leather look. My mom and I had fun making the name tags in Photoshop from an image of a real missionary tag. Then we put the kids' names on them in a font that turned out to be surprisingly authentic-looking (after a bit of stretching). FYI, I blurred out the last names for privacy on the www.



The white paper is textured so perfectly. It looks like a woven shirt. I had such a hard time with the Mod Podge, though! You can see I got wrinkles in all three papers, even though they were of various thicknesses. What's up with that?

 These scripture cases were the boys' Easter present from me. They found them under their Easter baskets.

I wish I could say I have some really cute pictures of my kids in their Sunday best holding their missionary scripture cases. And lovely photos of the interiors, all neat and organized with the perfect-sized 6x9" writing/drawing tablets, writing utensils, and scriptures all tucked inside. All those have really existed at one or two points in the last week and a half, I just don't have the pictures to prove it. I could wait and post this after (and if) the stars align and I get some awesome pictures later. But my blogging has been so sparse lately that I think I'll just post it as-is. So you have these photographic gems to look at:
:)

P.S. Did you spy what the Easter Bunny brought me? No, not Pat the Bunny and a wooden castle. Those are Ivory's. 

Cowboy Quilt in the Works

Let me introduce you to an unfinished project that's been hanging around my house for almost a year. It's a cowboy quilt that my oldest son and I have been making. It has large squares embroidered with my his cowboy drawings (that he did last year) that will be sprinkled amongst the smaller squares. I do love all the various cowboy fabric.



Here's Monkey One laying out the triangle pieces that will eventually go around the edge of the diamonds.



The embroidered muslin squares are my favorite part of the quilt. I love the drawings my little artist made. (I still need to clean and iron these, in case you were wondering)



I did most of the embroidery, but as you can see I had some help! The areas he did are so sweet and special to me. I'm glad his stitches are not as uniform as mine because they will always be recognizable as his.



Here are the embroidery portraits of my little cowboys. There will be another one of my husband and me, but it's still in the embroidery hoop right now.



I originally intended the quilt to be queen size, but I'm considering splitting it into two smaller quilts. That way there will be one for each of my boys and I won't have to try to quilt such a large area. How on earth do people quilt a queen size blanket, anyway?

Xmas Gifts 6: Bean Bag Cubes

My husband enjoys laying on our family room floor. From there he reads, uses his laptop, and watches TV. He's always grabbing for something to prop up his head. But he doesn't use soft objects like a normal person would (no offense, Amore). I've seen him use books, VHS tapes, and remote controls (all standing on their ends) as pillow substitutes. I don't know, maybe it's a macho thing that he can't use anything fluffy? So for Christmas I made him some bean bag pillows to do the trick. The beans make them sturdy yet pliable, so he can shape them the way he wants. I made them in different sizes as well.



Actually, I didn't mean for them to turn out so big. I used up most of a 5-gallon bucket of pinto beans from our food storage, and still didn't have quite enough! I'm considering picking the bean bags apart to make them smaller because they are also quite heavy.



I made each bean bag out of fabric I already had on hand, fabric that I like, so that I wouldn't mind seeing them strewn all over the family room floor. I also put some appliquéd messages on them, though I suppose that's not very manly. The appliqués are already coming apart, so I obviously need more practice in that department.



The inspiration for these came from Paper and String's fun doorstops. And, although I only saw these after I had finished the bean bags, they also remind me of Dana's giant Rollie Pollie pillow, but only because (1) we both made some sort of pillows, (2) IKEA fabric was involved, and, (3) let's face it, I just adore her and want to be as cool as she is.

I still have one more Christmas gift to post, then on to some more fun (and more current) stuff.

Xmas Gifts 2: Football Fan Blankets

My brother-in-law is a huge BYU football fan. So for Christmas I went in search of his team's fleece to make him and his 18-month-old son matching blankets. While I didn't find the right team fleece I did find this fabulous minky football fabric that is even better. I lined the back side with fleece for thickness and made my own logo on the front out of the same.


This blanket was for my nephew. It's about four feet, square.


Here's the blanket for my brother-in-law. It's about 6 feet long, maybe longer.


I only had to cut the "Y" out once. I used the reverse for the baby's blanket.


He looks pretty happy about the gift, don't you think?

WK Character Magnets (and other stuff)

Completed Christmas 2008:

For the family Christmas present swap this past year I had my little brother, Will. He's a super talented guy who used to be a super talented kid who made a monthly comic book called WK Magazine (WK for his initials). As a teenager I had a paid subscription to his magazine, and also got a few of my friends to subscribe as well. Nowadays he's going to art school as a film major and I must say his short films are hilarious. And of course, his artwork is always treasured.

So for Christmas I decided to resurrect some classic old school WK characters, jazz them up a bit in Photoshop, and give them new life on my brother's refrigerator.


Here are some pictures of the originals

Completed April 2007:

A couple years ago for Will's birthday I took a painting he had made me for Christmas, scanned it, and made it into notecards and a t-shirt for him. They turned out looking a little on the cheesy side (especially the t-shirt) but I'm sure they could be made to look cool. I'm four years older than him, and not cool at all. But the whole point was to show him how much faith I have in him. If he wanted to be the next Paul Frank, he could.



I think he really liked the magnets. Maybe for his birthday I'll rehash the same pictures up into another hip item for his bachelor pad. Hmmm... coasters, perhaps?