My Big Boy

Our school has a fundraiser every year that comes up with some pretty unique ways to get you to part with your cash. One is to buy a parking space right up front with a placard saying "blank" family parking only (insert winning name), so when you pick your kid up everyone gets to see who forked over $1,000+ to park up front.

Another item is principal for a day which let's the winning child walk around school all day pretending to give orders, or something like that. Besides getting to read the announcments on the loud speaker and other principal duties, the child gets to invite 4 friends to eat pizza in the faculty lounge. 

One of Rocco's close friends is principal for the day today. Her parents bought it for her and bought the principal for a day for her older sister at the other school in our district. Some people have money to burn. Who am I to complain though? One, the money goes to a good cause... and two...

Rocco was one of the kids that she invited!  Last night he said he wanted to dress fancy for the special lunch. I was baffled because he has nothing in said category. Before I could utter a word he stated he wanted a bow tie. That boy listens. He remembered all the attention little brother got from his bow tie. So late last night I was making a bow tie that hopefully would not garner snickers from the other kids at school today.

This is where the story may just melt your heart a teeny-tiny bit. The girl that invited him is genuinely a friend to him. She isn't told to hang out with the blind kid that is socially awkward. She also is one of the pretty girls in school. Well, that sounds creepy. She's in second grade. Maybe I should keep it at "she's so stinkin' cute". He's in love with her and has no idea what she looks like. I love that about him. The judgements he makes in life will never be based on people's appearances. 

p.s. On a funny note, last night when I put the measuring tape around his neck to measure the right length for the bow tie, he got all excited and said "it fits!". In his defense I was using a fabric measuring tape, but I still laughed.

Come see what I have to share on Luvinthemommyhood 

I'm duking it out in the Versus ring

Because I Care

Have you ever put a drip dry item in the laundry basket thinking you would remember to pull it from the wash before everything goes into the dryer, only to have the item come from the dryer shrunk up to Barbie sized clothing? 

I made this little sign to remind me (or my husband should he walk by the laundry room and decide to put a load of laundry into the dryer and accidentally ruin a sweater. Yes this has happened).

The reverse side of the card says "Dry Low Heat". I laminated the sign at Kinko's and I keep it attached to the side of the washer with a heavy duty magnet. When I need to use the sign I put it so the sign overlaps with the door of the washer so I can't "forget" about the item that needs attention. 

I keep a sign in the master bathroom for Chef to use (he has a few work shirts that need special attention). We keep the card with a clothespin in a drawer and hopefully it gets remembered before something else is ruined.

On my signs I didn't use accurate symbols. I just picked some icons that I liked. For all I know my sign says "hand wash, hot dryer, line dry and add an extra dash of bleach".

Works great for the portable laundry baskets also. There are obviously many different cards you can make. "Pre-treat", "Use Bleach", "Tumble Dry Low"...

The free fonts I used are from two sources...

DaFont

Fontspace

I'm thinking these could be fun for lot's of other uses. Any ideas? Let me know in the comments. I want to use these symbols on something else.

Nap Time Sewing

During nap time yesterday I was able to make a quick pair of pants. 

Taking photos of a toddler is a test of patience I tell you.

We're back... so what?

 So did anyone miss me? No I didn't think so. It's o.k. I'm secure that way. Kind of. For those of you new here, the famdamily went out on a road trip to San Diego. Mainly to visit Legoland.  

As you may recall I made some Lego pants for the littlest one. He wore them. Proof as seen above. Yes, EVERYONE thought they were adorable on our daughter! That's o.k. I'm secure that way too.

 {my kids in the brig: USS Midway}

 As you can see I took some real quality photos on our trip. This pretty much sums up about 99.9% of what came out of my camera.

 Oh yeah baby, I did not bother much with appearances on our trip. I thought San Diego needed to see how little I care for brushing my child's hair. I should have had him wear the bow tie. All cute up front and party in the back. {He did wear the bow tie to dinner one night and people just about died from the cuteness. I highly recommend making these for your little boy. Luca got so jealous that she asked me to make her a tie}.

We bought tons of junk at our many stops. These vintage style aviator goggles were a hit with both boys. Currently all three kids are going to be pilots for Halloween.

Everyone behaved well (mostly)

I'm back and itching to get some sewing done.

Celebrate the Boy Bow Tie

So during Celebrate the Boy month Delia Creates shared her tutorial for a boys' bow tie that you actually tie. As in, the old fashioned way. I thought the littlest little is ready for an adorable tie, or two or three.

 So here is bow tie number two. The first one was too small. As crooked as this looks it's close to just right. I need some more practice on the actual tie part of a bow tie. You tube is perfect for that task. I think I need to add only about 1" more to make the tie easier. Hopefully I can make a few more before out trip to San Diego. I'll show you any exciting deets if there are any. I pretty much followed the tutorial, I even used bra/swimsuit hooks that Delia recommends and I liked it just peachy.

On a total side note: we saw a new pediatrician when we moved from Ohio back to California and he wore bow ties. I kind of liked him right away. He took one look at Rocco from across the room and said to us, "he needs to see a pediatric opthalmologist  as soon as possible." 

I cried. From relief not sadness. I just knew something was wrong with my baby. Rocco was 13 months old, blind as a bat and totally undiagnosed. I knew I liked that doctor, and his bow ties were pretty cool.

A Little Bit of Love

It's safe to say around these parts there is a serious love for all things moccasin

1. Bought these a while back and they are yet to fit Cenzo. I see they are no longer available here.

2. Bought these 16 years ago while I was dating Chef. Sixteen years I've had these shoes! I love them so seriously. They are the Minnetonka soft soled version still available after all these years. I purchased them at the L.A. Farmers Market which is now apparently a crazy outdoor mall.

BEFORE...

{source}

I'm not that old, but this is pretty much the way it looked while I was growing up. Now, not so much.

AFTER...

Back to the shoes...

3. These are Luca's current favorite pair. They will be available in pink on April 15th. I may just have to get them for her. 

4. Love these, they come in red and pink too. Adorable for girls, but... although cute, they are not really designed to fit a baby foot. The instep (?) is not high enough for their chubby feet. I bought them because of the ease of hook and loop closure, but it's the cut that's off. Not quite right. They are cute anyway.

 

5. These I made by altering a free online pattern. The size comes in 0-6 months and it took some working to adjust to a size 6-ish. Here's another free pattern, but I haven't tried it yet.

~On my pair (#5) I lined them in quilting cotton and used fray check on the raw edges. I used some leather that my mom had for the shell and for the sole (sorry forgot pic.), I used a thicker beige suede that you can get at Michael's Crafts in rectangle pieces about 8 X 10. It's pretty hefty and works great for soft soled shoes.

~ Sewing leather can be a pain in the tush. You need to get a leather needle for your machine. Also, thick thread. It helps to use a Teflon foot on your machine. If the layers are too thick your machine will revolt. 

~And don't get me started about finding leather. Apparently many of you can totally find items (purses, skirts, jackets) at your local thrift stores at reasonable prices, but not me. I had visions of making moccasins in a wide array of colors. Online it's not much easier. Usually you have to buy the entire hide. If you all have a good, cheap source for garment weight leather PLEASE let me know.

6. So in other words, just buy these shoes. Oh my holy h@ll these are my most favoritest moccasins evah! They are from Freshly Picked. First let me tell you they are worth every penny. They fit well, the leather is fantastic (she has metallic pink,  silver and gold to name a few). I am so lucky I don't have a baby girl right now. I like this particular leather so much I'm pretty sure when Cenzo grows out of them I'll buy the next size up.

To make moccasins more wearable for an older toddler I like to add a padded insole. otherwise it's just a thin layer of leather between the foot and the ground.It's super easy and pretty darn cute.

If you are adding an insole to a pair of soft shoes that you are making you can trace the sole pattern piece onto your fabric choice (I used quilting weight cotton). If it's to add to a ready made moc, just trace the bottom of the shoe and add some.

I use two layers of fusible fleece, but if the shoes are already a little big you can use three layers. fuse the two layers of fleece and the cotton. I then use fray check along the perimiter of the sole tracing so when it is cut out the edges won't fray. I use pinking shears to trim, but I like the added security of the fray check.

Here are the soles that I made for the Freshly Picked pair of moccasins. Since the fabric is fused to the fleece you can cut your sole on the bias which can give you more options for the look of the insole especially if using a geometric print. The right photo shows the flip side of the insole. 

So there is my little bit of love.

LEGOLAND or Bust

So we are headed to Legoland in a little over a week and I wanted to sew an outfit for the baby to wear to the park.

Can you see something I may have done wrong before really thinking things out? Long sleeved shirt for a day at an amusement park in San Diego. So now I need to make a short sleeved shirt. I have more of the yellow stripe knit fabric but Cenzo really doesn't need two striped shirts almost exactly the same. Hopefully I have something in my stash that will pop like this does. The photo actually doesn't look like they go together well, but in person it's a totally funky combination that just works.

Watch, now I'll make something short sleeved and the day we go to Legoland it'll be some freaky cold spell. Do you think maybe I need to look into average daily temperature for San Diego in early April? Brilliant.

Pants pattern: Quick Change Trousers from Handmade Beginnings 
Shirt pattern: OTTOBRE magazine Muksis Tee 1/2009
Lego Fabric Superbuzzy
Stripe knit fabric Fashionfabricsclub (I think)