wienerdog tricks.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm

Already Thinking About Christmas.

Yes, I am the girl that said something truly foul when I saw red and green melmac-ish plates in target in September. And yes, I am also the girl whose friend said in that moment, "Really? You're gonna get mad about this? Really?"

So, while I don't want to go all Christmas-in-July on you, the truth is . . . it's October. And according to my mother, you'll never be ready for Christmas if you're not thoroughly set to go by Halloween. It's true that in my mind I hit her the first time she told this to me (maybe because she was saying it at Thanksgiving and I had no $ and no clue what I was going to do for my kids/husband/friends/extended relatives/book club friends/co-workers/kids' teachers/mailman's nephew with 30 days left to budget, save, think, know, buy, wrap and deliver.) 

But there's also some deeply annoying truth to it. And Halloween is the day after the day after tomorrow.

So, I'm trying to start planning now. I don't want to spend $17 on every person I want to give something to and feel out $442 and all hollow inside on the 26th. I want to make my gifts. 

So I'm fooling around with the idea of the dop kit--you know toiletry bag, what my friend calls the ditty bag. (Which is easily the best name for this ever.) This seems like a fun and unexpected gift and something lots of people have one of that they don't like very much. I am, of course, getting everyone I know mixed up with me as usual, but I'm willing to live with that. And yes I am figuring out how to make these out of old polyester. Because why wouldn't I? Exactly.

So far, I like this tutorial  a lot for a good basic take on how to make a boxy thing with a zipper, but I'm fooling around with making one about 5 times bigger, adding lining, a nifty loop and some structure without the horrid interfacing. Why is this horrid to me? Easy: because you have to drive to the craft store to buy it, and I will spend 19 hours upstairs away from my family to figure out an alternative to this before I will drive in my car with all three of my children to a craft supply store. That's just how I am. 

I also like the idea of combining this tutorial for fabric garlands and this one for fabric alphabets to make MERRY CHRISTMAS garlands. That sounds fun. (Especially if you do this shortcut for the garlands so that you don't spend all of december making one gift and then have to buy everyone else a huge tin of cheese popcorn at walmart on the 23rd.) 

Sew Mama Sew has a loaded wheelbarrow full of tutorials up right now for making things out of scraps and there are lots of good cheap-to-make ideas if you're looking for some inspiration.

 

Or maybe I'll just invite everyone I know over to watch the episode from Little House on the Prarie where they get all excited about the oranges in their stocking. And then I'll hand out oranges. And that will be that.

What are you all making this year? Any good ideas?

 

Let's See Em.

Did you make one yet?  

 

C'mon. They're easier than that bread you let sit on the counter and don't even have to knead.

I'm pulling together a flickr gallery for those of you who decide to go for it and use the patternless baby dress tutorial to make a wee little mini dress for your favorite toddler-ish person. Just email your photo and I'll put them up for all to see: gingerhendrix AT charter DOT net. How communal. What fun. How hootishly good timey.

And yes, my email is listed in super secret CODE so that you don't submit one if you're a robot or something. You have to be human.

Worth Mentioning.

Okay, so I already told you that I've put up a patternless baby dress tutorial,  but what I DIDN'T tell you is that it's the same basic process I use for making these polyester lovlies:

 

 

 

 

And I know that some of you are still struggling with the whole POLYESTER ON A BABY deal, but seriously--it's the best fabric ever: especially in this wearable design. (And by that I mean: they don't sweat because their armpits are free to breathe. Right.)

So these are just up here to tempt you. I could sew these if I were a monkey with a part-time job, three kids, four volunteer gigs, and a penchant for having people to coffee most days of the week. 

Oh. I am. And I do.

You can too . . .

 

Patternless (Almost Pin-less, Almost Measure-less) Baby Dress Tutorial

 

In honor of SCRAPBUSTERS MONTH over at Sew Mama Sew, I finally put together that baby dress tutorial I've been threatening to offer up!

 

          Toddler Action Shot

It was a hoot to put together. It's over here. Go make some scrappy little dresses, eh?

Craft Debt #7 (Desperately Cute Kitchen Apron): CHECK

(Craft Debt Update.) My goal: REALLY cute Kitchen Apron that will make her sigh from disbelief at its cuteness when she puts it on to cook.

Mission Accomplished, Tom Cruise. 

I think you already know this about me, but I love me the apron. They never get old for me. I've made and remade and re-envisioned the basic vintage apron that The Chicken served up in her first book and the straightforward instructions for this apron have been worth the cost of the book for me.  So yesterday I was at it again with this little number:

Don't think of that as a blurry photo: think of it as an action shot. It's windy here today.

I found this little retro 70s scrap some time ago and knew it wanted to be an apron and it FINALLY came to me--the person who would embrace it, I mean. And the fabric combo. Got to use a scrap of my Dick and Jane word-omatic scrap too for the pocket and some mini-ric rac I've been hoarding like a tiny squirrel with a tree:

Have you made an apron for somebody lately? It's a super satisfying 2-hour-ish undertaking that will make you happy to drive to the post office to send it off. (And THAT is saying something--especially from a postally-challenged person like me.) And I'll be thinking today about how happy my friend from Texas will be when she skips out to her mailbox and finds this there waiting for her. It will be a little chunk of love, delivered.

The Tshirt: As Underappreciated as the Sandwich.

I have long said that the sandwich is the most underappreciated food genre. And let's just say, if you believe this, you're missing out. Seriously missing out.

And so I'd compare the humble tshirt to the humble sandwich in its abilities to transform a wardrobe . . .if you're, willing to refashion IT. 

So, after working to turn a long, fitted tshirt out of a big boxy man's tshirt, here's what I've come up with. Because I'm looking for length. (Don't want the old butt crackola to show. Don't want to share my belly button. Don't want to be tugging my clothing down as I jobg through my day. Just don't.) But I don't want to give up fit either, so here's what I've got so far:

And while this may look like an ever-so-slightly pathetic stack, please know that it represents a small handful of successes and also a FAT stack of screw ups. There's a lot of ways to go wrong in the t-shirt redo. Who knew?

So, here's my hard won tshirt redo wisdom:

1. One of the things I've realized about being a Tshirt Wearer is that it's all in the shoulders. Seriously. If the shirt fits you in the shoulders, it looks SIGNIFICANTLY less like you're that girl trying to pull off a gym shirt for work. And SIGNIFICANTLY less like you've raided your brother's/husband's/son's closet to get dressed. I've looked around the INTERWEB for tutorials and really, this quick little pdf is the best bet for wrapping your brain around how to reattach shoulders--which ISN'T as tricky as it sounds. You really just cut the thing open like a fish and then reassemble it.

See--this is one I'm working on today--it's a boxy boohoo of a men's shirt that looks like a boohoo when I put it on.

Light wash denim and white tennies anyone? But when I cut the sleeves off and flay the whole thing open and reattach them closer in so that they line up with my real shoulders, it will be a babe shirt. I swear.

2. Don't risk poking yourself to an early death with pins, just find a tshirt that you like in the snugness department and use it. I've copied one of these to death and it's working for me nicely.

3. Pay attention to the flexola of the fabric. One of the ways that I've screwed up OVER AND OVER is to cut the shirt too small. My original is made of a wonderfully stretch cotton and so when I'm working on a stiffer, less stretchy fabric, I put the thing on and it's like I've turned myself into a full blown sausage. Pretty. If your original has lots of give, then make allowances if the one you're working with doesn't.

4. Don't stop now. Think outside the tshirt box for tshirts.I'm starting to work on old men's polo shirts. You know:

 

Nice dragon, Sears. I have not mastered these. Am still working on the florkiness of the sleeve. Think I just need to make it more form fitting--which is just a little extra seam down the one that's there and a clip clip.

5. Look on the men's shirt racks. We don't have enough time to talk here about how for some reason used women's tshirts are all balled up and nasty. And shrunken. And wonked. For some reasons, men's tshirts are less this way in my extensive thrift shopping experience. I think it's the fabric they start out as. PLUS you can get the length you need out of a men's tshirt without having to sew some weird looking extra panel on the bottom.

6. Use the stretch stitch setting on your machine. I'm in love with this stictch. If you've got it, it's perfect for this project.

Start cutting, girls. And report back on your success. (And, as always, if everything I've said here makes no sense, then tell me and I'll say it again better. This tshirt-redo thing is CRUCIAL for us thrifters. Just saying.)