Ottobre Design skirt in knit tulle

This skirt is from the Autumn 2011 issue of Ottobre Design. The design is called “Butterfly Wing” and is for older girls (sizes 128-170). The original skirt in the magazine was made from soft mesh tulle, with ribbing for the waistband and batiste for the under portion of the skirt. I used a knit mesh, sometimes called “knit tulle” for the ruffles and a rayon lycra jersey for the under skirt. My girl isn’t into anything ‘girly’ anymore, but she will wear this skirt, usually with solid colored leggings and a Woot shirt, but she must have been feeling more festive the day I took the picture as she had on striped tights, which went surprisingly well with the skirt. I think the muted colors of the skirt appeal to her. I have been giving away all fabrics that seem too juvenile for a girl her age. It’s sad to let some of them go, as I had projects in mind for them, but maybe some other mother will find use for them.

Ottobre Woman Spring/Summer 2010 view 11 “Journal”

vintage dress clips

I just finished sewing this dress from the January 2011 Burda Style magazine, which is one of my favorite issues of the past 6 months:

I did raise the neckline considerably, as it was quite plunging and not suitable for my workplace.   But the raised square neckline and dark gray of the dress are perfect for vintage dress clips. 

I tried out my pair of silver clips:

then my singleton colorful circle clip:

My kids voted for the colors, to counter the plain grayness of the dress.

I also altered the skirt of the dress to be slightly a-line instead of straight, eliminating the need for the slit in back, and making it more functional for my job.  It’s a nice dress, with front and back princess seams which provide nice shaping.  I used a rayon blend double knit for this project, which was a good choice.  A fairly stable knit is required. 

A simple home-made bento band

A length of ribbon and some elastic makes a simple bento band:

I can’t remember what this piece of rainbow ribbon came with, but it was too short for anything else except a bookmark.  Or, a bento band.  Quite possibly the fastest sewing project I ever did!

Not too cutesy,  but makes me happy to look at it.

 

Meet Robot Guy . . .

 

Robot Guy is based on this drawing by my preschooler: 

 

The designer approved the color change of Robot Guy’s head, although we had differences of opinion about what Robot Guy should be. 

The designer wanted Robot Guy to be a toy.  I wanted him to decorate a bento band.   Neither side would give in so . . . add a button and a buttonhole 

 

and voila, a toy that can be attached to a bento band!  Here he is in bento band mode: 

 

I made this bento band just like a headband.  I cut a rectangle of corduroy my desired length, and three inches wide (for a finished width of one inch, with 1/2 ” seam allowances).  I folded the rectangle in half lengthwise, right sides together,  and sewed the long edge.  I trimmed my seam allowances and turned right side out.  I pressed so the seam ran up the middle of the back of the band.   After determining how big I needed the band, I cut the elastic and tucked the ends into the fabric portion, folding the raw edges of fabric in as well, and stitched.   I made a button hole in the middle of the fabric portion. 

Robot Guy is entirely made from wool felt and stuffed with wool.  He is hand sewn, except for the seam between the head and body, which I machine sewed.  I used fabric markers for his face and chest controls, which I heat set with an iron.  I then sewed on a clear button to his back. 

Part toy, part bento robot!  And the designer and I are both happy. 

  

Gotta catch . . .er . . eat them all?

 

In an episode of guilt driven insanity, I decided to make these fancy cupcakes for my preschooler to take to school on his birthday.  He is wild about Pokemon cards right now.  They weren’t terribly difficult, but they were very time-consuming and I will never, ever, ever spend so much time decorating cupcakes again!  From now on it’s a smear of icing and some colored sprinkles!  

Instead of icing or prepackaged fondant, I made marshmallow fondant which is much tastier than regular fondant. 

They were very well received by my little guy and his classmates, but they were starting to melt in the heat of the classroom.  Some of the faces slid off and had to be set back in place. 

In case anyone is interested:  The green guys are Carnivine, the yellow guys are  Pikachu, The white and blue squirrel looking things are Pachirisu, and the penguins on the bottom are Piplup. 

Behold the little dandelion . . .

 Why is it that the dandelion is a considered a lowly weed?

It’s really quite a pretty flower and has a lovely seedhead:

I used to get in trouble with my parents for blowing a dandelion in our yard. 

I encourage my kids to blow as many dandelions as they wish. . .

Make a wish . . .

Birthday Dress

 

This is the dress I made for my daughter to wear to her Japan-themed birthday party this year. 

It is from the wonderful Japanese sewing book called Girly Style Wardrobe 

Here’s a photo from the page in the book: 

 

This is my favorite of all my Japanese sewing books featuring girls’ clothes.  

I made my girl’s dress with a fine corduroy, aged for a few years in my stash, but I think it would work just as well in a cotton for a summer dress.  There is also a shorter, top version. 

I have now sewn about 5 or 6  garments from my Japanese books and I have had very little trouble understanding the instructions.  Everything is well illustrated.  My girl loves the simplicity of the styles.  And yet, for their simplicity, they do have interesting details that make them different from what is offered by American pattern companies.  

And I have so little time to sew, that simplicity is a good thing for me right now! 

Otedama

Continuing with the Japanese theme  . . .  here are some otedama that I made for my daughter’s birthday party. Otedama are rice or bean filled bean bags that are a traditional game for girls in Japan.   The girls at my daughter’s party played a group juggling game with them, although otedama were also traditonally used to play a game similar to jacks.

Here are some closer looks

 

I first learned to make the pillow style otedama from Craft magazine (volume 06:  Play).  If you are a subscriber of Craft, you can view the entire article on the internet, but everyone can view this page  which has some of the instructions on it.  The larger fruit, plain cubes, and owls are based on the pillow style, and each started with a rectangular piece of fabric.  The fruit are two small rectangles gathered at the tops and bottom to make them roundish,  the cubes are simply sewn into a rectangle and then the corners folded in and the points hand sewn together to make the ends squared. 

The small strawberry is actually a pincushion I made from instructions on Martha Stewart’s website. 

The smaller, flat and roundish otedama are from a tutorial I found on the web.  I haven’t asked for permission to link directly to the blog, so I won’t put a link here, but if you do a web search for otedama or otedama tutorial it should come up.

I made the cat otedama patterns myself, based on images I came across on the internet.

 

Bento accessories

A bento doesn’t need a special bento box, a tupperware style or lock and lock style box in the right size will do just fine.  But there are some bento accessories that are useful, such as cups, dividers, and  sauce containers. 

These are some Japanese Bento accessories.  There are hard and silicone cups, picks, condiment cups, sauce bottles, and little cutters for cutting out shapes from food for decoration.  I find these especially useful in my childrens’ lunches as they are a. cute and festive  b. easy to use or open.

These accessories are not as cutesy and, with the exception of the small soy sauce bottle, were not specifically made for lunch boxes.

The clear round container and bottle were from the Container Store and are useful for sauces and dressings (and maple syrup!).

The silicone cupcake cups are very economical (especially the star and green cups, from World Market) and I use them all the time to hold little bits of food in both child and adult bentos.  The orange lidded container is a smidget container from Tupperware.  It is an excellent size for sauces, but is difficult for children to open.  For my kids, I use the clear Container Store container, or one of the cute Japanese containers. 

I don’t know why it’s so difficult to find small containers around here, but it really is.  They are extremely useful and allow for more unusual and tasty lunches.

One parting photo, unrelated to bentos.  Here are some of the seedlings in my garden: