Christmas gifts, part 2.

The other sewing project I made this year were explorer vest for my nephews and Judah, another pattern from Little Things to sew.

 


I put little flashlights and tape measures from the dollar spot at Target in the pockets. When I first floated the idea of explorer vests by Melanie, she was excited since it would mean less new toys at her house. I don't know if they'll get used, but I loved how many pockets these had, perfect for collecting rocks, sticks, and any other "treasures" they find when they go outside. The pattern includes an option for bellows on the pockets, which makes them seems very "explorer-y" to me. I also got a pair of inexpensive binoculars for Judah in his pocket, which he really loved.

The best part about this year's Christmas sewing: I didn't buy ANYTHING. I used up a lot of cute fabrics from my stash, especially from my stash of boy fabrics. I was really tempted to go to Joann's several times, but realized that I really had plenty already for these projects. The buttons are all from my big button box I bought on ebay a long time ago, and I made my own bias tape from other fabric in the stash. (I sort of hate making bias tape because it involves lot of ironing and cutting, my two least-favorite sewing activities, but I now have enough cute bias tape to last a while. If anyone cares, here is my favorite bias tape tutorial.)

Although this is a great boy project, I also love that with some girly fabric it could be great for girls who like to play outside and explore, too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giveaway

Image
I've been watching in amazement for a few days as the links over here keep growing and growing with people who are hosting giveaways. The last time around I didn't participate, but now that things are slightly more settled in my somewhat crazy but wonderful job I thought I'd make an offering. The softies I make don't quite compare to amazing things you might see here or here , but I still think they are pretty cute. All those who leave comments will be entered to win the homemade softie of their choice, either an owl : (You can pick the colors you'd like, from a list of colors I have.) Or a penguin : Who will come with sunglasses, goggles, and a winter hat. (Because every good penguin should be prepared.) You can also pick (from a limited list) colors for the penguin's hat and glasses. I'll hold the drawing on Monday, since I'll be on call on Sunday, and the post the winner on Tuesday. Feel free to leave in your comment any favorite crafty blogs -
Read more

And Then There Were Three!

Image
For all those who have been looking for news... we have news! It's a boy!!!!!! Judah Anthony Tell was born last night at 6:15 PM. He's a healthy baby boy with light brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 22 inches long. Both Judah and Aubrey (and Jeff) are doing well. "She bore a son and said, 'This time I will praise the Lord .' Therefore she called his name Judah. " Genesis 29:35
Read more

The saga of our roof or Why you should never hire Ideal Development Concepts.

Image
I was reading Megan's blog today and could totally commiserate with her about her recent customer service woes. I then realized that I never really posted anything about it here, and now that the whole thing is settled, I thought I'd fill everyone in about how the whole thing went down. Back in June, a strong thunderstorm knocked down a tree in our yard such that it side-swiped our roof and knocked off our gutter. Since we were all home at the time, we were thankful it wasn't a more direct hit and that there wasn't more damage. This is what the damage looked like. Not too bad, but just bad enough that we were told that essentially the entire front half of our roof would need to be replaced. Mostly because there would be almost no way that they would be able to match the exact shade of green in our current shingles. Our insurance company quickly sent out an adjuster and approved the repair. They suggested a company called Ideal Development Concepts that they said the
Read more