Making a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic

I have not blogged about anything in a very long time, but this is a worthwhile venture. And probably most of you are already churning out masks as fast as you can, but a friend asked for a tutorial, so I made one. This is how I do it. And after making around 120 - only 1/3 of those with ties rather than elastic, I just ordered a 1/4” binding foot. Can’t wait!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10MxpquO55umNuWmjsqoLlR3gw2Umo_D7/view?usp=sharing

We have winners!

So here is where I go all virtual ghetto on you. I pulled the numbers out of the random generator, and since I can't figure out a simple way to post a screenshot, I just did this:

Fancy, no?


I was all giddy and la-la-la when I virtually pulled the first number. 5. FIVE! Easy to count. Oh, so easy.

Then. Number 187. Seriously? You suck, random number generator. But 20 minutes later I had counted to 187 twice to be sure I had the right person.

So, the winner of the gift certificate is Melissa Ann, who has twin 3 year old girls with absolutely lovely names: Aeralind and Bronwyn. Even though they don't like dolls, maybe they like dresses?

And the winner of the scrap box is Who-lee-uh. I don't know anything about her, but I'm sure she is a person who will give a happy home to a box of wayward scraps.

Now, for the rest of you sad peeps, I have a coupon code. NotAWinner2012 will get you 20% off the stuff in the shop. I got a lot (a lot) of good advice this Giveaway Day. So I'll be putting some scrap boxes or envelopes in there as I fill them. In fact, I can just have a box sitting next to me all the time. Awesome idea, that. I think I should get a prize for thinking of it! I'll keep that code up till the end of January, unless I forget to take it down.

Hope you win something somewhere else!

Giveaway Day!

Sew, Mama, Sew

Hello, all you crafty people from Sew, Mama, Sew. It is a bright and sunny morning, I have a hot cup of coffee beside me, and it is Giveaway Day. What could be better?

I have a box of scraps for you to win. I just recently opened my own Etsy store, and suddenly I am overrun with scraps. It is crazy how many scraps I have. Besides. I always like winning a big box of scraps. Who doesn't?

Now, I took this picture and then realized that this box is much too small. In reality you will get a flat-rate box jammed with as much as I can get in it. I can't promise it won't be wrinkled, though.

So, to win this lovely box of scraps:
Since I just opened my Etsy store, Made By Little Crickets. It is proving to be more challenging than I had imagined, and I would love to have some advice. If you have your own shop: how do you decide on prices? how do you organize? how do you promote yourself? If you don't have your own store: what makes a store one of your favorites? what makes you really just 'have to have' something you see on Etsy? What is the best incentive for buying - low postage, price, customization?

My shop sells kids clothes and doll accessories. Please go over and take a look. You don't have to. It's not a requirement for the giveaway, and I know if you don't have kids, or know some kids, you couldn't care less about my shop. But if you do have kids, or know kids, or see kids on the street occasionally, please go on over and take a peek. All constructive commentary is welcomed.

To win, you must comment on my shop, Etsy shops, or any other thing loosely related to shopping for handmade goods online or kids or something. Any comment not containing something of that nature will be deleted. I am super serious this time. Your comment won't even make it online.

I will randomly choose a winner with the generator and send your package out by the designated time. Likely Saturday morning. I will ship overseas, but your package might be a wee bit smaller if I do. I will randomly generate a name and post the winner Saturday morning after my girls jiu jitsu class - about 11am EST. I will then proceed posthaste to the post office. Or maybe I'll do that in reverse. I'll figure out the details eventually.

Good luck and Happy Giveaway Day!

Oh, and I have another giveaway - a gift certificate to my shop. Go check it out if you like what you see over there!

Happy Giveaway Day!

Sew, Mama, Sew

Hello There!

Don't you love Giveaway Day? It's almost better than Christmas, so I'll cut to the chase.

~ I don't blog much, but I always have hope of getting better.
~ I opened an Etsy store, Made By Little Crickets, six weeks ago. I make clothes for kids and doll accessories. Here is what I have learned: running an Etsy store is a lot harder than I imagined.
~Here is what I'm asking you to do. Give me advice. If you have a shop of your own, tell me what works for you. If you don't, tell me what you like about other shops. What makes a shop a favorite of yours, or what makes you want to make a purchase at a shop? You will only be entered into the giveaway if you make some sort of comment about my store or Etsy stores in general or any other vaguely shop related comment. All others comments will be deleted. I am really serious about this, this time.

Here is my store Facebook page. I usually post when I put something new in the shop, or when I have a new design. So you won't be getting junk from me every day. I just want it to be a good way for people to see the new stuff I've added in my shop without having to go over there.
I am enthusiastically inventing, and I have new stuff going in the shop regularly. Someone asked if I could make a wipes case, so I did. Someone asked for a changing pad, so I made one. If you want something you don't see? That's my favorite part. I love designing little things.

I will randomly choose a winner with the generator and send your package out by the designated time. Likely Saturday morning. I will ship overseas, but your package might be a wee bit smaller if I do. I will randomly generate a name and post the winner Saturday morning after my girls jiu jitsu class - about 11am EST. I will then proceed posthaste to the post office. Or maybe I'll do that in reverse. I'll figure out the details eventually.

Good luck and Happy Giveaway Day!

Oh, and I have another giveaway - a big box of scraps. Lots of largish pieces leftover from my shop. It produces copious amounts of scraps!

The dark recesses of my mind

I definitely had to go to the dark recesses of my mind to remember how to use Blogger. And since I recently shared my coffee with my laptop, it was doubly difficult to remember because I am on a new-to-me-but-older-than-dirt laptop. She is actually quite lovely to look at, but a little on the chubby side, and likes to be always holding on to the ethernet cable. Ah, well, then. Next time I will be a little less gracious with my coffee and a little more graceful.

Now it is time for me to come clean and admit that which I would not admit.

Remember last year at this time? Well, at least remember that Sew, Mama, Sew held its righteous Giveaway Day? And I was all "I won fouuur giveaways and I'm going to give away fouuuur prizes, too." Well.

All I can say is that Deb and Yana will receive their packages soon. I finally sent them last week. I swear. And I hope you weren't thinking mean, evil thoughts about me all year. Really, my heart is in the right place, it is my head that gets diverted.

So, now. I had to admit that before I could go on blogging. And since Giveaway Day is here again, I had to get my shinola together, right? An here, I give you a recap of the last year in 25 words or less:

anatomy I. anatomy II. algebra. college algebra. puppy fostering. flock of 6 chickens. two children. kindergarten. third grade. etsy shop. flu. pneumonia. halloween. thanksgiving. now.

Truthfully, I didn't mean to open an Etsy shop. I had made these lovely dresses and put out on Facebook how I would sell them if anyone wanted one (Kyoko by ModKid - love that one) and everyone said "Oh, they are so beautiful and blah blah blah and you must open an Etsy shop" So I did, and was immediately out of commission for three weeks with the flu, which turned into pneumonia. And I have only sold one dress, and that was the first day I put it out on Facebook.

BUT!

Someone else asked for doll diapers on Facebook, and I said "Oh, I can make you some." And I did and she paid me and told me I should put them in my shop, too. I was reluctant, but I did. And yes, doll diapers sell! Who would have known? I never ever would have picked that to specialize in, but it is fun, and I have come out with some new doll things, too.

I know. A blog post without a picture. Here you go, then. My little model, Baby Stella, in a luxurious pink number.

But this is what kills me:

They come with pee and poop and wipes! Because really - isn't that more fun?

So that is what has been keeping my shop afloat. I mean, I only opened it 6 weeks ago, and was promptly ill for 3 of them, so I am certainly not complaining. In fact, I am pleased as punch.

And that brings us to tomorrow - Giveaway Day. You have only one guess as to what I am giving away. Here's a hint.

See you tomorrow!

Hearting my family

I'm not sure I have ever given my husband a Valentine's Day gift before. And even this one was given quite unceremoniously. It's not that I don't care - I do. I wicked heart him. But he's not the kind of guy you can give a card, or a trinket. I bet he wouldn't turn down a box of chocolates, but he loves me enough to let me eat them all. Or at least most of them. This Valentine's Day, though, I just so happen to be taking Anatomy and Physiology 2. Yes, just shoot me now. And it also just so happens that we have been studying the heart.

So this is what I came up with. Study guide for me, random odd t-shirt for him.

If you want to do it up right, try to make the body of the heart about the size of your fist, and set the heart slightly off center to the left. I couldn't really bear it, though, so the one I made is really pretty close to the center. Um, in the center. Almost exactly in the center.

Here are the things you will need:
- a t-shirt or something to adhere your heart to
- the lightest weight wonder-under you can find. We will be layering the pieces, so this is important.
- applique fabric in your choice of colors. I used pieces of old t-shirts.
- embroidery floss

So to start, print out the pattern. I've never made a tutorial before, so I'm pretty sure this isn't the best way to do it, but this pattern sheet is 8x10.5  if that helps with printing. Of course, you can make your heart any size you want.

A couple notes about the pattern pieces. Each has an arrow pointing up to make them easier to place; the shaded parts are the places where another piece will lay on top of that piece and each if labeled with a color. Note that there are arteries that should be cut in blue and veins that should be cut in red, even though that seems counterintuitive. If you are curious, here is an explanation. You don't have to read it for the tutorial.

Technically, veins bring blood to the heart and arteries take blood away from the heart. For the most part, the veins coming in have deoxygenated blood in them.They are represented by coloring them blue. However, when the deoxygenated blood comes into your heart, it goes into the right atrium and then the right ventricle. The right ventricle pumps it out to the lungs to go get some oxygen. So it is deoxygenated, but it is leaving the heart to go to the lungs. Those are the blue pulmonary (lung) arteries. The blood travels through your lungs, picks up some oxygen, and travels into the pulmonary veins. They are veins because they are bringing blood to the heart, but they are red because they are carrying oxygenated blood. And just to finish it up, I will tell you that the blood goes from the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, and then into the left ventricle, and the left ventricle pumps that blood out to your body to deliver the oxygen.

Okay. So first you need to print your pattern and make sure the pieces are the right size. If you can, try printing them in reverse on the back side of some wonder-under. This will save you a couple steps. But if not, then print them out, and trace each piece in reverse onto the back of the wonder-under using a light box or window. If all else fails, cut each piece out (like I did) and trace each piece onto wonder under (like I did) and then cut each piece out again (like I did). In case you didn't read the hidden message in there... don't do like I did. You will give yourself a headache.

Once you have all your pieces cut out of wonder-under, lay them on your colored pieces of fabric and iron. I used traditional colors, but you don't have to. In fact, if you wanted it to be more realistic, you could make it in various shades of red. But then you would have to embroider some realistic fat on, methinks. It's a judgement call.

Cut your adhered pieces out of the colored cloth and we will begin to arrange them. It's kind of like a puzzle, so first print out this page here. This is my original heart drawing synthesized from many, many anatomical pictures of hearts. It is not exact, but guess what? All people's insides, just like their outsides, are slightly different. Did you know that? So no matter what you do, it is okay!

Notice that my aorta is shaped differently from yours. At first I cut a slit to make the arch, but then I removed some to make it less bulky. So you just need to fit your pulmonary artery  into the aortic arch. Go ahead and lay them right on top of the picture to help with placement.

Lay the pulmonary veins in place.

The vena cava goes over the pulmonary veins and snuggles up to the aortic arch.

Lay down the body of the heart. The real one contains two atria at the top and two ventricals below. The right side of the heart (remember that is the left side of the picture) pumps blood to your lungs. The stronger left side pumps it out into your body. 

Here we color the atria so you can see them. 

Now that you have it all on there, position the heart where you want it on your shirt/bag/beach towel and gently hold it together while you slide the paper out from underneath. 

Put the paper on top and iron. When everything seems to be stuck down well, remove the paper and iron a little more.

Now you are essentially done but for the decorating. I embroidered more veins and arteries on there. The heart needs a blood supply too, you know. I also hand stitched the atria down because they were having a hard time sticking. I guess there's such a thing as too much wonder-under.

If anyone tries this project, I'd love to see the finished product and hear any feedback you have. This being my first tutorial and all.

And though I don't have a tutorial for what I made my 5 year old, I want to show it to you as well. She loves anatomy. She has an invisible man with squishy organs that she loves to take out when I am studying. So for her, I made an interactive heart. There are two red cells - erythrocytes - that are oxygen depleted on one side and oxygen rich on the other.

The heart is hollow inside so the cells can go into the vena cava from either end or they can come out the aorta. It makes me proud that my 5 year old knows that the cells can't go out the vena cava or in the aorta.

There is a velcro pocket on the back to help get those big cells in and out. The cells should be a lot smaller, but what fun would that be?! Besides, real erythrocytes have elastin in them so they can bend and get into teeny tiny capillaries.

The pulmonary veins and arteries aren't open, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Being thankful

Giveaway week makes me giddy. I think it is amazing that 351 people wanted something that I could give them, which is exciting. I'm a giver at heart. It makes me feel good inside. I love to please people, make them happy. I like to be liked. I like kindness in myself and in others. So I love all those comments, and people just hopping around being friendly.

Now, can you possibly imagine that I was lucky enough to win four different giveaways? Seriously. That makes me think I should not be entering so many of them! But then after I won the third prize, I decided that for each prize I won, I would give out another prize. So a few more winners are in order. Three of them. Maybe not exactly the same prize, but definitely good ones.

First I decided to give a prize to one of my followers. Even though I only post twice a year, I seemed to have gained another 10 followers or so this week. Thanks, people! So Yana, who does not have a blog because her "English is bad" (Excuse me, Yana? I beg to differ!) wins some threads from me.

Then I decided to give a prize to the person who made the best pizza suggestion. That person is Christie, who suggested beets with carmelized onions and feta. My husband likes beets on hamburgers, so chances are he will eat them on pizza, too. Which is good, since he is pretty picky. Christie also writes poetry every day, which is something I once aspired to and yet now it has been 10 years since I wrote any. Hmm.

And the last person I chose was someone I was going to send some threads to anyway, because she is the most generous person I can think of. She cares deeply and gives from the heart. Giving her some tools to do her deeds of goodwill makes me feel like I am doing a little goodwill, too. So Deb will be getting a package in the mail, too.

So there you have it. 3 extra winners. It's almost like the party after the party. You know, when all the regular people leave and it's just you and your friends hanging out at the end amidst the rubble?

I wish I had a picture for you. Because every post needs a picture, right? Oh, wait! Here! I just grabbed this off my phone.

The girls passed their karate test and each have a new belt. I am really proud of them. Not only that? I passed my final algebra exam with an 88. Not too shabby. I might squeak by with an A for the semester. Maybe. If not? I'm pretty proud of myself, anyway. But I am glad I have 4 weeks off before my next algebra class starts!

So I'll try to post some pictures soon of the things I have been making this year. It never seems like I get much accomplished until I look around and see just how many things I have made. Not only that? But the girls now know if they want something they can ask mommy and I will figure out how to make it. I think that is an important lesson that will serve them well. If you want it? Make it.

Winner!

Wow, that was an overwhelming response to my giveaway! 351 comments! The winner of the prize is Goosegirl. You can check out the beautiful things she makes at one of her blogs Goosegirl Sews. She has a couple other blogs to that I have yet to look at. Makes me feel just a tad bit lazy, I must say. She keeps up three blogs and I have one poor, languishing, orphaned one? Well, more on that later. Now I am off to take the girls to karate where I will try to eek in a little more studying for my algebra final before I have to be at the test at noon. The girls are having a test today, too. A belt test. Blue is a purple belt, Ivy (at just 4 years old!) is an orange belt.

Giveaway Day!

My favorite day of the year! I have all but abandoned my blog, but I feel compelled to join giveaway day anyway. It is so much fun! Here is what I have to give away today. Lucky you!

A baker's dozen DMC Pearl cotton floss size 8. Retails for about $2.50 a spool (95 yards) but I just happened to find it in the salvage store yesterday for 25 cents per spool. So I got you one of each color I got myself. (Honestly, I got some of every color they had. I'm no fool!)

Grammie and Grampie Blue with their grandson Dusty.

The inter-racial Browne family.

Mr. and Mrs. Scarlett with their twins Rosie and Rusty.

The Greene's (Mrs. is expecting soon, but not soon enough).

And last but not least, the enigmatic Professor Naranja.

To enter my giveaway, please note: I will not award my prize to anyone who doesn't leave an individualized response. If I read the same comment by you that I see on every other blog, if you are the winner, I will choose another. Got it? Now. For the rest of you: I would like to know what odd yet delicious things you eat on your pizza? We eat a lot of pizza around here, and I'm actually getting a little tired of buffalo chicken and blue cheese, potato and pesto, artichoke hearts with carmelized onions. So - some suggestions. If you don't like pizza, you can tell me why. I can't even begin to imagine. But I have a little girl who does not like pizza. And yes, we force her to eat it. Mean, mean parents. I will choose my winner on December 16th and mail by the 21st. And yes, I will ship internationally. Now stop reading and go check out all those amazing giveaways. Good luck! Hope you win something! 

********EDITED*TO*ADD********

Please, people, if you are not sure your e-mail account is tied to your profile, either write your e-mail address in your comments, or check out this tutorial I just pulled up off the web and fix it. If no one has your address, you can't win! It's not just me - you might be winning lots of prizes and you will never, ever know about it. About 1/4 of the replies I have gotten are No-Reply, which means if they are picked, I will have to choose another winner. Now go fix it, so you win!

Elizabeth from Button and Bean? C'Mon DOWN!

Okay, so yeah, I think I'm in the wrong game show. But forgive me, it is almost 10pm and my eyes are swimming from trying to look at every single giveaway. I didn't manage. Not even close.

The winner of my personal giveaway is Elizabeth from Button and Bean. I see she has a blog and does some very cool stuff (plus look how cute her little one is!). Go check it out if you want to see what the heck she makes with all this crap I'm going to dump on her. Um, I mean all these treasures that I scrounged up. I mean. This Fantastic Prize Package worth over $4.73.

My goodness. I am so punchy. I'm off to ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Giveaway Day!

Hello there and welcome to my giveaway. I have something extra special for you, today. Not just regular crafty goodness, but what I think is a top notch prize. I admit,though, I do have an ulterior motive. Do you want the check out the prize first? Okay. Me, too. To enter to win, all you have to do is leave me a comment. If you have run out of things to say, you could tell me what your favorite quick summer dinner is. Or if you are one of those southern hemisphere types, what your favorite winter dinner is. Now, I'm not the type to offer second entries, but today I am. You don't have to be a follower, you just have to read all the way to the end to find out how to get your second entry. Ready? Here comes the good stuff:

Imagine you see before you one of those Price is Right models. Got it? Okay. I don't look a thing like that. You could imagine that Sarah Jessica Parker and Marty Feldman had a baby girl and it grew up to be me, but that's a little scary, no? Better you stick with the Price is Right model.

You have made it to the showcase showdown and the model pushes a cart before you. Upon it at are three mid century acrylic canisters. Ah, here they are.

You notice they are made by Kartell in Italy. While they are probably not valuable, they are pretty and nice to look at, and they would look fabulous on your sewing table. You pick one up and open it.

Inside, you see a stack of trim. What's this? chenille ric rac and some real-100% cotton-made-by-hand bias tape? Woohoo! You love bias tape. Even if you know you'll never use it because it is so pretty, you most definitely need this bias tape. Some crazy whale ribbon that must be vintage by now and 3 yards of  hemmed ruffled trim. Um... Ruffles? "What in the world is she thinking?" you wonder.  But upon more careful thought, you realize that you don't use ruffles because you don't have a ruffle foot, and honestly  isn't it just a pain in the rear to do all that ruffling? So really there are any number of things you could do with ruffles, but you never have because you can't be bothered to make it. Inspiration hits! smashes you in the brain! like a fancy fast sporty bulldozer! "Of course! I'll make a  _________ !" What a good plan that is. And by golly here are four spools of Pearl 8 and some rainbow thread for good measure. Yum!

You open the next canister, and it is full of scraps. Small-but-not-too-tiny scraps.

 You decide you will make a bunch of hexagons with them, and wonder if hexagons are passé. Finally, you decide that even if hexagons are passé, you will make them anyway, unless the scraps are too pretty to use in which case they will just sit there looking pretty. Which is, you know in your heart of hearts, quite likely.

Wondering what more could possibly  be in store, you carefully open the last canister.  Inside...

felted cord and felted balls, and some vintage linens. You could surely think of something to do with those things, right? And lastly, you see that  there is a little hand sewn pouch you hadn't noticed initially. Made of recycled wool and sewn entirely with a needle, thread, and two hands. It isn't perfect, but you note that there is something quite charming about it. As you feel it, you note that there is a card inside. It feels like a... yes, it surely must be... a gift card. What store is it for? How much is on it? There is no way of knowing until you open the pouch. You reach for the zipper and...

you wake up.

Mean, I know.

So here's the thing. You get one entry for free. If you would like a second entry, you can follow this link to see what my darling daughter is up to, and post about it on your blog. Go ahead and borrow one picture if you like, and of course please link back as well. That will get you your second entry.And this year? Winner will be chosen by my friend Random Number Generator. I learned my lesson last year.

And lastly, Happy Giveaway Day to all!

Blue's Quilt

This is my daughter Blue. She is seven and a half.

One day we saw an ad in a magazine for Smile Train, which is a program that repairs cleft lips and palates for children in developing countries who could otherwise not afford the surgery. Blue was horrified by the pictures. To show her how Smile Train helps kids, we went to their website and looked at before and after pictures. We found out it only costs $250 to provide surgery for one child, and her question for me was "Do we have $250 to send them?" I told her that we did have $250, but that it was more money than I could just send off on a moments notice. So we brainstormed ways we could get $250 to send, and came up with a plan.

Blue is making a quilt. She is cutting it by herself,

ironing it by herself

and sewing it by herself.

And yes, I do stand there hovering over her practically jumping out of my skin. But she is 7 1/2, after all. See that evil glint in her eye? That is her reveling in the fact that it is taking all my willpower to let her do her thing while I am forced to stand and watch.

Just how does making a quilt get us money for Smile Train? We thought we would raffle it, but we found out that it is illegal. Yup. Because we aren't a non profit agency, we can't have a raffle without jumping through lots of hoops. So we decided that what we would do is find people to sponsor the quilt squares. We asked a few friends and grandparents and such if they would give her $10 to make a square to add to the quilt. Several of them did, and she got to work.

The squares are sponsored but she makes all the design choices. Mama chose the type of square, because there is no real way to goof it up crosses and it gives her a lot more control over the process. Believe me, crosses are hard enough. What a sewist can churn out in 5 minutes, it takes Blue about an hour to create.

I am amazed at the patience she has for this project, and the pure enthusiasm. She plans to send the $250 and the finished quilt together, so the child who has the surgery can have the quilt to snuggle, too. Tonight she told me "I think the child will really like this rainbow one. They won't mind if it's not perfect." I am amazed that she is thinking of the child at every step of the process. While I encouraged the genesis of this project, she has really made it her own. My selfish goal for her was to know that she can change the world. She can make a difference in people's lives, even as a child. She has power that she can channel to good or to evil, and it feels wonderful to choose good. But I think she has already learned a lot more than that.

If you would like to sponsor a quilt square, please e-mail me at wisecricket (at) gmail (dot) com and I will give you our address. We will also e-mail you a picture of your finished square if you like. And know that you will have helped not only a child far away, but also my daughter, Blue, of whom I am so incredibly proud.

Make it Work

Sabra from Sew a Straight Line issued the kind of challenge I like best: take something old and unfashionable and make it wearable. Or, if you are feeling really adventurous, take an old, ugly pattern and use it to make something wearable. The trick is, in both cases, you have to keep elements of the original. Fun! She has a Flickr group so you can see what everyone else is making, and there are super excellent prizes!

Here is what I started with. This was my dress when I was 4 and yes, I use the term 'dress' loosely. I know every toddler girl was flaunting her booty that year, but the thought makes me shudder.

Here is the finished product.  It is now a tunic rather than a dress. I didn't actually take anything off the length, I just hemmed it where the hem had fallen out. I know. Can you believe my mother let me walk around in that?

It had some redeeming qualities, though. I really love the smocking. It's real smocking, not elasticized. And while I am not crazy about those ruffle wings, ruffles are back in style.

I cut off the ghastly polyester sleeves, collar and bow, then squared and bound the neckline, which was nowhere as easy as I thought it should be. When I cut off the sleeves, I left an inch or so of the red dots, turned them up twice and hand stitched it in place. It's not perfect, but no one will notice. Oh, I also folded over and blind stitched about 2 inches of the ruffle wings so they won't whack her in the face when she's running.

When it was all done, I thought it looked a little plain, so I made this little gossamer ribbon dragonfly from this tutorial and tacked it on. It instantly bounded up the popularity scale.

The only thing I am unhappy with is the fact that I should have gathered the neck just a little bit when I bound it. Can you tell that it gapes a little? It's not so bothersome that I'll rip out the binding from hell that took me 3 hours to sew, though. Besides, the kids has so many clothes I wouldn't be surprised if she only wears it on Independence Day. Because I make her.

I wasn't going to do any more, but I got this pattern at the thrift store today. Something for me. Maybe I can eeek it out before the deadline. We'll see.

I'll leave you with a picture in which my older sister says Ivy looks just like I did when I was a kid. Honestly? I still have that expression on my face quite a bit.