A two-for-one

The next project is a two-fer J

I enjoyed working with the fleece so much and had stocked up during the 99 cents pattern sale that I decided to make my son something.

Lately my younger son has been taking the kitchen glove (that you pull the hot stuff out of the oven with?) and putting it on his hand and doing hilarious hand-puppet voices. What makes this particularly funny is that this child is too old for the whole hand-puppet thing and he knows it, so his hand-puppet antics are not cutesy little skits, but the observations of a slightly cynical, mildly incompetent hand puppet. As his mom, I find this both adorable and hilarious, but don’t tell him I said adorable J

Now what usually happens is this: he grabs the glove and starts chatting. We all laugh and because we’re usually in the middle of cooking something when he thinks to grab the glove, he’s using the only glove in the kitchen…so we have to grab it away from him to use, usually causing the glove-turned-hand-puppet to start “dying” and making gruesome noises amidst the peals of laughter from the peanut gallery…

So I thought I would make him an actual glove to use. Its part serious (I made you this great glove) and part teasing him (oh the wittle man wants a cute hand puppet). I found the greatest pattern: McCall’s M6667 and just had to do this to make him laugh. The one I did was the gold fish-looking one (second picture in, with the froggy :))

I had gotten a lot of fleece from the remnant bins (remember less than a yard J super cheapJ) and chose a great camo fleece. I figured if I was going to make him something, even something partially making fun of him about, the camo would at least make it a little manlier J

I made a mistake in choosing the size. I assumed (and what do we all know about assuming???) that the pattern was sized for a child, so I chose the largest size – my youngin’ is a big ole preteen, you know. When I laid out the fabric and cut out the pieces, I thought they seemed a little big, but I knew that sewing them would reduce the size quite a bit, so I didn’t really think anything was wrong at that point.

The second part I really had an issue with was understanding how the thumb part fit into the glove part. I’ll tell you what; I scratched my head for a long time before I finally got it. Now I am no dummy, but for some reason, I just could not make it look like a glove! I pinned it every which I could, including the way the instructions told me J and it just didn’t look right. So I finally resorted to basting – I just pinned it as best as I could, even though it did not look right, and just sewed it in.

Well it worked J you ‘d think I’d have remembered sewing the mittens for the doll outfit not how many days ago?

The finished product was ADORABLE! By far one of the greatest things I’ve made to date. The only issue I had was that after seeing how huge the mittens turned out, I went back to read the sizes and they were sized for children and adults. I made the largest adult size…hmmm…I may make myself a pair J

Aside from the hugeness of them, they did turn out great. My son laughed and laughed when saw them (I hadn’t told him I was making them) He put one of them on his computer over his pencil can so that it stares at him while he’s on his computer. Mom rocks!



Flat

On his hand



Smiling! How cute!!

 The little camo mitts for my kiddo took such a short time and I was so proud of my handy work, I decided to keep going. I’m really on a roll with these short, simple projects.

I’d been doing some shopping online looking for free doll clothes patterns that I could practice with (hey – free is better than 99 cents right?) and I came across Liberty Jane’s website. OOO MMM GGG am I in heaven. Moderately priced, fashionable, and even some free ones and support if you want to sell doll clothes one day? Oh where do I sign??

Now my only gripe is that for most of them, you only get 1 item for 3.99, whereas a paper pattern from Joann’s gives you 4-8 different items (usually) and I consider them 99 cent patterns(I know, I know, the patterns are regularly 14.99, 17.99, and up but I only buy patterns when they are on sale) However, 3.99 is quite reasonable and the folks at Liberty Jane are a family run home based business, so I am A-OK to buy her patterns J when I can…and my husband isn’t looking…ha ha ha

The first Liberty Jane pattern I bought was actually not doll clothes. I wanted to see if the patterns were good and since I had just gotten an actual dress form for Christmas from my mom (thank you mumma!!!!) I decided to purchase the doll dress form pattern from Liberty Jane!! (I have since purchased many patterns, but the dress form was my first J)

Side story about the dress form I got for Christmas: I was elated when I took it out of the box and set it up. It more wonderful than I imagined...then I turned the little dialies and set it to my own measurements... I was shocked!! Who is this fat girl in my living room??? The dress form didn't look so hot anymore! ha ha ha Time to trim down!!

Holy cow this pattern was fun! The pattern is set up so that you make the form, stuff it, and then put it on the “stand” which can be a candlestick holder, votive holder, or anything like that. How awesome is that? I decided I really wanted to do this all in one sitting, so I intended to go shopping for the candlestick holder beforehand, but then got to excited to start that I just made the top part and then went to the store. I’m such a goober!

I also knew I didn’t want to pay more than a buck or 2 for the holder. I mean, turning out a nice product is one thing, but remember this is all supposed to be practice so I get better, not make crummy expensive things because I need more practice.

My first stop was the nearest dollar store. I thought for sure I would find something there. NOO L I left feeling quite discouraged but then passed a thrift store on the way home J yay J I stopped in and sure enough, the most beautiful, wonderful (wax covered and dingy) candlestick holder was there waiting for me. I paid like 85 cents for it J SCORE!! It only took me a few minutes to clean it up and it was good as new!

So I had my form stuffed (the project really was just as simple as it could be) and the only trouble I ran into was learning to use the glue gun (I had never used one before J) and making sure everything was even.

And voila! Is that not the coolest dress form???? Thank you Liberty Jane!!