Story of the Furious Fowl - Crochet, Games, and Popcorn

How many of you have sat at home in the evenings, at family gatherings, etc and watched any number of adults and kids engrossed in the latest Angry Birds incarnation on their phone, ipad, or tablet pc? I'm betting all of you have at one point or another. I watched a couple of my nephews and nieces doing just this the weekend after Thanksgiving when we were visiting Steffie's parents.  It set into motion a plan to make the game a bit more interactive for everyone involved both player and spectator and started me to work on a new crafting project.

There are a lot of different Angry Birds related out there, some free and some for sale. I ended up using a combination of each of these as well as made up a couple of patterns on the fly.

The first item I made was a hat designed to look like one of the green pigs from the game. I used a basic adult sized beanie for the main hat portion. Then I made half moon shapes to form the ears before sewing them onto the hat. For the inside of the ears and the eyes, I did basic magic circles in black (for the inside of the ears) and white (for the eyes). For the nose, I started out with a magic circle and then only increased on two sides to form an oval instead of a circle. I sewed all of these elements on and added a few decorative stitches to finish things off. The hardest part about this particular element in the project was finding the safety eyes. Michaels in our area has stopped carrying them, Hancock Fabrics never carried them, and Joann Fabric and Crafts was out of them. I ended up picking up a few packages of safety eyes when I visited friends in Iowa because the only place I knew for sure would have them was Hobby Lobby. (Oh why can't we have a Hobby Lobby in the Twin Cities area?)

Now that the hat was complete, I needed birds to launch at the unfortunate soul chosen to be the green piggy. The Cardinal is my favorite of the birds, and I have to say it was my favorite of the crocheted hacky sacks that I made. There is a free pattern online for this particular bird that turned out awesome. The pattern can be found here on the Digital Mom Blog. Instead of filling the bird completely with fiber fill, sand, or dried beans, I opted to use a combination of cotton fill and popcorn kernels until I reached what I thought was the right weight.

I purchased the patterns for the rest of the birds from Pioneer Primitives Ravelry Shop. The patterns were fairly quick and easy. I will make a note in case you decide to purchase these patterns that the yellow triangle bird and the chicken are Very large compared to the other birds. For the chicken, I ended up using the body pattern for the blue bird in a size larger hook and then downsizing the beak from the original pattern to get a better sizing differential between it and the round birds. One other change I made to the chicken was to do the head feathers in red just because I thought it made it more chicken-like. I also downsized the pattern for the pattern by two hook sizes for the yellow bird for the same reasons.

I paired all of the birds and the hat together and gave the set to my father-in-law as a gift for Christmas. He and the grandkids seems to enjoy and be amused by the game. Who says video games have to be a bad thing? With a little creativity they can be inspiration for fun, social, interactive game for both kids and adults.

Viking - Paloosa

My lovely Valkyrie wife Stephanie modeling the first Viking hat.

So ... my latest project, or as it turns out projects, has been making crocheted Viking hats. What started as me thinking I really want a more realistic looking Viking hat for days when I'm not wearing my Jayne Cobb hat, has turned me into a Viking hat producing madwoman!

The first one that I made was pretty simple. I made the beanie portion in Caron Simply Soft light gray yarn paired with Simply Soft pale yellow for the horns. I trimmed out the edge of the horns with variegated cream/brown/gray fun fur. The edge of the beanie has bobble spaced all the way around to resemble rivets. The line of rivets is bordered by two cables to make it appear as if this section is raised. On later ones, I also did a vertical cable to mimic the center seam on a metal helmet. 

Here is a picture of the horn before I attached it to the hat.

Here is an up close picture of the riveted edging along the cap.

Since I finished that first one, I've been playing with other variations in the same basic style. My first variation was doing top portion of the hat in a different color and then trimming it out in the silver to make it resemble the leather helmets with the metal band around the edge. 

I have done a few different colors so far. I did a dark purple one made from Red Heart Eco yarn and trimmed it out in the same Simple Soft gray. I've also used a Simply Soft brown for another and added ear flaps to it. I even made a red one with black edging and horns trimmed in black fun fur for my best man as part of his thank you gift for being in our wedding. I wish I had a picture of it. I think his and the brown one below are my favorites so far.

Now as Halloween and then Christmas approaches, I think I have 10 or so hats to make for family members and friends. By New Year, there will be a Viking invasion of the Southeast US!

Costume Basics: Calling All Doctors, Nurses, Mad Scientists, and Escaped Mental Patients!

This is my second costuming post, and wouldn't you know it, I'll be using more pvc! We have had a bolt in about half of the colors they have at the fabric store so far, and we keep thinking of more ideas on how we can use it.

This round of costumes all started because my friends, my girlfriend, and I were all invited to a Halloween party that had a medical theme to it. We had one nurse outfit left over from a previous year, but we needed more (the white outfit shown in the picture to the left is the one that was purchased previously). Plus there are a lot of different doctor/nurse outfit themes that you can go with. Do you want to go realistic and wear scrubs? Do you want to go vintage and wear some of the older style nurse outfits that I personally love? Or perhaps you don't want to be a doctor or nurse at all, but a patient or a mad scientist? The following outfits can be adapted into any of these themes depending on the style that you choose.

 The first one that I made was one for Steffie. She decided she wanted to be the "bad" nurse. In the old cowboy movies, the bad guys always wore the black hats, so I made her nurse outfit out of black pvc.

We looked around at a lot of the Simplicity, McCalls, and Butterick patterns for ideas, but nothing was quite what we wanted. A few months before I had made Steffie a denim wrap dress, and she really loved the fit of that dress. So, I decided to use it for the nurse outfit as well. It was Simplicity Pattern 2981. If you decide you want this pattern, you will have to check online via places like Ebay since the pattern has been sadly discontinued.  The pattern goes together really easily and is very adjustable for different bust and hip sizes.  So that she could wear the dress to other places, we opted to make a magnet pin out of a small red cross applique rather than sewing it directly to the dress. I didn't want to use a regular pin because it would punch a permanent hole in the pvc. Instead I glued a magnet to the back of the applique and then used another magnet as the "back" of the pin. By not sewing a cross or other medical emblem, it allows her to wear it again for other occasions.

For my outfit that year, I decided that I didn't want to be a doctor or a nurse. I decided that I wanted to be a patient, but not just any sort of patient. In the spirit of Halloween I went with a mental patient theme, and no self respecting mental patient would be without his / her straight jacket.

I checked a lot of different places looking for a straight jack, and wow, are they ever expensive! My next step was going through all the costuming catalogs searching desperately for a pattern for one without any luck at all. None of the popular pattern companies have patterns for straight jackets in their costume sections. After that failed search, it was on to massive, LONG, internet searches for different ideas on how to create your own straight jacket. There is a lot of info out there, but not a lot of good, functional ideas. I did finally find a couple of YouTube videos that suggested using a man's dress shirt worn backwards with straps added on. I didn't want just an everyday, plain white straight jacket though.

Instead of buying a dress shirt and reusing it to create the jacket, I bought a pattern for a women's plus size dress shirt and then altered it. You'll end up leaving off the collar and the cuffs, and you'll also want to make the sleeves long enough so that they end an inch or two below your finger tips. I put slits about where the normal cuff would have been when I put the jacket together as well so that I could flip the end up to free my hand for eating and other things when I wasn't strapped in.

For the fabric I went a little crazy and purchased some of the printed vinyl that one would normally use to make a table cloth. Not only was it just printed ... it had a care bear print! If you decide to work with this vinyl take my advice and buy a silicone foot for your sewing machine. It's a nightmare to work with without it.






Keeping with that theme, I went to the thrift store and bought a handfull of little kid jelly belts to be the straps for the jacket. We cut the belts in half and attached three sets of straps to the edges of the shirt (where you would normally have your buttons and button holes). The last set of straps were attached to the edge of each sleeve. Voila! Then I had a straight jacket. For my costume, I paired the straight jacket with a set of pajamas that I also found at the thrift store and a pair of pvc boots that I found at Wal-Mart for less than $10.00.

I also later on made a great white pvc jacket that can be either a nurse dress, a doctor coat, or a lab jacket for a mad scientist. Sleep calls me, so I'll update this post with it later.

Costume Basics: Go to Outfit for When You Feel Like Playing Dress-Up

So, just in time to get those Halloween costumes started, I thought I'd share my recent costuming work as well as some that I did last summer as well. A lot of people look at elaborate costumes and get overwhelmed, but it's really not that difficult. You have to remember to take it one piece or element at a time. Whether you use a basic store bought pattern, draft your own pattern, or wing it by tossing together different clothing items and accessories you already have, it can be easy, fun, and creative to create your own costumes.

The first one that I will talk is a recent chemise/skirt ensemble that I made. My original idea was to make a traditional french maid dress for an event that Jean Bardot was hosting at the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis. A maid was the first thing that came to mind because what else are you going to make with a whole bolt of bubblegum pink pvc? But really, how many opportunities do you get to go somewhere as a french maid? Probably not that many (if you asked yourself the question and answered every other day, clue me in to where you are going because I want to come along!).

So, with that in mind, I decided to make the outfit a little more versatile. Instead of making it a one piece dress, I opted for separates that later I can mix and match. I ended up using a McCalls shirt pattern that I had in my pattern box. This pattern is super generous in cut, so it fits a lot of different sizes and shapes in plus size. I chose option A for the shirt, but instead of making the ruffle around the neckline out of the shirt material, I used a by the yard trim that I picked up at the fabric store. It was a white satin ruffle with the binding tap built into the trim already. Using it instead of making my own binding or gathering my own ruffle saved a lot of time and frustration. I put this same trim around the edge of the capped sleeves too.

For the skirt I made a basic circle skirt using one of our favorite skirts as a pattern for making a new one. If you don't have a skirt that you really love to use as a starting point, there are a ton of sites online that will give detailed instructions on how to make your own custom circle skirt pattern. I knew from the start that I wanted a ruffled petticoat under my skirt, so I made it longer to accommodate the petticoat. If you don't do this it can very quickly become too short. I put the same white satin trim around the hem of the skirt as well.

I took some white pvc fabric that we had left over from making nurse outfits (see next post) and whipped together a freehand apron, which I trimmed with the same satin ruffle.

As a finishing touch I made a tube with some scrap pink pvc and applied the white satin trim to each side edge of the tube to make an accessory. I made it this way because it gives three different ways to wear it. You can slide the tube onto a basic plastic headband to creat the cute Japanese Lolita look. Another way to do the same thing is to thread a wide, ribbon through it  that you tie at the nape of your neck. I'm not a huge fan of this method because I have a hard time keeping these types of headbands on. The benefit to choosing the ribbon option thought is that it can also be used as a choker around the neck if you aren't feeling like a headband that day.

Now I have this cute outfit that I can wear as the originally intended maid outfit without a problem, but that I can also wear as other things as well. I can use it as a base for several cosplay outfits, as a base for a Lolita outfit, or as an adult baby / little girl outfit. While the adult baby option isn't really my thing, I know a lot of people are into it. I'm working on different diapers, diaper covers, ruffled bloomers, etc to list on my Etsy site in this genre currently and plan on selling one of these chemise/skirt ensembles as well.

I paired it with my pink brocade corset and my pink pvc boots for Jean's event, and I thought I thought it turned out really cute. I also made Steffie's dress in this picture as well and will talk about it in the next post. This outfit took me about 6 hours total to make including cutting the pieces out. I probably could have done it in 4 hours, but I wanted to be very precise on how it was put together.  Not bad for a last minute idea and a half a day's work.

If you like it and want to make one, now is definitely the time to do it. With Halloween coming up, the fabric stores are fully stocked with a wide range of pvc colors and textures.

Dishcloth / Potholder A Day 30 Day Challenge & Craft Exchange

Picture Above from Almost Crafty

I have been reading for  months about the Dishcloth-A-Day Challenge that is going on on the Best Free Crochet website. The challenge that they are doing there is to make a dishcloth a day for 365 days. I really like the idea and the creative challenge of making each piece different, but what do you do with 365 dishcloths at the end of the year?! I don't have drawer or linen closet space for quite that many.

So, I thought I would broaden it to both dishcloths and potholders and reduce the number of days down to 30. Then, add to that thought the fact that I've always wanted to do a craft exchange with my friends, and I think I've come up with a fun idea. Who wants to join me for a month long, dishcloth / potholder challenge where we make one item a day for that 30 day period and then at the end plan a tea party where we all get together and exchange our crafty treasures?

Potholders shown here made by Emma Lamb

I know I have a lot of friends out there who knit and/or crochet. I would be open to including sewn potholders too in the mix since I know those can be fun and quick to make and so very useful. What do you think?

I'm working on my first one now and will be posting up later when I get it finished. If you'd like to take part, just leave a quick note in the comments field on this page so we'll know who all wants to participate.

Yard Sale First Weekend in August - Multi Family Sale with a Little Bit of Everything

We'll be having a multi-family garage / yard sale at a friend's house on August 5th and 6th. Time to clear out some closets, cupboards, and storage bins.

Along some handmade items we'll have an assortment of plus size women's clothing ( size large to 22W), shoes, some houseware items, dishes,  a sofa,  multiple size televisions, video games, lots of books, and more.
Hours will be from 8am to 2pm and then possibly some evening hours as well. We'll update as we know more about that. It will be at 202 6th Ave South in South Saint Paul. Here is a link if you need directions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=202+6th+Ave+S,+St+Paul,+MN&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=568&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x87f7d4724365a207:0x564d1eb4a42f1266,202+6th+Ave+N,+South+St+Paul,+MN+55075&gl=us&ei=SsclTvnNGYbDsQKjvY32Cw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

Retro Apron Craze: Stylish Accessory, Useful Staple, or just Outdated?

Left to Right: Deonna, Anita, Karla, Grandmother, Arlene wearing their Christmas presents from me.

I don't know about you, but I love aprons. Looking at all of the different styles of aprons out there, they range from very simple and practical cotton aprons that you can find in almost anyone's kitchen to beautifully delicate party aprons popular in the 1950s that were completely impractical for any type of cooking. I love them all and have made quite a few different styles as gifts for friends and family.

I grew up in a family where you never saw my Great Grandmother Satterfield without her apron. It was part her daily clothing. She wore the classic bib apron that is very practical and useful for everyday cooking and cleaning. That was my inspiration for starting to make aprons, and then the attraction has branched off into more elaborate and less practical applications.

One of the first aprons that I made all on my own was using McCall's Easy Stitch 'n Save M5358. I made the style B apron, which is the one in the main picture. I made this one for my wife (then girlfriend) to complete her dolly Halloween costume. I made the bib a little wider than the pattern called for, but that was about the only adjustment I made to it. The ruffles on the sides of the bib were a little tricky to set at first, but after I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. I made Stephanie's apron completely in white eyelet to go along with her pink dolly shirt and skirt. I thought it turned out really great and was fairly easy to make. I would put it somewhere between beginner and intermediate just because of the potential difficulty with the ruffle. It wasn't a bad beginner apron. Totally impractical for actual cooking, but very cute. Here's a picture of us at the Halloween party.

Me tying Steffie's apron strings at Zombie Prom.

Another frontal view of Steffie in the apron.

Me in a more simplified version without ruffles on sides and bottom hem.

I went back to my roots with the next round of aprons. I really wanted an apron that would have good coverage for everyone no matter what size they were. I wanted it to be simple, practical, and usable. Pockets were also a must. I found a super cute pattern at a local quilting specialty shop and used that as my basis. It's called Absolutely Apron P133 by Vanilla House Designs. The foundation of this particular apron is just five rectangles (2 sides, 2 pockets, 1 center/bib section), half moon shaped pocket flaps and bib accent, and complimenting trim and lining.

Vanilla House's Absolutely Apron

The first one of this particular style I made for my friend Tanya out of this gorgeous powder blue material with a fruit print on it. I used another accent fabric that had the same powder blue background mixed in with a slightly darker blue print. I made my mother one in the same fabrics as well. I unfortunately do not have pictures of these two and wish I did. (Tanya or Mama ... can you help me out with this?)

Here's a pink floral apron I made for Steffie. The design on this fabric worked out great as a lower trim accent.

Citrus themed apron that my friend Rae made me for Christmas.

The pattern is super easy to size to the person. You just make the rectangles longer or wider as needed based on the height and weight of the person you are making it for. I've made them for my very petite aunts all the way up to a guy friend of mine who is well over 6ft tall and 400lbs. His was a pillaging pirate themed apron for when he grills if you are wondering. I've personalized them by having the person's name embroidered on the bib and have tried to match colors and fabrics to something that each person likes or will look good in. It's been a very versatile pattern overall and very easy to use. I made this particular style apron for my Aunt Arlene and my grandmother for Christmas the year before last. I made different style aprons for my cousin Karla, my other cousin's wife Deonna, and for my Aunt Anita. I'll talk about those next. Above is a picture of them after they opened their presents.

Vanilla House's Four Squares Apron

Deonna's apron will be the next one that I talk about. The pattern is by the same company, Vanilla House Designs, that made the last apron. This pattern is called Four Corners Apron P132. It really is almost as simple as it looks. You start out with a basic square. You want it big enough so that when you rotate the fabric into a diamond shape the points of each side will wrap around the waist.  You then cut out a second square slightly bigger than the first one so that you can fold and press the bottom edges to form the accent trim that is yellow in the picture. In this way the second square acts as both a lining for the apron and trim at the same time. The flap on the top is formed just by folding over the top corner. The pocket is a very basic rectangle pocket with a triangle flap. The red button that I put on both the pocket and the flap on the bib are completely for looks. I thought it added a nice accent. Deonna's apron is the only one that I've made of this particular style so far, but I have plans to make more. It's another super easy, super adjustable pattern that will fit anyone and everyone.

McCall's M5643

Anita and Karla's aprons were made using a McCall's Pattern M5643, Style Posie's Kitchen. It was fun and cute and I thought fit both of their personalities perfectly. Anita and Karla are mother and daughter, so I also wanted to make theirs coordinate with each other. The apron looks like a sundress, and I made it even more summery by using fabric that had a beachy theme. It was printed with palm trees, lounge chairs with drinks and umbrellas, and beach balls. I took solids and lightly printed materials in bright, fun colors to create the accent ruffles, straps, and flaps. I thought they both turned out super cute. And, to let you know just how adjustable these are even though they were made with just your every day patter, Karla was pregnant in this picture and it still fit just fine.

Butterick's B5435

And if that weren't enough, now I'm test out another pattern by Butterick, Style # B5435. It has some of the dressier party aprons in the packet and I had some pretty specialty fabric that I'd set aside for something exceptional for myself. I rarely every make anything for myself (hence my friend Rae making my citrus themed rectangle apron for me), but I fell in love with this very stylish and feminine apron with the geometric shapes created by the rickrack. Now, I will admit that my particular style came about as a misread of the pattern. When it said cut on fold, I did that on the opposite end of the pattern than was intended so ended up with more triangles than the pattern called for. I also made the apron a bit wider than the pattern directed for extra coverage. Instead of lining up every other triangle with an accent diamond, I staggered them between each triangle on the background. Also, I'm not a huge fan of rickrack either. I was going to give it a try, but it must not have been meant to be because there was absolutely no rickrack that matched any color in my fabric. Instead, I ended up using a decorator trim that had adhesive on the back of it to follow along the edge of the accent triangles. I don't completely trust the adhesive, so my plan is to stitch the trim down as well just to be safe.  One package of trim (3 yards) wasn't quite enough to complete the trim of everything, so I'm not quite done yet. Here is a picture of my work in progress though. I'll post one up of me wearing it when it's complete. I've been working on a 1950s style dress in a light  peach to coordinate with the main fabric.

So, to update on the peach apron above ... I would not recommend using the self-adhesive decorator trim that I purchased to finish off the triangle detail. It does not stay stuck, and it's a nightmare to sew over. The needle on my sewing machine kept getting gummed up by the adhesive and it would cause the thread to break or I'd have to every now and then take the needle out and clean it with alcohol to remove the stickiness. Don't get me wrong, it looks good when it's finished, but getting it finished was a trail! No more trim with adhesive for me. Their claim for no sew is a joke. I would never use this for any sort of home design or any sewing project for that matter. It didn't last more than a day before the trim was falling off. I'll have a picture of the finished product up soon for you to see.

Verdict still out on aprons? Hopefully this post has intrigued you a little about them. They can be practical and non-nonsense, fun and sassy, or elegant and sophisticated. Wear them while you cook or clean or dress it us and wear them while you served your loved ones a fantastic dinner. Have fun! While I wouldn't do it every day, playing Donna Reed cooking and serving dinner in a beautiful dress, heels, pearls, and equally pretty apron can be lots of fun. Try it sometime. :-D

If you'd like to see more examples of vintage aprons as well as patterns and equipment used to make them, check out this flickr album compiled of photos taken at the Apron Springs art exhibit that has been traveling around the use for the past few years.