Blog or Sew?

Trying very hard to find a way to like orange.

Know what I learned this week?  I can either blog, or I can sew.  But doing both in the same week seems to be beyond me right now.  

I made these pennants to show to a local shopkeeper

I was going for something sort of French toy store.

I sewed these pajamas for a friend. (And they fit!)

 

Since we met in the 70s, I thought she would like this throwback owl print.

And then I made these pajamas for another friend. 

All these details.  I hope they fit.

Fergus supervised.

This was not actually helpful.

I also cheated on Remington Steele with Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap.  But only during daylight.  Remington Steele is for sleeping.  (Both are available to stream on Hulu Plus and Amazon.)

My sometime daytime boyfriend.

Fall Pajama Roundup

As usual, there were a lot of pajama bottoms made this past fall.  Here is a roundup of what I accomplished.

I was thrilled to find this blue dachshund fabric for my niece who is shooting up like a teenager.  You may remember I found this same fabric a couple of years ago with a lime background.  This niece happens to live in the Deep South where flannel pajamas have a limited season.  I lucked out and found this pale gray cotton with little dachshunds on it for warmer days.  

Dachshunds for all seasons

My nephews are into Doctor Who.  Although there are no Slitheens or Daleks on this fabric, I thought they would appreciate the alien monsters in the spirit of The Doctor.   My older nephew is into baseball, so he got this fabric with images from the sport. (I only follow figure skating, so this was a challenge for me.  :) )

Baseball and Aliens

The younger one asked specifically for penguin pajamas.  I found this fabric which I thought was really sweet, though I thought he might think they weren’t quite mature enough.  Not to worry.   He was so thrilled with them he told his mom they were his “official” Christmas pajamas. 

Penguins and Aliens

For Lily, I chose this fabric with bright pink horsies on a black background.  Since she had a horse-themed birthday party,     I thought she would like it.  Well, you know kids.  As soon as you figure out what they are obsessed with, they switch.  Now her big thing is Monster High dolls.   As it turns out, this fabric thrilled her because it was Monster High colors.  She even wore them to school one day (I am so grateful we did not have pajama-wearing days when I was in grade school)

Monster High Horsies?

And that leaves Maggie, who really is quite a cheeky monkey.   I bought this fabric several years ago.  The niece I picked it out for outgrew it before I made the pajamas, so Maggie was the lucky recipient.   She probably is the cheekiest of my nieces –at least in the sense that she has such adorable apple cheeks.

Cheeky Monkeys

They even modeled their new jammies.  They are my favorite models. :) 

Beautiful models

These pictures are from a couple of years ago.  Lily, Maggie, Owen, Sam and I are all pretending to be the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. 

Don't Blink!!!!

Cat's Pyjamas and More Poodle-less Poodle Skirts

Maggie & Lily model their cat pjs

Honestly, I have been making stuff since my last post in November. I just haven’t been writing about it.  I have a lot of catching up to do here!  I am also thinking about doing a TBT entry each Thursday to show stuff I have made in the past.  (Maybe I will go all the way back to my 8^th grade graduation dress…hmmmm)  Today’s throwback only goes back to November.

 

 When I left off, I had sent a package to Lily and Maggie with poodle-less poodle skirts.  I also made them cat pajamas which I thought were the “cat’s pyjamas.“ Maggie and Lily liked them enough to model them.  (along with a little stuffed cat.  They really want a cat.  Their mother really doesn’t want one)

 

Little cat pajamas. Lily:pink, Maggie: blue

Of course the American Girl dolls and Raggedies couldn’t be left out, so they got cat pajamas too. 

Tracing the smaller cat applique on my "light box"

And if twirly poodle-less skirts are good enough for the girls, they are good enough for the dollies too.   I had a pattern for 18” doll poodle skirt, but I wanted to replicate the appliqués from the full-size skirts.  How to downsize the appliqué pattern to the right proportions for dolls?

Since I had photographs of the finished child-sized skirts, I simply put them into a photo editor and sized them to fit the doll skirts.  Then I taped tissue paper to my monitor and traced the pictures turning the screen into a makeshift light box. 

 

Voila! 

Just like the ones Maggie and Lily have.

Giving Jo-Ann a Piece of My Mind.

This was posted on Facebook today by Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores:  

What prints do you want to see on fleece or flannel? Sunflowers? Roller skates? What else? Let us know in the comments below.

These are not the kitties they are looking for.

There were about 300 comments when I came across this post, nearly all, I kid you not, consisted of variations on "more of the same!", "puppies and kitties!", "Red Hat Ladies" and "Crosses, there are just not enough Christian images in your pajama fabrics."  

As you can imagine, I had a lot to say on the topic.  Here is what I posted:

I guess you guys are doing a pretty good job since it seems to me the vast majority of requests above are for things I see at Joann's and Joann.com all the time. 

I make a lot of flannel pajama bottoms for my nieces, nephews, friends and family. So what I am looking for is flannel or a nice pajama-weight 100% cotton shirting. (Do whatever you want with fleece)

First of all, I wish you guys would make plain BLACK flannel. It would be so useful for costumes at Halloween that would keep trick-or-treaters warm and then could be pajamas for the rest of the winter. (Think about a black witch costume nightgown, black pirate shirt and pant pajamas etc.) 

Secondly, I wish there were a line of coordinating smallish prints in bright saturated colors. I would love it if there were some small plaids, polka dots, 1/4 and 1/2 inch stripes, checkerboards, houndstooths, herringbones, animal prints and other classic 2-color prints that I would use as accents like cuffs on pj bottoms or contrast collars or pockets on nightgowns, pajama shirts and robes. (These would also be great to have for those Halloween costumes that become pajamas-- tiger for Halloween, tiger pajamas for the rest of the season.) 

I can never find enough prints that aren't too babyish or princessy. There are all kinds of prints that would appeal to girls without being so "Barbie-fied." For every soccer, football and baseball print I see, I wish there were volleyball, field hockey, tennis and softball prints. Girls love sports, but the ones they tend to play are underrepresented in your line. (IMHO, obviously) 

I LOVED a couple of prints I found this year that were great bright colored retro toy prints-- 50s style robots and rocket ships. More please! Nostalgic and stylized toys from that era would be awesome. (Including Lego as someone mentioned above, and backgammon, parcheesi, Ouija, 4-wheeled skates. old-fashioned bikes, skateboards and scooters, hula hoops, jump ropes, marbles and jacks, playing cards, lite brite, etch-a-sketch, or those classic Playskool and Fisher Price toys.) 

I have made great use of the few ethnic paisley, stripes and prints you have carried in the last couple of years. Those are great for grownups too. 

Someone suggested an all-Britain design-- Big Ben, Tower of London, Union Jack, Stonehenge, Globe Theater. I thought that was a great idea. I would also love if there were a series-- Britain, France, Australia, Japan, Italy etc. The 50 US States... Along with those, I would love maps, globes and nautical maps. 

Obsessed with Gnomes.  Needs pjs.

 

 

!

I have a niece who is obsessed with Gnomes. She and her friends dressed as lawn ornaments at Halloween-- a Garden Gnome, Flamingo, Jockey, the Kissing Dutch children, the Madonna of the Garden. I think that would be an awesome theme for some pj prints. 

Gnomes with big dotted mushrooms and a story-book woodland design would be awesome. 

What about characters from Hans Christian Andersen and Grimm Fairy Tales? Those would be great considering the popularity of shows like Grimm and Once Upon a Time. 

I think you can still never get enough of medieval knights and wizards while you are at it. King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot...If there were Joan of Arc or Shakespeare character flannel, I would scoop it all up and be sewing for years for my friends. 

I would also love fabric with busts of great composers, writers and philosophers-- maybe even with a quote here and there... 

Finally, what I have been surprised to see is the complete lack of anything STEAMPUNK. You know the Jules Verne copper contraptions, airships, goggles, gears, clockworks celebrations of Victorian technology and science fiction? THAT. Google Steampunk and then design fabric from that. 

I hope this is helpful. I tried to list things I would snatch up in a heartbeat and that I have not seen anywhere else-- all of which is PUBLIC DOMAIN. :)

I posted that and the very next post was "Pugs! Pugs! Pugs!" 

(See what I mean about puppies and kitties? )

A very sensible woman named Kim Childers-Burns piped up next with:

PLEASE do NOT submit to the pandering xtians! Keep religion off my fabric!!!!! How about some willow trees!

I am now madly in love with the probable-Wiccan Kim Childers-Burns whom I don't know from Adam, but who had more sense than the puppy-kitty-red-hat-lady crowd. 

I had her back and posted this:  

I know how Kim Childers-Burns feels. I am ok with pandering to Christians, though, as long as other Faiths are represented. I am a big fan of that Co-Exist logo made up of symbols of a variety of religions. So if you want to pander to me with busts and quotes of Darwin, Einstein and Hawking, that would be ok too. :)

I hope Kim Childers-Burns appreciates my two cents. 

The thread continued with requests for  Bears! (two different kinds: Panda, Polar) Unicorns! Rainbows! Butterflies! and Baby Owls!  (I kid you not) 

 There was one suggestion in there that was not like the others and I quote:

 Eve Clover Rose Smiling cartoon penises

Thanks Eve, whoever you are, for some real out-of-the-box thinking!

I also realized that despite the pages and pages of demands I posted, I had left out one super-important suggestion. 

Me: I need this on fabric!
Jo-Ann: As You Wish.
Valerie: Do you think it will work?
Miracle Max: It'd take a miracle.

They need to make a licensing agreement with whomever owns the rights to The Princess Bride.   So I posted that too. 

I am done suggesting.  I will wait and see what the collection looks like when they bring out new designs in November.   I am expecting the return of lots of puppies, kitties and crosses for the Midwest Church Craft Association. 

And that's a shame.  Because if the home-sewing fabric and craft industry wants to continue to be an industry, they are really gonna have to think about reaching out beyond the baby-blanket-making Church ladies.   They may want to produce materials that make people want to learn to sew.  And it would help if they remembered that half of American adults are single. Those smiling cartoon penises are a genius suggestion.

 

Day 34, 66 to go: Polka dot and Blackhawk jammies

Fifi and I both object to combat jammies.

I tried to cut out these jammy bottoms, but Felicity weighed in with some serious objections to the design and did whatever she could to interfere with my cutting them out.  (She did not involve herself at all when I was cutting out the pink and green polka dot fabric)

Peacenik that I am, I really had to try not to look at this as I was stitching these together.  (They were a gift for someone I knew would love them the minute I saw this fabric.) 

Blackhawks and Camo. Blecch!

This was an important experiment for me.  Who knows what other fabrics I might have to work with despite my aesthetic and philosophical objections? 

So here are the finished ones.  (Closing my eyes so I don’t have to see—like the Burl Ives snowman in Rudolph when the Bumble comes along.) 

Girly peacenik non-combat jammies

And here are the pink and green polka dot jammies I knew I would not be able to resist rick-racking.  I have been wearing these for the last couple of days and I LOVE em.  Could they be any more opposite the ones above (that I still can't look at)? 

Or maybe it was just because they are so soft.

It took me several tries to get the shot of the rick-rack because Fergus apparently wanted to be in the picture too.

Day 33, 67 to go: Polka Dot jammies

You know what? It takes an awful lot of time to wrap parcels for the mail.  Maybe it would have gone faster if I had just plopped stuff in boxes, but I was trying to keep the weight down, so I wrapped things in kraft paper. That, and taking them to the post office used up the better part of the afternoon.  Felicity and Fergus had advised me that I had better not even think about returning home without food for them.  So I hiked down to Petco to get them their “age-defying” food.  

Polka dots begging for rick-rack

They were quite happy and expectant when I returned and are now back to defying their ages once again.  It makes me feel old having cats who are age-defying.  Fergus is not quite 11, but I am not feeding them 2 different formulas.  I figure it makes up for the extra time Felicity was on regular adult waiting for Fergus to be old enough for “active longevity” at 7 years.

I cut out a pair of pajamas for myself today.  This pink and green polka dot fabric has been calling out to me.  I didn’t finish them, but it won’t take long in the morning.  I will have to post a picture when I finish.  I think I hear rick-rack calling. 

As I went to write this post, I read that Christopher Hitchens died tonight.  It’s an odd coincidence because I had been on the phone with a friend for hours talking about god-knows-what.  The discussion ended on him because her father had survived the same cancer diagnosis.  Her dad is still alive and kicking 10+ years after his treatment.  She seemed to think Hitchens might have the same luck.   I had hoped he might because he has 3 kids who are pretty young.  I just hate it when parents die while their kids are still children.  We had that in my family and it really sucked. 

I am grateful I got to know Hitchens’ writing while he was alive.  He was brilliant, articulate and belligerent.  I relate. 

Day 26, 74 to go: Rock ‘n’ Roll pj bottoms and Cookies

Remember the nightgowns for Raggedies  that I made a week or so ago? I had them laying out to remind me to finish them with snaps in the back.  I woke up this morning to see Fergus napping on them.  Even when I moved them somewhere else,  I came into the room to discover him posed on them again.  I am not sure what that is about, but if he keeps it up, I am making him a nightgown to wear.  And I will do it.  Ask my sister (Borg #4 of 8) who came home the night before her wedding to find her cat dressed in a wedding gown--with veil. (Tabby was a very patient and tolerant cat)

Hello Cleveland?

These are the last of the niece/nephew pj bottoms.  This niece plays guitar and I think it’s important to encourage girls to play rock ‘n’ roll.  I know whenever I set foot in Sam Ash or any other guitar shop, I am overwhelmed by the number of men there.  Hopefully that will be different for her when she is older.  I guess she, at least, has Taylor Swift as a role model for guitar-playing girls.

  

A serving of vegetables and grain, right?

I also finally got to make cookies!!!! These are pumpkin chocolate chip.   Between the oatmeal and the pumpkin in them, I think I can claim they are nutritious, right?  Vegetable AND roughage?  So what if they are full of butter, sugar and chocolate too?

Tomorrow, I have no choice but to finish the last nightgown and then bravely face the buttonhole challenge.  I need to make 6 for these nightgowns and probably another half dozen on the nightshirt that has been waiting a year.  I will master buttonholes tomorrow. It’s ridiculous that I have this mental block about buttonholes.  I have made them on all sorts of different sewing machines over the years.

And then I can make more cookies. 

Day 25, 75 to go: more jammies

Wear em "up camp" maybe?

I got two more pairs of jammie bottoms done today! Woot! Woot!  This just leaves one more pair of bottoms and the last red nightgown to finish and ship out.  Then I am free to bake.  Cookies.  Polymer clay.  Cookies…

These pjs are for my oldest nephew, who is old enough to drive and sadly, also old enough to hunt.  He’ll say he doesn’t wear jammies to sleep in.  So don’t sleep in them.  But when your sisters are home from college and you guys are hanging around the house, these are perfect for lounging, right? 

For Mini-Me, the musician.

This pair is for my Mini-Me, who has perfect pitch. (Unlike me.)  The Fates have been kind of rough on my sister, her mother (Borg #2 of 8). Her oldest is just like her and the second one is an awful lot like me.  So she gets to relive our dynamic in her kids.  They are great girls—and there is a third one as well whom I also adore.  Beautiful blonde blue-eyed girls.  So anyhow, Mini-Me plays trumpet in marching band and flute in concert band.  Did I mention she has perfect pitch? (I am in awe)  It is fascinating to watch her.  I can see how I was like her at her age.  Of course she is her own person—just like I was/am.  

Today is Day 25.  I am a quarter of the way through my planned 100 days.  I still feel all kinds of creative energy around planning projects and designing things.  I still love the sound of the scissor against the table top as I cut out the fabric.  (It reminds me of sitting under the table with my dollies listening to Grandma cutting out dresses for us.)  I love the scent of the steamy linen water as I press the fabric.  I love the way it feels and handles, the colors and textures.  Sewing hits on all of my senses except taste.  (I guess that’s where the cookie baking comes in.)

Now, how to make a career out of this.  With Oprah off the air and Martha Stewart in syndication on some obscure cable network, it seems to me there is a gaping hole just begging for me to fill it.  Right?

Day 23, 77 to go. Volleyball pajama fail.

All pjs made under strict supervision.

I am starting to see a light at the end of the pajama tunnel.  I have only 3 more pairs of pajama bottoms to make (hopefully all done tomorrow--as well as finishing the red nightgowns) and then I should be able to move on to some other things. 

Today’s sewing supervision was supplied by Fergus. 

White balls, not necessarily volley-able.

I bought fabric for these pajamas last year when I came across a listing on Joann.com for “volleyball” flannel.  My niece was a hotshot volleyball player at high school and I thought a pair of volleyball-loving pajamas would be awesome to be able to send.  So I ordered a few yards.

When this fabric arrived, it didn’t take me long to notice there was a problem.  Yes, the balls are white like volleyballs.  But I am pretty sure these are actually basketballs.  My youngest sisters (Borg#s 7 & 8) give me credit for being able to identify which balls go with which sport.  I hadn’t really thought about it, but they are right.  I would expect to be able to tell a hockey skate from a figure skating skate, but it’s kind of amazing that I know a volleyball from a basketball. I believe I can also identify balls for baseball and soccer.  (Footballs are easier)

Ball failure.

So, I am sorry, Kath, but your volleyball pajamas have pictures of basketballs on them.  I hope you don’t mind.  Maybe you can redraw them with a sharpie? I did write a review for the Joann site when I saw the problem.  I warned readers about the discrepancy. Hopefully I saved some other figure-skating fan from ordering fabric with the wrong balls. 

Ball identification ability. Does it belong on a resume? 

Day 22, 78 to go: PJs for college girls

Heidi could change your life.

I blame Heidi.  I started making pajama bottoms and couldn’t stop today.  I don’t know what was different about today other than that it started with Shirley Temple.  My sisters and I loved this movie when we were kids. I remember watching it every Christmas.  I haven’t seen it in a long time.  It was pretty disturbing. 

Poor Heidi.  Her parents die.  Her mother’s sister abuses and neglects her for 6 years and finally decides she is tired of raising this kid and leaves Heidi with her paternal grandfather whom she has never met.  The old guy is gruff and lives in the middle of nowhere on a mountain in Switzerland.  Poor Heidi.  Apparently things were so bad with Aunt Dede that she would rather live with this strange old guy who mostly ignores her at first than spend another minute with her aunt.

Of course, Heidi charms her grandfather and all the townspeople.  (After all, she is Shirley Temple.)  But then Dede comes back from Frankfurt, kidnaps Heidi and drops her off at the home of the widowed Herr Sesseman to be a playmate for his crippled daughter Clara.  Fraulein Rottenmeier is the mean governess who oversees Clara’s life.  (What a brilliant name for the standard-issue baddie in a Shirley Temple movie.)  Eventually Rottenmeier plots to get rid of Heidi by selling her to the gypsies.  And all the while, the grandfather has been trying to find Heidi and bring her back to the mountain…

What struck me was that I watched this movie a zillion times as a kid and loved it.  I remember hating Fraulein Rottenmeier.  But I didn’t think Dede’s behavior or the grandfather’s was odd.   I guess I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had tried to sell me to gypsies if they could have found some…

Anyhow, this cinematic trip down memory lane was followed by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  What an overwrought mess from Uncle Francis.  There are people who love this movie. I could barely watch it.  I managed to leave it on while I was sewing.  The vampire thing is lost on me, especially when the last half hour (at least) of the movie is spent in weird archaic exorcism rituals.   Uncle Francis has so much pre-Vatican II (and post Paul VI) Roman Catholic imagery in the Godfather movies and this Dracula thing that I worry a little.  

I love the way these shorts came out.

Meanwhile, I made 3 pair of pajama bottoms today.  My eldest niece, Kate, asked for shorts, so she is getting these. 

Roommates need care packages too.

I didn’t want to send a care package to her and not send anything for her roomie, Lauren, so these are for Lauren. 

 

Zebra for Zoe.

And finally, poor Zoe.  I see zebra fabric and I think Zoe.  It’s the “Z”s. (I suspect she is going to want to reprogram me.)  I just thought this fabric would make amusing pajama bottoms.  And the great thing about pajamas as gifts—the fit is forgiving and nobody has to see them – so even fabric choices made by a misdirected spinsta aunt are not the end of the world.

Day 21, 79 to go: Dachshund pajama pants

I made this myself!

Last Christmas, I taught my then 9-year-old niece Anastasia to sew.  We made a nightgown together. I cut it out and attached the sleeves due to time constraints, but she did all of the other sewing.  I picked this fabric because she has a couple of dachshunds, Petey and Doodlebug.  

Peteys and Doodlebugs

So  here are the pajama pants she is getting for St. Nicholas Day this year.  It’s just covered in Peteys and Doodlebugs.   I am sending her extra fabric so she can make a pillowcase to match.  She took a sewing class at Jo-ann’s and made a pillowcase there.  I am so glad she is excited about sewing.  I love feeling like my grandmothers are living on in yet another generation.

Day 21.  I have been at this for 3 weeks.  Time flies whether or not you are having fun.  I thought I would count up my output to see what I have accomplished so far.

Crocheted hat: 1

Etsy Shop: 1

Embroidered tea towels: 3

Medieval Tunic: 1

Pajama bottoms: 9

Polymer clay earrings: 1 ½

Raggedy Dolls: 2

Raggedy doll nightgowns: 2

Red flannel nightgowns: 1 1/2

Xmas Tree Skirt: 1 started, 1 gnome (20 to go)

It’s a start. Once Xmas is over, I hope to move on to curtains, slipcovers, pillow covers, tea cozies and some jumpers, dresses and blouses… oh, and a resume…

Day 20, 80 to go: One Red Nightgown

I will learn to make buttonholes...

Today was a disappointing day as I endured a migraine for most of it.  I was really hoping they would go away once I didn’t have the stress of an office job.  I am particularly perturbed because there wasn’t even a barometric pressure change to explain it.  Maybe it will turn out to be related to peri-mentalpause. (Thanks Moose, for that all-too-accurate name for what my girlfriends and I are all going through each in our unique and unpredictable ways.)

Once the headache subsided (and I was fortified by Coco-Wheats) I managed to get the other nightgown cut out and almost finished this one.  I am so impressed that I got this far.  Often when I have a migraine, my eye-hand coordination is shot. (I can’t parallel park to save my life when a migraine is in charge)  I only have a couple of things to do to finish this one--like learn to make buttonholes!

Oh well, at least once I learn to make them for this gown, I will finish the nightshirt that has been sitting for a year—and which I planned to make 3 years ago…

Robot pants!

Meanwhile, I got this adorable picture today from my friend Shannon.  This is her son Cyler who was thrilled with the tiny robot pjs I sent the other day.  She says that when his dad got home, he kept shouting “robot pants!”  From this picture, it appears that they live in a sanctuary for endangered stuffed animals. 

I also got a warning from my sister (Borg #5 of 8) that the robot pajama bottoms have to be used carefully.  Apparently when her boys wear them, they are put into such a deep sleep that they can not be awakened the next morning.  I swear I didn’t lace them with paregoric.  But maybe the cats cast sleeping spells on them as I made them?  They are very good at making me sleepy…