Does this count as clothes making?

And before you respond, I already know that the answer is no.   But, I needed to attempt it some time and I figured no better time than Halloween.  What?  What kind of cheapskate mom wouldn’t buy her kid a Star Wars costume?   Well, the fleece was only $5.

So, here’s how you DON’T make a baby jedi youngling outfit:

First, you start off with a slice of your husband’s pant leg.   This was in the goodwill pile.  Cut up the middle a little, turn inside out and then sew.

Now, try your luck with an elastic waistband.

Not too pretty, but it does the trick.  The elastic was intended to go completely around the waist and would have, if I had measured it correctly.

Then go look at your bath robe hanging in the bathroom and try to eye ball the pattern on how that was made.   Attempt to size it correctly using one of the boy’s shirts (those jedi robes are a little baggy) and then re-pin and sew up the back cause you made it too large.

Oh, and what happened here with the lining around the neck?

Guess I should have used one long strip in the first place.

And check this out:

That’s some quality sewing going on here.   You can’t fake that kind of unevenness.  That one’s definitely not the sewing machine’s fault.

Next, get toddler to stand still for a moment, or better yet, try to measure on the boy while he’s napping.  Pin some more and cinch where needed with more crooked hand stitching.

And in the end, use some more darker fabric to make a tie belt, safety pin the pants and robe. And here you go:

The half-assed handmade costume.

Now if only I could have used a hot glue gun, this would be totally badass.   I’ve also been known to bust out the stapler to fix broken seams.
Thank god that robe covers everything.

And lastly, go to temporary Halloween store that popped up in town last month and buy genuine Star Wars brand light sabre for $9.

As Halloween is the time where you can be anything you want, this year I am going as a seamstress.  Unbelievably, though.

Project Runway, here I come.  NOT!

dressin’ up the hand-me-downs

Everyone I know does the same thing I do.  Take the kid’s old clothes to resell to get new gently used clothes for their kids.  It’s brilliant and inexpensive.  But then again, there are some clothes that well, the person who works at the resale store politely says “no, thanks.”  Or there’s that stain on it and  you can’t even try to bring it in.

So we pass those lightly trashed items along for other little kids to trash some more.  And that’s where these come into play:

These guys have been loved by other kids and passed to me.  This shot doesn’t capture the stains.  And I already started trying to figure out something with the light blue one, there.

Now you can find dozens of etsy sellers, european kids designers, who will offer up cool designs stitched to a shirt with felt.

35 Euros for a shirt with a felt character on it!  That $51.91, not including shipping from Europe.

Whatever.  Here:

And although we cancelled cable.  The boy gets his weekly Yo Gabba Gabba! fix via the internet.

Mama had to whip up a Muno shirt for the little dancin’ boy:

And for this one with it’s zig zag shaped stain (?) the best option seemed to be our little green gecko friend here:

Hand-me-down shirt, free.  Felt, I don’t know, like a quarter each square.

The only problem now is that I need more old clothes that I will let him run around and get dirty in.

I really don’t want him to trash these shirts now.  And hey, maybe the resale store might even take these from me for trade.  I’m not keeping my hopes up.

for the 2 year old that has everything:

not my kid, by the way, he has nothing compared to what’s in the homes of other kids that we know.  We don’t have a large house and we’re pretty selective about the things we get for him, like every parent, I’m sure.  These went to my friend’s little girl who just celebrated her birthday.

I’m working on a world of felt playfood for our boy, but in the meantime, we’ve taken pride in the fact that the toys don’t escape their usual designated play area and that our living room has not turned into kiddieland.

We recently had a new neighbor come visit for an evening get together and I’ll never forget his words: “You have a child living here?!”   Must have been the highchair that gave it away.  Like I said, not a big house.  But we have books, books, books coming out of every crevasse sometimes including the baby’s.   He’d wear book diapers, if he could.

And although my boy would love every newfangled pull/push/riding/climbing wooden must-have by every modern toy designer, my bank account wouldn’t.   I’m pretty sure he likes eating more than toys anyway.

And besides, the Swiffer seems to be more entertaining to him than anything else.   And if I’m lucky, he actually gets some of those dust bunnies in the corner while he’s at it!