The Romper Re-Do
Well Howdy! And Happy Spring to everyone! I'm sad to say that I started my spring with a head cold which left me feeling like death and which lingered for a couple of weeks. Ick! I have now had time to recover and regroup. It wasn't all bad, though. All the time I spent on the couch left lots of time for knitting! I have a couple wee knitting projects which are just waiting for some finishing touches and then will be ready to photograph and share. Hopefully, they'll be ready for you next week. In the meantime, I wanted to show you another little something I just finished.
Ryan's father recently sent down a box full of little girl clothes picked up at a yard sale or auction. (He and his wife run and antiques mall in Minnesota and are always at such places looking for treasure.) It was stuffed full of all kinds of sweet outfits, but there were a few that, while in great shape, I just couldn't love. Why? 'Cause I couldn't embrace the ridiculous images and sayings across the chest. I was tempted to forward them to the thrift store, but Mom & Lex persuaded me to work a little crafty magic and just fix them up. So I did.
For some reason, I just can't get on board with branded characters all over my kid's clothes. Even though this is Elmo from the fabulous public tv series, Sesame Street, and not a Disney, Looney Tunes, or other big money maker, I couldn't deal. When she's old enough to tell me she wants clothes with certain characters emblazoned on the front, ok. But for now, no thanks. Anyway, I carefully removed the offending pocket from the little overalls and intended to make a replacement with fabric from my stash. You would think that as much as I sew with blue, there would be something that worked, but no. Fortunately, I thought to throw it into the wash before I went out to buy something new to use.
The stitching lines came right out! I had to invest very little time and no extra money, and the other embellishments on the outfit still make it super cute.
I don't even know what to think about the next one. While the graphic is ok, the words are a bit ridiculous. I know, there's nothing really wrong with it. But still... Since the offending logo is screened onto the romper itself, I had to work a bit more for this one. Fortunately, I had the perfect fabric leftover from this project.
I used a stencil to trace the butterfly onto my fabric scrap, then used 4 strands of embroidery floss and chain stitch to get a nice bold line. After all of the stitching was finished, I cut a piece of HeatnBond to size, fused it to the back of my embroidery, and then fused that to the onsie. A quick trip to the sewing machine to zig zag the edges and we're done!
Here's a full-length view. Isn't that better?
This is the last of the offending onsies. My feelings about patriotism are like my feelings about religion: I have them, but they are mine. I will save my public rah-rah! spirit for the Timbers and for Mizzou. In addition to not being crazy about the idea of having part of The Pledge on baby's clothes, I really don't like the addition of the store brand to the pledge. That's just tacky. The solution was again in my stash.
I used the same process as on the last little romper, except that I used 6 strands of floss and stem stitch. Not sure how well you can see, but I tried to lengthen the stem stitch across the top of the tail a bit where squirrels have that extra fluffiness. The fabric is left from a project I made for myself, but somehow never photographed and shared. Now that Bee has an outfit to match mine, I think I'll try to photograph us together and then can show off - I mean share.
This little outfit has the added bomus of perhaps appeasing Lex, who is as devoted to red as I am to blue. (Really, the second half of that sentance goes a long way towards summing up our basic personalities!) I don't really wear red as I don't feel like myself when I do, and I prefer to keep the colors of my personal environment pretty serene. Lex, of course, like to tease me about it. I would like to take the opportunity here to state publicly that I don't actually dislike red. I just prefer it in small doses. As an accent. Probably paired with blue... Anyway, this one is for Auntie Alexis. A red romper for our sweet girl.
So, hope you've enjoyed my little show & tell. I'll be back tomorrow with a peek at the fabulous sweater I knit for Ryan for Valentine's Day. We finally had the opportunity to photograph it this last weekend - my, how the time is flying by!
Ryan's father recently sent down a box full of little girl clothes picked up at a yard sale or auction. (He and his wife run and antiques mall in Minnesota and are always at such places looking for treasure.) It was stuffed full of all kinds of sweet outfits, but there were a few that, while in great shape, I just couldn't love. Why? 'Cause I couldn't embrace the ridiculous images and sayings across the chest. I was tempted to forward them to the thrift store, but Mom & Lex persuaded me to work a little crafty magic and just fix them up. So I did.
For some reason, I just can't get on board with branded characters all over my kid's clothes. Even though this is Elmo from the fabulous public tv series, Sesame Street, and not a Disney, Looney Tunes, or other big money maker, I couldn't deal. When she's old enough to tell me she wants clothes with certain characters emblazoned on the front, ok. But for now, no thanks. Anyway, I carefully removed the offending pocket from the little overalls and intended to make a replacement with fabric from my stash. You would think that as much as I sew with blue, there would be something that worked, but no. Fortunately, I thought to throw it into the wash before I went out to buy something new to use.
The stitching lines came right out! I had to invest very little time and no extra money, and the other embellishments on the outfit still make it super cute.
I don't even know what to think about the next one. While the graphic is ok, the words are a bit ridiculous. I know, there's nothing really wrong with it. But still... Since the offending logo is screened onto the romper itself, I had to work a bit more for this one. Fortunately, I had the perfect fabric leftover from this project.
I used a stencil to trace the butterfly onto my fabric scrap, then used 4 strands of embroidery floss and chain stitch to get a nice bold line. After all of the stitching was finished, I cut a piece of HeatnBond to size, fused it to the back of my embroidery, and then fused that to the onsie. A quick trip to the sewing machine to zig zag the edges and we're done!
Here's a full-length view. Isn't that better?
This is the last of the offending onsies. My feelings about patriotism are like my feelings about religion: I have them, but they are mine. I will save my public rah-rah! spirit for the Timbers and for Mizzou. In addition to not being crazy about the idea of having part of The Pledge on baby's clothes, I really don't like the addition of the store brand to the pledge. That's just tacky. The solution was again in my stash.
I used the same process as on the last little romper, except that I used 6 strands of floss and stem stitch. Not sure how well you can see, but I tried to lengthen the stem stitch across the top of the tail a bit where squirrels have that extra fluffiness. The fabric is left from a project I made for myself, but somehow never photographed and shared. Now that Bee has an outfit to match mine, I think I'll try to photograph us together and then can show off - I mean share.
This little outfit has the added bomus of perhaps appeasing Lex, who is as devoted to red as I am to blue. (Really, the second half of that sentance goes a long way towards summing up our basic personalities!) I don't really wear red as I don't feel like myself when I do, and I prefer to keep the colors of my personal environment pretty serene. Lex, of course, like to tease me about it. I would like to take the opportunity here to state publicly that I don't actually dislike red. I just prefer it in small doses. As an accent. Probably paired with blue... Anyway, this one is for Auntie Alexis. A red romper for our sweet girl. So, hope you've enjoyed my little show & tell. I'll be back tomorrow with a peek at the fabulous sweater I knit for Ryan for Valentine's Day. We finally had the opportunity to photograph it this last weekend - my, how the time is flying by!
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