Projects Update

Several months ago, while perusing the dollar rack at Once Upon a Child (a used children's store in our area) I came across a cute little forrest green velvet dress that would be Heidi's size at Christmas time. To my surprise, when I went to pay for it, and a few other items, it was ALSO on sale for 1/2 price. That made it 50 cents!! The only catch was that it was sleeveless. Now really, Heidi HAS worn a couple of sleeveless dresses in the past. But I told myself that when she got older I would put a stop to that all together. And yes, I know she's only 2 years old. I decided after purchasing this 50 cent-dress that we could afford to make it more modest. That meant she had to have a cute little jacket to go with it. Thus a project begins.

So fast forward to my birthday when I was itching for a project to get started on, and remembered that I Vowed to make this jacket, and Hadn't even thought about it yet. I search though what material I've used already, and found just enough black fabric to cut out the lining. (Which is great 'cause that fabric wasn't gonna cut it as a jacket for a velvet dress.) So, with the help of my MIL and the cart pushing/kid watching skills of my FIL, I picked out some more suitable fabric. I got to work on it a couple of days later and had it pretty much done in  days. (You'll have to wait for pictures of the final set.) While I was working on this, Daniel asked if I would make him something too. He said he wanted a vest. That got me thinking again.

While shopping elsewhere a week or so later, I came a cross some very affordable ties, and thought of my best friend, who knows how to turn one into a little boy's tie so her boy and her husband can match. I had to buy them and give it a show. Then, while talking to her about it, she reminded me of a tutorial here wherein a lady made her boy super easy suspenders. I took another look at that fancy black fabric. There was enough left over for suspenders too. And because LanaMarie is such an amazing friend, she wrote this tutorial on her blog just so I could give it a try.

Okay , so sorry for all of that background info, on to the sewing. The tie: I cut my tie too short to able to sew the Velcro on. In fact, the ends just barely met each other. Never mind over lapping like they should. But I did have several hook and eye sets, so I decided to give that a try. It worked well, luckily. Also I decided not to fold and sew it in half, since my boy is a little bigger that hers, and the thickness fir in his collar just fine.

Then, with the advice of my husband, I cut the other end at the appropriate length and ironed and also sewed the ends to a point.

The fusing I bought before wasn't exactly what she uses, but I already had it, and it did okay. I didn't completely trust it on it's own, though. All in all it turned out pretty good I have to say, and I was really glad to have the tutorial to check and recheck the process.

After finishing the tie, I started on the suspenders. The girl with the tutorial used two of those elastic shirts or dress tighteners, which worked perfectly. Because I put this off 'till the Saturday before, all I could find were these. Originally intended to keep sheet corners on mattresses or covers on ironing boards.

They are pretty much the same thing, but with longer,thinner elastic, and clips that attached differently. I didn't want any if the white elastic to show for black suspenders however. So I devised a plan to hide it entirely. Here's how they ended up looking. Pretty good for my first try.