Lengthening Shirts for Tall Kids

Clothing manufacturers confuse me; they often manufacture pants that are insanely long but skimp when it comes to shirt length. Is this some freakish cost-saving measure for them that I alone don't understand? On myself, a short shirt cuts me off at the unflattering waist point. On my child, the short shirt rides up when she bends over so I'm constantly worried about keeping her warm. This is just a simple refashion, but it has saved a bunch of clothes from the rag bag.

The panel I've added at the bottom of each shirt is a jersey tube sewn from purchased jersey (or the bottom of another shirt). No more drafty backside!
For myself, I made the same type of tube, but didn't attach it to any one clothing item. I just wear it underneath a shirt for that layered look like those pregnancy belly bands that you can buy for thirty bucks. Are they kidding?! Thirty bucks?

Good Karma = Good Karma

I like to believe that there's good energy out there in the universe and that I can draw lots of it my way if I try really, really hard. I've been having fun spreading the cheer with lots of giveaways, and this week some good karma came back at me. A fabulous job landed at my doorstep, 2.5 days a week at a firm full of the nicest people. While this may cut into my crafting time, I'm optimistic about having a paycheck again (yeah! I can splurge on more fabric!) They even gave me a month to wean Little V before I start. How perfect is that?

We were laughing back in the summer when I refashioned this dress:


I had absolutely nowhere to wear it. Now it may see the light of day!

Anyway, the moral of my story is: there is good karma waiting out there for everyone. You never know when yours will come knocking!

HOW TO MAKE A WOOL DIAPER COVER From a Wool Sweater

Old sweaters make great inexpensive cloth diaper covers. They are simple to make and look really cute on, but they don't photograph well without a little diapered bum filling them out (hence all the above photos to convince you to keep on reading).



This is probably the simplest of wool diaper covers to make, and one of the most economical. One adult-sized, felted sweater should yield you two covers with spare parts left over.

Cut off the front of your felted sweater. The smaller your sweater, the smaller your finished cover will be.


Fold that piece in half and trim it so that both of the long sides are even. This will leave you with a nice triangle. *Keep the bottom hem of the sweater on the bottom of the triangle. This is going to form your waistband so you won't need to do any finishing.



Here is my triangle opened up. While it's flat, go ahead an embellish the seat with appliques if you'd like.



With the wrong side of the sweater facing you, and the nice former hem/future waistband at the top, fold up the tip of the triangle.

Next, fold in the two sides. Sew them closed about two thirds of the way down. The bottom third is going to be the leg opening. Smarter people than me would measure their baby's thigh first and go with this measurement for an opening. This is the view from the inside.

Two sweater cuffs (any sweater - mix it up if you'd like) are going to finish the leg openings.



Here's what they look like sewed into place:




And here's a view from the inside:



That's it. DONE. As I say, these little things look great on, but appear so wonky in the photos.

Why not a matching top to show off your artwork?

My babes has gazillions of these covers now, so most of the ones you see here are available in my Etsy store. If you feel up to sewing your own, check out this giveaway goodness at Resweater's blog. She's giving away two sweaters from her shop. Click the link for the how-to-enter details.

Unfinished Projects Giveaway WINNER

All your unfinished project stories were great, and they made me feel not-so-alone with my own neglected craft pile. My plan sort of backfired: I wanted to choose several of you as the winner, however I felt bad adding more stuff to your piles (geez, sounds like I'm talking about a medical condition, doesn't it?)

I have chosen rabbitstylenews as the winner this time. Her stack of croutons on the mantlepiece cracked me up almost as much as her photo of goats standing on the kitchen table amidst her breakfast. I have another giveaway in the works for later this week - this next one is along a similar (though totally unrelated) theme: some assembly required.

BTW, one of you said, "Ha ha, your post was so funny, have you thought of writing a book?" Oh yeah, I've started writing several books over the years. They are ALL unfinished projects.

Unfinished Projects and a GIVEAWAY (Closed)

I have been pondering starting a column called Unfinished Projects. My husband gets the first mention: I came home from Gymboree this morning to find our front door injured and lying on the ground, and no help in sight. That's the view from inside looking out. I knew that today was finally the day Husband would be replacing our old door, and his truck was AWOL, so I figured he must be out getting some unusual tool for the job. He seemingly didn't care that perfect strangers might walk in and wash our dirty dishes while no one was home.

It's November in Canada (read: chilly) so I went inside and made some tea... then I got hungry and made some lunch... then I returned some phone calls... then I acted out scenes from Robert Munsch's Good Families Don't Fart for my toddler's amusement... then we had naps... then, well, you get the point. Four hours had passed and still no husband. And no door. Does he not understand that it is impossible (and cold) trying to contain a toddler in a house without barriers? He finally phoned to say that he's driving all over town to locate just the perfect new door that will fit in our oddly-sized old doorway.

Geez, I ramble. My point is, we all have unfinished projects. I could photograph a stack of them, but this door thing embarrasses me less than my own neglected work. Leave me a comment telling me about one of your own unfinished masterpieces. Instead of letting Random.org do all the thinking for me, I'll choose a winner whose comment makes me laugh/cry/empathize/get hungry for lunch. The prize this time is a mystery mish-mash of sewing supplies. Yep, let's add more to your stash of unfinished projects.

TO ENTER: Giveaway open to everyone (overseas too because it's fun to get neat stuff from other countries, isn't it?) Leave your unfinished project story below, along with an email address if I cannot reach you via your blog. I will choose a winner on Monday November 23, 2009.

Toddler Hat Giveaway Winners and Another Bonus Hat

The winners of these hats (generated by Random.org) are #10 Melissa and #1 Mama B. I'll be emailing you both to get your mailing addresses.



I used Sirdar Soft Weight to make up one more baby-sized earflap hat - this brown/ beige one - which is going to Erin who commented that she'd like a hat for her grandbaby.


I'm in the giving mood! Check back soon for more giveaway fun.

S. Dork

Toddler Hats Giveaway (Closed)

A few posts ago, I gave instructions to crochet a simple beanie using only one stitch. What I'd really wanted to make was an earflap hat to keep my bald little baby covered. Using the same simple stitch, I made this:




(She insisted on wearing a hat indoors to eat a popsicle).

I've made two more hats for a giveaway. Each are made with the same stitch as my tutorial. Each hat should fit appx. 2 - 4 years old.

The purple pom pom hat is made using a variegated yarn. This hat went super-fast because of the chunky weight of the yarn - I'd say less than an hour.



The teal and green hat is similar to the one my baby is wearing, but the ties on the ear flaps are much shorter.



TO ENTER: Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Two winners will be chosen via Random.org on Friday November 18, 2009. **I seem to generate a lot of winners whom I cannot get hold of due to private profiles, so puh-lease, lessen my frustration and make sure you have some way to be reached.
Thanks!