Yeppar's Sailor Jacket is a huge win

Back in September I got a refund on something I bought on Etsy, and so I took that opportunity to buy something fun that I otherwise would not have justified. So I went pattern crazy and bought three really fun patterns for Micah. I had owned my sewing machine for all of ten minutes and just dove right in.

Sort of. I kept forgetting I had the patterns every time I went to the fabric shops. Nice.

So when I got a $25 gift card for an early Christmas gift, I took it straight to Joanne's and went crazy! I bought the material and notions for 5 projects, including the Sailor Jacket from Yeppar.



I absolutely loved this pattern, I cannot speak highly enough of it. (No, she didn't pay me!) It was very straight-forward and easy to understand even for the newbie that I technically still am. I had some assistance with sewing on the sleeves from my sewing master mom (thanks mommy!), but otherwise it was all me.



The coat is fully lined with soft flannel, so it's warm as well as cute. The outer is a dark brown cordoroy, so it should hold up to typical toddler boy shenanigans. I was also able to get every single thing for this jacket on sale. The cord was in the sale pile for $5 a yard, the flannel half off to $7 from $14, and the buttons came in a pack of 6 for $2, for a total of $14. And since I bought it with a gift card that I didn't personally pay for, it was basically free! You can't get a coat like this off the rack for free, hah.

I'm really very proud of this project.



And for a toddler, Micah was surprisingly excited about it. When I held up the finished coat and asked if he wanted to try it on, he said, "Ok. On? Put on? Go outside?" He was an extremely willing model, especially since it meant we got to outside, his favorite place. He posed happily. I figure I better enjoy this, since in a few years he will likely stop being so compliant to wear mommy's sewing.

He will also likely stop making this face soon, so I better document it. It's my favorite!

NaNoWriMo...and blatant baby bragging

Have you ever heard of NaNoWriMo? Basically, it's an excuse to get yourself to park in front of your computer and crank out some creativity. November is National Novel Writing Month (who would have ever thought we would have a whole month dedicated to that?) and it is a 30 challenge to get you to write a 50,000 word novel.

I tried it last year. I made it to about 14k and fizzled out. I had a 7 month old baby at home and not much time or energy, considering my day started at 5:45am and ended around 8pm. I was a total bore in those days.

Now that I am not working, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try again and hopefully get some good work done. So far? Stuck at 14k...again. But I have time! (Watch me try to crank it out in two days on the 28th. That's just how I roll.)

On a more fun note...Tuesdays and Thursdays are when I get to stay home with Micah (my 19 month old son) and play like crazy all day. He stays with my dad Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and my husband is home on the weekends. So those two days are all about us. We play, stuff our faces full of mandarine orange slices and broccoli pasta, and visit stores just to play with stuff. Today was one of those days.





And when I have some free time during naps, I try to make something that will make him excited when he wakes up. Since he is on a train kick (specifically Thomas, but any train will do), I whipped up this with my Silhouette and some of my handy-dandy freezer paper.

My little Halloween bear that should have been an Ewok.

At the beginning of September, Jessica of the incredibly awesome Running With Scissors offered a free pattern up for a handful of people to test. I got lucky and was one of the first ones to email her, so I was chosen to sew it up. And she sent me the coolest pattern ever.



As a tester, I printed it out asap and started examining it. At the time, I was fully a novice at sewing. I had owned my machine for about three weeks and had never actually sewn from a pattern before. So far all I had under my belt was two pairs of pj pants for my son, with patterns drawn from existing pants that fit him. I was completely and utterly confused for some time after printing and piecing together the pattern, and I fully admit...I cowered and ignored it for a lot longer than I should have. I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to do it. Also around this time, I was let go from my job, so if Micah was going to get a costume at all, it would have to be this one.

Finally in the second week of October I decided I need to put on my big-girl panties and start it. On a random trip to the dollar store I found an off-white blanket made of super soft, fluffy material for $8. It was far cheaper than any fur material at the fabric shop, so I bought it, went home, and started working. And working. And working. Even though I made good progress and the pattern was easy to follow (Jessica is awesome!), I was super slow. And only partially because of my lack of knowledge. The material was a NIGHTMARE. It fluffed everywhere, it completely covered my sewing foot as I went along, it got tangled up in the foot, and I couldn't see my stitches at all. The material I bought to make a hood - because this was supposed to be an ewok - somehow ended up being so narrow I would have to sew two pieces together to make it, and in my frustration, I sacked that idea. I also realized when I was about halfway through that I had forgotten to buy a zipper, so I dug out an old footie pajama from Micah's newborn box and made it work. It was blue. Sigh.

But finally, through trial and error and lots of irritation, I ended up with this.









Micah loved it, and I could not have been happier.

The Case of the Missing Thread

Don't you hate getting started on a project, getting about halfway through it and then finding out you're missing some vital element you need to complete it? ARG.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest awhile back and hadn't had an opportunity to try it out until today.

Several months ago Walmart had some sort of crazy clear-out of a bunch of their clothes, pricing them down as far as $3. I wandered the racks, determined to find something that I could reconstruct. As someone that had not really done much with clothes at the time I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but everything in my size range didn't seem to have much potential. So I glanced through the Small to Medium size range for something I could use in scrap projects, and I found these two beauties.



Please ignore the wrinkles. I refuse to iron something that I will just wrinkle right back up again!

When I saw the striped shirt I thought of Micah right away. I love stripes on babies and in a size Medium I knew it wouldn't require much to make it fit. The moon and cow shirt was also obvious for him because he loves the moon and points it out every chance he gets, plus it wasn't too girly. So I brought them home and promptly forgot about them for about two months. Good job, slacker!

Today I had a bit of free time so I dug them out and brought along a new shirt I just bought for the baby to use as reference. I lay them out on my dining room table and started pinning them. For the green shirt, the neck was way too wide for an 18 month old, so rather than just pin up the sides to take out the excess, I pinned up the center to bring in the neckline.





Then I pinned up the sleeves, leaving some room for a small cuff.



I also pinned down the top of the shoulders to bring in the neckline even more and to help narrow the arms. It was about this time that I realized I should have turned it inside out, hah. So I turned it inside out and repinned, then I cut off the bottom at the length I wanted and cut off the sleeves to where I pinned.



And since I am an overachiever, I also pinned up the cow shirt. I put a row of pins down the sides and inside of the shirt sleeves to take it in. Of course, I also realized I didn't turn it inside out again. I think I'm having an off day.







And that's as far as I got because I realized I had no white thread. What a day I'm having. Stay tuned for the finished project!

I can woo you with food first, right?

Because who doesn't like to think about what they're having for dinner, even if it's 7am and you just got to work?

My interpretation of this, except I used wide lasagna noodles instead of won-ton wrappers, and Italian sausage instead of ground turkey. I also made them in huge muffin pans, rather than your typical cupcake-sized ones. My dad brought the salad and garlic bread. Easiest dinner ever.

And welcome to Pinteresting Mommy, my new blog. As one of millions that have become addicted to the new internet wonder known as Pinterest, I created this little space to talk about the things I found on Pinterest and tried to make/create/eat. Lasagna? Only the tip of the iceberg.

You can find me on Pinterest using the link on the right sidebar, or click here.