Monday, February 16, 2009

Sid Vicious or Sid-Licious? UPDATED

Now THIS I am really excited about.   I was at Joann Fabrics yesterday, decompressing from a week spent sick myself, and home with flu-laden Ben.  I was flipping through the pattern books, and came across this.  It's by Simplicity, and it's from their "Go Green" line.  It's specifically designed to use an "upcycled" material.  They suggest using sweats or even a...sweater!  

So my mind flashed to a great argyle sweater I had just recently felted.  PERFECT.  Then I had to think of a doggie I knew, small enough to need a sweater, but big enough to show off this fab pattern.  Who do I know?  Who do I know?  Ah-HA! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have ....ready....nine dogs.  They are wonderful dog-rescuers and have the most adorable pug named Sid.  PERFECT.

The result of my brainstorm is this:



So, now the fun starts. Here are some pictures of Sid taken at Christmastime:


Of all of the nine dogs that Dave and Lisa have, my kids LOVE Sid the best. We're home this week for February vacation, so we're hoping to give him his new sweater this week. As soon as we do I'll be sure to add it, so you can see Sid as his alter-ego Sid-licious.

So we have an update.  We went to see Sid and his family yesterday to deliver the sweater.  He loved it!  But we have some alterations to do.  As you can see from the photo, his sleeves are too long, and the back needs to b shortened, too.  Unfortunately, his weight and his length don't fit the pattern perfectly, but that's what's so great about making things.  You can FIX it!



Once the alterations are done, we'll take a few more pics. But overall, I'm THRILLED with the result.
 

Sunday, February 8, 2009

A whale of a bag!

I'm hoping that all my friends who grew up in the 80's will appreciate this as much as I do.  I am back on my kick of re-purposing old reversible raincoats.  I can't help it, I just think they are so cool.  

This one I got at a Salvation Army store for $.99 because one of the pockets was torn.   This bag was made out of the back only, and a free pattern I found on Simplcity.com.  It's only two pieces of "fabric" and easy sewing.  The challenges came in when I tried to incorporate the snaps for a closure instead of using velcro like they suggested.


You can see where I tried to sew the snaps on, and the bottom line is all crooked from the foot of the sewing machine hitting it.  I'll definitely have to work on that, but I have plenty from this one coat (and it's a kids size!) to make a second one.

The kids are already arguing over who gets to use it!


It's Out of This World!

I found this wonderful flannel fabric a few weeks ago and have been working on this since then.  It has aliens and space ships, and really great colors.  Including orange, which is my absolute favorite.  (Side note, what does it say about me that orange is my favorite color?)

The blanket itself is actually pretty basic.  Felted sweaters, cut into squares or rectangles, with little patches on top in random places, and my friendly alien in the upper left corner.  Much to my dismay, neither of my usually camera-hoggish kids would pose with the blanket, so I was left with Stella (the doll) as my model.

My wonderful, patient photographer-husband let me try all different things to get the pictures how I wanted them...The last two pictures are ones that I took, just so you can see the whole thing and the great fabric on the back.